One of the pains about moving to another state is having to make that lovely visit to the DMV.  Well, the New Mexico -> Arizona transition was easy…show up, take the vision test, get your license.  North Carolina wasn’t as nice.  Apparently North Carolina is one of the states that requires all out-of-state residents to take the written test again…ahh, it reminds me of the good ‘ol days of Driver’s Ed.  I ended up passing today and got my license.  It’s now official…I’m licensed in the state of North Carolina.

Yesterday, I returned to Raleigh from Amarillo…I flew there on Wednesday night to attend my grandfather’s funeral. He passed away November 27 in an Alzheimer’s care center in Wellington, TX. The service was held on Thursday in my birth town of Pampa, TX. The service was excellent (given the circumstances); since he was a World War II veteran, they did the military thing, with the flag folding, taps, etc.

The truth is, for the last few years, he was miserable and uncomfortable. He was sleeping 23+ hours per day. Because of the Alzheimer’s, he had no idea who we were when we would go visit. That is truly a sad disease. I believe memories and people are the most important thing in this world, and without that, I see no reason to live. And, as a result, I feel I truly “lost” my grandfather years ago. I do miss him, but I do know that he is in a better place now…

EDIT: On a positive note, I got to see my dad, mom, brother, aunt, two uncles, and a cousin I haven’t seen in years. My brother was released from jail on bond (another story, probation violation) just in time to attend the event. I also got to visit my other grandparents, one of which was in the hospital in Amarillo…it was good to be there for her too.

I hope that everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!  There is so much to be thankful for, and I hope that everyone enjoys their time with family and friends.  Oh, and may the Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos! 

As part of my new hire orientation, they ask that we fly to Sunnyvale to go through various courses. So, my plane departs in a few hours for San Francisco, and I will be out there until Sunday, Nov 13. I’m not sure if I’ll have much internet connectivity, so blogging may not be possible until I get back. We’ll see…

I’ve been meaning to rant about this for quite some time… Raleigh traffic is about 1500% worse than Tucson (my own statistical estimation, not to be used by anyone else). Seriously…I wondered why we have 5 lanes going both ways on I-40 between Durham and Raleigh. Now I know. It’s funny too, because the window is pretty short, but it happens to be when I want to go to work. If you go between 7:30 and 7:50, you’re good. But, anything between like 7:50 and 8:45 is terrible. The I-540 beltline is new, and is still in construction, not even 25% complete, but I live near I-540 and NC Highway 70. Taking 70 to I-540, then I-540 to I-40 is ridiculous! I thought that would be the way to go, but NO. It really upsets me, because the traffic should flow with no problems, but you always have dumb drivers who don’t know what they’re doing and end up holding up all the rest of the cars. Say 120 cars are traveling in one lane, if everyone has 1 second delay in moving, it causes the last car to have to wait 2 minutes! So, to make a long story short, I take a “backroads.” I end up going further but it ends up saving me quite a bit of time.

Check out the live Raleigh/Durham traffic cams

Just click on the magnifying glass and it’ll zoom in to show you more cameras. I-540 isn’t shown, but it’s the major road above the I-440 beltline that merges into I-40.

Quick catch up for you all. I went to Hobbs High School in a small town in New Mexico. Yes, I was a member of the band, etc. Well, when I got to college, I began hanging out with Andrew, Daryl, Allison, Kara, and Rebecca who were all from Hobbs. I used to hang out with Andrew, Daryl, and Kara but I never really hung out with Allison, and didn’t even know Rebecca. Well, like I said, in college, we all hung out all the time…and they all became my best friends. People gave us hell because we stuck together…as “The Hobbsans.” As Andrew says in his blog, “James, Rebecca, Allison and I had a killer year our first year of college at NMSU (Killer = great). People probably thought I was a slut because I rarely slepped in my dorm room…I was on the floor next to James (not too close) with a towel for a pillow in Rebecca and Allison’s dorm room in Garcia. We hung out 90% of the time our freshman year.” We had a killer time, indeed. Good times… Anyway, on Tuesday, we met Andrew in Rocky Mount, NC for dinner. After college, Andrew moved to Washington, D.C. and his parents moved from Hobbs, NM to a small town in North Carolina. This was convenient for both of us…we both drove about an hour to meet up on Tuesday… Again, like Andrew says in his blog, “You know you are good friends with someone when you have’nt seen them in a year and when you do its like you have’nt seen them in a week.” It was great seeing you, buddy. See, the rest of you Hobbsans need to move to the east coast too…we can relive the freshman days.

Link: Schwartz speaks up

So, we just got back from picking up our cars!! Well, they got in about an hour ago, but we had to go fill up the rental car with gas, and take it back to the airport. I’m just so happy to have my own form of transportation now…as I’m sure Rebecca is as well!

So, as you may have noticed, I haven’t had a chance to blog lately. As a matter of fact, I haven’t had much time to do my usual browsing the internet. My typical day lately has been get up early, head to work..work until about 5:30 or so, and then Rebecca and I end up meeting with the realtor here until late. In between, I’m working with my realtor from Tucson on selling the house. On a positive note, we have made an official offer for a house in Raleigh. It is a very beautiful house, and I hope that things work out. I’m needing to be out of the temporary housing by the end of the month…and let me tell you, things really suck living in temporary housing for 2 people with only 1 vehicle.

We finally made it to Durham today after the four hour flight (with pets) from Phoenix. Even though it’s 7pm in Arizona, I’m already feeling like I’ve been accustomed to the Eastern time zone for quite some time now (It’s 10pm, and I’m exhausted.) Luckily we have tomorrow to recuperate before we begin our new jobs on Monday morning.

Today begins our final week in Tucson. Rebecca and I will depart for North Carolina on the morning of October 1. This week will be very hectic as we prepare for the move. The good news is that Rebecca was able to transfer with her current employer, D.R. Horton.

We are both very excited but very stressed.