Almost fully functioning

I now have my fellowship stipend cheque and an SSN. And, actually, I got the cheque before the SSN. I had been assured that this was absolutely impossible. The people who told me this were the people responsible for writing the cheques, but apparently they changed their minds. At the moment I'm under the distinct impression that the bureucracy here is worse than it is in either Japan or Canada.

Anyway, I've applied for a phone line (I've been told that the phone company is decidedly evil), and I'm shopping for a computer tower to go with the 19 inch monitor that I bought that was supposed to go with the other tower I bought second hand that turned out not to work (I got my money back, though).