My move on August 15 was successful!

My new (home) telephone number is now (217) 328-2757.
(Just to confuse everyone. The old one was (217) 367-2527.)

The new apartment (308 W. Green St., unit D) is part of a new 8-unit building built in the 1990's. I'm on the back- (alley) side of the building, which is actually preferable, since Green St. is the main E-W throroughfare in Urbana. I love being a block away from the Urbana library, my bank, the mini downtown and my favorite coffee place - Strawberry Fields.

The apartment itself is two stories: a spacious upstairs living room-kitchen with high ceilings and huge windows and a cramped downstairs (down a circular metal staircase) with low ceilings (imagine a typical door with less than a foot above the top before the ceiling) and two tiny bedrooms that each have windows and doors to the outside (kind of a lowerlevel that opens below street level). To get an idea of the size of the bedrooms, imagine a full-sized bed (below queen size), then add about 1-2 feet on either side. That's it! One bedroom isn't needed, so that is my de facto store room and clothes room (two dressers). I'd hoped to make it an office, but it's too small to fit my long computer table! (That I've moved upstairs next to the kitchen "bar", so upstairs is now the office.)

I'll be off traveling from August 26 on for about three weeks.

My first stop is Pinehurst, North Carolina, a famous old golf resort, where this year's Aramco reunion is taking place August 29-31. I'm supposed to play for the Sunday morning hymns for a sub-reunion of Dhahran Protestant Fellowship people at the resort.

After that, I'm off on a driving trip to see friends, backtracking to Asheville, NC and Great Smokey Mts. National Park, then up to Richmond, DC, and New Jersey. After that it all gets a bit hazy. I'm planning to fly to England for about 10 days the end of September/beginning of October to see old Cairo friends, but I'm waiting to hear what dates work for the people I want to see there, so I can't really make other plans till I make my airline reservation for that. I may drive back to Urbana first if there's a long enough gap between my East Coast trip and the England trip.

I'll keep everyone posted!

NEW ADDRESS! (after August 15)

Paul Sundberg
308 W. Green St. #D
Urbana, IL 61801

Tel. (cell) 217-714-3574

My biggest task immediately after the dissertation defense has been to find a place to move to, since my present lease ends August 14. It was complicated by my non-traditional situation of only being in town (definitely) till December and needing a shorter-term lease.

Saturday, I arranged with one of our big rental companies in town (as a Big-10 university town, the rental business is pretty major) to visit a few units. The last one, not many blocks from where I am right now, was just about right: a two-story, two-bedroom unit (one for an office) near all the important places for me - the university, downtown Urbana, and Strawberry Fields, a local coffee shop I visit regularly! The final selling point was that the company opens its units for 6- and 9-month leases starting August 2. Perfect, in effect.

I was a bit nervous that someone would come along later Saturday or Sunday and snap up the lease before Monday, but when I got to Ramshaw's office right when it opened this Monday at 8:00 am, the property was still available! So, now I have a place to move to with a lease through the end of December! Meanwhile, you can still write me at the old address until August 15; all mail will be forwarded with no problem after that.

My birthday, this past July 30, was a small affair - George and Therese, a local couple I've known since 1993, invited me July 29 for pizza and wine. Our "movie" was watching Kerry's acceptance speech on TV! Therese's birthday is July 29, so it was a natural combo.

Life after the defense has been a bit underwhelming but pleasant ...