And Comcast said...

... let there be internet!

After praying diligently and then taking their name in vain several times, the internet gods have finally deemed us worthy of internet access. The Comcast guy finally came and hooked us up today, so there will be a real blog update in the near future. For real.

But for now, I'm headed to a tea luncheon with the other members of the Berkeley linguistics entering class of Ph.D. students. Hooray!

Toutes mes excuses, mesdames et messieurs!

Hello to my adoring blog fans! ;) ;)

This is going to be very fast because I'm at the library and I'm hungry. Right now I'm just posting to apologize profusely for taking so long to update, and to let you know we've made it to our new home safe and sound (after a lot more hassle and expense than we had planned on!). Basically what happened is our Jeep broke down about half way through Nevada and we had to stay in a hotel in the middle of nowhere for two days because the local U-Haul was closed. But at least there was a local U-Haul! We were finally able to leave good ol' Elko, NV on Monday morning after renting a truck, transferring all of our belongs from the trailer we had been towing, and then towing our broken down Jeep behind the truck all the way to Berkeley. We finally made it here late Monday night and have been having an extremely busy week as we acquire and assemble furniture and get our new house in order. So far so good, though! We all really love the house - the dogs are soooo happy with their new backyard, and even Roger has started to warm up to the Bay Area.

I'll post again soon with more details about the move and pictures, but you'll have to be patient with me, as we haven't had a chance to set up internet access at home yet. (I'm typing this from the library.) It's quite the Catch-22; we can't get internet because we don't have internet, which we need to look up the right phone numbers. *sigh*

Anyway, just wanted to let you know we're all happy and healthy (except for our poor Jeep...) and that I'll have a real update for you soon.

Ohhhhh la la la la...

So, change of plans. (I guess I'm telling this to my two new blog fans who will be the only ones reading this post for a while. You know who you are. ;) ) We have way too much crap to get done still, so we have pushed back our departure date until Thursday morning. I feel like we could get it all done tonight, but really, what's the point? Leaving by tomorrow was completely arbitrary anyway, so it doesn't make any difference whatsoever for us to push it back a day. And then we can relax a little tonight and have the whole day tomorrow to finish loading up and cleaning.

Yes, that will be much better. Plus it's really hot in here and I just want to sit on the porch and drink a glass of tea for a few minutes.

I'm a little bummed because mentally, I'm completely ready to blow this popsicle stand. I've been gearing up for it for so long that I just want to get on the road already! But it's a much better idea for us to hold our proverbial horses.

Sorry for the anticlimactic goodbyes today, guys! One more day in Illinois it is.

Something to Keep in Mind

I can already sense the dangers this blog presents. Now I'm going to feel entitled or even obligated to write down every stupid tangential thought that comes into my brain.

Anyway. I just put in a fairly great 10-miler with the dogs, and I feel really good. A lot of things pass through your brain when you're pounding the pavement for long enough, and while my brain was busy whirring away, thinking about all the stuff we have to get done in the next few weeks, how much and how quickly my life is going to change, I couldn't help looking down and smiling at the dogs. They have no idea anything is going to be any different, and even if they somehow could understand, they wouldn't care. They're just thrilled to be alive, to be with the people they love, to be underneath the sun, running through the grass, enjoying life.

I'm going to try to keep that in mind the next time I start stressing out about the "important" things I need to get done. (Especially since U-Haul just called, and we're going to have to pick up our moving trailer in Decatur tomorrow - ugh!) Running through the grass with a smile on your face is much better.

I love writing but hate starting...

As I stare at this blank screen, I have Alex to thank for that little snippet of a quote that popped into my head just now. (What ever happened to Alex, btw? Al, if you're reading this, don't be a stranger.) It's so true... when I sit down to write, I often feel like I have a lot to say if I can just figure a way to make it come out properly. Ultimately, I just have to set down those first few words, and it tends to flow from there.

So here we go. It is flowing. Albeit somewhat haltingly. I am officially "blogging", as the kids call it, and I'll try to 1) get the word out that my awkward attempts at documenting my life are now on display for the world to see and 2) avoid the fate that seems to befall many bloggers, which is not actually blogging, but rather setting up a cool looking page and then never updating it.

The only thing I have to say right now is that it is Saturday night, I had my last official day of work in Illinois today, and I have a TON of stuff to get done in the next three days (oh god, there's only three left...) before we leave for California. I am thoroughly weirded out by the fact that one week from now, I will be in my new house in Berkeley, probably eating cereal on the floor since we will likely still be lacking in furnishings and nourishment. But I'll let you know how it goes.


This is kind of fun so far.