Freight Train Runnin' thru the Middle of My Head

Mo' better views...
Yesterday it was a trail at Morgan's Steep; today we timed the walk from our house to the incredible lookout onto the valley at the end of Greensview (so named not because of the spectacular and...yes, green...view that awaits you at the end but because it offers a view of the University's golf course).  It's about 18 minutes at a medium pace. 

Moved some boxes into my huge new office, which is posh in size but has it's definite minuses (mainly no A/C).  Time for one of those crazy "wind machine" fans from the Winchester Wal-Mart. 

Finally got mail delivered to the house today, after some contention with the postal carrier about where the mailbox should be.  I also have an official "SPO" box now (Student Post Office), but all I had in it was the weekly newspaper, The Messenger.  Basically it doesn't have much news but instead offers announcements for events, weddings, births, and clubs, as well as what you might call "society info."  I would put a link here, but I don't think you can get it on line.

Hiking
We took off to explore a tiny piece of the 30 some miles of trails here on "The Domain." It was gorgeous, and I kept pinching myself because I couldn't believe that I live here. I need to soak it all in now before the real work begins, but I'm excited about the prospect of exploring all the trails, finding the waterfalls, taking photos, enjoying the low humidity. I have to get back to preparing a presentation now. The Sandlin-Griffey household is currently sharing one computer, and it is rough. The clock is ticking on my allotted time!!

Walking without a map
So, I took off walking today, sick of unpacking and waiting on the cable guy and the guy with our washer and dryer.  Jason is still at home, and still neither of these people has shown up.  The good news is we now have phone service.
 
Walking without a map, and just a rough notion of where things are, I found out the following.  Walking, we live:

5 minutes from the hospital
15 minutes from my classroom/office building
16 minutes from the library
18 minutes from the student bookstore (with coffee shop)
20 minutes from the town post office, my new bank, the utility companies, and the two restaurants in town

In a span of two hours, I have walked all over the place, opened a checking account, gotten utilities switched into our name, gone to the post office, checked email, and now blogged.  It is slightly overcast, a nice temperature (maybe 80 or so?) and no humidity.  Ahhhh, Sewanee.

First post from Sewanee!!!!!
Some interesting Sewanee-esque things that have happened so far:
1. The housing office is empty. No one who can help us is here this week. So, we're squatters in a home we're supposed to be renting, and we have no keys to lock it. This seems to bother no one here, so we're trying to just go with the flow. Can you imagine leaving your house unlocked where you live??

2. "Sewanee is prone to inexplicable power outages." A statement I read this morning in a "Guide to Sewanee" put together for new faculty members. It's true. In the (not even) two days that we've been here, we've had probably a half dozen power surges/outages. I blamed it on the storms, but apparently they're a normal occurence. I guess we'll need to buy batteries for our alarm clock. And our phone went out in the storm a few days ago, and we still don't have service. Looks like it could be a while.

3. It's a small, small town. We went to the post office to see if they were holding mail for us. All the guy at the desk had to do was yell our last names out to the guy behind him and our mail was instantly produced. No files to look in, no looking of things up in a computer, nothing. I called the utility companies today to see about switching things over to my name, and they are all located on one street, basically side-by-side. I will walk there this afternoon. Oh, and there is ONE gas station to go with the one red light.

4. At the Wal Mart, 20 minutes away, there is no Diet Coke with lime flavor. What will I do??? There was, however, a vendor inside the Wal Mart making and selling custom airbrush t-shirts.

All in all, I'm having a blast already. I'm enjoying all the "only in Sewanee" quirks. There will be more to come, I'm sure.

Last post from North Carolina!!!!!!!!!!!
Just wanted to say goodbye to everyone before our cable gets yanked in about 2 minutes. Everything is packed, the cats are freaked out, and we're sad, but ready to get on the road tomorrow. The next time you hear from us we'll be high atop the mountain in Sewanee. It's been fun!!

