June | 2008 | SoloShootsFirst

So I found out on Monday morning that I did NOT get the apartment on Capitol Drive. Since that afternoon, I’ve been working madly (with some help from Jen) to try to find another place, and soon– I’ve got just 18 days left on Wright Street.

I told the manager at 1029 E Knapp yesterday that I would take one in that building. I wanted to secure something as a backup, and since that building is owned by the same folks as the one on Capitol that I didn’t get, they already had my application and a security deposit. They don’t have a signed lease yet, though, so I’m still going to take a look at this place on Ardmore Ave in Shorewood. This place that I’m going to see this afternoon could be a LOT cheaper per month overall (50 bucks or so). An extra 600 clams in your pocket at the end of the year makes a diff, y’know? The description is a little frightening, though: “small but charming.” In apartment hunting for me, size is going to matter a bit, and if it is somehow smaller than the place on Knapp, well… I’ll have to cough up that 600 bucks.

Like I said the other day, I’ve got a handful of new pictures that I’m putting up. I noticed today that I forgot to “re-size” them, so they were taking an agonizingly long time to load (a 2-meg photo will do that on a residential connection). They’re fixed now, so if you tried earlier to look and ended up closing your browser in frustration mumbling, “goddammit Bocko…” you can go back now and enjoy.

Also, I could go for a sandwich.

A part of me is very afraid of all the information that Google is collecting. The scariest part is that unlike people, who reach a certain capacity point and then begin to purge (“Whoops, closet’s full– what can I get rid of..?”), Google is just looking to find ways to store MORE information. They never throw anything out. What are you going to do with all of that in the long run, y’know?

That being said, I am a frequent user of serveral of their software products. By default, I use both their search engine and their map software. An addition to the latter that is just AWESOME in my book is the “public transit” map option that just recently debuted for Milwaukee.

I pay about 30 bucks a month for an UNLIMITED bus pass through the university. It’s great, because I don’t need to pay for parking at work or worry about finding a space, and I also save the gas money and wear-and-tear on the car. However, I really don’t use the bus other that for getting to work (and occasionally to Michelle’s), in large part because figuring out how to get from point A to point B on a particular schedule is sort of pain.

No longer a problem with the public-transit-google-mapping. Tell it where I want to start from, where I need to go, and what time I need to get there, and it gives me all the info I need. VERY cool and FANTASTICALLY convenient. I just might start driving even less…

Try it out– here’s just an example of a route I have to take to go see an apartment tomorrow morning (different unit in the same building I mentioned last week).

Yesterday I didn’t leave the house for a very long time; I think I was gone a total of 40 minutes, but I felt good at the end, having gotten a ton of little stuff done. I got my kitchen and bedroom cleaned up, did a ton of laundry, and I figured out two or three little nagging problems I was having with computers for quite a while.

It’s rare that I feel good enough about what I did during the day that I’m OK with just kicking back and relaxing in the evening, but Saturday was just such a day. I think tackle another room or two and get some writing done today…

Jim Droste gave me a good idea the other day when he started posting some photos from his recent trip to the Dells– rather that upload a whole big mess of pics at the same time, he’s treating us to just a couple a day. Easy for him, easy for you to not miss something.

So, yeah– stay tuned over the next few days for some updates to the photo galleries…

In the process of working on some thesis-related paperwork, I had occasion to review a story that I wrote about three years ago for a fiction class. I enjoyed most of it, and I did feel like I was able to give it a solid, honest critical assessment, having not even looked at it in such a long time. I was saying to Wordy that I could probably clean up the ending a bit and try to send it out for publication.

Then just this afternoon, I was having a conversation with Ron Rindo, my thesis director, about a very similar thing: what a fabulous idea it is to finish a piece, set it aside, and don’t even think about it for a couple months so you can look at it with a fresh perspective. That not something that I’ve always taken the time to do in my academic career, but where this thesis is concerned, I think it’s absolutely necessary. It’s a shift of thinking to go away from a standard, stone-set academic calendar to the notion that this is MY project, that I get to do at MY pace. Quality has to be most important thing, and I’m going to try to be mindful of that from here on out.

I believe that I found a new place to live.

I can’t say that with 100% certainty, since I haven’t heard back yet about the application that I filed on Wednesday, but I think it looks pretty good. All things considered, I will be trading a lot of space and the free & available washer/dryer that I have now for a significantly shorter commute and slightly lower overall per-month living expenses. I’m glad that I’ll now be able to focus on thesis work and getting packed in the short term.

I was told when I saw the apartment that I would have the opportunity to move in early, paying a pro-rated portion of a month’s rent. I’ll probably shoot for a week ahead; I took a few days at the end of the month off for that very purpose. I’ll now be just under 2 miles from work; an easily bike-able distance. Maybe I’ll even get a chance to shed some of this doughy flab with the balance of my summer, too…

Been very busy at work, which is my excuse for the gap of several days between posts. In the meantime, what’s happened? The Brew Crew is on a tear— here’s hoping they can carry that momentum through the road trip. Even if the Cubs haven’t gotten around to losing just yet, you know they’re not going to win out for the rest of the season. Brewers just have to keep it up, and put the lengthy losing streaks behind them. It’s a well-documented point that a season is going to have ups and downs, but Milwaukee has pretty much used up their allotment of “downs” already.

Also very glad to see the Democratic presedential primary season finally coming to a conclusion. I was glad to deliver the news to Petters last night that Hillary is going to officially leave the race at the end of this week. In the short term, that means that focus will shift to Obama selecting a VP. I am NOT at all in favor of the Obama/Clinton ticket for one major reason: I would be concerned that Hillary was trying to run the show from the backseat all too often. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Clintons are really, really, REALLY pushy when it comes to politics, and that’s probably putting it lightly. Barack needs her to be a valued campaign resource, and he definitely needs her endorsement, but he also needs to make this potential presidency his own. I’m pretty sure that’s what we (his supporters) got on board for.

OK, back to it. These phone calls aren’t going to ignore themselves…

SoloShootsFirst

Monthly Archives: June 2008

Scrambling

Well, Let's Try That Again

A Welcome Addition

Minor Accomplishments

Just a Couple Weeks to Go!

The Latest (Visually Speaking)

Added Benefits

Call Off the Dogs

firing from the hip since 2002

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firing from the hip since 2002