The Back Half, Unpacked

Our shipment came at a terrible time; the day before school began and the day before I resumed working full time. It meant any hopes of quickly unpacking were gone, and we resolved ourselves to the probability that boxes would be with us for several months.

Today I came home to find the entire back half of the house is now unpacked! That means we are halfway done and might have things finished by the end of September. Woohoo! I was so excited I took a picture.

Our friends from Budapest, the Southards, are staying with us tonight for the send-off of their daughter to the University of Central Florida (UCF) just up the road. Grandma Inez, Aunt Pam, and brother Sam are here, too, along with one of Audrey’s friends. That makes ten people under our roof for the night, and we’ve had a great time with everyone. Glad those boxes are gone.

The Last Tibi Bar

All my Hungarian chocolate is gone now. Sad day.

Milk Boxes

The box I unpacked today had quite a surprise; our milk!

I thought we had left these boxes, adorned with models of European health consciousness, behind forever.

So after three years I finally did what I have always wanted to do; put clothes on one of them.

My New Office

Today was the first day our ministry group, the Campus Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, reoccupied our newly renovated workspace. My earlier glimpse of the office was accurate but not as bad as I feared.

File cabinets are available, and the carts are wider than I thought; a full 42″. Best of all, the place where I sat today has a great view.

But I don’t know if the place I sat today will be the same place I sit on Monday. I don’t have an assigned place. The good view I had today might become no view at all if this place is occupied when I come in next.

The idea is to conserve space by allowing those who need to work in the office to choose their location ad hoc. Those who travel frequently and aren’t in the office won’t displace someone who is there everyday or someone who needs to work in the office when they are gone. Some people have regular cubicle-looking spaces assigned to them, but most spaces are generic.

I like change, and I am willing to give it an honest effort.

Nevertheless I can see the future.

Pretty soon they will need to install gates at the entrance to the office to prevent the early birds from getting all the good spots. Once the gates open there will be a mad dash for carts with a view.

Or maybe they’ll implement a boarding policy like Southwest Airlines.

Tickets for certain dates and places will go on sale in about a month. If the day you need to work in the office is sold out, you can get a “standing room only” ticket and steal someone’s desk when they leave for lunch.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” will be the new office greeting.

“I’m saving this one for my friend” will be the new office snub.

In communal settings like these where everyone takes only what they need, those who are more equal than others always end up getting more and better than the rest. It’s the same thing in the parking lot. The boss at the top of the pecking order still gets the best parking spot. Likewise, the “more equal” team members will somehow always end up with the best spots.

Me? I think I’ll get myself a good pair of headphones.

My New Desk Cart

Moving to Budapest, Hungary three years ago gave me culture shock, but not the kind you might expect. Hungarian culture was different, sure, but I expected that. Nothing shocking. Campus Crusade for Christ culture in Budapest shocked me. I had not expected differences, so when differences appeared I was surprised. They were all minor changes, but they required unexpected energy.

There were nice changes, too. My office was relatively enormous compared to my 8′ x 8′ cubicle in Orlando. It had a great view of the hills behind our village. It was normally quiet but had enough people around to avoid the deserted feeling. I knew that moving back to Orlando meant giving all this up, but I was prepared for whatever cubicle God had waiting for me.

Reverse culture shock hit me today. Having not learned the first time around, I was surprised to find unexpected changes at Campus Crusade for Christ headquarters. Apparantly God didn’t have a cubicle waiting for me at all, but rather a cart. Really. While my seating assignment has not finalized, judging by the looks of the partially redone work area I’ll be in, my new location will be a cart!

Words cannot express my befuddlement over this discovery.

Once you place a phone on this working surface, and then a small laptop computer, there no longer remains any free space. I am a paperless kind of guy for sure, but occasionally I like the feel of using wood-based products such as paper. Have I become this old fashioned in my absence? Frankly, I don’t know what I’ll do. The situation looks so bad that, for now, I will assume I have been sorely mistaken and that I will either wake up from a bad dream shortly or will find that the carts I mistook for desks were really intended for the espresso machines they will be issuing each of us.

Thirty years later the image of a Hell’s Angels biker gang and their Harley Davidson choppers is just a symbol that successful doctors and lawyers use to represent what they wish they were, had they chosen a more irresponsible lifestyle. The image is so changed these days that I don’t think I’ve seen anyone under 40 with a Harley. In fact they’re building a Harley dealership in our neighborhood, a place firmly anchored in the 40-something demographic. The only people who have enough money to buy them are the ultra responsible types anyway. No one who actually lives the image of Harley could afford one.

Last night at Waterford Lakes Mall I saw the same phenomenon, only done by the high school and twenty something crowd. Cathy and I saw “Lady in the Water” (an OK flick), and when we left the theater, around 10 pm, the entire mall area was full of what looked like gangsters. Crooked caps, tattoos, bling bling jewelry, oversized clothes hanging low, everyone looking dangerous. Only there was no danger, just a bunch of kids wanting to look that way.

The night before Audrey and I had watched “Miami Ink“, a show about a south Florida tatto parlor and their clients. Tattoos have been mainstream for years now, but the fact that the Discovery Channel has a show highlighting the tatto lifestyle made me realize things were different back home now.

It all left me a bit unsettled. A 50 year old lawyer on a Harley will probably remain tame, but a sophomore acting like a gangster may not know when to stop pretending. Maybe this is what culture adjustment looks like right now; figuring out who’s safe and who’s not.

I feel like I’m doing my part as an American to burn as much energy per capita as possible!

Getting a second family vehicle was much easier. Tom’s parents (5 minutes away) sold us their minivan, and it was a pleasure seeing them again and catching up. Like our first van purchase, we are not sure if this was a sale or a gift, but we feel blessed either way. We actually agreed to buy this van before we saw it, but we weren’t disappointed when we did.

So we are now a two-van family. Our three years in Budapest with only one car were wonderful, and if there was good public transportation in our area, we would gladly run just one car here, too. Thus ends our era of European automotive sensibilities.

Trampoline in the Rain

Life in Budapest was pretty interesting, but with interestingness came difficulty. Life in Orlando is not very difficult, but with ease comes a certain degree of monotony. It’s not that life is boring it’s just that challenges come in different forms. Driving, getting registered, buying insurance, and buying appliances all require some effort, but they are no longer quite as interesting (my new discovery of online classified ads notwithstanding).

Getting Andrew to tonight’s youth group event was challenging, but it isn’t interesting because there are one million other Americans doing the same thing right now, too.

Visually things are pretty homogenous as well. Sure, it all looks nice, but everything is so spread out that the scenery doesn’t change much during the course of daily errands. It takes a trip through different parts of the city to create an interesting ride. It all makes me want to paint my house pumpkin yellow-orange like our neighbors’ in Budapest.

But jumping on the trampoline in the rain with Audrey – that’s interesting.

But one benefit of putting ourselves in the place of a learner is that other people teach us valuable things. Today I used my new knowledge of online classified ads (Craig’s List) to buy a barely-used washing machine for $75. I didn’t realize stuff like this would be for sale in such good condition.

Andrew and Audrey are learning, too; they got their new house work assignments today. I was very proud of them, as they didn’t complain and even seemed excited about starting something new.