A glimmer of hope

Earlier today our neighbor from downstairs stopped by. This is the neighbor who is really nice if you run into him outside and whatnot but he and his roommate have been the worst neighbors I have ever had. They are nice until you tell them that they are being too loud and then they yell at you. I didn't know it was too much to ask to not have your apartment vibrate from their music. Moving on...
He came by today to let us know that they have sublet their place starting June 1!! Woo hoo! Of course, we are also in the process of trying to find a subletter and that will most likely be for June 1 at this point, but now I can rest easy knowing that whoever moves in here will not be mad at me later for not mentioning the people downstairs.
It's at least one step in the right direction. Now, if only we could find someone to move into our place too...

Nice to meet you?

Almost 3 months ago I started my new job. I showed up at work, got a tour of the office, sat down at my new desk, got my computer all set up and started meeting and getting to know the people on my team and the people that I sit near. Well, almost all of the people. Somehow I was never introduced or didn't introduce myself to the guy who sits in one of the cubicles next to me. We all sit in little sections of 4 cubes. In my section is one other girl from my team, the handy dandy IT guy for our floor (who introduced himself to me two different times) and the guy that I have never officially met. I know his name because we all have name tags on our cubes (and I'm assuming he's figured out my name by the same means). I have a vague idea of what he might actually do in our office (although my office manager told me he's about as useful as tits on a nun). I know that when there was a really big cockroach in our office a few weeks ago he came to the rescue, thereby making him slightly more useful than my office manager thinks. I know that he was or is a sailor of the military variety because I can overhear his stories of being on the ship. I know he recognizes me when we pass in the hallways. However, we never speak to each other. There's really no work-related reason we would need to speak but we don't even say good morning to each other.
Does this all stem from not having ever been introduced to each other? Should I have just stuck out my hand on my first day and introduced myself and said nice to meet you? Should I just randomly ask him sometime how his weekend was? Or, do I just go on pretending I don't even notice? Does he also sense the strangeness of the situation or is this normal? It's a very large organization so I don't expect to know everyone but I'm used to at least having a cordial conversation every now and then with the people I sit 5 feet away from 5 days a week.

If you could smell my apartment

You might be in a little bit of heaven, just like me. I got the urge to bake something this afternoon (the roommate is gone and I love using a kitchen when I can have it all to myself) so I decided on some cupcakes. I just took the Brown-Sugar Pound Cupcakes out of the oven and once they cool a bit I will be making the brown-butter glaze to go on top of them. A friend made these for a baby shower and they were amazing. We stole the recipe from some lady named Martha who has a magazine and a tv show and I have heard is kind of a household wonder woman of sorts.

Tonight, I am enjoying the smell of brown sugar and butter and tomorrow I will use them to bribe my co-workers into liking me.