Midwest transplant in Sunny California

July 22nd Update

2008-07-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Well the search for a close church is still on got some what I hope are good leads on a couple.

The insurance turned out okay, the insurance companies found us both 50% liable which they explained it would mean no change in my insurance rates!!!!! Work is still going okay, I am having to fill in the gaps between what I knew when I worked at McKesson and what I need to know working here.

Nothing else major going on at this point really.

Found a gaming store

2008-07-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well I made my first real excursion on the BART this weekend. I went from Union City up to Oakland and then walked to a gaming store located not far from the station. The gaming store is called Endgames. It seems like a good place and with my easy access to BART I can go there almost anytime I want to. I am getting on their forums and gonna start looking for a group I can get into. With my schedule its going to be difficult to do any gaming during the week unless its close to Union City, but I should be able to find some groups that get together on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and get back into gaming. I miss the guys I gamed with back in MO, but this will be a good opportunity to meet new people in the area. Other than that it was a most uneventful weekend, which is how I like it. Still looking for a church home, I think I found a place down in San Jose that caters to Christian Singles that I am planning on going to check out next weekend.

4th of July weekend

2008-07-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well I made it through the 4th relatively unscathed. I got to see some fireworks, but the big event was going to my first Arena Football League game between the San Jose Sabercats and the Colorado Crush. The Sabercats won the game which enables them to move on in the Championship finals. I also had another first time experience on Sunday. I went to my first African-American church service. Coming into the experience I didn't know this until I was there. At first I felt a little self conscious about being the only Caucasian there but the people where VERY friendly and that was soon forgotten. It has given me another perspective though on people coming to visit in a church and how easy it is to feel like an outsider until someone makes the effort to talk to you. The service was a good service, even though it wasn't in the style I am normally accustomed to. I will probably go back next Sunday again, but I am hoping to find something a little closer to what I normally am use to.

Now for the relatively unscathed part. After church I stopped of at a Burger King to grab lunch, as I was getting ready to leave the parking lot I got into a very minor fender bender. The way the parking lot is shaped it is kind of a tight diamond shape. Both of us involved where in each others blind spot so until we hit I couldn't see them. As for the damage I came out only with a couple very small dents in my rear fender with them coming out with only slightly more damage and some scratched paint on theirs. I will contact my insurance agent today to see what they want to do.

Well that covers my 4th of July weekend.

Its the first Friday of the first full week of work

2008-06-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well I have made it through a week of work, I am still only doing basic RMA stuff to get my foundation in place but things seem to be going better. I have created some good documenation for the process on how to do things. Before the documentation was spread out all over the place so I am having to gather it together. I still got tons of documentation to read in regards to the Quality System Procedures because we have to get FDA certification. Other than that though the week has gone fairly well.

Survived my first heat wave

2008-06-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

I got asked today how I liked/survived the heat wave from last week. Apparently the temperature was in the 90s. To me it wasn't really that bad, with the low humidity and all I really didn't notice it being other than just warm (and sunny). Friday and Saturday where supposedly the worst days but in all the time here so far I have not had to run either the air conditioner in my car or in the house. If this is some of the worst heat the area can throw at me then I am going to LOVE living here.

On a different note, I will be DANGED if I cannot find a close-by role-playing game store. I am wanting to see if i can get into a regular group like I was in Springfield, but the closest is almost 10 miles away. I will need to continue to search... I guess there is always MMORPGs to rely on if I can't find a group.

I just looked at the weather and I can finally see that they are calling for showers a week from today. It will be interesting to see thier showers compared to ours back in Missouri.

I have already booked my vacation for coming home in December. I will be flying in on the 23rd and then flying back on the 28th.

Second Day at work

2008-06-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well I am starting my second day at work. Things have been a little crazy so I haven't kept up with the blog as much as I would have liked. Things went okay yesterday, I was given a list of all the hundreds of pages of documentation I need to read because we have to go through FDA certification. Doing this is probably going to keep me busy for a week or so and then I might actually get to start learning what I need to do to do my job. The apartment is almost all unpacked now that I have furniture to put stuff into/on. I don't look forward to having to read all of that documentation but I know it is a necessary things when working with the government.

