Three more weeks before I can move into my real house, with real TV and real internet. I set up my television and PS2 last night and tried to play Katamari on the giant screen, but promptly made myself too motion-sick to continue. I might try some less jostly games later this week. We've been listening to Sox games on the radio, but the station only kinda sorta comes in, and it seems like when we move, the reception changes. So, I find myself doing strange contortions in the bed trying to make the announcers' voices come in more clearly.

Did some minor shopping last night. Found out the Starbucks in stripmall-land in Portsmouth is nicely appointed and is open til 10. This is later than any Starbucks in the Boston suburbs was open. Tonight, I plan to spend some quality time reading the University Bulletin and some work handouts. That way, I get enough work done at night that I can justify spending a couple of hours with my beloved Internet during the daytime hours.

This is the view from the desk in my new office, up on the second floor of a Victorian house on campus. I definitely need some window treatments to soften the place up, and I need to clear off my desk and establish some sort of order in the place. Note that livejournal is on my computer monitor.

So, yesterday after work I got to be Tim's guest at a dinner for new faculty members. The President and Provost each said a few words, there was an open bar, free bbq foods, and blueberry cobbler for dessert. All in all, that was much better than what we probably would have made for dinner. The new faculty were a diverse group, lots of different ages, ethnic backgrounds, locations they were coming from. We were friendly and chatted with a few people before bolting, driving home, walking dogs, and passing out from exhaustion.

Today, I'm actually getting some planning done. I also made an lj icon of my new building (and one for Maine, which I'm sure that I'll roll out soon enough). I have a staff meeting today, too, which should be fun. Or something. Still don't have my official user ID yet, so I feel pretty disconnected from the online world of UNH, but I have plenty to keep me busy.

it's my next to last day at work and i am panicking. thus, online quizzes:

Your results:
You are Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)

Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 80% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 80% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 75% River (Stowaway) 65% Wash (Ship Pilot) 60% Inara Serra (Companion) 60% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 50% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 45% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 30% A Reaver (Cannibal) 20% Alliance 20%

You are good at fixing things. You are usually cheerful. You appreciate being treated with delicacy and specialness.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Weekend of 16th: Load most of POD
Mon Aug 18: Thai Monday/my going away lunch
Wed Aug 20: Last day of work/out with co-workers for after work drinks
Thu Aug 21: UNH to do paperwork, pick up rental housing keys, drop off first load of stuff
Weekend of 23rd: Finish POD, move to temp housing in ME
Mon Aug 25: POD picked up at MA, first day of work at UNH!
Wed Aug 27: Closing on 66 Hamilton
Sat Sep 1: Scrabble tourney
Fri Sep 5: house closing - rent house back to current owners
Sat Sep 6: Tim's cooking class; poss go to Boston, see if people will play Scrabble with me
Thu Sep 11: first group meeting with new students
Fri Sep 12: My birthday!
Fri Sep 20: POD #1 arrives at ME, move to final destination

Today we emptied out almost the whole upstairs, disassembling our bed, moving all the clothes out, etc. We're now sleeping in the downstairs bedroom on a mattress on the floor. The hope is to have everything out by next Saturday. The dogs are not leaving our sides, ever. Cassie sits in the POD while we pack it to make sure we don't leave her. The buyers stopped by today to measure things - we sent them away with some fresh tomatoes from the garden. We have given away most of the furniture items we wanted to unload (still one couch to go), and we're down to one computer unpacked. We rewarded ourselves with some tax-free shopping (although it seems a little silly, since we're moving to a tax-free state next week) -- bought a bunch of shirts for both of us, and some workout clothes for me. I really plan to do the 'move more' thing once we get situated in NH/ME. The strategy will be that Tim will carpool us to and from work, and at least some days of the week, he will stop at the gym on the way back from the office, which will leave me nothing to do but work out.

I move in one week, give or take a weekend. Aaaaah. And then I start work the following Monday, and then I play in a Scrabble tournament, and then my birthday, and then another week, and then we move. It's like mantra these days, counting through all of the milestones, until there are none left, and then hopefully I'll be able to breathe.

