So, I never thought I'd be saying this, and if you know me at all, you'll agree: I'm pretty tired of doing nothing.

My car was delivered without incident; they just dropped it off right at my temp place, I signed some papers, and we were done. Very nice. Of course, since they asked that I leave no more than 1/8 tank of gas in it before they picked it up, the very first thing I had to do was go get gas - and find somewhere to park. Remember I forgot my parking permit in the rental car?

So I called Aboda, the temp housing people, and they were like, "Oh, sure, we can give you another one - someone will be at your apartment in 45 minutes. That'll be $150." So I argued for a while, and got them to compromise - if I can find the old permit, and return both, they won't charge me. Great. The rental car people, predictably, have no idea where it is, but they keep calling me and telling me they're still looking for it. On the plus side, the permit gets replaced at the end of the month (a few days before I check out of here), and I get a new one, for July. If everything goes well, I'll return the one pass issued for July and they'll forget all about it. Or I'll punch them in the teeth - either way, I'll enjoy it.

So now I have my car, and I signed the lease on my apartment - everything is in order. I've got keys (though I'm still missing the mailbox keys and my parking permit, neither of which are really important just now), and everything is OK - except for the front two burners of the stove, from which the gas pipes have been broken off. Interesting, but fixable.

Not too much to report for the rest of the week - got a haircut Tuesday afternoon, at Bella Vita Salon (Michael's pick), which was OK, but I may consider finding somewhere else - after going back and getting 15% off on the next cut. There's a few highish-end men's barber shops around which are cheaper, cater exclusively to men, and don't make me run around in a nylon cape with buttons on the wrong side - sounds delightful. While at the salon, Michael and I met Mark David, the stylist, a fabulous gentleman (FAB-U-LOUS) who invited us to what promised to be our entertainment for the weekend - Bat 'N' Rouge, the drag queen vs. lesbian softball game, on Saturday. The rest of the week passed with relatively little incident - I met Michael's roommate Laurie's mother Friday night, which was cool - she's pretty awesome, and then Saturday was the game, which was twice as entertaining as I thought it could be - though, being a charity event, it was also a shameless shakedown the whole time. They did raise like $5k for a drug/alcohol treatment center though, so I guess it's OK.

Yesterday I went to Neumos to see PSAPP, of whom I'd never heard, Juana Molina, who I'd heard of through KEXP Seattle, my chosen local radio station, and Jose Gonzalez, who was the only reason I'd go to a concert by myself. It turned out to be really good, both acts I was unfamiliar with were very good, though different - PSAPP was 6 people playing a wide array of instruments - from drums and guitars, through violins and keyboards, on to whistles, stuffed chickens, and a few mechanical cats - interesting. Juana Molina played guitar, but also two keyboards, and used many kinds of digital trickery to layer these over each other live, which was actually really interesting - I'd like to check out her albums and see how similar they are. Jose was just him, a guitar, and a mic to pick up his foot-tapping, no digital trickery involved, but it was awesome. The only problem was the vibe of the evening - PSAPP were very loud and funky, so the audience got loud and funky - and drunk. Juana Molina changed her set midway through to accomodate, choosing some louder songs over some softer. Jose, however, had no choice, as he's only got 1 CD and a couple EPs of material to work through, so there were times when the audience got a little loud during songs. I guess for the most part they were OK though, and I had a great time.

This morning, I got a call from my future teammate at Amazon inviting me over there for lunch, so I went - I met a few of my future groupmates, saw my office and met my officemate, got a general tour of the facilities and learned in sweeping details about what I'll be doing starting next week. Looks like fun.

Coincidentally, as I was loitering outside Neumo's before the show yesterday, I was on the phone with Dawn, and thought I saw a friend of mine from high school going into the bar across the street. When I got home, I had a facebook message - from the very same friend, saying she'd noticed I had a house, and was thinking about stopping by to give me a little housewarming present. How nice, I know - but since I don't live there yet, I suggested we get drinks elsewhere, and asked if she'd been near Neumo's the night before. Turns out it was her, and we're meeting at the same place this Thursday. I'm still struck by what a small world it is, even in a huge city where I know a grand total of 5 people. Ridiculous.

So, that's it for the rest of the week - meeting Stephanie Thursday, maybe finding David for a drink sometime between now and work, then starting work Monday. I called the movers and my stuff won't be here until July 3, so I really have nothing moving-related to do until then.

There, everyone happy - I updated.

Also, Happy 2-year Anniversary, Dawn!