notes written on Saturday -> 6:00 p.m.
We left thirty minutes later than I actually wanted to leave but it worked out fine. We didn’t really have any reason to be in Tallahassee at any given time so we took our time on the drive. Actually, instead of taking the interstates the whole way and dealing with all of the stupid traffic associated with a holiday weekend, we decided it would be better to take highway 27 across the state. The first part of the drive was fine. I got to drink my coffee and listen to NPR but when we were hitting the Ocala area, we lost the NPR signal and had to switch to cds. For the first half of highway 27 we got to drive through a ton of little towns, Grant and I had fun reading signs to each other and reciting bad puns. The second half of highway 27 could put even the most caffeinated person to sleep, there was nothing to look at for something like 80 to 100 miles. So Grant and I jammed out to U2. We’ve decided the theme song for this trip is U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” or something like that, its track four on the greatest hits album. I’ve also discovered that turning the music up in the car is a great way to keep Grant quiet. That should be a rule for our relationship from now on, when I turn my music up, he should shut up.
When we drove into the town, on 27, just before we reached our hotel, we saw the capital building looming over the city. The old building was situated in front of the new building. It was quite a majestic sight.
We checked into our hotel, which is relatively nice. There is an internet connection in the room but it is for Ethernet and I have no way to connect Ethernet to my laptop, I need a network card or something, which kind of sucks. I hate being unconnected, so now I’ll just use my laptop to record notes that I will update to my blog when I get home.
Grant took me out to lunch. We ran (yes, literally) across the street to the Olive Garden for the all you can eat soup, salad, and breadstick lunch. Which ended up being just enough food to give us some walking energy to conquer the campus.
Tallahassee is a beautiful city, it’s a metropolitan mecca with a small town feel. There are rolling hills and no end to the forests of trees. The seasons are also more apparent up here. The buildings on Florida State’s campus are interesting. There is a definite cross between old, new, and mid-70s architecture. I love the red brick and the gothic arches on the old buildings and the new buildings that have been made to match the old ones. The buildings that I don’t like the look of are the ones that were obviously built during the 70s. These buildings have atrocious coloring and few windows (and the windows that are visible, are covered with a grating that runs like a mesh all the way up the building). These ugly buildings seem to be the few that I would be working in and taking classes in. They remind me a lot of the physics building on my campus. That fact alone is mildly disappointing. There are many beautiful buildings on this enormous campus but the few I’ll need are the ugly ones.
The one building that we actually got to see the inside of was the Paul Dirac Science Library. We immediately decided to see if we could locate the book that our lab professor wrote. Once we found the “stacks”, I saw a method of organizing the books that I have never seen before. The shelves were on tracks and you could shift them to the right or to the left down the track by rotating a wheel installed on the side of the shelf. Apparently there was not enough room in the building to house all of the books that they own, so there is no possible way to have the same amount of aisle space for all of the aisles, many of the shelves have to be smushed together at one time in order to walk down just one aisle. It seemed to be a very quiet building, unfortunately there were very few windows.
There is quite a bit of construction happening around the campus as well. Many of the roads are dead ends or blocked off for no particular reason. Not to mention the fact that there is no parking. The campus was completely packed and it’s a weekend, so I can’t imagine what the parking situation must be like during the week. It is also disappointing to see that gates block so many of the parking lots because they are designated for faculty only.
Grant was getting tired at this point, so he asked if we could go back to the hotel so he could nap. So we got a little lost trying to make our way back to the hotel but we eventually did make it safely. Now I’m watching Harry Potter on HBO and waiting for his girl Audrey to call and let us know what we’re doing tonight.
notes written on Sunday -> 1:00 p.m.
We spent the evening at Audrey’s house. Grant had to stop on the way over to her house, because, heaven forbid he drink cheap beer like Budlight, he had to have his Foster’s. We got a little lost on the way over to her house because Grant is a negligent navigator. At any rate, we pulled in and she was standing outside the house waiting for us. Her personality reminds me a lot of Amy. We met her roommate who actually owns the house and two of their guy friends. She gave us a tour of the house. The guys were grilling dinner in the backyard so we got to talk in the living room. I really like her, I think she’s a good person for Grant to have in his life. She definitely is a strong, dynamic, independent young woman who can intelligently argue her point, all factors that Grant needs in a significant other. She keeps him on his toes, which is good to see. I don’t think that he’ll be getting bored with her anytime soon.
So we ate and talked some more. Amy called around 10:00 last night, she sounded irritated with me and I don’t really know why. I can’t figure that girl out sometimes. It didn’t help matters that my cell phone wasn’t working properly in Audrey’s house so this phone call lasted all of maybe 90 seconds, and before I told her I would call her later.
