End!

So, today was my last day at work at Dartmouth College. It's always sad to leave a place, but at the same time, exciting to be going to the next step in life. I mentioned to Sue the other day that if it wasn't sad to leave a place, that means that there's some sort of problem... Just my belief...

I spent the morning walking around to offices here, wishing people well, and generally just connecting with people who it's fun to connect with before leaving. Of course, sometimes you see odd things that just make you laugh... Like this:

At first, I thought, "Someone's buried a bike in the ground!" However, then I realized the true purpose of this.

It's a seat for the Earth.

After visiting some offices, I got to take a Community Director candidate on a tour of the campus, which basically meant that I got to show her East Wheelock, my (now former) cluster. When we got here, I discovered that my ID, which is used to gain access to the building, had been turned off! Ouch!

Fortunately, there was a painter in one of the lobbies who was able to let us in, so the tour could proceed apace.

After the tour, I left to go to our ORL end of (academic) year cookout. Always a fun time, I just relaxed at it, chatted with some people, and continued to NOT WIN ANYTHING in the raffle that happens every year. I thought with this being my last year, I would win something, but unfortunately, I continued to be a loser. My number was 634, and both 633 and 635 were called. Not that I'm bitter or anything...

At around 7pm tonight, I met up with some co-workers to enjoy a "last day" dinner with them. Thank you to CD Daniel for pulling this together, it was appreciated on my part. On the way out, I noticed this sign at another local restaurant:

Really, there's just something I find comical about the phrase "Beat the Pump."

I should have something philosophical or deep to say about this transition in my/our lives, but I don't know if I'm ready for this yet. I mean, I've been here at Dartmouth for 5 years, so it's a good chunk of my recent life. I got married while working here, met a lot of great people, and have gained good experience. I think because I'm used to transitioning, this is just one more, for right now, but I also think there's more to it, that I'll see with time. Maybe in a few days, maybe in a longer period of time. I'll digest this a bit more, and let you know what I come up with...

NP: Bill Nelson - Fellini's Picnic

Pics!

Awhile ago, I wrote about Sue and I going to see the Tony Levin Band down in Northampton, MA. Sue just got her photos off of her phone, so away we go!

Here's her photo of the stage, from our seat up at the front of the balcony. It's a photo from a cell phone, so unfortunately, the quality isn't great, but you get the basic layout. Pete Levin (Tony's brother) on keys and Jesse Gress on guitar are at the far left. Jerry Marotta, the drummer, is in the center of the photo, wiht his back to the audience, Tony Levin is behind Marotta (I think!), and Larry Fast is sitting behind his keyboard on the right.

Here's a photo of your hero, Mike. I believe this is from us sitting at our table, before the show.

After the show, the band was happy to hang out and sign CD's/albums, or whatever the audience had. Photos were also encouraged, so Sue got this one of Larry Fast (Mr. Synergy), myself, and Pete Levin. I thought Jerry Marotta would be in the photo also, but I guess he was out of view. Sadness...

And finally, here's myself with the man of the hour, Tony Levin. Great bass player, great musician, and all around good guy.

My eternal thanks to the wonderful Sue for taking these photos. She's the best!

NP: Jon Anderson - Naturemusic

Rain!

Raining all day here in Hanover. Not cold though, so at least that's going for us. Not steamy either.

So, with that weather stuff out of the way, what's up? Packing continues, and we're doing well with it. Work during the day is nothing earth shattering, just making progress with preparing for my last day on Friday.

I did receive a package of stuff from St. Peter's today, which included some t-shirts, a mug, some stickers, and information about both the college and local "stuff" in the Jersey City/Hudson County area. It was very cool of them to send a package like that. In my work history, they're the first place to do something along those lines. I'm feeling good about working with these people, which is a positive start.

I'm making a list of things to include in my car for the drive down to NJ. Most of it is stuff that is sensitive to moving, or at least things I *consider* sensitive to moving. Like my home recording computer, some musicial instruments, an old clock I have, stuff like that. Most of it could probably be moved by the movers with no problem, but I have the car, and it'll give me something to do while I'm down there.

Move guitars from room to room. Fun stuff!

NP: King Crimson - Improv: The Savage - 30 Mar 1974

Test!

So, in cleaning out stuff for the move, you never know what you'll find. Here's a photo of one of my archeological nuggets...

This was something I had on my white board outside of my Freshman year room out at Boston College. The Steve in question, nicknamed "Slammer," for appropriate reasons, was a bit, shall we say, tense. VERY tense. So, when I stumbled upon this survey for stress (that's what the little print is on the paper taped to the white board), I made it into the Steve Test.

And, I have kept it for 17 years.

But now, it's in the trash outside of our apartment. All good things must come to an end...

In other news (but not really), packing continues apace. We're doing quite well, especially with having about 10 days before the movers come. Sue and I used some of those SPACE BAGS, where you vacuum out the air from a bag, in order to condense the stuff inside. It works a charm with pillows, blankets, and other poofy cloth. Sheets are a bit less condensable, mainly because they're already pretty flat.

We did take some time in the afternoon today to get some ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. Sue had some coupons, so not only was it a good break, but it was cheaper than it normally would be. I got a Cherry Garcia shake, and Sue got some sort of uber-Chocolate ice cream. I can't remember the name.

I'm about 100 pages out from finishing the Truman Capote book "In Cold Blood." I was inspired to read it after seeing the film "Capote." I really enjoyed the movie, but I'm seeing that perhaps the movie was a bit fictionalized in it's storytelling. It got all the major parts of the novel right, but the film mixed a bit of things up (notably the confession of the two murderers) in order to make the film a bit more dramatic.

Definitely a recommended read.

NP: Chris Cornell - Follow My Way