The Dates are Set!

After wading through the estimates, we have finally decided on a moving company. They are coming on Monday, October 4th to Cornelia to pick up OUR ENTIRE LIFE. I will take the morning/day off of work to coordinate the movers.

We will spend our last week in Chicago at Brian's Dad's house. We will then leave on Sunday very early in the morning, on October 10th. We should be arriving in Las Vegas very late on October 11th and will spend the first night in our apartment on aero beds. Our furniture should be arriving in the morning on the 12th, and then... that's it! We'll be in our new home less than 2 weeks from today.

Random Vegas Thoughts

I'm here:

For the week. (That's the New York, New York in Las Vegas, for anyone who might be confused) I arrived this morning to work on the company's new Employee Handbook, and other issues. This may sound like a silly reason to plan a trip, but it's actually a bigger job than it sounds. Also, we jumped at the chance to have a scouting out trip, before our big move date.

Brian will be joining me on Thursday night, and we'll spend half of friday (I do have to work, after all) and all of saturday looking for an apartment. We've decided (almost) to go with a two bedroom, to save the extra $200/month for a 3rd room that would only come in handy 3-4 times a year. We are checking out some condo rentals, but we'll also take a look at some of the full-service apartment complexes they have out here. They are a little more expensive ($50), but come with a pool, gym, dog run type things, a playground (I like swings), and a full maintenance team. I think it will be worth the extra money, but I want to keep my options open.

The weather is gorgeous. It was 84 degrees today, but it felt nothing like the Chicago equivalent of 84 degrees, aka hot and muggy. It's supposed to be this way for the rest of the week, which means this little city should make a good impression on Brian.

The Chicago condo has not yet had any interested visitors. The realtor has not yet scheduled the professional photographer to come in. Maybe once that happens, it will get a few more bites. We did repaint the bathroom though, at the realtor's request. I guess it has more mass appeal than the purple that it was before.

Yesterday was labor day. This was the first time that we were over at Brian's family's house since we told them the big moving news. Everyone was very supportive, and seem to be excited about the prospective visits. Brian's nephew is getting cuter every time we see them. He turns one year old next month. He played in a box for most of the afternoon:

Anyway, we had a great time, and were happy to learn that everyone is already planning their visits to our soon-to-be home. But, I will miss this place:

OCT 15!!!!

CRAP! October 15th is the date!

Transfer Update

I haven't posted anything in a while about the transfer to Las Vegas. That's because, there hasn't been any progress to report. Nothing has happened on my end. We are still working on reorganizing the company on this side. I am not yet done figuring out what to do with all of our employee's immigration statuses, so I am trying not to get ahead of myself. Until I've figured out how to make their transition from one company to new company smooth, I shouldn't start thinking about my own, far less complicated transition.

In other family news, Faby is visiting Chicago for about two weeks. Neither of us are entirely clear on why he is spending two weeks here, rather than spending the two weeks before classes begin back in San Francisco, but either way, he is here. Since he's only been here for four days, it's still fun. Just kidding. It's a little strange having him back here, acting exactly like he always has, when so much as changed for Brian and me. (You know, being married, both working full time, having a structured schedule). It is fun to have him though. I wonder when he will ever grow up.

I (finally) went to the wedding photographer's office to figure out our wedding album. It took us a really long time to pick out all of the photos to go into the album. We kept on putting it off. But, we (mainly me, with Brian's agreement, let's be honest) decided to pick out all the photos to "tell the story" of how the day went, instead of picking out all of the portraits, etc. Any picture that looked a little more candid that posed will go into the album. I picked out a few extras to go into the frames we received as wedding gifts. I'm not usually a big fan of the 8x10 portrait, but since we received 2 beautiful 8x10 frames, I picked out my two favorite photos of Brian and I. I guess that should be the last "wedding-related" item on my to-do list! Apparently the online ordering of the wedding photos is now closed, but not to worry... we will be getting a CD of all of the photos. We can print some out for anyone who missed out!

Big Blue Bank Transfer: Update

Brian did talk with his boss for a second time and she responded much better than she did the first time. Obviously, nothing is official yet. Neither he nor I have a definite job offer.

We do feel much better about his ability to move before the end of his year with Big Blue. I am infinitely less stressed about the idea of having to support our family on one salary.

Big Blue Bank Transfer

One of the big steps that we have to take before the 'move' becomes official is get Brian transferred from his branch in Evanston to a branch in the Las Vegas area. Brian was doing his habitual research on Las Vegas (seriously, he gets moving quote voicemails, realtor voicemails, relocation guides sent in the mail...), and found that there was a job opening at a branch near the UNLV campus that has a very high sales average. Of course, it is ideal that he can move from his branch in Evanston with medium to low traffic into a branch with high traffic. That means higher commission points, and more bacon to bring home!

Because of this opening, Brian wanted to approach his branch manager about the transfer slightly sooner than probably was ideal. We hadn't talked about an exact timeline, but we hadn't even gone over how he would approach the branch manager, so he wasn't as prepared as we would have hoped. As you can imagine, the branch manager did not react well... oops. Her response was: "You have to commit to a branch for at least a year before being able to transfer. You're going to have to apply for a job out there, but there are no guarantees." No Guarantees about what? About there being a job? About getting the position?

She's off today. He plans to give it another - more prepared - shot again on Friday. I am hoping that he if approaches her with more humility and deference, things might be a bit better. Also, I've met his manager, and she's a bit of a child. She wears bows on her hair, decks herself out in designer patterns (whether they are real or not is undetermined), and has one of those husbands who wears Ed Hardy and man jewelry. The Regional Manager I have not yet met, but according to Brian, is a much mroe reasonable person. I am hoping that when he talks to the regional guy, the response won't be given with such a 'you're on your own' attitude.

Cross your fingers for us. We really don't want to have to work something out where I am in Vegas while Brian is here, or to delay my start date in Las Vegas. We both are starting to feel like our time here is limited, and we are just in limbo, waiting for everything to be put together. But, I am not moving until December 1st (semi-officially), although there is a good chance of my having to travel there before then.

We are starting to plan on going to Las Vegas for labor day weekend. I will stay on for the rest of the week to get some work done, but Brian and I will spend the weekend looking at apartments and getting ready to sign a lease.