Gone west, young man!
Dateline: American flight to San Diego, 25 July 2005
This Hoosier is finally taking flight after a seemingly endless drought of airline activity (for me, at least).
Catching you up on our progress: Friday, after that amazing T-storm, I got up and drove back to Wisconsin (I now know more about Illinois than I ever did before in my 22 years of living just north of the Cheddar Curtain) with my two sons to spend the night with family in Madison and pick up eldest daughter Emily from her summer course sojourn with my Mom at the UW.
Younger son Jerry lost his cool in transition from Nintendo to real people and so it looked for a while like we'd miss the family meal at Paisan's, the University Square landmark where I met my wife (she as waitress, me as cook in a real Frankie-and-Johnny heartwarming tale) 25 years ago. Jerry recovered, however, and so we rejoined the clan, albeit too late to sit at their table. Instead, Jerry and I had a table for two, and I don't know if I've ever had a better time with anyone at a meal.
Jerry told jokes, made lotsa funny faces, and commented hilariously on the food and surroundings. The meal made me realize how important it was for me to move my family back to the slower, more relaxed, and less crowded environs of the Midwest.
My favorite moment? Jerry got quite a bit of sauce on his face. When I tried to wipe it off with his napkin, he grabbed it and acted like it was this terrible attacking weight on his face that he could only fight off with great effort. Making so much noise in this process, I almost scolded him verbally, but then I realized he was making a funny movie reference. It's the scene when a criminal throws a pillow at the "Police Squad" detective played by Leslie Nielsen in the "Naked Gun" movies: instead of just brushing aside this frivolous attempt to slow him down, Nielsen wrestles mightily with the pillow like it's almost strangling him.
It's a hilarious bit and Jerry did a great job of recreating it. When I almost scolded him, he stopped and said, "Dad, I'm doing that funny thing from the police movie!"
I laughed so hard I almost gagged on my beer.
Next morning, after a nice breakfast with sister and niece and a short turn around the Farmer's Market on the Capitol Square, we drove back to Terre Haute for a dinner to celebrate Nona's birthday.
That night spouse and I drove the youngest back to the apartment and began an all-day effort the next day at setting up beds, etc. This process went late into the evening and spilled over to this morning. I left around 1100 for my American flights to San Diego. Big mistake there was flying through O'Hare. The three scariest words to the business flier are "weather in Chicago."
Last night Vonne and I and our two youngest drove over to the construction site of our new home. Lot is cleared of all but the biggest trees (leaving approximately 100 in all), and the only bad news is the rather clear line of sight out one side of the back of the very wide lot (it's the back line of our very wide pie wedge). We end up with extant trees on right and left and populating the deep back corner, but on the near corner it's a clear view to the houses behind us. But back along the property line our builder Kent has already constructed the earth berms that will direct the run-off from the properties behind ours to a drainage line that runs along the shorter edge of our property, and it'll be along and atop those berms that we'll end up throwing in a bunch of adolescent trees in the fall.
Beyond that, we basically inspected the foundation. The walls are all poured and, true to Kent's mania for the extra yard, the foundation is specially coated with a variety of substances and materials to achieve the driest basement possible. We can tell Kent goes the extra yards because our site looks a lot different from other ones going up in our neighborhood. So where other builders do the minimum, Kent does the maximum.
Speaking with Kent today by phone, they plan to pour the basement floor tomorrow, God willing. Vonne and I meet him later this week to finalize on windows and bricks and a bunch of other choices. Construction, as promised, proceeds on schedule. Lotsa big rain lately here, but fortunately the ground so dry previously that it hasn't been a problem.
So, despite all the discombobulations of moving my family into an apartment far smaller than our previous house, I have to say that this move went well. Still much to do in Indiana, and my spouse works these issues tirelessly, but we got through it as a family with minimal screaming and tension.
It helps if you're really in love with your wife, I've found. Short of that, the murderous impulses may overwhelm.
Here's the daily catch, getting me back in the groove:
■ Expecting the Chinese to be Chinese on the yuan■ Lower thresholds for danger are a good thing, but don't signal a more dangerous world
■ Connectivity empowers women across the dial, across the globe
■ Kim's strategy is same as it ever was
■ The SysAdmin ain't yer daddy's military-and that's okay