Part III

So in the two weeks since I've been in Norfolk, I've done a little bit of unpacking, played a lot of video games and just been going through the general process of settling into a new place. Most of it's not that exciting, but here are some snippets that may or may not be amusing:

Weird things I've discovered about my apartment since moving in:
1) There's no dishwasher -- doh! Totally forgot about that when apartment hunting.
2) Laundry is $1.25 to wash and the same to dry; and the dryer I used didn't dry very well. This seems expensive to me, even though it really probably isn't. The laundry facilities are also in the next building, meaning I've got to go outside to do my laundry anyway. For that trouble, my car is a lot closer and I decided I may as well just drive to a laundromat. I found a place where it's $1 to wash on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which are my days off of work. I realize that's only a difference of 25 cents, but at least the dryers work better. Plus, it's across the street from a Papa John's, so I can pick up a pizza and bring it home. :-)
3) Most of the electrical outlets are upside down. Or at least what I think of as upside down (with the two prong holes on the bottom and the grounding pin on top). I have no idea why this is, but then again maybe I've never known which way is up for an outlet.
4) Speaking of outlets, the bathroom doesn't have any.
5) The bathroom does, however, have a large metal bin of sorts connected to the wall. It has a panel on hinges like the top of some garbage cans, so at first, that's what I thought it was. But there's no way to put a garbage bag in there. My best guess is that it might be for towels. But what an odd thing to take up space in a bathroom with.
6) One of the kitchen cabinet doors can't be opened all the way, because it hits the light fixture. You would have thought someone would have noticed this when designing the kitchen. But apparently not. So I can only open that cabinet door about 45 degrees and have to remember not to just fling it open lest one day I send the kitchen light crashing down on my head.
7) The refrigerator periodically makes weird knocking noises, like there's a small person inside tapping out Morse code.
"Generally you don't see that sort of behavior in a major appliance."
But I haven't heard anyone say "Zuul" when I open it up, so I can't be too concerned.

As an unrelated story, I had spent a couple of days looking around for a bed last week (I thought it was time to upgrade to an adult, queen-sized bed rather than the twin bed I've slept in since I was a kid). Then last week I was doing laundry at the laundromat and ordered my first Papa John's pizza in Duluth. As I was waiting for it, I wandered into a furniture store next door. Lo and behold, they had a headboard I liked on sale for $99, a mattress that was comparable to all the others I'd seen, and a matching nightstand for pretty cheap. Plus, the guy was willing to give me 20 percent off all of it.
So I bought a bed while waiting for a pizza.

And that more or less catches us up to the present. I don't know how exciting my blog will be from here on out, but I'll do my best.
If nothing else, I can always dedicate a posting on Social Security to Baby Blue...