It's starting to feel real

Last week at work, everyone started saying goodbye and wishing me an early merry Christmas and such. It was surreal in the way that attending your own funeral would be -- I'm not quitting the News Service, but the goodbying gave me a preview of what it will feel like when I do.

Even so, being off for the Thanksgiving weekend didn't feel unusual. I would have been off no matter what.

Monday morning, as I looked at the clock and realized I'd ordinarily be at the 10 a.m. writers meeting, then it started to sink in that I'm off work.
Starting to load up boxes in the living room, and having the cat carrier out so Haley can maybe get used to the sight of it, that's pretty tangible, too.




In this first photo, note the huge ad for the new World Trade Center office building hanging in the background, courtesy of Mary Jean.









Here you can see -- and I swear this isn't staged -- Zagat's NY guide, New York magazine and an issue of Columbia's faculty/staff newspaper, The Record. That's probably more New York material than many people who are actually there.