The First Month
I got a package in the mail from the Village of Schaumburg the other day. It was kind of nice, they sent me a detailed map of the area and some info on the local scene. Made me feel so welcome in my new home. I must admit I even felt tempted to buy a "Schaumburg Flyers" jersey, but I decided to wait on that impulse. Not sure there will be too many occasions where I bust out a jersey for a minor league baseball team, you know.
Based on my first month of living here, Schaumburg seems like a pretty cool place. Although it is kind of a stereotypical "white bread" suburb (the town newsletter they sent me is called "The Cracker Barrel" - no joke), there's more diversity than I expected. I noticed there's more than a few Asian families that live on my block. And there's a wide variety of ethnic restaurants around here to choose from, whether you're looking for some Chinese food (Yu's, House of Hunan, Jockey), Indian (various), or Diarrhea (White Castle).
The past few weeks have been mostly spent looking for furniture, random household items, and setting up stuff in my house. I did buy a grill, for those of you who might be wondering. For the charcoal purists out there, I'm sorry, but in the end I decided on gas. Josh and Tina made me an offer I couldn't refuse (10% off at Home Depot and delivery using Josh's pickup, thanks again guys!). And in my defense, I really have used the grill a lot in the past week alone, much more so than if I would've gone charcoal. So hopefully nobody will come over and kick my grill over as threatened. If it makes anyone feel better, I did cut myself numerous times on the hand while putting together my grill (watch out for those Flavorizer Bars!). But seriously, thanks for everyone's input on the subject, it was all much appreciated.
It might seem silly that I got a grill before I got a dinner table, coffee table, or patio furniture, but hey, them's the priorities. What can I say, I am just not as interested in that stuff as I am in firing up some burgers and brats. And looking for furniture just plain sucks. Dealing with salespeople is a chore to begin with, and it seems like most places you gotta wait at least a few weeks before you can even get the stuff you buy.
On another subject, I would like to say that I do not like Bed Bath and Beyond. It's too bad, cause there's one located about 30 seconds from my house. The thing is, they lure you in with those coupons in the mail every week, but when you get there you realize all the prices are so jacked up to begin with.
I couldn't believe how much it costs to find bedskirts to match your sheets. I mean, I can understand if you wanna spend more money to get nice sheets, pillowcases, and comforter. But you never even touch your bedskirt! I don't need it to be 600 thread count or whatever. Honestly, I don't care if it's woven out of diseased goat hairs - as long as it somewhat matches the rest of my bed and doesn't cost me 70 bucks, I'm happy.
A disturbing thought that crossed my mind while shopping for house stuff is that maybe it is time for me to trade in my car for a minivan or SUV, so that I would be able haul my own stuff home when I buy furniture, grills, etc. But by natural reflex, I immediately buried that thought in the deepest part of my brain, where it won't be able to bug me again for at least a few more years. *shudder*
