I'm Home!

Back in Minnesota - where Fall weather is here and that makes me happy. We have Sarah moved in with me, boxes are emptied (but house is still a mess), and the newest addition to the house... both Diamond and Diablo are exploring their new location. The two girls seem happy to be "dog free" after a year of daily battles with Sarah's parents' dog Chase. It became pretty comical watching Diamond swat at Chase as he walked around the place. But that is no more as we drove them up to Rochester and we're starting anew here.

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend on the lake. Great last of summer weather, but now reality sets in. I'm still without my laptop (using a loaner that is sort of getting the job done for now) but hopefully my laptop comes back fully repaired today. That would seriously make things easier if I had my own system back. I'm amazed that I went almost 18 months with no problems but of course in my final 2 weeks, on top of everything else I'm trying to get done for the transition, the laptop has to add to the issues.

It's been a shopping week though since I've been back. We purchased new iPhones for both Sarah and I. We picked them up last night and are still trying to figure everything out. I should be able to update via the iPhone now when not in front of my computer (or when it's getting worked on) so my life of blogging can return to normal. We also picked up a new car for Sarah - a 2009 Honda Accord which looks really sharp. The new Accords are MUCH bigger in size than the Accords of old if you haven't seen them. I'll post some pictures soon, but I am actually extremely comfortable in the new ride. Plus it has XM Radio which I've had fun playing with. She went with the Pearl White color (more "off white" than "white") which actually looks really nice. But it also shows all the bugs on it currently after our drive to Iowa.

Goal for today is to continue moving things around in the house so it feels "normal" for all 4 of us now living here. Then we're throwing everything in the fridge and cabinets away (I still have crackers and cereal in the cabinets from pre-Taiwan that are a little stale) and doing a big grocery trip this afternoon. Fun huh??

Anyway - have a good Tuesday. Continue basking in the glory of the Cyclones victory from last week!

Final Countdown

Well - getting down to the last week. And after the 117 degree heat index day today, I'M READY!!! It's been an interesting week trying to ship some of my stuff home. The rate is higher than I had hoped so Plan B was to take them onto the plane as extra luggage. After looking into that route, there is no guarantee of rate or that my stuff will even get there on the same flight. It's actually not a bad option if you only have a direct flight, but since I have a connection flight, I can't wait for my luggage to carry through Customs. SO..... back to plan A of shipping my stuff through UPS. I moved some of the heavy stuff (books, shoes) out of Box #3 in hopes of saving some money. If all goes well, most of my stuff will be safely in Rochester by the end of the week waiting for me to arrive next week with two suitcases full (but still under weight!) of stuff.

As for customs... I added an extra category to the invoice that lists "country of purchase" so I can show the US Customs folks that most of what I'm bringing home I actually purchased in the US. SO DON'T TAX ME TWICE!!!

Ah, the stresses of moving home! But in 8 days, I'll be back in Rochester with my one and only Sarah. Then back to fighting jetlag and culture shock! Can't believe this moment is finally here!

This past week has included a lot of going away parties. I'm working on the pictures to upload now but of course no going away party is right unless it includes KTV!!! We went out as a large group from work for some food, beer, karaoke, and I even brought a couple of bottles of Captain Morgan for everyone's enjoyment. We also headed out for an all-you-can-eat BBQ for lunch on Friday which turned into all-you-can-drink for the afternoon.

Then some more festivities as we had "guys night" Friday night to an interesting restaurant called DS Music where everything has a hospital theme. They serve beer like it's an IV, they give shots of alcohol in shot containers, the servers are dressed as nurses of course. It's about as PG-13 as Hooters would be and there were a lot of people of both genders at the restaurant, including some high school kids at the table next to us. The food was actually very good and most of it came out with flames or on fire for additional affects. You'll see pictures on the right! Our waitress could not speak much English and we spoke little Chinese so it made for an interesting conversation every time she came by the table. It was actually pretty comical.

As for the weekend? Too hot to do anything outdoors. Further wrapping up of packing and going through the house to get ready for moving out on Monday.

Favre is officially Minnesotan..... get your Purple #4 Jerseys now!

Ticket Booked For Home

Lots of people are asking about the flooding and mudslides here in Taiwan. It's definitely worth asking, but it's all in the South of Taiwan. I'm in the North which didn't see much damage from the Typhoon other than some trees down, etc. In the Mountains, a lot of times there is only one road to get through there so when a Typhoon dumps 80 inches of rain in 2 days, you expect the ground to react in a negative way. So people are stranded up there and clearing the roads isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do. But that's what is going on in Taiwan right now. Pretty neat to see the recovery efforts by helecopter, etc. I'm seeing them on TV just like you are there, but mine isn't in English;)

It's starting to set in that I'm headed home. Mainly after going through all my stuff and boxing things up. I have three big boxes that are full, taped, recorded (for customs) and ready to send. I'm afraid to ask how much this is going to cost me! I'm pretty sure that everything that isn't boxed up will make it into my two luggage, everything after that is getting donated to neighbors and friends here in Taiwan. It's at this point that I'm glad I bought the $10 toaster, not the $15 one.

I have purchased my 1-way ticket back home. That's a weird feeling yet again.

It was a strange weekend - normal hot weather BUT on Sunday I heard someone knocking at the door of my next door neighbor. Then I heard my door bell ring. When I answered, there was a Taipei Police Officer (with gun and all) asking me (in Chinese but I understood the point) if I had seen my neighbor. I told him that I hadn't. I closed my door but for the next 20 minutes I could hear him ringing the doorbell and knocking trying to get a hold of my neighbor. I heard "Sir, I am police, let me in" and "Sir, I need you to help me". Then it died off for about 15 minutes, BUT then he returned with ANOTHER police officer. They were trying to get the door open for another 30 minutes after that. For some reason they were convinced he was inside but never did get him to open the door. A very strange affair to be sure, and of course I have no idea how it ended. Nothing more happened on Sunday.

Back in the US - football preseason has started and an impressive showing by my boy Sage for the Vikings. Here's hoping for a successful season with 2 wins over the Vikings! As for my Cyclones - I'm just wanting to start with a win over NDSU (there are a lot of NDSU graduates in Rochester with IBM), then a win over Iowa (of course the most important game of the year), a road win of some sorts (break our losing streak) and a Big 12 win! Anything more than that would be SWEET! We shall see how the Clones do this year with a new coach and a seemingly unknown team.