Good Citizenship

Are you an American living overseas? If so, are you registered to vote in this November's election?

Are you sure?

Luckily for you, there's an easy way to make sure you're registered: Overseas Vote 2004. This is the first online overseas voter registration and absentee ballot request system. All you have to do is fill out the form for your state, send it in to your local registrar, and an absentee ballot will arrive in your mailbox wherever you live. It's so easy!

Back in July when we were still living in Munich, Marty was involved with the preparation of the data for this system. He combed through Excel files state by state to clean the data up for the database. At the time, we both wondered what kind of impact his work would have. But we recently learned that Overseas Vote has already helped over 40,000 Americans living overseas to register to vote! Go, Marty!

There are between 4 and 7 million Americans living overseas right now. The margin of victory in 2000 was 573 votes in the state of Florida. You really can make a difference. But the registration deadlines are approaching for many states. Check yours out today.

Missing Oktoberfest

Today in Munich there are sunny skies and warm weather for the start of Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival.

In Connecticut it's raining hard with the remnants of Hurricaine Ivan, and the sun is nowhere to be seen. It's fitting weather for the mood around here, since we're missing the first day on the Wies'n.

I read that this year the big song at Oktoberfest is going to be "Lebt denn der alte Holzmichl noch?" I love this funny song and the way everyone jumps up and sings along with the chorus. You can actually download it on this page, as well as other drinking songs like "Hände zum Himmel" and "Country Roads." You haven't heard anything until you've heard 5000 people in a beer tent belting out John Denver.

You can see some of my pictures from Oktoberfest 2003 here.

Settling In

Click on photos to enlarge.

I guess it's really true -- professional movers will pack anything!

I've spent the last week unpacking boxes and trying to get us settled in our new place. It's all going well, but we have so much stuff that it just takes a while. At least we have DSL and cable now -- a great improvement!

I always forget how many books I have until I'm trying to find homes for all of them in the bookcases again. I've shed books many times over the years, but I never seem to quit buying new ones, and Marty has started reading more and so we have just as many books as ever. Right now I'm on the verge of saying goodbye to my last books from my years as a grad student. Farewell, Nietzsche and Foucault!

So, the study is coming along, as is the kitchen. We had our first homecooked meal last Friday night -- Katynka's famous pot roast, naturally. I suppose I should change the name of that recipe to "world famous," now. Tonight I plan to make lasagne and a peach pie, so even though the kitchen isn't completely unpacked, it's very usable.

Anyway, we're getting settled. Ziggy likes the new place very much (he's a big fan of carpet and stairs). I think we'll like it too, when it's all organized and everything is put away.

Here's one more picture, from last Saturday, of the sunset over I-84 around Manchester, Connetcicut. We were on the way home from a softball team party, and Marty took this from the car as I was driving. I do love that New England sky.

Labor Day Report

(Hard) Labor Day

In my last post, I mentioned that we were doing some painting at the new place before we moved in. To give you a better idea of what we accomplished over labor day weekend, here are a few pictures. (Click to see the larger versions.)

Study/Guest Bedroom

This was a patriotic room! Red, white, and blue. And shiny! Before:



See how shiny that red is? That semi-gloss paint is not very easy to paint over, especially in such a bright color. I sanded the whole room and then painted on two coats of primer (with Amanda's help). Four coats of light blue paint later (and two coats of white on the ceiling), this is what it looks like:



Living Room/Dining Room

In this room we had an even bigger challenge. The walls had been ragged using pink and green paint, leaving a lot of differences in texture from the thickness of the paint. Then there was a wallpaper border to take down. But the main problem was, of course, the colors.

Before:



That last picture is a close-up of where the living room wall ran into the kitchen wall. The colors changed in mid-rag from green and pink to green and yellow!

The first step was removing the wallpaper border. I did that by pulling down the vinyl layer and then removing the paper/adhesive layer with water and white vinegar. Then I used a Ryobi Corner Cat to start sanding down the paint texture on all the walls. Marty helped me finish that up on Saturday, and then we prepared the room for painting.



It already looked better with just a coat of primer on the walls and the ceiling! But after two coats of paint on the room (and one on the ceiling), we love it:



I love the color we picked out (Pratt & Lambert "sesame") and how it looks with the new switchplates and outlet covers. We didn't do anything about that wall with the mirrors on it yet (in the dining room) because we have to figure out how to get those mirrors down first!

And as you can probably tell by that last picture, we're saving the kitchen for another day as well. Someday we'll paint over that green and yellow, and add a piece of trim to separate the two rooms.

So that was our labor day! Today, the movers are scheduled to bring our belongings that were in storage in North Haven for the last two years while we were in Germany. It'll be nice to see some of our old things again!

Celebrating Labor Day in a most literal way

Click on all photos to enlarge.

Marty and I are celebrating Labor Day in a most literal way -- with hard labor. This weekend we're painting two rooms in our new condominium. It's looking much better already! I'll be sure to post some before-and-after pictures once it's done.

Above, a picture of Thursday's sunset, taken from our street. Yes, we actually found a condominium that's out in the country. I think we're going to love it out there.

Below are a few pictures from a hike we did last weekend, up to Castle Craig in the Hanging Hills of Meriden. The castle is not much more than a little tower, but the hike was fun and the outlook very picturesque. As always, click on photos for larger versions.

For those who celebrate, enjoy the holiday! Marty and I are headed back to the grindstone.

WHEW.

WHEW.

It's been a busy week. The biggest news is, we bought a place to live! Yes, we returned from Germany on August 2, found a condominium we liked on August 4, and bought it on August 31. That is fast!

The closing went fine, and happened right on schedule. Everyone knows you have to sign hundreds of papers when you buy a house, right? Imagine how many you have to sign when your husband can't make it to the closing and you have power of attorney to sign for him as well!

These last few days have been such a blur, it's been hard to keep track of the days of the week. We have some painting projects to do in the condo, so I got started on that yesterday. I removed the wallpaper border in the living room and then started sanding down the walls. The previous owners used a painting technique (ragging) that left a lot of texture on the walls, so if we want to paint over them, we have to smooth them out first. And believe me, we want to paint over them.

I will post before and after pictures later. I think I'm going to start painting the guest room/study today. Marty is in Cincinnati on a business trip, so I guess I'll get to pick the color!

More updates to follow!