Our Collective Nightmare, Part II

when we last left our intrepid heroes....

I wanted to take a moment to point out that yes, I did attempt to call my mother yesterday for Mother's Day, but I heard little more than "Hello" and "I can't hear you" before the call cut out. My parents are at their beach house this weekend (because, yes, they have a beach house) and phone reception there is, apparently, spotty. I texted her Happy Mother's Day and emailed her afterwards to follow up just in case the text didn't go through either. She got it and texted me back later in the afternoon. I did send a card, of course, and I do have a Mother's Day gift for her (which she'll get when she comes in for the wedding in several weeks).

I didn't have to call Mama, of course, as I'd spent a topless, sweaty lunch with her via Skype -- but I also sent Mama a card last week and bought her a blueberry bush which Daisy took back with her on her last visit down here a few weeks ago. I don't know where or if Mama planted it, as it was the kind that can grow in a pot, specifically bred for small spaces.

So. Anyway.

Once I was done cleaning and taking care of the labor-intensive, sweaty things around the house, it began to get dark. Like, really dark, outside. I was expecting this, of course -- mind you, they'd been calling for severe storms for days on end, and because of the sun and heat yesterday morning, the atmosphere was ripe for some pretty heavy shit. Plus, there was this:

Vaguely phallic graphics aside, we knew what was coming. It wasn't exactly a secret. Plus, I'd been watching the radar and knew that a ton of severe storms were firing up to the west of me. By "the west of me," I mean "like, 200 miles away." It was all slow-moving, and didn't necessarily concern me that much. I mean, I had shit to do -- I was cleaning and packing, and barely paying attention.

Barely paying attention until Daisy told me that her entire family was in the basement because tornadoes were hitting Omaha.

Yeah.

I'd messaged her beforehand, of course, to tell her that tornadoes were forming just northwest of Lincoln (about, oh, 60 miles away), and were moving northeast towards the Omaha area. At the time, there were seven different, unique tornadoes reported. Still, the area around Lincoln is much what one would expect when one thinks of stereotypical Nebraska -- lots of plains, lots of open space, and some small scattered towns broken up by lots of farmland with the occasional windmill, cell tower, and/or cow field. It's all wide-open countryside, so it's not exactly surprising that's where tornadoes form. Kansas is much the same, by the way.

Well, apparently those tornadoes and the severe storms accompanying them all stuck together, and around 6:45 or so they moved into the Omaha area -- hitting Daisy's part of town first. Therefore, the siren was sounded, they were put under a tornado warning until 7:30, and Daisy and her parents moved down into the basement.

I'm not sure what actually happened there, as I'm not there, but at least a few weak tornadoes (and the storms) tore up a good chunk of the city. Here's a photo from within a mile or three from Daisy's house:

They were fine, at least in their part of town; the tornado warning was eventually called off, and they went back upstairs and resumed their lives as per the usual. Daisy had been moving stuff and had been awake most of the day, so once everything had settled, she went to bed rather early -- before 10PM or so.

However, the fun was just beginning for me.

Around the time Daisy went to bed, tornadoes started popping up all over my area -- directly to the west and northwest of me. When I say "directly," I do mean that -- within 20-25 miles of my house, moving slowly, coming towards me. At night, so it's not like you could physically see them coming until they were right on top of you. Naturally I kept a very close eye on the weather and on the radar. I didn't really have much of a choice there, if I wanted to -- y'know -- live.

Luckily, the tornadoes dissipated before getting much closer, and the "primary threat" was downgraded to golf-ball sized hail and 70mph winds, which wasn't exactly better by any stretch of the imagination. The last severe thunderstorm we had like that, last summer, destroyed half the trees in town and blew in people's garage doors, snapped power lines, smashed people's cars with large tree branches, etc. So I waited. I followed the radar, and I waited.

The first storm was meh. Yeah, there was a little wind, and there was some hard rain, but the hail was pea-sized and there was very little of it. It moved through in about ten minutes, and after all the buildup...yeah, gotta admit, I was a little disappointed. You know me -- I get a weather boner for anything exciting that happens (or is supposed to happen). It was pretty, but there was almost no real thunder and/or lightning that was close enough to be scary and/or dangerous. It was a letdown.

Until half an hour later, when round two hit.

The second storm didn't bring a ton of rain, hail, or wind with it (the rain was pretty steady throughout), but it did bring some really close lightning and incredibly loud thunder for about half an hour, made my electricity flicker, knocked out my internet for a bit, and rattled the windows. The cats were scared, hiding under my desk with me and trying to, I can only assume, crawl inside my feet, which is (obviously) physically impossible.

Round two lasted for close to two hours. Eventually I got bored with it and went to bed, though it's not like I slept that well -- the front moving through gave me one of the worst pressure/sinus/cluster headaches I've had in years, and because everything is boxed up and sealed, I couldn't take any medicine for it. I went to bed at 1AM -- I'm not sure I was able to sleep peacefully (instead of drifting in and out of a half-conscious state) until around 4, when the headache finally subsided.

I woke up around noon, again dazed and groggy. It's only in the 50s today (it was 91 yesterday, so that's a welcome change) and it's still dark and gray. It's only supposed to be in the 50s and 60s for the rest of the week, only to start warming up -- you guessed it -- into the high 80s and 90s again on the days we'll be moving, because Kansas couldn't let me go quietly and comfortably, apparently. Brandon has to do something outside? Something labor-intensive? Let's make him hate it even more than he normally would!

I mean, I totally should've expected this.


Anyway.

Because of my lack of comfortable, normal-feeling sleep, I've been having a rough time motivating myself or finding energy to do a whole lot today. This is bad, I've found -- I need as much good, quality sleep and rest as I can get when I'm preparing to uproot myself and my entire life to move to Omaha within a week, as time is a factor (obviously). To those ends, I did finish cleaning the upstairs bathroom, completely, mopping the floors and scrubbing the hell out of the toilet until I reached what I like to call my "fuck it limit" -- which roughly translates to fuck it, it's not getting any cleaner than this, and I'm sick of inhaling bleach fumes. The bathroom is clean. It's as clean as it's getting. I'll probably wipe it down with some Clorox disinfecting wipes a week from today, but I'm not going to actively clean it any more than it's already been cleaned, except for to put up a new shower curtain when I leave.

On that note, even though it's barely dark yet, I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted and my poor sleep last night isn't helping that any.

Our Collective Nightmare, Part I

Spring semester: day eighty
Finals week: day two  

On Saturday, I boxed up every dish and plate in the cabinets, as well as all cooking utensils (spatulas, ladles and the like), and boxed up all of the shelf-stable food in the cupboard that I won't eat between now and next weekend. I have five or six bowls left, all of the silverware (which I'll use a fair amount of between now and then), two glasses, and three coffee mugs left in the cupboards. They look bare. Everything else has been boxed away and readied for moving.

I also cleaned the sink and cabinets in the bathroom and scrubbed them down hardcore. I used the "bag and vinegar" trick on the showerhead so that it would dissolve any mineral deposits in it. I used two different bleach-containing cleaners to spray down the shower with, and have been waiting for it to all foam up and drain so that I can, y'know, actually shower and rinse it off the walls as well. Cleaning that shower/bathroom is a nightmare. It's not well-ventilated at all; there's only one fan in it, and it's up near the ceiling -- to turn it on, you have to stand on the tub/toilet and plug it in manually. As a result, I can only be in the bathroom for a few minutes at a time before the bleach fumes start burning my eyes and nostrils, and I have to go in and out if I want to get anything done and be able to breathe. Between now and the move, I'll spray it down with vinegar and water, but that's about all the extra cleaning it'll get after today. I have enough shit to clean in the rest of the house. I have to sponge-mop the bathroom floor and scrub down the toilet, too -- something that I'll probably wait to do until the day before the move, more than likely, as I don't want to waste time re-cleaning it again and again because of normal bathroom use. The sink and mirrors I can keep relatively clean.

Here's the other problem, though -- when the bathroom is full of bleach fumes, I can't use it. There's the second bathroom downstairs, yes, but it's had bleach in the toilet bowl for the past three weeks so that I can easily clean it (that toilet's never been cleaned since I've lived here, because it's so rarely used -- as a result, it has a ton of calcium deposits/hard water stains in it from just basically sitting there). Of course, I have to clean out the downstairs bathroom as well, and that will be one of the last things done before the move also (because that's where the cats' food/litter is, and the room we'll have to lock them up in once we start the moving in and out of the house).

