3.26.2003
So LSU it is... we're moving to Baton Rouge! Woohoo!
For those who don't know, Baton Rouge is the capital, and it's just over an hour from New Orleans, which means that anyone is welcome to come stay with us and drive/ride down for Mardi Gras madness... we'll certainly be doing it the first year. =) New Orleans is good for many other reasons as well, but that's the one everyone would ask about, I'm sure. We're both very excited. It's hard to tell how Patti feels, though... she hasn't really made friends with the other cats here, but she doesn't seem to be looking forward to the move, either. We thought briefly of trying to fly her down, until I got a mental picture of her changing planes in the baggage department of an airport, howling and emptying her bladder all over the place, and I decided it would be better to have her with us, even though it'll be several days getting down there (Budget truck rental, the cheapest one, will give us the truck for 6 days). Once we get there, where will we live, you ask? Well, that's an excellent question. We don't know. Originally, we thought, "Let's buy a house!" Now we're thinking, "Let's go visit, check out the market, look at some apartments, get a 6-month lease somewhere, and use that time to do real house shopping." Doing a marathon session on our first house purchase seems risky at best. Plus, if we close on a house a few months before our lease is up, it'll give us time to paint before any furniture is there, possibly put up a wallpaper border, and MOST importantly, move our stuff over gradually in our cars and then only rent a truck for one day for the big stuff. We're going to Baton Rouge April 10-13 with Jack's mom and possibly his dad to look around, interview realtors, and find an apartment. I got an apartment guide when I was down there before, and we found several nice places; at least, they look nice on paper. Hence the visit. With any luck, we should be able to get a cheap place we can stand to live in for half a year that's somewhere on the LSU bus route (the free bus that the school runs all around the neighborhood where most of the off-campus students live).
Jack is checking out several job possibilities. The most obvious option, Borders, isn't really an option, because the nearest one is about an hour away. He's looking at other bookstores for interim jobs, but mostly, he just wants to do something in IT and would gladly take any suggestions or connections anyone has with someone in the area. He's got a few names already from people at work, but it's hard to investigate his options when we're 1200 miles away.
In other news, we're listening to the webcast of our beloved Alma Mater, Queens, in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II tournament. We're playing Eckerd College, and we've been ahead for most of the game. Queens apparently paid for the webcast, so during the breaks, the announcers keep babbling about the Core program, the International Experience program (the one that paid for me to go to Nice last summer), and Mailboxes Etc. and Wolfman Pizza, who co-sponsored the webcast. It's fun. We keep hearing names of people we knew, and it's very cool. Hehehe. I hope we win. We made it to the Elite Eight two years ago but lost... so it goes. We're up 54-47 right now, somewhere in the second half. Okay, I'm going to go, before I have to amend the score again... it was 44, then 45, now 47... NO! We liked our lead. Love to all... I'm signing out now.
For those who don't know, Baton Rouge is the capital, and it's just over an hour from New Orleans, which means that anyone is welcome to come stay with us and drive/ride down for Mardi Gras madness... we'll certainly be doing it the first year. =) New Orleans is good for many other reasons as well, but that's the one everyone would ask about, I'm sure. We're both very excited. It's hard to tell how Patti feels, though... she hasn't really made friends with the other cats here, but she doesn't seem to be looking forward to the move, either. We thought briefly of trying to fly her down, until I got a mental picture of her changing planes in the baggage department of an airport, howling and emptying her bladder all over the place, and I decided it would be better to have her with us, even though it'll be several days getting down there (Budget truck rental, the cheapest one, will give us the truck for 6 days). Once we get there, where will we live, you ask? Well, that's an excellent question. We don't know. Originally, we thought, "Let's buy a house!" Now we're thinking, "Let's go visit, check out the market, look at some apartments, get a 6-month lease somewhere, and use that time to do real house shopping." Doing a marathon session on our first house purchase seems risky at best. Plus, if we close on a house a few months before our lease is up, it'll give us time to paint before any furniture is there, possibly put up a wallpaper border, and MOST importantly, move our stuff over gradually in our cars and then only rent a truck for one day for the big stuff. We're going to Baton Rouge April 10-13 with Jack's mom and possibly his dad to look around, interview realtors, and find an apartment. I got an apartment guide when I was down there before, and we found several nice places; at least, they look nice on paper. Hence the visit. With any luck, we should be able to get a cheap place we can stand to live in for half a year that's somewhere on the LSU bus route (the free bus that the school runs all around the neighborhood where most of the off-campus students live).
Jack is checking out several job possibilities. The most obvious option, Borders, isn't really an option, because the nearest one is about an hour away. He's looking at other bookstores for interim jobs, but mostly, he just wants to do something in IT and would gladly take any suggestions or connections anyone has with someone in the area. He's got a few names already from people at work, but it's hard to investigate his options when we're 1200 miles away.
In other news, we're listening to the webcast of our beloved Alma Mater, Queens, in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II tournament. We're playing Eckerd College, and we've been ahead for most of the game. Queens apparently paid for the webcast, so during the breaks, the announcers keep babbling about the Core program, the International Experience program (the one that paid for me to go to Nice last summer), and Mailboxes Etc. and Wolfman Pizza, who co-sponsored the webcast. It's fun. We keep hearing names of people we knew, and it's very cool. Hehehe. I hope we win. We made it to the Elite Eight two years ago but lost... so it goes. We're up 54-47 right now, somewhere in the second half. Okay, I'm going to go, before I have to amend the score again... it was 44, then 45, now 47... NO! We liked our lead. Love to all... I'm signing out now.
Labels: crappy second apartment, Louisiana, school
- posted by erica 3/26/2003 07:21:00 PM
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