February 27, 2011

The time finally arrived to begin the move out to the Midwest.  And it seemed appropriate to provide a travel log of our trip.  We tried to snap photos of our entry into each state along the way (unfortunately, due to some inattention on our part we sailed right by the the very last one - WI - even though that is where we were landing up).  For the start, you can see we got our Camry fully loaded and Jo all ready start her adventure in Milwaukee.  Our first stop was in Hartford to drop off a car for my return on Sunday since I'm still in CT for a few months.  After that we had pretty smooth sailing all the way to Scranton, PA after which Mother Nature decided she would need to add some adventure to our trip.  A large storm was our companion from there until Toledo, Ohio.  The first day was simply rain which while making driving a wee bit more challenging isn't that hard to deal with. 

We stopped for the night in Clarion, PA to get a good night's rest to tackle the second leg of the journey.  Oh what a mistake.  We should have kept driving all the way through Ohio since by the time we woke up and got started the next day the rain had switched over to snow.  We drove for 4 hours through everything from flurries to blizzard conditions, sometimes creeping along at 30 miles an hour following the truck in front of us. 

But by the time we hit Toledo, the sun broke through the clouds and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.  We learned along with the way that this is a really big country since we only traversed one-third of it and covered all of 7 states.  But we had a great time catching up on back episodes of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" podcasts (you can download them at NPR and a special thanks to Sheri and Bruno for hooking us on them), talking about the next chapter in our life, and realizing we both deal with driving in the snow stress differently (yes, I get snippy while Jo just kind of freaks out a little).  Oh and we also realized why we usually fly everywhere - this is a really big country and driving across it takes a long time.

But Jo is settled in her new temporary home and we have stocked the kitchen with enough food for a small village.  She starts her new job on Tuesday and she is looking forward/kind of nervous about getting that underway.  I have my last week at Pfizer coming up and then after that, who knows.....happy retirement?

On our photo montage, we determined it actually hard to take a picture of an object from a speeding car (remember some of these were taken at speeds of 65 mph, or possibly greater) with a digital, self-focusing camera.  So sorry for the picture quality and the fact that you can't actually read many of the signs - trust us they are the states we drove through.

February 21, 2011

Happy Birthday to the Presidents!!

Jo had a great trip to Phoenix and landed back in CT all safe and sound, although not without a little bit of adventure.  After making it from Phoenix to Chicago, she managed to miss her connecting flight since they moved it to a different gate without her hearing or seeing the announcement.  I'll let it up to the individual reader to decide if it was American's fault or Jo's.  I have my opinion which in the interest of marital bliss I'll choose not to post.  Fortunately, as an executive platinum flyer on American she was able to find another flight leaving that day, although 3 hours later.  That adventure aside, she had a wonderful time soaking up some warm weather in Phoenix, since there has been precious little of that on the east coast this year.  It was also nice for Jo to catch up with her niece, nephew-in-law, and great niece (I think those are all the right terms.  Does make you feel a bit old to be a great aunt and great uncle).  Jo had a fun getting to know Maggie and doing a little hiking without having to wear fourteen layers to stay warm.  Back in CT, we did manage a little warmer weather last week - hitting a high of 60 degrees on one day - but we are still dealing with massive piles of snow that covers everything.  Although a little green is trying to peak out from where the septic tank is buried (how's that for an image). 

Work is winding down for me with only ten days remaining in my time with Pfizer.  While it is definitely time for us to move on, it will be hard leaving the company we have worked at for the last 9+ years especially all the people we have gotten to know.  We both had a great time at Pfizer and certainly got to experience things we never thought we would.  Jo's helicopter trips to NY and travel to exotic places around the world.  My experience with filing a drug and trips to Puerto Rico and the UK (I know, Jo wins in the travel to exotic place category).  We have also really enjoyed living in CT with the runs along the shoreline, our house in the woods with all the woodland creatures, and certainly the fresh lobster rolls every summer.   

Well enough nostalgia, this last weekend we spent the majority of it weekend hunkered down trying to catch up on several months of taped television shows. We know that isn't the most productive use of our time, but with Jo about to move to Milwaukee it was needed to get current on American Idol and our favorite sitcoms. Saturday night we threw ourselves a going away party with our friends from CT (Sheri and Bruno, Deb and Rich, and Mary and David). After enjoying a home cooked Mexican meal (without the traditional Mexican dessert of Baked Alaskan - inside joke, ask Deb some time) we sat around and chatted as we traded some favorite memories and just connected with all of them one more time.  I particularly enjoyed my new clock to help me accurately keep track of the day - which will start to blend all together in another 2 weeks!  One can only hope.

February 12, 2011

It has been a while since I updated this blog but things are finally slowing down enough that I should have time to be a little more diligent.  As you probably are aware at this point, we are leaving Connecticut and Pfizer to start another chapter in our life in Milwaukee.  Jo has a great new position there and I'm going to take some time off to figure out what is next - which might include being retired permanently.

We took two house hunting trips to Milwaukee during which we toured almost 25 homes.  We struggled to find the right combination of location, house size/style, price, and condition.  It has been hard to find something to replace our beautiful home in CT.  We finally settled on a smaller home in a great neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee that is just north of where Jo will be working (it is about 3 miles to work so she should have about a 10 minute commute).  We can walk to shops and restaurants which will be nice after having to get in our car to go anywhere here.  Although we will certainly miss the peace and solitude our forest has provided.  That and the 3,000 square feet of living space we are giving up - there will be a great yard sale in Milwaukee in May as we need to shed a lot of furniture to squeeze into our new place (of course, one could wonder how much living space two people really need - trust me, it is Jo that takes up all the space.  One advantage to writing this blog - I get to define history).

We are also in the throes of selling our home in CT.  We are experiencing first hand everything you have been reading in the press lately about how poor the real estate market is.  We still are hoping for the best will work out on that front.  One thing that hasn't helped has been the relentless snow this year.  We are buried under the stuff and only in the last week and a half has there been any break since January.  We typically get snow which then melts since our temperatures are usually around 38-40 in the winter.  This year it has been some snow every 3 days with frigid temperatures in between, meaning it just keeps piling up.  Our bird bath and lower wall in the back yard are almost completely buried - in case you were curious our bird bath is a little over 3 feet tall.  It has been a challenge keeping the driveway, walkways, and patios clear for house showings.  Fortunately, there are predictions of warmer weather for the coming week, we can only hope they are true.

Jo is enjoying her brief time as a retired person by catching up on cleaning out some closets, afternoon naps, and extra yoga classes.  She also decided to seek some warmer temperatures and is currently spending a week visiting our niece, husband, and our 2 year old grand-niece (at least I think that is the right geneological term) who live outside of Phoenix.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure she is going to want to start working again.  I'm sure she will get bored in another couple of weeks, but I'm not 100% certain of that.  For me, I have only 3 weeks left at Pfizer before I join the ranks of the "temporarily" retired.

So stay tuned, as we completely turn over our life to try another adventure in Wisconsin!