Benjamin Murphy

Day 5:
Worst day ever! We got up really early to hit the DMZ up for some PA state drivers licenses. Wouldn?t you know it, it?s impossible to get one. Not because the original birth certificates, social security cards, and Illinois drivers licenses weren?t enough. It was because we didn?t have enough mail with our new address. Well, we did, but gees were they freaking so picky about it. Hand written letters that have been stamped and gone through the postal system to the new address, sorry Charlie, not enough. Give me a break.

The whole day wasn?t a wash at least. We did manage to get our car insurance taken care of and also the car registered and a new plate for it. I also took the car down and got the transmission fluid changed and the system flushed. If you?ve never done this before and you?ve owned your car for about 5 or more years, I highly recommend this. Then I got the car washed and all spiffed up. So it started crappy and got better. Not much else happened.

Day 4:

Sara and I received massages from my mom this morning. Then we took her out to lunch as a thank you. We?ve been pretty sore because of all the moving. Afterwards we picked up our Race for the Cure bibs, which is a 5k that benefits Breast Cancer research on Mother?s Day in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh.

When we got home we cleaned more stuff up. I replaced the cow pasture toilet seat cover, um gross. I organized the attic a bit and I hung up the rest of our pictures and clocks too. I think we are almost done with moving stuff in and re-arranging.

Finally, no one was gorging us with food and we just had leftovers. Still though, they were some pretty tasty leftovers to boot. After dinner Sara left to pick up Amanda and they were headed to American Eagle and Barnes & Noble in Cranberry.

These posts seem to be getting smaller and smaller each day.

Day 3:

We went to Northway Christian Community for church in the morning and finally got to see all of the Mohrbacher tribe along with the latest edition, Julia Grace, boy are the kids growing up fast as weeds in that family. Afterwards we went to Borders and Sara blew her $60 gift card real quick. Then we ate lunch at Red Robin, quite the burger joint I must say. And then finally we stopped at Lowes, which seems to be my default place to go shopping with all the things I?ve been doing around the house here.

After all of that we went out to Beaver Falls to visit Becky and Hannah. Hannah is so cute but still a little afraid of me, I guess because I?m so tall, which makes me a little sad. We drove to Brady?s Run park to see there new house, it?s so amazing!!! Their yard is so sweet, with the creek and everything. The house needs a lot of work, but it?s definitely large enough for them, which is what they desperately needed. I?m so excited for them; I’m guessing I?ll be helping out a lot over there this month, who needs to look for a job anyway?

We went home so Sara could cook a big family dinner for us her, parents, and grandparents. She made a mean lasagna which everyone enjoyed. We had a ?welcome home? Dairy Queen ice cream cake for dessert. Then we showed some pictures of the move on the TV and watched some of Mindy and John?s wedding DVD. I played with Sara?s old and busted college laptop and got the wireless DSL working on it so that we can browse the internet up in our bedroom. I?m such a geek.

Dang, no death today, at least there?s hope for tomorrow!

Day 2:

I woke to another misty and dreary western PA day. I quickly passed through the kitchen to head downstairs to the basement to check the internet when something caught my eye as I passed the garage. There lying lifeless on the garage floor was a rather large wild turkey. Apparently it was heading towards the corn coup when it met its doom. I didn?t even make it a full week without a cold-blooded killing, thank you George, my hero. It didn?t take long for the bird to be neck-less and de-feathered. Mmmm, I can?t wait for thanksgiving this year.

When I got downstairs and cleared the mental pictures of turkey carcass out of my mind I got to work putting together the little utility cart that has been sitting in it?s box for over a year in order to put the fax machine on, which had previously been sitting on the floor. I strung some CAT5 from the router over to the other side of the room to my computer desk but have to wait a bit from Travis to bring me a switch. Our little basement living is almost done; it just needs a few little touches. If I can get George to clean the turkey guts and feathers off of his hands maybe he?ll help me lift the big TV into the entertainment center so I can play Project Gotham Racing 2 on my Xbox. We shall see.

Ok Travis and Amanda were busy today so instead I called up my cousin Nick. We went out to Lowes in Cranberry and bought some utility shelving unit supplies to replace what?s in the bedroom closet. Nick helped me put it in and it looks great but I had to run him home. Sara and I went over to my parent?s house where my mom was cooking us a big roast beef and mash potatoes meal, delicious.

After dinner we went across the road to Amanda and Travis? place to watch a movie and chill. We watched Napoleon Dynamite and drank some Rolling Rocks. After the movie we played the Battle of the Sexes board game which was fun. Travis and I won, we are so metro. Travis hooked me up with some networking gear that I needed. He gave me a 4 port switch, a CAT5 coupler and about 15 feet of CAT5. I was able to run a hard line across the basement to my two machines and then to the Xbox for Xbox live action.

So thus far we have three main tower PCs all hard lined into the router and the Xbox. Then we have Sara?s old junkie laptop running wireless, George?s laptop has wireless and Katie?s laptop doesn?t but we?ll be buying a wireless USB key for her laptop. That?s a lot of machines. Sorry for the nerdery at the end of this post, I?m just so geeked out over how great this DSL service is.

Day 2 was over, so far two days home and two killings, ah it?s good to be home.

Day 1:

Our first official full day back in the Burg, I woke up early and tried to get ready for my interview at WTW Architects. Man was it stupid to schedule it so close to our move. I?m exhausted and sore from head to toe, but at least I look rather dapper in my suit. I found out early as I was printing out a resume that my entire portfolio had been ruined in our last apartment due to several basement floodings. Oh well, I guess I didn?t need that life?s work anyway; I suppose I?ll have to build another. The interview went well, everyone was really nice, and the building was gorgeous. I?d be so very happy to work there everyday, but I?m not holding my breath. Things will work out eventually for me in the job situation.

I got back from downtown and Sara and I headed out to drop off the Budget ?rig?. Smooth sailing on that task, next we went to the Olive Garden for lunch and had a great meal and a great waiter. After lunch we went to Target, PNC Bank, and Wal-Mart. We opened a checking account at PNC and should be getting our debit cards soon. Surprisingly despite all our running around and hitting all the local hotspots we didn?t run into a single hick from our youthful past. Maybe next time I suppose.

When we arrived home, again beat from running all around and still lack of sleep, we started getting our junk out of the way, it was everywhere. Sara did the dishes and cleaned up the bathroom, and did the laundry. I basically threw everything I could find up into the attic so no one would have to look at it.

When?s mom got home from work she announced how proud George is going to be because she hit the apparently pesky Groundhog just before turning into the driveway. ?I aimed for him and then I looked up in my rearview mirror and saw all four of his little legs up in the air and figured I had gotten him good!? Well that?s mostly what she said, hilarious.

Sara and Mom Steinacker cooked a lovely meal of stuffed green peppers and mashed potatoes, yummy. After dinner I hooked up the entertainment system while Carol played on her new super fast DSL internet. Man was she having fun downloading online games! I crashed pretty soon thereafter.