trip downtown

It was freezing today. This is the coldest it's been since we got here. It didn't get above 3 today. It was -1 early this morning. And I can now report on the temperatures accurately, because we got a little temperature sensor for outside.

I finally made it to downtown abq today. What a disappointment. It was more like south mall, where i was expecting patrick st. there was just the courthouse, city hall, the library and some other official places. I got the bus in - it was mainly straightforward (except i put all my money into the little box at the same time (as you do in dublin) and the driver had to take it out and put the coins in one by one) and the journey was short enough. $2 gets you unlimited bussing for the whole day. Not bad at all.

I joined the library. Got out a random trilogy. It was the only intact (as in, all three books on the shelf) set they had. I may have to do a bit more research into which branch has the most sci-fi / fantasy books, because the main library was sadly lacking.

And the most awful part of the day was losing my hat. My lovely warm, long, cool, ultra-complimented hat went missing somewhere in the library. I think I left it down when I was filling in my application form and someone else must have picked it up and walked away with it. :( It wasn't in the lost and found, but I asked the librarian to ring me if it turned up anyway. I'm really sad. I had that hat for ages (8 years or something) and it had a few close calls, but I always got it back. Let's hope I get it back this time too.

Being a Tourist

We made it to Old Town Albuquerque on Saturday (I think, the whole four days of the weekend have blurred into one. Edit: it was Friday). Once again I didn't have my camera, because it was kind of spur of the moment. We'd been out getting some things and just decided to head on to the old town. My main comments were, it's so pretty, and (about one building in particular), I want to live in a house that has a courtyard entrance just like this. All the houses were made of orange stone, but this one in particular had narrow walls leading to a little courtyard. Plants and cacti lined the walkway. A little (tiny) fountain / well stood at the centre of the courtyard - made of the same materials as the walls. It was all so cute and pretty. Each of the rooms (converted to shops) were small and cosy. None of the walls were straight, there were no corners in sight.
We sat on the lip of the fountain in the sunshine and it was just lovely.

In random other news: There was a rabbit hopping in the grass outside our apartment the other day. I think they live in the dune that's next to us.

I had the wierdest dream last night. I can't even focus on this post because it's so in my mind.
I was in a big house somewhere and some kind of gathering / party was just over. People had headed away and I was looking for a bed to sleep in. Or something. I was looking for something. It may have been my shoes so that I could leave too. Yea, I think that was it.
Anyway. I thing I found them and was on my way out when I looked out a window. The sky was bright and clear and there as a planet hovering just above the sky. It was at crescent, so half the sky was visible and the other half was a white mass of cratered planet. I couldn't move I was so frightened. I knew this planet was here to destroy Earth. And if it didn't destroy the world, the force of its mass so close to the planet would.
I knew just what that meant. Tidal waves - huge ones. As the thought went through my head, a mountain of water crashed against the window.
lordkilljoy and I leapt for cover, praying that the window would hold against the water crashing against it. Water covered it, covered the whole house, and a second later the window cracked. Water spewed in from the crack in the corner, but a second later the water receded.
We ran, checking to make sure everyone else was ok. I knew it was futile. I knew this was the end of the world.
I can't remember what happened after that. There was some kind of battle. There could have been mechs involved. There was definitely some kind of flying robot on our side. But I think all that happened before the tsunami, or we were defeated or something. I definitely woke up thinking, I don't want the world to end.

the last few days

we went to santa fe today. like a silly girl, i forgot my camera. the drive was amazing. through desert and mountains and things that looked like sand dunes. you could have imagined the sea was just over the dune. but it wasn't. there was just more desert. santa fe is at 7,000ft. we drove up 2,000 feet in under an hour. we were at twice the elevation of the highest mountain in ireland. mad.

once we got there, we went to an outlet centre. not very exciting, or touristy, but lordkilljoy wanted to look around at the sales. i got a big towel too, so i was happy. ooh, and a new wallet. it's smaller than my old one and i can sit on it without it poking into me.

yesterday was quiet. i made dinner. the stuffing was amazing. the turkey was nice too. the potatoes messed everything up though. i roasted them and after an hour they weren't ready. so everything else was done and we had to wait for the potatoes. so everything else was a bit cold by the time we got to eating.
i watched discovery channel for about 5 hours yesterday. mythbusters was on. and then i watched this crazy thing called punkin chinkin. there's this championship that happens every year to see who can chuck a pumpkin the farthest. but teams are allowed to make machines (catapults, trebuchets, air cannons, etc) to throw the pumpkin. it was kind of cool seeing the machines people had come up with.

