June 12, 2002
Dear Everyone:
Moved into my new cubicle in Building V this week. The official move date was last Thursday, but that was just for the movers. They came right after lunch and picked up five boxes, the floor shield, the chair and an antique tea trolley that I use as a mobile shelving unit. Before they were finished, the new flat screen monitor arrived, so I quickly slapped a movers label on it and added that to the job. One less thing for me to have to carry.
On Friday, I spent most of the day with some
customers, so I didn’t get to the new cubicle until after
I also discovered that the movers had placed the floor shield under the desk, but had pushed it too far in, so that it covered the electrical outlets set into the floor. Thus I would be unable to plug anything in until I could get someone to move the floor shield for me. Moving it myself was out of the question. Since someone had to lift the desk, while simultaneously repositioning the shield, it was clearly a two-person job.
So I made a note of things I was going to need, like power strips to plug things into and called it a week. On Saturday, “Jeannie” and I had lunch, then went shopping for flowers and plants to spruce up her place and give it “curb appeal”. She’s in the process of getting a home equity loan and wanted to make the place look as nice as possible before the appraiser arrived. So we shopped at the nursery, piled everything into my car and took it up to her place.
Then we arranged hanging plants and color spots in the front yard and the patio area. (From what I’ve heard this week, this paid off with the appraiser.) On the way home, I stopped at one of the office warehouse places and picked up three power strips, two for the office and one for my kitchen. With the phone, the answering machine and the cell phone recharging base all using those big transformers, I decided to plug them all into a power strip. It has neatened up that corner of the kitchen, where the phone jack is, considerably.
On Sunday, I had planned to go to a movie, but decided instead to use the time more productively by doing some shopping for home and office. I went to the hardware warehouse first, to get a halogen bulb for the living room lamp. And, as long as I was there, I might as well pick up a couple of filters for the air conditioning system (the filter should be changed on the first weekend of each quarter, along with the baking soda in the refrigerator and the toothbrush in the bathroom).
It was while I was looking for the filters that I ran across the cutest, most adorable little refrigerator I’ve ever seen. Now that I’m working in my new location, there’s no refrigerator like there is in “Livermore”. There’s a vending machine that charges 75¢ for a 12-oz soft drink. Considering that you can buy a 12-pack for as little as $3.00 at the grocery store, that’s highway robbery. This little fridge will hold a six-pack, with room enough for a couple of sandwiches or a few cups of yogurt. Just the thing for me. And it’s small enough to hide under my desk where no one will see it (in times past, there were rules against keeping a fridge in your office; something about using too much electricity). By the way, it works very well.
After that bit of somewhat impulse shopping, I moved on to another office warehouse in the same parking lot. There I found a couple of plastic three-drawer “cabinets” that I could set up on one side of my new desk. I figured I’d get some kind of a plastic “shelf” to lay across the top of them to hold binders and books, thus giving me some storage space and freeing up the desk top at the same time.
Monday was spent getting the new office set up, deciding what should go where and what to bring up from “Livermore”. By Tuesday, I was operational, although I can’t always remember which drawer I stored what in.
And the rolling computer case that I had ordered arrived in “Livermore” on Monday. This makes moving around so much easier, that I use it as a “briefcase” even if I don’t need to take the laptop with me. I can loop my purse straps over the pull-handle and everything rolls along behind me. It’s still a little tricky getting through the security entrances, which use electronic revolving doors, but we’ll get the hang of it soon enough.
In the meantime, my cold is almost completely gone; just a slight bronchial cough to contend with now. My back is getting better. And, with luck, maybe “Jeannie” and I will get to see a movie next weekend.
Love, as always,
Pete
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