Day 1: Planes, trains, and automobiles

I'm a bit behind but things have been a little busy for us thus far. I wanted to hurry up and post about the traveling because so many of you have asked already. I left Jacksonville around 3pm on Monday and went first to Houston and then on to Los Angeles. Bren met me in LA at around 8ish Pacific time and we went to the United Club (a fancy room for people who have United credit card - which Brendan does). We boarded the international flight around 10 and were quite tired by that point (it was now 1am EST). The international plane was a double-decker and we hit the jackpot when our third row mate changed seats and we got the entire row to ourselves! We stayed up for dinner and then passed out around 2am. We were able to sleep for about 8 hours off-and-on but probably woke up every 2 hrs to switch positions. The benefits of being short were reaped again when I was able to lay flat across all the seats. When we woke up we watched a few movies, I did a few logic puzzles, and then ate breakfast. We arrived in Sydney around 6:30am on Wednesday (about 4:30pm Tuesday US time) and had to get off and back on before heading to Melbourne. once in Melbourne we had to get our bags and go through customs. Given all the hubbub about my visa Brendan was convinced that they would ask me several questions but they didn't ask a single one. We took the Skybus to our hotel and decided to walk around for a bit. At around 3pm I was feeling a bit tired so we decided to take a nap. That nap turned into our evening sleep and we didn't wake up until 4am the next morning. We've been busy since then, most posts to come!

Our pre-14 hour flight picture. 

Tamar made me a personalized crossword. I was able to figure out a little more than 1/2 but some things still stumped me. I'll keep working!

Breakfast (Breaki) on the plane. French toast, a sausage, some fruit and a croissant. Not bad!

Brendan intimately involved with the movies being shown. 

Post-27 hours of travel on the Skybus headed to the hotel. Still looking good if I do say so myself!

Graduation at last

Ok, so obviously that last post was published a bit later than I intended. I did write it in advance, however. The newest update is of course graduation. After my class on Thursday (and by after I mean immediately after) Brendan and I went out for drinks and then met up with several of our friends for more drinks and dinner. My family arrived on Friday evening, so we went out for more drinks (obviously). Saturday morning was graduation. Because I had to arrive early for the ceremony, Brendan graciously dropped everyone off. I'm sure he and Tamar were a big help to my family as they said "who's that?" "why are they doing that?"  Walking out in the processional finally made graduation feel real - I guess I'm a sucker for ceremonies. After the ceremony we all went out to eat at the Butt Hutt - a very classy local BBQ place. The rest of the time we just hung out, relaxed, and watched the Olympics. Tamar, who has been my right hand for the past week, was also able to join us for most of the visiting, which was really nice. My family had heard so much about her that they wanted to tell her how much they appreciated her. It was really nice to have so much of my family in town, I guess by missing Thanksgiving and Christmas I won't have a get-together like that for a while. I'm at the Jacksonville airport now, planning to get on my first plane in about an hour or so. I will keep posting as I get further in my travels!

Tamar, Brendan, and myself looking at a photo album of pictures Tamar got me for graduation.

 Brendan and I doing what we do best...

making silly faces!

 Tamar and Jimmy at our celebration dinner

Tamar and Natale

Time for real happy faces

Much of the usual gang (from left to right): Jimmy, Tamar, Natale, Me, Brendan, Courtney, and Andy

My advisors, Anne and Janet, right before the graduation ceremony.

Anne and Janet "hooding" me - the time old tradition of getting your hood put on when you earn your PhD

My cousin Sandi and her husband, Tom. It's hard to get everyone looking the same way when there are 5 cameras flashing.

The immediate family, such a happy bunch.

More silly faces at lunch.

A few more family members enjoying lunch.

Moving!

The past 3 weeks have been absolutely crazy. I have been packing up my house, packing up Brendan's house, moving to a temporary new house, finishing up teaching and taking a class, getting a new visa (long story), getting federal and state background checks, making trips to Goodwill, etc. etc. Today, however, should be the very last day of work for me. I am one presentation away from completing my degree (actually this class doesn't count toward my degree, I just took it anyway for masochistic purposes) and hopefully by 4pm, the party begins. Tonight I am going to dinner with many of my friends and then tomorrow I get to hang out with Tamar to do fun stuff. The family comes into town tomorrow afternoon as well, so hopefully we can all get some drinks and start to relax. Graduation is Saturday, I leave for FL on Sunday, and leave for Australia on Monday.

