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Tuesday, January 08, 2013

One Year

A year ago on January 2nd I arrived in Atlanta from Minneapolis. This, of course, was cause for reflection.

It doesn't seem as if it that much time has passed. My perception is that it was much shorter than this. I also feel as if I haven't accomplished much since my arrival, although it did take me quite a while to acclimate.

The time difference was one of my biggest hurdles. You wouldn't think an hour is that much, and for daylight savings time it isn't. I adjust to that in about 2 weeks. The time zone change, though, was bigger for me.

For example, the east coast baseball games start at 6pm in the central time zone and I could watch a full game and be in bed by 9:30. Here? Push everything an hour forward, but my alarm was still set for 4am. There's a big difference between 6.5 hours of sleep and 5.5. I finally did adjust, but it took about 9 months. For real.

Driving here was another adjustment, and while I've gotten used to it, I find it extremely stressful. In fact, it's my least favorite part about the city. I can't believe how fast people drive here, and let's face it, most of them aren't good enough to do it--hence my death grip on the steering wheel.

After my near-death experience with the semi-trailer, I realized I was never going to be relaxed about driving here and it was ruining my quality of life. Since I had to do something, I joined the van pool. That also started January 2nd and I love it! I get to work relaxed. Heck, last Friday I even rode in with my eyes closed for most of the trip. Totally awesome.

I still don't like the bugs, but in the last couple of months, there hasn't been many in the condo at all. Thank the lord! It really helped that someone moved in the upstairs unit. I've stopped flinching now when I think something is moving.

The weather is totally awesome! I don't mind the 95 and humid--at least I haven't so far. Maybe once I've been here for a while, I will, but for now I'm still used to Minnesota's short summers and to me 95 and humid means no snow. Last winter here I only wore my winter jacket about 6 or 7 times. This year I haven't worn it at all yet.

Overall, I don't know. Minnesota is still home and I miss the northern bugs. They're small. On the other hand, when I went home for Christmas, I realized I was so done with cold and snow.