Progress and Productivity

After an overwhelmingly depressing first day of orientation, things are on the up and up. I'm meeting people and settling in a little bit. First day jitters put thoughts of quitting in my mind, but obviously that's not an option. I think I'm home sick, which is strange for me. I don't remember ever feeling this way in Blacksburg, but maybe I repressed the sentiment.

A plethora of tasks to complete this week is slowly turning in to a short "To Do List", so I have filed this week (and this post) under progress and productivity. I have my student ID (Sun Card) and a bus pass (free for all students on all public transportation in Tempe). I have not yet gotten a parking permit, but I plan to ($280 for the year). However, we met our savior today. Kirill and I decided to sit at a table with a few 1L girls for lunch at the Max (the student center; think Squires, Hokies). By the time lunch was over, we were best friends. All three are ASU graduates, and one offered to drive us all over town to run our various errands (bookstore, commuter services, library for laptop configuration) and then take us home. While running around town (ignore the fact that she drove us on the wrong side of a median in to oncoming traffic), she offered--without prompting--to give us a ride to and from school every day. She has the parking pass for the Rural Rd. structure, which is across the street from the law building. She also plans to keep a similar schedule to me (9-5 every day, maybe a little earlier on one or two days, which fits my early Tuesdays perfectly). Jackpot.

In other news, her husband is from northern Virginia and played football at Robinson, so we probably have a lot of the same friends. He is a huge Redskins fan, so I now I have a Redskins buddy (as soon as I meet him). And they have four season tickets to Cardinals games that they can never pawn off on people. The two of them go but never have friends to join them, so they offered us tickets.

We were invited to happy hour on Friday and she also offered to show us all the best restaurants and grocery stores, etc. around town over the course of the semester.

I'd say we really lucked out sitting next to them.

In other news, I completed my first chapter of assigned reading yesterday and took detailed notes (on the laptop) in outline form. I have one more section to read for that assignment, but it isn't due until Monday. I have reading due Friday, but the book hasn't arrived yet. It has been on back order for weeks. I hope it shows up tomorrow, but it will ruin my happy hour plans tomorrow if I have to read the assignment while everyone else is out.

I registered my clicker (no idea what it does yet). It's a remote control with a keypad on it, and it allegedly takes roll in class and allows you to participate in some way. I also registered for LexisNexis and WestLaw after getting a tour of the law library.

This all, no doubt, sounds dreadfully boring. But when it's new and it's productive and I've been pretty bored, my mind makes it exciting. So be excited, okay?

We did some more grocery shopping today. Our kitchen finally looks decently stocked. We still need dishes and pots and pans. We got a set of really ghetto kitchenware at Target, but I deemed it 'worth it' after a detailed cost-benefit analysis.

Tomorrow, I plan to buy season football and basketball tickets because it's only $100 for the package deal. Coming from VT, I am baffled. We payed $350 for football and somewhere in the low $100's for basketball if I remember correctly.

It's getting late. I'm going to do a little more reading, proactively, so that I can enjoy the weekend.

I also was invited to join the Donkey Bowl, another fantasy keeper league. I bought a franchise that recently came on the market. Hopefully, I will draft for this league a little better than I did for the AEPi Alumni League. I'll post about that in a minute. Separate topics.