Today I got to do my civic duty---jury duty.

It all began with the summons I received two months ago indicating that I was to report to the Dorchester District Court at 8 am on August 29, 2006. Despite my standby status, yesterday I received a notice that I was indeed to appear.

Keith and I sleepily got up about 6:30 am and left for the Dorchester District Courthouse. Dorchester sort of has, well, let us say the reputation as a ghetto as there is a lot of the city's crime, particularly violent crime, in that district. It certainly lacked some, shall we say, some visual charm. That is not really one hundred percent true---there are some areas of Dorchester that overlook Dorchester Bay and it is quite nice. In fact, there was some gorgeous neighborhoods that we stumbled upon with huge gorgeous Victorian houses. But the next block over would be run down, then we'd stumble back into another residential area with green lawns.

I reported promptly with an empty stomach and read my material in the Jury Pool Room.

9:00 am: We handed over our jury questionaires

9:30 am: The pool watched an informational video on how important it was to serve and how civil and criminal trials work.

10:00 am: A justice came in to welcome us and say hi and thank us for coming and speak about the importance of doing our civic duty. She further explained that everyone was aware of our presence, and that while we didn't know it, our very presence influences the day's events. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

10:20 am: The baliff excuses us for a 40 minute break. I went to Walgreens to get an anniversary card, some candy, and then saw a McDonalds where I purchased some fries.

11:00 am: I report back for duty and begin to read my Newsweek. Then my Time.

12:00 pm: I am so sick of reading, I get up and stretch and stare at the ground.

1:00 pm: The baliff bursts in and lets us know that the final case has been settled and that we are free to go. Yay! Apparently the presence of a potential jury was enough to get the parties to settle their cases out of court.

Massachusetts is a one day/one trial state (unusual, most states can commandeer a citizen for as many times as desired) which means that I am exempt from juror service for 3 years. Yay!!!!

So...this weekend, we managed to:

a) Build a pantry (since we are missing one, are used to one, and have little to no cabinet space in our new kitchen)
b) Build a living room closet (since it was this wide open space and we needed the storage for extra computer equipment, linens, and the like
c) add a few shelves to Keith's closet (because its so large with wasted space, why not)
d) pack up and move about half of our kitchen stuff
e) pack up the rest of the kitchen stuff

Keith and I, all in all, think its an estimated large van load, or 3 truck & car loads. The Jacobsens are going to help us out a bit on Tuesday because we need it!

We are sort of in the midst of the last painful, clumsy things to move like artwork and vases and knick knacks that I am soooo worried I am going to break. Its pretty amazing given the cramped quarters we've always lived in (relatively speaking) how much stuff we have. Its a true testament to how good I am at tucking things away and organizing them to make the most out of the space.

All in all, I really, really hope we can get that china cabinet up. We need the kitchen storage.

I found this blog for Animal Crossing a few weeks ago. I like how he hilariously describes the various standard incidents that occur within the game. Enjoy if you are familiar:

http://www.fourhman.com/blog/archive/cat_animal_crossing_log.html

On Saturday, August 19th, our wittle itty kitties turned two years old.

They each even got a birthday card from the friendly folks at VPI Pet Insurance (yes, Keith and I have a policy on both cats).

Behold! Ghost's card is the same with his name instead.

I thought I'd take the time to share the fruits of Keith's labor by showing you one of the wedding gifts we gave Amanda and John two weekends ago:

http://www.manderandjohnny.com

Amanda and John are getting married September 23rd, 2006 in my hometown and I am the venerated Matron of Honor. I have known Amanda since elementary school and we've been best friends since about first grade (I actually think we may have been in preschool together, but the first 4 years of my life are a bit blurry.) I have no clue when we will get to go down there (and by what method: air or car) but its nice to have something other than move things to think about!

Enjoy and send your comments to Keith!

Dear Readers,

As my wonderfully astute wife mentioned, we sawed the couch in half. Egads is right.

Our inital plan was simple:

1) Remove uphostry to allow us to saw at key points on the couch's wooden frame.