The last of the house needs to go in the POD fairly soon. That means probably giving up my desk, and working solely from the laptop that makes my lap feel like it's going to catch on fire. Still haven't done any kitchen packing since the first POD was loaded and sent away. I need all of my kitchen stuff!

The past two days I've taken naps, which means I fall asleep extra late, but then I get up too early in the morning, which necessitates another nap. Since this is among the worst of my worries right now, I think I'm doing pretty well.

what canine would take a bag of Halls Defense drops off of the dining room table and consume all of them? my dog would. there isn't a toxicity risk with vitamin c, but there is the risk of me being very angry at dog for eating all of my preventative medicine drops.

Entertainment center that the TV sits on (too big for living room)
Stinky dog pillows
Old couch we found in the alley in Chicago (has served us well for 6 years)
Compost bucket (no way we're cleaning it out and moving it)
Buffet in living room (no good space for it at new house)
Dining room chairs
25' of chain link fence
1/2 box of laminate flooring

If you want any of these (I know you're jumping at the stinky dog pillows), let me know.  If you can transport them, you can have them.

I hadn't been out to look at the garden for awhile. The squash is ridiculous - all those huge leaves in the foreground of the picture are squash, and there are a few giant blossoms. I hope the new owners like squash. We let one of our broccolis and a few of our tomato plants last year go to seed; we planted four new tomato plants, but I think at least six have grown up, with the help of last year's seeds. We ate our first harvested tomatoes from the garden last night (as a smoky tomato soup, laced with lots of paprika and garlic). The lettuce and broccoli are now back to flowering, which means there will be lots of tiny broc and lettuce plants next year.

We took a quick jaunt to Maine this morning to check out the rental we'll be living in for a month. I think we're moving the weekend of the 23rd, buying the house on the 5th, letting its current owners rent it from us for two weeks, and moving in the weekend of sept. 19. It's complicated by the current owners wanting to buy a new house from people who won't sell it to them until their house is officially sold. Whatever. It'll work out in the end. I'll be living without cable or internet for a month. We'll move a mattress, two chairs, a card table, some clothes, and a bit of kitchen gear, and everything else goes in the POD. It'll be like camping, except we'll have indoor plumbing. The time is sure to pass quickly, though: Scrabble tourney weekend, birthday weekend, one other weekend, and then we move. poof!

Yesterday: pack up office and move to new location, taking most of my stuff home
This weekend: go to ME, sign contract on temp housing
Now til 20th: work like crazy person, pack
Fri Aug 15: POD arrives at MA
Weekend of 16th: Load most of POD
Wed Aug 20: Last day of work
[somewhere in here, go to UNH and fill out work forms]
Weekend of 23rd: Finish POD, move to temp housing in ME
Mon Aug 25: POD picked up at MA, first day of work at UNH!
Wed Aug 27: Closing on 66 Hamilton
Sat Sep 1: Scrabble tourney
Fri Sep 5: poss go to Boston, see if people will play Scrabble with me
Fri Sep 12: My birthday!
Fri Sep 26: Closing on 8 Mendum
Fri Sep 26: POD arrives at ME, move to final destination

It's weird being in a new office for two weeks. Our office has restructured a bit, and it required some moves within our office space to new offices. I'm now tucked into a huge office in the back corner with no window. Compared to being the central office, where I could see everything that was going on all the time, I'm very secluded, which is good and bad. I took my clock and calendar home, and I used to refer to them many times a day. I can tell that that's going to be confusing. Also, I don't know where my stapler is.

Look at the cute thing that sharkycharming wrote for us:

There once was a couple from Kittery
Whose dogs sometimes acted quite skittery
When faced with a mouse
or a squirrel near their house
Their vocalizations were tittery.

