Sunshine

A gorgeous sunny day-- still a bit chilly, but warm weather approaches. Lots and lots going on. My UK entry clearance was turned around by the Chicago UK Consulate in record time, so all is good on the travel front. Lynn has turned the house upside down in preparation for the city-wide garage sale; we've had a few friends stop by to pick up a variety of items that aren't making the trip with us. Lynn sold one of our cars-- we're pretty sure we have a buyer for one of the bikes. Progress.

I'm a bit swamped with ongoing work, especially as I want to get as much done as possible before we leave for Costa Rica. Mike Larsen asked me if I was aware of the theories about needing only 45 minutes of sleep per night to survive. I'd actually heard that from a cab driver in Los Angeles about 15 years ago... The cabbie swore he'd been trained to do that by the US military-- it was a fascinating if oddly disturbing (and, from the backseat of a cab) and slightly anxiety-provoking story.

We're still searching the property sites for an apartment in Edinburgh. As summer approaches more properties seem to be coming available, so hopefully when I'm there in late May there will be lots of good options.

Taran's been acting out at home and school the last few days-- two office referrals this week. I think it's stressful for him to see us give away and sell off so many of our (and his) belongings. Kenna's been a bit cranky, but mostly manage-able.

Keeping our fingers crossed for the sale of the house. Everything seems to be slowly falling into place. We still have some coordination for the Costa Rica trip, including what on earth to pack for a 5-week retreat, but as far as I'm concerned if we have bathing suits and a change of clothes, it will be fine.

Adam

Babysteps to Scotland

Well, only a couple days late on this one. Amazing how a week gets past me.

No shortage of things to do for the dissertation, ongoing research, relocation, etc. The driver's side door lock isn't working on our Honda-- without power locks that's actually quite an annoyance. The lawn needs work, there's no shortage of small house projects that should get done, we're going to Minneapolis for a couple days so I can attend an educators' conference and we can visit with Lynn's family, I need to apply for entry visas for Lynn and the kids (my application is in-- hope it comes back with my passport before my next trip to the UK), and so on and so on.

I can't say how much I am looking forward to being in Costa Rica in June, even if I have to spend time completing the dissertation while I'm there. I have begun doing short yoga practices in the morning, and although there's no way I'll be in very good shape when we get there, I already feel a bit more physically functional. The cumulative toll of the extended study process is surprising-- mostly self-inflicted, of course, but still impressive. The advent of allergy season here in Wisconsin hasn't helped either.

I'm coming to the conclusion that we're simply going to have to rent a storage facility before we leave. As much as we've done to pare down our belongings, and as much as we will continue to do so and divvy out boxes of stuff to friends and family, there just seems to be too much to me that we won't be able to sift and winnow away. The detritus of American living rests on nearly mindless accumulation and then reluctance to reduce. I'm suddenly struck that it might have a parallel with why Americans are overweight as well...

In the meantime, the days slip past and there's always something to be excited about and something to generate anxiety. This past weekend one of our sailing club connections (John Feith) introduced us to the members of Puppet State Theatre, an Edinburgh-based performance group on tour in the US who did a couple shows at the Overture Center in Madison. Their production of The Man Who Planted Trees (Jean Giono) was absolutely fantastic-- Lynn and I loved it and the kids thought it was hysterical. Actual quotes:

- "The show was really funny because of the dog." Kenna
- "I liked when the dog said, '280? 280?' That was really silly.'" Taran

We had the opportunity to hang out with Elspeth, the technical manager, on Friday night and then meet Richard and Rick on Saturday after the performance. Ta-da! Friends in Edinburgh without even having to go there first :) Edinburgh already feels friendlier and more accessible.

Now if we could just get the house sold...

April already

So much for adding to this weekly...

It's April 5th-- much progress and lots of confusion. I've started dealing with getting the UK visas (entry clearance), the first step of which appears to be that I need the University of Edinburgh to ship me back my MBA diploma. Then it just gets more complicated. Considering that we also need to get our passports renewed, and yet we'll need those passports to go to Costa Rica... some days it seems like it would be a lot easier to simply delay the whole moving process and just commute for Fall term.

Taran's leg is mostly healed, and he's walking (or, rather, hopping) around with a crutch and sometimes his walker. The kids had a great sleepover at my parents' house (great according to the kids-- Mom and Dad seemed to enjoy it, but I avoided asking whether the kids slept well or not), and Lynn is generally very happy to be ramping down her work load.

The house is on the market, and we've had a number of people do the walkthrough, but no indications of serious interest yet. We've begun the seemingly enormous task of going through every single thing we own (e-gads there's a lot of it)-- realistically Lynn is doing the majority of work.

I'm not even going to get into the list of things I have to do from a research/writing perspective, but suffice to say I already missed one important deadline for a publication and I'm not sure what the plan is for making it up. The true academic experience kicks in, I guess.

No travel until I go back to the UK in May, so I'll try to do better about adding to this on a regular weekly interval, and hopefully getting Lynn and the kids to add their 2 cents (or more) as well.

Cheers