Sub Ubi

Our mailman left us a note.

Awesome.

So, we’re moved in. That is, we have boxes in the house. Lots of boxes. Everywhere.

The move started on Thursday morning with my father and I heading out to pick up the truck. I rented a 24′ monster because I had no desire to deal with packing “efficiently.” I wanted to throw things in the truck, and have large amounts of space to spare.

The Echo and the moving truck prepare for their grand journey.

A 24′ truck is seemingly infinite.

Most of our stuff was in storage for the past six years; a move overseas and back will do that to you. We moved from Indiana to England/Wales, and the things that we kept were stuffed in boxes and mostly forgotten. In fact, almost completely forgotten—unpacking has been little more than a sequence of surprises (that, and a lot of washing).

Stuff packed n’ wrapped in storage.

Fortunately, most of our “stuff” was wrapped and palletized, so we just lifted pallets down, put them on the truck, and I unloaded the pallets. Hot and tiring, but reasonably quick work. We took off from home, arrived in Meadville without incident, and unloaded the bed. That was the majority of our effort on Thursday… which, to be fair, was enough.

Thursday morning, we had two big, empty rooms to unload into. And fortunately, Alex, Bob, Greg, and William (colleagues and students from the Department of Computer Science) were able to offer their help. Because of their inspired assistance, we were able to start unloading at 9:30 in the morning, and were done by 12:30. Absolutely incredible.

Staging Area I: The living room.

Staging Area II: Place Where a Table Goes

Now, we made quick work of it because Alex, Bob, Greg, and William were amazing. With their help, we had the entire truck unloaded in 3 hours. We staged the truck to our little carport, and then hand-carried the boxes into the living room and dining room. (Given that they don’t actually serve these purposes right now, we’ll just call them “Staging Area One” and “Place Where a Table Goes”.)

Now we have boxes everywhere.

Boxes in the kitchen.

Carrie, like me, wondering what is where.

Yesterday I sorted roughly half the boxes we had unloaded in the morning by moving them to their appropriate geographic location within the house (clothes upstairs, random things to the attic, etc.). Today, I finished that while Carrie worked on the kitchen (much washing of things), and after that, I sat outside and started stripping some of our furniture… so that we might have somewhere to put stuffs like clothing.

Stripping (destroying) furniture.

As it happens, I did all the things while stripping furniture you’re not supposed to. Fortunately, I can’t make the furniture look worse than it does now, so I’m certain the end result will be beautiful.

And, if you can’t tell, the Internets arrived yesterday as well.

The Internets. Used for email and the blag.

I’ll have to gush about the amazing, customer-friendly policies of Armstrong Cable at some later point. That, and talk about the joys of home ownership, like discovering that the drain in your shower leaks the first night you arrive, and having water drip down through your kitchen ceiling. AWESOME! As a result, I got to spend this morning pulling part of our ceiling down so the drain assembly could be replaced. Many thanks are due to Lenny, who came over and helped even though this was a bit outside of his area of specialty.

This evening, we had instant pizzas, headed into town for sundaes (it was a fundraiser), and then headed home for a bath… because we had to, what with the shower needing time to rest while the silicone sets up.

Tub. Reasonably great awesome.

Now, I’m watching the SpaceX rocket launch (over the Internets), and then it’s bedtime.

The last few weeks have been… action packed. This would seem to be as good a description as any.

The shipping pod arrived on Tuesday, and we had it packed by dinner time.

On Wednesday, the pod went away, and so did we. What followed was an excessive amount of driving over the next few days that left us wondering just how many weeks (so it seemed) that we had been in transit from our comfy basement in Needham. We drove from Boston to the Atlantic Highlands, NJ, then up to Rosseau, Ontario, down to Waterloo, and finally to Columbia Station, Ohio.

Our first destination was a trip to northern New Jersey to be with family. I got a very nice picture of Carrie while we were all gathered together.

We then traveled on to Rosseau, Ontario to see many friends and bear witness to the Christening of Dave and Teena’s new daughter. While leaving at 05:30 did mean that we’d miss traffic north into New York city, we failed to consider that it would mean we’d hit heavy traffic at the border (people from Buffalo apparently like to go up into Canada for the weekend), and we didn’t know that Toronto at rush hour is absolutely foul. Our drive took 17 hours, which is only 1.7 times longer than Google said it would take. We no longer have any reason to ever want to drive into Toronto again.

We had one day “off” on Saturday, and on that day Dave and I went sailing in a small sailboat. This was my first time sailing, and it was a lot of fun. Dave smashed both of his big toes, and as soon as we launched off the dock, we were dumped in the lake and lost our tiller. Dave re-mounted the tiller in the wind-whipped chop, we climbed back in, and successfully tacked along the shore to our picnic destination. Of course, the picnic site was in a sheltered area, so we just dumped ourselves from the boat again to park it… or whatever you call the destination-management process with little sailboats.

