The nature of discourse

There is a new newlywed reality show that Lee and I saw for the first time last week. They asked the newlyweds what the greatest source of their arguments was. For Lee and I it is the speed at which we make decisions. Lee makes judicious, lightning fast decisions. I, however, make slow, methodical, fully-encompassing, high fidelity decisions following a great deal of research (notice the necessary inclusion of flowery language to substantiate my existence in the decision-making process). Allow me to present this simulation:

"What should we put with the watermelon in the fruit salad?"

Lee
[more watermelon!!]
[Cantaloupe]
"Cantaloupe"

JohnMark
[well, cantaloupe and honeydew are the most common staples]
[that feels rather unoriginal]
[maybe some kind of berries, like blueberries or blackberries]
....
[oranges? I don't know that those flavors are complementary]
[Although Jackson, Turkleston and Hazamire quoted in their landmark 2004 paper "The
Dynamic Ubiquity of Oranges" that oranges are the "new lettuce"]
....
[squash? that's just silly. Although it could potentially absorb the watermelon flavor]
....
"Cantaloupe"

The whirlwind

It has been a little while since I posted last so I guess I need to give an update of all the goings on.

• 5/4 We did, in fact, get the condo. It was very stressful until that point. After we closed we immediately set to work moving and accepted the happy stress.
  
• 5/5 to 5/8 We hired painters that were able to finish (and do a FANTASTIC job) before we moved in the following Saturday. Meanwhile, we furiously packed the remaining junk.
• 5/8 After a lot of confusion my brother came up Friday night so that he was there for the move the next day. He brought a lot of stuff up from my parents' house as well.
• 5/9 We hired movers as well because of a presumed small window. The president of the condo association gave us an extension, without which we would not have been able to move in. Our movers were...well let's just say we won't be recommending them to anyone. We emptied ALL of the boxes on Saturday and were all moved in for the most part.
  
• 5/10 Lee and I rented a car so that we could go to CostCo, Walmart, Target and Home Depot. We unpacked the groceries, etc and then JJ and I went to go see the new Star Trek movie. It is always notable when I go to the movies anymore, so I am glad that the movie was excellent.
• 5/11 We started settling. Our neighbor was moving out for the summer and consequently she had all this meat to get rid of. After about 4 hours JJ and I finally managed to grill up some savory chicken and ribs.
• 5/12 We had our washer, dryer and sectional delivered. Then, I reestablished my dominance as the superior bowler in the family. [dusting shoulder] Bowling is another one of those things that is noteworthy when the occassion comes up again.
  
• 5/13 Mama Karen arrived and we cooked up Pad Thai.
• 5/14 I sacrificed myself as the one willing to go to with my mother and her twin to see a one-man theatrical reenactment of the Gospel of Mark. It was about as good as you would expect. The principal comment made was "it's amazing he could remember all that."
• 5/15 Despite the rain, we went on a Chicago River Architectual Cruise. I still enjoyed it and now we have a membership with the Chicago Architectural Foundation so anyone coming to visit in the next year should keep that in mind. ;-)
• 5/16 We went to my Aunt's house for Christmas 2. We celebrated 7 birthdays, one condo purchase, one med school acceptance, two grand parents returning for the summer, one puppy adoption and the Blackhawks advancing in the playoffs among other things.
• 5/17 We dropped off my mother and brother at the car rental offices for them to drive back home. At church we met with the interim pastor as we are going to start leading a small group at our place in June most likely.
• 5/18 Back to the grind and continuing to work on things like filing all of our documents in our new filing cabinets. Lee got to see the Today show for the first time in weeks. She had been without news that entire time.
  
• 5/19 I updated the blog. Mama Houston arrives in two days! Reserve your stay now, time slots are going fast!

Please feel free to leave a comment, if you so desire...

Chicondo, part 2

master bedroom

master bath...awkward angle

kitchen

living room

Chicondo, part 1

Dining area

guest bathroom

Lee's office/guest bedroom

front entrance

JM's office/ den

All the Anticipation

I am running Circular Dichromism experiments in the Biophysics lab today, which means that I have a lot of intermittent time to kill without cellphone access the day before our big move. The condo is undergoing a metamorphosis right now. My parents are paying for the painting as an early birthday present. It's not quite done, but I know that it will be a well-cherished gift.

We did some moving math recently. So our problem was that we are moving from one high-rise to another elevator-necessitating building. You have to schedule the elevators for relatively small increments of time, because everyone else needs the elevators to move in/out. So we only have a 3 hour window to move from one place to the other with a half hour drive in between. Except for when Roche gave me a relocation package, I have always moved myself and for the most part Lee has moved herself. We understand the necessity of bribing friends with pizza and libation to make sure that we could move in that window. It turns out that in this economy it is just as cheap to rent professional movers for a few hours. I was stunned. I think it is just part of being in the midwest again. We are still overcoming reverse-sticker-shock. I really don't miss NY.

New Condo!!

Well, Lee and I bought our first home together Monday. It was a harrowing ordeal. Our realtor and attorney were amazing. The seller was pretty good. Our lender was reprehensible. When I think about the frustration they inflicted upon us it upsets me all over again. It was all unnecessary too. They were not organized enough to find the information we had already sent and consequently we had continue to resubmit the same information over and over again. Then we could never get ahold of them. It got so bad that I had to start calling from borrowed cellphones so that someone would pick up the phone. *sigh* But it's over now....

As I said before, it is a terrific new condo that I believe will work quite well for us for the foreseeable future. You can see some preliminary video footage from the youtube video below. We will be sure to put up some pictures after we are all moved in.

We are really excited about the area. The park across the street is amazing and it will be a welcome retreat this summer. Lee loves me so much that she bought me a basketball, even though she is not likely to play with me.

We move in this Saturday so everything is in a chaotic jumble right now. The to do lists are getting long enough to type. You would think with as many moves as I have done that I would have this moving business down cold. Every time it seems to get just a little more complicated than the last time.

Lee and I have been working in opposing directions. I have been closing accounts, while she has been setting up the new ones. We might actually be moderately settled, physically and digitally, by Monday. That’s the hope anyways.

My brother heads up this weekend with a bunch of my junk from my parents’ house. I am sure my Dad will be happy to see it go. I have not allowed myself any time to think about what fun things we could do together while he is here. We are going to be plugging away in our short-sighted tunnel vision a little while longer.

If you are reading this, come visit soon.

We are currently taking bets on how long it will be before you catch us saying "oh yeah, buying the condo was a piece of cake." Even money is on November.

Love,

JohnMark