Last week was my “spring break” and thankfully I was able to get most of my shifts covered at the bookstore so that Laura and I could get up to Clemson and look at housing options. We saw about 15 properties over 6 hours and ended up signing a lease on Good Friday for a really great 4 bedroom house in Seneca, about 15 minutes from campus. Some of you might be wondering why little Laura and I would ever go for a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath house. Well, you might too if the rent was only $600. YEAH. I know! Corner yard with plenty of garden space, 1,600 sq ft, hard wood floors, fire place, central air and gas heat ($clutch$). There is a room that was built on a few years ago that will be my studio/laboratory with its own entrance, so I can store my bikes easily. Laura will have her own office as well, and we still have a dedicated guest room for all of you who we would love to see at some point over the next two years.

As we prepare to move, we’re collecting furniture and other essentials that we’ll need. CraigsList and GoodWill have become invaluable resources. There is a lot of real wood non-Ikea furniture on the market down here and my wife, god bless her, is really good at finding the deals and bargaining with sellers. My job is to do the heavy lifting.

We’re very excited to have our own place, finally. Big step. HUGE step.

On the job front, I’ve got one, possibly two big certification tests coming up. The ICE on the 22nd, and the NATE (optional) the following week. I’m getting nervous about securing employment as a tech soon, as are my classmates. But I have been using an industry headhunter site HVACagent.com, which is sort of like an HVAC specific Monster. So far I’ve gotten one nibble. Hopefully we’ll get a few more!

Oh, and I got a rejection letter from Waccamaw Journal for a story I sent them last year. “Your story came really close here. Thanks for submitting it and I encourage you to send more for our next issue.” You better believe it!