New job! And new furniture

I started the new job yesterday. Unlike the position at MIT, it's actually permanent. So now I have a real live permanent job, with benefits and a salary and everything. It's at a microchip company out in the 'burbs. We had to get a second car (the Prius), but now my commute is 5 miles, since it's in the next 'burb over. It's a big improvement over a 90-minute commute, with walking, and 14-degree temperatures. Everyone at the new job seems very nice.

Also this weekend, my folks were in town. They brought up my grandmother's dining room table. So now we have a dining room table, finally. We can eat like civilized people, and entertain. It's mahogany, seats 10, comes with six mahogany chairs. I also inherited some china and crystal. There's a great furniture consignment shop in town, and this weekend I picked up a mahogany china cabinet (to hold Grandma's china) and an extra prep table for the kitchen, at cut-rate prices. And I got a treadmill (since I won't be walking to and from the train station anymore). It was the weekend of furniture.

Once we get a load of firewood, that will take care of all the most pressing household needs (winter clothes, bookcases, desk, table, Christmas presents, new car, etc.). After the holidays we can concentrate on paying off debt/second-tier stuff, like furniture for the guest room.

We leave for our annual Christmas road trip a week from tomorrow! I can't believe it's so close...