Moving Day!

I count today as moving day, because today is the day that I leave my FL home. I'm sitting at work right now, completely bored, Cathy doesn't need any training, she trained me for goodness sake, but there's only enough work for one person, and barely even that really. I've checked all my email, finalized some purchases (a second Viewsonic Professional Series 21" monitor popped up on CraigsList yesterday, it is now being held for me), visited all my usual websites, and generally kept myself busy. I've also changed my seats on both my flights (I had aisle seats in quiet parts of each aircraft, but I decided that I definitly want to be able to watch the world go by, so I grabbed window seats forward of the wing on the right-hand side of the aircraft for both flights) and printed my boarding passes. For the rest of this afternoon, there really isn't anything for me to do... I'll give Pat a call around his lunch time, just as something to do, and once I hear from my parents when they'll be coming over I'll call David to let him know the schedule. Stormy has a vet appointment at 5 today for her health certificate and rabies vaccination. I spent this morning going through my room (again), piling up anything that I wanted to leave with my parents, any last minute items that need to be shipped, and of course the stuff I'll need for the next 24 hours. I also bagged up all my trash and any confidential papers I wasn't taking with me for disposal before David and Greg start going through my stuff. I need to remember to take pics of the desk and computer stuff and such before I leave so that I can email those to David for his CL posts when he sells it all.

Writing this post is just one more way for me to keep busy, I got an attack of nerves this morning after I printed my boarding passes, but I've actually been surprised at how rarely that's happening. Whenever I get nervous about the FLIGHT, I simply remind myself of my DESTINATION, and that makes it all go away. I guess that's the best indicator possible that I'm doing the right thing. Watching The Weather Man last night also reminded me of something that I forgot about with all this rushing around preparing for the move. The movie ends with Cage realizing that he is who he is, thanks to all of his choices and actions up to that point, and that he needs to stop trying to change. At his age, I think that's the appropriate message. But at my age, I think (hope) that it's not too late to change, and that's one of the big things that this move is all about. I don't want to change who I am on the inside, but I *do* need to better project that to the rest of the world. And I need to start making the most out of life again. So yeah, remembering that stuff makes me feel even better about the move :)

I'm just babbling at this point, I can't wait to read this post tomorrow evening from Seattle and laugh at myself, but that will be then, and this is now ;)

I doubt there will be anything else to say until I hit Washington, so I'm going to declare this last blog entry from Orlando, FL, closed.

*grins*

Moving Progress

Moving Progress Report:

Paperwork - I've gotten all the paperwork I could possibly need for the move, aside from Stormy's health certificate and Vet papers. Gotta remember to get those. Auto insurance is ready to be switched over, and I've double checked that I have everything I'll need for my drivers license and vehicle registration.

Van - I have not heard anything yet from the Van moving company... this bothers me, as they also haven't taken out the deposit that they required. I will have to give them a call and find out what's up. I'm hoping they will be able to pick up the van on Monday or Tuesday, but that is probably wishful thinking, most likely I will need David to sign it over to them because I'll be gone already.

Stuff - My last 2-3 boxes (pots and pans, plates and silverware, vacuum cleaner, computer accessories, other last minute items) will be packed and taken to my parents tonight, and everything but my CPU will be shipped tomorrow. The CPU itself will follow on the Monday before the move, shipped 3-day.

Myself and Stormy - Starting to get a little nervous, but very very very excited. Definitly looking forward to getting on that plane. Stormy has been taking her cues from my emotions, David has noticed she is very anxious and affectionate right now, needing lots of attention and play time. Middle of last night she caught a really huge bug, dropped it (still living) in my shoe to play with it for a while, then dumped it out and it scurried over to and tried to climb up inside the leg of my work pants (which I wasn't wearing at the time). I helped her corral it for a while, then gave it a good thwack with my sandal. She lost interest, and we both went back to bed.

