A river of stuff

So I went to the used book store, the Goodwill donation drop-off, and the post office today, and between those three locations, another carload of stuff is OUT of the condo; therefore, we don't have to move said stuff. The place is really starting to look almost ready to show, which is good because we're working on getting it on the market early next week. All this packing and moving keeps reminding me of how much STUFF we have that flows through our lives, and how difficult it is to keep that stuff to a minimum.

I've seen enough design shows and "clear out the house" type shows that I know all the mantras. You can't have more stuff than you have space, or the stuff will start to take over. Stuff isn't memories, and if you're holding onto stuff to remind you of someone or something, you need to let (at least some of it) go. At the same time, it's incredibly difficult to get rid of, say, DVDs of your favorite movies. We were able to let go of a few, but for most, the objection was "but I love that movie!" As if giving it away were a sign that we don't love it as much as we say we do. My new criterion is whether I think I will watch it again, but that didn't seem to get rid of as many movies as I thought it would. In this case, I think it's a matter of convenience: we want to be able to say "Hey, let's watch The Princess Bride right now!" and then go get it off the shelf. We do have that movie-subscription service, so any of these movies would be available by mail in a couple of days if we really wanted to watch. Some are even part of the "watch online" service. Or we could watch another movie that we have, or something saved on our TiVo, etc., etc. And yet we persist in wanting to have these movies available at all times. I'm as guilty as the next person on this one.

I'm always trying to reevaluate the stuff I really need and the stuff I can let go of, and I guess that's the best I can do. One carload at a time, really.

Big changes

Guess it's been a while since I posted here. Hard to remember sometimes--I do updates on that site that rhymes with "spacenook"...but I forget that some people aren't on there.

So...D has submitted his first paper for peer review, it came back in less than 5 hours and is now in the final steps of the publishing process. It should appear in one of the next few issues of a journal in his field. He is also wrapping up his thesis, which he will give to his advisors shortly and defend on April 15th. Last but not least, he has nailed down a post-doc position, and this means we are moving! Both old and new bosses agreed on late June as a starting date, so that is when we will be packing up and heading out.

I sent my application for licensure in the other state today. This occasions a mini-rant whenever I think about it, because I think it's ridiculous that you can be licensed to teach in one state and not in another. With all the ways the federal government is sticking its fingers into education, you would think that they would have reformed licensure. Making licensure national would be SO much easier for teachers and would help ensure quality teachers in every state, not just the ones with strict licensure requirements.

Anyway, I've done about all I can do on the job front for now. No jobs are posted yet in my subject or in the area we'll be moving to, and I can't submit applications until I have a folder number from the state honchos who are processing my licensure. I feel better now that I've done everything possible so far.