Thoughts on Unpacking

Over the long weekend of the 4th I did a lot of unpacking.  The majority of my focus was spent on the garage; placing stuff in shelving as we attempt to move a gigantic house's worth of stuff into a much smaller abode.  It is clear that we still have way too many things, and as I wade through it all, I'm so regretful.  I wish I had even a fraction of the original money that those things cost.  Fool.

Part of my time was spent going through files, and I was reminded of the prestigious roles I've held the privilege that came with them.  Equity agreements, insurance policies, Gold status with Delta - it was all so wonderful.  Then I ran into my performance review from my old boss, and I saw how much I was vilified, if not abjectly hated.  

I finally shredded that review.  Not sure why I held onto it that long.

The weekend way made all the more frustrating as I've been attempting necessary repairs on the new place.  Half of what I've done has been successful, but half again has been an unmitigated failure.  My failure was punctuated last night with the total collapse of a shelf that I had built, and the resulting crash sounded like the entire city's fireworks show had gone off in our garage.

Not a fun long weekend.  It is getting way too long to get into the house and enjoy things.  I still haven't fished since mid-May, I've golfed only one, I have been on the lake a grand total of one time despite paying for lake access and having a dock slip, and in nearly every room of our new home is a stack of things needing to be addressed.

This really kind of sucks. 

The End of the Whirlwind

• On March 2, I accepted my new position after a long courting and negotiation
• On March 13, I turned in my resignation to my old employer.  I fully expected to have been perp-walked out the building that day, as they did with every other employee that resigned, but my boss had an "Oh shit!" moment and felt the need to keep me on.  It was the best two weeks of my work there.
• On March 24 I had my last day at work, and moved into a hotel in Minnesota for a week.
• On April 3, I moved into a rental house until May 17.  In this period I had additional trips to Green Bay (3 times), a weekend in the Cities, and a weekend at the duck camp.
• On May 18, I moved into our cabin on Leech.
• I moved out of the rental on May 23, and headed back to Green Bay to close the move.
• On May 25 we moved back to the cabin.
• On April 10 we moved out of the cabin and into a hotel.

Though it all we logged countless hours on the road and mileage back and forth.  I lost countless hours of sleep trying to get comfortable in unfamiliar confines.  We spent way, way more that we could have expected, but in the end it is worth every penny.  It has been beyond crazy.

Thankfully, all of that comes to an end.  Today we close on our new home, and our odyssey comes to a conclusion.  

It was long, hard, uncomfortable, and lonely.  However, though it all I met some incredible people, took on a great new role in a fantastic company, and finally feel at home.  Yes, it took a lot, but given how things worked out, I would have done even more had I needed to do so,

Update - Moving Sucks

Sorry for the week long radio silence, gentle reader.  Things have been in upheaval here in YDP land.  Over the past week we've moved out of a rental, moved out of our home, moved into our cabin, hosted buddies for the annual fishing trip, and hosted friends for our annual Memorial Day weekend get-together.  It has been a whirlwind, and the time and motion details associated with all of the activity above would make your jaw drop.

Thankfully, we've had a lot of help.  Work has been incredibly accommodating. My mom lent out her services which were invaluable for the GB move and house cleaning.  She continues to operate at a level 20 years younger than her chronological age, and her moral support is an absolute blessing.  A good friend loaded us his trailer, which saved a large expense and made the move of our golf cart all the more easy.

We now are waiting to hear on our closing in GB.  In the meantime, we'll be living in our cabin for 10 more days.  Thankfully, it had not been rented for this period, and despite my one-way commute of an hour and fifteen minutes, it has been a Godsend.  

Crazy times.  We have one more crappy stint in a hotel for a couple of days, then we'll finally be able to get into our new home and start our new life.  Thank goodness this is all coming to an end soon. 

Moving Pains

Stuff is coming together on both closes, which is great.  Our movers?  That's another story.  They still won't confirm a move date.  We don't have any kind of contract or agreement, so if they pull the plug on us, we'll be going the U-Haul route.

The stress of the past two weeks has been difficult hard to take.  We want to move to the next space on the board, but there always appears to be someone or something preventing us from doing so.

This has been really hard.  But it's not cancer hard, or losing a loved one hard, and I've been trying to keep a proper perspective.  

Missing Things

I was home last weekend, helping Mrs. YDP to get us moved out of Green Bay and returning to Minnesota.  It was great to be back in our home, where there was space galore, a full beer fridge, and our huge, comfortable bed (which is NOT an inflatable).

As I sat on our patio grilling and looking out at the golf course, I felt pretty blue.  We'd never again live in a home as nice as this.  We're only going backward from here, and it made me sad.

