So, I’ve been a Bad Person(tm) again and not kept the world updated on my running amuck here, so here come the quickies!

  • I moved. Woot! We spent a couple of nights using the pickup to move Portana’s stuff over to my place and packing up my place. This wasn’t too bad, sure gave me something to do:) The movers showed up Wednesday (March 1st) to pack up the kitchen, living room, “other stuff” and load up the truck. It took most of the day until they were done, but MAN is that the way to move. I would most certainly recommend Mayflower — they rock. I drink coffe, walk around with the dog, and watch. Yes — I was “that” guy, but feck it — I’m paying for it! Ok, well the new job is paying for it…but still. Bogart got a massive PetSmart shopping trip for chew toys, food, and an airline crate for the trip out here. It was hard to leave him at Mom’s, but I know my niece will wear him out daily — I’m sure he is enjoying that!

  • Housecleaning fun. Yeeeah. I’m never going to be able to do that for a living. I must be the Slowest Cleaner Ever. I spent a good 2 days working through the house, through a recockulous checklist from El Landlordo. Clean the wall behind the fridge? I think NOT. At any rate — lots of dusting blinds, washing windows (inside only, honestly…), mopping and repairing any damage. Thanks to Landon & Kris for doing some drywall putty work on the office (whiteboard) and the garage door (lonely dog) - that helped a ton. I also had to remove 2 tubes of silicon adhesive from the office wall where I tried to use it to hang the whiteboard before I went all collapsing-molly on it. Fun, in that proctologist sort of way. Super big thanks to Sister Melanie and Jeff — they helped me out Friday afternoon to take the biggest turds out of the house before the looming rental inspection. Heh, sometimes it is a really good thing to flirt — it works for boys too! It also helps when you used to party with the girls doing your move out inspection. I’m going to get dinged for the professional cleaning of the carpets, but other than that — clean bill of health. Good thing they missed the fireplace I didn’t clean out :)

  • The drive, at a Greenpeace approved 8 mpg. Immediately after getting the move out inspection, Jeff & I loaded up a 5×8′ UHaul (should be called U Damage) trailer that was going to house all the “non-allowables”. Freezer with an entire Elk, propane bottles for brewing, toolbox, my clothes, boxes of kitchen foods, bathroom stuffs, garage chems, etc. You get the picture… oh yeah, and the box of toilet paper and kleenex, damn good thing that wasn’t on the truck…honestly. I did a quick run to get the drycleaning, kiss the g/f good-bye, and on the road I go. So…yeah. I wasn’t quite aware just how much crap I’d crammed into the trailer, but it was very quickly made evident. Taking off & stopping were much slower, but not like it was out of the abilities of the Brown Beast. Once out on the road, I managed a fair clip — 65mph or so but big hills would really cause me to stuff my foot into the gas and I’d slow down to 55 or so. Not that bad, when you think about it. I did notice the truck running ~ 10 or 15 degrees warmer than usual and over the course of the trip I managed to burn 2 quarts of oil. I’m thinking the oil temp was a bit higher than normal and coupled with the truck running really hard was breaking down the lube. I managed Dickenson, ND that night, hit the Quality Inn there for some MUCH needed sleep. Off the next morning, quick stop to hug the grandparents and hauling arse across ND. I don’t want to do that trip EVER again by myself. Sucketh to the 9th degree. I had to stop twice for a powernap, it was just too damned boring. Long story short, I made it to Apple Valley Saturday evening in time for dinner, 300 some odd dollars in gas poorer.

  • Staying at Aunties. Quick praise to the Hotel de Huber. We have a big screen T.V, plenty of parking, a super comfy bed and very nice place to act as the Base of Operations for the next month. I’m trying my best to clean up, cook and generally be a non PITA. A boy can dream, no ? The location is treating me well too — just over 11 miles and 15 minutes to work.

  • Started new job. Woot Cray! I got settled quite quickly into the new office (pictures coming once I “decorate”). Lots of really nice and interesting folks here that are quite interested in picking my brain ala Lustre. I managed to track down & find the source for a very critical customer issue with Lustre too. That was FUN, and it is quite cool to be doing this all again. I’ll have to expound more on the folks here, but I’ll sum it up by saying I’m a VERY happy camper in the new job.

  • Portana arrives and non too soon! Her drive was much the same, except for making 4x the gas mileage :) It was kinda amusing how it is taking us a few days to get into a rhythm again. We’ve not really been able to just hang out and enjoy some sane company for quite a while now. It is really nice just to start having fun again! It is fun to have someone to annoy and spoil here again!

  • Found new place. It is always nice to find a place nice and early! We are going to be in lovely Rosemount. Yes, yes out in the burbs — some would say way out. Bite me :) It is a nice 11 mile or 20 minute drive to work, and really only 30-35min to downtown. The house is fantastic - friggin huge back yard, 3 car garage, super new and fantasmic kitchen, big deck, and a nice double bathroom. We likely. Parties shall be had! For the really curious, check out this link . Not sure how long that will be valid, but I’ll post some pictures once we move in. It looks like the Big Day will be April 1st, (ha! ha! um…yeah) - just need to get the movers to unload our stuff now!

  • Getting settled. Finally. I’m petering out here, but life is settling into a nice routine of wake up, shower & eat, work (free coffee, etc) come home, dinner and nice relaxing evenings. It is good to be me. I promise more updates soon!