Visions of home

I went to visit my family last weekend and among other activities, went swimming in my brother's pool, ate fresh sweet corn, and took Sara and my camera for a walk...

New Office

Today was something of a big day. I now exist (to George Mason University). The university issued me an ID number which indicates that they recognize me and allows me to do a bunch of other things. I now have an ID card, a key to my office, an email address, and can see about parking. These events along with meeting more of the professors and staff make me feel like I'm really transitioning. Plus I have an ID card that says "Faculty". After so many years of ID's with "Staff" and/or "Graduate" on them, it just seems crazy. I just wish I'd know that I could get an ID today when I got dressed this morning. Anyway, here are a couple of quick pictures of my new office. I've already started a list and a pile of stuff to take into the office, so it won't look so pristine for long.
My desk...
My door...
My view...I have some pictures of home from last weekend and will post them when I get a chance.

New Apartment

Here's a quick tour of my new apartment.

This is from just inside the front door. Living room area is to the left and kitchen to the right. Straight ahead in the dining area and the balcony...
This will be my guest bedroom/office. The entrance is just inside the front door and to the right. You can see it has pretty sizable closets and a vanity area that is serving as my desk at the moment...

To the left of the vanity is a bathroom...
Back out in the living area, there is a fireplace and a view of the trees through the large windows...
Standing in the middle of the living area, you can see the dining area to the left, my bedroom door and hallway straight ahead, and kitchen to the right...
The kitchen has nice appliances and cabinets and a pantry...
Back the hallway, past the bedroom door is a closet for the washer and dryer and another bathroom...

Though it's hard to tell in this picture, my bedroom is rather large. It also has a view of the trees and it has a huge walk in closet...

And here is a picture of the balcony. The door is to a storage area...

There are a bunch of features that I'm enjoying in my new place.
There are trails through the woods all over the place. This is just one of them that happens to be right outside of my apartment...
There is an electrical outlet out on the balcony, so with my wireless network, I can sit out there with my laptop for as long as I'd like...
There's an ice maker. I've never had one of those before and am generally not good about filling ice cube trays...
There is central air conditioning...
There are several built in lights on dimmers...

Moving

After weeks of packing, I've finally moved. I've lived in Virginia for more than a week now and even have a VA driver license. Over all the move went really well with just a couple of bumps. The morning of the move I got a phone call from the movers saying that they were not far away and would be there soon. Then I waited and waited and waited. Eventually, they called again to ask about the railroad overpasses near my apartment. I tried to give them directions to avoid them, but apparently they could not. After a long wait, they showed up at my door, but without their truck. They said that between the railroad overpasses, low wires, and tight turns, they could not get their semi into the apartment complex. Luckily, they had a backup plan. They went and rented a Uhaul and shuttled my stuff to the semi with it. It felt weird to just stand back and watch them without helping, but I thought it best to stay out of their way. It didn't take them long to get the place emptied and head on their way. I grabbed a quick lunch and cleaned my old apartment.

I started my drive to VA at the perfect time to hit traffic in both Baltimore and around DC, but it wasn't too bad. I stopped at a gas station before I left to fill up my car. The pump stopped on exactly $10: a good omen, I think. Moving to a new state and doing so alone, well, it's a lot. I was happy to get a call from a friend on the drive down.

I knew it would be too late to go and sign my lease and get into my apartment, so I planned to spend the night in a hotel. I got there without a problem and went to check in. At check in, they said I had a room with a king size bed. I didn't think that is what I reserved, but the price was the same so whatever. It turns out that the room also had a huge jacuzzi. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get in, but eventually I did and it was relaxing which is just want I needed. I did some work, watched TV, and got a pretty good night's sleep.

I got up early the next morning and arrived at the leasing office moments after they opened. There were a lot of papers to sign, but fewer, I think, than I had to sign for the movers. One of the maintenance men took me to my apartment and showed me how everything worked. It was the first time I got to see my actual apartment and it looked a thousand times better than my old one. I'll take you on a tour in my next post. I was only in my apartment for a little while when the phone rang. It was the movers. They weren't scheduled to deliver my stuff until the next day, but we had agreed when they picked it up that they could deliver it early and then get their weekend off. I wasn't expected them until late that evening, but they said they'd be here very soon. It took them a bit of time because they took a wrong turn, but I got moved in just a couple of hours after I arrived. It could have taken up to 10 days. There were a lot of boxes and a lot of stairs, but the two movers did a great job and were very nice. I was very stressed about the move and still am about some things, but getting my stuff from one location to another really went well. I got almost all of the boxes unpacked in just a couple of days and have started getting settled in. It took just a day to get my phone and cable working. Both required a visit from a technician, but I "borrowed" someone else's wireless in the meantime. I still want/need a bunch of furniture and things and need to learn the area a lot more, but overall I'm pretty happy here.

July 4th Weekend

Well, it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy moving. I'll post about the move soon, but first a few pictures from my trip home for Grant's birthday and the 4th of July. I don't have any pictures of it, but I spent most of the first day home playing with Grant and talking to the rest of my family. Towards evening I ended up in my brother's heated pool, watching as a neighbor mowed our hay fields and my older brother tedded it, and my younger brother mowed his yard. Then Grant started helping his dad mow. He is an excellent driver and requires pretty much no help at all even with the big tractors. Right after the guys were done in the fields, a doe came out of the woods not far from the pool and started eating the freshly mowed hay. She seemed pretty unconcerned with our presence. Soon dramatic clouds rolled in and it was time to head home. Ah, country living.

The next morning we went to the 4th of July parade. There were a lot of American flags, which I was actually happy to see. Not so long ago, I felt a bit of shame whenever I saw it. There was a strong association between the flag and a certain ex-president. To disagree with said president was to be unAmerican, which I found rather disturbing.


Grant seemed to enjoy it all.
He especially liked the tractors...


and the trucks...

He was thrilled when the big trucks blew their horns for him. They had varied adornments...
There were other spectacles too...
But they weren't as good as the tractors and trucks...
As the sunset that day, I went out to experiment with taking nighttime photos...


Then the various fireworks started...
Next, of course, my family decided to make some noise of their own. They like to be the loudest in the land...

And then there is the simple thrill of lighting a line of black powder...

The next day more tractors and fire, but this time on Grant's birthday cake...