Where Did All This Stuff Come From?

The packing process has officially begun. I packed a few symbolic boxes earlier this week, but today I put some actual effort into it. The backyard has been divested of all traces of my occupation, apart from the birdfeeders (still weaning the little guys off this place as a food source), but the inside of the house... There is a disappointingly large amount of stuff in my house... I am not sure where it all came from, but I do wish the Stuff Fairy would stop visiting. Rather a bit of the clutter consists of items which I replaced as outdated, but for which I had hoped to find a final disposition other than the landfill. Doesn't look like that will happen now, for a lot of it. The Christmas tree, for instance, was hacked into pieces and shoved in the dumpster today. So much for my hope that I would discover a place around here that took trees for mulch or some such. I have given up on finding someone who wants my old computer, as well, and that will soon find itself at Best Buy, who at least will recycle what they can.

I am also making plans for the initial trip to Houston, which will begin on March 18th with a Badger Alumni dinner in Abq. There are several places between here and Abq that have caught my eye, but there never seemed to be time or excuse to visit them. I plan to hit one or two on my way this time. After Abq, I will most likely visit White Sands, then Carlsbad Caverns, and then spend whatever time I can in Big Bend National Park before arriving in Houston on sunday... just in time to start my new job on monday, March 23rd. I am either very excited or thoroughly terrified - will let you know if I figure it out.