We have a home!

I took a half-day off of work today in order to sign the lease and drop off the deposit/first month's rent checks.

We're living in a garden-level (1/2 basement) apartment in a building that was built in the 1920s. Although much of the apartment has been updated and has modern (nice!!) fixtures, it still has a lot of the character, like solid wood doors, arched doorways, and the 1920s version of crown molding (where the top 2" of the wall slope inwards to the ceiling). 

Click the jump for videos of the 3 contenders, including the one we settled on.

Week One, in the books

What a great week. I am IN LOVE with my job. Not just my duties, but the office, the people, the culture, everything.

I've got the commute under control. No more missed trains, but I do have to catch the earlier 6:37 train instead of the 6:53, to allow more time to get to OTC. 

I've purchased a really nice pair of sneakers, because I was getting excruciating lateral shin splints when I was walking between train stations and work. I had a gait analysis done, and all sorts of other readings and analyses to see what kind of walking shoe was best. I ended up spending more than I usually do, but what I usually do has ended up with me limping and almost falling down stairs from my ankle giving out. I'll try them out tomorrow to see what kind of improvement I get. 

They are keeping me busy. There's not much in the way of large projects yet, they're still trying to see how much they can trust/rely on me, but I'm whizzing through the smaller things they're shoveling at me about as fast as they can send them. I've gotten a lot of great feedback already, and am hoping that the "3-6 month" timeline for promotion looks more in the way of 3 months than 6.

The biggest challenge for me has been overcoming whatever this food-sleepiness thing is. For months now, I've been having a problem with getting incredibly, overwhelmingly, unfightably sleepy immediately after eating. It's difficult to combat that in the office, where the constant hum of the AC is going, the clack clack of keyboards has become rhythmic, and the chair I'm in is super comfy. I've taken to popping a no-doz if it gets really bad. I *really* hate no-doz but it works for now. 

Tomorrow is the start of week 2! Oh yeah, oh yeah! This is my excitement dance! /shimmy

First Day of Work

What a day.

I woke up at 3:45am. Nerves. Excitement. Not my bed. Many reasons. I left the house at 6:30 to catch the 6:53 train at the station 8 miles away. Not early enough. I couldn't figure out the parking and ended up having to re-park twice because of the confusing space numbers and permit spots. (don't park in unmarked spaces until after 7:30. don't park in marked yellow spaces until after 9. park in white marked spaces anytime. parking is $2, cash only) So I missed the 6:53 train, but caught the next one. Barely. 

Made it to Union Station with 12 minutes to make the next train at the OTC station 2 blocks away. Too bad it takes 15 minutes to disembark the train with a gajillion people on it, filing along a very narrow train platform. I knew the OTC train was gone, so I got in a cab and made it to work only 5 minutes late. On my first day. Jeesh.

The office is beautiful. It's got that industrial loft feeling with clean straight lines and concrete walls/floors. It reminds me of hip start-up company offices. 

I met everyone in the office. Everyone is young, like my age. Including the owners. Here are a few of the standouts:

Claire, front desk girl. Rides bikes (woo!). Went to college in DC. Super sweet, and makes a mean home-made salted caramel.

Shana, assistant property manager, finance side. Not quite a hipster. Kinda sorta looks like one, but much cooler than one. Her cube is decorated with personality, and she is really sweet. Fun to talk to. 

Nicole, senior property manager. What a spitfire. Personality similar to mine, just less shy. Similar work backgrounds and interests. Pregnant, recently married. 

Jenny, operations manager. A-freaking-dorable. Wears a cute dress every day to work. Jack of all trades title does her no justice.

The culture in the office is awesome. People visit each others' cubes and talk a bit every now and then, and taking breaks is encouraged. Looking at Facebook (or other websites) isn't frowned upon as long as it's not constant or interrupting work.

There's a billboard outside our office window that I love. 

There are sheers in front of the windows, sorry for the fuzziness.

On the way home, I had a nice wait on a bench for the train to OTC. Once I got to OTC, I got lost trying to find Union Station, and missed the first train back home. However, another was boarding right as I walked up, so the wait wasn't terrible. 

In total, my commute was about 6 hours between morning and evening commutes. Not fun, but I have to tell you, it's not completely awful. The chance to read, or just enjoy the gentle swaying of the train, is quite lovely!

I'm in Chicago!

I left early on Thursday morning, and arrived at about 1am on Friday morning.

I had to take Doug's car, because poor Bianca wasn't out of the doctor's yet (She had a warranty issue and they replaced the transmission). I'll have his car until he gets here at the end of June. Let me tell you how much I love driving in Chicago traffic in a stick shift that I'm unfamiliar with. OMGWTFBBQHATE.

But I'm here, and settled, and ready for my first day of work tomorrow. Bring it on!

A picture from the drive:

The most interesting thing I saw on the drive was the RV and Mobile Home Hall of Fame.

That exists?!