I'm out...

Finally got out of my house. In fact, I was pretty much booted out on my ass... but the results are the same. After the person who was going to rent my house backed out at the last minute, I thought I was going to be stuck with paying the mortgage even while in Qatar. But just one day later, a very nice couple took and look and put in an application. Yet again, one minor detail... they wanted to move into the house in two days.

Well, let's just say that the past few days have been action packed with excitement... getting credit checks, packing more boxes, rewriting leases, moving things into storage, cleaning the carpets, getting new insurance, canceling utilities, forwarding mail... all good things. The couple have two young kids and they were really wanting to get into a house before their dad left... he was being deployed to Iraq, again, in just one week. He is a captain and a munitions officer with the U.S. Army. His wife said that they've spent their whole married lives together moving from rental to rental... so this was just another day... so another house to put together and get dinner ready for the kids. Godspeed...

Quick note of congratulations to my insurance agent, AJ. This week, he played in the Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League's equivalent to our Superbowl. Unfortunately, he and his Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Still, a great job for "Flight 97!"

Had a nice respite from the packing and moving to attend the wedding reception of my friend Katie's mom, Georgene. Had a really nice time rousing about with her family's Michigan contingent (pirogi lasagna, anyone?) and drinking a well-stocked supply of mimosas. Ended up talking about my soon-to-be-move, and everyone was really supportive and very cool... all except one silver-haired acquaintance. Right when I got there, Katie mentioned that this one person was a bit of a horse's ass, and to watch myself. This person, whom I have known for a whole fifteen minutes at this point, quickly paced up to me an grabbed my very shocked cheeks. She looked me over like a slave trader and said, "You need to be very careful... you're going to be a target for them. Yep, they're all going to hate you because of your blue eyes and light skin. You need to be on watch at all times... maybe even carry a knife..."

Silver-haired lady, thanks for your concern. I promise to wear those huge sunglasses old people wear when they get their eyes dilated and vigorously pursue tanning, all the while hiding either a machete or a katana somewhere on me at all times... you dumbass...

The moving company came on Tuesday to pack up all my things that are being shipped overseas. Now, I was given very specific instructions on what I could and could not bring, including an unbreakable weight limit of 450 lbs. I kept whittling my piles of clothes, sports equipment, textbooks and pictures down until I thought I was under the limit. Turns out, I only had 193 lbs. of crap. I could have brought so much more stuff... but I still don't have a good idea of what I really need over there. Everything else I own is in a rundown storage locker collecting dust and mildew for the next few years. I don't know why, but it always seems funny to me that everything I own... the goods and toys and comfortable chairs that everyone works so hard to acquire... everything fits comfortably into a 300 square foot space... with plenty of room left over.

Anyway, I'm staying my sister's house for a week, just until my job here is finished. This weekend, I'm headed up to Dallas to visit my buddy Scott. With any luck, we'll both get soused and play some god-awful golf.

ben