Moving Out!

This past week has been a busy week at work as we prepare to move out of our old, run-down building and into our brand new one. The English Dept has been in its current location for about 15 years, so that means fifteen years of garbage has piled up. My friend Katie and I were given the job of going around to all the desks in the building and emptying them out. They were supposed to be cleaned out before the professors and teaching assistants left, but in most cases, that did not happen. Among other things, we found shoes, hats, a Devo cassette, a George of the Jungle vhs, teabags, every norton anthology, mouse poop, loose pills, love letters, divorce papers, a hatchet, a hammer, pay stubs, and a bottle of scotch. And probably enough paper clips to stretch from here to the west coast.

On Friday, I distributed the trash cans to all the rooms in the new building, so I got a good feel for how nice it is. I think our whole program is going to have a much different feel now that we're in an up-to-date facility. The location of the building is also much more convenient; it eliminates the ten minute walk I used to make from the parking lot, and the building is directly adjacent to the library. I am not looking forward to the process of unpacking everything we've packed up in the past several weeks, but once we get settled in, it will be great to be in our new home.

I have also been watching as much of the French Open as I can fit in, and I was excited this morning when Roger Federer finally claimed the title which has eluded him. I wish Soderling had played more like he did when he beat Nadal, and would have liked to have seen a more competitive match, but it was fun to see Roger win all the same. I am hoping that Rafa Nadal's rumored knee injury doesn't keep him out of Wimbledon, as that title will be Federer's chance to surpass Pete Sampras's record for Grand Slam titles. A rematch between the two of them would be pretty exciting.

I also watched the first installment of the Lord of the Rings on film, and it was interesting to see how the story was handled in comparison to the book. I felt like it differed in quite a few ways, so it is kind of surprising to me that people who love the books so much also love the movies. I'm looking forward to seeing the next two installments to see how they compare, as well.

Billy and I went to a goodbye party on Friday evening for our friends Erin and Brent, who are moving to New York later this month. We are attending their wedding in July, but besides that, we are not sure when we will get to see them again, so getting together with them before they go is fun but also kind of bittersweet. Last night Billy and I went to see "The Hangover," which was pretty funny, and we don't go out to movies very often, so it was fun to do something a little different.

I don't have to work tomorrow or Tuesday (the movers will be transporting all of our stuff to the new building), so I am looking forward to spending some time reading and hopefully getting a little bit of sun. I also have to clear out the laundry room for the delivery of our new dryer after the heating element went up on ours last week. As my dad says, "The joys of home ownership!"