I'm looking at the calendar for the remainder of September and October. Pretty soon every single day is going to have something scheduled on it. Time seems to be moving more quickly as we approach the move. Today the moving company sent someone over to do a walk-though of our house so he could get an idea of how much stuff we had. The scheduling system originally had us scheduled for two days of packing at a third day for the pick up. I had guessed that our stripped-down existence would only warrant one day of packing, and it turns out I was right. So now it looks like we'll be packing on a Monday and vacating the house on a Tuesday and flying off the island very early Thursday morning. Now that we know when we're moving, we also have to go over to the housing office and give them our notice. After we give them notice, they'll schedule a walk-through as well and let us know what we'll need to do to get the house ready for the final check-out inspection.
We're still house-hunting in San Diego. We're working with a realtor and we've been pre-approved on a loan. We spend at least a couple hours per day looking online at houses. We just sent a list of houses we like to the realtor so she can get a better understanding of what we're looking for. Zac purchased a house in Oklahoma so he has some familiarity with the process. It's all new to me, however, and it's a bit overwhelming. I think it would be less stressful if we were there and do more of the research in person. We have a few good friends in San Diego that are willing to go out with our realtor and take a look at the houses we like. We trust them to ask the right questions (they're homeowners) and give us their honest opinion about the places. I'm nervous about putting in an offer on a house when I haven't seen it in person, but I like the idea of getting the paperwork moving so we have a place to live sooner, rather than later.
A note to all of my Minnesota peeps - we're only going to be in MN for about 54 hours this time around. We probably won't catch most people, aside from family. I'm hoping for a return visit to MN, hopefully in the winter, when we can spend some more time socializing.
On the job front, I applied for a job in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. What was odd about this position is that they didn't accept any electronic submissions. No e-mailing or faxing your resume/application. They specifically stated paper only submissions. Wha??? Paper? What is this, 1987? Plus, the job was only posted for about a week (encompassing Labor Day weekend) so they suggested you use FedEx to make sure it got there on time. So I coughed up $30 to FedEx to get five pieces of paper out to the hiring manager out in Washington DC. Great. Now I'm paying for (probable) employment rejections. Terrific. At least I'm providing jobs to FedEx employees.
We've got the 2011 Khaki Ball on Saturday. This will be our fourth one here in Hawaii. I've got the dress, but still no shoes. I'm not really that excited for it, to be honest. None of the couples from our social group are going. Zac and I invited a friend of ours whose husband is currently stationed overseas, however, so Zac will be the man with two hot dates that night. It really doesn't seem like that long ago that we went to our first Khaki Ball here and I was meeting people, having a hard time keeping names straight. And now some of those people have become my closest Navy friends and have moved on to new duty stations. What a strange last three years.
It's not all doom and gloom around here. Zac and I have been taking a digital photography class for a couple of weeks. It's been well worth it. There's really no point in having a DSLR if you don't know how to use all the bells and whistles. You're paying for those features, you should use them. I'm going to try to take some time on a couple of days to go take photos around island before we leave. Actually, speaking of photos, Zac and I booked a portrait session in a couple of weeks. They take photos at the beach at sunset. I've been wanting a Hawaiian photo of Zac and I like that since we've got here. I'm excited that we found the time (and will) to finally schedule one. It will be a nice way to wrap up our time here, on the North Shore with the setting sun. How very Hawaiian.