Welcome to my life, folks.

The kitchen's pots and pans will be boxed up this afternoon, as well as most of the silverware I won't use between now and the move. There are tons of various little tasks I have to take care of as well, such as vacuuming and emptying the shredder, shredding all of the nonessential stuff I've collected over the years, etc. Tomorrow's also the only trash day between now and the moving day itself, so I need to get everything out that I can. All of this translates to a good chunk of work for me for the rest of the day and into the night -- but it's work that has to be done whether I want it to be done or not.

The past two days have been interesting, that's for sure.

I spent a rather large amount of time in the kitchen on Saturday night, as mentioned before, boxing things up. As I sealed the box full of dishes, I used the very last of the duct tape I had for any of my boxes. This meant (obviously) that I couldn't box anything else up whether I wanted to or not. I looked at the clock. It was 8:30 or so.

As you may know, and as I mentioned here before, some nasty severe storms were predicted for the weekend. We've actually had a good chance of them every day for the past week or so, really, but on Saturday night they were beginning to fire up everywhere. I also mentioned before that I had to go to Walmart at some point (I'd originally planned it for after the donut meet-up on Friday, but decided to just come home and go to bed), so I was in a conundrum -- either be done for the night (which wouldn't have been a great idea), or go out right then before the storms made their way up here, as my car was already in the driveway and not the garage.

So, of course, I left for Walmart. Apparently, on the night before Mother's Day, when storms were coming, everyone else in town had the same idea. As I drove the three miles or so to get there, I watched lightning light up huge cumulonimbus clouds on what appeared to be all sides of me. I burned into the parking lot, got out, ran inside the store, and attempted to hustle like mad through my shopping -- no small task considering that for some reason, on a Saturday night after 9PM, the store was crazy busy.

I was getting everything I needed and was on the way to the checkout when I ran into a former student of mine -- a particularly "talk your ear off" former student, at that. She also used to work there, but doesn't anymore. There was no getting in a hurry anyway; six or seven registers were open and each one had a good five or six people in line, the lines stretching back into the womens' clothing section. I overheard one of the Walmart workers saying that they'd lost four or five cashiers in the past week -- the people had just had enough and quit.

That explains a lot, I thought. I can only check out through the "express" lane, aisle 15, anyhow -- it's the only register through which one can get cigarettes. Throughout the entire waiting-in-line and checkout process (which was a longer wait than the time it took me to actually do all of my shopping), I was also having my ear talked off by said student.

Finally, I checked out and got out of there, and we went our separate ways. The lightning was brighter and the thunder was audible now, and I got splashed by a few big, wet drops of rain as I was basically throwing everything into the car. I've lived in Kansas a long time; I know that when the thunder/lightning is that close, it's mere minutes at best before the sky opens up hell on you. As I'd seen photos of golf-ball-sized hail earlier in the day and knew that was coming my way, I wanted to get the Monte Carlo home and into the garage before said hail started falling, as I already have a chip in my windshield -- a few direct hits of large hail in the vicinity of that chip, and I'll no longer have auto glass in my car.

I careened into my driveway and threw open the garage door, and pulled the car into the safety of the underground, protected garage. As I put the door back down and began moving stuff into the house, the thunder rattled the windows.


And nothing happened.

No, seriously.

I watched the radar; it all went just north and west of me, and east and north of me -- splitting into two big cells that dissipated the further they went north and east. Nothing. Not a drop of rain on me aside from the few drops I'd been hit with in the Walmart parking lot. While the lightning was pretty, it very quickly disappeared. And it remained hot, muggy, and nasty, with no relief. WTF, Kansas.

I finished my packing and cleaning for the night, made some food, and went to bed. Because it had been so muggy and hot and the rain didn't come, the house felt like a greenhouse, even downstairs. It was the uncomfortable kind of mugginess that you can get no relief from no matter what you do -- turning on the fan (even on its lowest setting) was too uncomfortable/chilly, and leaving it off meant everything remained stifling. I had a hard time falling asleep, as you could probably guess.

Yesterday morning I awoke in a daze, sweaty and surrounded by cats. I had nowhere to be, no, but I had a lot to do. Once I was sufficiently awake, I finished cleaning the bathroom -- or at least the shower and the like -- which I had to do while shirtless and in my underwear due to the copious amounts of bleach in use. This led to a sweaty, shirtless Mother's Day family lunch with Daisy and her parents, where I was "seated" at the table with them via Skype and Daisy's laptop.

Look, I'm one of those people who cares not who sees him naked (or partially naked, what-have-you, especially around family), but Skype only shows me from the chest up. And I was sweaty and shirtless at the dinner table with Daisy and her parents, which was (at the very least) slightly inappropriate and embarrassing, even via computer. Some guys look good when sweaty and topless. I am not one of those guys. When I'm sweaty and topless I look like a corpse dragged out of the river. I'm sure they didn't care, but still. I am the guy who's marrying their daughter in a few weeks.

After our Mother's Day lunch was over, I got back to work. The kitchen is now completely packed up with the exception of a few odds and ends and the smaller appliances (toaster, popcorn popper, microwave, dehydrator). I cleaned out the fridge and freezer, getting rid of everything I wouldn't need or take with me, and I refilled the filtered water bottles for the last time. In the coming days I will pack what's left and what's coming with me, and will clean everything else. As for the "large item pickup" for the trash next week, I can schedule that online but can't do it before tomorrow, as they set it up for your next trash pickup day and don't give you the option to schedule it in advance for a certain date. If I would've scheduled it this weekend, they would've tried to do it today...before I can move everything I need to throw out down to the road.

Of course, my actual cleanup and finishing-of-packing days are cut down to but three days this week -- today, Thursday, and Friday (with a bit on Saturday, probably), as tomorrow and Wednesday I'll have to be on campus for final exams, grading, and moving everything out of my office. This is mostly fine, as there's a lot of stuff I can't pack until later in the week anyhow (like most of the stuff here in my Man Cave -- my computer, my desk stuff, coffee pot, furniture, etc).

The schedule for the move is, indeed, a tight one:


This week:

• Today: pack and clean some more various stuff
• Tomorrow: 011 final exam tomorrow night, getting on campus in the afternoon
• Wednesday: returning to campus to grade, enter grades, drop off keys, collect my belongings
• Thursday: see today.
• Friday: cleaning bathroom floors, wiping down walls and windows where I can

After that:

• Saturday: sleeping in as long as possible, moving larger furniture out of rooms and into easily-accessible places for truck loading, filling the car with gas and driving it to Omaha that night to drop it off (that'll be fun)
• Sunday: getting up with Daisy, driving back down here in her car, readying everything else we can to be easily moved into the truck, cleaning what we can before the heavy lifting
• Monday: Hardcore work day #1 -- picking up the U-Haul in the morning ASAP, loading everything we can into it until we can no longer physically move, putting the large items out for large item trash pickup, and probably sleeping on the floor that night
• Tuesday: Hardcore work day #2 -- putting everything else in the truck that needs to be in there early in the morning and sealing it up, steam-cleaning carpets and cleaning the rest of the house a "passable" amount, calling landlord to do final walkthrough and hand-over of keys, and leaving Kansas for good with the cats in tow
• Wednesday: Hardcore work day #3 -- unloading the truck and moving everything into the new apartment piece by piece, box by box, morning until night, until it's all done and in there. SLEEP.
• Thursday: filling the truck with gas and dropping it off, move complete. Unpack some stuff with whatever energy we have left. SLEEP.
• Friday: SLEEP. Daisy works that night. Unpack whatever I can or want while she works.
• Saturday: Internet gets turned on in new place between 1-3 PM. 

As you can see, yes, it's a tight schedule with a lot of stuff to be done and a slow winding-down afterwards. And again, I look around me and see how much I have left to do...but I also see what has been done already because I've been busting my ass for the past several weeks on my days off. I do have a to-do list of little things that I can't forget to do between now and the move, and I'm slowly working my way through them, so that's a plus.

Anyway.

What happened after the Mother's Day lunch yesterday? Well, that's another adventure in itself...

Finishings, Part II

I called the city's water/trash people this afternoon, as there was a number listed on the website to stop or otherwise change the service.

"Can you come down here to sign the paperwork?" the lady on the phone snapped at me, curtly.

"Uh...yeah, I suppose, sure."

"Good. We'd like you to do that." Click.

The hell?

Okay, I could do that, I guess, even though the website said I could do it over the phone. Even that I found to be archaic; the electric and cable allowed me to do everything involving shutoff and transfer of services online, within about five clicks and a simple typing-in of my forwarding address and the dates I wanted the service stopped or transferred.

