Crazy Arizona Weather – Serious Consequences

Yesterday was a crazy weather day here in Arizona.  Two interstates were closed because of bad weather.  I-10 was closed South of Phoenix due to blowing dust.  The low visibility caused a massive wreck that involved at least 8 semi trucks and killed 4 people.  Insane.  The second interstate was I-40 between Flagstaff and Williams.  It was closed due to white-out blizzard conditions which also led to a large pileup of cars thankfully with no serious injuries.

So there you have it.  December weather… Arizona style.

Changes for Metro Light Rail

A recent news story (here) announced that Stephen Banta will be named chief executive of Metro Light Rail.  He comes to Phoenix via Portland, OR where he ran their TriMet system.  He comes to the Valley at a good time.  Metro is in a transition period where the light rail is moving from being the “new, cool toy” to something that needs to become more viable for the Phoenix Metro Area.  Hopefully he can breathe some new life into Metro and bring the much needed improvements to the system (hello, I’d love to know how long it is before the next train arrives, especially when it’s summer and it’s 114 outside!).

When I was in Portland recently, one of the coolest features of their light rail system was the intigration with Google Maps that was present when searching for directions.  Watching the mobile app on my iPhone, I could see exactly when a train left the station I wanted  to board at and how long I had to wait for the next one to arrive.  It was amazing.  The MAX seems to be a pretty reliable source of transportation given the few experiences I had while in Portland.

Time Crunch – House

So I’m moving and the date is quickly approaching.  Due to time constraints and other factors, I will be moving out of my house before the new house is even close to being ready.  That means I’ll be living with mom for a few days… hopefully no more than a week.

Here’s the plan.  I move all my stuff into a storage container on 12/26.  It must be completed on that day as the renters are moving in on 12/27.  I have 6, maybe 7 hours to pack the storage container.  It’s going to be fun!  If I close on 12/29, as I expect, the house will need to be painted before I do any sort of moving in.  I’m hoping that I can get it setup so that happens before the new year.  I have to call some people to see if I can get that to happen.  At that point, I will be able to get the appliances delivered and slowly start moving myself into the new place.  The storage container will need to be delivered to the new house and unloaded.  New carpet will need to be put into the bedrooms before any of them can be “setup” or really even used.  The carpet in there now is soooooo gross.

Anyway, I have a hectic holiday coming up.  It should be GOOD times.

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A Funny Thing Happened at Work

Today, my boss came running out of her office screaming like a crazy person. Everyone on the floor immediately took notice (as you can imagine). Turns out there was a mouse in her office and it had scampered across her feet. Ha! It’s still at large.

My Condo

Four years ago today I closed and moved into my condo.  It doesn’t really seem that long ago but time flies, it seems.  It’s been a good condo and I still love living here. The time comes when you outgrow and need to move on and I’m glad that I’ve found a place that I’ll love just as much, I’m sure.

BTW, today feels like the PNW in Phoenix.  Cloudy, rainy, and cold.  Burr!  Not a typcial December day here in the Valley of the Sun.

New House, New Ideas

So, when the new house is all moved into and settled I have some ideas. The first is having the Thanksgiving dessert annual event. That’ll be good times. I think it’ll really take off.

Another idea I was having was a monthly dinner thing. I don’t want to call it a dinner party. That just sounds too… yeah. Anyway, it would be a good way to get people together, etc. It could even be a pot luck sorta deal. It’s an idea but it probably needs a bit of refining. I’m excited.