It got to be about 11:30 and I was more than ready to go and Grant wasn’t making any moves towards vacating the premises. So I finally had to tell him that I was tired and ready to leave, he told me he would like to stay for a little longer. So I left him there. He seemed happy enough with the situation.
I called Amy on the way back to the hotel. She was so not happy with me for calling so late. She apparently had been waiting up for me to call and was irritated with the fact that I was calling so late. I don’t know what I am supposed to say to that except I’m sorry. I am getting tired of this attitude crap that she keeps giving me. I wish she would talk to me about whatever it is that is bothering her instead of listening to her just take out her frustrations on me. Granted, I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with but I try very hard not to take my frustrations out on her. I just hate that she’s not talking to me right now. We’re talking but its about superficial things, like “how was your day, honey” instead of about whatever it is that is bothering her/us.
I was up early this morning with nothing to do because I wasn't going to call and wake up Grant and Audrey. So I hopped in the car and decided I was going to find a bagel shop. Two hours of perusing the streets of Tallahassee before I found one. During those two hours, I did find the National High Energy Field Laboratory, so that was quite the highlight. Right as I was sitting down to eat my bagel, Grant and Audrey called to tell me they were heading over to the hotel so Grant could shower and change. So that is what I'm doing now, waiting for Grant to shower and change.
notes written on Sunday -> 10:00 p.m.
Audrey gave us a narrated driving and walking tour of campus. She showed us a great little sandwich shop on campus, the other library, we also got to see the inside of the Keen building. We saw all of the same buildings and parts of campus we saw yesterday but there was a very different feel to the campus with Audrey. She gave it a feeling of home and comfort. She also informed me that if I want any sort of quiet apartment living that I should live like five miles away from campus, so she showed us a few different places but said it would be best to find a house to rent.
After the tour, Audrey wanted to go work out so she dropped Grant and I off at the hotel. We napped, I wrote, he beautified himself for dinner.
We met Audrey and her roommate for dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. Great food, good fun. I was tired so I let Grant go home with Audrey and I went back to the hotel.
notes written on Monday -> 5:00 p.m.
We got lost three times while trying to find I-10, as I said earlier, Grant is a negligent navigator. We had plenty of accurate maps, he just couldn't tell me where I was supposed to go and when I was supposed to turn. After we finally hit the interstate, it was smooth sailing until for three hours. At that point, we saw the remnants of a semi accident that had the northbound side of traffic backed up for over ten miles. We were very thankful we were headed in the opposite direction. We finally made it back into town and I dropped Grant off and headed home.
We left thirty minutes later than I actually wanted to leave but it worked out fine. We didn’t really have any reason to be in Tallahassee at any given time so we took our time on the drive. Actually, instead of taking the interstates the whole way and dealing with all of the stupid traffic associated with a holiday weekend, we decided it would be better to take highway 27 across the state. The first part of the drive was fine. I got to drink my coffee and listen to NPR but when we were hitting the Ocala area, we lost the NPR signal and had to switch to cds. For the first half of highway 27 we got to drive through a ton of little towns, Grant and I had fun reading signs to each other and reciting bad puns. The second half of highway 27 could put even the most caffeinated person to sleep, there was nothing to look at for something like 80 to 100 miles. So Grant and I jammed out to U2. We’ve decided the theme song for this trip is U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” or something like that, its track four on the greatest hits album. I’ve also discovered that turning the music up in the car is a great way to keep Grant quiet. That should be a rule for our relationship from now on, when I turn my music up, he should shut up.
When we drove into the town, on 27, just before we reached our hotel, we saw the capital building looming over the city. The old building was situated in front of the new building. It was quite a majestic sight.
We checked into our hotel, which is relatively nice. There is an internet connection in the room but it is for Ethernet and I have no way to connect Ethernet to my laptop, I need a network card or something, which kind of sucks. I hate being unconnected, so now I’ll just use my laptop to record notes that I will update to my blog when I get home.
Grant took me out to lunch. We ran (yes, literally) across the street to the Olive Garden for the all you can eat soup, salad, and breadstick lunch. Which ended up being just enough food to give us some walking energy to conquer the campus.
Tallahassee is a beautiful city, it’s a metropolitan mecca with a small town feel. There are rolling hills and no end to the forests of trees. The seasons are also more apparent up here. The buildings on Florida State’s campus are interesting. There is a definite cross between old, new, and mid-70s architecture. I love the red brick and the gothic arches on the old buildings and the new buildings that have been made to match the old ones. The buildings that I don’t like the look of are the ones that were obviously built during the 70s. These buildings have atrocious coloring and few windows (and the windows that are visible, are covered with a grating that runs like a mesh all the way up the building). These ugly buildings seem to be the few that I would be working in and taking classes in. They remind me a lot of the physics building on my campus. That fact alone is mildly disappointing. There are many beautiful buildings on this enormous campus but the few I’ll need are the ugly ones.
