One More Week...

...until I quit my job (yeah, quitting on 8/4)
...to treasure time spent with friends
...to finish packing/selling stuff
...to eat all of the In-n-out that I can – luckily there’s one by Oakland airport!
...to enjoy the wide selection of fresh fruit in a regular supermarket (like my summertime favorite of Rainier cherries)

I can't believe what happened to July! Aah! I've sort of been pretending to pack for the past several weeks, but wasn't going to panic until after this pesky little work trip I took. So, I went from "ok, this meeting is at the end of July, I’ve got plenty of time" to "yeah, a week from Wednesday" to "holy crap, I'm going to Chicago tomorrow for four days".

I was going back and forth about going to this meeting (the other option being to quit on 7/25). I really didn't feel like traveling for the company anymore, and being out of town the last 4 days of July just seemed to be incredibly inconvenient. Then I had this guilt trip about not going to this meeting I’ve been working on and planning for months – especially since we had some major deliverables from that meeting, and this is my favorite team to work with. Remember, I sneakily applied to school so I only gave 2 weeks notice. Well, I'm really glad I went. It was the right thing (and the mature thing) to do, and I am leaving on a good note with my bosses. I earned major bonus points for going to this meeting once they realized that I had to move to AA shortly after returning.

While in Chicago, I also started to get a bit more acclimated to Midwestern summer weather. In California, summertime means the occasional heat wave (not the 110 degree crap we had recently), allergies, and forgetting where my umbrellas are. In the Midwest, summer = humidity, afternoon thunderstorms, and tornado warnings that can shut down the airport (poor stranded travelers on Thursday night) – all while it’s about 85 degrees outside. This is going to take some getting used to.

My Chicago trip was also the last major work related item – so I’m basically done. I mean, I’m working through this week to get $$ (one week’s working is more than a month’s rent). More importantly, being pretty much done with work makes the whole b-school trip more “real” to me. Now my purchasing habits have changed. I can’t fill up the tank because car shipping company won’t take my car with a full tank of gas. I went to the grocery store but while I was there, I reminded myself not to stock up on things on sale – or anything – if I’m not going to finish it in a week. Especially since I’m going out to dinner several times this week. So, instead of getting my normal weekly food, I got the aforementioned cherries, orange juice, milk, and crossaints.

So, in a little over a week, I need to see everything the bay area has to offer, say my final goodbyes, pack up, and go. I’m really excited, but I’m still a little in denial that I’m actually leaving. Maybe that’s why I’ve been pretending to pack. Or why I just bought my plane ticket (free southwest ticket). I’ve been in the bay area since I moved up for college 9 years ago. Maybe I’ll realize that I’m leaving after I start furniture shopping/setting up the apartment in Ann Arbor.