Pictures of My New Place

I finally got my place cleaned and organized and I took some pictures tonight. I just posted them on FlickR.

We are having our H Family reunion tomorrow and all of our family that lives out of state is in town. I'll probably spend the night at my parent's house tomorrow, but I'll try to start catching up on everybody's blogs when I get back on Sunday. Now that my place is organized, I will be able to spend more time doing that and catching up on my 83 emails either this weekend or when I get home from work.

Have a great weekend everybody!

First Day

Well today was my first day at work. It would have been great if my boss hadn't kept me there until 7pm. Come on, who actually has to work on their first day at work. At least I won't feel guilty leaving at noon on Friday for Summer Hours since I totally put in my extra time today.

Otherwise everyone was really nice and I think I'm going to have a good time there. The best part was after I had my meeting with HR to cover my benefits, I got my welcome goody bag. Boy, did I miss working. = )

My move on Sunday went well considering it was one of the hottest days of the year in Chicago. I believe they said on the radio it was 95 but with the heat index, it felt like 105. We made one trip and I decided that I would need to come back one more time with my mom's minivan. In between trips, we went to Best Buy and bought an air conditioner. The owner and my dad both said what a great breeze I get in the place, but with humidity I don't want a breeze I want A/C. I'm still unpacking boxes, but as soon as I get everything organized and looking nice and pretty, I'll take pictures and post them.

Moving

Well I'm just about ready. We loaded up my mom's minivan and my car tonight so we can get an early start in the morning. I thought I had alot of stuff packed up, but now that I look at my room, I see there is still alot more to do. I'm hoping it will only take 2 trips. I guess all I really have to pack up is my clothes, laptop, and the bathroom and a few odds and ends here and there.

They are suppose to come out on Monday to hook up my phone, cable, and DSL so I'll try to post some pictures and stuff then. Then I promise to catch up on everyone's blogs. I know I have been a horrible blogger for the last couple of months, but I'm sure I'll have more time when I start working. LOL Just kidding, I wouldn't use company time to read blogs. At least not in the first week.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I Found A Place

Well I finally found a place today. I guess I shouldn't say finally since I just started looking seriously last week, but it really is a load off my mind knowing that the search is over.

I went to the Apartment People on Friday and a lady showed me 3 different places. There was one that I was interested in, but it was on the 3rd or 4th floor and I wasn't looking forward to moving all of my crap up 3 or 4 flights of stairs, but I figured if worse comes to worse at least it is something.

Then on Friday night, I went on Craig's List and found another place and I went and saw it on Saturday. The guy was really nice and the place was large. It was on the 2nd floor so it wasn't too big of a deal, but the more I thought about it, the more I was questioning the safety of the neighborhood and the building. It would have been a great deal for downtown Chicago. It was 1550 square feet (almost too much room for me really, but I'm sure I could have filled it up) and it included a parking spot in a garage behind the building.

Then today I went to Chicago Apartment Finders. At first I was starting to lose hope when the guy said he would show me 5 different places and when he called, it seemed like all of them had already been rented. But we got the okay to look at 2 of them. One was in the neighborhood that I was looking originally and the other was a little bit north of where I was looking. I wasn't sure about the neighborhood, but the guy told me that it was a safe part of town.

After looking at the first place I was psyched. It was a condo that a woman was renting for a year because she is going to teach in Argentina. It was fully furnished, but she said if it had to be, she could put some stuff in storage. The place was beautiful and also quite large with 1100 square feet. Plus it was secure. The only downside was no parking garage or lot, but both the woman and the Chicago Apartment Finder guy assured me that there was ample parking on the street. Plus the woman said it is a very safe area and she never feels unsafe walking from her car to her condo at night. So that made me feel good. The only problem was whether or not my parents would let me keep more of my furniture at home.

Well after looking at the 2nd place, I thought more and more about how I liked the 1st one and I called up my dad. I knew I had a better chance of convincing my mom and luckily she was home too so I asked him to pass the phone along to her and she said that if it was what I wanted and made things easier for me, then I could leave the majority of my stuff at home.

So I went in and filled out an application and left a security deposit. Now I just have to wait for them to run the background check and they will call and I can sign a lease.

I really wasn't looking for a fully furnished place, but the more I think about it, the better it is. Now I don't have to worry about moving all of my furniture and I don't have to go out and buy a new couch. My plan is to rent for a year and save up for a downpayment on a condo to buy. I was disappointed when I started looking and didn't find anything that I loved in my price range. I didn't want to have to move twice and now I don't have to. I just have to move the essentials (books, dvd's, cd's, electronics, and of course clothes) and then when I'm ready to buy a place and if I have enough money saved up, I can buy new furniture and just have it delivered. Well that's the plan anyway.

So as long as my credit check goes through (and I can't imagine why it wouldn't) then I can move in on Sunday. Gosh, I really can't believe how quickly everything has been happening lately. I've only been home from Germany a little over a month and I start a new job on Monday and I'm moving into my own place on Sunday.

My Walk

Well today has been an adventure. I took the Metra train from the suburbs into Chicago today and then walked across the street to take a bus up north to where the apartment finder companies are. As I was crossing the street, I saw that the 151 bus that I wanted was just pulling out (those damn walk signs) so I decided to hop on the 147 since that goes up North anyway.

