I keep going on and on about how nice everyone is down here in the south. I just can’t get over it. I’ve always thought that us northerners from the midwest were so friendly and polite. I’m learning otherwise.

For comparison:

The Chicago Ikea: After my last trip there I vowed I would never go back again. It was a cut-throat competition. SB had his cart stolen when he turned to look at something. I was physically shoved out of the way and almost fell down, as the shoppers mad rushed bins of dish brushes. And let’s not even talk about the Ikea parking lot. It was much like the yeti’s Ikea game.

The Atlanta Ikea: Last night, after dinner, we realized we were only a short drive from Ikea. With much trepidation we decided to try it out, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here. First, there was no pushing, no shoving, no mad dashes at bins. The shoppers seemed more civilized and there was plenty of parking. It felt more like going to a giant Target. In line at the check-out, the lines were still long and I had two small items, under $5 that I was buying. The woman in front of me had four items. She turned, looked at my purchases and said, “Honey, is that all you are buying?” I nodded. “Well, you better get in line in front of me. I don’t want to hold you up.” I was shocked speechless. I declined her offer, with embarrassed mumbles, not knowing what to do with graciousness inside of Ikea.

At first I thought the level of kindness to strangers was some sort of fluke from our small sampling of southerners. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. I think I need to up my niceness to strangers quotient to keep up with the locals, otherwise it will be even more obvious that I’m some pasty yankee.

Side note: I always feel so virtuous when I make it out of Ikea with only a few small purchases. Once or twice I’ve even left with nothing. NOTHING! I’m so proud.

To preface this entry, I must note that SB hates it when I blog about him. He thinks I have plenty to say without talking about him and he likes to point out how boring blogs can be when they become solely about a boyfriend or girlfriend.

With that said, I’m going to blog a little about SB.

He started his new library job on Tuesday. We’d been having so much fun setting-up house together that I was sad to send him off for the day and to know that he’d be gone everyday for most days into the future. Still, I was excited to hear about his amazing new job and for him to begin experiencing the job in full.

He’s working directly with a team of 12 other librarians and there are something like 30 librarians in his office. I think having all those peers around is going to make for a terrific work space. He says he’s starting to be able to classify the general personlity types of librarians. Ahhh, the categorization of everything bug must be a classic sign of the library type.

So far the move and the setting-up of house has been great. Tuesday night, after work, we rode our bicycles around the neighborhood, exploring the designated bike paths. Last night we took a meandering walk through our hood, ending up at the local pizza place, where we bought two giant slices of New York style pie for under $5.

Years ago, when I lived with Rosie, we had a couple who lived upstairs from us. Every night, after work, they would go for a walk together. Rosie, who was deep in the courting phase with her now husband, used to sit at the window and sigh over how she wished her life were like theirs. At the time I couldn’t imagine finding the man I would want to walk with every night. Now here I am, with SB at my side and I couldn’t be happier.

My new Georgian apartment oozes adorableness, even or because of all its little quirks. When we came to look at the place, on our mad dash of apartment hunting, we were impressed with the new appliances, the closets in every room and the overall tasteful newness of the 1950s building. When we went back to sign the lease, I noted that there wasn’t a phone jack or a cable jack anywhere.

Our landlord, a young guy, supported by his Dad and obviously making a first go in the real estate business, was equally surprised and apologetic of this oversight. He said, by the time we moved in, there would be a phone jack and a stove and refrigerator. When we arrived last Tuesday, all the appliances were here, as was a new phone jack, installed on the kitchen counter.

Next up, mailboxes. There were only 3 for a 4 unit building and they were right up against the building. We went to the post office to enquire. We found that a “new” ordinance had been passed in the mid-90s, requiring mailboxes to be on the curb.

We knew the building had been uninhabited for a long time but 10 years is impressive. Our new neighbor, in the big new house next door, told us that most buyers had considered the building a tear-down and she was happy to see it restored instead. She said it needed a lot of love and our landlord, along with his whole family, had been working and working on it.

While we waited for the new mailboxes to be installed, a fuse blew in our apartment, causing all the power to go out in one half of the place. And finally, all the brand-new plumbing leaks around the edges, as if they were never properly sealed. I’m waiting for the plumber and electrician to arrive today.

We feel bad for our landlord. He’s taken these set-backs very seriously and the apologies have been flowing. We can tell that he wants, more than anything, for everything to be perfect for us, his first tenants. There are so many details and so many little things that can go wrong. I think it is much better to be the understanding tenant, rather than the concerned landlord.

I’m catching up on all my back-log of e-mail and blog reading. Lot’s of people have been asking me how gas prices are down here in Georgia and how it was driving our big moving truck last week.

We were lucky that we moved at the beginning of last week, before the gas prices sky rocketed. We were able to top off the truck on Thursday for only $2.99/gallon. Later on Thursday we started noticing that many gas stations in our area were out of gas and as of this past weekend many places still had yellow tape up around their pumps and their doors were locked. We never saw the reported $6/gallon, but with my little car and our motorcycles, we aren’t big gas consumers.

I just found this great new apple widget that tells you where the cheapest gas is in your area. It serves the double purpose of telling me where gas stations are in my area.
Gas

Yay! Today our DSL modem arrived and now, very happily, we are at home and on-line. Ahhh, lovely Internet, full of the answers to so many questions.

For the past week we have been trying to learn a new city without the Internet and even more basic, without a phonebook. It has been hard, but it has also made our discoveries of things like the nearest Whole Foods, even more exciting.

Yesterday our land-line phone was connected. Also, yesterday we had our snail-mail mail box installed on the curb. We are now receiving information in all forms. It feels great to be back in the loop.

I will write more tomorrow about my first impressions of my new city.