I just thought this picture was funny. So I’m sharing. I’m sure the next thirty seconds were not pleasant. Oh no!

A couple of months ago the Meijer close to my job was running a sale on Frosted Mini Wheats at $1.50 a box. For the big 24 oz boxes, not those little pipsqueak ones. Now, I eat a lot of cereal and am pretty cognizant of fluctuating cereal prices, so when I saw this deal, I thought it might be the cereal deal of the year. Usually you’re lucky to get a 16 oz box of generic Cheerios for that price. You know?

So I promptly purchased approximately twenty boxes of Mini Wheats. I mean that’s the thing to do right? That’s some bang for your buck right there. Anyway, I’ve whittled it down to about six boxes, but only with a very concerted cereal-eating regimen over the past week and a half.

These are the things you have to worry about when you plan on moving sans moving van. Trying to get the cupboards all Old Mother Hubbard as much as possible before moving next week (yes I just adjectived OMH… and verbed adjective). Our freezer is down to half a bag of frozen mangos and the fridge is inching toward a condiments-only existence.

Soon I will be eating ranch dressing with a spoon.

When I was a kid I would form these attachments to my possessions that bordered on obsessive. Skateboarding around my neighborhood, I’d wear my Converse All-Stars ragged and put gaping holes in the knees of my jeans, then freak out when I found out that I needed to get something new/respectable to replace my threadbare clothes. It wasn’t because I couldn’t grow to love that new thing (I always did), it was just that the familiar was comfortable and held my memories and it seemed wrong to throw away something that I liked just because it had taken on a slightly more entropic form.

I feel kind of like that these days. I look at the things I enjoy around me and feel sad to be losing them. The nostalgia is weighing heavy. I have talked so long about getting away from this city and into a setting where I can experience grandeur and have more opportunities for outdoor play (and really I am excited to be doing this), but as the departure date approaches I really do find myself looking at places and activities through blue-colored glasses (or whatever color nostalgia-inducing glasses might be).

I love my twice-weekly basketball game. Love it. The people I play with are friendly, nonjudgmental, and down to earth, but still play at their limits creating an environment of competitiveness and hard work. It’s a great fun way to get two hours of hard exercise and probably will be hard to replicate in a new city (I’ve played at public gyms before and it’s definitely not the same). There are a lot of little senses of security like that that will be missed. Having a basketball game that I know I like. Fun and exercise security. Shoot, just having access to an enormous gym will be tough to lose. I have my own set of keys to a full-sized basketball court. How great is that? If I’ve got a hankering at two in the morning to go shoot around, theoretically I could do so.

But, really I am mostly just excited. There will be a new pair of All-Stars break to in and the nuances will come.

One possible route. Google Maps and Mapquest both tell me to take I-90 across South Dakota when I plug in Grand Rapids to Yakima, but I’ve never been to North Dakota and would like to check that one off my state list. Thus, I’m leaning toward toward turning up toward Minneapolis and then taking I-94 across. And actually when I force Google Maps to make that my route of choice the result seems to be a trip that is thirty miles shorter and also slightly less time consuming. (Click the blurry image below for the actual interactive map.) Any suggestions from those of you who have driven either of these two routes? Either way it’s thirty plus hours of solo driving.

I’ve been offered (and accepted) a job as an Environmental Planner with URS Corp at an office in Yakima, WA. It’s an entry-level position, but comes at about a 40% raise of what I am currently earning and has massive amounts of upside (future transfer options to one of their 300 worldwide offices, paid tuition, a location only two hours from Mount Rainier).

This all happened very quickly (I phone interviewed on Wednesday afternoon and was offered the job a few hours later) and I’m supposed to be out there for my first day of work in a little over two weeks. It will be another enormous transition and the process of uprooting again so soon is a little intimidating (particularly to an area which I know very little about). We are in solid shape financially though and having a job in place before this move makes a big difference. It also helps to have no current financial ties to Grand Rapids this time around and I’m pretty sure purchasing a house right from the get-go is an option (the dogs will appreciate not being cooped up in a hotel room I’m sure).

Lots of logistics still to figure out and as of today nothing is officially signed, but still most likely everything is a go.