Saturday afternoon marked a small milestone. I finished assembling a small table for my entryway and placed the container for my keys, wallet, and headphones atop it. This was the final piece of furniture for my new residence, finally in its place, some six weeks after taking possession and after a few rounds of ordering additional items. I’ve also put all of my pictures up and they’ve stayed up, so things should now be in their places for the duration of my stay here. Yes, I had some issues with command strips that forced a rethink but everything has been okay for at least a few days now. And since I’m renting, some of the projects I envision for the place simply won’t happen. I’ve not had any more visitors since my family came in mid-August, but at least now I feel ready to host people here. That is also a pleasant change.

Yesterday, I took both a morning and evening walk. I took different paths for each for some variety as there are several paved trails that wind through the neighborhood, some alongside the roads and others tucked between houses. I don’t get the crunch of gravel underfoot that kept the rhythm of my walks at my prior residence, but there are many more options here and I’m able to choose a route that better suits the amount of time I have available.

This is also a time when a lot of my scheduled activities are returning so my calendar will have more consistency also. I’m looking forward to that, though there are a few more conferences coming up too, both repeat trips to places I’ve already visited this for conferences. There will definitely be fewer work trips in 2026. We’ve been conducting an assessment of work trips in 2025 this week and it has not made for pleasant reading.