Delays

It is probably no news flash that I'm a planner. More of a news flash is that I just want the move to be done. It has been an incredible amount of work and tested both of our limits of patience.

So imagine my frustration with hearing a snow storm is heading in the very night we are to be making the final push into Dream State. Not only does it mean the move won't be done tomorrow, it means extending the truck rental, rescheduling movers, taking additional days off work, rescheduling another truck rental...and lord knows what else I've not yet thought of.

So much for snow being my new favorite thing.

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And so begins the cross country trek

I might officially be too old to sleep on the floor. It hurts. Or, said differently, I hurt.

Why am I on the floor you ask? Well, because all our stuff is on a big old moving truck as of last evening. A truck I might add that is nearly twice as large as we'd planned.

Frankly, I don't know how PC is going to drive it. Though I suppose the good news is that most of it is highway driving.

We have some minor stuff left to do with the house today and then we head off to our first stop...his parents house.

Five long hours in the car. With all the kids. Last count: two cats, a dog, and a fish.

Yay, Christmas.

A few days later, we make the final 15 hour push to Dream State.

Makes me appreciate the 2 hour direct flight.

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First impressions

Today was my first snowed-upon. Being a native of the south, snow is a novelty that has only been in my world on a couple of occasions. And those few occasions involved it already being on the ground.

But today? Today, I saw it fall from the sky.

Ok, technically I saw it fall from the sky around midnight on Tuesday when PC happened to be in town. It was an amusing sort of experience because I could have missed it under normal circumstances. The not-normal circumstances are that my apartment temperature is centrally managed by someone who thinks hell might be a fun place to live. I know this, because my apartment is sweltering hot all the time. I combat it by leaving my windows open. So yes, I leave my windows open when it's in the 20's to manage my apartment temperature. It's that hot. Anyway, I was sitting there by the window Tuesday night when I began getting spritzed. I moved the blinds only to find snow stuck to the screens. It was amazing. PC was there for my first official snow-falling experience.

Today, however, was my first snow falling on me experience. Having heard on the early news that we could expect up to three inches by the afternoon, I wore my new snow boots in. While initially mocked in the morning, I can't tell you how freaking handy they were when we ventured out for lunch. I had one girl in heels on one side of me, and one girl in dress flats on the other. Both holding on to me because I was the only one with grip. Each giggled when I'd stop to stick my foot print into a snow bank. Or, when I'd comment that a snow flake just got in my mouth. Or when I was enthralled by being covered with white flakes all over my black coat. The picture above was my taking another brief detour through a patch of virgin snow.

What can I say?

All that being said, I have a few first impressions.

1. Snow from over night feels/sounds like a nice solid crunch when you step on it. Freshly fallen snow actually feels/sounds like walking on sand in shoes. It also behaves interestingly when you kick it. Not like fake snow at all.
2. It's not as cold as I expected. Walking around in it I mean. Today with snow felt warmer and more tolerable than days prior with no snow.
3. It fascinated me to watch the snow swish around when cars drove by, almost like sand storms. I noticed it got stuck in cracks in the road too, so from above, you could see them.
4. I couldn't figure out why one side walk was completely clear of snow, while the one across was covered in white. I presumed one was warmer than the other. Turns out it's due to salt.
5. Black ice. Not just dangerous for cars.
6. I can see why people complain about the dirty slush. I, however, found it entertaining because I had my slush kryptonite snow boots on.
7. People are a bunch of whiners about snow. It's way less bothersome to walk through than rain.
8. I'm so glad I don't drive. I don't even know what I'd do.
9. I cannot wait for my first stay-home snow day. However, I'm discovering that apparently one has to prepare for staying in like one prepares for a hurricane. I've never actually bought stuff to prepare for a hurricane, despite living there for 33 years.
10. I'd like to know the etiquette about playing in the snow on people's cars. In walking by cars that were clearly parked all day - with 2 - 3 inches of snow on it - I ran my finger through some of it. I debated drawing a picture. Maybe a heart or a smiley. But then I wondered if that was a no-no like drawing in someone's dew or mud. I rationalized that part of why you don't play in dew or mud is because it scratches paint. Snow - I'm not digging down. So? What's the answer my northern friends?

"Favors"

One of the things about Dream State, for better or worse, is that networking is a part of everyday life. It can work for or against you in a way that I don't think I have ever heard of in any other state.

For instance, I went to dinner last week with a random group only to discover one of the ladies at the dinner was not only from my prior local area but was heading up networking events for PC's area of interest. Even better was that the next event is occurring when he's in town and in a pub that connected to our new apartment.

Um, hello, we're totally attending.

Similarly, I attend a number of events hosted by my local alumni chapter...only to discover one of the men there also happens to work at the company PC recently interviewed for. I got the scoop from the guy, as well as his business card...and should PC get the job, he's got a ready-made tour guide to introduce him around the company.

In sum. I'm pretty good at networking. And, not just for PC.

That being said, and I realize this may sound cocky, I found it obnoxious that an event I wanted to attend involving one of my favorite hobbies (mixology) that I was required to 'friend' the random host on FB.

Now, my philosophy on FB is kind of moderate. I don't just friend anyone, but I'm not super stringent either. However, I'm conscious of the idea that by friending someone, they're going to know my nearly everyday goings-on and have access to my pictures.* What bothered me was that this was someone I had never met and it was a seeming requirement to attend the event.**

Initially I took the passive approach. I replied yes, but commented that perhaps I didn't understand but were we really having to friend the host. She said yes.

Then I took the dumb approach, and said I wasn't really sure how to friend her. In truth, I don't know that there was enough info about her to find her and I actually have a hard time finding people even when I know all their details. Either way, I was looking for her to give me a pass. She replied with her full name and sadly I was able to find her.