The one building that we actually got to see the inside of was the Paul Dirac Science Library. We immediately decided to see if we could locate the book that our lab professor wrote. Once we found the “stacks”, I saw a method of organizing the books that I have never seen before. The shelves were on tracks and you could shift them to the right or to the left down the track by rotating a wheel installed on the side of the shelf. Apparently there was not enough room in the building to house all of the books that they own, so there is no possible way to have the same amount of aisle space for all of the aisles, many of the shelves have to be smushed together at one time in order to walk down just one aisle. It seemed to be a very quiet building, unfortunately there were very few windows.
There is quite a bit of construction happening around the campus as well. Many of the roads are dead ends or blocked off for no particular reason. Not to mention the fact that there is no parking. The campus was completely packed and it’s a weekend, so I can’t imagine what the parking situation must be like during the week. It is also disappointing to see that gates block so many of the parking lots because they are designated for faculty only.
Grant was getting tired at this point, so he asked if we could go back to the hotel so he could nap. So we got a little lost trying to make our way back to the hotel but we eventually did make it safely. Now I’m watching Harry Potter on HBO and waiting for his girl Audrey to call and let us know what we’re doing tonight.
notes written on Sunday -> 1:00 p.m.
We spent the evening at Audrey’s house. Grant had to stop on the way over to her house, because, heaven forbid he drink cheap beer like Budlight, he had to have his Foster’s. We got a little lost on the way over to her house because Grant is a negligent navigator. At any rate, we pulled in and she was standing outside the house waiting for us. Her personality reminds me a lot of Amy. We met her roommate who actually owns the house and two of their guy friends. She gave us a tour of the house. The guys were grilling dinner in the backyard so we got to talk in the living room. I really like her, I think she’s a good person for Grant to have in his life. She definitely is a strong, dynamic, independent young woman who can intelligently argue her point, all factors that Grant needs in a significant other. She keeps him on his toes, which is good to see. I don’t think that he’ll be getting bored with her anytime soon.
So we ate and talked some more. Amy called around 10:00 last night, she sounded irritated with me and I don’t really know why. I can’t figure that girl out sometimes. It didn’t help matters that my cell phone wasn’t working properly in Audrey’s house so this phone call lasted all of maybe 90 seconds, and before I told her I would call her later.
It got to be about 11:30 and I was more than ready to go and Grant wasn’t making any moves towards vacating the premises. So I finally had to tell him that I was tired and ready to leave, he told me he would like to stay for a little longer. So I left him there. He seemed happy enough with the situation.
I called Amy on the way back to the hotel. She was so not happy with me for calling so late. She apparently had been waiting up for me to call and was irritated with the fact that I was calling so late. I don’t know what I am supposed to say to that except I’m sorry. I am getting tired of this attitude crap that she keeps giving me. I wish she would talk to me about whatever it is that is bothering her instead of listening to her just take out her frustrations on me. Granted, I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with but I try very hard not to take my frustrations out on her. I just hate that she’s not talking to me right now. We’re talking but its about superficial things, like “how was your day, honey” instead of about whatever it is that is bothering her/us.
I was up early this morning with nothing to do because I wasn't going to call and wake up Grant and Audrey. So I hopped in the car and decided I was going to find a bagel shop. Two hours of perusing the streets of Tallahassee before I found one. During those two hours, I did find the National High Energy Field Laboratory, so that was quite the highlight. Right as I was sitting down to eat my bagel, Grant and Audrey called to tell me they were heading over to the hotel so Grant could shower and change. So that is what I'm doing now, waiting for Grant to shower and change.
notes written on Sunday -> 10:00 p.m.
Audrey gave us a narrated driving and walking tour of campus. She showed us a great little sandwich shop on campus, the other library, we also got to see the inside of the Keen building. We saw all of the same buildings and parts of campus we saw yesterday but there was a very different feel to the campus with Audrey. She gave it a feeling of home and comfort. She also informed me that if I want any sort of quiet apartment living that I should live like five miles away from campus, so she showed us a few different places but said it would be best to find a house to rent.
After the tour, Audrey wanted to go work out so she dropped Grant and I off at the hotel. We napped, I wrote, he beautified himself for dinner.
We met Audrey and her roommate for dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. Great food, good fun. I was tired so I let Grant go home with Audrey and I went back to the hotel.
notes written on Monday -> 5:00 p.m.
We got lost three times while trying to find I-10, as I said earlier, Grant is a negligent navigator. We had plenty of accurate maps, he just couldn't tell me where I was supposed to go and when I was supposed to turn. After we finally hit the interstate, it was smooth sailing until for three hours. At that point, we saw the remnants of a semi accident that had the northbound side of traffic backed up for over ten miles. We were very thankful we were headed in the opposite direction. We finally made it back into town and I dropped Grant off and headed home.
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