<p>Voluntarily? Actually – I am going to a trade show/ buying show for my shop which I <em>need</em> to go to. She’s coming along since I have a free room and free dinner/show on Saturday night. I think we will do dinner and something on Friday night … I will work Saturday and she will spa? shop? maybe a park? and then we will do House of Blues Saturday night … and then Sunday we’ll find something fun to do before afternoon flights. It’s girls night out / extended get away to celebrate last years’ birthdays.</p>
<p>Good luck MOWC. I tip $20 to each guy. I always wonder if the chief will pass it out.</p>
<p>My tip for adjusting to a new culture is this: be careful where you park your irritation.</p>
<p>You will be irritated because that’s what happens when you displace yourself. When you find yourself blaming Them (Nashville Natives) for your irritability, grab that irritation and put it back where it belongs–in the displacement cupboard in the back of your mind. Funnily, the displacement cupboard makes irritation fade.</p>
<p>I didn’t use a mental displacement cupboard the first time I moved overseas and I made a whole host of bad decisions because of that misplaced irritation. Not only that, 50% of my conversations were about Them and what They were doing ‘wrong’. </p>
<p>I did do it this last move and man, what a difference!</p>
<p>So far I have been the opposite of irritable in Nashville (I’ve been working there for 7 weeks prior to this final move). I find the people even more friendly than those in Dallas and about 100% less pretentious. There is much less brand-consciousness and less of a shopping culture. Less trying to be a Size 0. Less traffic (although they still complain). Much cheaper lunches. Wonderful houses that cost less than the ones in Dallas. Nice neighbors that bring over brownies. Pretty trees. Hills (trying to get used to those when I run). Cooler weather. Awesome co-workers and the CEO of my dreams. A company that recycles everything and starts EVERY meeting with a safety message. Southwest actually can fly direct to places outside the state. I’m 12 hours closer to my son and my sister/parents. I’m told there is good Mexican food. There is something called “Meat and Three” which translates into “lots of good 'ol home cooking food”. Paid parking downtown near my office. Neighbors that gather in the yards for Happy Hour. Business trips on the corporate planes which means I can keep my hand cream and lip gloss in my purse. An IT guy at work who could be cast as The Geek in a movie and knows absolutely everything about my computer, my Blackberry, my Bluetooth and my printer.
Yep- I’m going to be fine in Nashville.</p>
<p>MomofWildChild, one of my favorite friends moved to Memphis last year - from Washington, D.C., where she has lived all her life, and where her family, including elderly parents, still live. I honestly NEVER thought she would like it. She’s a highly credentialled reporter and writer, and very much at home and well connected in the Washington power scene. In her late 40’s now, so, she’s had quite a career already as you might imagine. </p>
<p>Anyway, FedEx hq flew her down for a job interview, and, she accepted, put her Georgetown townhouse on the market and left. I thought to myself, no way, that’s simply not going to work. She’s going to hate it; she’ll be home by Christmas. No way is she going to “fit” in Tennessee. This won’t last at all. (She doesn’t particularly need the money and has a habit of making fast decisions, big and small.) I was positive she would simply never adjust. </p>
<p>But she loves it - for all the reasons you listed (except for the family), and then some. She bought a home, has pets, loves everything about her community, etc. Loves the people, her neighbors, her new friends. It’s been over a year now and she won’t even come back to visit…sounds like you made a fantastic choice, based on all I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Memphis has Elvis. We have Dolly.
I am sitting on the floor. My desk is on the truck. My house looks huge without all the crap in it. Maybe someone will buy it. If I sell it on my own without taking the company’s buy offer, I get a bonus. I need the bonus because of how much we spent fixing the stuff the reloc. company made us fix. The cats will be out of the house. It turns out cats are not a plus when one is trying to sell a house. Lots of people hate cats. 4 cats is especially not a plus (although we are down to 3 since one moved to Rice). When we were looking at houses in Nashville, cats were a plus. We petted them and played with them, even though they were usually locked in the garage in anticipation of our arrival with the realtor.<br>
My movers are hot and tired and almost through. It has been almost 12 hours of non-stop work. I went out and got them some fried chicken (their request). The refrigerator and washer/dryer are on the truck. The floor under them is beyond disgusting. Did we really live in all this filth? I’ll never move again. Oh, wait. We’re retiring to Colorado!</p>
<p>We are almost 13 hours into the loading of the van. The van has had 4 way flashers on all day since it is parked on a street with moderate traffic. The battery has died and it being jumped by a Geo Metro belonging to one of the hired loaders. H and I are due to go for dessert at a dear friend’s house by 9. Will we make it? Our house looks HUGE and empty. The cats are locked in the bathroom because the front doors are still wide open. The dog has given up wondering what is going on. The mover who was afraid of the dog no longer is. He just wishes the dog would get out of the way once in awhile.</p>
<p>MoWC,
Forget the movie! I’m enjoying the book! Turn the page, turn the page! “When we last left our intrepid MoWC family and their dead-battery movers…”</p>
<p>It’s done. They finished loading in the dark at 9:30pm. It appears that the estimator under-estimated a little. Every square inch of the van was packed. The movers were exhausted, and the highest value item had been left until almost last (our inherited Steinway-over 100 years old-belonging now to D). They did fine (I watched). H and I scarfed down a delicious Taco Bell dinner around 9pm and after the movers left we headed over to a friend’s house for ice cream, cake and wine. Who says there isn’t fine dining in Texas?