ooh, we went out for a walk in Rio Grande Valley State Park, along the Paseo del Bosque trail yesterday. we saw a squashed snake (or possibly a very intact snake skin). that was cool. the walk was nice too. it was cold, though. but it seems like a good place for a cycle.

dry air is painful

i decided to test the altitude this evening by running across the car park. it wasn't that bad, really. what was awful was the dry air. my lungs and throat were burning from cold and dry. i was coughing for about 20 minutes afterwards.

i'm going to have to be really careful when my bike arrives and i go out for a cycle.

familiarity

today, i forgot where i was. it's cloudy, i'm doing stuff i used do at home, while reading about places in Germany, and going: that would be a cool place to visit (there's this converted coal mine somewhere near essen). then from outside i hear an american accent, and i remember that Germany is a lot more than a three hour flight away.

right so. i'm off to get dinner (salmon,yummy)

quiet day today

We found a park today. We are lunch there, I had sushi and lordkilljoy had doughnuts. it was lovely, but windy. it reminded me of being at the beach in june or something. the sun was warm, but the wind was kinda cold. the park has a grass field (with mostly green grass), a pool (closed), playgrounds, tennis courts and a bowls area. the field looked kinda cool for kite flying. it's on top of a hill and on a windy day, there's loads of wind.

We did a food shop today as well. Got the basics mostly, meat and staples. We have three spices in our press - cajun, 21 spice and salt. they will probably be the spices we use for everything. we did chicken and rice for dinner. the chicken breast was big, i only ate a little over half of mine. our rice cooker is amazing. it has a chip in it that monitors the heat in the pot and regulates the temperature accordingly. the rice came out amazing. there were no burndy bits at the bottom of the pot.

i'm kinda tired now. ten past eight and i have to stay up until 11 tonight. i only got about 7 hours sleep last night, though, so i'll be uber tired going to bed.

yea, we didn't really do much today. we checked out our local organic grocery shop (sunflower). it's really cool. they have a huge fruit and veg section, and have some nice natural / heathfood products. and it's not expensive at all.

when we came home, i watched a few random nature documentaries. i found out that our cable-box has this cool thing were you can browse what's on by theme (or channel or something else). so i was just looking at all the documentary / interesting stuff.

my brain is quickly shutting down, so i'll go now.

i'm getting used to the place

I was just looking up a shop in streetview and it's really funny that everything looks familiar now.

we went out for dinner last night and it was lovely. i'd forgotten that lordkilljoy had changed his mind about where we were going and we ended up in a new mexican restaurant. it was lovely. lordkilljoy got fajitas and i got a chicken chilli bowl. it was like a big bowl of soup with a kind of barley type thing and chicken and little nacho strip type things. it was quite spicy, but in a good way. the building itself was all decorated with old-timey stuff, all wood and bronze. and it was done up with lights for christmas.

i just had a wonderful idea for the kitchen. i should put fairy lights around it. they will give it a wonderful light ambiance.

not really sure what we'll do today. i was thinking of getting a string top. i didn't bring any with me and i think a string top and cardigan would solve my 'not used to the warm weather / need something for the cool evenings' problem.

as we were driving around yesterday, we came across some of the other places we could have been living in. we definitely picked the best place. the other areas were kind of old looking, or not quite the most desirable place to live. where we are actually seems rather upmarket. it's actually funny, because it makes you realise how high the quality of buildings / roads / neighbourhoods in ireland are.

right so, i'll go now. lordkilljoy wants to get breakfast. i already ate (i had granola).

today we went exploring north abq

it was 18 degrees today. i was out in a t-shirt all day and i was warm. the car was boiling. we bought a sat nav and went on a trip across town. we went to rei and i got a camel back hydration thingy. it's 1.5l, and is a nice little bag at the same time. penelope_stone will be happy to know that we signed up for rei membership so she can buy as much as she wants when she comes over. members get discounts on bike services and stuff, so it seemed like a good idea.
we also went to tj (tk) maxx and got a bedside radio / ipod charging / dock thing and some nice foaming hand soap (tk maxx is the only place you can get random things like that). we also stopped in a 7 eleven for water. lordkilljoy's comment was, smells like 7 11. he worked in one for a few months ages ago.

