Day 4
Well, we are settling in a little bit. We went over to visit some of Marnie’s friends last night. A couple named Dan and Claudia. Dan and Marnie are colleagues. It felt good to be acquainted with some new people here and Dan and Claudia are really quality people.
Weather
Since it’s hot and humid during the day I’m always wondering how hot it’s going to be tomorrow. I had no idea I’d be so interested in the weather but maybe it’s more in my face here. In the Bay Area, the weather isn’t really something that’s talked about that much since it changes so little and it’s always pleasant. Here, there’s a constant reminder of it. From the constant background of the fan (or AC) that’s always running (as I write there’s a large circular one behind me humming away maintaining a nice breeze), to the dashboard in the car that bakes your face the moment you get in.
It’s inconceivable to me to own a car without AC here. You’d have to keep a thick towel over your seat and wring it out between trips.
There are many maintenance tasks I find myself attending to just because of the weather. In the evening, I open most of the windows in the house to let the cool air in and at 5 AM, I close them all and draw the opaque white shade that covers each window to keep the sun out. Then, I stumble down into the basement to pour out the two gallons of water the dehumidifier trapped because it stops automatically when it fills up.
Class
I guess I’ve always associated the East Coast with elites. So I’ve been surprised to see Northampton has classes just like everyone else. In fact Marnie is quick to point out that in her opinion, class is more evident here than in Berkeley. You can tell from clothes and accents.
I remember when I first came to California and going to a fancy restaurant in shorts and sandals. I was a bit sheepish since it was a really nice place, but my friend Eric (who had started a company at the time) pointed out that no one really knows whether or not you are a young upstart with a couple million from your company that just went public so they serve everyone.
I went to a car parts dealership on Wednesday to buy a sun shield for the damn dashboard/oven-burner and realized that the man behind the counter was having trouble with the computer system. At first, I thought he was just new and hadn’t been through the motions of returning an item, but as I worked with him, I started reading the computer screen aloud as I tend to do with people who I think need a little help. “Hmmm… it says F5 is for ‘returns’”. The computer interface was ancient and terse, but didn’t seem unclear. As soon as I “hinted” out loud which direction he might go, he jumped without pause. After a while, I started to get the feeling that the problem was not the interface or the F-keys but that he couldn’t read.
House
The house is coming into place. We finally bought a washer and dryer. The washer is a front-loader which I’m really excited about. The hard decision was to get a dryer that runs on gas. I really wanted electrical, but I think gas is a little more efficient overall and I actually didn’t have much choice since that was the only hookup in the basement.
We’ve distributed items from Marnie’s old apartment through the house which cuts down on the echo, but not that sparse feeling. The living room is so long, I’m thinking of getting a shuffleboard set to complement these nice wooden floors.
We put a few groceries in the fridge including the all important milk for cereal. Speaking of which, the generic cereal names out here are hilarious. Witness example A:
This is a great name, here’s but what’s hilarious: the milquetoast typeface they used to display it. Let me help a little…
I’ll post more on grocery stores later.
