Today, every time I wanted to get outside and do something, it started raining. I finally just gave up on it and stayed indoors.
I found out last night that my brother-in-law made it into the master’s program at Georgia Tech. He’ll be taking courses via distance education while he works down here. This is not a surprise at all. Mike’s a very smart guy. Had to be…he married my sister. 🙂
I subscribe to a weekly e-mail newsletter that talks about all things Net, and reading it this afternoon, I came across an interesting statistic. Of course, we all know that 41% of statistics are made up on the spot. 🙂 Furthermore, it’s even tougher to determine an accurate statistic about online things because of the very nature of the Net itself. But I can buy this one. See what you think.
CNN just released a study that suggests over 50% of the total time users spend online is dominated by only four companies – AOL/Time Warner, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Napster, in that order.
I’d provide links, but we all already know the addresses, don’t we?
A couple of things:
First, I received my diploma. I have my closure. 🙂
I’m also growing my goatee again. This might just be a temporary thing (in fact, given the upcoming wedding that I’m participating in, it’s almost certainly a temporary thing), but I figured, why not? I’m on vacation.
Once again, my travels have led me to Viera, Florida, where my sister and brother-in-law live. I drove down here today with them, going through a couple of monsoons along the way.
My goal for the trip, according to my sister, is to find a golf club that is a good bargain and fun to play. I haven’t been able to secure funding yet for this task. 🙂
My father turns 50 today. To celebrate, he’s going to take a half-day off. It’s the first time off that he’s had in five years.
My father is one of the hardest-working people that I know. I doubt that I know every sacrifice that he made for me, but I do know of some. One of the biggest was the time that he worked in another state during the week and drove down on the weekends to see us because he didn’t want my sister and I to have to move during our high school years.
He means a lot to me as a father and as a role model. I hope that he knows that. Happy 50th, dad.
I still haven’t received my last bill from Alabama. Until I get my bill, I can’t pay it. Until I pay my bill, I won’t receive my diploma. Until I get my diploma, I won’t have closure. I want closure, man!
I realize that recently I haven’t updated as much as I normally do. Winding down from moving has seen to that. To catch up: I’ve played three rounds of golf (and done miserably all three times), done some yard work (and became sunburned in the process), and probably watched more television than I did all last semester. Not a whole lot.
Soon I will start thinking about traveling around some. My sister and brother-in-law are coming up this weekend, so I may follow them back down to Florida.
A rundown of yesterday’s events…
1:00 a.m. – fresh off scrubbing both bathrooms and the kitchen spotless (and using more Pine-Sol than the law probably allows in the process), set my alarm for 7:30, and finally get to sleep.
5:00 a.m. – pop wide awake. D’oh. Toss and turn for a little while, realize that I’m just not going to fall back asleep, and reluctantly get up. Clean out the refrigerator, freezer, and microwave.
6:30 a.m. – go to McDonald’s for breakfast. It’ll be the first of two trips to Mickey D’s today.
8:15 a.m. – go to a local storage facility place. I had called yesterday afternoon after business hours inquiring about a 10-by-12 storage area for rent. They told me to come this morning and look at it. Find out that after I called, someone else rented the area. D’oh again.
8:30 a.m. – talk to another storage company on the phone, asking if they still had open the 10-by-10 area that I looked at yesterday. They do not, but they tell me that one might open this afternoon and that they will give me a call if it does. I will not receive a phone call from them today.
8:45 a.m. – talk to another storage company, asking about a 10-by-15 area. They have one. The Hallelujah Chorus plays in my mind. I tell them I will be right over to do the paperwork. I go by U-haul on the way back and buy some picture boxes.
9:30 a.m. – just getting back to the apartment, I am getting some last-minute things together when my dad arrives. He’s an hour and a half early. This turns out to be a very good thing.
11:30 a.m. – the first load of stuff (including my couch, recliner, dishes, and books) is loaded into my car, his truck, and the trailer he brought, and is unloaded at the storage area. We look at the size of the 10-by-15. My dad thinks we’ll have plenty of room for all the stuff. So do I.
Noon – lunch. By this time, I am already pretty tired, and my breakfast is long gone.
1:00 p.m. – we start loading up again. Big items this time include all of my bedroom furniture and my mattresses. I lament the fact that my bedroom furniture is made entirely of wood. All of my weights go during this time as well. I lament the fact that I haven’t lifted them more recently.
2:30 p.m. – we finish unloading this load; we note that it’s going to be a tight squeeze to get the rest of the stuff in. I am thankful that the other two companies rented their areas.
3:00 p.m. – third and final load (including my dining room table and chairs and entertainment center) is loaded in. I note the amount of stuff that is left in the apartment. I will be taking all of it home. I wonder if I can get it all into my car. By now, I’m getting tired enough to possibly give the new tenant housewarming gifts if I can’t get it in on the first try.
4:30 p.m. – we finish what we thought would be a three-hour job in roughly six. The storage facility’s door will barely close, we have packed things in so tight. I guess optimism runs in the family.
4:45 p.m. – we drive down I-59 and I turn off onto McFarland Boulevard’s exit. My dad drives on to wherever he’s supposed to go on location. We exchange waves. I think how much I love my dad.
5:00 p.m. – I start loading things into my own car for the trip — where? I think about going over to Birmingham and staying the night there before I come home. It’s been a long day, after all. I decide to make the decision on the road, at the last possible moment.
5:30 p.m. – everything’s loaded into the car except for the vacuum cleaner, which I use to vacuum the apartment one last time. I pick the vacuum up, turn off the living room light, and step out of what was my home for two years. I close the door.
5:45 p.m. – I throw away the day’s trash and head to the apartment complex office to turn in my keys. I talk to the manager for a couple of minutes. I pull out of the apartment complex for the last time. I put in Caedmon’s Call and forward to track 12: “I’m Coming Home”.
6:00 p.m. – I turn left onto I-59 and leave Tuscaloosa for the last time as a student.
6:50 p.m. – exit 15 on I-459 looms, and so does my decision. Go home tonight, or stop in Birmingham? I am exhausted. My muscles ache from more use than they’ve had in a long time. Beyond that, I’m tired just from not having much sleep. My decision is easy. I turn on my right signal light and pull into the lane for I-65 south. I’m going home.
8:00 p.m. – somewhere around Montgomery, I realize that I left my shower curtain in one of my bathrooms. I wonder if this will adversely affect my deposit.
9:27 p.m. – I pull up into my parents’ driveway. I need a shower, food, and sleep desperately. The shower feels wonderful against my aching muscles. The food is good, plentiful, and is cooked by a mother who is extremely happy to see me. The sleep comes quickly as I drop into my waterbed.
Tonight is my last night in Tuscaloosa.
Have I really been here almost six years? That’s a quarter of my life. It’s amazing to me, really.
Tonight, I’m going to go out to my porch and sit in my chair and look out at the trees and the stars for awhile. Just like I did the first night that I moved into the apartment. Just like the night that I turned 22. Just like all those other times that I’ve done it. I don’t know what I’ll think about. Probably reflect on what has been and what’s to come. Just like all the other times that I’ve done it.
Except it will be special, because it will be the final time.
In the immortal words of Popeye, “That’s all I can stands, ’cause I can’t stands no more!”
After being deluged with spam mail for much too long, I’ve done something that will hopefully limit the amount of it coming into my inbox. If you’ll notice on the e-mail link in the “contact” section (and, for that matter, every e-mail link in the site), my e-mail address has been changed. It’s pretty self-explanatory as to how to manipulate that address before sending me mail. The nice thing about it is that spam programs have trouble with these manuevers.
Otherwise, carry on per the norm.