I didn't make it to sleep until about 2am last night. I guess now that I don't have as much active stress, my brain is on an new level of overdrive thinking about moving, tying up loose ends at work, remodeling, new furniture, kayaking, scrabble, trying to convince myself to exercise, what to make for dinner, what I need to leave unpacked, what type of fence to build, whether we need to paint any of our new rooms... yeah. It won't shut up. I think I'm at least going to take up a new knitting project (probably a pi shawl) to have something to do with my hands. Maybe that will help to quiet my brain. I'm also going to try to listen to more music.

On a completely other note, I may change my username on livejournal. I think I'm outgrowing 'kismet' - I liked it back in '92 when I started using it, but it doesn't feel quite right any more. I'm thinking of going to a boring 'katefc.' maybe. eh.

It's a little more official - they might actually let us leave MA. The Purchase & Sales agreement is signed, and the closing date is set. Now maybe I can stop having dreams about how the buyers are making us build an addition to the house before they'll agree to sign the stupid contract.

there is only so much left to say after you have already written 59 letters of recommendation. here are some of the things that i've done procrastinating working from home:

-- ate lunch (pb&j) for breakfast and breakfast (hashbrowns, chicken sausage, egg) for lunch
-- watched design star
-- sang along to every indigo girls song that came on via iTunes shuffle
-- played two games of Scrabulous
-- danced a soft shoe routine for the husband
-- washed pans
-- read the Food section of the paper
-- caught up on knit blogs that I haven't read in a month
-- posted here somewhat incessantly

all this and it's only 230! and I have actually gotten work done!

On a happy note, I didn't mention that we had the pleasure of hosting lunatopaz as she reacclimated to the US after a trip to Europe. In my current state of crazy, she is one of the few houseguests who I knew would both be able to deal with and help me reduce the crazy. We had tasty indian food together one night, and ordered in Thai and lounged in front of the television on another. Perfect.

I have also been enjoying the Splendid Table cookbook, How to Eat Supper. We had packed away all the cookbooks except for Joy of Cooking, and I needed a cookbook fix, so we picked this one up a few weeks ago. So far, we've greatly enjoyed the Broccoli Cheese bread pudding and... a few others that I can't remember right now. We're planning on making their refried beans this week, and the mango chutney chicken salad. It's a pretty book, the use of language is accessible and friendly but still professional, and the little insets of stories and quotes are fun. The palate that they cook with is different from a lot of the stuff we tend toward, so it's been nice to explore new combinations.

Also, the garden has treated us well, producing tons of lettuce and broccoli. The tomatoes have a blight that Tim is currently fighting, and the cucumber blossoms and peppers are coming in nicely.

in case you haven't seen it, it goes away tomorrow:
http://www.drhorrible.com/index.html

also, it's hot. and CA baseball is on too late at night on the east coast, though last night's game wasn't really worth watching, anyway.

we're thinking about renting our house for the next year instead of trying to sell it in this stupid market. stay tuned.

Scrabble on nerve. Worlds collide...

http://www.nerve.com/regulars/datingadvicefrom/dating-advice-from-competitive-scrabble-players/

Now where's the girl Scrabbler version..?

I'm slowly but surely finding perspective on the impending move. As soon as the house sells, the rest of the pieces should fall into place. We have jobs, there are plenty of nice houses in NH/ME, we have enough for a down payment, and it will all work out. So, I have gone from fairly insane to only slightly insane, which is a nice improvement.

I tried to start exercising to further reduce stress, but almost immediately wrenched my back, and now it hurts every morning when I wake up. Good times.

I have started studying Scrabble again. I had a backlog of over 6,000 flashcards. It's now down to 4800 or so. Argh. I'm bored with reviewing words that I already nominally know. I want more new words.

I love the song "Wake me up when September Ends" by Green Day.

I had no idea Project Runway started again last night until my DVR started taping it. Sweet. I watched the first few contestants arrive and it seems like they chose people based on how eccentric they are. Hopefully they have talent to match their crazy.

I am 56.63% done with the letters of recommendation that I need to write. I estimate that that means I have about 144 hours of letter writing left ahead of me.