Raincharm’s Weblog

To be updated throughout the day

6:30 & 9 AM
First adjustments – turning off the alarms on the now vacated alarm clock.

8:30 AM
Caught self wondering if the noise upstairs was A stirring.

10:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Out walking, attending Church, a little work, no schedule to be back home or have a car available, …

Mid-afternoon
One phone call home from abroad. Missing paperwork?

5-11 PM
Not one, but two parties.
1st, a birthday celebration at an outdoor saltwater pool. Beautiful but cool weather, warm water (85 degrees), nice friends and good food.
2nd, a few friends from afar in town rather unexpectedly – sit and chew the fat.

For a family where the social life usually circles around the younger set – not bad.

Moving out, moving in, or moving around the city.

Up at 6 AMish.
Pack the car – Jay’s job.
J off to walk – 16 miles this AM, with a stop for crepes partway through.
C&A off to drive, unpack, etc (see yesterday) C&A made great time and were moving in by 10:30.
J was back by noon, C was back around 3-4, A is of course buying books, meeting new roommates, etc.

At 5:20 PM it would appear that J is the most tired. C is still focused and alert.
Of course we don’t know how A is faring.

Back to being empty nesters, at least until Canadian T-Day.
Settling in to watch MSU on the tube. – Go GREEN.

So, packing has morphed into sitting in front of the computer looking at details for arrival at UBC.
They have some good information about where to park, how to get your address, etc.

The biggest source of angst right now is trying to get into first semester spanish. There are now about 5 slots available, but that requires moving a physics lab and they are all full, so ……….

The boxes are pretty much packed except toiletries. Prepacking the car has been thought about, but it will probably all happen at about 6 AM tomorrow. I have to leave at 6:30, and of course I have to be involved in the packing exercise. But they will appreciate being off early when they hit the border before the rush.

So tomorrow – the 2
Pack, drive, passports in order, drive, register, move in, bank, tuition, books, say goodbye
C – drive, passport in order, drive patiently
A – room inventory, unpack, … SLEEP?

the 1
pack, drive a little, walk, walk some more, drive a little, wait for 1 to return.

Who will be more tired after it is all said and done?

Do you ever get so focused …
I am a detailed person. Each time a child started college I went into hyper detail, trying to check everything.
Even with all of that college in Canada was a challenge. Mostly along the $ line. It was hard to pay a bill.
They did not want my money, at least not in the US form, and sometimes not even through the credit card.
Credit card – 3% every time you say “charge-it”.

It was a learning experience. And I decided I needed to back off a bit on the detail and trying so hard.
So, I have not read everything, gotten on-line every day to read a little bit more.

Classes start Tuesday at UBC. Initially this had been thought to be Thursday, so we needed to bump up our timeline a bit.
So we needed to decide exactly which day to go.
Factors for consideration – 3 hour drive, border crossing, 3-day weekend in both countries, long walk on Saturday, party at dinner time on Sunday, need to open another CA bank account, …..
FRIDAY – Jay takes a vacation day, Carl is without kids, the banks in CA should be open, no conflicts.

PACK – PACK  – SORT – PACK – SORT – BUY – PACK …. Go through Ashlan’s paperwork for filing.

What’s this? A housing notice – Opening day is SATURDAY!
Thank god we found it before we were in CA staring at a locked up housing complex and trying to decide, Hotel?, Home and back tomorrow?, find Ashlan’s Vancouver friend and beg for assistance.
Disaster averted.

Bonus – since the packing is now underway in earnest, we will probably be ready to go.
And since Jay is walking on Saturday, Carl will be the only parental mover and we don’t need to try and fit three people into the car with all of the stuff.

I was on a roll today.
Getting through some needed information
Looking up past occurrences
Returned calls
moving along

3 – 3:30 PM
The bottom dropped out of my energy.
Not sure exactly why – but it is gone.

Ran some errands
Made it home
Bit of the convention
Writing a letter
Going to bed (that’s the plan anyway)

Night

Thoughts of packing are front and center this week.
Back to school & 1st time in an apartment – adds a few items not needed last year.
The decision of how many parents accompany the move may be made based on the space available in the car. Right now I believe the clothes are considered, “under control.” Maybe the kitchen will get there tomorrow.

WooHoo – finished the weekend walks (37 miles total) without a drop of rain. And feeling pretty spry.
After the last step I took Ashlan to Costco for a back-to-school stock up (this milage was not counted). When we left the store it was raining, and by the time I got home to unload the car it was a rain with many small drops, high velocity, but not quite stinging. Enough to get you wet though, especially with many trips to the car.

Then it was time for Men’s water polo and a slow sink into the futon, from which I am now just rising. Some dinner may get my energy back up to finish some other weekend type work.

T-minus 3 weekends until the Seattle 3-day Breast Cancer Walk. (60 miles)

Training is now getting serious
(as is last minute fundraising – if you want to know more go to http://www.the3day.org, click Donate Now, and search for your favorite? Regenstreif or e-mail me)

Last night after work my work/walk buddy and I did 10 miles, ending in the dusk around 8:45 PM
Up this AM to walk 18 (maybe 19 as it turns out) miles through some beautiful parks and gardens in Bellevue (Seattle suburb)
Tomorrow AM the plan is another 8 mile walk.

If I can complete tomorrows walk I will feel like I am in line for completion. Probably one more long walk next weekend and then scale it back until the 12th (Day 1).

Funny story from today’s walk (funny from a hilly Seattle point of view).
Two of the women walking today had just finished last weekend’s walk in Boston. They live and train in Seattle, and after a while got bored with the generally flatter terrain of Boston. But other walkers assured them that they would get their fill of vertical gain with the “STEPS” on day 3. The steps finally arrived, all 46 of them. They said they just started laughing, but felt guilty for diminishing this major accomplishment for the Boston walkers. I know we went up  more than 46 steps today, and then I think of Taquahmenon (100+?).

Time to go soak my dogs.

Watching the men’s marathon right now – they should surpass my day’s total in a much shorter time.

………………

It’s just like the northwest here!
Oh wait – this is the northwest.
By the end of summer, when it is relatively dry, you tend to forget about the rain.

Today is like fall – showers, rain, downpours, drizzle. All viable terms describing different varieties of water falling out of the sky. It took me a while to figure the difference between showers (intermittent) and rain (continuous).

We had a walk planned, and took the 4 mile walk, although we did dawdle through a downpour until it was just raining. The forcast for our Friday and Saturday and Sunday walks is mixed, so the ponchos will be in the pack, and maybe actually put on. Today’s walk was short enough that we just got wet.

I do feel like today was a glimpse into fall.