There's a cold in them thar lack-of-hills!

It doesn't surprise me that I've come down with a cold.  Given the number of hands I've shaken with new coworkers and apartment employees, I couldn't beat the odds forever.  I'm not going to turn into Monk, though, and carry wipes (and disposable baggies for them) everywhere I go.

I have confirmed, through my apartment hunt, that I am a snob.  Is it unreasonable for me to expect intact paint, a complex unsaturated with children, and a parking lot free of duck ponds?  (I'd say potholes, but those things were broad enough to float a boat in.)  No, but it's unreasonable, apparently, to find a decent complex in my price range.  (My preferred site from last weekend remains unchallenged, but an employee says it's in a high-crime area.)  I've checked out the southwest and east parts of town; what remains are the south and central parts.  Plus, I think I've basically exhausted my possibilities that I found online (there was one with nice cabinets in the kitchen, a gas stove, and a washer and dryer in the unit, and then I saw the monthly rent -- yow!), so I'm ready to turn to the phone book and start calling around.

I need groceries, so I might take tomorrow off from searching (supposed to be cold and wet -- again), unless I find a grocery store in the vicinity of the next cluster of apartments.  I went to the supermarket chain websites and wrote down all their branches in town, so that shouldn't be a difficult task.  I also reviewed my bank options last night, and I confirmed with the office manager today that my paycheck should arrive on Thursday and that most banks should be able to open a checking account and cut a check for me.  There's a major bank that has 16 locations in town, and it's affiliated with the bank which holds my mortgage, but it has hoops I have to jump through to avoid a monthly fee, so that makes some of the local banks preferable, although there are fewer locations of them.  (Although, considering how I intend to spend money rarely, the proximity of an ATM shouldn't matter.)  It would be nice if I had the luxury of time to find an apartment then choose a nearby bank, but I need my money by this weekend.  (Mustn't forget to call the possible banks to confirm the fees and technicalities I saw on their websites, and to see if they'd have any problems cutting a check for me right after I open an account.)

The office manager and I finally (I hope) finished my hiring paperwork today.  She says my check will arrive on Thursday, regardless of the information not being complete until today.  I should be able to access the online option to correct my phone number (and check whatever else they have which might be wrong), but she wants to wait until my check arrives first.  No sense tempting fate, what?  That reminds me, I could try right now to enroll for benefits...