So, sweaty and greasy from not having showered yet today and from cleaning, packing, and moving boxes for most of the late morning/early afternoon hours, I put on a pair of shorts, grabbed my keys and wallet, and drove over to City Hall -- where the utility offices are located in the basement (though, admittedly, a nice basement). I gave the lady at the counter my information, she pulled up my account and we filled out a sheet with my forwarding address, and I signed it.

"My house is owned by, well, our mayor, [name], so the account should revert back to him once my service ends," I said. She nodded; I'm not entirely sure she was actually paying attention.

The water will revert back to the landlord on the 20th -- eleven days from now, and the day that we're planning to be gone from Newton for good.

"While I'm here," I said, "can I schedule a large item pickup for the 19th before my service ends?"

I mean, I will have at least one broken couch and one broken chair to be picked up by the trash people, if not two couches -- as well as (I'm sure) some other odds and ends/things that won't fit in the cans.

"Ah, for that you'll have to call this number," she said, whipping a brochure at me.

You're fucking kidding, right? I'm already here in your office. At City Hall. 

"Oh. Okay, thanks," I said, taking the brochure -- and I left. 

I like this city, I do -- and I'm definitely going to miss it when I'm gone, especially once I'm living in the violence-ridden metropolis of Omaha -- but again, all of that stuff is so archaic and poorly-managed. While the lady was nice and set up everything for me regarding the water and trash disconnect, we were doing it with pen and paper -- WTF, Kansas? Please leap into the 21st century. Soon.

I went back out to the car and drove over to the post office -- I mean, I was already out, and I had stuff to do, so why not? I needed stamps and I needed to get one of the change of address forms so that could be processed sometime next week. I ended up getting two books of the new, limited-edition Jimi Hendrix stamps (because, well, they had them there):

 

Neat, right?

I did get the change of address forms to stick in the mail; they said you can do it online, too, but I tried that five years ago -- and they used to charge you a fee to do it online (I don't know if they still do or not). They don't with the paper forms -- you just fill them out and stick them back in the mailbox. Which is good. 

As I was driving back home, I realized that, eh, I had some time, the weather was nice, and I could more than likely use a few things they had, so I decided to go over to Meridian Grocery (for what will probably be my last time there).

I've mentioned it before, but Meridian Grocery is the little discount grocery store here in Newton, owned and operated by the Mennonite church, which I love and adore. Not the church, mind you, but the store. The store's premise is that they get a lot of shipments of close-dated or just-expired stuff -- think of it like a low rent Big Lots -- and sell it all very cheaply, sometimes at half the price or lower compared to what you'd pay in Walmart or a similar grocery store. They also get huge shipments of local produce and/or farm fresh eggs, milk, cheeses, etc, as well as make a lot of in-house things such as bulk spices and baking mixes. It's an awesome little store, and a pretty well-kept secret in town -- they don't really advertise (other than, say, on Facebook), and as they're way out on the south end of town, they're never incredibly busy. 

That being said, I mean, a lot of the stuff they sell is expired or set to expire, but common sense will tell you what is safe to buy past an expiration date. Soda, juices, canned goods/soups, coffee/tea, and other dry goods will last years past its expiration or sell-by date, but it's a sliding scale -- canned things good, cereals a little less good, snacks/crackers/chips a little less than the cereals, and stuff like salad dressings and mayonnaises = bad, don't trust it. Over the years I've learned what to get and what not to, and do pretty well. I can get $100 or so worth of groceries there for about $30 or $40 if I'm careful and know what I'm getting or looking for.

And, of course, unless I go back at some point next week, this would be the last time I'd ever get to shop there again -- which makes me sad, yes, to a certain extent.

I ended up getting about $30 of assorted things, not all of them foodstuffs. I found a new set of large burner pans (which I needed for my stove) for $2, some shampoo for 79 cents, etc. I picked up three bags of the white cheddar rice cakes I love, and some marked-down Slim Jims, stuff like that. But the holy grail was this:

I mentioned before that one of my close friends got us a Keurig for a wedding present. If you can't tell from the photo, these are boxes of K-cups for lemonade iced tea for said Keurig. Each box was on clearance for $1.49, and the store had hundreds of them, by the way it looked. I'm pretty sure tea doesn't expire for a long, long time, even tea of the K-cup variety. With these, Daisy and I will be able to make iced tea by the cup, when we want it, for a while. In fact, I might go get more of it next week if I can make it back over there -- it's about the only thing I'd really like to have a lot of on hand, ready to go for after the move.

Well, aside from money. Ahem.

I came home afterwards to find that my latest Amazon order -- another large bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil (which I'll need to put some of in the car before I drive it up to Omaha next weekend) and the next season of Scrubs -- had arrived. I put everything away, made something to eat, and sat down...tired. I woke up early this morning and had basically been working almost all day, running around and doing one thing or another. I'd barely had any time to decompress all day long. Slowly, I began to relax a bit and stretched out...before realizing that it was time for Daisy to get up before she went to work, and knew that if I wanted to actually talk to her tonight, I needed to get back to my room and turn on Skype. So, I did, and we did.

It's now an hour before I'm supposed to meet up with my friends at the donut shop, and despite the fact that I've been pumping myself full of coffee in an attempt to give myself more energy, said energy isn't coming. I really almost wish I hadn't agreed to meet with them, though I don't really mean that -- it's just that I'm so tired. Inexplicably tired, at that. Yes, I've been awake for a while, and I did do a fair amount of running around today, but it's not like I did any more than any other day of the week -- just more driving from place to place and doing little things. Driving doesn't make me tired, and generally I don't become exhausted for no reason. So eh.

I've decided that after the donuts, I'll more than likely just come back home to go to bed. I was originally planning to go to Walmart to get the supplies I needed, but it can wait another 24 hours or so. I have other stuff to do over the weekend anyway, right?

Finishings, Part I

Spring semester: day seventy-nine
"Study Day" before finals week starts -- no classes
Final (real) day of Spring semester 2014

My Amazon (Chase) card has been completely paid off and my address has been changed for it manually on this month's bill.


I created/registered an online account tonight for my Discover card, and changed my address on there for it.

I wrote a $40 donation check to the DAV (I do this about twice a year, when I can afford it) because I needed to change my address with them anyway -- lest they stop sending me address labels and free notepads/calendars. Plus, it's another tax write-off.

As an aside to that, apparently we can write off moving costs too. We'll have to look into that more.

I changed my address for my student loans' account and set it up to take effect on the 21st.

My Citi card won't let me create an online account for it without knowing some password or security question answer I used four years ago when I applied for the card. I have no clue whatsoever what that password or security answer would be, as I've barely used the card for anything but my car insurance payments and the occasional pizza delivery. Luckily, the bill for that should come this weekend or early next week, and as the only reason I wanted to create an online account would be to change my address anyway, I can do that manually on the bill (just like I did for the Amazon Chase card).

What's left?

I still have to call and set a stop date for the City of Newton's water/trash, and set up the "large item pick-up day" so that I can throw away the stuff I won't take with me, and I still have to get an official change-of-address form from the post office and fill it out (which I'll more than likely do next week) so that I don't miss any mail that would come here to my house after I'm gone. I also have to notify my bank back home that I'm moving so that they don't put a freeze on my debit card or checking account once I start using it in Omaha.

Aside from that, well, most (if not all) of the other administrative stuff is already done.

Interestingly enough, I've not yet heard back from the county courthouse about the jury duty notice I received last weekend -- the one that told them in my reply, mailed on Monday, that I'd be moving to Omaha more than a month before the "duty" would take place (at the earliest) and that afterwards my round-trip to serve would be 600 miles. I mean, I'm confident that I'll get out of it because of that of course, but I also don't like waiting to hear that confirmation. It'll probably take them a few more business days, I'm guessing.

I don't know what I'll have to do about the car's registration once I move to Nebraska, either -- or when/how I'll have to change my license and plates and all that. I have slightly more pressing concerns to deal with once I get up there -- like dealing with the wedding stuff and getting a job. Once that stuff settles down I'll worry about transferring my license and registration.

Wedding gifts are beginning to be purchased from the registry and/or other places -- one of my best friends from back home got us a Keurig machine (which I've wanted for years), April got us towels, sheets, and bakeware, and Daisy's sister got us a really nice stainless steel cookware set. All of it is shipped to the central location of Daisy's parents' house -- since Daisy is still moving all of her stuff over to the new place on her days off anyhow, and we're not yet at said new place on a daily basis to receive packages.

