Uprooting: From Hot to Hygge

Here are some updates on our first month of life in upstate New York after moving from Arizona.

The Move

There are several approaches one can take to a long-distance move. We decided to go with one that didn’t involve driving for several days with a 1-year-old. We went with a moving company to pack up and haul our possessions, an auto transporter to haul the Prius, an airplane ticket for Becky and Alex, and a 4-day drive across 9 states in the Subaru for me.

Fig. 1. The baby crib, plates, air mattress, and other urgent or fragile items went with me in the Subaru. I approached it like a puzzle, and fit more stuff than I thought I could. I even had room to see out the back window.

That all went ok, except that it was expensive. More expensive than I had estimated. Or, I should say, more expensive than the moving company had originally estimated before they packed up all our stuff. I felt swindled on the final bill, and would not recommend Leo’s Moving to anyone doing a long-distance move who does not have a money bin. The job offer included $2,000 of moving expenses, which is certainly helpful.

Fig. 2. A "before" photo of our furniture and other belongings scattered about after being delivered by the movers.

Also helpful was the fact that we had over 2 months to prepare for the move. My new employer was very considerate in giving me as much time as I needed to make the transition. During that time we purged all the things that we didn't have time to purge before we got married. I sold what I could online, and loads of everything else went to Goodwill or Deseret Industries. Even if it’s just selling a baby item for $10, it makes me happy to know that something we don’t need anymore will find new life with someone else.

The drive from Arizona to New York was about 2300 miles, or about 36 hours. After leaving Phoenix in the evening, I covered the distance in 4 days, stopping at the cheapest motels I could find along the way in Holbrook (Arizona), Oklahoma City, and Indianapolis.

The morning after my first pit stop in Holbrook, I stopped for some short hikes at the nearby Petrified Forest National Park. There are three National Parks in Arizona, and Petrified Forest is the only one I had not visited. I thought it would be an appropriate way to say my goodbyes to the southwestern landscapes I have loved for so many years and hiked for so many miles. Like most National Parks, it has its own unique beauty. It’s worth a trip – especially if you like geology.

Fig. 3. Me in the badlands at Petrified Forest National Park, with stratified geologic formations in the background.

I didn’t see much else the rest of the trip except the open road, gas stations, and motels as I quickly traversed a significant swath of the Heartland. At around 7 pm on a cold and rainy night on the first day of February, I reached my destination: an empty house nestled among the hills, rivers, and trees of upstate New York. The owner left the doors unlocked with the keys inside for me. Becky and Alex arrived at the local airport a few days later, along with a big winter storm.

The House

After scouring the real estate sites, we found a 2.5 bedroom 2.5 bathroom house to rent that is about the same size as our place in Mesa – maybe a bit larger if you count the unfinished basement. I hoped to find something cheaper and closer to campus, but that’s just not the way the real estate cookie crumbled. I really liked our old house in Mesa and will miss it.

The new house is nice, though. It was recently torn down to the frame and rebuilt, and so we are essentially the first ones to live in it. Everything is new, which is mostly good. I say mostly because it took a while to get our cable internet hooked up because there was no line for it, and we had a delay in  getting our washer and dryer set up due to some electrical problems and issues with the hookups. But now I think we’ve worked out all the bugs. Unless, of course, come springtime it does indeed become invaded with bugs, which happened at our last house sometimes.

Fig. 4. A view of the house, as we prepare for a snowy walk around the neighborhood to check out our surroundings.

Our furniture and belongings arrived about a week after we did, so afterwards we began the process of "making a home from a rented house," as Feist would say. Becky has been mostly responsible for that, and thanks to her interior decorating skillz, it does feel quite homey now.

Fig. 5. An "after" photo of the house, with furniture unpacked and arranged. Feels like home again.

Alex’s favorite part about this house is the stairs. He has crawled up and down them so many times now. His crib is the in the half bedroom, which allows us to use the spare bedroom as his play area. This seems to be a good arrangement because we can spend less time putting toys away.

Fig. 6. A view of the backyard from the bedroom.

We’ll have to get accustomed to mowing grass and shoveling snow here, but it will be nice to have a backyard. By the time spring comes, Alex should be walking, so that yard will come in handy. Speaking of which, he has recently taken to standing on his own a lot lately. Once he learned to crawl, it was all he wanted to do. But now, it looks like he's on the verge of becoming a little biped. 

Fig. 7. Alex is learning that he doesn't need to hold onto things to stand anymore. He doesn't want to take any steps yet though, he is approaching upright locomotion very conservatively.

