My Birthday, Indeed

Miriam wasn't lying about that, and today is indeed the day. Neither of us felt like facing the ordeal of another day on the road, so we opted to remain in Fayetteville till tomorrow.

The cats are most pleased not to be in carriers. And Miriam is sleeping a lot, perhaps coming down with a cold, alas.

Me: A room, a good book, a little beer, Miriam, and the three miscreants = a good birthday. I may be fat, old, and stupid, but I'm happy.

The odd twist to this tale is this: Purely based on Miriam's scanning of our AAA Guide, and on her desire for internet access and my sudden desire for a hotel with a pool, we wound up at the Best Western.

She stayed in the car with the kittens as I went in to book the room.

The moment I entered the lobby, I remembered. This hotel is the exact one where my first wife worked (before she and I married), way back ten years ago when I was working on my first MA and she was trying to finish up her BA. She worked here as a night auditor, and I would come out to keep her company and swim in the wee hours.

Very strange coincidence. A decade gone and here I am again.

--rorschach (not actually miriam)

So Far, So Good...

"So far" being "Fayetteville, Arkansas," and "so good" being "the cats are remarkably good travelers." Tista even manages to look serene as he watches the scenery pass. (Remembered the camera but forgot the cable, so that's as much kittyblogging as I can do at the moment!)

Meanwhile, Friday is Ror's birthday (which he'll let me mention largely because he's not looking as I post this), so wish him a happy one!

Meanwhile...

It's good that we've built a few spare days into our travel plans, since we're still in Austin and still trying to get the car loaded and the house cleaned out.

Someone keeps sneaking stuff into the house, I am convinced.

Kill Early, Kill Often

I bet this vapid, petulant little nothing of a man would like nothing more than to speed up executions:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could see his influence over death penalty decisions increase under new regulations expected to be approved soon by the Justice Department, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Implementing a "little-notice provision in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act," the Justice Department rules give Gonzales authority that had previously been held by federal judges to decide whether states are providing adequate council for defendants in death penalty cases, according to the Times.

"The move to shorten the appeals process and effectively speed up executions comes at a time of growing national concern about the fairness of the death penalty, underscored by the use of DNA testing to establish the innocence of more than a dozen death row inmates in recent years," reports Richard B. Schmitt in the Times Tuesday.

Well...

Just having awakened sitting upon the living room floor, I simply must believe that I was hard work (please, gentlemen, no naughty insinuations!) until quite the early hours, but now I must rush and shove my felines into enclosures in preparation for travels and travails of which the poor dears could never have dreamed!

Relocations

What do we in fact lose and what do we in fact gain from relocation, then?

What forces drive them?

Are the same forces that drive a young Horaltio Alger to acclaim that drive Zola's Nana to disease and shame? Or to bring it on closer to home, what of Sister Carrie?

Abstractions and allusions all aside, I'm in midst of a move from Austin,TX, to Oshkosh, WI, so as to pursue a career there teaching writing and modern American literature. My wife, meanwhile, will be full faculty in American Indian literature.

I've always been very good and very bad at relocations. Often impulsive, but never "spur-of-the-moment."

That is to say, I would gradually choose that I would best be elsewhere at that moment.

And one day, I'd go.

Departures

Now that's one of those universal concepts that eventually hit us at our most existential level.

Like: Where did this hideous bowl come from and why do you want to keep it and does this mean that on some fundamental level you need to leave... the room for a while as I pack it?

I spent my day today copyingprintingfaxing a wide variety of forms to a wide variety of people, all of whom were most friendly. (Well, there was this one fellow who stood to make the most money, so I figured he figured he could just go on then and be a prat for once in his well-mannered life, and good on him.)

But, so, anyway. It seems as though we may be able to hit the bricks noonish today, ending up in some splendid accommodations in or around Marshall, TX. If we're bold, maybe Texarkana,

Them's the plans, at any rate, and we'll just see how well that all goes, shall we?

Wifi willing, more to come soon.

Can't Sleep. Can't Move.

Commodities are defeating our labor.

Send in the Marx-borgs, stat!

Fare Thee Well, Austin

Blogger got all weird on me; the last post regarding the return from Houston and our delightful time with our friend S was actually posted Sunday around 8 PM.

Not Friday.

Anyways. All things being equal, we're hitting the road tomorrow, two tired humans and three freaked-out cats on a 1300-mile trek.

Given hotel wi-fi friendliness, there may be on-the-road updates.