Daisy and I went through the registry yesterday; as we did, she explained her rationale for some of the new stuff she (with Mama's help/suggestions) added to it over the course of the past few days. I agreed with most of her additions with no issues, though we did end up removing a few things because I already had some of the stuff she put on there (certain cookware/bakeware/containers, two different spatulas, etc). I really don't expect more than ten or fifteen people to get anything off the registry anyhow, and neither does she -- but it's a good collection of stuff for people to choose from, and it's organized so that we can see what we still need after the wedding and eventually get some of it ourselves.

I feel weird getting gifts from people, even if it's stuff we need and/or want. So does Daisy, to a certain extent, probably more so than me -- I'm usually, at all other times, of the mindset that if someone wants to give me/us something, I will happily take it, no questions asked. Yet, now? I don't know. It feels like obligation, like people feel obligated to give us stuff because we're getting married. I mean, people get married every day -- we're not special in that regard. I'm not a fan of things done or given out of obligation only. In fact, I've told people -- especially people I'm close to and those of my friends/family who are in the wedding -- that they don't have to get us anything, seriously, because I didn't want to put them out any more than they already have been for the event. I mean, April didn't have to get us towels and bakeware and sheets, since she's in the wedding and will be flying out here from Portland. Rae said she's gotten something for us as well, even though she's also in the wedding and will be driving from Cincinnati and staying with us for at least two days. I'm happy just to have those people here, in our lives, as they're super-important to me. That's all that matters to me -- it's the love they're showing me/us by coming.

Finally, I've washed all of the rugs in the house and have boxed up most of them as padding for the kitchenware/dishes. The others will be used to pad the other dishes and glassware when I box those things up in another week or so. There are so many things that I can't box up until right before the move, as they're things I'll need and use between now and then. This weekend will be spent doing more of that, piecemeal here and there, learning to survive on the bare minimums of things between now and the moving date.

There's still $100 or so of the yard sale money left, though not for long. I have to use some of it tomorrow night. I'll be meeting up with my friends for late-night coffee and donuts, yes (that'll be a whopping $3 or so) but afterwards I do have to go to Walmart for more supplies and around-the-house stuff in the overnight hours. For example, in putting all the boxes together (so I can calculate what will go into them and how much "box space" I have), I used almost all of the duct tape I had. That's four entire rolls of duct tape I've gone through now just for boxes alone. The cats need new food and I need tissues/toilet paper/coffee/etc., too. I'm keeping my food purchases light and mostly non-perishable -- anything that's in the fridge when I'm getting ready to leave will more than likely have to be trashed, as it won't stay good in the car, even in a cooler, between here and Omaha. So I'm eating light, so to speak, and am trying to eat more than I purchase. If I can cook creatively I can get rid of most of it between now and then.

The beginning of the end, really -- the beginning of wrapping everything up and tying up all loose ends I can, is strangely freeing. When I've been a ball of stress about all sorts of stuff over the past few weeks, knowing that I'm slowly getting it all taken care of makes me much more relaxed and calm than I was before. I know that no matter what happens, I'll still get everything done that needs to be done, even if it's stressful and/or tiring to do it. I know that it's all worth it, and I'll get some much-needed downtime once we're settled into the new place in Omaha. I know that my marriage will be a good one, a sweet one, a spiritually-fulfilling one. I'm no longer so stressed and shaky about everything that I can't sleep, or so anxious and averse to change that I'm screaming internally at the thought of being a husband and taking on an entirely new life role. I've actually been sleeping really well for the past few nights, as each day I take care of a few more tasks and can cross those things off of my to-do list. It's good. It's all good.

Finishing, Part III

Finals week: day one
(yes, finals here start on a Saturday.)

The packing and cleaning kicks into high gear this weekend. Previously, it was in low-to-medium gear (for the most part). Today I plan to pack up all of the bathroom stuff and scrub down the room itself as much as I can, and pack up everything nonessential in the kitchen cabinets and cupboards -- followed by a trip to Walmart tonight for the (few) things I need for the last real week I'll be living here. Tomorrow? The sweeping-out of the garage and driveway, as well as the mass trashing/recycling of everything humanly possible before next week.

I'm really not feeling that great today, actually. I don't know why. My allergies are being weird with me and I'm having some stomach issues. I feel lethargic and tired, slow and heavy. I slept well last night, and slept until after noon today, so I'm not sure what's going on. It's not hot, so it's not heat exhaustion (only 82 outside). I just feel, well, crappy. I think it's because I've been relying on coffee a lot more than usual to be able to stay awake and give me energy to take care of a lot of things that need to be done, so because of that my body is just...weak, wanting to rest and not do anything, as if it's telling me aren't you done yet? haven't you done enough shit already?

The answer, obviously, is no. None of it's enough until it's done. 

The End of the Semester

Spring semester: day seventy-eight

My semester is over. At least the classes are, anyway. I will return to campus but two more days before dropping off my keys, cleaning out my office, and leaving for good. On Tuesday night I taught what may very well be the last class of my career as a professor, ever -- my 011 night class. It went uneventfully; they took their practice final, turned in papers, and and then one by one went home, with me going home after the last students finished. I stopped at Burger King -- the first time I've gotten any fast food of any sort in about a year -- and got dinner so that I wouldn't have to cook, then ate it, Skyped with Daisy for a bit, and went to bed.


It feels weird and sudden, but then again, so does the end of every semester. It always just stops, and when it does I'm left alone with little to do. Except, well, this time I have a lot to do -- all stuff to ready for the move and for my wedding.

I only have to go back to campus for the final exam and for the grading of those final exams -- two days maximum. My 011 students' final exam is next Tuesday night, during roughly the same time we have class (it starts a little later than our class normally runs). Once that's done and graded, I'm gone, leaving the halls of the department behind forever -- for better or worse.

I felt this way last spring as well, as I didn't know then if I'd ever teach again after I graduated with my Master's degree. Yet, even then I knew that if I didn't find something else (and I didn't) I had somewhat of a safety net of working at the university in the fall again, and I did. This time around that's not the case. Once I leave Kansas, and leave the university, it is very, very unlikely that I will ever come back. For any reason. I will have a completely new, completely different life in Omaha with my wife. If I had uncertainty that I'd ever teach again after graduating last spring, that uncertainty has multiplied a hundredfold now. I honestly don't know what the future holds for me. I can't even tell you where, or if, I'll be working in a month's time. Let alone further ahead than that. It's goddamned frightening, the kind of fright that could keep a man awake at night (thankfully I'm so overwhelmed and exhausted that all I want to do is sleep). There's only so many things I can take care of or worry about at once, and I have so many of them yet to do.

The hot temperatures have continued; it's gotten into the 90s almost every day for the past week, reached 97 yesterday in Wichita, and is on track to do the same here again today before storming like hell tonight (possibly, anyway). To have it go from the 30s and 40s into the 60s and 70s for about two weeks, to spiking into high 90s and 100s is a little too much to take all at once. I have not turned on the air conditioner, though my fans are getting much use and the windows are propped open to try to move air through the house. It doesn't do much good -- it's not even noon yet and it's already 87 degrees in my room, which is a really bad sign. As you folks may know, my room takes forever to cool back down once it's heated up, and during most of the overnight hours the top floor of the house just gets hotter and hotter no matter what I do, like some sort of asshole duplex greenhouse effect. It's not uncommon to have it be over 100 in my room at night in the summer for no real reason, even if it's in the 70s outside. At that point, the air conditioner doesn't even help -- it throws up its proverbial arms and can't do anything. Even with the air conditioner running, if I were to turn it on, it would maybe drop the temperature in my room to 90. Maybe.

"You won't have to deal with it for much longer," Daisy told me. "Won't it be nice to have a place where it's easy to keep cool or keep warm all the time?"

Yes, yes it will be. My central air and furnace work just fine, though both of them destroy my electric bill if I run either of them too much.

I Skyped with Rae for a little while yesterday afternoon about her job and travel plans for the wedding. She's going to be in town for several days before (and a few days after) the wedding, and as she's starting a new job that she can do from anywhere with an internet connection, she has a little more wiggle room than usual for travel. She's apparently going to be in Omaha a lot this summer, which is good.

