It's so hard to say goodbye

In my life, there are only a handful of people that I remember meeting for the first time.  Most of the time, it is an unremarkable story, and there doesn't seem to be any particular reason why I remember it.  Natalie is one of those people.  When Z and I first moved out to Philly, we lived in student housing, and you had to swipe your ID and enter a PIN number to get in the building. For the first few days, I did not have a functioning PIN, so I had to go to the desk of the building, explain my story, and sign in each time.  During one of our trips to the apartment building across the way to pick up some packages (the package room was in that building), I went to the desk as usual to explain my story and see if I could get in the building.  This time, Zack knew the girl behind the desk from the singles ward and introduced me to her.  That was it.  I don't know why I remember it but I do.  

I tell that story because it's amazing to me how many great friendships often begin insignificantly.  I don't remember the next time Natalie and I met.  I don't remember the first time I met Natalie's husband Robert.  I don't remember the first time we hung out.  But over time, we got to know each other and we became great friends.

In some ways, it's a shame that endings aren't as insignificant as beginnings can be because endings can be painful.  Earlier this week, our dearest Natalie and Robert moved all the way across the country to Seattle.  We are really going to miss them.

We will miss the phone calls to come hang out.

We will miss Robert's summaries of the latest episode of the Daily Show or some stand up comedy act.

We will miss the political discussions with someone who actually agrees with us (on most things)-- or who actually knows what they're talking about.

We will miss their cute kitties (named, appropriately, Dickens and Kal-El... did I spell that right?).

We will miss being able to be ourselves when we're around them.

We will miss their adventurous taste in foods-- and talking them into something more boring for our less adventurous tastes.

We will miss Natalie's frequent insistence that we watch The Fall.

We will miss trying to convince Robert that Superman is actually not the greatest superhero (Go Batman!).

We will miss them coming to our apartment in the winter to stay warm.

We will miss Natalie's feminist and socialist tendencies.

We will miss watching ridiculous youtube videos with them.

We will miss their love for Philly.

We will miss having someone to tell the same stories to over and over.

We will miss their influence in our ward.

We will miss their influence in our lives.

So, to our fabulous friends, goodbye and good luck.  We love you and wish you the very best in Seattle and beyond.  We hope you know that we fully support you in the decisions you have made and we are proud to call you our friends.  We feel so blessed that we have had you here in our lives.  

A couple of shout outs

It's been a while since I've written.  I know, not a horribly long while, but a while.  That's mostly because nothing much is happening.  I basically sit home all day and look for a job.  I really, really needed a break after school got out and I enjoyed the 2 months off followed by our whirlwind of a month that was May, but now I am ready to have a life again and I am just downright bored. Unfortunately, the job hunt hasn't been the least bit fruitful.  The economy sucks, even for nurses, especially in the incredibly saturated market that is Philadelphia.  So that's life right now.

Since it's Father's Day, I posted a short little tribute to my papa on my family's website.  Here it is:

Thanks to grandma and grandpa for giving me my dad.
He is the best dad.   He is one of the smartest people I know.   His ideas and opinions are well thought out.
He is actually really funny.   Lots of people don't understand his sense of humor, but I'd like to think that I get it sometimes.   Hey siblings-- remember the time that dad laughed?
He has the cute nose in our family (although Michelle's fusion nose is pretty good too).
He's turning 50 this year.   He doesn't seem that old (hee hee).
Sometimes I look at pictures of myself and I can see a facial expression that is so "my dad".   I love it when that happens.
Dad travelled a lot when we were kids.   That's not what I remember though.   I don't have memories of dad being gone all the time.   I have memories of doing fun stuff with him.   If someone hadn't mentioned it to me when I was older, I probably would've never even known that he was gone a lot.   He was always there when we needed him.
Dad needs glasses to read with now that he's old.   But reading glasses make him look even smarter than usual.
My dad decided to deal with some mega elbow pain instead of popping a ton of high strength pain pills on my wedding day because he wanted to be able to remember the whole day clearly.   That is just one of many examples of my dad putting others before himself.
He has worked hard day in and day our for so many years because he loves his family and wants to make our lives the best they can be.
So, to the best papa there is, Happy Father's Day.   I love you.

