2006-07-23 - 8:16 a.m.

..moving really sucks..

Our move is underway, in all of its chaotic glory. It would take too long to document all of the hassle that we have wound up fighting - the moving company made mistakes with the delivery date of our stuff, and we won't be there to accept it in Vancouver. This has led to a tremendous amount of reorganization and is likely to cost us between $1000-$5000, and endless amounts of stress. Just yesterday morning we have come up with one solution that will involve K's flying to Vancouver to retrieve the stuff, and then flying back to Ottawa on the same day... believe me, there is NO other way. And if there is a suggestion out there, we have tried it. Now we just wait and HOPE that the truck arrives in Vancouver in time.

Of course, we may face yet another snag in our current plans, because on Friday during our attempt to get information from US and Canadian customs, we were detained at the border. We were questioned in what I found to be an arrogant and rude manner - by two marine types who now claim that K's visa status is invalid, and that they do not need to let him back into the grand ol' US of A. Their questions ranged from "so what makes you think that you can bring him in on a preferred status that jumps ahead of everyone else, and then you think you can just leave the country?" to "so you claim you are married. you don't have any wedding rings." "Well, who owns the car, then?" It was all wonderfully offensive. I tried very hard to maintain calm through my outrage. K, as the foreigner, was much better at maintaining calm.. So now we are hanging by another bit of packing tape, folded over against itself.

Anyway, today I leave for a conference in Guelph where I face a very full work agenda, but my mind is so cluttered, that I am finding it exceedingly difficult to concentrate. Every task is a mere action item that merits completion, but not thought.

One interesting development on top of all this is that I have agreed to appear on Canadian radio to talk about global warming. The program (BC Almanac) will air on Monday or Tuesday. It's my six minutes of life as Al Gore. The program will also probably be available via the web, for any people interesting in listening to me pontificate..

Anyway, through all this mental clutter I will have to find a few moments of clarity. Hang on, baby, hang on.