I have no interest in ordinary humans!

I feel like I’m in over my head at work. I don’t have access to revision control, and the guy who’s supposed to let me know about what the URI is for our revision control system keeps blowing off that question. What’s more, I don’t have all the access I need to do my next task, which will involve some reporting work, ensuring that stuff from our ticket system matches our routing information in the database. I would have had a more productive day had my manager been in the office and could talk to him about these issues, but attempts to discuss things with him electronically met with no success. I didn’t get through to him until 4:30, after I left out of sheer frustration.

To top it all off, I’ve got my very own Creature From 8A living downstairs. She’s complained about the noise I’m making twice now, saying that I’m keeping her up. She came up here within two hours of my parents leaving to complain that I had been making too much noise for the entire weekend, ignoring the fact that I had just moved in to the apartment and a large chunk of that noise was me having furniture and belongings dragged up here. I’m seriously afraid to walk around up here, simply because I know she’ll complain. She’s much like my grandmother was 20 years ago: retired, shut in, and going insane.

So to review, no Rock Band, no moving, and work is going in circles already. I know I belong in Carrollton, but something is broken, and I don’t know how to fix it.

So I’ve been here a week now, and honestly, a part of me is getting really homesick. I don’t know that I’ll venture to the Galleria Dallas that much: not only does it seem like a knock-off of The Galleria that doesn’t quite cut it (it feels to be about half the size of The Galleria), but it makes me homesick for the real thing.

I’m also looking for sleeper sofas. I found one at a furniture liquidators in Arlington that I really liked. There’s a pair of similar items that come in a set at The Dump, and if I had an apartment with a study, they’d have been mine last week. I’ve decided against getting a night stand or a linen cabinet, as I’ve got another set of drawers coming from Houston that will fill the role of both quite nicely.

I’ve begun the search for a the best cup of tea that I did not make myself in the Metroplex. If you’re in Houston, I can tell you that you want Té House of Tea in Neartown (and next time I’m down there, which I hope to be next weekend, I will introduce my mom and sister to the place). I found a place called Tea Thyme and Tisane in downtown Carrollton that made a pretty good cup today. About the only thing wrong with it is that it seemed to fall between Té’s informality (which I love) and geniality and the posh and proper upscale tea rooms that are generally more common (which I honestly could do without). Also, they don’t have crepes. In their favor, they did sell individual cups of loose tea, which was a blessing, as I didn’t need a whole small pot. They’re also a lot closer than Teavana, so I won’t have to run all the way to the aforementioned Galleria Dallas to get my own teas. In summary, I need a similar crack team of hipsters, anime fen, freaks, and weirdos to help me out again, but I don’t have them here yet.

One thing I’m struggling with is the fact that there are no regular Howard E. Butt’s grocers around here. If they did, I’d be shopping there. Sure, they have Central Market with about the same distribution as Whole Paycheck Foods, but those don’t sell the store brands. This wouldn’t be a huge concern for most people, but they do make a particular bagel that I’ve come to like. I’ll have to have them shipped from Houston until further notice.

Also, DART doesn’t have a declining balance fare system like Houston METRO does. This makes me sad.

Yeah, it’s a little early, but I had to be here at the apartment to babysit the delivery guys. I finally have a bed¹. If 5:00p weren’t so damn close, I’d head back in to work. In any case, I managed to accomplish everything I wanted to get done today and then some. The take-home lesson here is that Linq is easier to use than ADO.NET.

Also, I had an American staple for the first time today: the leftover meatloaf sandwich. It would have been better had I remembered to bring lettuce, tomato, and spicy brown mustard, but it was still worth eating. Interestingly, I didn’t start eating meatloaf until I started cooking for myself.

We’re going to do some more bloggazing this week. Today, I’m looking at the search terms through which people got to this blog on Google. It appears they’re all looking for this post, where I discuss my attempts at figuring out what the Weight Watchers’ POINTS algorithm is, armed only with their slide rule, a POINTS calculator, and nutrition labels from all sorts of food. They also particularly seem interested in the Roasted Almond Sensation snack bars (the best snack bar ever made, taste-wise), which were introduced last month, probably as a seasonal item².

In fact, the only person coming here that actually dealt in my primary area of expertise (that would be computer programming and software engineering) was looking for “how to write python burned calories formula”. I will admit that I don’t have a script that calculates calories you’ve burned, but if you know the Metabolic equivalent of the Task, you need only multiply that by your mass in kilograms and the length of time you did whatever exercise you performed in hours–the resultant number is how many kilocalories (which are the same as dietary calories) you’ve burned. Honestly, if a machine I’m using tells me how many kilocalories I’ve burned, I divide that by 50 for the Activity POINTS that I’ve earned.

1. I haven’t slept in a bed in a week. It’s murder on my back. My father, on the other hand, loves that kind of arrangement.
2. I know a lot of Weight Watchers members, myself included, that will revolt if they are discontinued.

So my apartment becomes more home-like as time goes by. I’ve got FiOS dragged in here now. I still haven’t gone for a workout yet, and I’m planning on doing that tomorrow.

I’m starting to make plans for this weekend. My next acquisition shall either be a linen cabinet or a sleeper sofa (well, a sleeper loveseat, really). If I were slightly richer, I’d have gotten an apartment with study, but alas. Or perhaps I should invest in a coffee table where I can set my laptop.

I miss sleeping in a bed. I can’t wait until Friday when my new bed gets here.

I’ve moved in, but my phone and Internet haven’t been set up. I have a public library that’s a short walk from my apartment (I now have a card), so I’m currently typing this from there.

I’ll admit that I’m incredibly terrifed. What do I do, Internets? No, seriously, what do I do? I’m out here and truly alone for the first time, with home more than a phone call and an hour’s wait away. I don’t even have a bed yet–I’ve been sleeping on an air mattress that won’t hold pressure due to advanced age (I got a sleeping mat today, so that will change). I don’t know anybody here, really, and the reality of my situation is beginning to sink in. At least it’s just the Metroplex and not the far side of the moon.

Those who follow my Twitter account know that I have a television now, even if there’s nothing to watch quite yet. I’ve played some old Super Nintendo games on it, even. Yeah, that’s perverse and honestly harder than I thought.

I’ll start work tomorrow. As a gesture of awesome, I’m taking in a dozen donuts for the team. Perhaps that will help relieve some of my lostness.

Yesterday, I received two job offers. Today, I’ve formally made a decision. I’m going to Dallas.

I begin the moving process shortly. I’ve got a good chunk of dad’s car packed up with my clothes and some blankets. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes, actually. I’ll be back in Houston tomorrow for sure, but I leave again on Saturday.