141
That is how many unread Bloglines entries I had waiting for me when I finally, last night, got back online after a very unplanned hiatus, which was long enough that I managed to forget which login/password combos I use for blogger and photobucket. Picture it: Two days before leaving your home of six years to move to a small and, it must be said, somewhat unappealing (by comparison anyway) midwestern city where you know not a single soul, your computer falls victim to an insanely intense thunderstorm EVEN THOUGH it was plugged into a surge protector which was supposed to PROTECT it from power surges that would knock out the logic board and, oops, the entire hard drive. (Lesson: turns out you are supposed to replace your surge protectors every one to two years. Who knew? Go do it now. Seriously. Also, back up your hard drive, including your email archives, your photos, and your music, because otherwise they might all be lost to you forever and you will be super, super sad.)
Anyhoo, long story short, the computer is back, with its handy internets, so that I can now find things like the other Target, which I hope is not quite so sucky as the one Target I found and have been spending money at all too regularly since I got here. Isn't it weird how some Targets are the shit, and some might as well be Kmarts? Crazy world we live in.
You might think that with no computer I would have found myself with quite a bit of knitting time, but truth be told I have knit nary a stitch in the past few weeks-before I left Austin I was either packing or spending as much time as I could with friends, and now that I'm in Grand Rapids I have been unpacking and going to Target obsessively (because material posessions are my only friends). But now I am slowly settling in, and, not only do I have my internets, I have--glorious day--CABLE! For the first time in six years. It is like candy. Candy which is, luckily, conducive to knitting. So hopefully I will make some progress on something soon, like maybe my other Sockapal2za sock.
Since I have no knitting progress to display, I will instead leave you with two final Things I Will Miss About Austin. Vegetarians, avert your eyes.
5. Meat, Glorious Meat
Austinites will recognize the pile of cow and pig here as a family-style plate at the Salt Lick. Sausage, ribs, and the best brisket ever anywhere. Love you meat! Luckily you can order it online, if you are feeling splurge-y and/or excessively sorry for yourself.
6. Friends
Sniff.
Anyhoo, long story short, the computer is back, with its handy internets, so that I can now find things like the other Target, which I hope is not quite so sucky as the one Target I found and have been spending money at all too regularly since I got here. Isn't it weird how some Targets are the shit, and some might as well be Kmarts? Crazy world we live in.
You might think that with no computer I would have found myself with quite a bit of knitting time, but truth be told I have knit nary a stitch in the past few weeks-before I left Austin I was either packing or spending as much time as I could with friends, and now that I'm in Grand Rapids I have been unpacking and going to Target obsessively (because material posessions are my only friends). But now I am slowly settling in, and, not only do I have my internets, I have--glorious day--CABLE! For the first time in six years. It is like candy. Candy which is, luckily, conducive to knitting. So hopefully I will make some progress on something soon, like maybe my other Sockapal2za sock.
Since I have no knitting progress to display, I will instead leave you with two final Things I Will Miss About Austin. Vegetarians, avert your eyes.
5. Meat, Glorious Meat
Austinites will recognize the pile of cow and pig here as a family-style plate at the Salt Lick. Sausage, ribs, and the best brisket ever anywhere. Love you meat! Luckily you can order it online, if you are feeling splurge-y and/or excessively sorry for yourself.
6. Friends
Sniff.
posted by Ashley at 12:13 PM
10 Comments:
Hi Ashley, I'm glad you're back. Sorry you're sad, but I'm sure you'll soon find *something* redeeming about your new home....
would it help a teeny-tiny bit to say welcome to the state? ;-)
honestly, though there are drawbacks about the grand rapids area, it's not as bad as it might seem...you could be in the UP where the mosquitoes carry off cows (and they might not even have targets!)
chin up...you'll be making friends and feeling more 'to home' soon i'm sure :-)
I moved from Oklahoma to Washington State 2 years ago and I miss the food almost as much as my family and friends! They have no concept of Tex-Mex and the BBQ is a joke. I hope you settle in more quickly than I did. Finding people who knit is a necessity!
I lived in Grand Rapids for 3 years before I escaped to Colorado. Feel free to email me if you want ideas on where to go/what to do!!
i'm so glad you're back. it's awful to say goodbye to friends, i'm very admiring of your intredpidness.
Ohhh... I'm sorry you had to leave your friends. And lost your computer. And had to move away from barbecue. But congratulations on the new job. And getting cable. And I'm glad to see you back on the internet again!
Mmmmeat! Wow - that is some platter of meat... Ugh - moving sucks...I hope I never have to do it again. The 2 years after I graduated with my undergrad degree, I moved apartments 7 times in 3 "cities" - Maritime cities are more like large towns. It was insane. I plan to never move again!! Good luck in GR - it will get better. :-)
Hi there,
Actually it was just yesterday that I lost everything in my computer!! It was horrible, losing all my songs, pictures and patterns!!
And oh, those meats look yummy ;)
Hmm... I am going to ask Scott if he knows that you need to replace surge protectors... hmm... We do back up most of our pictures every 6 months or so, but it would still stink to loose a few months. I hope you didn't loose too much stuff :(
I am sure you will acclimate soon to your new place. It always takes at least a month or two to meet a few people and learn your way around...
Hugs :)
hey, Ashley:
Just wanted to send you a shout out of support! You know I've been reading your blog for a while but never actually posted, but I just gotta agree with all these great people here and say that it will definitely get better...the first month or two are hard but once school starts it'll be fine! Missed your posts and am looking forward to keeping tabs on you via the internets.
hugs,
Olga
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