Money has been just a wee bit tight since departing the old job and state and moving south. I was paid last Friday for only my first two days of work, so I planned to keep things pretty low-key during the week this week and next. Every day, I have come straight home after work and cooked dinner myself rather than eating out. Three of the four nights this week I have gone out for a jog around the neighborhood and abandoned plans of joining a gym just yet. Oh yeah, it’s totally paying off: tonight while passing by a neighbor’s house I saw a homemade sign for a “missing chawawa.” Poor mutt.

Eventually things will get back on track financially and I will be better off than I was before, but not until at least next Friday. Tonight I made my one and only splurge purchase of the week, something that in the long run could actually save me money: MLB.TV. Now that the Twins are over 1,000 miles away, the blackout restrictions no longer apply (unless they play the Rangers) and I can watch all their games from the comfort of my computer. It was nice to hear the soothing voices of Dick and Bert tonight. the half season package cost me under $60, which is a steal considering we were paying Comcast triple that to watch basically nothing other than Twins baseball.

I’m finding ways to entertain myself here at the house, mostly by streaming Netflix on the computer. This week I watched two of the all-time classics that ranked high on AFI’s Top 100 list, 1967’s The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman, and 1976’s Network starring Faye Dunaway. Big fan of Graduate, not quite as much Network though it certainly was captivating. Neither won Best Picture, so we didn’t cover them in our project, though Network is still the most recent movie to win 3 of the 4 big acting awards at the Oscars.

I have been chatting with Lauren on the phone late every night before bed, and on a couple occasions have video chatted via Skype. If anyone else out there has a webcam and wants to give it a try, it worked out pretty darn slick! Kinda surprising I had never tried that until now. It’s been almost three full weeks since we’ve seen each other… but hopefully Lauren can come visit extremely soon! In fact, as I told Lauren yesterday, since I departed the Glanzer farm that Saturday, I have gone 19 days without seeing anyone I’ve ever seen before… prior to my trip down here for the interview in May, anyway.

Work has been very good this week. I’m feeling much more comfortable with being the new guy, definitely not my favorite role… but someone has to be the new guy. Definitely liking the shorts/sandals dress code. I’m learning to play hacky-sack with the IT crew every afternoon, and really enjoying having a window in the office, small as that sounds.

No, haven’t had the opportunity to get out on the golf course yet, but apparently I can check out any club I want from the massive warehouse anytime I want. Next week the marketing team is doing a lunch hour driving range outing so I’ll soon get the chance. I have tried hard to get more interested in golf since starting here, so much so that I entered a bracket in the British Open tournament and have been closely watching the leaderboard. Rooting for Lauren’s distant cousin, Ian Poulter, amongst others!

Nothing on the slate for the weekend just yet. Again, money is a bit tight for another week, so I won’t too wild, but I imagine I’ll venture out yet again for more exploration. If anyone wants to come visit, now would be a great time! It’s in the hundreds every single day, but it seriously feels better than Midwest summer weather. Almost no humidity makes all the difference… I’m barely even sweating!