(no subject)

Hi all!

We're here! Notice also, the time. Hello, jetlag...my old friend! It's funny, but Lance and I always wake up at around the same time when we have jetlag.

Anyway, getting here was relatively uneventful. The only complaint I had about our flight from Amsterdam to Washington - Dulles (and by the way, our seats in the last row did recline), is that my personal entertainment system didn't work properly. I watched No Reservations as my first film, and it kept losing vertical hold, color, and sometimes the picture went out. The audio continued to work fine. And I complained about it to the flight attendant and she suggested that I switch seats and I said, "That's okay, I don't want to be separated from my husband." And she snapped, "Well then I can't help you!"

It was the way she said it. Rude. Anyway, the movie straightened out toward the end, and I was able to watch the second movie - The Santa Clause 3 - without incident.

Anyway, we arrived at Washington Dulles...and, you know I have been in A LOT of airports. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the worst airport I have ever been in. I have never seen such a ridiculously laid-out customs area. There is nothing to smooth the flow of human traffic. Lance agreed with me that it was horrible, so I was in a foul mood by the time we got to our gate.

Once at the gate, our flight to Seattle was slightly delayed. Football was on, so pretty much everyone was watching and shouting or cheering. I almost felt like I was in a sports bar. I was trying to read. Lance grabbed some Subway, since we had to pay for food on the Dulles - Seattle flight, which is completely ridiculous, since it's a 6 hour flight. I thought their snack packs were reasonably priced on the airline, so I decided to wait.

We finally got on the flight and it went okay, except I was in the middle seat and I hate the middle seat. I got a bit of sleep...Lance napped quite a bit. I bought a minimeal on the flight, which was salami, crackers, spreadable cheese, potato chips, an applesauce cup and 2 Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies.

Arrived in Seattle...waited ages for our luggage (this guy struck up a conversation with me at baggage claim - turns out he's a local radio personality...but some of the directions our conversation took were a bit too weird for me).

Grabbed the Thrifty courtesy shuttle and got our car. Not impressed with Thrifty at all. And we got a very very basic Ford Focus...power nothing, but at least the heater works well. We were supposed to get a Dodge Caliber though, but since we actually booked a compact car, we can't complain, because that's what we got (their website said we would get a Dodge Caliber, which is much bigger than a Ford Focus). I'm actually glad for the smaller car because I have to drive it too.

After that, we got here to our temporary lodgings - Extended Stay America. While the room is clean, it's unimpressive. Our hotel room in Germany was much better. This is just a sterile, cramped room that barely holds us and our luggage.

Lance and I are now ferociously hungry, and we're waiting for the Burger King to open across the street. That's really the only thing around here...this hotel, while close to Boeing, isn't really close to anything else. Must get some groceries, as we at least have a kitchenette in this room.

We have a huge to-do list today, and will be spending most of our day at McChord. First thing this morning, though (after breakfast), is that Lance will be going in to meet his new co-workers at Boeing. I'll be staying here in the room while he does that.

Good news already this morning, though - the washer and dryer we picked out is 10% off at Home Depot, so we have to stop in by Wednesday and buy them.

Inauspicious Beginnings

So before we can get on with our day, Lance has to stop by his office at Boeing to begin inprocessing.

Which he tried to do. And failed.

He got there. He just couldn't get in. And he picked up the phone and called various extension numbers for people in his office, and none of them worked.

He got back here to the hotel at around 9:40. I had gone back to sleep, since we had so little of it last night. He explained what happened (and we were already running behind...I think he wanted to either be enroute or at McChord by this time), called his office (he called them before he left the first time too), and was told that they wanted to see him.

So he's on his way back there now. Hopefully this won't take long. I'm antsy to get out of here. We have a million errands to run at McChord...I have to drop off my medical records, pick up mail, get our cellphones (there's a Verizon kiosk in the base exchange...we're going to see if they offer a military discount or special rate), do all the various things Lance needs to do there, hopefully stop off at the Family Support Center so I can print off some paperwork for a job application packet that I'm working on, etc. etc.

And we need to go to Walmart, because all the wireless internet stuff that Lance ordered last week came in and is on hold for us.

And hope that jetlag doesn't kick our asses before we get all this done. Although Lance is probably worse off than me, because I've gotten a bit more sleep than he has. But at least I can drive if things get too bad.

(no subject)

I'm trying to update from the Family Support Center at McChord. Not sure if this is going to work. LJ says I'm logged in, but it keeps asking me for a username and password. And this sucks, because I can't get on Yahoo Mail or anything else I normally use online throughout the day.

Anyway, I'm here killing time while Lance is inprocessing. I hope he's done with that soon. We were to have cellphones by now, and both of us seem to remember a Verizon kiosk at McChord, but our memories appear to be faulty. There is only Sprint and T-Mobile. So we have to pick up our phones off-base...hopefully in the next few hours.

Picked up our mail too, and we got the 3 parcels we sent ourselves last week in addition to my custom Christmas cards...YAY! They look spiffy. We also got a huge stack of mail for someone who apparently once owned our PO Box, and I'm tired of getting other people's mail, since that was a constant problem in GK.

Lance's co-workers at Boeing are AWESOME! He got back to the hotel around 11:30, carrying a laundry basket filled with stuff. I asked him if he stopped by the store on his way back (I needed a laundry basket actually, among other things), but he told me that it was a welcome package from the guys at his new office. The laundry basket was filled with the following: a huge case of bottled water, a Frito Lay variety pack, a jar of dry roasted peanuts, a variety pack of tea, a bag of Starbucks coffee (shocking! I know), Pampers baby wipes (if anyone can think of a non-baby use for these, let me know), dish soap, laundry soap, dish scrubby sponge and paper towels. I believe that covers everything, and half that stuff was stuff we needed to buy anyway (especially the dish and laundry soap). I was floored...gobsmacked. His co-workers are amazing. Lance also gets a free membership to Bally's Total Fitness (*pout*) and the wives apparently have some kind of newsletter, so Lance signed me up for that.

Yup. Living here is going to be awesome.
It will be even more so ONCE I GET EMPLOYMENT.