Sunday saw us driving down to visit Robin and Meg and the newest member of their family. Monday we then embarked on the final leg of the journey, which took us from Waterloo back to my parents’ house in the Cleveland area. All told, it was 1400 miles of driving in six days.

At this point, our little Toyota Echo (which was getting upwards of 40 MPG on the highway! hooray!) is now in the shop. On the drive, it developed a bit of a growl in the front end, and it looks like both the driver- and passenger-side wheel bearings want replacing. Badly. And, the drive shafts are probably going to go, too, just because it’s a good idea, as they’re tired too, and they had to be removed as part of the operation anyway.

Today, the pod arrived, and we unpacked it. Now, we reserve a truck, and hopefully conduct a move at the end of the month.

We have two trips to make out to Meadville before we move, so there’s still more driving to be done. All told, I’d say that buying a house and making a move in under two months is a reasonably distracting and time-consuming thing, and fitting ceremonies of both death and birth into one week can be a bit draining. But we’re home now, and there’s ice cream to be had.

PS. If you’re a friend or family, and you’d like to be notified when I post new pictures to the photo galleries I’ve set up, please drop me an email and let me know. My photos are password protected (to keep them off the Internets at large), but they’re not terribly top secret. The galleries are located at http://sububi.smugmug.com/, a photo hosting/sharing site that I’ve decided to experiment with for the next year.

PPS. If you’re of the European persuasion, here’s a route of equivalent distance in the UK. It takes you from Canterbury, up around London, to Cambridge, Birmingham, down to Oxford, Reading, Bristol, down through Exeter and Plymouth, up and around to Southampton, up to Bath and over to Cardiff, up along the Welsh coast through Aberystwyth to Bangor, through Colwyn Bay on to Crew, up to Liverpool, on to Manchester and Leeds, up along the east coast to Edinburgh, over to Glasgow, and then ending on the coast (because we like the seashore) in Prestwick. Admittedly, it would be much prettier from Leeds to go up through the Lake District; it comes out roughly the same, but we’d end on the east coast of Scotland, which is rather striking.

I spent a lot of time in the past few weeks reading about sub-prime mortgages. You see, I’ve just entered into a mortgage, and I wondered what my risk was. Was I in danger, in some way, because of all of this financial foolishness? Well, of course: everyone on the block around me could loose their shirt, and my home purchase would be devalued. I don’t think that’s going to be the case, however, so lets just say that my largest risk is probably general economic collapse.

But what if I were in a different situation? Say I had purchased a condo for around $200K. I purchased it with a short-term ARM (perhaps a 5-year) about four years ago, and I now need to decide what to do. The rate is about to jump, I don’t want to sell just yet, but at the same time, I don’t want to watch my monthly payments double in the next few years. Because I’m in a good financial position (right now), I decide to refinance. There are two ways I could do this.

It’s fine!

I used to live at 3 Woodland Way in Canterbury, England. In this house, we had a saying: “It’s fine!” Usually, this is said forcefully while something is on fire. Typically, that particular thing (whether it is a microwave or a coffee machine) should not be on fire. It was an assertion, not an assessment, intended to calm any housemates who may be witness to the unfolding disaster.

I could look around at my local economy, and declare “It’s fine!” I might, then, refinance with another 5-year ARM. Doing a bit of reading:

Under this model, an ARM that starts at 5.75 percent can increase to 7.75 percent in the second year, to 9.75 percent in the third year, and 11.75 in the fourth year. This means monthly payments will nearly double.

So, if I believe that my local economy will outshine the global economy, and that I will be able to refinance and sell within five years without substantial loss, then I should go ahead with the 5/1 ARM. Why? Because I pay less interest now, offload my property in three years, and save money in the process.

We’re screwed, Cap’n

I heard my housemate Ed say this more than once: this was often stated in aftermath of declaring “It’s fine!” The US economy is fcuked. We are in recession. We are getting hit hard on jobs, oil, and the ongoing debacle that is the subprime crisis. Hell, people have even stopped buying Hum-Vees.

No economy in the US will weather this well. I take that back: small, isolated micro-economies (rural towns, etc.) will continue to do as poorly as they ever have. In other words, they won’t be effected by large wiggles in the economy, because they run on a lower baseline and the ripples aren’t felt as fiercely. So, arguably, small economies will do better as the fecal matter hits the rotating blades.

