2003 may turn out to be the year of flux and upheaval (which is probably why I'm considering another redesign/restructuring for my personal site, avocado8), but I'm hoping that all of this change is really re-tooling to make us better equipped for the road ahead. Vague, I know, but who knows what the future holds? I might even...have a baby. Maybe. In a couple years. After I've gotten over the fear.

Anyway, the current flux I'm referring to has to do with two things. First is the sale of my house in Truckee (and the subsequent combining of households). We talked about it for a while, and when it became clear that Al didn't think that moving there full time was a realistic possibility, and I didn't think it made financial sense to pay mortgage & utilities for a place we only used once or twice a month, the decision to sell was easy.

We went up last weekend and moved out all my clothes, videotapes, cookware, and other personal items (we left the furniture for the new buyers), and it's now piled in the garage and in my project room in Mountain View. We'll probably spend most of this weekend unpacking, figuring out what we have duplicate items of, what I'll never wear/use again (and of that what can be sold at a garage sale or on eBay, what can be donated to charity, and what should just be thrown out), and where to put the remaining items.

I'm excited that we're finally going to combine households (and cut our household expenses almost in half). I'm excited that Al suggested we turn the guest room into my office/project room, so that we each have our own spaces as well as shared spaces. I'm excited that I have an entire closet all to myself! And I'm excited that I'm going to have a vested interest in this house and this neighborhood. Now, if I could just stop calling it "Al's house" and start calling it "our house"...

Of course, our longer term goal is to buy a place together, once we know where Al will be working next. But I think combining households now will help us understand what we really need, and therefore what to look for in that next place.

The other "flux" thing that's on my mind is our search for another hockey league. Al and I have decided to leave our current rink in Redwood City and find another place to play for a while. Some of the women from the Spitfire mailing list came through and suggested that we join their coed team in San Jose. It turns out that Al has also played with the team's captain, so there will be plenty of familiar faces. The level seems about right for us, and so does the price, so we're hoping for a fun and fruitful spring/summer hockey season.