I am out of my campus office, except the packed boxes that the movers will pick up next Wednesday. Feels odd to be moving - physically - out of that life. The house is listed (nearly, we're waiting until I am really out of it), and I'm down to the final pre-final list:
oil change before the drive across country
multiple loads to Big Charity of non-moving items (ironing board, mismatched glasses & plastics, etc).
animals to kennel (Monday afternoon)
multiple loads of laundry (Monday night)
packers, all day Tuesday
loaders, Wednesday morning (3-5 hours?)
early Thursday: load up the dogs & bird and head northwest
Our Alaska cruise was interesting: Love Boat line was not what I expected. Food mediocre, cabins good (huge closet area.... why?), far too many people. Far too many people. Most of the cruise programing was aimed at getting people to buy stuff: diamonds! tanzanite! sapphires! furs! buy! buy! buy! But the excursions were great: we saw lots of bald eagles, humpback whales, orca!!!, seal lions, harbor seals, fish eagles. Incredible scenery and landscapes. I had no idea. None. The mountains were just... right there, almost touchable in their proximity but enormous, untouchable.
The majesty of the landscapes, the scale of things, the millions of trees - I finally think I have an insight into why the people there hold the opinions they do: the landscapes that would be so familiar to them inspire a feeling of unlimited resources, that nothing man does could reduce the gifts of the mountains. They are wrong, but I can see why they think that. What somebody from other areas saw was the fragility of the place, the encroaching diseases/insects that are already evident on the landscape and flora. That they are the care-takers of a vanishing world; and they don't seem to give a damn. Everybody talked about killing things: wildlife, trees, etc.. I think they intended to show their rugged individualism and abilities. You can probably tell I wasn't impressed.
On return, I got re-certified as an open water (scuba) diver. It was fun, interesting - what we used to have to do ourselves is all done by computer now. So the class, other than emphasizing that air density increases at depth while volume decreases, was a casual chat fest. In water exercises brought back the loveliness of the sport: it's amazing to fly underwater. We spent 2 days at a lake in the eastern part of the state doing our open water stuff. That was like swimming in soup: the lake was 28 feet above normal, muddy as all get out. At the end, we got our certifications. Now we can plan a better place to dive. I'm thinking Hawaii or Baja.
First things first. The move.
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