Movin' In!

I feel as though the day is pretty much over. I know it is only 4:15pm as I start this, but I fear my body is still thinking East Coast style over West Coast. Not to mention the fact that I woke up at 6:30am; an hour that I am used to looking forward to, not back upon.

It has been a reasonably productive day. I showered first thing and all I have to say about that is any engineer who makes a bathroom exhaust fan exhaust back into the same room is simply making a noisemaker for noise's sake. Not something I wanted to listen that early in the morning. I will give props to the engineer who thought up the idea of making curved shower rods that bow out from the tub. It is very nice to shower without the curtain sticking to you. That engineer deserves a Nobel Prize in cool.

Eventually, I waste enough time so that I can get into my new apartment. The layout is not ideal, but adequate. There are two doors leading into the bath's ante room and the closet that overlap. I was contemplating taking them both out and stuffing them in the closet, but it occurs to me that if someone actually visits and stays with me, I'll want a door on the anteroom. (So will they!) I can't say much other than it really needs my stuff in it before I can call it home.

A couple of blocks down the road is a McDonald's. A "restaurant" I abhor under normal circumstances, but it was getting late in the morning and I hadn't eaten yet. Actually, the only draw was the Shamrock shake signage in the window. So I indulged my childhood memories with the shake and wasn't disappointed. I look forward to eating there again - next year.

After eating, I looked to my cell phone to note that it was time to find a proper grocery store. That's 11:15am for those that didn't know. I was told by one of the ladies in the leasing office that there was one "real close". After approximating this in terms of a suitable unit of measurement, I would guess that "real close" translates to just under a mile and half. I bought enough for sandwiches for a couple of days. I suspect that I'll want to make more trips buying just what I need because I certainly don't want to be carrying a large load of groceries that far! Fortunately, there are a number of delis that are much closer and I intend to check them out soon enough. Also, for the simple stuff, the McD's is sandwiched between a Spee Dee's and a 7-Eleven so there are plenty of simple and quick solutions nearby.

Eventually, I get home and while I put away my groceries and my two suitcases, I listened to a podcast that I had downloaded before leaving Albany, entitled “This Week in Science”. I enjoyed it for the most part, however, I nearly pulled my own ears off when they started talking about 10 raised to the negative 18^th power as 10 with 18 zeros after it. For those of you that don't realize that that statement has two separate problems with it, this show is for you.

I bring up the podcasting, not to rip on “This Week in Science”, but to bring the medium to the attention of everyone who will get around to reading this blog. For those that don't know, podcasts are short radio programs that can be downloaded and listened to at your convenience on your computer or for those lame enough to own one, an Ipod or any other .mp3 player.

I am really starting to enjoy this medium. You can tell it is still quite virgin territory as the shows are not produced with a Hollywood sheen. They can be a bit rough or hokey, but it is all about the content. The point isn't to dazzle the listener into not realizing they just sat through something with no substance. The point is to actually create a dialog with meaningful content. I find it very refreshing and encourage everyone with a computer to check some of this content out. As I get more into the “scene” I will undoubtedly have recommendations. For now, so that people don't think I complain about everything, I can recommend a podcast that Moose first introduced me to called “Slice of Sci-fi” located on the web at:

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/

I am a bit over my word limit for the day, but as I said, it has been a busy enough day...