Mad Macedonian

Faith, Furniture and Freakiness

OK, call me crazy, but I stopped by a Christian second hand store a mile from home and sitting outside was a beautiful 3 piece wood furniture set, received only two days ago and just put out today.

A day after going to church for the first time in a good long while, I decide to check out this store, which I discovered a few weeks back.

There were two end tables and a coffee table for a total of $55.

I hadn’t planned on buying anymore furniture, because of the cost, but could not pass this steal of a deal up and I know just how to use them in what space I have. :-D

I carried one end table home, and came back, twice more, with my dolly, to get the other two.

Unpacking and Taking an Initial Look Around

On Sept. 25^th my relocube arrived. When I opened it my life in Houston almost came to an end.

The jostling of the long journey, from California, moved things around a bit and several containers threatened to fall on my head!

Bracing a few up, with my back and shoulders, I lowered others to the ground. Using my dolly, and the elevator in my building, it took just 2 days to unload. Only 3 items were left for the third day because some visitor ignored the sign I’d put on the cube door, asking people not to block it (There were plenty of other spaces to choose from).

A larger picture frame with copies of some of my proudest blogging efforts, was damaged and would need to be replaced (Done, though I need to re-print out my posts.)

I put a polite note on the miscreants driver door handle, asking them to next time please read the note. The next morning the car was closer to the cube, and I was not able to remove the last items until the cube was picked up later in the day.

I only learned later that I might have been able to position the cube in a different way and still remain in the parking space.

Getting My Initial Bearings

My first few days in Houston were a busy time.

I soon realized that a Q-Card was a necessity for navigating the transit system as cheaply as possible for a person who, like me, uses it almost daily. Regular fair being $1.25, and there being no transfers, the card allows a person unlimited rides for 3 hrs.  under certain conditions, and 5 free rides after every 50 uses. After a month of use it appears to me that I will have to put $60 – 70 on the card a month. Quite different than a $55, a month pass like in the OC.

Unlike many agencies in SoCal, bus schedules come in individual pamphlets, not an all-in-1 book for a $1 and the system can be a bit confusing for anyone not familiar with it.

On my first major excursion into the wilds of urban Houston to try to get my state ID (turns out I had to wait a month, I guess to see if living here would be agreeable to my, and Houston’s, digestive systems) I asked one driver directions when I needed to transfer to another bus and ended up going the wrong way, getting a 3 hour tour of a part of town, thus learning where 2 universities, and a huge bike trail were. :-D

Yoo, Hoo, Houston, I'm Heeere....Day 1

Musings of a brand new Houstonian...

The morning of Sept. 2oth...

Once we left the airport we were the only passengers on the Super Shuttle ride to our apartment and I got my first ground level look at Houston, even though the ride was mostly on a freeway.

A combination of open spaces, business parks, corner shopping centers, huge malls, and residential areas, barely scratches the surface of what Houston is all about.

The open spaces, including the bayous and parks, and the amount of trees, especially in residential areas, as well as the amount of traffic on the freeway and busy streets, were what stood out most to me, initially.

Upon arrival at our new home I met the complex staff and filled out paperwork, made payments and was shown a few things and given my keys.

Then it was time to meet our new digs.

The complex is big and we walked across a good part of it to my building which, with stairs and an elevator, will make reaching my second floor apartment, in a 3 floor building, easy.

While the complex has been around a while and the pavement, in places, shows its age, the buildings and grounds looked nice.

Getting Comfortable in My New Home, Adding Chairs and Bookcases

Since taking this photo I put to use my wireless keyboard and mous, and am now more at ease using the laptop. :-D

This past week I bought 4 butterfly chairs on sale at Target. and 2 Billy Bookcases at Ikea.

I had planned to get just 2 chairs, since the ad said they were $29.99, but when I got to my local Target I found just a red one on sale for $14.98.

When I asked if other stores had any, I was told where, and so went to see what I could find.

I found 3 blue on sale, but for $20.98.

It took 3 employees for me to find one authorized to do what I wanted.

I waved the red one at her saying I'd love to buy the 3 blue at the lower price, and she agreed! :-D

This is my "Wall of Inspiration".

In addition to the photos and inspirational plaques (including the Desiderata), there are "38 Thoughts to Start the Day", my "Creative Writer's Prayer, a Wordplayer's Manifesto, The Lord's Prayer and 23rd Psalm, Rudyard Kipling's poem "If", some inspirational thoughts by Robert Lee Brewer, 20 Things I Would Like to Have Manifest in My Life of a Material, Spiritual, Intellectual, and Creative Nature (3 1/2 checked off so far!), the LinkedIn Recommendation from my friend Randy Eady, and my friend Amanda Socci's urging to me to "Exercise your balls!" and other thoughts about my future personally and creatively. :-D

One more thing will be added in the space next to the flags, just above my computer, once I get another frame, and print the relevant items out again.

PYTW 41: Framing Myself as a Way to Inspire My Hopes and Dreams

I may get a larger frame and add a few things, it depemds.

Good-Bye California! Houston, Here We Come!

Here's the story of a sassy lady who was living with two very handsome guys. One of them was human, the other a cat like her.

Here's the story of a man named Kiril, who was living in the state where he had grown. He and 2 cats, living all together, in Santa Ana, California, all alone.

Till one day when the man had an idea, after 2 years unemployment, and much thought, he had a hunch, that his creative and personal lives needed change. That's the way these 3 ended up in Texas, Houston, Texas.

That's the way this creative writer ended up in Texas, Houston, Texas! :-D

So let’s begin on the evening of Sept. 19^th:

I fed the cats, gave them their sedative, put them in their harnesses, and carriers and then turned out the lights and closed the door, on my life of 52 years and 6 months, in California.

