Things have been kinda crazy around here lately. Once I find our camera, maybe take a few more pictures, and track down the cord that connects it to our computer, I’ll upload some pictures. But until then, here’s what’s been going on:

• We’re just about finished moving into our new place. Even though the lease periods overlapped, so I’m paying 2 rents for this month, I was looking forward to having an entire month to move our stuff. The new place is only 4.5 miles away from the old place, so I figured I could take 2 or 3 trips a day, get some help with the big stuff, and just generally take it easy. Well, as “easy” as it’s been, prolonged moves are really more frustrating than you’d think. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve needed something at one place and then realized that it was at the other place (like, for instance, the cord that connects our camera to our computer). And no matter how hard you try to be frugal, moving into a new place always ends up costing more money than you expect. But, we’re really liking where we are now, and unless something unexpected takes place, we’re committed to staying here until I’ve completed the program.

• After Meredith left (see last post), we had visitors from my side of the family (Mom, Dad, Heather, Homay, and Deuce). It was a little hectic because of the move and all (e.g., they all had to sleep on the floor in our old place), but I think everyone had a good time.

• I sold my guitar … and used the money (plus some a few gift cards) to buy a flat-screen HDTV. No more watching college football in standard definition for me, thank you very much. And just yesterday, the cable guy finally came and hooked up the phone, internet, and cable (including the HD channels, of course). Watching TV in high definition makes anything interesting. I was watching figure skating last night for a few minutes just because I could see all the individual ice shavings flying off the guy’s skates. It was insane.

• Molly’s quitting her job. As much as we appreciate the extra income, it’s not a necessity at this point. And as much as I love being able to spend all this time with James, I haven’t been able to accomplish any of the academic goals I set for myself this summer. While almost everyone else in the department is able to use their summers as a time to get ahead and work on some side projects (like getting published), I haven’t really been able to do anything … and my academic success is kinda the whole reason we’re up here right now. So when the fall semester starts, we’ll probably just try to find her a 10-20 hr/week job that she can do with James (e.g., different nanny/babysitter/errand-runner jobs pop up all the time in the Chapel Hill area).

• And for the second straight summer, I had to be taken to the emergency room at the UNC hospital. Sunday morning, I woke up feeling a little sore in my lower back, but nothing really out of the ordinary. But within a couple of hours, it had gotten much worse … until I eventually told Molly that I needed her to run to our new place (we were packing some things up in the old apartment at the time) and get my meds. In the meantime, I laid down on the floor and stayed still until she got back … but during that time, it only got worse. So I decided to go to the hospital, hoping that maybe this time, the doctor would be able to tell me something new (lower back pain is usually a 4-6 week affair for people my age … and I’m now in my 17th month of it). But alas, I just paid a couple hundred dollars to be told the same old stuff: exercise, stretch, and avoid stress and injury. But I did get prescribed both Vicodin and Valium.

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on around the Sias household lately. I’ll try to get some pictures and videos up soon.