financing, furniture and friends

Ain't alliteration awesome?

First, the lead: I got a job! I start here on Monday. I'll be a program assistant for the Citizen Participation team, which basically means I'll be doing a mix of grunt work, research and sitting in on some awesome lecture series. I'm *very* excited to be getting one step closer to the issues I'm most interested in working on: Democratization and working with grassroots advocacy.

Second: I've got (some) furniture! As if Larry and Z didn't go above and beyond already to help me to get to my apartment, Dr. Freddy did the same. He and his truck took me on a little adventure to the Woodbridge Ikea (Irvine folks: Woodbridge, VA, not Woodbridge Warriors.) I dropped some significant change (with a nice little discount thanks to some very cool friends' going-away gifts.) So in two hours, Freddy assembled my bed (trust me, it was a tough job and there was NO WAY I could've done it on my own) and I did the end table, desk, chair, lamp and bookcase. My room looks pretty good. I'm just waiting for some more art work and picture frames to come in the mail to cheer up the walls. So far I've got one poster up.




Third: I've got awesome friends. No surprise there, but I really do. From Fred's grumbling generosity with his truck and manly building skills to Matt's offering of free club-level Orioles tickets tonight (Ali: Bet you're wishing you were back from Stockholm...ok, maybe not. But still: I'm going to Camden Yards!), my friends are the coolest peeps. Little Whelan and I had some beers after what turned out to be my very successful job interview. After that, he convinced me to go make some new friends at a happy hour for my department. The peeps I've met so far are very cool. Looks like the kids will play nice. On Thursday, I'm having dinner with friends of Christie, who live in a nearby neighborhood. No way I'm feeling lonely in my otherwise roommate-less and furniture-less apartment.

Orientation is Friday -- can't wait!