Goodbye house (4/3/8)

Goodbye first home! This was my first real home other than my parent's place, and only because Ilsa moved in with me. We had a very warm and comfortable home with great memories -- and it is hard to leave it behind. We will make a new great home out in California, and yet it is hard to leave the place where we started growing our family together. So -- with one last picture, we're off!

Brian Turner (4/2/8)

We went to see Brian Turner on Wednesday night after the movers finished taking everything. He's a poet who served in Iraq as a soldier and wrote a great book called "Here, Bullet" about his experiences. He was a very engaging reader. Ilsa wrote the program notes for him (very good!) and he was very inspiring. He described the country as being decadent about the war -- our lack of caring for the traumatized families on both sides. His point was that regardless of our feelings about the war, to wage war without taking care of the consequences is somewhere between decadent and immoral. I could not agree more, and am troubled by how little I've done to put my time and money where my beliefs are on this point.

The truck that ate our house

Stress

Moving is stressful, there's no two ways about it. My immune system is fighting to get over this sore throat I've had for three weeks and Ilsa and I are both exhibiting other signs of stress. The dogs certainly can tell something's in the air -- they are quite disturbed and off their normal routines. Lots of extra pets are going their way -- which, as many of you know, helps the petter as much as the pettee! Lowered blood pressure and reduced stress are good things for us right now... The house is empty, empty, empty -- huge areas with no furniture and the little detritus of our years here...

The little death of a home

We packed up on Tuesday the 1st -- April First!! And it was not a joke that we were moving. The guys from South Hills Movers came in and encased our belongings in cardboard on Tuesday and moved them all out to the truck on Wednesday. Strange that all that we moved from the house could fit into 1/3 of a truck. Nice guys, and efficient. They reminded me of the good-natured qualities of yinzers, for sure. It was strange having them move us out -- not too much for us to do except try to keep the stuff we needed for the drive out separate. I worked some; Ilsa ran some important errands. We ate at the Park House on Tuesday night -- and it's totally changed to a hipster bar, although they still have the peanuts we like.

Tony (3/31/8)

We took a short break to go hear Anthony Bourdain speak on Monday night. He's funny and smart and humble enough to recognize he's very lucky. He also said he wouldn't knowingly eat dogs -- we liked that. We took Christian and Lori for a belated xmas present and had a good time.

Give it away, give it away, give it away now (Party, 3/29/2008)

We had a few friends over on Saturday for a going-away party where we tried to push our extra stuff on our friends. Some of them humored us and took some things -- and, much much more importantly, we had a great time toasting our time in the 'burgh and our new plans. The house was a mess, the booze was all for the taking -- and despite some heroic efforts (and some rather (link to hangover cat -- hungover people), there was much left over. Twas nice to see everyone, however, and we will miss our friends in Pittsburgh!