From :      "Amy H."     
Subject :   ALU 2003.08.19  
Date :      Tue, 19 Aug 2003 13:45:26 -0400  
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Phew!

The move is over!

It was more than a little hectic, but I'll try to recount the tale.

My last day of work was Wednesday.  It was really great, we had Pasties 
from "The Pasty Place" - a fitting goodbye to Michigan.  Todd recounted 
the tale of the start of the company over Lunch - always good to hear 
such oral traditions ;-)

Everyone was very sad to see me go, so many people came to say goodbye 
and gave me a hug, I feel that I will be very missed.  I tried to tell 
them "I'm not leaving, I'm just relocating!" but we all know I'm not 
going back.

Wed. night we met up at Dominic's for my going away bar outing.  They 
have really great Sangria there at Dominic's.  Laura was there too - 
she just moved to Pittsburgh from Austin, she's getting her Masters' 
from Carnegie Mellon.

Thursday was my secondary going away lunch/Barb Z's birthday lunch/Barb T 
was supposed to bring me a cappucino machine.  No dice on Barb T and the 
cappucino, she's promised to mail it to me :-)  It was good to see 
everyone one last time.  Earlier on Thursday I did all my last minute 
running around: I went to the bank, did laundry, and bought mattress bags 
for the move.  I'm very glad I got all of that done early, because after 
Stacie took me to Budget to pick up the rental truck, and we had just 
loaded up the truck with the heavy stuff and were looking forward to 
sitting in front of the fan, the power went out.

Yes, the "Great Blackout of Twenty-Aught-Three" inconvenienced my moving 
plans.

So, Stacie and I loaded a few more things after we'd sat around for a bit.  
It was a hot day, so we were super glad that there was still running water.  
Yay city living!  I grew up with well water, which of course uses and 
electric pump, so every time the power went out, so did the water.

Once traffic calmed down, but before sunset, Stacie took off for 
Southfield.  She made it safely, and called me a few times that night to 
make sure I was OK.  I was still packing, until the sun set.  Then I just 
got bored.  I tried sitting outside and watching the fireflies, but the 
mosquitoes were fierce.  I sat and watched some candles, but that's only 
so exciting.  I also went out to the car to get updates and charge my 
cell phone.  

Scott was supposed to be in at 11.  He flew Southwest, and had a connection 
in Chicago.  They put him up in a nice hotel downtown, with cabfare to and 
from the airport, and booked him on the 6:50 a.m. flight to Detroit.  Which 
was cancelled.  He was put on standby for the 11:50 flight to Detroit, but 
he was number 33.  OUch!  In the end, he paid another $150 to fly Northwest 
from Chicago to Detroit, and got in at 9:50.

With the help of my parents, Scott, and Laura and Jim we got the truck loaded 
by 5 I think.  Then Scott and I showered, and we hit the road!

Oops, I forgot one thing: The power came back on at 11, but it was not soon 
enough for one of my fish.  Simon died in the great power outage, and was 
given a water burial at the pond at my office when I went to pick up my work 
computer.

Scott and I spent the night in a Holiday Inn just west of Cleveland Ohio, and 
we were on the road again by 9 a.m.  Unfortunately, Bert did not survive the 
night in the rental truck.  We took him out of the big rubbermaid tote that 
all the fish were in (in about 10 gallons of water) and put him into the 
back of the truck for a water burial in Worcester.

About 5 p.m. the cigarette lighters in the truck stopped working.  Which meant 
the bubbler for the fishies wasn't working either.  The remaining 6 fish 
survived though.  We got into Worcester at 11, unloaded my car and left the 
trailer at Scott's apartment.  Then we went straight to my apartment and set 
up the fishtank.  We didn't get home until 3.  There was a late, late night 
ceremony for Bert in Lake Quinsigamond, which was sorta fun because I got to 
scare the geese, but mostly sad because I had to say goodbye.  Yes, I cried.  
Scott held me.  I say Hi to Bert everytime we drive over the lake now.

Sunday Lynda and Ken helped us unload the truck.  They were super speedy, and I 
think the truck was completely unloaded in under 2 hours.  Even though I wasn't 
helping for a chunk of it, because I went to the store to buy beverages.  The 
grocery store (Shaw's) is very nice.

Also, there is about a 5:1 ratio of bars and liquor stores to people in Clinton.  
And an alcoholism information office.  We can't tell if it is pro or con. ^_^

The fish are settled in, I think.  The remaining two boys have been dubbed Warty 
and Flounder.  THe 4 girls are as of yet un-named.  I have a 20 gallon that I 
have to fill with water to make sure it doesn't leak (I bought it second hand 
and it looks like it was used for iguanas last).  If it doesn't, then the boys 
are going in there.  If it does, it's going in the trash and the girls are 
probably going back to the 10 gallon.

Right now I'm "working from home" at Scott's house.  I took a break to send 
this out, because I have no web access while I'm logged into work.

Oh well, small price to pay to still be employed here, I guess.

Hey: My cell phone is off, and will probably remain off until sometime 
tonight when I find my charger.  If you need to get in touch with me just 
leave a message, I'll call back when I can.

Take Care Everybody!

-Amy