2) Sans superflous support bits, the couch would be "slimmer" in terms of fitting up the stairs to our new apartment - we are now in an old 3-story Victorian house, so those stairs can indeed be small and windy. We would simply take advantage of our augmented couch to bring it up.

3) Once in the apartment, we would use mending plates (we alread bought at Home Depot) and wood screws to fix the frame, and restaple the uphostry.

However, it went something like this:

4:50 pm - I arrived at our new apartment and began pulling out staples from the bottom of the couch (it was in the first-floor, back "porch"/egress).

5:30 pm - A little over half the staples on the bottom were removed, Dan showed up after work to help. We prompty went to dinner at Spike's Junkyard Dogs to discuss the battle plan (as detailed above).

5:55 pm - Returned from dinner (with some carryout in tow for Alyssa) and finished pulling off staples. As you can tell, they're were a whole lot. Especially frustrating, since the further from the bottom of the couch, the more stamples on the seams, etc.

6:25 pm - Began sawing. We cut the back-bottom support and the "ribbs" connecting that the seat and the front. By now we were both sweating like cheese.

6:40 pm - Started trying to bring it up the back stairs. Trying was the operative term.

This was where the movers initially tried to bring it up. It didn't clear by a couple inches, once on the 2nd landing. Guess what, still a couple of inches. Since removing an arm was out of the question (several hours removing staples, and then cutting through lots and lots of wood - more than a hacksaw could bite through), we figured we would try the front.

6:50 pm - Dragged the beast around front. Got up the the 2nd floor and got stuck getting in our door. We figured it out and got it in.

7:00 pm - We couldn't make it up the third floor stairs either. This is where our boxspring got stuck. The turn and the lower ceiling was enough to make it very very difficult to do much anything. Dan and I tried and tried and figured that short of making the couch into a completely floppy demi-version of itself, it was not happening.

People have asked me, in relating this story today, why I didn't get rope and hoist it through the window or a porch or something.... the reasons are:

1) No porch - period.

2) The couch is big enough (and our windows small enough) that we would have to remove the window *frame*, not just push up or lean in the panes.

So we, sweating and dripping profusely (it was hot, but the couch was the real culprit) told Alyssa that the thing would have to come up, cleft in twain.

No sooner than you (or Alyssa, as was the case) can say "f-it", we were sawing though wood and fabric with our little unhappy hacksaw. Removing the fabric in some areas would have required pulling staples out for the next four hours at least and taking off *all* the uphostry - and that's if we can get it back on.

We cut the front, and the middle support, and the back, and at least another piece of wood or two (including bits of the uphostry). We then folded it like a taco and dragged the limp couch up to the living room.

After breather, Dan left and I used wood screws and mending plate to get the frame back in one piece. Then I stapled on the uphostry and lo, we had a [mostly] intact couch. While I was doing that, however, Alyssa was looking though the IKEA catalog to see about a new sectional altogether.

In the end, we had a couch (and decided to go ahead and fix the fabric when we got a chance in the coming weeks), but after this apartment, that sectional is going to be toast. Perhaps next time around, I hack off the arm of this part of the sectional and tack it on Frankenstein-style to the other piece (thus making a loveseat with a fold out) but let's hope that won't be for a while. My hands still bear the wounds of the couch biting back and my back and arms are sore.

We've finally reached the point where half our things (our personal effects) are at 158 Kelton and all our furniture is at 65 Ashford. Moving in a large urban area is chaotic. Just finding a place to park is an effort in of itself.

We are hoping to accelerate the process by moving boxes (yes, just boxes) of our stuff with the use of a cheap Budget 10' truck rental. Should be a piece of cake except for all the lugging. Anyone with muscles to spare who wants to help, ample beer and pizza will be your reward. (Other beverages available upon request.)

Last night, I had the interesting experience of watching my husband and a friend of ours, Dan, saw apart the three person section of our sectional. No, you read right: saw apart. Saw in half, in fact. Only by bending the couch in half like an taco were they able to get it up the narrow staircase.

Lesson learned: Narrow staircases = quite charming. But buy modular furniture and a split bed frame.

