53 degrees now with a high of 75

What a  perfect morning! As I left the house at 7:15 this morning, it was just beautiful outside.  The temperature was divine.  53 degrees according to my NPR station.  The high for the day would get to a delicious 75.  Mmm.  This is the fall I was waiting for!  As I was driving by the lake there was a perfect reflection of the trees along the banks and a barely visible mist hanging just above the water.  Beautiful.  If it wasn't a work morning and I hadn't been late yesterday because of the dreaded traffic on the bridge, I would have stopped and snapped you a picture. But the HVAC guy was waiting for me at the theatre, so duty called.

Speaking of duty.. this week has been crazy.  No sooner did I get the better part of the roof at Actor House taken care of then this place starts to fall apart.  We are scheduled to open the first show next week (yes, its true.  There are rumors there might even be theatre at my new job!!!) and this week alone, I've had plumbers for a leak, electrician for a marquee sign out, HVAC guys, the phone mysteriously stopped working yesterday and then started again and, and, and....  Oh yeah, I had to have a talk with the cleaning folks about quality control, the front doors seemed to lose their mechanisms and started slamming shut, the insurance folks were bugging me about an incident this summer and all that is before I even get to our new construction project of the building down the street.  Which has its own difficulties.  I might have mentioned once before about the requirements of this state grant we got.  They are fairly strict and require anything that includes nonstructural still to meet a requirement of at least 75% of the total product be manufactured within the United States.  This is harder than you can imagine.  Especially when architects and contractors don't seem to paying attention anywhere along the process until now. 

My job is compliance.  This is huge.

An elevator costs $100,000.  Did you know that?  Did you know that there are no "stock" elevators? Not that I thought any schmo would go somewhere and buy and elevator, but I thought there would be stock sizes or products that were out there that if you wanted to design to that size and specification, you would know about and go for it.  That way you might be able to avoid the 10-12 weeks for manufacture time.  But no.  Its seems all elevators are custom made.  Who knew. Back to the point.  The elevator in my project is having a little compliance problem.  More on that saga as it unfolds.

So while all this is happening at work, it is time for me to move   Finally.  It seems like it has taken forever since I found this apartment.  I realized that part of the problem was that in any other circumstance, I would have been packing this whole time.  In this particularly odd situation, I was all packed up in the storage unit and just had to wait.   Tick tock.  Days and weeks, even months. 

Not that I'm complaining about my living arrangements.  It was the perfect B&B.  Company, all the comforts you could want, and some days I came home and dinner was already ready.  Wahoo!  I get why folks opt for staying at home with parents or family.  Who wants to eat alone with a proverbial TV dinner when you can have all the benefits and dinner is cooked for you as well!

I am so lucky that I have family who could and would offer me the opportunity to get settled and transition into this new chapter. I think in many ways I am finally ready to come home to Philadelphia and family in a way I just wasn't in years past.  I had a wonderful time staying with my sister and brother in law.  We talked for hours, laughed ourselves silly,  and basically got a chance to spend some time together that wasn't a whirlwind family visit or emotionally charged family event.  It was generous, it was fun, it was wonderful.  Thank you.  Thank you for being there for me and giving me this opportunity.

An so now I move.  Again. My 4th move in 4 1/2 years.  I sure I hope I stay in this spot for a bit.  But who knows.  there might be a purchase in my future.  If that happens then that's it.  Fin.  Over. Basta. Uncle.  NO MORE MOVING, after that one.  We'll see.  First I get through this weekend.

The apartment I picked was way bigger than almost anything else I looked at.  And yet, its a tiny little thing.  So hopefully my stuff will fit, in.  Will fit in.  Inside.  Oy.  I'm just a little worried.  I will know soon enough.

Think of me on Saturday.  The weather is supposed to be great.  The movers come at 9 am.  Over the river and through the city we go.  Let the next chapter begin.