Energy: It's Electric!

In my planning for moving to California I resigned myself to the fact that energy just cost more out here. Gas, electricity, food. Energy in all its forms was just going to cost you a little extra.

And boy did my first power bill deliver.

For a little context: I live in a one bedroom on the bottom floor of a shady apartment complex. It's very rare that I get full sun coming in. I don't have an air conditioner, but don't really need one. I have a heater, but it's summer, so it's not in use.

Ever since my first bill I've watched my electric bill start to nose dive. I have no idea what the cause of this is. My second month's bill was $155. This month's bill was $11!


Since the second month I haven't had a power bill that went up. It's been a steady decline. I assume that next month will end the streak, but I think I remember saying that about last month as well.

So, in closing, cheap power.

Short: I'm also playing the bass in the church band tomorrow. I realized yesterday that it will actually be the first time I've performed instrumentally in public. I'm seem pretty excited right now.

Old, Empty Frames

Wisconsin has come, and Wisconsin has gone. And what was with all the goats?

It was nice to have the family all together. And Anya sure didn't disappoint. She continues to become more grown-up and the people around her continue to grow more child-like. I suppose that's the nature of children. Especially when they are in your genetic line.

She's also very photogenic. She must have gotten that from Matt... (sarcasm!)

I also seem to have fallen into a bizarre hobby as of recently. I have begun to collect old frames from thrift stores. I have no idea what I will be doing with the frames I collect. As of now I have about ten frames. I usually find three interesting frames every trip. You have to space them out you see, to give people time to realize they don't need their old frames, and that they would be better off sold to the lowest bidder. The best thing about shopping at the thrift store is that you know that, despite no signs indicating a sale, you will only be charged half of what the stickers say you should.

Couch!

Well, the day has come. Justin has gotten a couch. Robert and Mary were redoing their t.v. room and were gracious enough to pass their old couch along to me for zero dollars.

It's funny how having a couch in an apartment can make it seem like someone actually lives there. I must say, the past day has been nice. No more laying on the floor for me!

As you can see, the walls are probably the next project. I figure they'll only take me another six months or so.

Santa Cruz

So I got a chance to go down to Santa Cruz this weekend. It sits right on the ocean and is apparently the place for surfing. I didn't do any of that though.

Culture Shock

I'll be honest, since I've been out here I've been anxiously awaiting the moment when culture shock set in.

Let's face it, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the country. There's a large mix of Asian and Indian, with a growing Hispanic group, all mixed in with your run-of-the-mill Caucasian. I was expecting it all to be a little off setting. Not bad, mind you, but certainly unfamiliar and, well, foreign.

But, amazingly, that really hasn't happened. I've met a wide variety of people, and been in some parts of town that feel like you're walking through another country, but I've been more encouraged by it than anything else.

And the food is excellent.

But there was another part of this life that I wasn't expecting. A part that has snuck up on me, leaving me blindsided and a little weirded out. The world of using disposable income.

This has been something that I've been aware of happening to me. (I mean, who else goes six months without buying a couch? Right?) But I think it really hit home today when I bought a few new clothes, something I had been putting off for about six months or so. All totaled it was around sixty dollars, which really isn't too bad, but I almost felt dirty buying them.

Needless to say, I don't know how to live in a world with disposable income. I guess this is what you get after six years of scraping by in collage.

Why don't they teach courses in this?!?

Justin Shorts

I'm still leading the development of the front-end at work. This has caused many nights of frustration and many days of self-doubt. But things make progress and I have a presentation to give two Mondays from now.

I looked at my wardrobe and realized I have way too many black / earth-toned shirts. So I'm currently on a mission for color.

I need a haircut drastically. I'm investigating cutting it myself, but I don't know if I have the resolve.

Phone Home

So I had been meaning to get to the Stanford Dish to take some pictures and I finally did it this morning. I even woke up before the sun did! The computer said it would be raining all day. But apparently computer's don't always tell the truth. This is all new to me. So I'm taking some time to let that fact sink in.

The Stanford Dish area is just off the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. There is a walking path that goes up along the ridge of a small mountain. It's always pretty full of people. It's also about half a mile from where I work. It's strange to be in the heart of Silicon Valley and still have spots like this. Of course, all of technology is not lost, as can be seen from the really large satellite dish.

The last two are actually from "vista points" off the interstate. They over look the San Andreas fault. They also seem to be hubs for talkative amateur photographers.

And let me know if the new layout style messes up your display. I'm just messing around with it, so it might change, but I'm sort of tired of just letting pictures roll down the screen. And I have to do SOMETHING to compete with a cute baby. I mean COME ON, have you been looking at the baby pictures lately?!?

Monterey

So last weekend I went down to Monterey with some friends. Its definitely pretty down there. Unfortunately I didn't get any time to see the seals that lounge on the beach. I saw a few on the rocks though.

We spent Saturday at the aquarium and at a place called Point Lobos, which is right on the beach. Lots of interesting sea life at both places. It was a little cloudy out, but definitely a fun time.

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