Friday, June 25, 2010

To Boise and Back

Last week we took a fairly whirlwind trip to Boise to get the lay of the land. I was worried that Fang wouldn't like the city, but he does--perhaps even more than I do. Yay! You can read his posts about our travels--which included a job interview for Fang--here: day 1, day 2, and day 3. I'm a bit embarrassed to say it's the first trip Fang and I have taken alone since Lucas was born, which made it pleasant in and of itself.

Our travel was made possible by my lovely sister-in-law, who left her beautiful Venice (California) home to stay in our squalid 1978 tract home for a few days and take care of Lucas. She's awesome!

We'll be living about five miles from the university, a bit farther out than I'd like, but still a bikeable distance when the weather is half-decent. Unlike Davis, Boise doesn't have a park or two within walking distance of every house, and when I look at a map of the city, it seems our neighborhood has a greater park paucity than most. It's a great house, but because it's a block from a major street and a freeway onramp, it's not a place we'd buy--but it will be OK to rent for a couple years.

We also landed Lucas a spot in a decent preschool, albeit one that doesn't admit students until August, at about the same time I begin work, so we'll need to entertain Lucas for a month while we're settling in and I'm putting together the final details for my courses.

There will be difficult adjustments. Lucas calls Boise "the faraway home," and he's very excited to be moving there. But his best friend here told Lucas he'll be moving with him to the faraway home, and we're having a hard time convincing Lucas otherwise.

Lucas pointed out yesterday that when we're in Boise, Davis will be "the faraway home." Indeed.

On the home front, we've begun packing in earnest, as our move is less than three weeks away. I've removed most of the art from the walls and have been busy patching up nail holes, packing up framed prints and paintings, and boxing up just about anything I figure we can live without for the next month. Because we finally have an address in Boise, we're now able to secure a mover, and we're getting estimates from three next week.

It's been a few years since we've moved, and about a decade since we changed towns, and I'm just now remembering what a PITA moving is. Moving across state lines makes things more difficult, as our health, auto, and renters insurance policies are California-specific.

My own work in the teaching center is winding down a bit. Between it being summer and my frequent faculty contacts knowing that I'm leaving, I'm finding myself putting out fewer little fires, which means I can move the reports I need to write to the front burner. I'm working up until just a day or two before we drive to Boise, which is a bit insane, I know, but it's all a carefully choreographed dance of enough time to finish up projects, paycheck timing, health insurance expiration, Fang's work responsibilities, and cleaning up the house for a walk-through with the landlord.

As you can see, things are relatively boring here. It's mostly a matter of taking care of bureaucratic stuff--phone, internet, cable, insurance, forwarding mail, etc.

To make things more, um, interesting, on Tuesday I have to respond to a jury summons--I'm hoping I don't have to go to the courthouse, as my doing so would be a waste of everyone's time. I'm not able to serve on a long trial, since I'm moving, and the fact that I've attended many a rally and community meeting against the county D.A. and to protest Ajay Dev's unfair trial might tip off the lawyers and judge that I'm doubtful about the quality of justice being meted out in the county's courts. Back in May, when I was first summoned, I tried to explain my moving situation to the nice person who answers the jury hotline, but the best she could do for me was postpone my service until after the school year rather than excuse me completely. Honestly, I'd be happy to serve on a jury, but I suspect I'm highly unlikely to make it onto a case.

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

6 comments:

L said...

Well, we are you guys four to five weeks in the future right now. And I don't think I'd describe what you're going through as boring, quite the contrary, it's a pretty lively, slightly scary descent into chaos that's both exciting (b/c of the impending move) and plenty sad and exhausting.

I don't want to go through this again, but most probably (if all goes well with K's interview) we'll be moving again in a year. Heavy, heavy sigh.

The whole bureaucratic aspect of moving though, yeah, you're perfectly right, that is boring. yikes!

Anyway, I'm glad things seem to be on track for a relatively smooth transition. The whole "doing it ourselves" side of our move made it for a horribly bumpy transition, so I'm hoping that next year there are movers. Please, let there be movers!! ;-)

I should go check Fang's posts right now. I should actually add his blog to my blogroll, ya know!

auto ethnographer said...

Good to hear that Fang relates to the new environs (I wish that had been the case for me when we moved here, and I, as the trailing spouse, found myself in what felt like a dinky little village to which I could not at all relate). TH was busy (like you will be) trying to adjust to the TT, course preps, and department culture/politics--and had zero time to have any angst about the wider world. BTW, he spent a few of his teen-aged years in Twin Falls, though, and says Idaho definitely has its charm!

fairbetty said...

Ugh, I know the feeling of the PITA part of moving. The little details (i.e. address changing, insurance changing, moving estimates...), the STUFF that you have to look at and decide if you want to move... but it'll happen, sure enough.

I'm excited to hear how you find Boise once you get have transitioned there, how your job goes, and am also looking forward to hearing how you manage the seasons changing since now we'll both be living in places that get a LOT of snow!

Leslie M-B said...

Fairbetty,

Actually Boise doesn't get much snow at all--it's semi-arid. So it is *I* who will get to enjoy you experiencing a ton of snow! :)

fairbetty said...

Ha! Well, you can bet I'll post about it. I can't believe Boise is so dry!

Anonymous said...

Great post!