Catch-up

Well, I'll put it mildly: I've been a little lazy about updating this blog. It started out innocently enough: I told myself that I'd write when I had a little more free time. Then a few weeks passed, and I thought that enough time had passed that I should probably sit down on a weekend and really focus on writing a catch-up entry. Finally, it was a couple of months later, and the idea of writing kind of felt like running into someone on the street that you were never that close with -- you'd like to stop and say hi, but you know that it would take far more effort to have the catch-up conversation than it's worth, and you don't really have that much to contribute anyway.

So, here I am. What's new?

- Beth's boss turned out to be a nightmare. When it got to the point of 1AM text messages telling her what time to be in the next morning (for a part-time job, mind you), we got fed up. When she first got approval weeks before, then got harassed about leaving early the day before Thanksgiving to go meet up with her parents, who had just driven into town, it was the last straw. She quit right after that.

- The next few weeks went on mostly without incident, but with Beth's job situation changing, a lot of the disadvantages of living in the apartment started coming to light. We started thinking about moving again for the next few weeks, but didn't really take any action.

- Meanwhile, Beth and I agreed that the best option would be for her to go back to school, so she started looking at local community college programs where she could take prerequisites towards a nursing degree.

- In what felt like no time at all, a co-worker mentioned an area right over the Bay Bridge called Alameda, Beth got admitted into classes there, and we decided to go ahead and move there too. We took the second apartment we saw (more on the first one in a second), an 800 square foot 1-bedroom on the ground floor of a Victorian-style house 3 blocks from the main drag of Alameda. I say Victorian-style because I'm not sure if it counts if the owners spent 4 years gutting the house, down to the foundation, and all that's left is a shell of the original house (needless to say, it's very nice and we were instantly impressed)

- The first place we looked at had an outline on the floor where the body of the former resident had laid for several days until someone came to check on him. We decided not to live there.

- Although I don't walk to work anymore, I do have the option of biking about 4 miles to the ferry, and spending 20 minutes on the water every day, followed by a quick 6 block ride in the city. Unfortunately, due to 30% rain and 70% laziness, I have opted for the bus about 90% of the time since we moved in a month and a half ago. Maybe some day I'll actually use my brand new bike.

- The job is still going well, and the company is surviving, despite the mayhem of the rest of the financial world. I'm feeling a lot more adapted to the day-to-day work, and the schedule has eased up slightly. Not enough to have much of a social life, but enough to not feel drained of all life by the end of the day.

- Finally, and most importantly, my last blog post about climbing was the first and only time I've climbed since arriving here. It was fun, but a little crowded, and not laid out the way I'm used to. I think I might try to find another gym eventually. There's a place on Alameda called Bladium that supposedly has rock walls (and indoor soccer/hockey stadiums) built out of old abandoned Navy hangars. I might check it out at some point.