Yearly Archives: 2005

Apartment Stuffs

Life Musings

Well that last update seemed to go well; now I’ll ramble on about the apartment.

It’s been almost two months since we “oficially” moved into the apartment, and we’re finally getting things settled down. As I said in the last post, the den is cleared out a bit more and is somewhat live in-able. We still don’t really have things up on the walls yet, but we HAVE ORDERED WEDDING PICTURES! So… that will happen in time.

One of the perks of working at Epic is the internal Classified Ads. It’s a suitable replacement for “Cheggpost” back at ISU: a local selling board with items available with no shipping charges! Although, you do have to deal with transporting things when you live in Dodgeville, and everyone else lives in Madison. I found a really great washer and dryer on there for $200. After checking them out and finding that they were practically brand new, I agreed to buy them. Um… who know U-Haul charged by the mile? (everybody) In the end, another Epic resource saved me. I’ve been in classes since I started, and I just met a guy who’s in a wheelchair; he sits by me in lab. When he heard about my predicament, he offered his van… along with the lift. Talk about easy! Without rambling too much more (I have to run to a church thing), suffice it to say Keith is a really cool guy and Amanda and I now have a nice almost-new washer and dryer in our apartment.

All the moving boxes are hidden in the storage closet, and everything else is coming nicely into place. Maybe I’ll get some picures up on the gallery one of these days (if I ever get server access to the files!).

That’s all from the Flessner’s for now. Adios!

Long time, no update

Computer Stuff

This has to be something like the 5th or 6th post with that title, or at least that theme. I know I haven’t updated lately. It’s like I’ve been busy being married or with my new job or something. Seriously, I haven’t really had so much time to sit down at a computer lately. I finally got the den cleared out a bit and have a computer with two monitors up and running (woo hoo!). This post is more of a check to see if this site still works. I know Russ was doing some upgrades and whatnot; it seems like I need to bug him about giving the web server access to edit files. Anyway, as always (when I make these haven’t-posted-in-awhile posts), I’ll try to update on more of life’s events soon.

First week of work

Life Musings

So far so good. Nay, so far so great. I love Epic. Of course, all I’ve been doing is orientation this week with a lot of free time. But there are lots of fun people there and I think I’m going to get along really well.

I’m starting in a class of 137, the first one ever to break 100. Wow. And they’re expecting 150-ish next month! We’ve been broken up into three groups, and I’m getting to know the others in group A pretty well. We’ve had a bunch of “Intro to…” classes together as well as overviews, benefits meetings, and even city tours! (Nothing like getting paid to eat ice cream at the UWMU!) I’ve started learning M (aka MUMPS, aka Cach�) and it’s pretty straightforward: similar to, but in some ways radically different than, C, the language I worked on in college.

It’s somewhat of a bummer that I live so far out of Madison. It’s about a 40-50 minute commute, but I’m getting used to that; it’s not a big deal at all. But there have already been some invites for social gatherings for the new hires that I really haven’t been able to go to. I suppose in the future these may be planned out a little more, so it won’t be such an immediate issue. But for now, sometimes I feel left out.

I have been meeting new people, though, and I remember some of their names, so that’s good. Hopefully I fit in a little more in the coming weeks.

Anyway, love the job so far! Looking forward to see where it goes from here!

I have internet!

Leisure

We’re officially hooked up with Internet and TV in the new apartment. Oh yeah… and we’re back from Alaska!!

Yesterday seemed like a really long day… arriving in Chicago at 6:30am, which felt like 3:30 Alaska time. Then we tried to keep each other awake while we drove back to Farley, IA to pick up all the wedding gifts. After a brief nap and some lunch, we tripped up to Dodgeville, finally “home.” Whew, there’s still a lot of stuff in the apartment. I suppose I’m supposed to get at it right away…. *sigh*

My feet hurt!

