Archive - 31 Jan 1999

Well, here we are again. There were some objections and arguments about my first journal entry - some people felt I had maligned Matt by saying that he didn't have much in the way of fashion sense (though it's something he freely admits), and Matt thought I should have talked about those concerns with him before I aired them in a public place. Water under the bridge, though, and when I offered to get rid of the journal altogether, he said I should keep it. I wonder what will happen if we have an argument about something and I vent here, though... Hopefully, as long as I remember to either explain both sides or note that it is in fact venting, things will go more smoothly.

Enough of that. On with my life.

I got my Zaurus last week. For those of you who haven't heard the story already, let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Around New Year's, I ordered a Sharp Wizard from the company that handles Sharp's online sales, and was told it would be shipped around the middle of January. About the middle of January, I got the chance to play with a friend's Zaurus, and liked it even better than the Wizard, so I wrote the company and asked if I could change my order. They said they didn't stock the Zaurus, and oh by the way, due to backorders, they shipping date for my Wizard was now the end of February. I got impatient and poked around on eBay and entered an auction that was almost over for a Zaurus 5000. (Not the top of the line, but I made my maximum bid about half of what I was going to pay for the Wizard, so I couldn't lose.) After about a week, the Zaurus landed on my desk, and I'd gotten it for only $85, less than half of what I was going to pay for the Wizard, and I cancelled my order for the Wizard.

I'm pretty pleased with my Zaurus. I only have a couple of problems with it, and they're fairly minor, considering everything. First, it's quite a bit larger and heavier than the Wizard I'd originally contemplated. I had to buy a new purse to make it fit, and I can't hold it and type at the same time as easily as I could with the Wizard - my hands aren't big enough. And second, it doesn't have a backlight. But I haven't really been in a situation where a backlight has been necessary, so that's really minor. And it does have more functionality than the Wizard, and with a PCMCIA card, it's expandable, which is very nice. (Of course, I still need to find the PCLink software so I can get it to talk to my computer, and a flash memory PCMCIA card for backups and memory expansion, but that's just a matter of time.) So, I'm happy.

I'm irritated at the local Recreation Center. Matt and I have been taking water aerobics class there for about eight months. Because of our busy schedules, we can't make every class, so we had been using a system the center had in which we buy a bracelet that was good for 10 classes. (The other option was to sign up for the class by the month and just eat the loss if we missed a class. The bracelet is a little more expensive if we make it to every class in a month, but cheaper if we miss more than two or three classes.) But with the new year they came up with a new bracelet. This one costs the same, but allows the holder access to any number of classes for the duration of one month. And, of course, they're getting rid of the other bracelet. I find it infuriating. I don't care about going to other classes, and the class we go to is the only water aerobics class offered during a time we're able to go. So we won't actually be getting any more classes out of the bracelet than we'd be getting if we just signed up for the class by the month and ate the cost of missing a class. So now we have to decide if we're going to go back to paying for the class by the month, or quit the class. And if we quit the class, we'll have to find some other form of exercise, which will be nearly impossible, given our schedules, the fact that Matt is in lots better shape than I am, and my bad feet, which make simple things like speedwalking and jogging out of the question. ::sigh:: Oh, well. We'd probably have had to quit anyway when we moved to our new house, because the new house is technically in a different county, so the price of the bracelet would have doubled. But if you have any suggestions of exercises that are cheap, require little or no equipment, and little or no impact on the feet, by all means let me know!

And today is Super Bowl Sunday. We're going to spend the afternoon over at my parents' house. Mom always makes chili for the Super Bowl, and they want to hear all the details about the new house. And I love to watch Super Bowl commercials. Couldn't care less about the football, unless the game is really close. That's about it for my not-so-exciting life right now!

Archive - 27 Jan 1999

Well, here we are, a brand new blank journal. There's something about a blank page that I find both fascinating and terrifying. I can say anything I want on that page. Anything at all. But what if it's the wrong thing; something stupid?

Anyhow, this is my journal. I'll use it to keep track of things that are going on in my life - the big things and the weird little trivia. I don't promise that it will be exciting - but the sort of person who reads online journals isn't usually worried about being bored, are they?

Matt and I are in the process of buying a house. It's such a weird process. We can't just buy a house - not even if we had the entire price of the house in cash. For one thing, the price of the house is not the cost of buying a house. There are inspections that are required but not free; you have to pay to transfer the title to the house if it was previously owned by someone else; there are fees in addition to the interest involved with the loan. Why can't I just say, "I'll give you $120,000 and you give me the keys,"? I know, this is starting to sound like a rant.

Had my Weight Watchers meeting last night. I wasn't feeling very positive about it - I've been sick most of the last week, and for some reason I always feel heavier when I'm sick. But I'd lost three pounds! Hurrah! Guess all that broth and tea was good for something after all. I got my fifteen-pound star. (They give out bookmarks at 5, 25, and 50 pounds, and little gold star-shaped stickers at the other 5-pound increments. I'm just in the program for the stickers, you know...)

This weekend Matt and I drove to Lynchburg to help our friends Braz and Kristen move. It was something of a last-minute trip; last weekend Braz and Kris were in Williamsburg for MarsCon, and we joked about doing it. But we didn't actually decide to go until Thursday. Moving is never really fun, but I enjoyed talking with Kris at least - she's got good taste, so I'm hoping I can get her help in picking colors and such for our new house. Actually, she liked most of my ideas, which was nice for my ego: I can now officially explain that my apartment looks like hell because I can't afford the things I'd really like.

I'm a little worried that I'm going to clash with Matt over decorating the new house. I don't know whether it's the age difference (I doubt it) or the gender difference (that's my bet) but he still doesn't see anything wrong with putting a poster up with thumbtacks. (That's just an example; he happily bowed to my request that his Jim Henson poster be framed.) But... I not only want nice things in my house, I want them to match each other. I even want to be able to do themes for a few individual rooms. Matt looked at me like my head was on backwards when I told him I wanted to do the guest bedroom in pale green with cream-yellow trim. (I'm trying for a spring theme - I had visions of nice bedspreads with pink or blue flowers, and matching curtains.) ::sigh:: In every way but this, Matt is the sweetest, most sensitive man I could ever ask for - but his fashion sense is practically nonexistent. Maybe he'll let me make the decisions as long as I pay for all the extras? Oh, well, we'll get it settled somehow. We can't afford to do everything I want right away anyhow.

I guess that's enough rambling for now. Nothing really momentous is going on anyway.