It was one mighty pathetic looking piece of furniture but after placing metal brackets on the sawed apart bits and stapling the fabric back on, we but need to fix where the upholstery got sawed (it was sort of an impromptu decision). We've decided a well placed pleat will definitely do the trick. We really don't like our sectional, despite purchasing it in October 2005 with some wedding funds because the fabric pills constantly. Good news is that we didn't spend that much money on it in the first place because we have cats and buying good furniture with animals in the house and not owning a home is never a wise proposition. The fact that the sofa's not great quality explains our initial reluctance to pay someone to take it apart the "right" way or put it through a window.

I wish our digital camera had been handy so I could show you the "before" and "after" pictures, however, given all the crap we have to do--we needed to get the couch back into one piece asap without digging through all our life possessions to see where the camera might be.

I went to Spherion Wednesday to see about temporary work. The good news is that I will be making as much or slightly more than I was at BU Housing (yes, for the job desription I had and all the customer service I had to dish out, I didn't get paid that much---but hey, there was a free masters involved) but of course, there are no benefits. Well, actually there are (health insurance after 30 days of employ) but I'm hoping not to need it.

Keith is slated to be employed by September 15th at BU. Don't hold your breath. This is the 5th delay that has interceded. This after being promised January 1, March 1, July 1, July 28, and Sept. 1. I'll be able to use his health insurance and we aren't anticipating an extended run of temporary employment. The problem isn't that there aren't great jobs. Its that my internet is currently at 158 Kelton where I have no furniture, and I'm in the middle of a move with some definite time constraints and issues.

I have until October 11, 2006 to elect very expensive COBRA insurance ($500 a month for medical, $50 for dental) so I'm going to see how this latest delay plays out then make a decision. We're insured in the event of an emergency, we would just need to sign up immediately and the coverage is retroactive to my last day of employ.

Lastly and unbelievably, I've gained 9 lbs since July 28th. How I do not know. Eating habits have been less (yes, less) then working because I'm only too eager to take a one hour lunch break when I needed to escape the office. Yesterday I had two bowls of cereal, a small bunch of baby carrots, and part of a sub. And diet soda. That's all! I know the sub isn't healthy and the cereal was frosted flakes, but I assure you that I am exposed to far worse things (pizza, doughnuts, etc) when working. And I've been huffing, puffing, painting, walking, climbing a lot. As soon as I start temping again, I'm re-joining the gym. I do miss the activity, but I also want to dedicate as much time right now to finding the right job--and early in the school year is ideal. This doesn't even bring all the genealogy research that I've neglected for almost a year. Grrr!

Just at work, so a quick update:

First off - busy as all hell. Since I have not been to work since Friday (and not working productively since Friday noonish, because of the cookout), I had a ton to do, in addition to a training I had to do for a client.

So I have been slogging around in sites and databases all day, trying to get caught up with things. From 12:30 - 2, I trained the people from BU Bands how to use the News CMS and the Calendar CMS. They were impressed.

Only one other notable happening happened:

When we were in Lancaster last time, we went to the shop where we got Alyssa's necklace for the wedding to see if they had another - they didn't but we gave them pictures because the owner (who we talked to) was going to NY to see the vendor. She called today and said she got it! So we are getting the replacement in the mail!

Well, back to work and following that, back to moving!

Effective today, our new landline number is 617.787.0505! You can still reach us at our mobile numbers (they will not be changing).

I feel like the ferret that you let into a room of shiny objects, and the ferret gets so excited at all the shiny objects-it sits down not knowing where to start.

Except I'm not in a room of shiny objects. I'm dividing my time between two halfway completed apartments with absolutely no energy for anything. At all.

Today so far has been a complete bust. I've been up for about 4 hours (catching up on my sleep) but I am soooo exhausted. I don't know where to start with things. At all.

This is complicated by the fact that I don't have a pick-up truck at my apt disposal, nor lifting muscle (which is needed when lifting) nor the know-how to do many of the things I rely on Keith to do/know. So I'm sort of stuck until he gets home. I think it may be smart for me to work on job search stuff by day and moving stuff by night when we can work as a team.

I can't wait to have the new place complete, the old space swept up, cleaned, picture holes spackled, etc.

Hmuh. Tired.

The last few days have been a non-stop moving extravagaza (starting on Saturday).

