We're here...

Originally posted on August 24, 2005.

Hello Boston (and anyone else who may be reading this)! I have now been in Boston (or Jamaica Plain to be more precise) since August 11th. To give you and idea of how things have just not been going well, I just got my internet working last night. I'm going to take the short time that I'll be here in JP to give reviews on places I eat and things I see and do. I will also use this to keep my friends and family updated on what's going on with my husband and daughter.
To start off, I'll explain why I moved to Boston from Tallahassee, FL. My husband is a fourth year medical student at Florida State University and he decided that he wanted to get an MPH (Masters in Public Health) because he really has a passion for the underserved community and for the millions of uninsured, especially the uinsured kids, of America. I'm very proud to say that he was accepted to Harvard (as well as Johns Hopkins and Duke) and his program is only 9 months long due to the fact that he is getting his MD as well. Otherwise, it would've been a 2 year degree. So...after the process of trying to find a place to live with 3 dogs (which was a pain in the butt even though we were buying a place) we packed up our house in Tallahassee (which is now seeming so HUGE - 1209 sq. ft. vs. our 750 sq. ft. condo we are living in now). But don't think for a moment that from there everything as easy. The day we moved we realized that our moving truck was too small to fit all of our boxes. So, after loading the truck as much as possible, we had to take 29 boxes to UPS and ship them to Boston (approx. $1000). On the way back from the UPS store, somehow that back of the moving truck wasn't shut properly and my 2-month old clothes dryer fell out onto N. Monroe Street. While my husband turned around to go back for it to wait for our brother-in-law to come back with the moving truck, someone had already put it in the back of THEIR truck!!! Thankfully, my husband was able to stop them and we got our dryer back, with some dents. My husband and brother-in-law started off for Boston around 4:30pm on the 9th of August. Along the way Stephen was communication with our Realtor up in Boston and the lawyer that is dealing with our condo purchase. Through this communication we find out that we may not have a place to live when we get there because the owner had yet to sign the final purchase and sale agreement even though we were told this was done a few days prior. We were also waiting on certain things to be fixed in the condo before we closed (which was supposed to be on the 25th). Nothing had been touched. So, Stephen made the decision to pull out of the deal since the owner was in breach of contract. As soon as we were getting ready to pull out the owner signed the P&S agreement. So, Stephen and our brother-in-law got to Boston on the 10th around 11:30pm. Pretty good timing if you ask me, especially for traveling through some very busy cities.
On August 11th I flew up with our daughter and Stephen's sister. We arrive around 11:15am and didn't get home until close to 1pm due to traffic and getting lost (even though we only live about 10 min. from the airport). We get to the condo and the smallness of it really hits me! But, it's livable. We'll all just be really close and comfy during the cold winter. As we are unloading the truck and unpacking, we notice that there is no phone line in the whole place! What is up with that?!?! Doesn't that come standard in the 21st century?!?! So, therefore, we can't hook up our phones, internet, or our satellite TV, which leads me to today. Since we've moved in, we've finally gotten our phone line put in and have a phone, although the only calls we get are wrong numbers and like I said previously, if it's not obvious already, we have our DSL - finally!! And yeah, and the closing that's supposed to be happening tomorrow at 2pm...not happening because the owner is now having title problems. I haven't met this guy yet, but he sounds like a real winner to me!
As we stand, we're hopefully going to close by the 29th, which is also the day that we'll finally get our DirecTV set up! Woo Hoo! Stephen's orientation starts on the 29th as well and lasts the whole week. His classes don't officially start until the Tues. after Labor Day. So, I will then be home alone more often doing the mommy-thang and hanging out with the dogs. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather and the changing seasons. In my next blog, I will go ahead and fill you in on the places we've eaten so far and the Boston attractions we've been to. Maybe this will end up being more of a travel blog!