The Super Shuttle ride was uneventful and we got to LAX at 1015pm. Over the next hour I checked in, filled out paperwork for the cats, then took Nikita to pet baggage where I attached the leash and took him out of his carrier so they could inspect it.

Since they attached cables to further secure the doors I knew it was safe to take him out of the harness for the rest of the journey. I held him and talked to him as he calmly looked around and then said good-bye as they took him away.

Elvira and I then went through TSA and I put the leash on her as I carried her through the x-ray. She was as much a lady as Nikita was a gentleman, as she looked around, eyes wide in curiosity. :-D

I asked if I should keep her in harness and since they were not sure of the Dallas airport layout they recommended I do so.

Having to go to the restroom, I told Elvira to avert her eyes and sallied forth! I got a few odd looks as I entered and announced, “Just so ya know, lady in the cat bag!” :-D

On the trip to Dallas Elvira was quiet and well behaved, stuffed under the seat in front of me.

Thoughts From My Last 3 Days in California

"Mobility is perhaps the most important aspect of federalism. If the individual concludes he is hopelessly bound by what he considers to be a harmful decision by state or local authorities, he may, in the end, choose to live elsewhere--where the economic, cultural, or social conditions are more to his liking. Indeed, throughout American history, individuals of all races, ages, and income levels have moved from one state to another, either because they are escaping adverse conditions, or simply because they are seeking greener pastures."

Mark R. Levin - Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, pg. 52

 

Sept. 17, 2012, Santa Ana, California:

In the late 1940’s my teenage mother-to-be, her half-sister and brother-in-law, and in coming years, her younger brothers, and mother, all left Owensboro, Kentucky for the greener pastures of California, where they worked as migrant workers, in California, Oregon, and Washington, before eventually settling down in the Inland empire of Southern California.

All they had for the journey were a car, clothes and a small amount of money

The brothers entered the military, mom became a waitress, and later, a Den Mother at Pitzer College, and the brother-in-law got a job as a grounds man at Claremont-Mudd College, both in Claremont, Ca...

My father-to-be fled the communism of Yugoslavia for the freedom of America, with little beyond the clothes on his back, and a few cherished photos, sponsored to go from an Italian refugee camp in Italy to a farm in New York, in 1951, ending up at a Mexican Migrant camp, in the Inland empire, from which he went on to wash dishes in a local hotel, before landing a job as a grounds man at Pomona College, in Claremont, Ca., in 1953.

California was good to them all, in different ways, trough good times and bad.

The brothers went on to productive lives in CA, and other states.

Now, it’s my turn to leave a state that no longer offers anything to me, and head to what I believe to be the greener, though warmer, even on occasion wetter, pastures, of Houston, Texas, with my book collection, clothes, a computer, a bicycle, 2 cats and a small amount of other items, as well as a limited amount of funds, unemployment through December and a decent IRA that I don’t plan on touching.

As I sit here in a nearly empty apartment, 2 days from departure, I have faith that this is the right move for me at this time in my life, and trust in God to show me the way to a bright, productive future.

 

The Day My Computer Died

7 years ago I bought my 2nd desktop computer, a Dell Dimension 3000. It served its purpose well, only having to be physically worked on last year.

Yesterday, I got comcast internet and was going to go online and say hello to Houston, and Texas.... But my Dell's Motherboard died. The tech at Office Depot rescued the info on my hard drive, though.:-)

Now I have to get a new computer. Friends have told me that the mobility of a laptop would suit me, as a writer and blogger.

As I type this from my cell phone (a month ago I would never have dreamed of even attempting this!) I am heading to walmart to look at a $368 Toshiba. I may be able to blog again on cell and the apt lounge computer, but without pictures, I'll see.:-)

****UPDATE - 10/11/12****

Coming home with a $500 Toshiba Laptop, onsale at Staples for $399, for which I paid $350, because it was open box. :-D

 The wonderful techs also saved everything off my Dell Hard Drive after discovering Office Depot screwed up! :-D

Blogging will resume this weekend!

****END UPDATE****

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...So, Houston, it Begins Tomorrow

Hello, friends and fans of the Mad Macedonian...                       

The hook up of my computer, at last, is only a day away.

Miss me? :-D

The past 10 days have been eventful ones, interesting and amusing, too.

As I type this, I am sitting at one of 4 reasonably co-operating computers in the small lounge of my apt. complex...and it is raining outside, with more tomorrow, even thunder and lightening, they say.

Comcast will come by Sunday afternoon to hook up my computer and we shall see how good a job of packing I did to get it here safely. :-D

There will be lots to share, including photos, so stay tuned.

Will Houston, much less the rest of Texas, survive the arrival of The Mad Macedonian?

We shall soon begin to find out! :-D

Last Post Before the Move!

Good evening, friends...

It is sunday night, and in the morning I will disconnect my computer, and box it up.

I will have internet accessn on cell phone, and probably at an Internet Cafe at my new apartment complex starting Thursday.

I am still learning to use my cell phone so may not be blogging anything, but I can post to Facebook! :-D

Most of the blogging in the last few days has been over at Meowsings, with plenty of photos. :-D

The cats are doing a great job reporting on the moving process. :-D

I have been packing and cleaning, and taking notes for my move, as I will have several errands to run once settled in Houston..

Tomorrow my carpet will get cleaned, and on Tuesday one of my sisters will show up with a truck, and we will take all that you see above to a stre in a relocube for transport to Texas, with a scheduled arrival of the 24th.

On the trip by plane I will have my camera, and a notepad, to try to document the journey for future sharing.