I have my laptop hooked up to the internet but not my PC. Frankly I haven't gotten around to unpacking my computer and office stuff from the boxes. I took a shower. It's supposed to rain tonight. I hope I sleep well.

I've rejoined the world of the employed and working. It feels good. Today was my first day of work and I have this need to feel useful and accomplish things. That's all I'm going to talk about work. I think I will be happy and that's good.

I can talk about my apartment, move, and new life. This apartment is like a townhome with one level, except stairs to enter from my private garage. Yes, did I mention that I have my own garage, it's private, it's got some storage room, it's not freezing, it's got lighting, it is painted, and there is enough room where either the driver and/or passenger can open their doors and just barely touch the garage walls. Compared to a detached garage it's huge. Dad showed me how to open the garage door manually, like incase the power goes out. The garage then has a slab for storage. I've got a large garbage bin with wheels out in the garage so I don't have to take the garabge out to the dumpster every day. I plan on getting a bicycle this spring. I'll be able to bicycle to work. :)

My garage leads up this stair way with carpeting and lighting. The light switch is both on the bottom and top of the stairs. Their is also a button to open and close the garage door at the bottom of the stairs in the garage.
That's luxury. Being able to press a button and for me to park in my own garage.. that's a dream..

The stairs lead to the second floor of which my apartment is on. There is a but of room before my garage entry door to place bags or whatever while I am opening the door to my apartment. I can also flip on a switch and it lights the entry way inside my apartment. I walk in to the kitchen area. My washer and drier are stored in a area with two doors and shut away. I open them and their ae storage shelves and two full-size whirlpool washer and driers, looks new to me.

The kitchen has oak cabinets and is huge. The countertops have a grey grainy decorate surface. I'm not sure what the proper name is for, but they look nice. My fridge has an ice maker. That is awesome! My pantry.. well I wish it could be bigger but oh well! I have so much cabinet space. So much countertop space!

So for those who don't know it, I am moving to Carmel, IN and starting a new job, new apartment, and new better (I hope) life.

There are some important milestones that are coming up in my life.

Friday is my last day at work for Exelon.
Saturday I am driving to Carmel, IN to sign the lease on the new apartment and start getting it setup somewhat, shopping for new furniture, etc..
Monday the movers come. they are doing a full-service move. My dad is driving up to help with the apartment. We shall see what they refuse to pack (note: I have to somehow segregate my apartment by items that need to stay and items I need to pack myself)
Sometime during next week the movers are going to deliver my stuff, unpack it out of the boxes (not put away), the new furniture will arrive, the utilities will be connected, and I will be a fish out of water looking at all my crap!
The following Saturday I will have to drive back up to Glendale Heights, IL and finish up business with my old apartment, and pack the cats up to go to their new home.
The following monday (25th) I start work in my new job.

To keep myself organized, time management, prepared, etc I have creative multiple To-Do lists. In short the to-do list is like over 100 items long. I have sub-divided these into daily to-do lists. And I am also writing nightly to-do lists. It's because I have a lot to-do! For example, a big item on my to-do list was the car maintenance. I am happy to report that item has been completed. I spent about 3 hours in the toyota shop but it is done.

My Tonight To-Do List

• Empty dishwasher


• Clean kitchen


• Bake corn muffins and biscuits for tomorrow's lunch (I'm having lunch brough it for the building)


• Put away cat supplies


• Take care of laundry


• Set aside things needed for work tomorrow (food, hamburger buns I bought, computer, papers, to-do lists)


• Figure out to-do list for tomorrow

Got my Resume up on my website now. Yeah me.

I had a headache and a fever earlier. Instead of taking an aleve, I sat back, chilled, drank a beer, and watched some MTV.

My evening was great. Earlier I had steak tacos, carne, from my favorite local Mexican place (not Taco Bell). Bought my weekly lottery tickets too. The pot is up to $320 million and I want it all!!!!! Hehehehe

I have groceries.I bought two Einstein bagels from SuperTarget but ended up eating them, BOTH. All my ironing is done. My taxes are done.

