T-minus 6 days

This is our last Sunday in the house we have occupied since January 1994; we have pared down our possessions though a combination of donations, sales (both eBay and garage sales), and outright disposal. The stuff we are keeping we mostly loaded on a truck yesterday morning and transported to a storage facility right here in Suwanee, GA, for safe-keeping. The few exceptions include an air mattress, our Bose Wave radio (see www.bose.com, and if you happen to be in the Woodburn, OR, area, go see my Dad at the Bose outlet!), and assorted other stuff (like the books I will need for the PE exam Friday before we leave).

The house echoes now; most of the rooms are completely empty.

Last night I cooked dinner, consisting of grilled cheese sandwiches and some soup, using our camp cookware (but not the camp stove -- I used the regular stove). In an effort to deplete our already-meager wine selection, we selected a nice Habersham Wineries Merlot we thought might go nicely with the grilled cheese (wine goes with EVERYTHING, we're not snobs). However, we realized that the CORKSCREW had been packed away, so Nancy went off across the street to Mary Beth for help. About a half-hour later, when she had not yet returned, I went over there myself because I thought maybe she'd gotten a better dinner offer (leaving her soup and sandwich on the counter, of course). There they were, just chatting away. They'll never change, thankfully.

We are about to leave for a Gwinnett Gladiators hockey game; the Gladiators finished the season with the best record in the league, and they won last night 5-3 over the South Carolina Stingrays to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. Today is game 2. This is the third season in Gwinnett for the Gladiators, and they have made the ECHL playoffs each year, establishing a good local tradition. I regret that we will have to move away from such a great organization, but we'll pick up the WHL's Portland Winterhawks when we get there.

I'm afraid I don't have much of a voice left after yesterday's Thrashers home finale, though; they beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in one of the most thrilling games I can recall at the Phil. With 89 points and two games remaining, they still have hopes to make the playoffs. If they win both remaining games and either Tampa Bay or Montreal lose on Tuesday night, they will make the playoffs for the first time in their short history. I regret that we'll have to leave THIS team, too, especially at the point when they might be making their first playoff appearance. I believe they will; all they have to do is win Monday night against Washington and Tuesday night against Florida. We'll listen to them in the playoffs on XM!

Tomorrow: what is Monday like when you can sleep in?