The furniture delivery was scheduled to arrive today. I got a call yesterday that they would be bringing it sometime between 5 and 9 pm.

I’m taking the next two days off (summer holidays in the middle of winter) so I was working my head off to try and get my tasks at some sensible stage. I was supposed to leave at 4 — didn’t quite manage it. It got 4:30 and I thought I had to leave no matter what. So I did.

Then I got stuck in traffic. I was sitting nervously in the bus, thinking it would be just my luck if they were early. I was thinking like that because then it would be just my luck that they in fact arrived five to 9 pm… which would’ve been better.

Well, at 5 pm sharp I get a call from the post office. I’m still sitting in the bus at this point. They were parked in front of my house. I said I’m there in about 15 minutes and they were nice enough to make another delivery first since it was close by.

I jumped out of the bus, ran to the train, stood nervously in the train, ran to the next bus, sat nervously in the bus, and ran home in the nice and slippery snow mush.

Just in time. I managed to move some stuff away from the foyer to make room for the packages, take a breath, and then I got the 2nd call.

The packages are here but I’ll probably leave the assembly to Friday. I know I’m nuts but I’m leaving to my grandparents early tomorrow, and in any case I have to think how to arrange the furniture in my bedroom.

And now as I’m browsing my bank site I notice they charged it off my bank account instead of my credit card. Good thing I had balance! (And good thing the pay day’s soon, I’m not touching my savings account.)

I nearly got squished by the bus door today. I was last to step out of the back door (being polite as I am) and the driver closed the door right in front of my nose. I climbed back up the stairs, raised my voice to have the door opened (hm, that usually does it) — nothing. People helped me by pressing the stop button and shouting to the driver who finally let me out.

I shouted (laughingly) that I must be so small he can’t see me.

Yeah, right. Short maybe. Small not.

Today I went and bought an Acer Aspire One (with Linux Lite). Please, don’t ask me why. My co-workers got me wanting one and I thought what the hey. It’s been a while since I’ve bought a nice new gadget for myself. (Not counting the kitchen goodies.)

I didn’t get just the laptop. I got it with a customisation. They only had white and blue ones; blue is a colour I absolutely don’t like and white is a bit too… Apple. Ick. So, I decided to have a white One customised to metallic red. Niiice. It’ll still have a white keyboard and touchpad and the screen and its frame are black, but the rest will be red.

And, I didn’t get just the laptop and the customisation. I got an 8 GB memory card to add to the 8GB Flash-drive.

And, I didn’t get just the laptop, the customisation, and the memory card. I got a laptop sleeve to protect the lovely gadget.

And, I didn’t get just the laptop, the customisation, the memory card, and the bag. I got a WLAN router because what fun would it be to have a WLAN-capable laptop and have to plug it in.

I won’t get these for Christmas, though. I’ll have to wait until the start of January because the customisation has a queue and they’re quite busy at this time of the year (no surprise). But it’ll be in time for my birthday. Can’t wait! Will post photos once I get my One.

Note to self: remember to re-read ten tips for new Aspire One in January.

This little dude greeted me when I got home today.

Guess where it came from? Maybe Jupiter?

A few days ago I realised that the day for paying residual tax (or receiving returns) is quite soon (December 2). The problem was, I had no idea where the tax return form¹ was because of the move: All my papers are still in bags, folders or boxes until I get my desk and bookcase.

For the life of me I couldn’t remember whether I had to pay or whether I’ll get a tax return. If I’d get something back it would be no problem if I didn’t find the papers but if I had to pay something…

Before the move I knew exactly where the form and other important papers were (that is, in the pile of papers on the stereo speaker or the one in my bookshelf) but now I had no idea where to start.

Yesterday I even went shopping for a ceiling light so I could see while rummaging in the closets. (Not the only reason to buy the light — to hunt for the form — but it was a good incentive.)
Lucky me, I picked up the exact right folder and there it was, right next to the form from 2005…! Apparently, I was two and something euros short but they don’t collect it because it’s such a small amount of money.

Phew.

Next year I’ll put the residual tax (if any) scheduled for payment the day I receive the form and put a reminder in my calendar, too.

¹ We get the tax return forms ready filled and just have to correct them if something is wrong.

I was supposed to go shopping today but I have an irritating headache. Don’t know if it’s because of the weather (it’s trying to rain) or because I slept too much or too little.

Luckily the shops are open tomorrow (even the special lamp store I was planning to go to) so I’ll go tomorrow. Maybe today I could hang the curtains I got from my aunt and clean up the place a little. And of course, play some Half Life or Portal.

