The Renaissance Woman

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to meet four former members of the show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

There is a local theater improv group that does MST3K-style Riffing called Cineprov. On August 10th and 11th, they hosted Joel Hodgson who did his one man show on the first evening and riffed live with Cineprov the next evening. After the one-man show, we had the opportunity to have a brief meet-and-greet with Joel.

The, August 14th and 15th, we finally reaped the rewards of our support for the Rifftrax Kickstarter campaign: Lunch with the Rifftrax guys and then front row seats to their Live Riffing of Starship Troopers in Nashville, TN.

Also, Mike humored me and signed a picture I particularly love:

It’s ok that he can’t spell “naughty”. Gives it character!

While in Nashville, we were able to visit the Jack Daniels distillery and get some lovely etched bottles of Gentlemen’s Jack.

One for the Rifftrax guys:

And one for ourselves:

On Friday and Saturday, we spent some time with friends from Memphis. We saw some sights and just generally had a good time. Cards Against Humanity made for a fantastic Saturday night.

Apparently, Nashville has a full-scale replica of the Parthenon. So, of course, I had to see that.

We saw the beautiful Belcourt Mansion:

The new Johnny Cash Museum:

Studio B:

And the Country Music Hall of Fame:

Bets of all – spending time with these lovely ladies (and all of our husbands):

This weekend, I head back to Seattle for PAX and seeing more friends!

(An illuminated pillar in Decatur, GA’s historic square.)

Remember that major life-change I mentioned in my previous post? The one that I said wasn’t going to happen?

Well… it came back around and took hold this time.

My husband has been interested in moving into the games industry for some time now. He’s been actively looking for opportunities the past couple of years. Two years ago, he applied for a position with CCP Games in Atlanta, but timing was bad and his application didn’t go anywhere – and then CCP laid off employees in Atlanta shortly thereafter.

Earlier this year, there was another opportunity that opened up at CCP, who was back to hiring in full force. He applied, flied out for interviews, but ultimately didn’t get the job. At that point, we thought that was it for CCP and he tried to pursue more local options in Seattle.

Then, in late May, CCP called him and offered him a new position, no interviewing required. After considering the pros and cons, seeing the official offer and a little negotiation, he decided to accept.

Now, late-May and June were crazy without the prospect of moving cross country. One of our cats, Vera, was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease and spent a lot of time in the Vet hospital over a 4 week period. Happily, she has made a full recovery and the move didn’t phase her. But trying to deal with that (tube feedings, LOTS of expense) and coordinating a cross country move was hectic to say the least.

We officially arrived in Georgia on July 11th. It has been a relatively easy transition, all in all. The cats took the trip well. They definitely perked up once we got into our more spacious rental house, as did I. Our temporary housing was small and the bed was really uncomfortable.

We are still in a transitory phase. We got set up to rent the house we are currently in – sight-unseen – before we moved. It was a house for sale as well, so we hoped if we were very lucky we’d like it enough to buy. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the case, but it works out ok since it allows us to store all our stuff here and not with our movers or a storage facility. The quality of the home is questionable as is the care/upkeep. There are also two rooms and a bathroom off of the garage that are nearly unusable – they require you go through the garage to access them, aren’t connected directly to the other parts of the house, and have no windows. Just odd. We’re using them for storage, but I can’t imagine using them for anything else.

So we shopped for somewhere to really settle in – a home to buy. Buying makes much more sense than renting here, unlike in Seattle. We’ve found a lovely home in Tucker and are in the process of buying it.

So far, the purchase process has been pretty smooth. The sellers countered our original offer, and we accepted. The inspection turned up nothing of importance wrong with the house, just a few things to keep an eye on, light tough-ups, etc. Today, I heard the appraiser told our realtor that our price isn’t a problem, so that should be fine (we’re still waiting on the official report). Provided our loan process continues to go smoothly, we should be all set to close on Sept 13th and move in the evening of Sunday, Sept 15th or Monday, Sept 16th. *fingers crossed*

So, yeah, a LOT of big changes the past few months. Since I will be working from home here in Georgia, I am hoping I will find some more time to update the blog regularly. I am also hoping to re-join the Daring Kitchen bloggers once we get settled in a bit more, so we’ll see how that goes!

Here’s to Ch-ch-ch-changes!