Friday, we had the annual OIT "cookout"... basically it is a catered lunch in Constitution Marina with everyone from IT, you drink on the clock and you get paid. It's neat. Richard (my boss) brings his margarita machine. Fun times.

Alyssa attended this time and we took a ride on the one guy's (Jim's) fishing boat (it's very big and cool). Afterwards, Jen and Eric, as well as a couple of Eric's friends walked down to the North End with us and we had some good Italian. Fun stuff. We should go down there more often.

Anyway. Saturday, we got started on painting. We started with the office, which although was smaller than almost all the other rooms, would require (since it is a deep blue called Seven Seas) more than one coat. That took until 4:30ish (from 9!). So with much of our day gone, we barely finished painting the bedroom (finished with the last drop) and did a decent bit of the living room before turning in.

Sunday - more of the same - except Jen came down for much of the day with her truck and helped out (in general) and helped us move rugs and lamps over. We managed to finish all the painting but the kitchen by the end of the weekend.

Last night we packed a bit. We were exhausted and got maybe (maybe) 5 hours of sleep total.

We then got up, finished up some packing and waited for the moving guys. They came late cos one of their crew was a no-show.

Anyway, they took out all the furiture (we are moving the stuff ourselves) out in less than an hour and started bringing everything over. They couldn't fit the huge wardrobe on the first trip, but we are only moving 10 min by car (if that).

So we all work on getting this stuff up. We however wind up with a few revelations:

The narrow-ass stairs may look quaint, but does not fit the boxspring. (Shit.)

Nor the wardrobe. (Double shit.)

Nor our bookcases. (Triple shit.)

Nor the long half of our sectional. (Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!)

... Now, the wardrobe is a bitch to take apart, but the bookcases are no problem.

What about the other two??

Now - we figure we just need to take apart and [mutilate] augment the sofa (taking off the apolstery first) to give us the extra couple of inches we were short, but the boxspring is a different matter.

My lovely and talented wife, however, managed to figure this one out, later in the evening when I was working on the bookshelf.

She went onto Craigslist and looked for a split boxspring - found a few for sale (queen sized) and one (w00t!) for trade for a complete one. The lady evidently has a split, but her frame has no middle cross-piece and wanted to trade. Alyssa got in contact with her and we should be able to have it by this weekend.

We are dead tired and bored. We are hanging out at the old apartment with all our stuff in boxes, on the air matress. We have nothing to entertain us (tv, gamecube, books, dvds) save for the internet, so we are getting a little bored (too tired to surf around and read).

Tomorrow, it's back to work for me, and more working on stuff in the evening. We are likely to go to sleep fairly early.

Alyssa is not a happy camper.

After an extended runaround from the Graduate School of Education, I was not offered the Faculty Assistant position because "some internal candidates applied at the last minute." I am not happy because a) you don't drag someone in for 3 separate face-to- face interviews without some strong sense of making a committment, and b) the job hasn't been posted on Harvard's website for a few weeks now. So how could anyone apply last minute? If I hadn't left my job at BU (yes, I was very well aware that the Harvard thing wasn't by any stretch for sure) I'd be flipping out. I used 1.5 personal days on these interviews, I only get 2 a year, and I used the time up the first month I had the personal days.

Supposedly there is a term position opening up, but after the way I've been treated, I'm really not sure I'm very interested. I feel strongly that I wasn't treated as well as I should have been. I don't mind that its only a year--in a year I might want to do something completely different. Or not. Even so, I'll be internal, and that's a good thing to be at Harvard. They obviously do hire from within and take it more seriously (unlike BU).

Keith and I have decided to screw painting our new apartment. Sure its just a couple hundred bucks, but I need to be applying for jobs, not up to my elbows in bon voyage colored latex paint. After the disorganized way everything has been handled with this new apartment between no addendum changes we discussed after much to-do, a tenant that overstayed her lease, and arguing about cleaning the place as the lease states it should be, I am not sure I want to be there more than a year. In which case, painting would be a waste anyway. I think we either want to buy in a year (a pipe dream, yes, especially without very gainful employment for me) or move outside the city or....who knows? Maybe Keith won't be employed officially by that time either. Then we can leave the overpriced real estate of this burg.

