Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

I posted some pictures of the new place over in the old site template (since I’ve not come up with a new site template for pictures yet). 36 pics in all, so not so dial-up-friendly.

My closing has been moved up from next Friday (the 7th) to this Friday (the 31st). Eeck! I’m still looking at a two-week process for the move, now doing the packing next weekend (the 8th) and then having the movers come on the 13th.

Basically, everyone was ready to go, I think the seller is anxious to be done and over with the property (it’s being sold by an estate), so we’re doing it sooner rather than later. Fine by me!

The visit to the parents and other family members was good. My new niece, the three and a half week old one, is tres cute, with a full head of very black hair (all spikey, too – punk rock baby!). We’ve determined that her nickname is one that irritates my sister-in-law, so of course we’re all using it (including my brother, interestingly enough). The older niece turned nine on Friday and liked seeing her Uncle Moose, especially since I think I roughhouse a tad more with her than her father does or my parents can (i.e., picking her up, flipping her over, etc). I’m enjoying the chance to play with her while I still can – both her parents are a good chunk taller than I am, and she’s catching up to them rapidly.

Despite the best laid plans, I did nothing more athletic than lifting a wine glass the entire time I was there (though I did get through several levels of Super Princess Peach). Ah well. The Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler is going to hurt this weekend.

Placed a couple calls about the utilities today and was pleased to discover that it’s going to be pretty painless to switch the cable and phone stuff over to Richard without a disruption in service. Thank heavens. Of course, the cable company I use now doesn’t have service in the new building, so I have to decide what I’m doing for ‘net access. I’m leaning heavily toward DSL as opposed to cable because frankly I don’t think I’m going to notice the difference between 3Mbps (DSL) and 5MBps (cable), but I know I’ll notice the $20+ price difference (~$35 for DSL, ~$57 for cable). A decision to be made soon, but not necessarily today.

I’m also dealing with some drama with my real estate agent, but that should get resolved today. I hope. Nothing that’s screwing up the deal, that’s solid and set, it’s just some timing issues on things.

Work has been absolutely insane today, with things we thought were waiting on something else suddenly not needing that something else, or the meeting that we thought was happening on topic A suddenly being on topic B. Ugh. Hopefully that’s not the trend for the entire week, but I don’t have my hopes up.

Drove down to the home of the parental units today. The drive was uneventful, though I seem to have maintained my case of leadus footus, and managed to get here in a little under 3.5 hours. I’m reminded of why I enjoy not owning a car, and not driving on a regular basis – it drives me batty (no pun intended). People don’t get out of the way when they’re not passing, they go slow in the left lane, they don’t use turn signals, etc. Ugh. But I got here just fine.

The niece is enjoying Super Princess Peach, and ’twas fun seeing her. My brother, on the other hand, lives like a pig. Admitedly, he was sick the past couple of days, but their apartment is an absolute mess, with stuff everywhere. Glad he’s not in a highrise or he’d have had bugs all over the place – they love that kind of environment. I shudder just thinking about it.

Showed my parents pictures of the new place via snapfish. I’ll get them uploaded & posted here sometime this next week, after I’m back.

Otherwise it’s quiet here. Going to do some shopping tomorrow with the ‘rents, and I think we may be doing cake for the niece. After that drive I should sleep like the dead tonight, and then I have to figure out if I want to swim or run tomorrow. Either would be good, it’s a matter of where & how long.

I think the enormity of buying shares property has finally caught up with me. I’ve been totally unfocused on work all day, and very much feeling like I have too much (personal stuff) to do and too little (personal) time in which to do it, none of which is conducive to concentrating on obscure references to old statutes. [insert loud sigh here]

Right now I think my schedule is going to be: April 7, close, spend that weekend shopping, picking up some things for the new place (mattress, trash can, shower curtain, etc.); April 15, packing get-together; April 20, get movers in to relocate me; April 21, attempt not to hyperventilate and get the apartment set up. I have the leave approved for the 7th, 20th & 21st, now I just have to find movers and close.

The Little Piggy Who Stayed Home is a trifle sore, and I can tell the nail is a tad darker than usual, but oddly enough it was completely pain-free on my run this afternoon. The dress shoes are another story, but those are never large enough for my toes, even at 2E width (I wear 4E width in running shoes). Doesn’t help to have odd feet.

