We're moved!

At last, after many months, we have moved from the bay area to Sacramento. We've been packing at our house in Hercules since April. Gordon has been working at our house in Fair Oaks since May. But the work that needed to be done before we could move in got completed a week or so ago. He installed new insulation, did some re-wiring, had a painter paint all the rooms (without wood), and had a contractor re-finish all the wood floors. Also, he did lots of out side cleanup and is continuing to work on the pool.

So the movers came to Hercules on Sunday. They arrived at 9 and got the truck all packed up about 4. We got almost all the furniture and boxes in the truck. Gordon packed up his truck and I packed a bunch of things in my car. Aisling and I took one cat and a turtle in my car and Gordon took the other cat in his truck. After we got to Sacramento, the movers were there until about 11 moving furniture and boxes into the house. My goal was to get our beds set up so we could sleep Sunday night, and also to get the big heavy pieces of furniture located. And we did manage to do that, so we could sleep in our beds on Sunday night!

I took off three days during the week and we unpacked and moved furniture around during that time. In addition, Gordon was continuing with some things that weren't quite done, like some light fixtures. The cats and the turtle have completely settled in. The cats love being outside and we haven't lost them yet. Dara, Zach and Aidan came up to visit over the weekend. Zach helped clear more stuff from the garden, and Dara helped unpack the kitchen. Aidan ran around and played with the cats.

So it's great to be all back together all the time. Aisling has started her summer program at Sac State. Gordon will need to finish stuff up at the Hercules house, as we have a new tenant moving in on August 1, which is great news!

ITLP Conference 2009

I just got back from Chicago where I attended the IT Leader's Program 2nd annual conference. I had a great time. I presented my leadership diary three times - mostly tongue-in-cheek presentations, recalling our various leadership concepts and gently poking fun at them. The third day was spent poking fun at the previous speakers sessions. However, the previous speakers were mostl very good, especially Professor Ronald Burt on Social Networks and how they create advantage and value; Professor Harry Davis on leadership as performance art (I know what you're thinking and you're wrong); and Clarke Stroud Vice President and Dean of Students from the University of Okalahoma on the role that students play in advancing technology. Clarke Stroud was almost (but not quite) as funny as I was and he also gave me tons of material for my final diary - just a lot to revisit and make fun of.

It was also good to reconnect with my ITLP colleagues from around the country. Many of us are dealing with similar issues obviously around budgets and crises caused by security issues. Many of us spent some quality time at a bowling alley in Chicago - great fun!

House update

It's been a while since I've posted to my blog; just busy I guess. We finally took possession of the house last week. Getting through closing was a really pain in the neck but it finally got done. Now we (and by we I mean Gordon) are spending a lot of time doing work to make it move in ready. Last week, he got a lot of electrical work done so now the house won't be a fire hazard. He also got some new drywall in the laundry room. And now he's focusing on doing some ceiling insulation. That'll take a couple of weeks and then we'll have it painted and have the floors repaired and refinished. In between that, we'll make the pool ready for swimming.

All of this while we pack and move and get our Hercules house ready to rent!

I am thrilled with the house, but I hadn't been there for several weeks until we got the keys last Thursday. There's been some rain in between those two times and the weeds in the very large garden are about five feet tall! That's a lower priority than the house interior, obviously, but it is a mess. We spent the night there Thursday sleeping on the floor. It was so quiet! On Friday the refrigerator and other appliances arrived.

So it's a work in progress. But it's exciting.