The Move and the Cottage

Well, so far my vacation in Michigan has been pretty uneventful. I spent most of the day bumming around the house with not much to do, but that's cool with me. It's been a long couple of weeks Craigslisting, moving, and cleaning our house in SLO. Today was my only day in Grosse Pointe until about the 15th.

My dad and I nailed down the plan for my SJ move. (and that's not South Jersey Ashley!) My dad really loves to travel, so he decided that he would fly out to help me move from SLO. I thought I'd have someone there help me move, but then the problem is getting the person back to SLO or finding someone who only needs to go one way. Either way, I still need to drive my car, so the other person would just get stuck driving the big van. Unfortunately, tickets for a flight were $400 for my dad, which was nuts! That's twice as much as I expected, but it's the summer. My dad got a ticket through FF points instead, so we got that settled. Now the plan is to have him drive an Enterprise Truck from SJ to SLO, since they don't charge mileage. Then we'll pack my stuff, head back up to San Jose and then return the van. It's not as easy as just driving one way from SLO, but it costs about the same after researching it and my dad really likes to travel.

I also started looking at new stuff to buy for my apartment, which is exciting. I'm starting with the most important item first: my new HDTV of course! I spent a while today researching TV specs online and in stores. I've got my basic TV picked out, so I'll probably get that first thing when I get my new place, since I don't own a TV currently. Next comes all the furniture, which will come mostly from IKEA and Target. I don't want to buy too much stuff or expensive things since I MAY be moving again soon. I also have the table and (possibly) the couch from our house in SLO. Moving the couch depends on the size truck we rent (Sorry Kristen, it might not be in the cards after all). With all this stuff, I've also noticed that it's going to be hard to arrange it in my place, since there are a lot of doorwalls, windows, and a fireplace (all which are awesome by the way). I guess I'll just play it by ear and plan it out when I get there. I'm looking forward to buying new stuff and moving in; I always find a change of scenery to be a lot of fun.

Starting tomorrow, my family and I are heading to the cottage out in South Haven. It will be nice to head out to west Michigan for the 4th of July and be out in the country for a bit. Still, it sounds like I will be put to work for the few days I'm out there. My dad's having my dig a sewage drainage ditch and lay pipe...a good job for a computer engineer haha. It's okay with me; I like manualy labor jobs because I feel like I'm getting something done. It's always nice to feel useful when coming back home; my parents always have a 'Matt list' when I get back.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to go to the beach and take it easy. That is, if the weather improves. For the first time in several months, I saw rain! I must say, I miss those cool rainy days in spring and fall, not to mention snow (but that rant is best saved for another day).

I'm hoping to get some good pics out there, but I probably won't post again until I get back on the 5th or 6th. I head to Washington D.C. for a trip on the 5th and then to Boston to help Nikki with housing on the 10th. That leaves only 4 days or so after I get back to hang out in Michigan. That's fine, there's not much for me to do around here it seems. Everyone is pretty busy, either working or on vacation somewhere.

Anyways, I will do my best to put up some pics from Michigan and post another entry sometime in the next few days. We don't have internet or cell phone coverage out there so we'll see how it goes. I plan to start working on my novel also while at the cottage, so be sure to send me any stories or suggestions you have.

Time to pack for SH and then try and get some sleep (I'm still a little off b/c of timezones)...

-StM