the mountains around here are amazing. they look so rugged. there's kinda rock bits sticking out of the edges. i wonder how anyone goes hiking around them, they look really steep. maybe the trails are somewhere else.

did i mention dinner last night? it was lovely. the potatoes wen't done well enough though, so today i fried them for 20 minutes and they were so yummy. i fried them in the oil i'd used to brown the meat last night and it was delicious. it's so weird the way left overs are better than the real thing.

anyway, this was just a quick update. we're heading out for dinner now. i'm all for making something here, but lordkilljoy wants to try a steak place. oh well. i'm sure it will be nice anyway.

Living Conditions

Our apartment is nice, but quite dark. There's one massive window in the back wall, which is supposed to light an 8 meter long room. Now, that might not be a problem for the sun, but we are north facing, and the sun doesn't shine in. So it's dark. And the lights are not cosy. The kitchen has a fluorescent strip and it is cold light. Compounding this problem is the dark wood stain on the presses (of which there are loads - that is good). Even the two lamps don't really do much to make the place nice at night. I may have to invest in lamps (lots of them).

Today is the first day with clouds since we arrived. Actually, I just looked out the window. The clouds are mostly gone. It's funny going out first thing in the morning here. It's absolutely freezing and I bring my coat, but by an hour later, I'm wondering why I brought my coat at all. I also need to get my layering right. I've been too hot most days. I think i have to just wear a t-shirt and a vest or something. but then i'll be cold in the morning and evening. i guess i should just wash my jumper. i packed it dirty, like a silly person.

I think I'll just go check out the hobby shop down the road, see if they have any things that will make our apartment brighter.

Right so, bye.

moving in continues

Loads happened today as well (as yesterday). We opened a bank account, got a tour of the area, looked at sat navs so that we could drive into town, but then just worked off a map.

we went to trader joe's and got dinner. we went to the apple store and i got an ipod nano. it's red, and small, and insanely cute. it plays the radio. i love it. i don't have a computer yet to sync it with, so at the moment radio is all i have. but it's cool, you can do live pause of the radio. lordkilljoy got a macbook air, but that's not nearly as exciting.

smackdown is on right now, it's a little distracting. lordkilljoy just turned on the tv to watch it (figuring it would be on at 8) to find out that it is just ending. it started at 6. that seems very early to me.
anyway.

we cooked dinner at home today. we had stuffed chops from trader joe's with sweet potatoes roasted with oil and spices. we bought canola oil in trader joe's too. and lemonade and chocolate and crisps and salsa. yummy.

we're trying to get our tivo working. after 2 calls to comcast and a trip to their shop about 15 minutes away, we still don't have it sorted. lordkilljoy might have to do it from work. we missed burn notice last night. we remembered it was on too late, so we really need to get our tivo working.

right so. i don't really know what else to say. i'm kind of tired. 8 o clock is sort of fading time. i managed to stay up until 9:30 last night. i'm going to force myself to stay up until 10 tonight. 10 is okay. 11 would be better, but i'll never stay up that late.

american ads are funny. i watch them and laugh.

right - i really have to go now.

I don't think I've done so much shopping as I did yesterday. We went to the mall first, had a look around and bought a bed set. They don't have duvets here, just comforters. I was expecting to be cold, but I actually work up hot during the night (it doesn't help that we forgot to turn off the heating). Then we joined costco and bought a bunch of appliances. We still needed bits and pieces, which we got in walmart (towels, knives, forks, dishes, etc). Then back to costco for other random things. After that if was off to best buy for a wifi router (it is an essential that needs to be bought day one). Then back to costco for some food bits (bread and cereal mostly). Then back to walmart for shower curtain rail hooks and breakfast things (i got the biggest carton of rice milk ever). Our final purchase of the day was a tivo. Yea. Lots of buying.

Our kitchen is a mess now - full of boxes and packaging. We still have more to buy. Little towels for the bathroom, we have to do a proper food shop.

We also need to get a sat nav. We tried very hard to get lost yesterday, and even though it's kind of hard to get lost around here, in the city centre, I imagine it's a lost easier. And since we want to go to the city centre today, we need something to help us not get lost.

