New city? New job? What else is new? Well... there’s a new sports team to cheer on… I guess. The Memphis Grizzlies are the only “big four” professional sport in Memphis, and so it is only appropriate to go see them. And since it’s the NBA, and it’s the worst of the “big four” sports to watch… you’ve got to do it the only way that makes it worth it… courtside. Yup… Jennifer and I were lucky enough to be given a couple of seats courtside, and we watched our new hometown heroes fall mightily to the under .500 team of the Houston Rockets. Ahh, the NBA at it’s best! Okay, so the game itself wasn’t that exciting, but there were some high points. First off, when you sit courtside, your car also gets the privilege of a nice spot under the FedEx forum, next to where the players park. Since my car hadn’t yet been delivered to Memphis, it was fun to watch the valet pull the rental Mitsubishi Galant next to the Bentley and the Jag. Secondly, the FedEx Forum is a nice place, and the staff, food, seating, etc. were all quality. Thirdly… the half time show… was none other than Ray Parker. Oh, excuse me, you don’t know Ray Parker? Let’s see… how about if I sing a couple of lines from one of his more popular songs… it goes, “if there’s something strange… in the neighborhood… who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” … yeah, that Ray Parker. And yes, that was the only song he played, and it was awesome.

So, with a new city, new job, and new NBA team… you’ve got to find a new house right? Right. So, Jennifer and I worked with the incredible Sally Isom to find the some homes in the Memphis area that suited us well... turns out, there are a few homes for sale these days… something about a downturn? Either way, Sally lined up 40 properties for us to see over a two day period. Yes, forty (40). We looked from the ‘burbs way out east, all the way through the city to the Mississippi river. It was nuts. But, halfway through Day 2, out on ‘Mud Island’ in ‘Harbortown’… there it was… a place that fit. Hmm, let’s see the listing… okay, little more than we wanted… but how about if we put an offer down for… sayyy, this much? One day later, accepted. Closing is scheduled for January 11, 2011 at 11am. Makes sense right? Good times will be had.

What’s the next logical thing with all this new stuff? Out with the old! I flew back up to Madison where Jennifer was finishing off her last week of work, and I arrived for a packing up and heading out extravaganza. As you can see here, it wasn’t a whole lot of work on our end for the packing up session, as we had the best moving crew in the industry putting our stuff into a few hundred boxes. There were four guys, they were ridiculously efficient, and it still took two days… which means we have too much stuff. They also had to trek through the snow to get the stuff into trucks, which just added to the ridiculousness. A second move in a row for me that is in the middle of winter… I wonder when I’ll learn. Lucky, we did throw a number of things out, including this old school TV and stand, and conveniently set it up with someone else’s couch in the “homeless man’s living room.” … Hmm, is that PC? Nope!

We did our “goodbyes” in what was a great home for the last two years, including heading up for some food on the capital square and checking out the Christmas tree in the capital building. There of course was one last trip to Sardine to enjoy a bite and a drink, then we hopped in the car and drove from Madison to Memphis. 650 miles, a quick sleep over in Bloomington, IL, and good times the whole way.