I also missed the chance to send a shout out to my mom and brother who both had birthdays this past week.  You guys are awesome.

Trial By Jury

I got my jury summons a few months ago.  I wasn't trying to shirk my civic duty or anything, but I just couldn't make it when they wanted me to so I sent the card back informing them that I was a very full-time student and asked if they would reschedule me for summer.  They kindly obliged and sent me another summons for June 8th.  That was still a ways off at the time so I hung my summons on our marker board and there it stayed.

June 8th approached and so that morning I got up nice and early and made my way to the criminal justice center downtown.  I took the blue line to City Hall, hopped across a couple streets, and found myself there in no time.  I had to take off my earrings to pass through the metal detector and put my bag on a conveyor belt for inspection, and then I made my way toward the jury room.  I was expecting to serve my time, and I was hoping to be outta there by like 2 or 3 like Zack was when he served his jury duty a few months before.  So I settled down in a seat and waited... and waited... and waited.  At length, they called my name and put me on a 50 person panel, and they said someone would be there shortly to pick us up and take us up to the courtroom to begin jury selection.  Time went on.  More people were assigned to panels and herded out of the room.  It began to clear out, and soon it was only the 50 of us.  Finally, they reassigned us to another judge and soon enough, they herded us upstairs to a courtroom. There we sat and waited... and waited... and waited.  Then they took us into the courtroom with the judge we were assigned to, she said hello, and promptly sent us on a 2 hour lunch break.  By the time we got back, it was about 3 in the afternoon, and juror interviews hadn't even begun. At long last, that started, and a number of jurors were interviewed, including myself, but it sure took a load of time.  Well I think the judge recognized that there was no way in the world that they were going to get through the whole panel in any kind of timely manner so she sent about 20 of them home (the last 20.  I was #12).  The really narrowed down my chances of getting picked.  So when everyone was finally interviewed, we sat and waited while the lawyers passed a legal pad between themselves and decided on a jury.  It was near 7 PM when they announced their selections.  I was among them... #6 to be exact.  So, after an 11 hour day that involved mostly sitting and doing nothing, I was sent home and told to be back the next morning.  On the bright side, I had the chance to finish this book.

So I got there at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, spent a lot of that day waiting too, but also began to hear testimony.  I spent all day from 9:30 to at least 4:30 there all week.  It was a frustrating process because it involved so much waiting around while they dealt with other court matters and such, but the trial was very interesting.  There were 2 defendants who were charged with intimidation of a witness.  It's a long story, as evidenced by the fact that it took 4 days to present all the evidence about it in court.  If you are interested in particulars, I would be glad to discuss them with you verbally.  

Arguments wrapped up this afternoon around 2:30 and we began deliberations.  Overall, it was not a bad process.  Everyone agreed on some of the charges, everyone came to agree on others when the meaning of the charges were fully understood, and we reached a common ground on the remaining charges.  Delivering the verdict was a very difficult and sad process.  It was more emotional for me than I thought it would be.  We had to go out there and tell the defendants that we found them guilty (on all counts for one of them and on 3 of the 5 counts for the other). At that point, we basically just got to leave and go home and that's that.  But that's not the end for those people.  They will face the consequences.  And it's hard to think that I was one of the people who passed judgement on them and changed their lives forever.  I know that I am not the one who made them commit crimes, but it is still hard to have to be the judge of someone else's actions.

Anyway, I guess it wasn't a horrible experience overall.  The waiting around was very frustrating at times.  But I learned a lot, and I can't really think of a better time in life to have done this.  I have no school, no job, and no kids.  I didn't miss out on a single thing except sleeping in and then sitting home alone all day (okay, I maybe missed out on some job hunting...).  