Everything is slowly falling into place, I suppose -- I have a twelve-item list of things to do administratively before the move, and about five of them are done. Yesterday I submitted the transfer request for the cable internet account to the Cox Communications people via an online form so that I can have it turned on at our new place by the week I'm settled in. It gets turned off here on the 20th and turned on in our new place on the 24th, with free installation and a discount for the first three months. I scheduled the electric to be turned off here on the 24th, and to have the last bill sent to our new address. Now all I have left to do is change the addresses on my credit cards and have the water/trash service ended in a little less than two weeks. And, y'know, pack and clean.

I've done a fair amount of packing and cleaning over the past 24 to 36 hours, and plan to do more tonight once it cools down some and possibly storms. There's a good bit of it to do, obviously, but I'm slowly working through it all. I packed up a lot of dishes and the like in the kitchen onto one of the biggest boxes I had, a box that a Dell computer came in (which I was lucky enough to get from the nice administrator lady on the West campus). I washed the kitchen rugs, and those rugs will be the last things packed into the box (for padding) before I seal it up this evening. I also wiped down the stove and counters, though I'll have to do that several more times between now and when I move as well. The remaining things in the spare room and bathrooms are next before I slowly begin moving everything down to the basement bedroom as a "base of operations" for all of the boxes.

"Do you think you'll be able to fit everything into the apartment?" Daisy asked me.

It was the first time I've been asked such a question -- up until now, she was always of the mindset that yes, while I have a whole house full of stuff to move, she still had a lot of stuff as well, and up until now she was not worried about my ability to easily fit my stuff in there. It's one of the reasons I got the 17-footer truck -- my reasoning is that yes, we'll need a truck that big to move the bigger stuff like the bed and the washer/dryer, but also because no matter what she already has in our new apartment...if it fits in the truck, it'll fit in the apartment. 

"Well, it better," I said. "I've already given away or sold basically everything I can give away or sell. Everything else I have, I do need to keep."

It does look like a lot more than it is, and I understand her concerns -- it's because everything in the house is all spread out still, and there are going to be lots of boxes. Playing "box tetris" in the truck around the larger items will be easy enough to do; that's one of the few fun things about moving. I am compulsively organizational if nothing else, meaning that the truck will be completely filled and organized much like a Tetris board would be, with the hardest stuff to move -- like the washer/dryer and bed frame -- going in last (so that it can be the first stuff out and set up in the new place).

I don't yet know how I'm going to move the cats; I have their carriers, of course, but it's been five years since they've been in them for a long car ride, and they like to wail incessantly because they get scared. I can only hope that "moving day" for them is a cool, quiet day without too much sun or heat, because it's a long, long drive to Omaha. Luckily, though, they'll either be in the truck with Daisy or in Daisy's car with me -- and both vehicles will have air conditioning (while my car, which I'm driving up there two nights prior to the move, does not).

Yes, I'm letting Daisy drive the truck. Why? Because a.) she actually knows where it's going, as I've not yet been to our new place, b.) because I hate trucks and have trouble judging distance on anything that's not the same relative size/shape of my/her car, and c.) because she used to own a truck and knows how trucks handle. The closest thing I've ever driven to a moving truck is my ex's mother's van, and as I hated the way that thing handled (it drove like a fucking brick), I'm letting my future-wife-with-more-truck-experience drive the moving truck.

Yes, driving it is basically driving in two straight lines (one north, one east) until we get into Omaha proper, but I'm so not taking any chances.

Apparently the higher-ups at Daisy's job are excited for me to interview with them and (more than likely) work there -- they've been having discussions about it during their meetings for the past two weeks or so, trying to iron out the details and the collaboration/schedules/Daisy-can't-have-power-over-me dynamic. No, obviously, I do not yet "have the job" or anything like that, but (apparently) everyone there expects me to get it and begin working with them sometime in June. Which, of course, I would be perfectly fine with -- it would mean I wouldn't have to worry about money so much (or, really, at all) when Daisy and I would be finally pulling in enough to survive on comfortably. Is it teaching? No. Does it pay a shitload more than I made teaching over the course of this past year? Yes. 

"Look, babe," I told her, "if I'm getting a steady paycheck? I'll do anything in that job within my ability. I don't start drama, I don't get embroiled in other people's lives -- hell, I don't like being social in the first place. I go in, I do my work, I go home."

So there's that, at least. It's not set in stone or anything, but it's good to know that I'm wanted somewhere for work, especially as every other application, resume, or CV I've sent out over the past two months has been a dud and/or the positions have been filled by other people probably not as qualified as I am.

"They asked if you'd still be teaching," she said. "I told them probably not."

"I won't be teaching unless someone gets back to me about teaching," I replied, "or unless someone offers me classes that will be taught on days I'm off. Or, unless someone actually wants to hire me to teach and pay me a living wage...at which point I wouldn't be working for [company] anyhow."

There is an exception to this, of course; the 210 class I've been teaching has online sections that I could feasibly teach entirely remotely from Omaha (without ever, ever setting foot on the university's campus again) since there's no final exam in the course. 90% of the curriculum for 210 I post on Blackboard anyhow, and I have a shitload of course materials that I could throw up there and "lecture" on with no issue. I sent an email to the Director asking if this would be feasible -- as the class basically runs on autopilot anyhow, and the extra money it would pull in would be more than worth the several hours per week that I'd have to put into grading papers -- all online, mind you -- even if I had a few sections of it. It would also allow me to keep teaching and therefore keep adding to my CV. If nothing else, it's a backup plan for extra money, and worth looking into even if nothing at all comes of it.

The rest of my day today has been spent...well, asleep, mostly. Now that I no longer have to keep anyone's schedule but my own (except for those last two aforementioned days on/around campus) I don't have to keep a set sleeping schedule, either. This is good, as the sweltering heat makes me extra tired anyhow, and I feel like I'm at least somewhat beginning to catch up on all the rest I lost over the course of the semester. I'll need to, of course, since the move won't be fun or easy. A lot more of the packing and moving boxes ramps up this weekend once I can organize some stuff for good, and I'll begin cleaning furniture and rooms soon thereafter. I don't have a ton of time, obviously, so I have to plan all of this stuff out and do it as I come across it.

I am, however, meeting my friends for donuts and coffee tomorrow night at the all-night donuts place. We're supposed to meet up there around 11, which I believe is when they open. That'll give me a nice bit of detachment from everything else going on. As you folks know, well, I don't get out much.

 

The Great Giveaways, Part II

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.

The Great Giveaways

Spring semester: day seventy-five

I called the DAV in Wichita this morning and scheduled a pickup of items left over from the garage sale. Apparently they do that; they're sending a truck through Newton today, actually, and will be here between 12:30 and 4PM. This means that I had to get everything packed neatly for them and remove all the price stickers off of said things, box away the stuff that I'm keeping and bring it in, and keep an eye out for them.

Well, about two hours ago, I did all that, and asked my neighbors if I could bring the car to the middle between our two duplexes so that the truck could get in the driveway. They agreed, so I did that as well. As I got out of the car, I heard someone yell for me.

It was the kind older lady from across the street -- they'd bought my lawnmower from me on Friday morning. Oh no, was my first thought -- the mower blew up on them, or something. This was not the case.

"Hey, I was just wondering," she asked, "do you still have any of those Hot Wheels left?"

I still had half a tub of the Hot Wheels left, even though they were easily my best-selling item at the yard sale over the weekend.

"Yeah, they're in the garage. I'm getting everything ready because I have the DAV people coming in their truck to haul away the rest of the stuff I don't want or need."

"Would you take $30 for the rest of them?"

They apparently have a nephew who loves toy cars, and, well, it's better that they go to use and I get the money out of them than not, right? So I said yes, and she gave me thirty bucks. I got to keep the tub, thankfully -- I'll need it when I'm packing up the rest of my clothing and other things.

They also told me that I could use my old mower again to mow my grass once or twice between now and when I move, which is awesome, very nice of them, and very lucky for me that I sold the mower to someone who is quite literally about 60 feet from my house. Such nice people -- I wish I'd developed a more neighborly friendship with them in the two years or so they've been living there. This past week was quite literally the first time I've ever talked to them because I'm so rarely out and about unless I'm going to teach or coming home from teaching. Or, you know, those nights where I go to Walmart at 2AM.

Speaking of that...

Last night was one of those trips, and it went really well -- I showed up at exactly the right time. Why? Because as I went down the cleaning aisle, there was a massive stack of detergent boxes, already broken down and ready-to-go. Some of them are big. Not huge, mind you, but more than big enough for what I need. I took probably fifteen of them and put them in the trunk of the car when I left. I now may have enough boxes to get everything I need packed up and ready to load into the U-Haul. May.

