(with apologies to April, because her update has prompted me to also update)
I've been back from New Zealand for over two weeks now. Strange how time passes. I've just seen one friend here at home, and I haven't been overly social. Somehow, my impending move to Michigan has made me more of a homebody than ever.
Speaking of Michigan, I now have a house. I'll be living with 5 other graduate students in a nice house right near the neighborhood of Kerrytown, which is apparently a great place in Ann Arbor. I'll be 15 minutes or so from my building, and I'm hoping to find a second hand bike that will serve to get me around most of the time (in fact, I'd love to get a cart for it so I can use it for groceries. Just because I need a car for field work doesn't mean I have to use it all the time). To date, I have 3 confirmed roommates, and they're all guys. We're looking for 2 more people, and at least one of those people will be female. We've got a few prospects, and I just need to sort stuff through from their emails and weigh in with my thoughts.
I'll be leaving Seattle in mid-August; the exact date has not yet been determined. I'm hoping to drive across WA, ID, and MT with a possible stop at Yellowstone. On my must-see list is Glacier National Park (MT) and Teddy Roosevelt National Park (ND). Then, I'll hit up the twin cities to visit the zoos there before heading to Ann Arbor via Milwaukee and Chicago. I'm still planning out details so that I can start reserving camp sites and whatnot. If anyone has ideas of where I should visit, feel free to comment.
Life here has been good. I'm starting to paint the back stairwell in the house, and someday soon I need to start decluttering my room (honestly, I can't move all the stuff I own to Michigan. I'll be living in a room that is 12x12. Time to pare down my belongings). I've been working at Mariners' games, and I'm finally seeing the fruits of my several months of running/weight lifting at the Y, because work is much easier than it used to be (now if only the Mariners could pull together more wins).
I'm itching for a new macbook, and I'll have one by the time I start school this fall. Waiting for awhile to make my decisions about exactly which configuration I want.