Family, Leisure

That was a LONG walk we had to take to see the Mendenhall Glacier. (Two days ago in Juneau) Amanda and I were going to ride the city bus ($1.50 a ticket) to the local brewery, but while we were waiting for the bus, we met a young student who had been driving tours and said that the bus stopped near the glacier and told us some interesting tips about it. Since there was another couple on the bus already going to the glacier, we decided to go all the way out there and skip the brewery. We first heard it was about a 3/4 of a mile hike from the bus stop to the glacier…. then later it was a mile… then a mile and a half. Well, we made it anyway… got several good pics of the glacier, wandered around a bit, and made our way back to the bus stop. I complained for a fair bit of the way, but Amanda kept me moving. All in all, we made it out to the glacier for $6 rather than the $20 it would’ve cost for a tour shuttle.

Continue reading My feet hurt! →

Capital of Alaska!

Family, Leisure

Hoy! That took a whole minute to login! Amanda says I’ll just have to type quickly.

We’re about half-way through our cruise and things are going very well. There have been a couple downers (including an incident which re-inforces my dislike of all things salad-y). Plus I’ve been fighting a cold since we got on the ship. Drugs are nice though, and Amanda’s been kind enough to put up with my sneezing.

Continue reading Capital of Alaska! →

Touring the ship!

Family, Leisure

For 35 cents a minute, I can make really quick posts each day…. or maybe not. We’ll just see.

We got on the boat REALLY easily, and were in our stateroom within fifteen minutes from the taxi drop-off. The stateroom is kindof small, but I think it’s pretty nice. We’ve been touring the ship and are pretty impressed so far! Taking a bunch of pictures, some panorams, and movies. I think we’re in for a great time!

-Amanda and Benjamin

Married and out of the country!

Family, Leisure

Whee! We’re finally in the Coast Vancouver Hotel. I think God was teasing us, or at least testing us on trust. After leaving an hour after we had planned, yet still getting to Chicago an hour early, we had about two hours in the terminal before our 2:30 departure. Thanks to a problem with the plane, however we didn’t actually leave until 4. Just a bit stressful since we only had a 90-minute layover in Dallas. We got to DFW, found that the next flight (leaving in 15 minutes, on-time) was in a different terminal. God bless the Skylink…. the high-speed tram that got us to the gate just in time for final boarding call.

We made it through customs just fine and… YES!… our luggage made it to the new plane. Flights were very nice and smooth. Amanda did well for her first trip, even though we had a few tiny glitches! Well, I’m off!!!!

Three-and-a-half hours

Wedding Planning

That’s how much time is left. Wow. I’m in my tux, sitting on the hotel bed using free wireless. Actually, it’s the only time I cracked my laptop… to do this entry. Perhaps I should write some deep words of feeling… but… it’s kind of the same as before… sort of surreal that this is actually happening.

Yesterday morning, we set up the hall for the reception, and that felt a little bit like I was about to get married. Then in the afternoon, Amanda and I went to US Cellular to upgrade our plans, so that was kind of same old, same old… techie toys and indecisions about which model to get.

Back home, however, things started to get hectic, and I really started to feel like this was actually happening. Thankfully, once people arrived, all their tuxes and shoes fit well, so we didn’t have to make any emergency trips to Dubuque…. well, at least for tuxes. I had forgotten tapes for the FIVE digital cameras I had at my disposal for the wedding. Russ and Tom were a couple of nice guys and ran to Wal-Mart before dinner to get some last-minute materials. Thanks guys!

Rehearsal was kindof crazy… hopefully we all know what we’re doing! It’ll be fun. Now I have to go catch my ride to the church for three hours of pictures….. joy!!!

I’m getting married!!!!

Everything moved in

Life Musings, Wedding Planning

As of last night, everything is finally in the new apartment. Well, everything that is except for several large items of luggage packed with stuff for our honeymoon which are now in Farley, with us. I started unpacking some of the things… alphabetizing CDs, reading through elementary-school writings, and washing new dishes. I also have the appointment set up for internet installation the morning after we get back. Things are looking well… at least, they were until last night.

We were sitting on the new bed, packing suitcases when we heard dripping coming from the bathroom…. It was raining… indoors. Something wrong with the plumbing upstairs. Looking on the bright side, though, they have a week and a half when we’re not there to work on it! A couple other minor apartment fix-ups and we’ll be set.

Now we’re in Farley and things are officially starting to set in that, yes, I’ll be getting married in just a day and a half! And as for last minute preparations…. they’ll all yelling at me to try on my tux now, so I’d better cut this short. I’m excited: lots ahead these next few days!!