Moving off campus

Hal writes:

Over the last week we have completed our move off campus and into our new house. Although I have been working for students over the past couple years about what to do when you move off campus (how to get water, electricity, garbage, etc.) this is the first time I have done it myself. And by myself I mean Anna took care of these things on her day off. :) We have everything in our new place, now comes the part where we unpack it all. Hopefully, we will feel settled before we leave for our MN-WI trip next week.

Our neighbors seem really nice. They are a young couple who also happen to have a male Yorkie. Unfortunately, they will be moving in September, so although it has been nice to chat with them off and on, we know they will be leaving soon and someone else will be moving in.

We found some sweet deals going to upscale areas for garage sales. The type of places that buy new furniture every year just for the sake of changing over the look of their house to coincide with the most recent trend. In one weekend we were able to get the following items at garage sales: an IKEA bed and mattress, dining room table and chairs (new the in the box), sofa and recliner (two different places, but were complimentary in color), entertainment center and new TV (were not in the market for either, but the price was very cheap), and washer and dryer. I think those were all the big items that were on the list. We were also looking for a grill and patio furniture, but we only wanted the best of the best when it came to deals, so we passed on moderately prices items knowing that there are better deals out there to be had. Plus, we still have Craigslist (where we found Riley) that could have some nice deals in the future.

One of the reasons that we haven't updated our blog is that we don't have phone/Internet/cable in our house. We have patterned ourselves to use all three because they were provided to us by the various schools I have worked for. But now that we see the prices that are associated with these wants, we don't know if we will actually use the services to the point that it justifies the price. Our cell phones can take care of the basics: communication with others as well as the ability to look up information on limited web browsers. We'll see what happens, but for the time being it looks like we will be opting for other forms of entertainment. I just need to make friends with someone in the area with satellite that likes to watch NFL games from Aug - Feb.

I have now had two days of commuting to work. It has been a good experience; the weather has been nice, I've gotten to the bus stop on time, and without students in the summer I don't have to worry about getting in late to work. Plus, it's nice that we only have one car (paid for) and only have to take care of gas/maintenance of one vehicle. And our insurance agent called to say that they did their annual credit check on our account and decided to drop our monthly insurance payment $25/month because we have a great credit score. That was an unexpected surprise. However, there is a "European Motor Cycle" store near our house that has scooters and mopeds, so perhaps I'll be looking into getting a sweet ride. That, or I could be healthier and bike to work.

Hope to have pictures of our new house up soon. If not, it will most likely have to wait until July after we return from our trip.

Other updates:

* Riley is recovering from his attack. A German Shepherd got a hold of him on campus one night last week and it was a late night in the vet hospital. But by all outward appearances his scars are healing and doesn't appear to have any permanent damage.

* My first day of Wild Hope Staff Seminar starts with a retreat tomorrow. 10 staff at PLU were selected to be a part of a six month seminar designed to help students ask, "What will you do with your one wild and precious life?" Our assignment for tomorrow is to read the first section of a Gregg LeVoy book ("Callings") and prepare an introduction to the group as to who we are and what our calling(s) are.

* I started a Twitter account and put it in the tool bar of this blog. Initially I was updating from my phone, but I read an article about how Twitter accounts have been hacked and phone numbers have been phished, then are later spammed, so I won't be updating via text from my phone any more. I don't know, I'll try it out for a couple weeks and see if I am going to stick with it.

* In my new job as an Academic Advisor, my colleagues and I have registered over 600 soon-to-be first year students to PLU. We still have some more to register via phone, but we have over 90% of them in classes for their first semester.