What a mess...

Moving is stressful. It is one of those universal things that everybody knows. And like all of those other things that everybody knows, I think it wont affect me. And, as usual, it does. Apartment hunting for a nice, clean, affordable place is just damn hard. And I know what you're thinking, it can't be that hard, well it is. We've looked all over the metro Milwaukee area and the problem? Nothing is convenient, affordable, and in a nice area. There are lots of GREAT places to live, but they're either too far away from one of our jobs, or too much money. Seriously, in the current economic environment, what kind of apartment complex can justify $1,200/month for a 2 bedroom apartment in Milwaukee?

Anyway, we're getting closer to a decent place to live, but what a mess trying to figure it all out. I feel like it may have been better for us to just store our stuff in a storage place until we can buy a house. The one problem with that is that we have no home for our kitties. Ah well, we'll get there in the end.

In other complaints, why is it that people resist positive change so much? I work with someone who has a VERY inefficient system for storing important information. For each individual project she has to enter information into an excel form and save it out to a network. This doesn't sound too bad except that when you want to compare multiple projects you need to pull each of the forms and toggle back and forth. This is inconvenient when you're looking at two or three, but try it for 40! It's just not fun.

So, I presented her with an opportunity to put it into a database. I would create the form, database, and any query that she'd need to run to make her life much easier. She pretty much ran away screaming, this is how we do it! Honestly!?!?! You don't have to do any work, it will pretty much be the exact same thing as far as you are concerned, AND it will make you look better. BUT, you're not interested.

You know what? Fine, I'm leaving in a couple of weeks and I could care less if being inefficient will make you look bad in front of a company that is trying to become more efficient and is considering laying more people off....

I'm just saying....

Day 1

Today is the first day for me in Minneapolis sans Jill. So far, I've had a mixed morning. It started off OK, I was able to make as much noise as I wanted without worrying about waking Jill up, including brewing a pot of coffee with fresh ground beans. On the down side, I had no one to kiss good bye and write a little note to...

next, I got to park in the garage spot (although it is the warmest day of the winter so far), the down side....that coffee I made, I spilled all over the inside of the car and on my pants. So, so far we're looking at a 50/50 day, which is about what I expected.

Aso today I decided that I would listen to one of my CD's on the way to work today. I searched through my cd case and pulled out an oldie: Offspring. I haven't listened to that CD in years, but I still remember every word to every song on that CD, how weird is that? Anyway, it made the comute rather enjoyable this morning as people decided they couldn't drive in such warm temperatures! Silly people.

Cold...this isn't cold, It's hell

Good morning everyone,

For those of you who don't live in Minneapolis, let me say...you lucky bastards! This morning at 7:30 the temperature had dropped to -16, with a wind chill of -35. Now, I'm definitely not a baby when it comes to cold, but when you're afraid that your car door is going to fall off if you close it to hard....that is just too cold.

As I sit at my desk and watch the sun rise, I'm hoping that the sunshine will help. It is pretty amazing how sunny this winter has been. In Ann Arbor, almost every single day in the winter was overcast and dreary, 25 degrees warmer, but dreary. I definitely have to give props to the people who have lived here their whole life, but also to those who live even further north. You Canadians must certainly be a tough brew...or crazy.

Anyway, onto current events. For those of you who don't know, I have elected to take Best Buy's offer of separation and move back to the Milwaukee area. I have been offered and accepted a job working for a small planning and design construction firm located in the third ward of Milwaukee. I'm really excited, but sad at the same time. I have greatly enjoyed my time here with Best Buy, and will not completely rule out working for them again in the future. However, I would like to be in one place for longer than a year, so that is definitely a more long term prospect.

Well, now that my fingers are no longer icicles, and the sun is full risen, I am going to start working. Take care everyone, and stay warm!