Am definitely addicted to Super Princess Peach now. It took a bit to figure out that the water wheels had to be cried upon to get them to move, and the windmill had to be cycloned to get it to move, but now that I’ve learned their tricks I was able to move up two levels tonight. Such fun.

Tried to swim tonight, but the Y, as usual, never updates their web site so they had a class in there when I wanted to go in, so I got some Thai food, then groceries, then home to goof off.

I’m excited about the move, but honestly, I just want it over and done with. I want the end result, but not the process (unlike, say, triathlon, where the process is more the point). And I’m worried about window treatments, of all the odd things. I don’t need any in the living room yet, but I will need some in the bedroom so I can sleep (which means I want it as dark as possible at night). And I have no clue what’s out there, or what I want. I only know that whatever faces the outside of the building has to be white, per the cult rules (so, a liner or sheers on the inside/outside?). Ugh.

Headed home this weekend to see my parents, my brother, his wife, my 9 year old niece and my three week old niece. Should be fun, and I’ll get to try out the bed I’ll be sleeping on in the parents’ RV in June when we go up for my triathlon.

My agent just called, I’ve been approved to join the cult co-op. Now I just have to go to settlement on the 7th, and I’ll be a property owner share owner in a co-operative corporation.

I started pre-positioning myself to be in the new place with little in the way of entertainment (i.e., no television yet) and bought another game for my DS. Super Princess Peach. It’s so delightfully cheesy, a twist on the classic Super Mario games in which Princess Peach has to save the boys instead of the other way around. Played about 1/2 an hour tonight and it’s very addicting. Not quite as addicting as Animal Crossing: Wild World is, but still fun. Also bought a copy of it to give to my niece for her birthday this weekend.

This is making it all the more tempting to get a gaming console when it finally comes out. But first, of course, the television is needed to run it on. I’m leaning toward a dual use machine, one that’ll be a TV and a computer monitor. I’m going to put my desk in the living room so I don’t spend all of my time in the bedroom, so it makes sense just to have one device for the PC/Mac Desktop and television. I’d like to eventually also get a media PC/Mac to run stuff from, but that’s a while down the road. First get in, get settled, then worry about larger entertainment issues.

I might lose a toenail. I’m not sure yet, but the Little Piggy Who Stayed Home on my right foot got rather testy in the last 5 minutes of my 2 hour run today. Hasn’t turned black or anything, but it’s definitely not happy with me.

After the run I dragged Richard with me to City Lights for some much needed protein (mmm, tofu…). Was pleasant, both the meal and the company, and I enjoyed both immensely.

I supposedly have a closing date now: April 7th. So in not-quite-three weeks I’ll be signing lots of paperwork to send myself into lots of debt (but with the reward of a place to live). I’m looking forward to it (the place to live, not the debt). I will likely hire movers this time, but I think I’m also going to have a “packing party” to get stuff into boxes beforehand. So if you’ve evern wanted to see what bad taste I have/had in clothes, or what my sex toy collection looks like, I’ll welcome any assistance.

Other than that, the cold I had last week is pretty much gone, replaced by the lovely spector of DC allergies. Now I remember why I keep the sudafed around. As I mentioned above, the run went well. Hopefully I’ll be knuckling down a bit more on the training as I’m a little over 2 months out from the race (eeck!). Have to arrange for leave and all that fun stuff soon, too, but I think not until after I get moved.

Home today with an entirely self-inflicted head cold. Work is, I’m sure, going nuts as they always do when I’m out, but so be it. And I wish the meds (sudafed) that get rid of the more obnoxious symptoms weren’t so damned taxing themselves. That and I wish that I didn’t turn into a 4 year old when I get sick.

Partially fortuitous, actually, as I was home when the USPS dropped off a very important and much-anticipated package (gift check from ye olde parental units for ye olde apartment purchase).

Finished reading two books (the last two of the “Death Gate Cycle” by Weiss & Hickman) today. Not like those are tough reads, but they kept me entertained and off the computer (mmm, monster killing…).

Hopefuly sleep tonight won’t be bad – I actually slept pretty darned well last night, just woke up with a head stuffed with snot and without a will to move.