Last night's trip was primarily for supplies, mostly for cleaning supplies. As you know, I have to clean this house and get it looking as good as I possibly can before I leave it. This is going to be no easy task, especially my Man Cave upstairs (where I've been smoking for the past five years). To those ends, I wanted to get all of the cleaning stuff I could now, while I had actual cash for it (from the yard sale, of course), as well as pick up the normal around-the-house stuff and food that I need on a week-to-week basis.

I got these things:

• Windex
• A new toilet brush
• Clorox wipes
• Paper towels
• A sponge mop (with refill) for the bathrooms
• Foaming bathroom spray cleaners
• Pledge 
• Bleach
• Laundry detergent (because I'll need it)
• Vinegar

The one thing that I need that I couldn't find is a dust mop. Just a simple dust mop that I can spray Pledge onto and get the cobwebs and dust off the walls and out of the corners -- I wasn't able to find one. I may have to look around town or go get something like that at the Dollar Tree, as I know I've seen them there before in the past. That might be an afternoon trip for me once the DAV people come, as I'd like to go wash my car anyhow today or tomorrow.

The entire trip to Walmart took $108 of my yard sale money. Well, $103, really, as I had $5 in coins that I dumped out and cashed in at the Coinstar machine. I'd tell you the exact total, but I can't -- as I was leaving Walmart, the wind whipped the receipt out of one of the bags and I watched it fly across the parking lot, into the night, at high speed. Oh well. I can't really help that. But getting the supplies I need now helps me tremendously, and not having to put the costs of them on one of my cards helps even more. Yes, I'll get paid again twice this month, but after that, I have no more money until I become employed somewhere in Omaha. My big bills for the month are already paid (rent, electric and water), but I'll have another set of them comin' in soon that I'll have to take care of (credit cards and internet) that I'll have to deal with before AND after I move.

Daisy, of course, has her own things to do and deal with -- tomorrow she's beginning the move into our new place, and our new furniture gets delivered tomorrow afternoon. Over the next two weeks (since she's, y'know, there) she is going to be moving in her stuff and setting it up on her off days, much like I'll be doing here in vice-versa at the same time (read: packing everything that's left and cleaning the hell out of everything). I have a class to teach tomorrow and a final to give next week as well, so I'll be in and out and juggling everything involving that stuff myself.

The good news? Aside from those two days, and probably a few hours on a third day to make sure my exams are partner-graded correctly and turned in to the office, the rest of my time can and will be spent readying for the move. I drive up to Omaha to drop off the car on the night of the 17th, we come back down here on the 18th, we pick up the truck on the 19th, load it up for most of that day (and probably the 20th), I turn over the keys to the landlord and shake his hand, and we go. 

It is a somewhat-tight schedule, yes, to know that in a little more than two weeks I will no longer live here, buuuuut....it's also somewhat freeing. Until I look around the house and realize that I have a lot of stuff left to do in those two weeks. And a lot of that stuff has to wait until the last, oh, 24-48 hours before we actually move (stuff like unhooking the computer, steam-cleaning the carpets, and most of the actual cleaning of rooms/spaces that are currently filled with boxes or furniture that won't be moved until they're on the truck). Not to mention that in order to do a lot of the actual moving and cleaning I'll have to lock the cats in a room somewhere, just so they don't escape or get into any of the cleaning supplies or sprayed-down sinks, toilets, and counters.

Over the next few days (basically the rest of the week) I will be making calls, one by one, to turn off utilities after a certain date (probably the 21st) here at this house. The utilities don't really get "turned off," but they simply revert back to the landlord's overall accounts for them for all of the houses he owns and rents out. This means that no, I won't have to worry about working without water and/or lights, not that I would anyway -- I expect to be out of the place the day before the cutoff date. I'm taking care of this stuff piece-by-piece, and hopefully I'll be able to get it all done within the next several days at the latest. I then have to update all of my credit card information to the new addresses, too, as well as put in an official change of address form at the post office and change my other online account stuff (student loans people, Amazon, etc etc) and figure out what I need to do with my car's registration and title, if anything right now. Add to that the fact that I have my car insurance coming due again at the end of June, and I have an expensive, busy two months ahead of me.

It's now 3:15 PM and the DAV people haven't come yet; they're supposed to be here by 4. This means that I should be watching for them a little more closely over the next 45 minutes or so...which means I totally need to get off the computer.

Left and Right, Part IV

The second day of the yard sale didn't go anywhere near as well as the first did on Friday. Yesterday, I had about ten people come by all day. On Friday, I was having ten people come by every hour. Roughly. At least until the later afternoon hours, anyhow.

Despite that, I did get rid of some of the stuff I wanted to be rid of yesterday morning; I had a decent morning, but by around 11 it had dried up (so to speak) and nobody but the kids across the street (who bought a ton of my Hot Wheels) came by past noon. Several people drove down the street, turned around and gawked at me and my stuff, and didn't stop. I haaaaaate people who do that almost as much as the people who come, give me shit about the prices of things, and then leave without buying anything. Because of the way my yard is positioned, you couldn't see a lot of stuff (except for the bigger items and the art) from the street -- you had to stop, walk up, and look if you wanted to see what I had. On both days, I had a fair amount of people do that, even if said people got one little thing or nothing. At least they gave it a chance and looked. I had several people come by and get a single book, or a single 50-cent item, and that alone was worth it to me. When I go yard-sale-ing, unless all I can see is baby stuff or women's dresses, I'll almost always stop to look, at least, at what a place has if any of the rest of it looks interesting or I can't see what it is from the street.

Yesterday's highlights were a couple in their early forties who got several different items (the husband was primarily interested in the Hot Wheels, and bought a good twenty of them), including some CDs and DVDs, amongst other little things. Later I had a pair of grandparents with their granddaughter, who bought both of my Paper Jamz guitars and the amplifier for them. The grandmother asked me, once she noticed the huge tub of Hot Wheels, how much I'd take for all of them.

"Well, they're 50 cents each, and there's probably a good 100 of them left in there, roughly," I said, "So...if you want the whole tub, make an offer. I'll cut you a deal on them."

No, that wasn't an exaggeration -- for those of you who don't know, for about two years I collected Hot Wheels (which I would've kept doing had I not become so poor and too busy with teaching/grad school to continue looking for the ones I wanted). Every time I went to Walmart or to Dillon's, I would look through the racks and probably get five to ten of them, which I would take home and put neatly into a large Sterilite plastic tub. I never opened any of them, because doing so destroys any collector's value they may hold in the future. After I got poor, said tub was sealed and basically forgotten about -- it acted as the stand for my Xbox in my Man Cave -- and it was only as an afterthought that I'd taken it out and decided to open it up to sell at the yard sale.

I'm not an idiot, of course -- I pulled out the ones I definitely wanted to keep, like the special edition Delorean time machines and the Ghostbusters Ecto-1s, before I took the tub downstairs. I'm glad I did -- overall at the yard sale, I probably sold more Hot Wheels than anything else.

Now, back to the grandmother -- I told her I'd cut her a deal because, well, if I didn't, 100 Hot Wheels for 50 cents each would be $50 (which, to collectors, would make them ejaculate in their pants, as some of the cars are probably worth several dollars each). I'm pretty sure she didn't want to spend $50 on a tub of toy cars. She wasn't interested in making an offer even after I told her to name her price. I probably would've let the whole tub go for $30, to be honest with you. They left.

Later in the morning, and shortly before/after noon, the two kids across the street (maybe ten or eleven years old, something like that) came by with money they'd made from having their own yard sale, and went through them meticulously. They apparently have a bunch of the tracks and wanted to race the cars up and down them, and ended up buying close to $20 worth of them overall. They came by a few times to get ones they hadn't gotten before. Sweet kids. Nice kids.

And those kids were my last customers of the day. I sat out there until after 3 with nobody else coming by, even though I'd updated my Craigslist ad to say that everything (except the Hot Wheels) was half-off after noon. The sale was supposed to run until 5, but as I hadn't gotten any other visitors/customers for three hours, I said fuck it and started packing everything in by 3:30. By 4, everything was back inside the garage to be sorted later today, and I went upstairs to eat and talk to Daisy -- who was just getting up to be able to go to work last night.

