The Big Move is Underway!

Today is Moving Day!  Jet, her mom, and I spent much of the past few days (with the help from some friends … thanks Lin, Pete, and Bryon!) packing, loading our U-Haul, and cleaning the apartment.  We ran into a bit of trouble with the U-Haul … seems it was a VERY busy weekend for them.  We were to pick up our 17′ truck first thing Saturday morning but ended up picking up at 24′ truck (free upgrade due to lack of trucks) at 2:00pm.  Since I scheduled my friends to help load the truck in the morning and they each had plans of their own on Saturday afternoon, I just had them move everything in our apartment to the curb in anticipation of the truck arriving.  Luckily everything worked out and we are all packed and ready to go.  This is the first time I will be driving a truck this big, so I was a bit nervous at first.  Because of that, I did not feel comfortable towing the car with the truck.  Therefore, I will be driving alone in the truck and Jet will be driving the car down with her mom.  I will be leaving shortly, but Jet will be leaving after her last doctor appointment at 8:45am.  Since I will be driving around 60mph, she should catch up to me somewhere along I-65.  We are planning to stop for the day somewhere in Kentucky so that we don’t have as long a trip tomorrow.

Now for the goodbyes!  Man they stink.  First it was the people from UWM.  When I said goodbye to everyone there, it seemed like they were saying goodbye forever!  That does not have to be the case!  I am always accessible here on this blog and by e-mail.  In addition, Jet and I will be coming back in December for graduation and the holidays.  Jet had a similar experience with her friends at JP Morgan Chase and her good friend Pa.  Perhaps not as dramatic, but I’m sure she will miss her friends dearly.  Many of them gave her some very nice cards and farewells. 

As for my family, on Friday Sandy, Matt, and I ran in the 5k Germanfest run at the Summerfest grounds – our last hurrah.  We each posted impressive times, which was very surprising for me.  In my last Australian Rules Football Game for the Milwaukee Bombers three weeks ago, I tore ligaments in my right foot.  It has been a slow and painful recovery, which has kept me from preparing for the run.  In addition, it was in the 90s, so I had no idea what to expect.  For the first mile I followed Sandy because I assumed that she would be doing the same pace as me.  Wrong!  At the first mile, the time was 6:45 when I was shooting for 7:30.  I slowed it down a bit from there on while Sandy just turned on the speed.  I struggled a little later in the run, but ended up with a time of 24:30 … pretty good for me considering all of the things I listed above.  Sandy finished with a sub-22 minute run and Matt finished at 26:20 both good times as well.  Last night, Kristin threw us a going-away party with burgers, corn, and chicken as well as a cheesecake (my favorite!) and Dairy Queen cake (Jet’s favorite) for dessert.  It was greatly appreciated and much needed after a long weekend of moving.  When I said goodbye to Will and Irene as well as my Dad, Kristin got all emotional.  Yikes!  I wonder how she will react when I tell her goodbye this morning!  Sandy let us stay over-night at her place and we just said goodbye to her as she left for work.  We really appreciated the fresh shower, beds, and air conditioning that helped us get a good night sleep.

Well … my next posting should be after we have arrived in Alabama!  As I mentioned earlier, we plan on driving back to Milwaukee in mid-December so we will see many of you then.  For others, like my Dad, we will see him before then as he will fly down for two weeks for the Talladega race in October.  Talladega speedway is literally 20 minutes driving from our house.  That should be a lot of fun.  We both hope to keep in contact on this blog or by e-mail in the meantime, else we will look forward to seeing everyone again in December!

Jet’s Mom In Milwaukee

Jet’s Mom arrived on Thursday (July 20) to help us move down to Alabama and will be leaving in mid-August.  She has visited Milwaukee twice before, but this is the first time she has been here in the Summer.  We have had very good weather during her stay and we have taken advantage of it by taking in many different sites around the city and doing many things.  Every day that she has been here, however, we have visited Kristin because she has fallen in love with Josh, Ty, and Samantha.  Jet has taken her Mom to many different places for shopping too, but her Mom’s favorite place to shop is Kohl’s!  We still have a bit of packing to do, and with less than a week before we leave, time is just flying by.  We hope to have a chance to say goodbye to everyone before we go!

        

Dr. Ciganek

Last week Wednesday (July 19) I defended my dissertation successfully and my tenure as a PhD student is officially over.  There are many that deserve thanks for helping me through this stage of my life and I appreciated the support that so many were willing to provide. 

I look forward with great anticipation what the future holds for my career in academia.  Thank you, everyone.

Farewell Party

We had our farewell party on Sunday and invited close friends and family to attend … and it was a blast!  Gayle was able to reserve the solarium of her condo building for the party and Jet worked on getting all the food.  I had the task of getting the food from our apartment to the party.  By all accounts, the party was a tremendous success!  Both Jet and I appreciated all of the wonderful gifts and really enjoyed everyone’s company.  These truly will be memories that we will grasp onto tightly as we venture onto our new lives and leave behind the people that we care so much for.  Thank you everyone for sharing those moments with us and we will look forward to finding news ways to connect with all of you as our relationship is redefined by distance.

        

Our New Car!

Today we have bought our first car to use in Alabama – a 2006 Toyota Corolla LE!  The exterior and interior colors are grey – the same as the Honda Accord we have now.  We will need two cars, but this one will be primarily for my use.  I had wanted something small, economical, and with good gas mileage since I will be doing a bit of driving each day (30 minutes from home to JSU).  Our second car, on the other hand, will be something that Jet likes.  She has looked at the Honda CR-V and Toyota Camry, but we will see when the time comes.

Jet worked long and hard securing the deal for the Corolla, which we bought from Serra Toyota in Birmingham.  Jet could not strike the right offer with the dealers closer to our new home, so when she started looking elsewhere, she came across Serra Toyota and things started falling into place quickly.  Jet certainly is the master negotiater, and we both were very happy with the deal we got.

So how will we pick it up?  Well, our lease with the Honda Accord ends in November.  We will return it at the end of this month before we leave so that we will only be driving the U-Haul truck down to Alabama.  Once we pass through Birmingham (about 45 minutes from our new home), we will make a stop and Jet will drive the new car home with us.  The car will arrive at the lot on July 25, so everything appears like it will work out great.  Let’s hope so!

First Ultrasound

Jet had her first ultrasound yesterday and we were both very excited.  I had to step out of the room a couple of times because I got a bit light-headed … I think it was from viewing the computer screen too long in the dark!  It’s just amazing what we could see, though.  It will be another month or so till we can find out what gender the baby is, but Jet believes it will be a boy since the baby had a very fast heartbeat (160 bps) and was moving around quite a bit.  I am not sure I believe that.  I have included a couple of pictures of the baby below … just click on them for a larger picture.  Enjoy!