Upon arriving in Lubbock, I found the highway system and traffic rules deceptively complicated...there were "turn around" lanes where you turn left after exiting a highway to go to a road running parallel along side the highway on its opposite side, from which you can get to streets and plazas...sometimes you turn left onto a highway, sometimes you bear right onto a ramp. When heading perpendicular to a ramp or turn onto a highway, there are often 2 lights, from which you can be in a left turn lane before one set of lights but don't actually turn left until after the 2nd set of lights...very complicated...and there's no room for forgiveness if you're in the wrong lane approaching the turn within 500m because below that distance, cars in adjacent lanes make it near impossible to change lanes...I'm sticking to the regular streets!
Well, I had the pleasure of meeting my new boss for the next 2-3 years along with labmates and start to get some of the countless number of documents needed to be filed in the process...one of which is an authorization for a Canadian criminal background check. Although I may try anyway, I may not be able to apply for a SSN until I have an I-9 form, which can only be filled out upon habing obtained my I-94 card and TN status (which I have) and having started work officially, which is next week. Without being able to apply for a SSN, I can't get a temporary SSN to get onto the payroll at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and without a permanent SSN, I may not be able to get a cell phone plan, set up a bank account and all that jazz. Luckily, I did obtain a proof of employment, which is needed for apartment rental purposes...which is what I'm off to try to do tomorrow...
Hopefully I'll be able to find a good apartment to rent and be able to make that decision by the end of tomorrow, as I have already done some research into which aparments I'd like to see and am slated to have a look at all of them tomorrow. I have Wednesday as well should I need it, but then it's the American Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 25th, followed by Black Friday on the 26th and it'll be next to impossible to get any "stuff done" until next week after this Wednesday.
On the brighter side, I do need to do a lot of shopping myself, so in the coming few days, I'll be on the lookout for furniture such as a bed, dining table, sofa set, a TV and other smaller things I could use around my hopefully soon-to-be-signed apartment. My mother is down here with me for a little while before she heads back up by plane, so she'll come in handy for such purposes. I've also caught glimpses of the phone that I want, without a means to purchase it because I don't have a SSN...almost torture!
Lastly, for dinner, I managed to find a Chick-Fil-A, which one of my friends LOVES...ironically in the main mall in Lubbock, Southplains Mall, it was one of the small few number of fast food places that were there! Hey, I have no problem with it, though I'll have to really watch my caloric intake or I'll really balloon up in no time at all!
Alright...next of my agenda: apartment hunting!