The final count? I made $102 in bills alone on Friday, and another $47 in bills yesterday. I sold about half of the DVDs and games I had out, more than half of the Hot Wheels, a few books, a few CDs, a few of the small appliances, the vacuum, all three of the plug-and-play game systems, and a bunch of other little odds-and-ends...but the vast majority of what I wanted to get rid of remained -- including all of the free stuff like the grill and the lamp, the folding chairs, the bookcase, etc. Nobody wanted any of it, not even for free. I was really frustrated I couldn't get rid of more than I did. I was also surprised that nobody wanted the weed-eater trimmer.

It's a decent monetary haul, yes, but I now have an entire garage full of stuff again and nowhere to put it. Some of it will be sorted and kept/packed up, yes -- I want to keep most of the DVDs and games I didn't sell, obviously -- but the rest of it I have nowhere to put, except probably in the trash and recycling.

However...

I learned yesterday afternoon that the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) thrift stores people make runs for pick-up donations, and that I can call them, give them my address, and they'll come pick up whatever I want to donate in their trucks. This is, well, nothing short of awesome. I plan to call them tomorrow, as they schedule their runs a few days in advance. With them, I can get rid of almost anything I want to get out of this house, provided that I can get it downstairs to the basement/garage. I may not even have to do that if they can move some of the larger stuff (like the massive, heavy fold-out couch in the living room) themselves -- I have no way (or help) to move that, and I desperately wish I did.

"Get a receipt for tax purposes," Daisy told me.

Apparently with large charitable donations you can write them off on your taxes. I wouldn't know, as I've only ever donated a bag or two of clothes at a time over the years, and when I was offered receipts for them I always declined because eh, it's not that important to me. When it comes to stuff like this, though? Yeah, I'll totally be getting a receipt when they come pick up the stuff.

In the meantime, I posted on Facebook that for anyone who wants to come up here and look through what's left can take it for free (read: please, take it) if they want to come up today or tomorrow before I schedule the pickup. More than anything else I just want the stuff gone.

Well, except for the Hot Wheels. Those I'll reorganize and keep, and find something to do with them.

In other news, hilariously enough, yesterday I got a jury duty summons in the mail. For anytime between the 4th Monday in June through the 4th Monday in December. Regardless of whether you can do it or not, you have to mail the form back to the courthouse with your information on it. Under the "reasons you may not be able to perform jury service" line, I wrote "I will be permanently relocating to Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 2014." Under the line where it asked me what my round-trip mileage would be for such a summons, I wrote "after May 19, it will be approximately 600 miles."

And then I sealed it up and stuck it back in the outgoing mail.

It's the only time I've ever been summoned for jury duty, and believe me, I hope the fact that I'm moving 300 miles away a full month before I'd be called in for it anyway would mean they'll take me off the list automatically once they read that.

"They may ask me to prove I'm moving somehow," I told Daisy, "and as of right now I don't know how I could do that. They may ask for a copy of the lease to our new place, which I won't sign until I move there, or a copy of a bill in my name at the new place, which I also don't have yet."

Well, if nothing else, my landlord (at least until the end of this month) is the mayor of this fair city, and if nothing else, if they want proof, I could ask him to vouch for me that I am indeed moving out of state as my proof that I won't be living here anymore, maybe fax my 30 days' notice to them, etc. I don't know.

"Meh, it'll be fine," Daisy said.

It probably will be, but still -- said notice comes at a really strange transition time for me, when it's going to be hard for me to prove anything on paper right now if asked for that proof. It'll be really easy after the move, but right now? Not so much.

Anyway. We'll see what happens, I suppose.

I actually have a fair amount to do over the course of the next several days. I still haven't graded my 102s' finals yet, nor have I put the grades of their final papers up on Blackboard, because I was working the yard sale through yesterday afternoon and passed out on the couch last night when it was done. I also got a mild sunburn on my forehead and forearms when I was out in the sun as well, but it's very mild and is fading fast. Ironically, I was out in the sun more on Friday than I was yesterday -- I laid on one of the blankets in my yard and read a book for probably two or three hours of Friday afternoon's sale -- and yet yesterday, when I went out into the sun only to warm myself up and stretch my legs, that's when I got the mild sunburn. Oh well.

We've now officially entered "summer weather" here in Kansas -- today the high is supposed to be 97 (it's 91 now) and it's supposed to be in the high 80s and low 90s for most of this coming week, with the possibility for severe storms later in the week. This doesn't necessarily bother me; I have but one class left to teach (Tuesday night, on main campus) for the remainder of the semester, and a full week or so later I have but one final to give and grade for that class. The rest of the time, I'll be at home -- and continuing to pack and clean everything possible to ready for the move regardless of weather. It is during this next week or so that I will be taking care of everything regarding the utilities and credit cards (address changes, turn-off notices and the like) and trying to make sure everything will be wrapped up with a neat little bow before I move out of here. I'll also (most assuredly) have to go get more boxes in the middle of the night from Walmart, and will be packing anything non-essential-to-daily-life into those boxes before I drive the car up to Omaha and we return to get the truck (and everything else) for the move itself.

So, yeah, so far it's been a good weekend, and it's really only about halfway over for me, but I've got a lot left to do whether I like it or not. Woo. Good times, right?

Left and Right, Part III

Yard sale: day two

Yesterday went really well for the yard sale. I made over $100 in bills alone, not counting the change. I had people waiting there before 8AM, some of them as early as 7:40 or so. The lawnmower was sold very quickly to the older couple across the street from me for my full asking price by around 8:05 or so. Not kidding.

The morning was fairly busy; most people were interested in the DVDs and games, though, more than anything else -- I sold a lot of each. One by one, things started disappearing from the sheets and blankets I'd laid them out on in the yard, though the things I thought would go fast -- namely, the rocking chair, the table, the weed eater, the small appliances (coffee pots, blender, dehumidifier, etc) didn't sell. The art didn't sell (except for one or two small ones). I only sold one book. The toys didn't sell, except some of my Hot Wheels collection that a guy from Wichita drove up here to look through -- he ended up buying about 1/3 to 1/2 of them from me. Nobody wanted the stuff I was giving away, either, like the lamp and the grill. One guy came by and gave me shit because I had my games and DVDs listed for $3 each when "the pawn shop sells them for $1 each, bro."

I didn't say anything, but I wanted to say "Well, half of the ones I'm selling have never been opened or played, either, and if the pawn shop sells them cheaper, then go get them at the fucking pawn shop."

I hate people like that. Don't come to my house, make snooty remarks about places you could get stuff cheaper, and then leave -- if you want something, buy it. If you don't, then just go away.

The vacuum was the last big thing I ended up selling yesterday, around 4PM. I think I got $5 out of it, I can't remember. I didn't really care; it had sat in my closet for years because it doesn't work well on my carpets and won't pick up cat hair.

Around 4:30, when everything had died off, I started packing everything up and putting it back in the garage, since no one else was around. I organized it so that it would be easy to set back up this morning (which I'll start doing again in about 20 minutes). All in all, like I said, it was over $100 in bills alone, and I put about ten in ones back into the money container so that I could make change this morning if necessary. I updated the ad when I got up this morning to reflect what was left, and made the addition of everything being half-off its marked price after noon today, as I hope that'll give me a bit more business in the afternoon as well as help me get rid of some of the other stuff that didn't sell yesterday. I really hope some of that stuff goes today -- I want it out of the house so that I don't have to figure out what to do with it. Much of it, if it's not gone by 5PM, will go directly into the trash and recycling bins right next to me in the driveway at the end of the day...but the bigger things like the lamp and the grill can't be thrown away in the cans because they won't fit, so I hope someone just takes them.

On that note, downstairs I go to start setting stuff up. Maybe, since today is the official City-wide Garage Sale Day, I'll be really busy and will get rid of a ton of stuff. Hopefully, anyway.

Left and Right, Part II

Spring semester: day seventy four
Yard sale: day one

Well folks, here we go.

The weight bench and weights were picked up yesterday afternoon by a sweet girl about my age who had been married for four months and had just moved here from Alaska. It took the better part of an hour to load them up into her big SUV, but we did it just fine. It was like playing Tetris with weights. She also took one of my smaller bookcases and the my old big beanbag chair for her two daughters, as well -- which were two of the other things I'd listed for free on my ad. All's well that ends well, I suppose. I didn't get anything out of any of it, of course; those were all things I'd listed for free to get people to just take them away. The fact that she drove up here from South Wichita (so, about 40 miles) was enough.

She was funny, though; in Alaska she didn't have to worry about spiders, and here they're everywhere. I killed two brown recluse while moving/loading the weights, and did so nonchalantly -- and she was totally squicked out by them.