One great thing- if we stay here in Philly, they can't summon me for another 3 years since I actually served on the jury.  Those who serve their one day of jury duty and then go home are potentially eligible every year.

On job hunting

On moving

There's a photo of our old place during the moving process.
These are some of the things that I learned/relearned while moving this time around:

- Packing tape is expensive and disappears fast.

- There are free boxes aplenty on craigslist if you are patient.

- It is much easier to move by packing things up in boxes (as opposed to just trying to load up piles of junk and move those).

- It is also much easier to move with a moving truck than to take 20 car loads back and forth like we did last time.

- If you want help from others, don't move in the middle of the day on a weekday.  Help is scarce around that time.

- Just because a kitchen is nicer looking than your last one doesn't mean you will automatically be able to squeeze all your kitchen junk into it (translation: nicer does not equal bigger).

- It really did cost EVERY PENNY we had to move.  As if the monthly payment isn't bad enough, they want 3 of them before they will even let you move in.

- It really sucks to hang blinds.

- We don't really know how to hang blinds.

- That may explain why it sucks.

- It's fun to get to know a new neighborhood.

- It is a lot quieter out here.

- There is wanna-be water ice around the corner for 50 cents.  It's no Rita's, but it'll do.

- You always have more crap than you think you do.

- I think my love of reading had decreased greatly by the 9th box of books we lugged out to the truck.

- It may have disappeared all together by the 20th box of books.

- We both have several more boxes of books sitting at our parents' houses in Utah.

- We moved for a reason.  It helps to keep that in mind while moving.

Ok, so probably no one likes the actual moving part of moving (loading and unloading boxes), but overall, our move went very well and we are still settling in to our new apartment.  Pictures will come very soon.  It is on the verge of being presentable enough to photograph.

Thanks to those who did find the time to help in the midst of busy schedules.  We appreciate you.

While Zack's parents were here

We stayed pretty busy while Zack's parents were here.  I am too lazy to write a post detailing what we did day by day for the whole 10 days, and I am sure it would bore everyone anyway, so here are some highlights.

Zack's graduation ceremonies

Dinner at some yummy restaurants

Philly sights

City Hall observation deck

Masonic Temple tour (highly recommended- it was well done)

Eastern State Penitentiary tour

Lancaster County (to see Amish people/country).  Here's us with a cool covered bridge.

Washington DC

Capitol Tour

American History Smithsonian Museum

the Newseum (actually very, very cool)-- here's Zack with some pieces of the Berlin Wall that they had there

Nationals Game- they lost in extra innings to the Orioles.  There were fireworks after the game.

Gettysburg- This was my 3rd time on this tour and I absolutely love it.  I really think it's worth the time if you ever get the chance to do it.  Here's me and my buddy Abe giving a high five.

Thanks so much to Zack's parents for an awesome vacation.  I know we really had a blast and we hope you guys did too.  We are so excited that we get to see you and other family so soon.

Zack is a college graduate

This post is a little late since we have been partying and then moving for the past several weeks, but Zack has graduated.  Boy was it awesome!  

Zack's parents flew in the Saturday evening before graduation.  The college's ceremony was Sunday night.  John Legend was the speaker and he did a most excellent job, and even sang part of the school song at the end.  This was the ceremony where they read all the names and Zack got to walk across the stage and get his "diploma".

Monday morning was the ceremony for the entire university.  Before the ceremony, the graduates did a procession across campus.  We went to watch that, then we went to our seats in Franklin Field for the ceremony.  This time, the CEO of google was the speaker (meh).  

Here's Zack and Natalie.

And a sea of graduates.

I am so proud of Zack.  He has worked hard over these past years, and he even graduated in 3 and a half years instead of 4.  I think it really is an honor to have a degree from the University of Pennsylvania.  Go honey!