Kate Keckeisen is Alive and Well and Living in New Jersey

Hello to all my friends back home (and anyone else who may be reading this)!

First, let me say that I am almost totally settled in here in Newark, New Jersey.  The whole parking situation is still a headache (more on that in a bit), but school has started and a job may be on the horizon.  A job would be great because, besides needing a nice steady inflow of cash, I am getting cabin fever sitting in my apartment all day watching television.  Not so much fun after almost two weeks.

For those of you who haven't been caught up by my parents, Dad and I arrived in NJ after three days of driving from Topeka with a packed U-Haul trailer and my car.  The people at the apartment complex ended up making a computer mistake that, instead of putting me in a one bedroom on the fourth floor, installed me in a second floor, two bedroom apartment.  The manager, to make amends, ended up giving me that apartment for less than a studio! So now I have more space than I know what to do with, which is nice.  My cat, Starbuck, has her own room now! 

The parking situation is perfectly medieval.  There is a huge parking lot behind the apartment buildings, but it's privately owned.  So The Woman With the Book comes the first three working days of the month to collect the rent and give out new stickers.  New rentals are only handled on the third working day.  So, for the past two weeks, I've had to park on the street.  Since there isn't much space out there to begin with, I've become a Frank Costanza i.e. I will not drive anywhere if I won't get back before people arrive home from work.

I have only had one class so far this week, but it doesn't seem like I won't be able to handle it.  I'm taking History and Theory of Museums, Museum Registration I, and Object Care.  Object Care turns out to be a class that relies almost completely on field trips taken about twice a month.  So far, we're going to the MoMA, the Met, and the Museum of Natural History in New York.  Plus, we'll visit some museums in the surrounding area in New Jersey.

I have also already gone into NYC twice since I've been here.  I would go more often, but the train station is a mile away and I would drive, but I don't want to lose my good spot on the street.  I saw 'Next to Normal', which is an amazing Tony Award-winning musical.  But, since I'm watching the pennies, I haven't been to see anything else.  Plus, right now on Broadway, there isn't much worth seeing.

Well, that catches everyone up for the moment.  I will try to write at least once a week to give all the updates.  If I don't write for a while, don't assume I'm dead.  I'm sure it's only the mob holding me hostage :D

XOXO,
K