"See, you like spiders, don't you? You know all about them and aren't afraid of them."

"No, I hate them," I replied, "but living in Kansas, I've gotten used to them because they're everywhere and you can't avoid them no matter what you do. You can put up those sticky glue traps everywhere, and that'll catch and kill a lot of them, but living here you'll never eradicate them fully."

People who don't live out here (or have never lived here before) don't understand that the brown recluse issue is waaaaaay overblown. I've lived in this house for five years, and in that time I've never been bitten by one to my knowledge. Even if I have, I've never noticed. Only something like 4% of people have any sort of adverse reaction to a recluse bite anyway. And in Missouri and Kansas, they are quite literally everywhere. Further south in the state, and in Oklahoma and Texas, there are Black and Brown Widows to worry about, as well -- I've never seen one anywhere here, though. The two recluse I killed today were two of three that I've killed this spring thus far -- all of them in the garage or storage area and hibernating in/under things. One was in the weights, one was in the table/chairs set I got rid of earlier this week, and one was in the bookcase this lady took. With these cold snaps and late freezes/snows we've had this spring, there are nowhere near as many as I'd normally see, which is good -- less of a nuisance, right? There don't tend to be a bunch of them if it's been a bad winter, and our winter sucked. Last spring, I'd probably killed twenty of them by this point, most of them in the house or in the traps. Aside from those three, I've not seen any anywhere.

Anyway. We loaded everything up, thanked each other, and she left. I went back inside, checked my email and messaged my students, and went to bed -- without moving anything downstairs (as I was, and am, exhausted). I got back up around 11 or so.

My 102 students' final exam went fine -- all of them were done at the 70-minute mark (a total, absolute first over all of the semesters/years I've been teaching), which could either be a really good thing or a really bad thing. I'm not sure, honestly. One of them gave me "moving blankets" when she left -- which are, ironically, U-Haul's blankets that I could've rented from U-Haul when I reserved the truck.

"My logic is that they already charged us for keeping them when we moved," she said, referring to herself and her husband, who recently moved up here from Oklahoma, "and we were just going to throw them away. I figured you could use them."

I can and will. I thanked her for them, of course; I thought that was really nice of her.

That class is over now, and I won't have to return to the West campus...well...ever. The thought of that was somewhat bittersweet. I really like teaching out there, and I really like the staff out there. They're all awesome people and have always been incredibly grateful that I was willing to drive out there to teach -- even though it's about the same distance away (it's a few miles further, but eh) from me as the main campus is. The administrator lady (who bought a crock pot from me for $5 yesterday morning) gave me three or four new boxes, too, which I added to the rest of my collection in the basement laundry room. I can't really box much else up until I see what I can get rid of at the yard sale today and tomorrow, and further assess my situation.

I also won't be able to grade through those students' final exams until later in the weekend after the yard sale is over. The thought occurred to me that I could probably grade them this morning during the yard sale, but I'd rather focus on actually dealing with "customers," so to speak. You know, whatever ones I get, anyway. I expect to have people pulling up early for the bigger/more in-demand items such as the lawn mower, vacuum, or rocking chair. After that, it may be a quiet day, however. I don't know exactly what to expect overall, to be honest with you.

I'll also say that it's very hard to fight my impulses to go "shopping" myself around town during the city-wide sale. I really don't need anything else, nor do I want anything else or have anywhere for it. That's one of the reasons I'm locking myself to my front yard for these next two days, actually -- yes, it is to get rid of a lot of what I have, but it's also so that I'm not tempted to go out and get more shit.

I continually find more things to put a sticker on and take outside. I've not moved anything downstairs yet. I'm really just trying to wake up still. And I haven't eaten anything.

Left and Right, Part I

Spring semester: day seventy-four

I'm not currently having much trouble getting rid of a lot of my stuff, apparently. Last night not only did one of the new GTAs in the department message me and offer to buy my old PlayStation, but I got an email from someone here in town who said she's coming by this afternoon to pick up the weight bench set and weights that I desperately needed to get rid of. That's very good, especially as it saves me the trouble of trying to get all of them out to the yard/driveway myself tomorrow morning for the yard sale, but it makes me happy that I'm going to actually be able to get rid of all of it. Hopefully. If said person doesn't flake on me, anyway.

Because friends have been "claiming" things, I've had to continually update the yard sale ad on Craigslist. This doesn't really bother me, as I want it to be as accurate as possible anyway. Not only that, but I've been adding things as well. Whenever I'm moving things around and looking for stuff to pack up, or cleaning out closets, I'm like "ooh, that would probably sell!" and I take it out, put a price sticker on it, and (if it's big enough or in-demand enough) I add it to the ad online. I estimate that it'll take at least an hour (if not longer) to move everything downstairs that I want to sell/get rid of, and at least another hour or so to set everything up tomorrow morning. I don't quite know yet how I will do all of the setup; it's not like I have card tables or anything to put things on. I do have one table on the balcony that -- if I can -- I'll probably take downstairs and try to sell off as well, and I can put some stuff on it. That table was left here by the last tenants (so, like, eight or nine years ago) and my landlord told me I could do whatever I wanted with it. I have some old bedsheets I can lay stuff out on in the yard or driveway, too, sheets that I specifically saved for that purpose.

The nice administrator lady on West campus told me that she and her husband are quite interested in buying my lawnmower from me; if they want it, one of them will have to come by early tomorrow morning, as I would imagine that's one of the first items that will go. I'm taking my old crock pot down there for her this morning, as she claimed that before I could officially put it on sale. I'll be glad to be rid of it, as it's nice and works well, but I don't need it. Daisy and I have a big stainless steel one on the wedding registry anyhow.

There are other things I'm surprised nobody's emailed me about to claim outright before the yard sale starts, such as the weed trimmer, charcoal grill, rocking chair, lamps, end tables, vacuum, or laser printer. I have two laser printers; the one I'm selling is an HP, and the toner cartridges for it are (not kidding) about $12 each. And it works really well -- it was given to me by some GTAs about two years ago who were moving out of their office, and it was their personal printer. I used it in my office until graduation last spring, and since then it's been in a box in the spare room.

The other one is my high-end Brother laser printer that I bought for about $100 or so and use all the time, so...yeah, that one's not getting sold.

I'm not too worried about being able to get rid of a lot of my stuff left and right; the few emails and messages I've gotten from people over the past few days tells me that people are interested. I mentioned before that I posted on the events group for Newton, and started a thread about the yard sale -- apparently many people aren't even bothering with the newspaper's ads for the city-wide sales, but they're instead posting on Craigslist (like me) and are checking there first. As always, there are a ton of yard/garage sales that will go un-advertised in the paper. When I worked at the paper, I'd look at it for the ads and the map, but that was also back in the day before Craigslist was a huge thing. Last year, as you may recall, it was cold/rainy/nasty on the yard sale day, and I went to one of the church sales and bought myself a three-dollar TV for the bedroom before coming home and going back to bed. The church sales were always the best ones anyway.

Anywho. I don't think I'll have problems or a lack of interest. I told my friends that if any of them wanted to come up and help out, I'd give them some free stuff. Especially if they brought beer. While I don't think anyone will, it couldn't hurt to ask. Everything must go and all that.

This morning, I'll leave the house in about twenty minutes to drive to West campus for the last time this semester. My 102 students take their final exam this morning, a process that should be pretty painless (yet still a chore) for most of them, and then I'll return home to get the weight bench set ready for pickup -- the person who emailed me said she'd come by around 2 or so. After that, I'll probably move what I can downstairs (depending on my energy levels), talk to Daisy if she's awake, and go back to bed sometime in the late afternoon/early evening hours so that I can wake up early tomorrow and finish getting things ready. As I told Daisy, it's not even about the money, really -- while the money is nice and will be very useful/otherwise necessary in the coming weeks and months, it's more about getting rid of the stuff I don't want or need so that I don't have to take it with me. I got more out of the comps books from my friend in the department (he gave me $60 altogether) than I expect to make from the entirety of the yard sale.

Also, just because Kansas hates me, it is 37 degrees this morning and I am, once again, fucking freezing. My allergies also went completely bugshit again this morning, and I had to blow my nose probably forty times (not an exaggeration). I took one of my allergy pills, and it seems to be helping, but still. On Monday and Tuesday it's supposed to be 94 and 96. Those aren't typos. So, in the course of a few days, it's a sixty-degree temperature swing? Because that makes sense. Thanks, Kansas.

And on that note, I leave you fine folks...