with about 80,000 other things to attend to, i had not really noticed the move to Tennessee hurtling in from the horizon until i went home to visit a few weeks ago. my chores between now and July 1 are as follows: finish dissertation revisions and submit to graduate school, finish and submit four scientific papers to scientific journals, find place to live, get requisite three moving quotes so UT can pick the cheapest, go to Arizona for all of May to earn spare cash for the move, complete two scientific posters and a short lecture for presentation at ACVIM (June 6-10), go to the eye doctor, pack, get suitcase fixed at special repair place an hour away, get materials to start developing advanced procedures laboratory and clinical service, move ~ June 15 and start work at UT July 1. oh yeah, and breathe.
whew!
obviously, some of these things need to be done sooner than others. figuring the threat of potential homelessness was one of the greater potential stressors, we decided to head to Knoxville for the weekend to find a place to live. in typical family fashion we made a festival of it with Mom, Rol, Bill* and Kelly all in tow for the search.
Dippy me forgot to get a photo before Bill & Kelly
left so i pasted them into this one!
*and Bill's lover, Matilda, their car's GPS vixen. Kelly calls her Lolita and i suspect will eventually install a hack to change her to a him. :)
Saturday we drove around like crazy people, from possibility to possibility without really seeing 'the one'. with desperation quietly pressing in, we decided to call places that hadn't returned my calls thus far which is how we found Eva. she is one of two people that manage a series of townhomes that looked really promising on paper. Eva was more than somewhat brusque at first - it turns out she was having a really bad day - but our good attitude is generally contagious, she is generally delightful and i up the ante by giving her emergency chocolate (Cadbury milk chocolate with almonds) from my purse. TraVy's dog is bit over their weight restrictions but we are hopeful that my excellent references, credit and qualifications will tip the scales. by the time we left, Eva was onboard, working her boss to get us the place, and providing helpful move-in phone numbers and tips. we will hopefully hear this week, so keep your fingers crossed!
the weekend was wonderfully fun and an overall success. Sunday was cold and rainy, but Monday was clear and we enjoyed toodling about campus before making our way leisurely to the airport. TraVy and i had an unnervingly close call as the first of our flights yesterday was landing. the plane was less than 10 feet from the ground when suddenly we shot back up at a 45 degree angle (though it felt more like 60). i thought, 'Well, at least everyone who needs to knows I love them.'
the plane tossed about rather wildly before leveling out, at which point the flight attendant came on to say, 'Trust me, it is a good thing we didn't land just then. The captain should be on shortly to explain.' apparently the captain was too busy trying to land the plane he second time round because he never did explain.
not knowing is way worse than knowing the worst for me so the second approach was beyond stressful. as an aside, i did learn that i fear makes me knit much much faster. the plane shimmied about erratically, almost as if there was equipment malfunctioning, but eventually we spotted some flags flailing in fierce winds. apparently the wind shear shot up during our first approach. the engine alarms were fierce enough to be audible to the flight attendant through the cockpit door. thankfully, the captain was on his toes, reacted quickly and averted disaster.
with all the flying and driving and flying and fear, i did get a lot done, knit-wise. i finished up the Falling leaves socks - knit with Senso on US 2s with 60 stitches instead of 72. i think they turned out rather cute. i will have to make another pair using yarn so the pattern can be appreciated because i think blocking these would diminish their silliness. although it was nice to knock out a pair of socks for $3 and the cotton will rock for summer, i don't recommend using Senso this way. it has no give so all the SSK and K2tog ended up hard on the fingers.
i hit the halfway point on the Argosy, which continues to please me immensely. between waiting in lines, some car knitting and bouts of severe turbulence when patterned knitting was not possible, i knit most of another pair of plain socks for TraVy using Opal and US 2s.
my brother had to reschedule his CT for today so he could attend a funeral. [yes, i am serious. our lives are really like this.] he had the scan today and i expect to receive a call by midday tomorrow from his doctor with the results. in the meantime, i am trying to focus on completing bureaucratic forms and adjusting the plans for Arizona. again, the not knowing really sucks. i have cast on my sock pal's sockmate twice so far today without managing to correctly follow the instructions. perhaps the third time is the charm... or perhaps i just need to force the cats off of my chest before casting on...
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