The set-up continues

2008-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

I am getting some furniture delivered today, I have been unpacking the kitchen stuff and have gotten most of it washed at this point. Without the bookcases and dressers that I am getting delivered today I am at a stand still for unpacking all of my clothes and books. I made a pretty good deal at a place called World Class Furniture. They sold me 2 dressers, 2 large bookcases and one medium bookcase, 1 40" folding sides dinning table with 4 chairs. Because I paid with a debit card they knocked off 300+ dollars from the prices, threw in free delivery and also cut out the Sales Tax. Once they get it all set up and then I unload everything into it over the next couple of days I should be all set up. I am hoping they get here early enough that I have time to go to the DMV this afternoon and get my drivers license/plates taken care of. If so then I should be ready to start going to work Monday. If I can't get it all taken care of then I might need to delay starting work for a day or so.

Getting the apartment set up Day 1

2008-06-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the apartment this morning. Finally got to unload the car... YEAH. The relocube is going to be delivered tomorrow afternoon. I got cable and Internet hooked up for the apartment this morning, which was of course precipitated by a run to Best Buy to get a TV, TV stand and a microwave. A BIG THANKS to all the people at McKesson who chipped in for the gift card. It didn't make it past the first trip =). Now that I have a permanent location I can start switching things over to simplify things. The bank is the first thing, then after that I can start thinking about getting a drivers license/plates. I need to get online and change all my addresses for my credit cards I have, and on and on and on and on. But overall, things are going smoothly so everything is cool so far. Time to sign off for the night.

The Adventure Begins

2008-06-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

Well I made it into the bay area. Man there is just SOOOO much to do to get everything up and running. I get the apartment tomorrow, but the relocube I shipped all my main stuff in can't be delivered until Wed Afternoon. Although this is a bummer I think it might actually work for the best as it will allow me time to get everything from the car unpacked and then run to some of the businesses to get things done in the morning. I need to buy a microwave, at least one TV, some tables. The cable/Internet gets set up in the afternoon. I need to go get a FastTrak pass for the toll bridges so I don't have to worry about stopping to pay the toll. I already called and will be getting my new cell number in a few days.

Drive Day 2

2008-06-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well I am now in Bakersfield CA. What a day of driving. Getting to Albequrque yesterday seemed liked it hadn't taken that long, but then I had driven that stretch of road before with my parents on our last vacation. Howevr getting from Albequerque to Bkaersfield seemed like it took forever since most of it was brand new road for my driving experience once I got past the point where you would turn off to go to the Grand Canyon/Las Vegas. Tomorrow is the finishing drive up to Union City. I need to book an hotel room tonight before I got to bed. I should be up there since I think its only a 4 or 5 hour drive from here (I will recheck that tonight also). Man, I keep thinking of all the things I need to do to get my new life started in CA... get a new cell number, get a drivers license, new plates for the car, get my cube with all my stuff I shipped out set up for delivery. Its going to be a very very very busy next few days. I will try to keep the blog up, but priorities must be taken care of.

Drive Day 1

2008-06-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well I am now in Albuquerque. The drive was okay except for the truckers, it seemed like every other one wanted to block me off from getting around them and thus making me slow down 15 miles per hour below the speed limit. I hope, but expect, to not experience the same thing tomorrow. Not much else to say at this point. Tomorrow the drive to Bakersfield CA begins which will be another 11ish hour drive.

Pre-Move 1 day

2008-06-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

Days 2 and 1 before the move. Was REALLY busy with getting final things prepared for the trip out. Yesterday was spent helping my parents get my room look the way they wanted it once I was gone. Lots of furniture moving, also lots of running around to stores to make sure I had things I would immediately need moving into the new apartment. Today, 1 day before, I am going to get my car serviced and then we start the packing between the possible severe storms that are forecasted here. My dad ran a weather check for my trip and once I clear Oklahoma City my weather should be clear. The weather out in CA is a nice and Sunny mid-high 70s with lows in the mid 50s. Just don't know if I can handle that kind of weather. Well I got things to do and people to see. Will be heading out of town bright (or in the case dark) and early since its going to be a long drive to Albuquerque.

Update: 6:59pm Packed everything left into the car, tomorow will pack whats left from needing tonight and in the morning and then the driving marathon begins. My next update wont be until I am in Albuquerque.

Pre-Move 3 days

2008-06-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day at work, it seems a little surreal since I have been working here for a little over 7 and a half years. Looking forward to the next couple of days to hang out with my parents and then Friday night packing the car commences in preparation for the drive to CA.

Pre-Move 4 days

2008-06-03T06:21:00.000-07:00

4 Days to the move, the Pod was picked up late yesterday afternoon. Now just a couple days left of work, then a couple days of doing things with my parents and then the grand adventure begins.

Pre-Move 5 days

2008-06-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, 5 more days till the drive out to CA. Got all the stuff I am moving packed into a Pod for shipping out there. Looking forward to the experience but also have a little trepidation about the move. Time will tell..