I watched a few episodes of MTV's Engaged and Underage . I was shocked on how troublesome and confrontational these couples were to each other before their wedding.

I was also shocked on how easy it was to get a marriage license! :0

I'm just thinking about my future ...

I suppose I ought to finish my laundry.. so let me get back to that. Oh the cats both got a bath this weekend! Their fur is nice an clean.

I wish I had another day to myself. Can't believe it is Monday already!!

If I am not on pager duty this Friday I need to get my hair cut and my face waxed!!! I look terrible :( (to myself)

Well this weekend, I don't think a lot got accomplsihed except sleeping. I managed to clean the apartment, for a few days, feed the cats, do the laundry, do the dishes, and do some ironing. Saturday morning I made the mistake of getting a car wash. It was close to the IIT Rice Campus in Wheaton and the Saturday dupage engineer's expo. I was supposed to help at a booth for power engineering but the person running the actual display didn't show up. I ended up hanging out at the IEEE booth and chatting with career legends. It's amazing. I really wish they wouldn't give me that much attention, its like they haven't seen a female engineer, ever, which may actually be the case... anyways.. one of the guys was around when there was vacuum tubes for all the switches used and it retired in like 1990. Wow. I was born in like 1981... they can go on and on like grandpa simpson..(joking) i didn't want to look rude..but I was going to leave after 30 minutes of nothing to do there. Our booth didn't have any big hands on activies for kids so why would they want to stick around there? Oh there was an old 1952 vintage ham radio with its parts all exposed. That technology is outdated! Oh yes, most of the exhbits at the booth was geared in communications engineering, the topic I like least and know nothing!!! Now if there were power systems exhibits them I could have been more *enthused*.

That Saturday night the ice storm raged down badly on Chicagoland I stayed warm and cozy indoors. The lights flickered and I knew there was a power line distrubance. I thought of logging in to work using my work laptop to see what was going on, but didn't. Fortunately the pager didn't go off. I am glad not to be working Storm Duty anymore and risking my life in driving far away in severe weather to sit around to do mostly nothing and getting paid .. nothing.

Dad called me.

Sunday I ate too much. I made the mistake of buying cadburry eggs 3 sets of 4 for $5 at SuperTarget. I already ate 2 cartons since last Sunday. OINK!!!!

I think I just realized my problem. I buy too much food and treats. I buy too much food that is packaged and not fresh. I need to stop buying the crap that is on sale and buying fresh food. I usually buy the packaged foods in the store that are on sale, stock up, and 1 month later actually eat the product, except for pizza.. that usually goes fast. This is how I go grocery shopping. I look at the price.. if it is reasonable, I can buy that. Like meat for example. Most meat I do not buy at the grocery store because it is like $6-10 and I am only cooking for 1 person. I'm not a good cook when it comes to cooking meats like steak, but I do like ham and turkey. I sometimes buy porkchops, which cost $5-6 and then cook them for Joe. this week I am going to be making the prkchops for myself and having 1 chop for dinner each night.

I bought a few items this weekend, like a new dance pad for my DDR games, a rectifier for my personal laptop, groceries, and some junk at SuperTarget.

I feel like playing some more DDR, but bed time is approaching.

Where did my weekend go?

I grabbed a recipe off the internet awhile back for a crockpot ham. It said to cook it in the crockpot for 7-8 hours.

Last night around 10:30 pm I went to bed with the crockpot going on LOW. I planned to wake up at 6 am to check on it.

Still in a state of sleep, i woke up, flipped on the laundry room lights so as to not to distrub Joe who was sleeping on my couch. He woke up anyways.

I saw that the crockpot was boiling. I freaked out. Ok.. the ham.. was BLACK.. well some parts were..

I got Joe up.. after many requests.. to come and test taste it. It failed. The $12+ stuff I spent on the ham dish was a waste.

I will be brining only a pumpkin pie and whipped cream to the office pot luck. If they ask.. didn't you say you were going to bring ham... I'll have to say "I burnt the ham" :(