Finally, I took the direct approach. I told her I didn't friend people I didn't know. Perhaps I could attend an event in the future that didn't require 'friending'. Her reply was that I could still attend, she was just trying to network me in with up-in-coming blah, blah, blah person in the mixology world.

Three thoughts:

1. Anyone networking through someone who isn't actually a known tie is actually useless. She can't vouch for me as a good tie. I can't trust that those who she's trying to tie to me are of any value to me either. Yes, that's actually research based.
2. I don't know that I want to be networked in with local mixologists. Maybe I do, but it's not a conscious decision on my part. When I do decide, then I will actively seek those connections.
3. I do just fine networking on my own, thank.you.very.much. Don't do me any favors.

*I do think through anything posted just in case I somehow accidentally friend a future employer so as not to incriminate myself in anyway.
**The event was through my goto social life maker (meetup.com) so I know that it's not normal to have to rsvp outside of the system.

Planning ahead

I'm in the final weeks before flying back to Florida to pack up the rest of the house, the 'kids', and PC. I'm preemptively stressed. As seen in my email exchange about my schedule for the week I'm there to pack:

•  I fly in Saturday afternoon and pack.
• Sunday, I pack. Might have a garage sale. Step mother may be flying in to help with packing. I will have break down about all the shit to be done and all the things I have to throw away or give away and see dollar signs in each item.
• Monday, I take my car to be painted. And pack. Call in to poorly timed conference call about work project.
• Tuesday, pack. Throw shit out.
• Wednesday, truck and movers arrive. Step mother leaves, I think.
• Thursday, pick up painted car. Pack up 'kids', trek the hell up to PC's parent's house 3 states away. If not already gone, step mother leaves this day.
• Friday, actually leave because wasn't able to actually get everything done on Thursday.
• Saturday, pretend to relax at his parent's house. Open presents.
• Sunday, make small talk, but worry about the kittie kids peeing inappropriately, freezing, and/or being eaten by his mom's dogs. Depart for Dream State.
• Monday, arrive in Dream State most likely late for our move in appointment.
• Tuesday, return to work. Or, call in sick.

Friend's response?

"All right.
#1- sounds like you are already having a breakdown lol

#2- I think I will just come help you pack when I'm free. And we can drink.

PC better be packing."

I'm going to miss these kinds of friends.

We could be friends. Maybe.

This weekend I was referred to as one of a group of some one's core friends here in Dream State. I should have been happy, or at least nonplussed.

Instead, I had this weird wave of "Wait a second, I don't know if I'm ready for the responsibility of being some one's friend. I don't know that you've known me long enough to make an educated decision about whether I'm friendworthy." And, if these people are so willing to be friends with me so easily...perhaps they are not of high quality friend material.

Perhaps it's one of those situations where we all pretend we don't know that the things on the clearance rack are there because no one else wanted them.

Apparently, not only am I phobic of romantic relationships, student loan repayment contracts, leases on apartments, insurance policies for cars living in Dream State...but I'm also phobic of committing to friends.

In my new status as 'friend', I've been invited to two parties.

Change is awesome (sarcastic face)

It's probably not good when you actually consider counting the number of melt downs you have as the actual move gets closer. Though, it's probably not as bad as when you can almost visualize the future break downs and arguments and stress that will be happening in the next 25 days.

Twenty five days until they lock the freight elevator to allow us to move all of our remaining worldly possessions and 'children' into our new apartment. Three of those days will be spent at PC's parent's house for Christmas, and is actually a pretty relaxing time. However, we don't usually bring the kitties or the fish. And, PC's mom's dogs pretty much want to eat the kitties. The kitties want to eat the fish. I just want to freaking eat everything in sight to not deal with all the stress.

Tonight is one of those nights where the meltdown snuck up on me. You see, it arrived in what I thought was just sheer exhaustion. At 6pm, I'm literally unable to keep my eyes open. But once I get into bed, the lists of minute details that I know PC isn't thinking about are racing through my head. Details I can't take care of from here. Details he doesn't have the added capacity to handle on his own in addition to his current workload and the debilitation associated with the stress. The racing thoughts lead to a call for PC to calm me down, which made it worse because he started listing off even more details like times and dates of packing, and moving, and driving.

So as if that all wasn't enough. What in the hell is up with Weight Watchers changing their plan? Um, yeah. Let's make it actually harder to track points and calories with a new system (and not have all their own points and calories completely correct) at the time of the year when it's nearly impossible to estimate the calories associated with the holiday lunch of: pork loin, sweet potatoes, green beans, salmon, and a weird square of what might have wanted to be red velvet cake. Or the two warm mushy homemade cookies they gave us as we left the party.

I'm up to here with personal moving stress, work stress (purely due to my desire to be perfect so we can build up our reputation in the eyes of senior leadership), financial stress, normal holiday stress...yeah, I'm thinking more change associated with a food plan I'd almost gotten down (but had been failing at keeping up with) would just be awesome.

Awesome I tell you.

It makes me want to go eat something immeasurable, just talking about it.

And then...

...my prayers were answered by PC getting a call for an in-person interview here in DC this coming Monday.

1. Yay interview!
2. Yay interview before Christmas which means he might know by Christmas if he had a job and can tell current job to shove it.
3. Yay, bonus free trip to see me for a night!
4. Yay, he arrives on a night in which we could expect our first snowfall. I've never seen snow fall from the sky, so this is actually pretty monumental.

And to think tonight is only the first night of Hanuka*. I can only hope Hanuka Harry's presents get better as the days go by.

*No, I'm not Jewish, I just like to pretend.