In other news, Charlie has found a good temporary home. A girl named Kate emailed me saying she was interested and after a few meetings I think she'll be a great fit. She isn't me, which is of course the gold standard, but she's a great girl who I know will love Charlie. I haven't been still enough to process it yet but I know Brendan is going to have an emotional travel companion on Monday.

Kids visit

As you know from a previous post the kids were with me for the past week or so. Grant came first, for a few days, then both of them stayed this past week. We did a lot of fun things - went for a hike, went kayaking, went to the pool, played charades, got school clothes - and ate some unique food for them - Indian, Thai, and Mexican. Tamar is my best chef friend so she also came over and made some delicious meals as well. She made saucy asian meatballs with rice, tostados, chocolate covered pretzel bites, and baked french toast (my absolute favorite!).

Natalie also enjoyed coming to class with me for a few days. She sat right in front and took notes during mine and Tamar's lectures (Tamar was a guest speaker this week). Natalie then wrote a nice essay summarizing the information. I tell you, she did a better job than most of the students in my class could have. Hopefully she will send it to me soon so I can post it.

Grant started writing a novel. He has read several zombie books and watched all sorts of thriller/horror movies so of course the book is about zombies. Hopefully when he finishes it I can post some of it here too. Today they went back to Jax and I cannot wait to get some sleep!

Natalie helping Tamar in the kitchen

Grant working on his novel.

Gonna be A LOT of saucy asian meatballs...

Yum!

The final plate, garnished and all.

These are pretzels with p-nut butter and brown sugar in between and then dipped in chocolate. SO GOOD

Dinner for the second night - shrimp tostadas.

Graduation surprise and housework

This weekend my parents and brother came up to help do some housework and take most of my things down to Jacksonville for storage while I'm away. My brother and dad installed a new french door (my sliding glass door had broken) and fixed a toilet while mom did a whole bunch of yard work. Grant helped by cleaning out the gutters and Natalie was around for odds and ends. Brendan was also able to come over and help move/load furniture and boxes. This week the kids are staying with me to hopefully have some summer fun before I leave. I have a TON to do this week (teaching and taking a class really take it out of me) so hopefully we can squeeze some fun in there somewhere. Today I am trying to catch up on emails and class stuff and Natalie is being a super helper by grading my students' exams for me (just the multiple choice, I'll do the short answer...).

In other news, I got a fun delivery on Saturday. It's a cookie cake from Sabrina, one of my all time favorite people. She addressed the card to 'Dr. Mabizkit' (pronounced MA-Biz-kit). It is telling of how long we've been friends, I think we made up that joke sometime early in high school. Natalie read the cookie cake and said "does that mean good-bye or something in another language?" Something like that... Thanks Sabrina!!

Charlie Houdini

The other day when I came home I heard a loud metal bang as I opened the door. Charlie enjoys being in a metal crate sometimes so I figured he just came running out of that when I opened the door. When I walked into the kitchen, however, I found the oven door open and the bottom of it covered in dog hair. Charlie was in the oven! I don't know how long he stayed in there but thankfully I don't think it was long and the door didn't (I think) close back on him. It had been thunder storming so I am pretty sure that was what prompted him to hide in the oven. It was funny and also a little scary at the same time.

Today when I found myself in similar situation. It had been thunderstorming and when I came home Tank came running to the door but not Charlie. Tank ran into the kitchen and I followed thinking Charlie was probably in the oven again. I heard shuffling in the cabinet and this is what I found.

Hiking in the rain

Yesterday Brendan, Grant, and myself went for a hike at Watson Mill, a state park about 30 minutes away. It was a fun adventure, we pretended like we were characters from LOST and then talked about what we would do if we were really stranded in the woods. It very quickly turned into "who would we eat first" and Grant and I battled it out to convince Brendan we were the most valuable. Then we went to the shoals where Brendan and Grant slid down the rocks. I've been there a few times before and had my fill of slipping and risking breaking an ankle. We ended the night with some Indian food (Grant's first experience) which was quite delicious.