Sweet Home Alabama

I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath for an update about life in Alabama. Right? Fine, no one even noticed I had been offline. I see how you are. I don’t know how people survived before the internet. I was going through some serious withdrawls until I finally got a computer at work on Wednesday. I don’t have a computer at home so I spent most of my evenings curled up in a ball in the corner, rocking back and forth and muttering to myself. I have a computer now but no internet connection so I have to find a restaurant that offers wireless to its customers. See what I go through for this blog thing? Sheesh.

So my last day at work was really nice. My coworkers arranged a potluck lunch and gave me a few gifts as a going away present. I got a collage with pictures that defined my work out there (White Sands Test Facility) over the last 11 years. Everyone signed around the border to give it that personal touch. My roomie also made another collage that summarized our antics over the years. And, a bunch of them pitched in and bought a really nice, framed pin set (the kind of pin you wear on your clothes) that had the logo for all the shuttle missions from 1997 – 2002. They also gave me a couple of gift cards with the left over money. It was all very nice and a little emotional too. I tell you, it sure felt weird being on that side of the going away party.

My last few days at home were hectic as I tried to get everything ready but with the help of my wonderful family, we managed to get ‘er dun. We all went out to eat one last time on Monday (11/17). Then I spent most of the day Tuesday stuffing the Camaro to the gills and the Titan beyond the gills before driving into the great unknown at about 3:00 that afternoon. I have a very vivid memory of looking up the street as I turned the corner and watching Dana, Kevin and Cade waving goodbye. Cameron had already gone inside. (More on that in a second) Two days later I arrived, after a relatively uneventful trip, at our new home in Athens, AL. When it was all said and done, I slept in 4 states in 4 days (and drove through part of another).

Poor little Cameron was apparently taking my moving harder than we all realized. The next day at school, Kevin was called to the Principal’s office to console his little brother. Cameron started crying when he got in class and couldn’t quit so the teacher sent him to the office to settle him down (Like that’s going to help! That would have freaked me out when I was his age!). Sweet Kevin talked to Cam and stayed there until he was ok but Kevin later admitted he almost started crying too. That broke my heart when I heard that!

Everyone keeps telling me the area is in a drought but I think I’ve already seen more rain than I did in Las Cruces all year. These people have no idea what a drought is. And it’s cold here! What the heck? And what’s with days like Monday where the overnight low was 34 and the high was 37? It’s a different world.

And people talk funny here.

I’m still trying to figure out what it is that I do at work. And talk about acronym city! I thought WSTF was bad. I’m not kidding – in a meeting Friday one slide was titled something like “FC/ACU ERB ECC DAC2B”. Now you tell me what that means.

I’m slowly starting to pick up on things but I think it will be awhile before I can be productive. Right now I spend pretty much all day in meetings but I don’t have anything to contribute. It bothers me to be like that. I want to jump in and get my hands dirty and get going.

In general, I think people are more friendly here but I hate the way they drive. If the speed limit is 60, someone in each lane will idle out of the stoplight and take their time getting up to 40. More often than not, they’re in the fast lane. If they’re not doing that, they’re busy squeezing into the space between you and the car in front of you – regardless if there is room or not. But it’s OK, because most of them will flash their turn signal once.

Oh, and several people thought I was from Mexico.

I’m not overly impressed with the house I’m living in. Actually, I really don’t like it but I’m trying not to complain. It’s a cookie cutter house that was built as quickly and cheaply as possible. So things like the poor installation of the fake wood on the floors (areas with bubbles that pop when you walk through) and poor insulation throughout the house (and none in the garage) get old pretty quick. I’ve come to realize how much I really LOVE my house in Las Cruces. I’m really going to miss it and our neighbors. There are NO signs of kids anywhere near this neighborhood. I never even see anyone outside. I guess they like to keep to themselves and enjoy the peace and quiet. Just wait until everyone gets a load of the boys and all our toys! Maybe I can talk some of the golfers into a drag race across the driving range with my dirt bike!

Since I got here I've been seeing fliers and hearing advertisements for all the Christmas parades and activities. One of them was a parade of lights on the River. I thought that sounded pretty neat so I plugged the address into my Garmin last night and headed out. Jack (Garmin's name for the voice) took me to my destination which was about 6 or 7 miles from where I was supposed to be. To add insult to injury I drove right by the place on the way to nowhere. There's probably a joke about relying on a guy for directions here but I'm not going there. Anyway, once I got there, I got out and stood by the water while I waited for the parade to start. Soon the cold started soaking in and the parade was late starting. Eventually the first boat came around into view. Then another and another. Eight in all! You're kidding, right? All that hype for 8 boats? I stood in below freezing weather and drove all over Decatur (although I did stop and get gas for $1.53/gal) for 8 boats!?!

I go back to NM on the 18th! I can’t wait. I’ll drag the family across the country with me right around New Year’s Day.

I'm having some serious issues with the formatting today so I'm including my pictures at the end and I'll include the text here (Seriously - major formatting issues). They're all out of order too (mostly backwards) and I can't rearrange them. Sorry.

First picture: This is right before I get to the parking lot at work. Pretty drive.
Second picture: This is one of the routes I can take to work. It's slower but prettier than the main route.
Third picture: I saw this tree downtown and thought it was really pretty. I want the boys to see some of the colors around here.
Fourth picture: That's our new home on the right.

Disclaimer - the next few pictures were taken while I was driving so excuse the prominent dashboard or other features in the picture. I wasn't looking at the camera when I took the picture. Literally just point and shoot.

Fifth picture: Picture of the river. It has about as many boats on it now as it did during the parade.
Sixth picture: Sweet home Alabama.
Seventh picture: This is in Dallas. I took this to show the boys the colors on the trees.
Eighth picture: The scenery is changing from what I'm used to.
Ninth picture: Downtown Dallas. This picture is for Dana.
Tenth picture: West Texas. This is where they make all the wind. Sometimes in the Spring I wish they would turn it off.

I had some pictures of some of the boats last night but I can't upload them. Maybe next time...