#45 - Le retour de la vie quotidienne

Saturday, February 18

Today I am thankful for normalcy.  Today was a normal day.  In the sense that I was free to do as I pleased.  It was quite odd, really.

Sleeping late is odd, for one.  I did a little real estate research, and headed out the door about 10.  I hit a few houses - one very close, one just across the Hudson, one North of there, and then I was faked out by a bad listing.  The home on the listing is the neighbor's house.  The actual house has not been built.  So there's a picture of a completed home on an ad for a lot.  Waste of my time, obviously.  I did learn some cool things today, though. The first is that getting over the river is a pain, and not something I want to do every day.  Another is that New Paltz is entirely too far to drive every day.  Lots of people do.  I will not be one of them.  Another thing is that New Paltz itself is charming and awesome.  North of the city turns into camping areas - crazy forest roads with huge old homes.  

I was thinking through some personal logistics as well.  I'm unsure if I have any clothing in OR any more.  And I'm sure I don't have appropriate Sunday shoes.  It has also been clear to me since I started that I did not have appropriate working shoes for here.  Of the shoes on the right, which are best suited to walking to the factory in the morning, and spending the rest of the day in the office, dressed in Dockers?  If you guessed pair #3, you would be right.  This is the pair I bought this afternoon, on sale at DSW, which happens to be across the parking lot from my hotel.  The cross trainers are no good, the steel-toe work boots are heavy and huge, and the dress shoes on the far right are only meant for super-formal wear.  And probably to church, so I wear them sometimes, at least.  They are not broken in, and the lack of comfort when wearing them is daunting.

I put together yet another house hunting spreadsheet today, now I have a better feel for what we want.  And I started posting pictures to my Picasa account for Katrina to review.  I need to put together a solid agenda for tomorrow's house-hunting activities.  I think I'm going to hit an open house and about 6 pretty local listings.  Monday will be the walking bridge.