A New Hope

Actually, that was the name of the first Star Wars movie, but here it applies to me, and a new opportunity to forge a new life, while retaining the best from the old life.

Read the other post from this day - I got divorced yesterday and will be filing bankruptcy tomorrow. Bummer. However, Nancy and I are determined to remain friends, good friends, and we've re-discovered that friendship this past month. Quite probably, we will have a better relationship divorced than married. The bankruptcy is a bummer as well, but it will give me a chance to start a new financial life. So, both legal actions are actually, in many ways, good things.

One thing that is definitely a good thing is that I will start working next Monday at Key Technology in Walla Walla, WA. Google them, you'll understand what they do. I've rented a house already, that I will move into the latter part of February (Key Tech is paying for a month of temporary housing). It will be wonderful for me and my dog (Teo came with me). It's got one bedroom upstairs, a huge living room with fireplace, a large eat-in kitchen - those alone might be enough space. It's got a laundry room with washer and dryer supplied, a huge second bedroom with wood floor that I will use as an office/family room (family of one person/one dog - it has a deep window well/egress, so it can be classified as a second bedroom), and a large storage room (think 9X25) with concrete floor that will be Teo's room during the day, but will also be my workshop room. All 3 rooms have doors, and hard surfaces. Teo can stay in his room during the day, then hang out with me in the family room when I'm home.

Oh yes, there is a yard. While the yard isn't large, the landlord is responsible for all yard maintenance. There is a huge brick patio with a bubbling fountain. They were still working on the backyard when I saw it on the 11th, but we talked about how I did grow things/garden and used my gas grill a lot. When I talked to her today, she said that she was adding raised planters around the edge of the patio so I could garden in them. And, she thought a nice complement to the grill would be a fire pit, so they were putting that in as well. Wow! The whole backyard is fenced in, so Teo can go outside without a run out line or anything. Plus, the whole place is one house down from a city park where we can go walking, getting Teo (and me) exercise.

I came home from my house hunting trip and immediately consulted the one person I knew who was best at decorating spaces - Nancy. Armed with a full layout, semi-accurately dimensioned, Nancy helped me decide which furniture to have the movers bring along. It was really good that I found such a great space, as there were several great pieces of furniture Nancy and I had obtained over the years that she couldn't use in her little apartment, and I hadn't thought I could use in what I expected to find. For example, the dining room table that we have shared holiday dinner over the last 8 or 10 years, was probably going to go into storage at best. All those wonderful memories of wonderful dinners enjoyed over that table, to be lost. Instead, I've got a place for that table, and the chairs that kinda go with it. The same goes for our wonderful couch, that has been slept on by so many visiting friends, as well as most of our kids. It will make a wonderful couch in front of the fireplace. Yes, that will be a great place to cuddle with someone special... that's probably a space that will go unused for quite some time.

Even the bankruptcy is a good thing. I'll be free of most of my debt, Sure, there is $35K of student loans, plus another $17K of joint debt that Nancy and I will work on together, but gone are the crushing payments for the house in Madison, including the ginormous heating bills, and other utilities. When I was making 55% more than my new job will pay, we were making all payments, with maybe a couple hundred dollars extra. With my new job,m albeit it much lower paying, I'll have nearly $1500 each month after paying my bills. Sure, having a trashed credit rating is bad. However, if you don't need credit, or plan to use credit, it doesn't matter.

Enough of that. I left Madison with my puppy (Teo, my 9 year-old puppy) around a quarter to 5 this afternoon. Teo has his kennel with him in the backseat, but he is restrained by a cable locked into the LATCH point, so that he can't get forward and bother the driver (me!). For the first day, he rode very well for the first 5 hours. He's a smart dog, and energetic. I tried to move our stuff into the hotel first, and did, but he was all excited and it was tough. Tomorrow night, I'll take him for a 15 or 20 minute walk before I try to move stuff in, it will be much more mellow.

Anyways, I made it partway today. Google Maps makes the whole trip as 35 hours. but they underestimate the travel speed, but do not include stops. They pretty much balance out. My plan is to travel from 8 to 8 every day (12 hours). That would have brought me into WW late in the evening the day before I started work. Instead, by knocking off 5 hours this afternoon, if I can get another 12 each day the next two, I'll wander into WW 2 or 3 in the afternoon, with plenty of time to move into my temp housing, and for Teo to settle down/and in.

For the record, we're in the Saint Charles, MO Motel 6 tonight. All Motel 6 hotels accept pets, are dirt cheap, and provide minimalist lodging. It's perfect for my puppy and me.

I'll post again tomorrow on our continued progress.