The Place

The obvious contrast between our former and current place of residence is the climate. But, as John Steinbeck once wrote, “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?”

Fig. 8. A slightly blurry view of Binghamton from a tall building on campus. If you put imaginary leaves on the trees during autumn, it is much prettier.

Although temperatures here have dipped into the single digits, we've also had a few days in the 60s. Apparently, there can be big swings here due to meteorological phenomena that I don’t understand. The change in climate along with the change in landscapes and scenery is all still very new and exciting to us at this point. In any case, until spring comes, we're all about adopting the Danish custom of Hygge. That is their word for the cultural practice of getting cozy with thick socks, blankets, warm beverages, fireplaces, etc., and good company.

Fig. 9. Warming up with a hot bubble bath.

It will take us a while to become oriented around here, as the roads all seem to be artifacts of cow paths and I can’t tell where I am half the time. I’ve never been more grateful for GPS.

I was told that the people here are friendly, and it has a small-town vibe. That’s been true so far. I can illustrate this with an experience I had at the grocery store checkout line, where I found myself with a cart full of groceries and an unhappy baby boy. The woman in front of me not only insisted that I go ahead of her, but she also chased me down in the parking lot to hand me a grocery bag I had left at the checkout. Becky says this similarly happened to her at the post office too.

Aside from that, there’s not much more to say at this point. But I’m sure when it warms up we’ll have more of an excuse to get out and explore our surroundings a bit, which I’m really looking forward to.

The Job

I am a few weeks into it now, and I can say my impressions of things have been very positive. New jobs usually begin with a honeymoon phase, but I don’t see any reason why it will fade too much here. That is mostly because the people I am working with seem generally happy to be there and invested in their work. Everyone has been really welcoming.

Fig. 10. The building I work in, which is attached to several other large science buildings. I still get lost in there sometimes if I venture too far outside of my office.

My new boss is nothing but professional, personable, and positive. She’s been really good about taking time to talk with me, and make sure everything is copesetic with me at work and my family at home. When she found out that we were waiting for the bulk of our belongings to arrive during the first week, she offered to have us stay in a hotel. I didn’t take her up on that, but it was still appreciated.

Fig. 11. The Rotunda, one of the more picturesque areas of my building. There is a café below here where I eat lunch sometimes.

I have my own office with a window, some primo office furniture (loving my Tempurpedic desk chair so far), double monitors, and a new printer and laptop. Working in an office instead of a lab now means that I wear a shirt and tie instead of lab coat. Or, sometimes just a shirt. It’s a minor adjustment that comes with the career shift, but not one that is hard to make.

Fig. 12. My office, with its very minimalist decorating scheme. At least I put up one picture on the wall.

Thus far my work has been mostly just attending and scheduling meetings with faculty, and learning who does what and how different centers function together in context of the university. That means learning a lot of acronyms, which are unavoidable in any organization. I have the freedom to attend any lecture or colloquium happening on campus that appeals to me. Anything I can do to get out of the office and meet faculty in all departments is encouraged because although I am working primarily with people in the sciences and engineering, a lot of what my office does is geared toward encouraging collaborations across disciplines.

Here is a link to my office's website if you want to know more about who I work with and what we do. Sooner or later, my bio will be added to it. 

The Church

There is an LDS ward here that meets in a nice chapel near campus. After attending there, we discovered that we live in the boundaries that pertain to a smaller branch that meets in another building nestled in a small town a bit further away. It is called the Greene branch.

Fig. 13. Our mini meetinghouse at the Greene Branch. No cultural hall with basketball hoops or fancy pipe organ, just a few classrooms and a chapel.

We’ve been to Greene Branch a couple of times now, and it’s safe to say they are excited to have us. I counted about 50 people at church, so it’s not the sort of place where you can show up unnoticed. I think it will have a strong ward family atmosphere where everyone really knows each other, and I’m sure they will find something (or somethings) for us to be involved with there very quickly.

If we end up moving after our annual lease is up, and buying a house that not in the boundaries of the smaller branch we attend, I will feel bad – like we are abandoning them. But we’ll see what happens.

They seem like excellent people, no different than you’d find in any ward. So far I haven’t found the quality of lessons or discussions to be lacking, despite the smaller audience to draw from. One thing I’ve noticed is that in terms of service projects, there seems to be a lot of hauling of wood. I never did any of that in Arizona.

As a final note, if you would like to see more pictures of Alex, see Becky's previous post here.