Friday, October 27, 2006

My Hillbilly Name Is...

Mary Lou Duke

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Friday, October 13, 2006

Settling in.....

Well, yours truly finally found a house to live in! At a moment when I thought that there was really nothing left for me to look at as far as rentals were concerned, this lady called me and told me that she had a house for rent and she'll allow pets!!!!

I met up with the lady at the hotel lobby (I'm staying at a hotel right now) and she was nice enough to take me to see the house. It's a small house, but it had a basement, a garage, attic, covered patio, and a backyard that leads to a walking trail in the woods! When I went into the house, it smelled nice and looked very clean, which was a sharp contrast to the places that I've seen before around town. The rent is a bit expensive, but I think it's worth it. It's only 4 miles away from where I'll be working at, and the neighborhood is quiet.

Another thing about the landlord, right off the bat, she told me that she had two young sons and she's gay....wow! I appreciate the honesty.

Since I've been here, everyone that I've met has been very nice to me, and I think that's a great sign. I had also met a Schmuck, seriously, that's his last name! He works at the Circuit City across the street from the hotel and he sells sell phones, I got one of his business cards in case I need to switch cell phone carriers. Some of the gas stations around here are called Sheetz, to which you can easily pronounce into something else completely.

The dog has been getting nothing but affection from the hotel staff, and he seems to be adopting to the cooler weather without much problems....I mean, he should, he's full of fur!

I'm a bit nervous about work, I went to the workplace yesterday to hand in some paperwork and I remember walking through a maze of cubicles, tall cubicles. They reminded me of the "Initech" Company featured in the movie, "Office Space". Are there going to be humor at the workplace? I doubt it, but at least I hope it' bearable, you know?

Very relieved about finally finding a place!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

In Pennsylvania....

The dog and I finally arrived at our temporary detination in Western Pennsylvania, after a drive that lasted almost 2 days. The weather couldn't be better for driving, but my poor dog got so worned out that he went to bed almost immediately after we checked ourselves into the hotel. In fact, as I am writing this entry, (this is the afternoon following my arrival) the dog is still kind of lazy.

Started looking at possible places to live at, and the first two were nightmares of places to look at! One of the apts. have kitchen that looked completely non-functional, and old. I won't even mention the bathrooms! I also looked at the local newspapers for any more possible places to rent, and because of the pet restrictions, I really don't have a lot of options.

Trying not to get too nervous yet, after all, I just got here, right?

Time to wake the dog up!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Goodbye, Midwest!

I'll try not to shed a tear as I drive away eastward......

Cyndi Lauper rocks!

Last night we had the pleasure of attending a Cyndi Lauper concert in downtown Kansas City. We had purchased the tickets about a month and a half ago and I just thought that it would be a good concert, mostly for nostalgia sake. I was a middle schooler in the mid 80's when Madonna and Cyndi Lauper both became pop stars...ah the good ole' 80's!


I always thought that Cyndi was cooler than Madonna, since Madonna was big on gimmicks and not real talent. However, I was not too familiar with all of Cyndi's songs except for her album, "She's So Unusual", with all the songs like "True Colors", "She Bop", etc. On the other hand, I had once purchased Madonna's "Immaculate Collection", and I think that was enough for me, I think everything after that sort of was shit, and I never had a desire to watch her in concert either.


Most of the concert audience last night were people in their 50's and beyond, with a small pocket of people who are not yet in their 30's. I thought to myself "Man, did I really age that much?" Some of them were already drunk by the time Cindi came out to sing, and they were mildly irritating. Her opening act was this raggae band called "The Rule", and it was made up of 3 white boys and one black guy from Ethiopia. The lead singer had long dreadlocks, and a good voice, but I cannot say their music was something that I'd download on my Ipod.



Cyndi did her familiar songs with different interpretations and arrangement, and it was almost like hearing her songs for the first time. Her band was also great at keeping in sync with her and they looked like they were having a lot of fun doing what they do. The encore performance was longer than any encore performances that I've ever seen at any concerts, and it was fun to watch and listen to. I don't know if I was ever really aware of how powerful her voice can be!



If you can, try and catch her in concert, and I am sure that you will not be disappointed!


Here is where you can find out more about Ms. Lauper.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Tuesday morning

Waiting for the water to boil so I can make my tea, and semi-anxiously looking online for a place to live at once we move up to Pa. I'm having a hard time so far in finding a place that'll accept pets. It seems like if you move to that part of the country, you should buy a house. Yet I don't think I'm quite ready for house buying yet. I have no idea whether or not this job is a long term one, and besides, house buying takes lots of $ and time.

The GF is optimistic about it all, and I am glad that she is.

Right now, there are just a lot of details of packing and moving.

Let me have some tea so I can get started again....