After a not-so-re****l night in Gertrude, our small travel trailer (all the floor space carpeted in Golden Retriever), I am up getting ready for my 7am conference call and preparing to drug my cats.<br>
I tipped each guy $30 because they worked so hard and long. All our possessions spent the night at the Econolodge on I35. The driver has to come back here in the morning to get rid of some cardboard/trash before he heads to Nashville. After my conference call, we’ll hit the road. One of my new co-workers moved to Nashville from Conroe, TX and reported that the transportation of her cats did not go well. She smelled something coming from their crate, and stopped along the highway to check on them. Two of them escaped under her car, up into the axle area. It was night and pouring rain. She DID rescue them! Since I have a big Main Coon who won’t travel two miles to the vets without taking a dump in his crate, I am not optimistic. H says we should drive to the vet, let Nike do his thing, clean it up and then head for Nashville. (Is that engineer thinking or what???) As a lawyer, I was discussing this very issue with Nike the cat and setting forth my arguments for why it would behoove him not to stink up my new FJ Cruiser.<br>
I’m still alive, still typing (still have internet) and still married! But as one famous country song goes, “Oh, how I wish Dallas was in Tennessee.”
Stay tuned- “The Berenstain Bears Drive to Nashville”</p>
<p>MOWC, wow, what an adventure! I’m sure it will all go well, and provide lots of fodder for future tall tales. I hope the Steinway is O.K. Did they tilt it on its side and attach to a board? The only thing I worried about in our last move was our grand piano (NOT a Steinway!!!) It came through fine, but it was only a couple of years old. Our relo company wouldn’t pay for a separate piano moving company, but that’s what I would have preferred. As an old Steinway, its probably seen its share of moves. ;)</p>
<p>For our last two moves (intra city), we actually did use piano movers…and we didn’t even own a piano at the time. Eight Italian family members showed up and had the job done in about two hours. After the experience I described in the other thread, I wasn’t taking any chances.</p>
<p>Off topic: Would anyone like to buy a barely used baby grand piano or five piece drum set?</p>
<p>MOWC - Wow! Quite the adventure, and we love you sharing all the interesting details. (It’s kind of like logging into those Arctic exploration, or atlantic ocean voyage blogs!!!) I hope the trip goes smoothly - and we’re all looking forward to reading about your progress. :)</p>
<p>We’re here. Not entirely uneventful, but we’re here safe and sound. Minor mishaps- will report tomorrow. H wants me to help unload (we’re at my corporate apt)- imagine that!</p>
<p><em>SO</em> glad to hear that you made it safe and sound!!! WOW, what a couple of days <em>sigh</em>. Betcha can’t wait to get all settled! Be sure to get pictures documenting the unpacking…you’ll love 'em later!! ~berurah</p>
<p>Quick note- the unloaders couldn’t get finished today. Something about big heavy furniture all going to the second floor. Coming back in the morning. So-we are sleeping in the apartment tonight. One neighbor came over with flowers and cookies. We are leaving right now to have dinner with another neighbor. They all love the dog. I will never get settled. We own too many things. I seem to have a shoe problem. Is there a twelve-step program? </p>
<p>Yesterday’s mishap was the shredding of one of the travel trailer (camper) tires on the interstate while we were still in Texas. H had to change it along the side of the interstate, which was dangerous. I had blown past him in the other car and didn’t even notice- he had to call me. Also, the cats weren’t getting along, even with their drugs. We had to take the youngest one (the Ragdoll) out of the carrier and he rode loose in the Subaru with the dog. That worked fine, although H’s Subaru is now coated in cat hair.</p>
<p>MoWC,
have you settled in? I’ve been cruising the threads as I wait to send my son off on Sunday and remembered you were in the midst of moving. Let us know how its going.</p>
<p>The movers left at 4pm on Sunday after 2 days of unloading. We are not at all settled, but we are making progress. I came back to work on Monday, leaving H with most of the mess to sort through. D and her boyfriend are coming to visit next Wednesday night and I want the place to at least look like some semblance of a residence. She has not seen the house yet. We don’t have internet or TV yet. We love the neighborhood and the house. I don’t know why we own so much stuff and I don’t know where it all was hiding in the Dallas house. The cardboard boxes are slowly but surely leaving the house and residing on the front porch awaiting recycling or the one trash pickup the relocation allows me for boxes/paper.</p>
<p>MOWC, Isn’t that the truth about stuff. I will be moving back to the states in another couple of years and everything I look at at my place…gets the “you’re going or you’re staying” stare. I have already started giving away.</p>
<p>When we first moved to Massachusetts, we lived in a furnished apartment for three months, while the house was under construction. We did bring some things to make life more comfortable (besides clothing etc.) We brought an extra TV and DVD player, our computer, some games/toys for the kids, books for school and favorite pans/knives etc for the kitchen.</p>
<p>I LOVED having very little “stuff” – no knick knacks, mementos, old clothing, toys from the baby years.</p>
<p>When we moved into the house, at first we just had the things from the apartment, while awaiting delivery of our furniture from storage. The cupboards were nicely organized, there was room in the closets and the basement was empty. After we had all of our stuff moved and unpacked, it looked just like the house in Minnesota, with all it’s clutter. One of these days, I promise I’m just going to get rid of everything and start over, with a more zen approach. Simpler and less of everything.</p>
Coming back in the morning. So-we are sleeping in the apartment tonight. One neighbor came over with flowers and cookies. We are leaving right now to have dinner with another neighbor. They all love the dog. I will never get settled. We own too many things. I seem to have a shoe problem. Is there a twelve-step program? </p>