Spring semester: day seventy-six
My last day of classes
At around 3:45 yesterday afternoon, the DAV truck arrived, and in the span of 15-20 minutes, they took everything I had left that I wanted to get rid of but couldn't at the yard sale. Two chairs and a table? Gone. The hanging light with extra bulbs? Gone. The grill, books, bookshelf, weed-eater, lamp, extra art, small appliances, and two massive bags of donation clothes? All gone, gone, gone. They took absolutely everything I wanted them to, and put it all in the back of their massive truck (that actually, I think, was a little bit smaller than the one we rented from U-Haul for the move). The truck was nearly full already -- apparently many people had the same idea after the city-wide garage sale this past weekend.
I was happy to see it all go -- while I could have found space for some of that stuff, more than likely, I didn't need any of it. And there's a lot more I could have given them, such as the heavy fold-out loveseat from the living room, if only I could have moved it downstairs myself. I don't have a lot of furniture that's coming with me to Omaha -- basically the bed, two desks, a bookcase, a dresser, some end tables/nightstands/computer chair, and the electronics. Oh, and the washer and dryer, which will take up a fair amount of space in the truck whether I want them to or not. Most of the other stuff will just be trashed or recycled if possible; I'm not going to be too picky about what I keep since Daisy is having an entire new set of furniture delivered to our new place this afternoon.
Anyway.
I got the tax receipt from them, which listed 7 pieces of furniture, 2 bags of clothes, and something like 5 boxes of other items (which is, really, accurate). They don't assign a dollar value to it themselves for tax purposes -- they leave that up to you to estimate. I told Daisy that theoretically, we could say each piece of furniture was worth $100 or more if we wanted to, because it's not like we could be proven wrong, but I'm not a bastard. The "worth" of all of the stuff I donated is subjective, though on a rough estimate of what a fair market value of most of that stuff would be, altogether it wouldn't be out of the question to say $500 or so total and still be honest, if not lowballing. I mean, it included an antique rocking chair, an antique table chair, a kitchen table, a weed-eater, a nice antique-ish floor lamp, etc. And that's not even taking into account all of the appliances, books, and clothes.
As an aside, I always feel bittersweet about donating clothes. Yes, I'm doing good things, and I'm providing clothing to people who would otherwise go without, donating to the only charity that I will actually give monetary donations to, the veterans, but my own selfishness and reasoning/packrat-ness will always be in the back of my mind. Every one of my pieces of clothing has a story behind it; I remember where I got it, I remember what station of my life I was in when I got it, I remember things I did while wearing it, especially the really old stuff I've had for 10-15 years. I've had many pieces of clothing I've donated over the years where, long after they've been given away, I was like fuck, I wish I hadn't given that away now. Donation remorse. Etc.
Yes, in case you were wondering, I kept the leather jacket. As well as my long grey trenchcoat, as Daisy wants it. I considered trying to sell the jacket at the yard sale, but I didn't. I know someone would've jumped on it quickly, but I doubt I would've gotten much out of it, and they'd try to haggle me down much lower than I would have been willing to sell it. I'd rather keep it in case I need it during those cold Nebraska winters I'll be living through in the future.
Today, as you probably noticed above, is my last day of classes. I'll go to main campus in the mid-afternoon hours, drop off the Playstation one of the GTAs had me save/reserve for him before the yard sale, do some office stuff and deal with the finals grading for my 102s' exams, and teach my last night class before coming home. I'll be out of the house for about six hours, which is the longest I've been gone in a week. Since I'll be getting to campus in the mid-afternoon for the first time this semester, I may be lucky enough to get a parking spot on campus for once. As it's the last week of classes and I'll get there between 3:30 and 4, it'll be in that "lull period" where morning and early afternoon classes have ended, but before mid-afternoon and night classes have started. It's all about timing when you want to park on main campus -- either you get there at the two or three times each day when everything starts to clear out, or you get there at 7AM -- otherwise, you won't get a spot. Ever.
I'm glad this period of my life, of fighting for parking spots on that campus, is almost at an end.
The final grades worksheet for Spring semester opened up this week, and because of that I was able to enter my 210 students' final grades this afternoon. I've been waiting to do that for about two weeks now, but even as a professor I have to follow the university's protocols and their rules/dates/times to do that sort of thing. My 102s' final grades won't be calculated until I grade their exams with my grading partner, but I should be able to do that this afternoon and turn everything in to the office then. Hopefully.
It's 90 degrees already this afternoon, with a projected/expected high of 97. I'm not looking forward to driving south in the heat and sun. While the sunburn I got on Saturday during the yard sale has basically completely faded away, it's not like I want to burn more on top of that. It's supposed to be about the same tomorrow, before it storms like hell on Thursday (apparently). With this heat, it's almost guaranteed that those storms will be bad ones, if not terrible ones.
Yesterday after the DAV guys left, I took the car over to the car wash and power-washed it, giving it a good soapy spraydown and spot-free rinse. It looks almost new again. I wash the car about twice a year, usually at the beginning of summer and again in the fall sometime before it starts snowing, and when I do, she shines. No, seriously, most of the car's clearcoat (with the exception of part of the roof and the hood) is still in really good shape, and the car looks almost new when it's just been washed. As you folks know, that car is my baby -- so it feels good to be able to wash her once in a while when she needs it. It's been so dry and windy here over the past month or so that she had a thick layer of tan/brown/black dust and dirt coating every part of her "skin," so to speak.
Besides, when I drive the car up to Omaha in about two weeks and the in-laws see it in person for the first time -- not to mention when my parents see it before the wedding -- I want it to look like I'm not necessarily driving around a rust bucket with parts falling off of it. That's sort of important, if only for my own vanity's sake.
On that note, I must get dressed (in, ahem, light, airy clothing) and get ready to make my way south to the university for the day. I've already gathered all the stuff I need (including papers, journals, and the Playstation I'm bringing for one of the GTAs), and hope to get everything done I can. I just hope I don't burn up as soon as I get outside into the stifling heat.
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