Housewarming

As if the Indiana Jones trilogy on widescreen DVD wasn't enough, another package arrived yesterday from another generous benefactor. It seems that somebody was aware of the fact that the only glassware I have is a nice set of wine glasses I got from Hoya last Christmas, while the rest of my drinkware consists of sportsbottles and plastic tumblers from the sale rack at Target. But even so, I was quite surprised to see the UPS man standing on my porch yesterday afternoon delivering a package addressed to 'Oscar & Felix'.

I tore into it with the only cutting tool I had handy at the time--my car keys--and happily discovered a set of four beer glasses. But no, these weren't just any beer glasses, these were official Imperial Pint glasses, with the bulge for stacking, and the official British Government Seal. There was also a copy of Draft Magazine included, a surprisingly readable publication dedicated to the 'beer lifestyle'. It now resides in a place of honor on the back of my toilet.

And word around the campfire is that there is yet another small package enroute, too. Woot! Of course, Rob dampened my spirits by reminding me that I should've included LV Terry in the Hey gang--Here's my new address email, as we'd likely have a freezer full of Omaha Steaks by now, too. Doh! Oh well, somehow we'll manage, especially since we're not allowed to grill here. I guess the next batch of smores we do will be in the microwave...

Anyhow. Now that I made it to my weekend somewhat intact, and we got the HDTV all hooked up, of course nothing else has been accomplished in the past 48 hours except running the dishwasher. I stayed up late on Tuesday night watching a show on PBS HD about Yak ranchers in Wyoming and watermelon farmers in New Mexico. Seriously. I could not. turn. it. off. Just when I thought western civilization had peaked with the invention of the iPod, they come and unleash High-Definition TV on me.

It's truly the coolest thing I've seen in awhile.

I finally tore myself away from the digital crack pipe long enough last night to make another run to the old house. I got a bunch of very heavy stuff moved--mostly books, and I got pretty much everything else stacked up and ready to go. I think one more trip to get the small stuff, and a return trip to get my office tower/desk thingy for the computer, and I'll be completely out of there. Of course, I'm missing a big Rubbermaid tote full of books that my roommate moved and can't remember where he put it, so that's on my agenda tomorrow afternoon--finding the missing books. Then I get to unpack everything that's currently stacked in our dining room.

As well as everything is going right now, life is not without it's frustrations. I managed to get the new router set up properly and the whole wireless network is secure, so I can sit anywhere around the house using the laptop to surf and nobody can steal my wifi. I also got the old Compaq hooked up wirelessly, so Rob can hit the internet without having to run a blue ethernet cable down the hallway from my bedroom to his. The only problem is moving my old files (mostly digital pics and downloaded music, along with handful of Word documents) from the Compaq to the laptop. I've tried everything, and NOTHING works. For whatever reason, none of the 'easy transfer' options are compatible with Windows Millennium, which the old computer runs on. I can't even transfer files over a wired network--it looks like I'll just have to save everything to disk and move it manually. Settings and bookmarks? Forget it. Millennium and Vista are so far apart, they don't even recognize that they're both bastard children from the same father. (Although Vista clearly got the brains and the looks in the family, while Millennium eats from a dog dish and lives under the stairs).

But the entire network, both computers, keyboards, mice, router, modem, and about 15 miles of cable, are all sitting on my bedroom floor at this moment, taking up valuable real estate. Once I get all of my private files taken off of the old computer, it's going in Rob's room until the day we take it out to the vacant lot next door and give it the Office Space treatment with a couple of Louisville Sluggers.

Recycle? Forget that. That old Compaq is going to Rest in Pieces at the landfill, hopefully slowly decomposing over the next thousand years under a hundred tons of smelly rotting garbage, because I can't think of a more appropriate send-off for all of the headaches it's caused me over the years.

Anyhow, that's the news from here. We're almost 100% moved in, ahead of schedule, and everything at the new house works. Especially the AC. Did I mention that I'm freezing my ass off right now?

I am, but I don't care. I could die from hypothermia tonight and be happy. Because I know that I won't wake up in two hours drenched in sweat and cursing my stupid-ass roommate for being such a cheap bastard. I don't care if I have to live on Ramen noodles and peanut butter for the rest of the summer--we're GONNA keep this house cool!

More later.

Mikey