I thought about my melancholy.  Why was I truly sad?  The answer came clearly - I was missing things.  Tangible things.  Inanimate things.  Just...things.

Were we happy there?  Nope.  We did have the Lambeau Fais Do Do, and a couple of other family gatherings, but beyond that, we did not have a ton of memories there.  It was a lot of me golfing by myself, and us missing our friends and family.

Did I ever think that I'd ever live in an active NFL player's house in my life?  Nope.  Did I ever think I'd take a financial bath on said house?  Nope.  Am I bitter?  YES.

Don't get me wrong, it was a nice house.  Nice as hell.  The only thing it didn't have was proximity to people we love.

Will I miss the things?  You bet.  Will I miss them as much as I've missed the people?  Not even close. 

House Quest Complete

Mrs. YDP came up for a long weekend to try and help us pin down a new home in our new home.  After four hard days, looking at 15 different offerings, and logging dozens of miles, we settled on a really great town home with lake access.

It wasn't the greatest negotiation, but they never are.  Ultimately, we got a fair deal on a great place.

Likewise, our place back in Green Bay sold as well.  Now all we need to do is close on both, and we'll be getting on with our lives.

After living apart and with me living like a transient for the last five weeks, that sounds great to me.

On My Own

This week has been the toughest week for me since I started this job a little over a year ago.  I won't go into details, but I've put in longer hours than I ever have, trying to keep multiple balls in the air.  All along there have been new surprises with new disappointments, and with challenges aplenty.  I've done my best to plow through them, and to insulate my team from them, but goodness, I'm exhausted. 

And through it all, I'd just like to talk to somebody.  Someone to serve as a sounding board or a sympathetic ear.  A peer; someone who knows what it is like and has been there and done that.

Unfortunately, despite over a year of living here, my wife and I continue to remain guests as best, and strangers at worst, here in our new "home."  We have no relationships outside of those that I have at work.  My two closest "friends" at work are the SVP of HR and the CFO, and at the end of the day, they're the SVP of HR and the CFO.  Neither of them give a tinker's cuss about my bad week - they have their own set of responsibilities, all greater than mine. 

So we plow ahead, my wife and I, looking forward to yet another weekend of hanging out with each other, because we literally don't know anyone else. 

Pathetic.

Our Last Chapter "Closed" (and Not a Moment Too Soon)

We finally got word that the sale of our house has closed.  The odyssey of my job change and our move has finally closed its final chapter. 

And not a moment too soon. 

The StarTribune reports today that Twin Cities home prices continue to free fall.  Here’s an extract:

During the quarter, home values fell 12 percent in the Twin Cities metro area compared to the prior year, and Zillow said it was one of the worst quarters since it started tracking real estate trends in 1996.  "It almost seems like what you'd see in Florida," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist for Wells Fargo Securities. 

We definitely took a financial hit by selling out home in the midst of this economic maelstrom, but feel lucky that we were able to sell at all.  If real estate is the bellwether of our economic fortunes, there is still a long way to go.  Fortunately, we have our feet underneath us, the new job is going great, the company is doing very well, my wife has been on interviews, and we appear to be OK. 

If we still owned our home in Minnesota, that definitely would not be the case.  We got lucky, and we remain blessed.  

It is Official

I'm a 'Sconnie

But I'm still a Johnnie

Home Sales and St. Joseph

Our house has been on the market for over three weeks, and had garnered the same amount of showings. The real estate market in Waconia, and in Minnesota in general, is as cold as January Sunday on Lambeau Field. The specter of dual mortgages looms like a fat kid eyeing the Old Country Buffet dessert table.

Our desperate time requires desperate measures, so we’re beseeching the involvement of St. Joseph via his statue burial as a means of bringing about a transaction. Since he is also the patron Saint of our local parish, and one in which we were very active volunteers, we hope our call for help is heard and divine intercession received.

Let’s go, St. Joe!

Video of New Home

I was going through our formal home inspection, and was able to get some video of the place. It was originally built by Ryan Longwell of the Packers (now with the Vikings), so there’s a touch of a brush with greatness, I guess.

Check it out:

Gulp...

The StarTribune reports today that Twin Cities metro area home sales were down 42% to last month. With our house not even on the market yet, I'm scared to death. We have a limited window to sell before the holidays and weather conspire to put the brakes on everything. We absolutely must move fast.

Our fingers are crossed, hoping we don't get killed.

A Huge Cheese Bon Voyage

We attended our first official "going away" dinner last night with our dear friends from the Bahamas crew. Andy, so renown for her gourmet skills that her nickname is "Martha," pulled together this incredible cake to send us off.

The taste was even better than the presentation.

There's a ton we'll miss about Minnesota, but our friends are definitely the biggest one.