NEWS:

03.08.04 - Terrence Marks:

Day 1 We left our monitor in South Florida. It was bulky, heavy, and fragile enough to not be worth shipping. We left our keyboard because it didn't fit anywhere and because we do enough typing to justify getting a fancy keyboard. So we've got our computer but don't have anywhere to put it or a monitor or keyboard. Good thing my dad let us take his laptop (that's how I'm writing all this, mind you). Hopefully he'll get a better one for himself soon. Eventually - when I get a job - we'll get a second full-size computer so Isabel and I have separate ones again. But not yet. I need to get my computer up and running soon; I've just arrived. I have no job. My possessions are all in boxes. I still feel like I'm visiting. I need to get my nest set back up again so I can settle into it. And when I have a computer back operational, that's half the work right there. My goal is to either get things that are inexpensive enough so that I don't feel bad about throwing them away after a year or high quality enough so that I don't feel bad about keeping them. I know if I get mid-quality things I'll wind up keeping them and feeling bad about it. So we went to IKEA. They don't have IKEA in South Florida. But they really should. It's a warehouse/factory showroom full of modular furniture. And it's got style. Like Target, only bigger and with more furniture. We picked up a bed frame, a drawer, and a table. Me and Rolando spent the night putting the bed frame together. Isabel and I slept on an air mattress again, but this time it was a foot off the ground. It helps. Really. Day 2 We pick up a mattress. We go out to a Simmons factory outlet. Turns out mattresses usually run about $600-$1500. You never know that kind of thing until you have to buy a mattress. I had naively assumed that bedding would just kind of be there when we needed it. We go to a discount store and find the same mattress for about $300. Nothing makes a mattress seem like a bargain like finding it for sale at four times the price. We discover our NIC died in transit. First it's not detected. I reseat it and the machine doesn't turn on. I unplug it and the machine doesn't POST. Stopped at In & Out - I know it's a fast food chain, but they've got all these chains out here that I've never heard of - Jack-in-the-Box, Pollo Loco, King Taco, Taconazo, Vons, ...it's an adventure out here. Even eating fast food is an adventure out here. We find that Oktagone, Namir Deiter's host, is down. Or rather, their nameservers that point to ND are down, so nobody can resolve the name to its IP address. Oktagone says they'll get it taken care of real soon now. Their webpage reports no outages.

03.10.04 - Terrence Marks:

Day 3 Got the cellphone working again, on the third try. Now we're a little less out-of-touch. Our wild spending spree continues. We picked up a monitor, keyboard and network card. We're going to return the keyboard when we get our own car. It keeps falling out and it feels cheap. But the NIC works. We've got our machine set up downstairs in the living room with my sister-in-law's computer. Not enough room for us to set up two monitors, so we have to swap their monitor between them. It's enough to get us online but not for any reasonable length of time. Hopefully, our room will be networked in the near future. Oktagone, Namir Deiter's host, is still down. Their webpage still reports no outages. Day 4 My guitars arrive. All four of them. I'm going to have to start learning to play them real soon now. Need to get new strings and a tuner first. I'm probably going to hold off on that until I get a job. Decided to take the acoustic guitar home; it's easier to manage. Not enough room to bring home the electric guitars too. We've got all our furniture assembled. We went through our boxes to get the bedding that we were given as wedding presents (Thanks, Bunnie!) and got to use it, finally. Oktagone, Namir Deiter's host, has closed their forums because they have received too many complaints there. They ask that all complaints are filed through their ticket system instead of allowing people to air their grievances in a public forum. Their webpage still reports no outages. At that point, we purchase service with Fuitadnet.com and upload ND's site there.

03.12.04 - Terrence Marks:

Day 5 We woke up early to go down to the DMV to get our Florida licenses changed to California ones. Having our original licenses wasn't enough; we had to bring our birth certificates. So we have to go back there tomorrow. We did, however, pick up the car Isabel's father gave us. Got insurance on it. Now all we need is to get it smog-tested and registered. I never knew getting a car was so complicated (and expensive). But when we finally get it going (which should be tomorrow, I hope) we'll finally be able to get our shopping done on our own schedule. I really do appreciate everything Isabel's family has been doing for us, but it's stressful having to choose a major appliance within 20 minutes because that's all the time we have until someone has to go to class. I'm not good at making major decisions quickly. I need to be reassured about things. I need to believe that I'm getting the best deal and hear it from three complete strangers. It drives my wife crazy. And my game of choice? Well, our gamecube doesn't have a TV to plug into. Our computer is in a kind-of-public place and we have to keep swapping cables. Our PS2 is still in the mail (and will hopefully arrive real soon now). So I've got a SNES emulator and I'm playing ActRaiser. We've got Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga as well. Addicting, it is. I beat ActRaiser so I'll probably just emulate the Super Mario RPG now.