Pocket Kings
So I admit it. I'm one of those dumb people who just now figured out that poker might be pretty cool. I know, it's been around for ages. Yes, yes. It would be so much better to say that I've been playing for years. But it would be a lie. And yes, I have to admit, it is partially because Sean Astin got his butt kicked on Celebrity Poker Showdown (thanks, Bravo!) that I've become interested. But I've also been watching the pro's on ESPN, so don't judge me people! The fact that I can sit still and watch anybody play poker for 2 solid hours just proves that I do not have, in any way shape or form, any kind of attention deficit disorder.

So anyway, last night I played Texas Hold 'Em for the first time and crushed all my opponents (who shall remain nameless). I spanked them all. A combination of good cards and lots of bluffing once I was up by an insane amount of chips. I know it was beginner's luck, but it still made me smile to think that even I could have (maybe) beat Sean Astin.

Yes, I'm 30
Yesterday I hit the so-called "big 3-0" (no it doesn't feel different. no i'm not in mourning. yes it's fine and no i don't miss my youth or feel it slipping away or something...)

Truth is, I like myself way better now than I did at 18. Or 21 or even 25. The older I get, the more sure of myself I become and the less likely I am to put up with people/things/ideas that don't jive with me. This makes me a happier, more real person. I used to sort of crawl through life like a chameleon, adapting to whatever situation or crowd I happened to be in. I think it was because I was afraid to be the real me. Now, my philosophy is "This is it. If you don't like it, so long." It's a relief to live this way.

The birthday was an incredible swirl of tasty drinks beginning at midnight (thanks, Bill!!!!), chicken nachos, some sound sleep, lunch out and shopping with Jen (thanks, Jen! Cool gift!!), dinner out, an icecream cake and a wacky game of Balderdash with Karen, Tacia, Loren, and Jerry (thanks, gang!). Even my dad and brother called to wish me a happy one, which sounds normal to some people but not to me. All in all, a low key but fantastic 24 hours.

Silly things
I've bought my niece Kelsi around 12 books so far this summer, and she has read all of them. Some have come from a "step into reading" series called Pinky Dinky Doo. The last one she read she said she liked because (and I quote): "It makes me wanna do silly things." Awesome. We should all wanna do silly things sometimes.

That's me: I wanna sleep and I wanna do silly things. That's about it lately. Not motivated to do much else. But the move is almost here, and that will kick start me, I'm sure. Meanwhile, there has been lots of dessert eating and lots of napping. Not a healthy combination. But silly, yes.

Goodbye Durham
I'm not sure, because you can never tell where we're going to end up on any given day, but I think last night was our farewell to the Durham vertex of the so-called Triangle. Went to a very muggy Bulls' game, hosted by our fun real estate agent. There was free food and beer, so no one minded the sweltering conditions or the fact that we lost to Charlotte, 7 to 5. The fireworks were pretty decent, even if they tended toward the monochromatic (as Rick pointed out) and even if we did get some ashes on us because we were sitting in the third base picnic area, right on the field.

Afterwards, we decided to take advantage of being so close to Ninth Street by heading down to one of my all-time favorite Triangle locales, Francesca's. If you haven't been there in a while, they've expanded. More seating, so although you still have to wait in line to even get a glimpse of the tasty treats in the display case, it's no problem finding a seat. Two cups of coffee, an orange chocolate chip biscotti and a slice of Oreo cheesecake and lots of conversation about leaving and new beginnings. That's how J and I concluded our farewell tour in Durham.

The end of Freight Train
We're down to 10 days left in North Carolina. Pretty crazy. I'm going to end this blog by the time we leave or soon thereafter, because I feel like I'm closing one chapter of my life and starting a new one. A new chapter calls for a new words and so, a new blog. I'll let you know when the big switch takes place.

Meanwhile, the goodbye events are starting to stack up. I'm getting emails from people I haven't seen in ages, people who suddenly want to see me before I leave. It's weird, considering we didn't spend much time together before. As for me, I don't handle emotion well in front of others. So it will seem that I am fine with this change, and that the only thing I feel is excitement. Inside the walls of what will soon be someone else's house, it may be a different story. When you live somewhere for six years, you tend to get attached, and not just to specific people. In my case, I get attached to the feel of the place, the vibe. Hard to explain to someone who doesn't feel it, too. Ok, enough whining. I'm off to a lunch at an old favorite, Elmo's, and later, my last Durham Bulls' game.