It would not be an understatement to say that I've been busy. I've been going non-stop since Friday, May 23rd.

Friday... May 23rd... 2003... 9:30 AM Final walkthrough in the new house. The movers are in the process of emptying the home and we're walking about testing the outlets, faucets and other moving parts. Mission Accomplished, closing will go forward.

Friday... May 23rd... 2003... 11:00 AM Closing on the new house. Closing went very well except that the cost of the house was wrong on the documents by $900 in my favor. Both the seller and I saw the difference in price and shrugged. Longer story short, I had to reach into my pocket a week later and send him a check for the difference. Inconvenient but not ground shaking.

Friday... May 23rd... 2003... 9:23 PM Still packing stuff, but can't bare to pack the stereo or the computer. It occurs to me that my priorities are off... developing...

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 6:15 AM Rolled over and mused that I just spent the last night in my first home. Begin to prepare to pack up the stereo. Shed a tear.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 8:42 AM Have to run to the bathroom, a half pot of coffee goes through like a bullet.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 9:14 AM My first helper arrives and convinces me that the computer can be packed up, and that I won't miss it. Takes care of odds and ends like food and kitchen items. Please and thank you are in order.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 9:22 AM Returned my last movie to Blockbuster. Video Warehouse is my new DVD pimp.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 9:57 AM Penske's got a 25 footer waiting for me. I tell myself it has plenty of room.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 12:00 AM The first of my truck packers arrive and it's light's out for the next two hours.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 2:00 PM Pizza boxes abound and the only thing left to do is clean and pack all those cleaning products. The last 1% of the move takes nearly an hour.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 2:52 PM I finally convince the group that the job is only half over, and I'm moving into my new house, with or without them. Most cheerfully follow me up north to my new home.

Saturday... May 24th... 2003... 10:30 PM It's all a blur, which includes unpacking the truck, a drive to someone else's house to dispose of cargo furniture and another round of pickups at my brother's house.

Sunday... May 25th... 2003... 12:43 AM I think really clearly at this time of night, I decide that it's a good idea to return the truck 36 hours early.

Sunday... May 25th... 2003... 2:02 AM I pour into bed, fortunately the bedroom was unpacked earlier and I can actually do that.

Sunday... May 25th... 2003... 7:00 AM I pour myself out of bed, into the shower and into clothes suitable for church.

Sunday... May 25th... 2003... 12:15 PM Arrive home in preparation for a large group of BBQer's. Weather is overcast, but it holds long enough to break the grill in quite well.

Sunday... May 25th... 2003... 1:30 PM Revelers arrive and are struck by confusion that all unpacking has been completed. Where is the truck? They say. They quickly get over it and enjoy many hamburgers and hotdogs.

Monday... May 26th... 2003... 1:?? AM Once again my acumen at this hour is top notch, I'm awake because I still have work to do, the next day is a holiday. Hallelujah! Scratch that, today is a holiday. Hallelujah!

Monday... May 26th... 2003... 6:45 AM I allow myself to sleep in, much work to do.

Monday... May 26th... 2003... 9:02 AM Friend arrives to help me unpack further. Too antsy. Fire in the pocket, due to the large amount of cash burning it's way through.

Monday... May 26th... 2003... 10:14 AM Leave the house to pursue relief for fire mentioned above. Start at Best Buy, but don't end there.

Monday... May 26th... 2003 11:44 AM Best Buy leaves my head spinning with all of the television options, can't focus and head to the furniture store.

Monday... May 26th... 2003 12:45 PM My bottom finally decides which couch is the one that will grace my living room. It's leather, and it has a friend called Love Seat. My brother is soon dispatched to bring an opinion and a van.

Monday... May 26th... 2003 3:22 PM Love Seat is kind of petite and makes it up the stairs with relative ease. The couch is a bit more difficult. My brother decides that it's time to meet my neighbors.

Monday... May 26th... 2003 3:26 PM I meet Don, my neighbor from 2 houses down. He's nice, and he has stairs up to his deck. A true friend.

Monday... May 26th... 2003 3:27 PM I meet Glen. He lives between Don and I. Glen does not own a pair of stairs but is willing to let me use his deck for a few minutes.

Monday... May 26th... 2003 3:36 PM The couch has made it up the stairs and is traveling across decks toward my 2nd floor door. Several minutes of corkscrewed moving, huffing and puffing results in a couch that will be sold as part of the house. Despite all the trouble, it's extremely comfortable and will provide me years of enjoyment!

Monday... May 26th... 2003 4:30 PM More grilling ensues

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:02 PM Start with 7 burgers, eat 3 of them. I can't find my grilling tools and the cow suffers. I won't eat charcoal.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 5:00 PM I leave the office to go home.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:15 PM I arrive home and traffic sucked. Bad.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:16 PM I walk up the stairs to admire my new couches and I notice that my dog has become sick. Twice. On the carpet. Oh, no, here we go! Again.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:18 PM Honey saunters down the stairs, stretches and begins to shred the back of my new couch. NO!!!

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:19 PM Honey is much much faster than me, finds a hiding spot that my too short arms can't reach. OK. The cat lives... for now.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:22 PM I have the bright idea that if I put tape on the corners of the couch, she will only scratch the tape. That was mistake, as part of my couch is now several shades lighter as a result of the tape coming off. Perhaps, I shouldn't let the cat live.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 6:24 PM I walk downstairs to prepare a room for Honey to be exiled to and I discover that Fritz has scattered poop throughout the room. Oh, no, here we go! Again. Sadly, for Fritz, he doesn't hide as well as Honey. I have no doubt that he understands that I wasn't pleased. I'm not proud of the amount of anger that welled up from within me. I keep telling myself that I have a right to be angry after only 3 days. I'll mellow out later.

