Bouldered Over

The news has been out for awhile now, but just in case some of you haven’t heard: I’m moving to Colorado this fall.
About three weeks ago my advisor, Sue, told us she was taking a job at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) starting at the end of August, and had arranged to bring along the four grad students she currently pays and for whom she is the main advisor — me, Andrew, Luna & Tyler — if we chose to go along. We had absolutely no idea that it was coming, though I did guess that was the purpose of the suddenly-called meeting about a couple hours beforehand.
So after the shock of the news, I decided within an hour or two that I’d follow her out to Boulder. I felt like the decision was pretty clear. The next day I met with Sue individually and worked out the when of my move: the week of 8-12 November. There are many reasons I wanted to stay until then, but a chief work reason is to get a journal article written on the research I’ve done this summer before I move to Boulder. Getting that moving date set really allowed me to relax a lot (she’s starting at NCAR on 30 August, so I was panicked at first that I might have to move to Colorado right away upon returning from Australia). There are still many details that have yet to be worked out, but it appears all systems go for me to move out there.
It’s an exciting new challenge and opportunity for me, and will look great on my resumé to have some experience working at NCAR while in grad school. NCAR is a great place. I’ll still be a full-time Penn State student (and will only be getting paid at a grad student rate at NCAR, rather than a full-time employee rate), but I’ll just be living and working in Colorado (and possibly maintaining my Wisconsin residency). I may end up stop keeping a foot in three different states and just change my residency to Colorado though, we’ll see. I’ll be sad to leave behind my friends here at Penn State, and to leave a place I’ve lived in for 5 years now, but I’m also excited to have a new beginning out in Colorado. Forcibly shaking things up a bit won’t be a bad thing for me.
One of the challenges of this sudden move comes because I have a lease signed at my apartment through the end of July 2011 (signed the extension back in February, which is actually fairly late in State College to sign an August-August renewal). However, now it looks like Anders & I have probably found someone to take my spot on the lease (an incoming meteo grad student who we hosted on the visit weekend back in February) starting next month. And he’s interested in purchasing my furniture too (which I’m selling because it’s prohibitively expensive on a grad student salary to rent a moving truck from State College to Boulder). Hooray! Because I’ll be in Australia from 2-21 August, however, that means that I need to move my stuff out before I leave (and I’m going to a wedding next weekend in Indiana, so it actually needs to be out before the weekend). Hollemans have graciously agreed to let me store my stuff in their garage or basement while I’m in Australia. When I get back from Australia, then I’ll move into Isaac’s new house, where I’ll be renting one of his bedrooms through mid-November (David D will also be living there).
And then I think I’ve also found a roommate and place to stay out in Colorado too! I emailed the Evangelical Free Church in Boulder (Calvary Bible Church), told them of my situation, and a guy named David emailed me back, saying he had a room available in his townhouse in Longmont (about 10-15 miles northeast of Boulder, Longmont is a popular place to live for NCAR employees, as Boulder is ridiculously expensive). That seems like a great place and a great situation for me, so I think I’m going to take it. Everything’s really fallen into place this week (mostly yesterday) in terms of living arrangements for the next few months, praise God! I’m really glad to have gotten these things set before I go to Australia.
Now I’ve gotta get busy early this coming week and pack up everything that I’m not taking to Australia and a few days’ worth of clothes for the wedding and before I leave. Looks like I’ll be camping out with just the bare essentials in my apartment for a few nights!