So, I’ve just finished up the first half of my third week working here at Budlong & Associates, Inc. As I mentioned on the Other Blog, I’ve worked here before, in a lesser capacity: then I was a drafter, now I am a designer. In reality, however, my duties are very similar to what I was doing right before I left in ’01. I have a few more responsibilities, but for the most part, I design (more than I used to), draw, and fix computers all day long (that last feature seems to be one of my more popular traits).

My boss tells me that he wants me to learn all three disciplines: Mechanical (HVAC), Electrical, and Plumbing, and all I can say is that I hope the electrical work doesn’t resemble Electrical Engineering collegiate work at all. I have it on good authority, however, that neither Sam nor Harold have touched KCL or KVL since they graduated, so I’m hopeful.

All in all, the new job is great. The people are fun, the location is good, and the work is challenging without being hard, and rarely menial.

In other news, Mollie and I are almost completely moved in to our new home, and very few boxes remain. The flat has a great kitchen (better than or equal to any kitchen in a house I’ve lived in), and even though it’s small and wallpapered, it has a certain “cuteness” about it, I’m told. Mollie keeps herself busy working out, scrapbooking with her sister, and generally being productive around the flat, and if you twist her arm properly, she might even post about her experiences some. We also take a lot of walks, under the pretense of keeping me in shape.

Today, I’m driving up to Santa Susanna, to visit Rocketdyne, of NASA repute. In the last decade, the facility has gone from belonging to Rockwell, to Boeing, and now to Pratt-Whitney, but back in the day, they made/tested rockets for much of the space program at the facility. They might still, in fact, I’m not too sure.

So, we’re back in Camarillo, and mostly settled into our (somewhat smaller) apartment. It’s not really much smaller than our apartment in Longview, but we’re pretty sure that the majority of the size difference was in the bedroom closet (in Longview we had a big walk-in closet, here we have a little thing with two sliding doors that make it impossible to organize, as Mollie has pointed out to me). As a result, we’ve got some boxes still here and there, but by and large things are coming together nicely to make it a nice living space for us, at least for the time being.

In other news, things out here are just weird. So many things that I remember from growing up here, and now I’m trying to sort them into their places in my new life, which is really completely different from my life in Longview, and a far cry entirely from my life in Camarillo before I left for school. As I said in “Life and Times…” on Isqua Istari, it’s not bad, it’s just weird, and it’s a lot of change. Change is good, or so they say, but it can be trying (and tiring), and we’re kind of still waiting for something to actually feel “normal” again.I start work at Budlong & Associates on Monday… more on that when it happens.

If you want some pictures, feel free to check out the rest:

(more…)

This post is a little late, owing to the fact that when we got here yesterday, we were very busy and had some visitors. We are, however, home at our place in Camarillo, CA, busily unpacking our boxes and making the place a home, instead of a storage place with a lot of cardboard lying around.

We finished our trek yesterday just after 4 PM, PDT, and have been very grateful to my dad, my brother Matthew, Dave Twigg (friend and landlord), and Mollie’s family for their help with moving in yesterday, and especially to my dad and grandfather for driving out to Texas to help us pack and move.

More to come later!

Well, last time I was in Tucson, it was 115 degrees, 90 at night, and my Saturn would overheat on level ground trying to run the AC in the heat. This time, it’s mid-70s at night, and our Escort’s temperature gauge hasn’t crept up a single time on the entire trip, AC not withstanding.

We’re staying on the West end of town, after a long 15-hour day of driving. Getting two time changes in the space of six hours helped a lot with keeping things going, and the drive felt fairly quick and was thoroughly uneventful. Later this week, hopefully Mollie can give you her perspective on that.

Well, today has been a flurry of activity, starting with a quick breakfast at IHOP with my mom and Danny, followed by a few hours of intense packing and cleaning. Many thanks to my dad, his dad, and Mr. and Mrs. Scholl for helping us out with that! We left Longview around 2:30, after filling our 12 foot U-Haul trailer completely (though there is much room to spare in the borrowed pickup truck and the Escort is nearly empty) and grabbing lunch at Tele’s. We rolled into Abilene, TX around 8 PM CDT, and are staying the night at a brand-new Holiday Inn Express on the east side of town.