Right, I'm kind of hungry now, I'm going to get breakfast (granola), and have difficulty pouring rice milk from the super-massive carton.

thigs i'm curious about

so, the things that keep me awake at night these days arn't worries about moving or getting through the airport or stuff. no, the things i worry about are: what will supermarkets be like? will food shopping be weird? is costco as enormous as everyone says? will i like the clothes out there? will i actually have the confidence to walk to the shop? will the central heating in our apartment we warm? will i find feminine products i like (this is kind of a big worry, because i'm very particular)? will my lungs freeze if i go cycling at minus temperatures while it is sunny? will i get dehydrated quickly in the dry weather? just what does 20% humidity feel like?
lesser worries are: what if i get bitten by something poisonous? what if i don't meet any nice people? will paying for things be difficult? what if i get fat because there is so much sugar in everything? what if i develop a sugar addiction? what if lordkilljoy has to work all the time and i never get to see him?

the one thing i'm counting on is the sunshine. sunshine will make everything good (as only it can). it's the easiest thing to worry about these things when you've seen one day of sunshine in the last three weeks or something, and when there's a gale blowing outside and it's wet and miserable.

so here's the things that keep me awake at night from excitement: sunshine, every day. blue sky. patchy clouds. daylight for 10 hours (that's 2 hours more than i get now). new things. having time to write (i kinda miss zachery). exploring. cycling around. shopping in places like trader joe's and whole foods. getting a laptop that will play modern games. playing d+d in the local games shop. snowboarding (this is kind of mixed excitement and worry. snowboarding is kinda scary).

so yea. the waiting is the worst part. at least if i was there all my questions would be answered. ah well. only 6 days to go.

edit to add - it's actually hurricane force winds outside (120kph).

moving

Hats are amazing. I should remember to wear my hat more often. The french doors are all open, letting in the bitter November air and letting out the smell / fumes of carpet cleaning chemicals. My hands are freezing, but the rest of me is actually warm, thanks to my hat.

As well as the apartment smelling of carpet cleaning, the bathroom smells of silicone sealant. I have it all over my hands, too. It's really annoying because it doesn't actually rub off a surface, it just rubs around and makes little plastic balls of stickiness.

Only a week left in Ireland. The place is coming together nicely, though. (I'm getting sealant plastic bally bits all over this keyboard.) Most of it is clean. The kitchen presses are the main thing left now. And the tv stand / cabinet thing. The press in the bathroom needs to be emptied too. Friday will be devoted to taking apart the consoles and sound system and packing them in the car (along with everything else that will be packed into the car to go to cork.)

Wow, I love auto save. I just hit some random combination of keys that closed firefox. Thankfully, I didn't loose my post. Okay, I'm beginning to lose feeling in my fingers, so I'm going to go now.

Right. Bye.

Dinner with Denise and Eamon

We went over to Denise and Eamon for dinner last night. I made a slightly melty chocolate cake. Aoife made dinner, which was yummy. It was so good to just hang out and chat. We got to see skittles (the hamster) too. I totally want to have a hamster now.

Today, I wrote a story for Louise. I've never written a story for a 7 year old before. I don't think it was exciting enough, but I have no idea how much tension a 7 year old can handle.

I don't have much news. The apartment is mostly empty. All our stuff is gone. The tv and consoles are still here, but most of the games are gone. The shelves are empty. The walls were bare until today, when we went to ikea and got some paintings (or printed canvases, really) to replace the art prints we had put into storage. We also got a stripy rug, so the place doesn't look quite so bad any more.

I did some mad cleaning today, too. I went all around the skirting boards, hoovered under furniture, pollyfilled holes in the ceiling. So I got a bit done. Still need to clean under the appliances in the kitchen, and clean the presses, and wardrobes. God, it makes me tired just thinking about it.

Anyway. It's the weekend now. I might go to the cinema tomorrow and we are off to galway on sunday.

Moving Day

The shipping people are here at the moment. I think they weren't expecting the amount of stuff we have. Not our problem, because we showed everything to the surveyor. There is a slight worry that we won't have enough room to ship everything. Ah well.
After the mad rush of getting everything sorted over the last few days, today seems dull. We are just sitting around letting the guys work.

I don't know what else I have to say. Only 2 weeks left in Ireland. Actually, this time in 2 weeks, we'll be in the air. Mad.