I didn't get quite as much done today as I intended to, but sloth and other issues got in the way. I allowed myself to sleep in without setting an alarm, which was glorious; I awoke to the sound of rain beating on the roof over my bed, which made me feel an utter lack of desire to emerge from the covers. Eventually I did emerge, however, and I drank the first cup of tea in my new home while browsing lamps on a variety of online shopping websites. Then, I pulled myself together and ran some errands, which took up most of the day despite the fact that I didn't accomplish much.
The first stop was Home Depot, where I bought a drain shield for the bathtub since my hair will quickly destroy any hope of the drain working if there isn't a guard to prevent all the wamp-devils from congregating in the pipes. I also picked up a stopper so that I can take bubble baths, a set of bathtub shelving to hold all of the many and varied bathing supplies that I like to have around, zip ties to secure my suitcases on my upcoming travels, a couple of wands for the miniblinds whose wands are missing, replacement burner pans for the stove in my old apartment since our originals are well beyond the point of being cleanable, and a bottle of superglue to reattach the ear of my ceramic donkey, which mysteriously fell off while I was in Cancun.
The next stop was Stanford Shopping Center; I had a quick lunch at CPK (which I was in the mood for because both John and Jess railed on it yesterday as a terrible restaurant, but I love it and have many fond memories at the one in downtown Palo Alto -- so a roasted garlic chicken pizza was very much something I was looking forward to). Then, I went to Crate and Barrel, where I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing the entire store (some sections three or four times) before settling on two lamps: one lamp for my desk, and a pair of lamps for my living room tables. Both styles are super cool and fit well both in this house and in terms of how they will look with my furniture regardless of where I'm living. Unfortunately, though, the Palo Alto store only had the desk lamp in stock, so they sent me to Santana Row to pick up the table lamps. Before going down there, I talked to my parents and wished my mother a happy mother's day -- they both seemed to be in good form, and we're all looking forward to hosting Adit in July and figuring out what he will possibly eat while staying with us.
Then, I made the trek down to Santana Row, which may have been a mistake; I am desperate for light, so I didn't want to wait for the lamps until after getting back from Europe, but Santana Row on a Sunday afternoon is a complete madhouse, and the traffic around the area was insane. I finally got to Crate and Barrel and successfully picked up the lamps, came home (with a stop at Philz for coffee and a stop at Walgreens to buy lightbulbs) -- and discovered that one of the lamps is no good, since the socket is bent at an angle and will not hold the lampshade straight (let alone whatever the bend has done to the electrical wiring). I'm so annoyed about that -- the lamp that isn't broken looks totally awesome, as does the desk lamp, but now I have to deal with returning the broken one and finding a replacement. I'm going to call the San Francisco store and see if they still have one in stock (they did this afternoon, anyway); I'm going to the evil city on Tuesday afternoon to close out the apartment, so I could make the switch then if it all works out.
Anyway, that was super boring for all of you -- and the rest of my night was as well, since I spent it trying to unpack. I did a good thing by rearranging all the stacks of boxes so that I know what is kitchen-related, what contains books, what contains clothes, and what boxes are just a random hodgepodge of stuff. Unfortunately, I then v. stupidly started unpacking the books, which consumed my evening; I'm likely going to have to get more shelves, although I didn't fill the library cabinet (just the shelves that are built in to the living room wall), so I'll do that before I decide on more furniture. But, it was exciting to see all the books that have been in storage for so long, and realize how many books are sitting there that I've never read and that I really want to try. Perhaps once things settle down a bit, I'll make a concerted effort to get through some of the books that have been lingering for half a decade ("The Brothers Karamazov", "A Tale of Two Cities", "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting", "Howard's End", etc., etc.).
The only other thing of note is that I have a feeling I'm going to wish that I had a shotgun and that Palo Alto tolerated that sort of animal control; I heard a noise while I was unpacking and turned around to see a raccoon strolling fairly sedately along the outer window ledge of my main living room window. He was one of the fattest raccoons I've ever seen; without a weapons deterrent, the raccoons must be living pretty well around here. I think he (or one of his brethren) was on my roof later, because it sounded like a person walking over the shingles -- luckily I grew up in Iowa, so this kind of stuff doens't phase me. Now if I get a bat down my chimney someday, I will be quite a bit less calm about it -- but I can handle seeing the odd raccoon outside my window.
Now, it's way past my bedtime; I know it's only 10:28, but I plan to get up early and write tomorrow, and that won't happen if I don't get some sleep. Goodnight!
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