Large economies (cities) cannot fare well. Cleveland is already being gutted (charts and graphs) by the subprime scandal, and we haven’t yet seen the fallout from this. To claim that any one market will do better than another is crazy-talk; certainly, I’d want data to support such crazy-talk, but… oops! That data comes from the future. So, I guess I won’t be seeing that data.

Snark aside, there would seem to be only one option: financial conservatism. The safest move is to refinance on a stable, 30-year mortgage. A 30-year fixed at 6.25% will involve a monthly payment of roughly $1200. This is a bit higher than the ARM, and yes, you pay $250K in interest over the life of the loan. However, the life-of-loan figure is a lie. We can refinance later if the rate comes down—not to buy a new car, but to jump from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage, thus saving substantial cash. (We avoid the 15-year now because of the higher monthly payments; the 30-year gives us more breathing room right now.) Or, we can pay on a bi-weekly basis to cut the 30-year to a 22-year mortgage… if we’re making a steady flow of serious cash. (Remember the golden rule: the bank will always take your money.)

But again, if the goal isn’t to keep the property forever, it is simply a matter of “when” we are going to sell, not “if”. Hence, we shouldn’t care about the interest, or refinancing, or anything else for that matter. Instead, we should just care about getting into the safest financial position we can find now, and make sure that it is a position from which we can weather any coming crisis. If we manage to sell in three years, we paid a relatively small amount more (per month) for the safe 30-year loan over the unsafe 5/1 ARM. If the economy is in such dire straits in three years we cannot sell, and we’re lucky we’re employed and still have a place to live, then we want to make sure that our loan doesn’t yank that stability out from under our feet—which a 5/1 could easily do.

Keep in mind, I don’t actually know anything about long-term finance, but I am having a hard time finding ways to argue for the higher-risk strategy unless you’re prepared to loose. I, myself, would not be in a position to see base housing costs double.

Of course…

The safest-est move is to dump the property while/if there is a local economy that is in the mood to buy. Then, the whole discussion becomes moot, and the financial burden is covered by an SEP field… it becomes Somebody Else’s Problem.

If this were me, selling right now would mean I’d have to move in with my parents for a while, and it would be inconvenient… but I’d sleep better knowing that a clean, empty condo sells better than one with people in it. However, prepping a property for sale so that prospective buyers want to buy it as soon as they see it is another post entirely.

I have to move stuffs from an apartment in Boston to (free, short-term) storage in Cleveland.

A U-Haul truck would cost me around $600 one-way from Boston to Cleveland. I’d get it for four days, which means I could conceivably do Boston-Cleveland-Meadville-Cleveland… if I hurry the whole way. The car would be towed behind. The cost of the rental would be approximately $700, and the fuel would probably cost between $250 and $300 (for Boston to Cleveland only). The total cost for a U-Haul-based move would be around $950.

If I go with something like ABF U-Pack, I can get a cute little 6′ x 7′ x 8′ box dropped off outside our apartment. I pack it full of our crap, and then they take it away. The cube gets dropped off at the same place I’d have to drive the U-Haul. The cost to ship a single cube from Boston to Cleveland is roughly $800. However, in-between, I don’t have to drive the truck; instead, Carrie and I would just hop in our little Echo and drive to Ohio. A U-Haul truck from Cleveland to Meadville and back would cost around $300 (rental plus milage), and fuel would cost around $100; so, the total cost for a U-Pack based move is $1200.

The final twist is that the real estate agency we worked with on purchasing our new home (yeah, that’s a subtle announcement) provides a truck that we can use for free. We could scoot out to Cleveland, pick up our stuffs, and drive back to Meadville, the only cost being fuel. Fuel would cost around $100. So, we could ship our stuff to Cleveland, and pick it up using the agency’s truck, and our total cost would be around $900.

In other words, I think I can avoid driving a truck across the country, and it comes out to roughly the same price. I like that idea a lot.

Update, later that day…

Pete D. points out that having free access to a moving truck only involved buying a house. So, to be fair, that truck cost a lot more than any of the other options…

I’ve had a marvelous year at Olin College. And this week, that year is coming to a close. Finals are over, and only EXPO and graduation remain.

Last week, my students threw at surprise going away party for me. By “surprise,” I mean “I had no idea it was coming.” By “my students,” I guess I mean “all the students at Olin I’ve interacted with in some significant way.” They came from Software Design in the fall, to HFID and Robotics in the spring, to SCOPE and independent research and projects… and even just a few who don’t fall into any particular category at all. For the time being, the blog’s header is a slightly larger version of our group photo:

This was a wonderful, wonderful surprise. They baked cakes (absolutely amazingly tasty), and all signed a huge card. The front of the card read “You’ve been an amazing teacher, mentor, and friend to all of us.” As teaching awards go, I think it counts as one of the best. I will say, however, that I had some incredible material to work with; every one of my students made my first year as a full-time faculty member an absolutely joy. These people were the reasons I wanted to go to work every day.

