Home furnishings

The second day of class was better than the first for two reasons:

1. I learned something valuable from a classmate.
2. It was considerably shorter.

I could rant on about the inadequacies of the instructor but when he said, “I have a PhD in Mathematics” I immediately understood what the problem was. Not to knock the math people—you know I love you!—but it explained why he was starting with the algebra. It made more sense to him that way. The algebra was his way in to the material. Unfortunately, it wasn’t mine.

The big excitement of the day was a trip to Ikea. The course was in College Park quite near the College Park Ikea—so as soon as class was over, off I went.

I have a love-hate relationship with Ikea. Most of my new furniture is from Ikea yet I find the process of shopping there maddening and overwhelming. I’m crazy about the food but I could do without the serpentine layout and annoying crowds.

Turns out a mid-week afternoon is the perfect time to shop. The place was empty! How awesome for me. I slowly toured around but found myself feeling dizzy and light-headed. I’d eaten a decent lunch so I didn’t know why I was feeling ill but I stopped for Ikea early dinner anyway. Ah, then I felt much better.

I started to get overwhelmed as I shopped for the main items that brought me there: table lamps. My bedroom lamp is broken and I needed a spot or work light to use with my new light box. In the end, I bought three lamps—I got an extra “mood lighting” lamp for the bedroom. Even though my bedroom is more a place for yarn, clothing and book storage, I haven’t given up all hope that someday I may want to create a “mood” in there. The sum total for all three lamps was about $38, which is a damn good price, especially since I think these lamps will stand the test of time.

However, my total Ikea bill (not including dinner) was about $150. I mean, it’s not really worth the trouble of trekking out there unless you anticipate spending at least $100—but what else did I buy?

• Good, framed full-length mirror (I had none!)
• Hanging pocket thing for toys—I will use for yarn
• Frozen swedish meatballs (I had something else for Ikea dinner)
• Cream sauce for meatballs
• Chocolate bar
• Ikea bag (only 59 cents!)
• Espresso maker (total impulse buy)
• Plastic containers for food (only semi-necessary)
• Eco-friendly light bulbs for lamps

I’m not usually the best consumer but I did a pretty good job this time. I was fleetingly tempted by the leather sofas—a great deal and very comfy. But that would be a foolish impulse buy. The sad thing is that what I really wanted—some non-ugly boxes to use for clothing that I keep on shelves in my bedroom—were nowhere to be found. Guess I’ll figure out the solution to that storage problem some other time.

Grateful for: Ikea.

Running

I’m totally useless at work today. Instead of taking a big chunk out of the tasks on my plate, I’m doing dumb things like ordering CDs I’ll never listen to and infinitely delaying getting lunch even though I’m hungry.

I’ve half written a post on the details of the trial, but, boy, is it boring. The process? Great. The details? Tedious. I promised myself I’d do it, but I’m putting it off for at least another day.

I had a fantastically eventful and fun week and weekend, which included:
Monday--softball
Tuesday--rowing
Wednesday--salsa dancing (with date)
Thursday--rowing
Friday--dinner/drinks (with friends)
Saturday--dinner/movie/drinks (with date)
Sunday--movie/dinner/drinks (with friends)
Monday--Ikea/cookout (with friends)

I also baked cupcakes (for the cookout) and did assorted household tasks. I knitted a tiny bit but limited sessions to ten or fifteen minutes to preserve my shoulder, which, unfortunately, still hurts. I’m back on the drug regime and plan to take the week off from all shoulder-intensive activities (such as rowing). Hopefully some serious rest will make a dent in the pain. It’s a little easier to rest a shoulder than a knee or a foot, but not as easy as I’d like it to be. I don’t want to rest it at all, but if I don’t rest it now, it may get a lot worse…

But you don’t want to hear about all that now, do you? Possibly you’d like to hear about my trip to Ikea? I went to Ikea for three reasons: Ikea lunch, “Tupperware,” and a summer-weight down comforter. I had success on all three counts, and a few others, which was a fine and expected consequence of going to Ikea. However, that summer-weight comforter turned out to be synthetic, not down. It was in the down section. I carefully read the description of the comforter up above and it said it was down. I picked one from that section—not the section with the synthetic-fill comforters—but somehow I failed to scrutinize the label. I unpacked it at home and just after I tore of the “do not remove under penalty of law” tag, I realized it was NOT a down comforter. Argh! Can I still return it after ripping off that tag? And how does Ikea manage to defeat me so consistently?

Oh, wait, maybe you actually wanted to hear about my dates. I can’t say much, because to do so would violate my one and only fundamental rule: don’t write about dates with guys who read the blog. Since I met this particular fellow at a blogger-type function and he was introduced to me by my blogger name, I won’t go into much detail. I will tell you this: we had a good time, he apparently enjoys listening to my stories (note to self: give him a chance to talk), and I expect we’ll see each other again--at least I hope we will.

(Aside: things with Kansas have stayed over. I’ve heard not one peep from him after our final email exchange last week. The days of needing to remember to silence the phone before bedtime are over, thank goodness.)

I also spent some time this weekend with the fellows, Hap and Sam, I met a couple of weeks ago at a neighborhood bar. The events were of the group variety and may go some way to expanding my circle of friends. A lot of my DC friends have moved on and others have packed schedules or significant others. It’s hard to find time to see them more than once or twice a month. I need a larger group of friends to draw on. As we all know, it is hard to meet people outside of the normal routine of work. You’d think I’d make friends rowing, but that hasn’t really happened. I have some modest hopes that Hap’s group may yield some new friends. He is not transient, which is a big plus. If I get hooked into the group, I’ll get invites from people other than Hap. I made friends with a big group my first summer in DC and it worked out well in the short-term, but those friendships didn’t have staying power. That might happen here too, but I’m willing to give it a try.

To wrap up: my shoulder still hurts and knitting and rowing are on hold while I rest it. After the craziness of last week, I will try and take this week slower so I don’t burn out. Ikea defeated me. I had a couple of dates and hope to have (at least) a couple more. I hung out with some old friends and some potential new friends. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Grateful for: new friends.