So the furniture is set to be moved early next week with our personal items to follow. We are really losing sleep over whether or not our armoire and Keith's grandmother's china cabinet will make it through the entrance way and up the steps. Really concerned. I don't know what we will do.

So ends my first week of not working. For being unemployed, I must say I've been just as busy if not busier with all the events of the past week. They are as follows:

1) Our move-in could not begin on August 1, 2006. The ditzy undergraduate girl who currently lives in the apartment thought her lease expired the end of this month. We called the landlord, who called her on her cell, where she found out she is in Jersey with her parents. She is booking it back to Boston to move out this weekend, no later than noon on Monday. We now have to arrange for a cleaning service at the landlord's costs now, and delayed our painting, which gives us one less week to move.

2) We have to find a new home for our dining room set, gifted to us last year from Keith's grandparents, as Keith's aunt and uncle plan to rent out their former home this upcoming academic year. As that is fastly approaching, we now have to give up on a weekend of painting and moving to run to Connecticut. I'd be fine going if we hadn't already lost a week to ditzy girl mentioned above.

3) Our engine light came on following a thorough car cleaning (engine and all) in many months. We had to arrange for a car appointment, the earliest available being Wednesday.

4) We went out on Wednesday night to go out with a friend visiting from Orlando. After being home all day, we had to finally leave to pick him up at 6 pm even though I was waiting on a package for the favors for my best friend's bridal shower this weekend (UPS has until 7 pm to deliver) but we made sure our neighbor was home to accept the package on our behalf. Phin and Corrie have accepted our packages for 2 years now, so no problems...or so we thought...

5) However, the driver refused to hand the package over even after Phin identified himself and pointed out the note I'd left, and showed the driver his driving license. Therefore, we called UPS immediately to have them pull the package from the truck and have it ready upon the Customer Service Center opening Thursday. Of course, they didn't pull the package Thursday morning and claimed there were no instructions in the computer to do so. So the Customer Service guy "Mike" got insulting and began acting like a major asshole with Keith by accusing him of not calling Customer Service to have them pull the package, which made me FURIOUS so that I shouted and yelled at him using some copious profanity at times. Once they finally decided to direct us to the warehouse to retrieve the package, we were now 3 hours off schedule instead of 2 (we originally wanted to leave at 6 am). A good bit of our commute was spent talking to UPS. I want this guy's head on a platter. NOW. He shouldn't be out front working with people with that disposition, they need to stick him in a back room somewhere.

6) Our commute then involved me having a medical issue (I'll spare you the details) but suffice it to say I was in a lot of pain. We got my doctor on the phone in Massachusetts to issue an Rx and call it in to Pennsylvania. While Keith was on the phone, we got pulled over by a New Jersey state cop who informed us with a warning that no cell phones (hands free or hand held) were permitted in the state. Of course, we didn't know, and were grateful he let us go considering we were trying to contact my doctor's office.

6) We finally arrived in Pennsylvania on Thursday, just in time for dinner. It was probably our longest run down to the Keystone State ever.

So now I'm in good ol' Bedford hanging out at the old homestead and getting ready for today's party and such. Tomorrow night we'll head back to Lancaster, and then back to Boston Monday.

I still have nothing definitive from Harvard--I followed up mid-morning Tuesday as requested, but, was told that there were some "complicated" issues they were dealing with due to switching around faculty assistants and giving senior faculty new assistants. They were making efforts to contact the one faculty member, who was unaware of the administration's plans to pull his assistant. My contact had a meeting with an Assistant Dean to discuss this issue in further detail. I got the impression that I may be wanted/needed for yet another interview (my fourth in person, my fifth overall counting my inital telephone interview). Yet, they asked me to call back Thursday late in the day. Well, I got preoccupied by the medical issue, so I didn't call them back until Friday morning and left a message. So I am still waiting and no better off than I was over a week ago. Sucks...

This means I'll be talking to Spherion very shortly about temping. With jury duty scheduled for me on August 29th, I'll probably start early September. I'm fine with this. This is only temporary.