Tuesday... May 27th... 2003 11:58 PM I hit the rack.

Wednesday... May 28th... 2003 8:02 AM I realize that 25 miles is a long commute.

Wednesday... May 28th... 2003 6:17 PM I realize that 25 miles is a really long commute.

Aww crap! This section was going so well when I started it two days ago. I ran out of time, and now I've forgotten what I was doing on those days.

    OK, I'll recap the rest of my days here with just the highlights. On Friday, my sister came over to see the new place and to help me go furniture shopping. On Saturday, I found a new desk and was able to bring some of it home. (2 of the 5 parts of the desk are on back order.)

    Sunday brought surprises as well. Somehow I ended up with at least 30 people at my house on Sunday evening for more Barbeque. In the space of 2 weekends, I've hosted my first 2 parties of my life. These parties are tame by today's standards, but they are festive and fun.

    I'm also having two roommates for the summer. They are college students and will be sharing a bedroom. It's 19 x 11 so it's plenty big for two people. I met them through my church and it should be a win/win situation. They get a place to stay, and I get more cash so that I can furnish my place.

    Hmm, what else. The car is now paid off which is great. It was tough to say goodbye to the cash, but it's well worth not having the monthly payment.

    Oh, yeah, one last thing. Here's a picture of the front of my house. It really doesn't do it justice, so I'll have to take some interior pictures soon.

    I'm still busy... It's 7:12 AM and my day has started like so many other days have. It began with Fritz whining quietly. For the past two weeks he has woken up at ten after six and woke me with the same routine. I took him for his morning walk, and now he's watching the neighborhood. He typically stands on a couch and watches the neighborhood through the bay window in the picture above. Fritz seems to be doing well, I think that he likes having roommates around to keep him company. I haven't been around here much at all, and my time evaporates quickly on most days. Ever since I arrived here, my social calendar has been jam packed. Last weekend, I went down to Monticello with 8 other people on Saturday, and then stayed up late to watch Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" with a subset of the 8 that traveled with me down to Monticello. I played Volleyball and attended a surprise 40th birthday party on Sunday. I thought the weekend was over on Monday, but I was invited over to a friend's house for dinner and ended up staying until 2 AM. They invited four people to dinner and we all stayed for a marathon game of Balderdash. I ended up in 3rd place, but I had a blast. Balderdash requires you to lie convincingly, or at the very least, to have a good poker face. I'm looking forward to playing again, but perhaps we'll start playing earlier, or maybe we'll play faster.

    I never did catch up on the sleep that I missed on Sunday. Fritz is faithful to get me up when he wants to get up and I've been staying up late every night. Most nights, I don't want to go to bed, because it requires me to stop working / playing with all the things I enjoy playing with. The house is mostly together, but I still have some things in boxes. I need to get an entertainment center so that I can unload a few of these boxes. My stereo is partly together, but longs to be unified in full surround sound.

    On Thursday, I bought a new TV! During my travels I looked at some beautiful Plasma and LCD TVs and I was smitten time and time again. The price tag for the TV's I was looking at was starting at $1200 and in the end I decided to be a little more conservative and get a TV that has some bells and whistles, but not all the bells and whistles. I wound up with a 32" Phillips Real Flat Screen TV (Flat Screen, not flat panel). Flat panel can be mounted on the wall. Flat screen's are regular TV's with a flat face for uniform viewing from most angles. (Whereas the traditional TV tube bows in the center, giving a perpetual fish-eyed view). It's a stereo TV and it allows me to plug in external speakers for greater sound. I won't be needing that feature though, because I will be running the TV through my stereo when it's all said and done. I also think that I'll finally get the whole ball of wax to run in surround sound. I need to head to Ikea soon in order for me to custom design my entertainment center.  Where's my tape measure?

    On Friday, I did some clothes shopping and got a haircut. While I was sitting in the chair, the stylist asked how I wanted it cut, and I told what I tell all stylists. "Use a 2.5 guard on the sides and the back, and then cut the hair on top to match. Cut the top just short enough so that it won't stick up." I'm not exactly sure what happened next, but I had a change of heart about my hair and asked her to go for something shorter. The result is that my hair is the shortest that's it's been for ten years. My blessed locks have been shorn and now I can't comb it like I've been combing it for the last 10 years. I'm going to have to try something different. It should be interesting. Don't you wish you had a picture of me now? Maybe I'll get a self-portrait this week with my somewhat chubbier face and my short hair. I feel like I'm sporting a melon on the top of my shoulders now. I'm probably being too harsh about it, but I have to joke since it's quite a contrast to what I usually have.

    The roommates are working out fine. We've been having a pretty good time playing on the X-Box, chatting, BBQing etc. One of my roommates helped me get a great father's day gift this week. Some of my left-wing friends will cringe when they read this, but if you knew my Dad, you'd know that this is a great gift! First the setup: One of my roommates works at the Freedom Alliance, an organization created by Oliver North. Because of the size of the organization, he was able to get an autographed copy of Oliver North's latest novel "Mission Compromised." for his father. I thought about what he had done for his Dad, and I thought. "My Dad would love this for Father's Day!" The next morning, I asked him if he could pick up the book and try to get it autographed. He did one better, he got it autographed and... DEDICATED to him! He'll love it.

    Well, that's all for today folks. I need to play with some of my other toys for a while. I hope that everything's smooth where you are. Things are wonderful here!

    Last thing... Radiohead released their 6th album this week, and much of it is growing on me. Musically, it's varied, nuanced and innovative. Lyrically it's all over the map, but it remains evocative which is one of the reasons why I like them.