New Parmen

Well, we've moved. To Urbana, the town next to Champaign. E and I are now living in the family and graduate housing here at the university. It is also the temporary housing for university visitors, and since I'm a visiting assistant professor here this semester, I was eligible to take advantage of the university's accommodations.

It is plenty big enough for me and the small boy and our few things that didn't take a big truck to a storage facility in TN. It was a bit tight with the Mav here last week and his two suitcases. Yes, just two suitcases made the difference between functional and not.

I know that for much of the world these would be some classy digs. My grammar school indoctrination told me that, in Soviet Russia, an extended family of 12 would be lucky to have this partially underground 600 square feet. It has heat. It has plumbing. It has parking.

It has 5 different types of tile.

5 different types of brown, beige and white tile expertly arranged throughout.

It is in good repair and has hot water.

The smell blowing in from the South Farms reminds us of the university's roots as an agriculture school. Ahhh, tradition never smelled so, well, stinky, before.

E is handling the change remarkably well. When I say we are going home he replies "to our new parmen, not our house." He was a bit upset when his Daddy left for TN today and we stayed behind but then he stoically accepted that our turn to go to TN is next week. (I haven't really told him that we'll be coming back here for another week after our house hunting trip).

In other news, E got a haircut. A very, very short haircut. I'm new to the boy's haircuts and apparently was not specific enough in my instructions. Ah well, it grows quickly and at least it is easy to wash.