Work - Work has been going well, I'm finding it harder to focus, and am afraid I'm probably making more mistakes than usual, but it's not a big deal since we have our 3-stage "process" to catch errors. I will be working up through the day before my flight, then I'll be back at work the Tuesday after I arrive (Monday is Memorial Day) and will continue working for 2-3 weeks until the project is done. I'll probably mainly be working from home, and since our techs at that time will be in Hawaii, that'll mean I get to sleep in nice and late in the mornings. Of course, I may *still* be working when Pat gets home, depending on how good our techs prove to be, so either one of us may end up having to cook dinner.

Apartment - From what I hear from Pat, the new place is shaping up nicely. We've got a nice brass queen bed, 1 computer desk (his), a dresser (for me), plastic shelves (his), a dining room table with 4 chairs, a 3-seat tan leather couch, a TV stand with a 27" Sharp TV with great picture, and possibly a patio set and additional living room chair. We'll be screening in the deck, painting at least some of the walls, and generally making it "home" over the next few weeks (being a short walk from Home Depot will be very nice). We'll have cable with all the good channels, a 5.0 down 768 up cable connection, and digital phone.

I think that covers all the important stuff... the LAN party scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday the 27th is still on, so come one come all to hang out and play some dod/cs/etc! I'll post details later, including a location. If you'd like to stay with Pat and I let me know, our door is always open :)

Too late to back out now

Well, I've put down the deposit for the auto transport for the van. $1210 is gonna be the total cost, pickup is scheduled for sometime during an 8-day window starting on May 20th (yea, I know I'm leaving on the 24th, but if needed David can release the van to them).

I still have a huge list of things to do, such as finish packing my stuff (big job), gather up all necessary paperwork (birth certificate, stormy's vet papers, car title, etc), switch over my insurance and drivers license and bank and vehicle registration, and take advantage of these last few weeks in Florida to do at least some of the things I like down here (Disney anyone?).

Still and all, I feel really good about the move, and about how the preperations for it are going, both logistically and personally. I feel better than good about the end result, in fact I simply can't wait to get up there.

Pat's picking up the keys to our new apartment on the 6th, and will be moving in this weekend and through next week.

Sally (friend from college) is moving from Seattle back home to Saudi Arabia before I get up there, which is sad, but Pat is planning to get some nice furniture from her.

Korry Franke (friend from high school and college) is in Seattle right now, completing Continental's training on 757's. He'll be done and gone before I get up there unfortunatly, but there's a slim chance he'll be the backup for my 767 flight from TX to WA. Help me think bad thoughts at the regular copilot, would ya?

I'll be getting off work on the 24th/25th/26th, so that I have time to settle in in Seattle, but on the 30th I'll be working from home in Seattle, doing exactly what I'm doing now. This will only last for a couple of weeks, but it'll be nice to have SOME income during the transition.

My 21" monitor broke, it gives me no picture and a red led indicator, I called Viewsonic and they say it's some sorta internal problem. It'd cost about $250 to have it fixed here, and then I'd have to spend the $90 to ship it, and pray it doesn't get busted again... Luckily, I found a place online that sells a refurbished one (without the usb hub built into it, but same monitor) for $80 and $15 shipping, and it comes with a 1 year warranty. I'm just gonna order one from them and have it shipped straight to Pat, so I don't have to mess with it at all. If they don't have any of those in stock (the site says to call for quantity available) then I'll just grab something cheap when I'm up there (gee, who woulda thought that there's so many people in Seattle selling off dirt cheap monitors?). That actually takes a rather signifigant weight off my mind, I was very concerned over how to ship something like that. As for shipping my computer, it'll be partially disassembled before it's sent off.

This week/weekend Pat and I need to set aside time on the webcam to go through what I'm thinking of bringing so far, so I can make sure I don't pack a whole buncha stuff we don't need, or leave behind something we do.

Well, that's a pretty complete data dump from my forebrain right now, I'll post some more updates later :)