What I needed was the 145 or 146, but 147 looked like the right one until I got on and it kept on going further and further north on Lake Shore Drive. So at the first available stop, I got off and figured I could just walk South to the apartment place after all it was a beautiful day. Until, I noticed that I wasn't exactly walking through the best part of town, I walked for several blocks until I saw the 151 heading south and I hopped on. I asked if it went to Belmont and she said yeah and I had to get off on some street that I didn't really understand what she was saying. Then we came to a stop and it said Broadway and I was like perfect, the place is on Broadway so I hopped off and started walking.

Ooops, I was at something like 5300 North and I needed to get to 3121 North Broadway. At least I was in a better part of town and I was happy to see the rainbow flags to know that I was in one of the safest areas for a girl in the city, boyztown. On the way to the Apartment People, I walked past Borderline Music and knew when I was done I had to head back there to get the latest Madonna single (which I did).

Unfortunately when I got to the Apartment People, they had a 2 hour wait. I asked if I could just come back in 2 hours and she said they have been running late today and suggested I make an appointment for another day. So I now have an appointment for noon tomorrow. Then I walked to Chicago Apartment Finders which was just a couple of blocks away and they were booked until Sunday. I said I would call back after Sunday since I won't need them if I find a place tomorrow with the Apartment People.

Now since I was in Wrigleyville (a.k.a. boyztown), I knew there was a 7 11 around there somewhere where I could get one of those super 40 ounce Slurpees so I called my brother and he told me where it was.

After I got my Slurpee, I realized that I didn't know if I could bring a beverage on the bus. Since I already paid for 2 bus rides and I knew I was far enough south that there weren't any bad neighborhoods, I decided to just walk back to the train station. I wasn't far from Lake Shore Drive so I just walked along the paths back to the Loop. I just used Yahoo Maps and it turns out I walked 4.8 miles from the 7 11 back to the train station. That would be the reason for my sore feet. It only took me an hour and 45 minutes. That doesn't say alot for my speed, but I was just taking in the scenery.

If I would have been wearing shorts instead of jeans today, I would have taken off my shoes and just walked along the beach. But it was still nice walking parallel to Lake Michigan. Well I'd like to say that that walk made up for the fact that I haven't been to the gym in 2 months. As I was walking along the beach, I saw there is actually a Bally's Total Fitness on the beach. I thought it was pretty cool. Once again if I was wearing shorts, I could've worked out.

So I've learned a couple of lessons today:
1. Take your time at reading where a bus is going instead of just hopping on. It is better to wait 10 minutes for the next bus as opposed to ending up in the wrong part of town.

2. Make an appointment with the apartment finder people before making the journey even though walk-ins are welcome.

Drug Screening

Well yesterday I went in for my pre-employment drug screening. I don't know about the rest of you, but I always get paranoid before doing one of these things. Not that I do them often (this is only my second time) and not that I think I'm going to fail the test (although I have heard that poppyseeds can give you a false positive), but that when the time comes, I won't be able to ... pee on command. I really do wonder how sperm donors do it?

So to try to overcompensate for that fear, of course I drink a ton of water before going. Yesterday when I woke up, I drank a large glass or water while I was getting ready and then on the drive the place I drank a bottle of water. Unfortunately with the holiday the place was closed Monday and Tuesday and there was a waiting room full of people. Needless to say after sitting there for 45 minutes, I really had to go.

They really are procedural during these types of things. My only concern was that the lady wanted to physically watch me fill up the specimen cup (don't worry she didn't go that far). I walked into the little room and she said that I had to lock my purse up in this little lock box in the bathroom. So at least it would stay with me the entire time, but she had the key. So I put my purse in the little box and then she told me to please rinse my hands with water. I thought this was kind of odd, but I did. I was like do I get to dry them now and she pointed to the paper towels. Then I had to pick my little cup (I guess so I couldn't claim that they set me up or something). Then I was told not to flush or turn the water on in the bathroom. They even put pieces of tape over everything so you would remember. Good thing too because it is just out of habit that I usually flush after using the facilities. And this point I was like whatever lady just let me fill that baby up. Afterwards she said that it was the correct temperature. I was like great, not like I have any control over it. Then I had to initial and sign and I was on my way.

I wonder why companies even have pre-employment drug screenings. It probably lowers their insurance costs or something. The only time before I had to take one when I was before I started working at the movie theatre. How half the people working there passed, I'll never know, but maybe they didn't make them rinse their hands beforehand. The thought of it really does amuse me since I am going to be working for an alcohol companies, but I guess we do have our standards.

Well I'm off to look at apartments in the city. I hope everyone has a great day and those damn results come back negative or whatever they are suppose to be so I can afford the dream apartment that I hope to find today.

Work Comes Early

I got an email last night from my ex-boss, who will soon be my boss once again asking for my help on a spreadsheet and I was hoping some of you computer gurus out there could help me out. I already went to the library and got some Visual Basic help books and downloaded some off the Internet, but I could still use some help. Here is what I need to do.

I have an excel spreadsheet that has a list of accounts with their addresses and contact information and about 93 columns with all the different brands. I want to make a macro or something so when we send this spreadsheet out to the field, they can pick which brands they want to print out. My boss suggested that we have a cell where the field can input the number of the columns they want to print. However, I'm thinking it would be easier to put a checkbox at the top of each brand column and have them put a check in the box if they want to print that brand.

But how to put that idea into visual basic programming language, I don't know. I'm thinking it would be something like if the checkbox doesn't have a check in it (I'm assuming that would be a No or False value), then I would hide that column and just print the rest.

Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions? I don't start work for another 2 weeks so I have plenty of time to read all of the books that I got, but I would like to try to impress the boss and contribute before my start day. I figure it is good to get in the brownie points early.