This is why I'm hot...

I suppose I'll get it over with and begin with an obligatory cacti picture...
This is our first post in awhile. As you can tell from Erin's last post in January, blogging can get you down when you feel there is nothing to write about. However, at the provocation of Kevin and others, we have decided to return to the blog as a way to fill everyone in on our happenings in our new home, Tempe, AZ. We arrived here a little over a month ago. We stayed with our friends Jane and Andy in a little town called Sun Lakes, which is a bit south of Phoenix. From there we found an apartment in Tempe and moved in.


One of the first things we learned is that Tempe is not pronounced as good American English would suggest. Instead of the accent falling on the first syllable (tém- pe), it is pronounced in a more spritely manner (tem - pé). I routinely mispronounce the name, which I suppose is cosmic payback for the all the times I scoffed at the folks who called Worcester "Worchester".

People in Arizona like to talk about the heat. They also like to comment on the humidity. The heat is invariably high, the humidity is always low in comparison to other parts of the country. The idea of dry heat is something that is kicked around, but doesn't matter when you are riding your bike and it's 114 degrees. You think that they would get tired of talking about the heat, but they don't.

No one here is from Arizona. In over a month I have only met 2 people who are native to the state. I think Erin works with a few people who are actually from Arizona. Everyone here is from somewhere else, which is cool. It's definitely a melting pot, pun intended.

Which brings me to what we're up to overall. Erin works for Traveler's in Phoenix. She no longer handles bodily injury for auto claims - she now handles general liability, such as slip and fall accidents, food poisoning, faulty equipment and so on. She is contemplating law school at ASU.

I am finishing up a teaching associate preparation seminar at ASU and I begin work on my Ph.D in literature August 20th. I have met several really cool people so far and I'm really excited to get started on my degree. Oh ya. I also ride a bike everywhere. I don't own a car, so I bought a mint Trek and that's how I get around. It's great when it's not super hot out.

Here's a story. I got my wallet stolen when we were moving into the apartment. I freaked out because it had my driver's license, credit cards, and some money in it, but I could not remember if my Social Security card was in there or not. I didn't think I was enough of a dumbass to carry my SS card in my wallet, but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I had to prepare for the worst. I canceled my bank account and credit card accounts, got a new SS card and license and filed a fraud alert with the credit bureaus. Luckily, I later found my SS card in a box.

Here's the cool thing about having an Arizona license - it's good until you're 65. My license expires in 2044.










Another disappointment occurred when we unpacked the truck. There was a hole in the roof and some of our stuff got wet and other stuff got ruined. It really sucked. We thought the computer was a casualty of this mishap, but it has somehow miraculously recovered and I am using it right now. Here is a picture of the hole in the roof of the truck.





Ok, so I know that you are all probably saying to yourselves, " Enough about you and Erin already! What we want to know about is how the cats are doing!" Well, I am happy to report that Ishmael and Rasputina are adapting very well to their new home. They had kind of a tough trip since they left Worcester. First, they had to live in Erin's room in Douglas, so they were cramped up. They didn't get along with Belle and Sammy. Then they had four days in the car and in hotels as we drove out here. Razzle was a good girl in the car, but Ishmael kept crying and his shitty cat food breath made us sick. Then they had to live in Andy and Jane's laundry room for a week, a situation they were none to pleased with. Finally they arrived here and are happy to be right at home.


Here are some picture from our cross country trip.

Me driving in Texas. Note the cool windmill behind me. They had literally hundreds of these in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.






This cross was also in Texas. There was a sign that said it's the biggest cross in the western hemisphere and that seeing it would be a truly spiritual experience. We passed the same cross in Illinois.




Razzle in the crate.







Ishmael riding on the passenger seat floor.







Some flat lands outside a rest stop in Texas.







This, of course, is the Leaning Water Tower of Britten. It's one of America's most iconic landmarks, after the biggest cross in Texas and the humbler cross of the same size in Illinois. If you're not familiar with this water tower, you're a communist pig.





Well, I'm going to end this blog here. Last weekend Erin and I went camping and hiking in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, an excursion that which will occupy the focus of our next installment.

Here's the another obligatory cacti picture...