This week has been very busy at work, again. I’m cherishing a hope I might go back to my old job. There is a chance because they say they want me back. In the summer when I accepted the new job (within the company) I didn’t know about the things that are happening now — and now I’m regretting my decision. Not that I don’t like what I’m doing now but I’m liking the other things more. What I’m doing now is just work; what I was doing and will hopefully get to do again is something I love and I’m good at it. Why did I choose to change jobs then? I felt like there wouldn’t be enough work for me in the future (ha, funny). I didn’t accept the offer with 100% certainty, though, which is probably why I’m regretting it now. Now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed.

If I do switch back, I’ll be sorry how it looks to my current client contacts because I care about the relations. But maybe my boss can think of a good way to explain it (“anyone can do this, we need the expertise elsewhere”? Not.).

I’m afraid how I will feel if I can’t switch back soon.

I did it. I ordered a desk and a bookshelf from a Finnish online store. I’ll hopefully hear from them by Tuesday on when the furniture would be delivered.

I’m not going to say a thing to my parents or sister (or probably anyone who might spill the beans) until I have the stuff here. That’s in case something goes wrong (they are delayed, order’s messed up, packages broken, or something like that) — I don’t want to give Dad yet another furniture-related mishap to snicker about. I’m paying for it on delivery so I don’t have to worry if they bail out on me and the stuff never gets here.

I do hope everything goes well because the furniture I found look sooo lovely (dark wood, yum)! I can’t wait to get my “office stuff” out of my clothes closet (!) and onto the shelves where they belong.

[Edit] Oh yeah, I received an email on Monday (I think they tried to call me first but I didn’t hear the phone in time and they hung up). The estimated delivery is on December 9 or 10. Whee! A month to go!

Fiiinally the Half-Life 2 Orange Box was so inexpensive that I decided to buy it. Ever since it was released over a year ago I’ve been annoyed that it contained two games I already had (Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2 Episode 1). Sure, it was a bargain anyway but why buy duplicates? At first it seemed that Episode 2 and Portal wouldn’t be available in any other format (except digitally on Steam, but I like the smell of game boxes) but I suppose they’ve released them individually by now.

On Tuesday I saw an advert for a game store’s “grand opening” and they had a really good deal on the Orange Box — it was only 9.90€ while in other stores it was around 30-50€ still. After some persuasion by my co-workers to once in my life “play hooky”, I decided to come to work later than usual and stop by the game store on Wednesday morning. I did, and I got the game!

I installed it the same evening and decided to try it out. I had real difficulty getting connected to the Steam servers which were too busy to handle my request and it prevented me completely from launching the game. Apparently it required some files downloaded or some thing to be done first even though I had turned off automatic updates. Eventually it worked but this got me thinking: what happens when the servers get overloaded? What happens when they are closed completely? Could that happen in the near future?

Kory was just telling me about a 5-install limit on some games. Game companies are doing their best preventing people from playing today’s games in the future. That’s so sad.

Got extra money on Friday along with my salary (“vacation money”) and, of course, went shopping on Saturday. I bought a lot! An electric mixer, a deep frying pan (not for deep-frying, just with high edges), a stand for clothes (because otherwise I’d keep them on my chair which isn’t practical), covers for the hotplates, and probably something else, too. But most importantly, I got carpets!

I bought a round grey rug for the living-room. There’s enough red already (curtains and easy chair) and I needed something grey so my couch doesn’t feel too lonely.

I was looking for something, anything, for my bedroom and I found a lovely plum coloured rug.

Yummm. I didn’t have a colour scheme for my bedroom yet so this decided it. It’s great, because plum/purple was a colour I wanted somewhere.

I’ve found a lovely desk but it’s in an online store so I’ll have to think (and ask around) whether I have the courage to order it. And I still need some lamps.

As much as I love living by myself, I’m finding it very difficult to get used to living in an apartment building.

For at least two months after moving in, people were drilling a lot. I’m pretty sure it was the same people because the drilling sounded the same every time. I wonder if they have any room left on their walls…

The drilling has got rarer but what will never go away is the sound of my neighbour’s kitchen drawers. The drawers are loud, I know because mine are too. Unfortunately, their kitchen is on the other side of my bedroom wall. And they are early birds — even on weekends. I’m not because I want to stay up late at least once or twice a week.

I can also hear the blender and the beating or chopping, but the drawers are the worst. They’re driving me absolutely bonkers.