Ctrl + Alt + Del

My apologies for the blogging break. After I discontinued my landline in an effort to save money, all my neighbors with highspeed wireless internet decided to encrypt their networks. This is what I get for trying to steal internet...

But I'm rebooting the blog -- since rebooting seems to be one of my life's current theme. The down and dirty news -- I'm moving to Washington DC to start graduate school! Originally, I had thought that if I'm going to give up a full-time job and a full-time salary to be a poor student again, I might as well graduate with two degrees instead of one. Hey, I never said I wasn't an overachieving masochist.... so off I go for a three-year program in business and international relations.

The moving preparations are underway ... sort of. At least I have a place to live. And I have boxes from the UHaul man, who told me that the Christians are after him because they keep approaching him and telling him that he needs peace in his life. Which is understandable, since this poor guy just lost two friends in neighborhood violence. I told him that maybe that Jesus guy was trying to tell him something and we shared a few laughs over some of our church experiences gone wrong. But that's not the point of my story today. My story today takes place east of Capitol Hill, near the Potomac Ave metro stop, where I finally end up after a fruitless morning apartment hunt.

I arrived in front of the most rundown house on the street. A big metal door with a dirty window, through which I could barely make out an unlit, dingy hallway with a rickety staircase. But a phone call to Mrs. Banks (the elderly tenant with the keys to the apartment) proved another deadend -- she informed me that the apartment rented the day before. Wishing I could ctrl+alt+delete the entire day, I listlessly walked toward the street where I was greeted by a random woman on a bike, who had stopped to take a cell phone call. (Are there rules yet about driving a bike while on a cell phone?) She started up a friendly conversation with me, I told her about my frustrating house hunt and she told me about a new apartment building a few blocks down the road. So I followed her.

Now, I know this seems like a crazy thing, following a strange woman around the streets of Washington DC's east side ... but ...nevermind, I don't have a good excuse. We finally arrived at a far-from-finished apartment building with a banner that proudly displayed the development company's phone number. She went on her merry way and I disheartedly copied down the number. Another ctrl alt del moment.

But as I turned, I caught a glimpse of a woman pulling out brand new, flattened moving boxes out of her car across the street. She struck up a conversation with me and I relayed my entire tale of woe and anguish. She then proceeded to tell me that she was being transferred to London for two years and needed to rent out her GORGEOUS two bedroom row house.

I guess sometimes we just have to let life play out before rebooting everytime ...