so, at this point I have been awake and pretty damn active for about 24 hours. We got up at 2AM, on what is now yesterday morning, and Heather kindly drove us to the airport, after meeting us at 3AM ish at my house. We went through the TSA rigamaroll, and putzed about until our 6:30AM flight. THat arrived, a bit late at 8:50 in ATL. yay. SO then we went to hertz, got our rental car ,which for some reason was a Prius, and not the cheap-ass kia or whatever that i'd reserved. I dunno if anybody who reads this has ever driven one, but its a damn wierd car. the shifter isnt so much a shifter as a selector lever which is momentary to set the gear mode. the key isnt a key, you slide the remote lock dongle into a slot on the dash, then hit a big power button to turn the car on. Once i figured out how to operate this thing, which took a minute or 2, as well as got my GPS unit which I'd brough plugged into the appropriate power socket and set to my destination, I hit the road to stone mountain. On the highway, I notice something further odd about the shifter, it has a setting called B. We had some amusement theorizing what that might mean. My favorite option was "bacon", in which the glovebox (of which there are 2, upper and lower) would fill with hot tasty bacon on command. sadly no, it turns out it means battery, it simply fully disables the gasoline engine, which cuts in and out normally as the car pleases. by the end of the day, i was accustomed to it, and had come to think its not a bad car, its definitely high tech, good stereo, and from what i saw on my fuel guage today, great on gas. dont count on it for too much get up and go power though. didnt have the balls off the line that my PT does. then again, the PT gets 20MPG at best.
anyhow. once we got to the destination, which was the first apartment complex we intended to look at, having been slightly misled by usually-mighty GPS, we again putzed about for a few minutes until it was 11AM, at which time the agent promptly showed up for our scheduled appointment. not bad. so she got another fellow who was there too started on his paperwork, then took us over to the unit she had available. its was nice, pretty big, dishwasher, firdge, gas range, washer and dryer hookups, lots of power outlets(all 3 prong) huge walk in closet, screened porch....none too shabby. so, based on her apparent friendliness and organization, our estimation of the area, its reasonable proximity to my new office, and the good price, and space for the money, we decided to take it. We skipped over to the local supermarket and got a money order for $50.00 to hold it, and we will move in the 26th or 27th, whichever is better for us :-) nice.
I noticed something while I was in the supermarket, the neighborhood is overwhelmingly black. We were pretty much the only white people in there, except for an elderly couple, and maybe an employee or two. It did feel a little odd to be the minority for once, I wonder if that's sort of like how it feels to be black up here on the main line...
anyway, having accomplished the primary goal of finding a home, and it only being like 12:30 or something, we went over to the office, and then hung out in the super target next door. I wanted to get a feel for the commute from apartment to office, it was about 10 minutes, or 5 miles. not bad at all. we got some pizza hut, for which my stomach punished me later, and then I called what will be my new boss, since he had wanted to meet me. He wanted to meet at 2, so We putzed around some more, then went over to the office to meet him. lyds and i got a tour of the office, second for me, but even better than the first time, it's, well it rocks. then we went to get some food, and I met his wife, son, and his sister in law. all very cool, very nice people. we got indian food, which usually isnt my bag, but it was ok, i tried a bunch of new stuff, liked some of it, eh yknow me with food. sadly today it seemed almost anything i ate gave me bad indigestion :-( the IBS or whatever i have was bad today. after that we scouted the walmart, the local comic shop, and the local craft store(gotta hit the basic, eh?), then went back to the airport. I bought the upgrade to business class, after feeling the crampiness of having been squished in coach seats in the morning for hours after the morning flight, i figured it was worth the extra $40 each. it totally was. way more comfy, way more spacious, better servie, more snacks/drinks; everything better. not cheap, but it was worth it to me after a long day. they may not reimburse me for the upgrade, but that's OK. Id have spent it anyway every time if id known how much better it was. i hate coach, cuz i dont fit in the seats. its not my ass, large as it is, its my shoulders. they are too damn wide and so i have to roll them forward to fit in with the other 2 people(cuz they pack em in, no empty seats usually) which quickly becomes very uncomfortable. i cant imagine flying for more than a few hours like that, it would suck ass. luckily ive never had to take a flight longer than like 4 hours, but that will probably change soon. anyways, i should sleep, nite all!
 