Murphy’s Law

This past Sunday I checked out a church called Shoreline, which was quite a bit like Crosspoint. They meet in a movie theater so the stage is quite a bit smaller, but they do have one giant screen! Tonight I dropped by one of the life groups called The Edge expecting to meet a bunch of people. Instead, there were only about 6 people there, but the good thing about that was I was able to talk to most of them and actually get to know a few people. It was a nice evening.

One interesting thing they mentioned is that the church is starting a Tuesday evening service at the local Irish Pub. That will be interesting to see!

Yesterday was my first day. I spent the morning in a training room watching safety and security videos and filling out paperwork. After lunch I set up my computer and got a quick tour of the facilities. When I say cubical, it’s actually a pretty solidly constructed box, with dry-wall and outlets… it just doesn’t go to the ceiling. I would send a picture… but you can’t take pictures inside the building ;-). The only down side is that the lights in the ceiling do not line up with my cube, so it’s relatively dark without the aid of a desk lamp.

Today I started learning some software, getting more computer access, and helping Jake on his project. I also got a clock and a light tree to brighten up the place, but I forgot to buy bulbs…. Tonight I’m going to have to stop by home depot and pick up some supplies for a dimmer and bulbs. Circuit city is also a priority for a new mouse, mouse-pad, headphones, and anything else that might catch my eye.

Today was my first full day in FWB, and when I woke up, it was still raining outside. Last night I met most of the engineers that work for DRS at Chili’s. It’s an interesting crew, and if you thought I was nerdy… well you haven’t met these guys. After Chili’s I went with my friend Jake and one of the other engineers to a local bar called Hellen Back. After a big pizza, a few beers and many tries at the ring swing game, we called it a night.

This afternoon I did some apartment searching, but nothing good yet. After that I went over to Jake’s place and helped him put lowering springs on the front of his Scion TC. It was inevitable that I would be doing car stuff the first day I was here! Now I just have to find an apartment with a garage and I’ll be right at home!

We ended up going to see Vantage Point. Not the greatest flick I’ve seen lately. Well, time for sleep.

I stayed in Gainesville last night with Doug; it was nice to get a decent visit in with him before I headed out this morning. The trip from Gainesville to Fort Walton Beach wasn’t too bad, only 5 hours, and that was driving in really bad weather. I also got a migraine headache right when I hit Tallahassee (imagine that) and had to pull over and sleep for an hour till it went away. Luckily I had pain killers and caught it early or it might have ruined the trip all together. So the whole trip from Fort Myers to Fort Walton Beach takes about 8 1/2-9 hours. Not too bad.

When I got here it was pouring cats and dogs and all the roads on the island where I’m staying were flooded with 3-6″ of water, so I had to drive extremely slow. I got to the condo, found the real estate office where I thought I was to pick up my keys, but when I got inside the lady had no clue who I was and told me I needed to go to some other real estate office that was a good 15 min drive away. So after getting soaked running in and out of this office (my umbrella was useless in the driving rain) I slowly forded the river back to the mainland and got my keys.

So I’m here. Not a great start, but it can only improve from here. I’m headed out to meet the guys from work in an hour, so until then I can work on my new business… which I will post later.

Well today I leave Fort Myers for what could possibly be the rest of my life. I never really wanted to come back, but now that I’ve been here and made such wonderful friends, I don’t really want to leave. The only other time that I have left a place to move to somewhere where the future was a big question mark was when I went to college. It is exciting and scary at the same time. I don’t even have a place to live. I’m risking quite a bit on this job, but I think the reward will be great!