Getting settled...

Mike and I have arrived in Berkeley, well, Albany to be exact. We're living in UC's Family Student Housing, which is in the first 'burb north of Berkeley proper.

So far, it's a lot of hurry up and wait. The delivery of the car and the arrival of the moving van both seem to be tending towards the end of their delivery time frames. It's looking like we should have a car again tomorrow or Thursday, and our stuff on Friday or Saturday.

Our apartment, as a result, is presently decorated in the "minimalist" style. We have an inflatabed, a dining room table and chairs, and a computer desk and chair for Mike. That's the extent of the furniture. As far as household goods, we bought one pot and one pan, both cheap, to get us through till our stuff gets here. We've been eating off paper plates with plastic utensils for over a week and have had to be cautious with the grocery shopping to ensure that the things we buy can actually be cooked and consumed on our meager possessions at this time.

On an up note, when we do want something else to eat, there's plenty to choose from. We've found a dozen or more restaurants in walking distance and lots more than will be a short drive or bus ride away. We have yet to find somewhere that we didn't like. As expected, there's plenty of good Mexican around here... we found a mom-and-pop place up the street where a burrito the size of your head can be had for only a few dollars. We had West African food a few days ago, and Indian for lunch today. We caught a bus down to Jack London Square in Oakland yesterday and ate at Yoshi's Sushi and Jazz Bar. It was lunchtime, so there was no live band (and also no cover charge, and lower food prices...)

We got the light end of the heat wave that's plagued the US of late... It hit 90 here the other day, which bested the previous record high by several degrees. However, the heat wave seems to have subsided and we're settling back in to the usual Bay summer of 75 and sunny. Mike is thrilled by the pleasant weather and I've had to forewarn him that winter will be chilly and rainy, with fall and spring also somewhat damp. He's still commenting that usually we would have to go on vacation to get to weather like this.

Our primary source of entertainment for the last week has been one lonely laptop that Mike thankfully decided to haul on the plane with him. Today there was much joy as my shiny new MacBook arrived. Thus we're both able to be online at once and I can actually get in contact with the world again without feeling bad that I'm tearing Mike away from whatever he's doing.


That's the story of our lives for the past week and a half. We're happy to have arrived in California and will be even happier when our car and belongings arrive as well.