Thank you.

Yesterday was the last day of classes at Olin.

Yesterday, I mailed my contract to Allegheny.

Just now, I deleted 867 messages dating back to August 12, 2007. They were labeled “jobs.”

It was an absolutely beautiful day today, so Carrie and I went over to Lake Waban on Wellesley’s campus to exercise. I managed a two mile run, and could have completed the circuit if I had known how close I was. (Oh, the mental games…)

This was partially just to get out and run, and partially because I hadn’t done any exercise for a week. In the back of my mind, I’m considering doing a 5K in two weeks, and wondered if I could run three miles. What I discovered is that I’d probably be pressed to do another mile at the pace I was running… however, if I learn to run a little slower, it should be very doable. The two miles felt good, though, so it should mostly be a matter of pacing.

In other news, I will be starting a tenure-track position in the Department of Computer Science at Allegheny College this coming academic year.

One of today’s two events has been been grossly downplayed in this blog post. Looking back at the post I has a job II, I had a great deal more to say about Olin than I’ve said here about Allegheny. I promise to rectify this shortly—Carrie and I both think this is an absolutely wonderful move, I’m excited about joining the CS department, and will be glad to be back near family. There is much more to be said, and time enough to say it in.

On Saturday I’ll be running in a track meet. I haven’t done this in a while… Hm. Its been the better part of ten years, I suppose.

Today, I ran a 1500m for time. 7:19. I ran the first 200 in 00:53, and hit the rest at 01:00 like clockwork. Mostly, I’m pleased that I felt good over the distance, was consistent in my splits, and think I can do better on Saturday.

No, this isn’t fast. But it felt good to do it, and I’m looking forward to the meet.

For the last few months, I’ve been avoiding jogging. This is not because I don’t enjoy it—instead, it was because of evil shoes.

Chuck Taylor All Stars: Evil Shoes

These cheap canvas high-tops had bad support for walking and, as far as I could tell, put pressure on the base of my Achilles tendon, causing it to rub. After a 2-3 weeks of regular wear, I realized that my feet hurt. This was bad.

I switched shoes as best I could, but the budget was tight as we were leaving England. So, I made do with whatever crap I could put on my feet—this wasn’t usually ideal. And, I had to stop jogging, because that hurt, too.

Fast forward several months. I got some new daily-wear shoes, and have been trying to monitor my Achilles, occasionally icing it when I thought it was warranted. Most days, I walk in and out of Olin, which is a 2-mile walk each way. So, I’ve been getting around 4 miles of walking per day, and things have been feeling good.

Now, I’ve been meaning to get out and get some new running shoes for a while. And Friday, two students went running by, which kinda reminded me that I needed to get off my duff and get some shoes. So I asked Alison where to go for shoes; she said: Marathon Sports in Wellesley.

Now, why did I ask Alison? Because, like Christina, both are running the Portland (Maine) marathon today. Christina is running the full, and Alison is out to run the half-marathon slowly. (I haven’t figured out the technical reasons for this yet, but I’m sure she’ll explain it to me again.) Back to the point: I went to Marathon Sports, and exactly what I wanted to happen, did.

At Marathon Sports, a very helpful staff member (Jessica) watched my stride and gait, and she recommended shoes based on the way I actually walked. It turns out my feet are slightly crenelated (or something like that), and so I need more instep support than some others. Jessica recommended a number of shoes which I tried on, each time taking them outside to jog around a bit, and found what I felt were the most comfortable of the bunch I was offered.

The Brooks Trance 7

I ended up purchasing the Brooks Trance 7. This is, I will say, the first time I went out to simply buy the right shoe for my feet, and not the cheapest thing I could go jogging in. The shoe just felt right. I described the sensation as “running beach sand that is somewhere between wet and dry, at the edge of the wave-line… it’s soft, and gives just the perfect amount.”

Jessica said that was probably the shoe for me, then.

So, today I took my new shoes out for a run.

Sunday’s Run (1.3 miles; entire loop, 2 miles)

I didn’t run as far today as Alison and Christina are going to run. It scares me to think they are running 13x or 26x times further than I did. However, I took a slow pace, and just wanted to jog until I felt I had jogged far enough. There were some small inclines on the run, which were just enough to remind me how truly out-of-shape I am. BUT! I was out exercising, and it felt good. Maybe, in a few months, I’ll be able to go jogging with Alison or Christina, and keep up for a while. On a short run. Like 5k or something.

I walked home from there, stretched, and will now clean myself up a bit and have some lunch.

It felt good.