Yes, it’s true that I moved from Mississippi to New York City. It’s true that I started a great new job in Manhattan and that I live in a cool neighborhood in Brooklyn. And it’s true that I now live in a part of the country that utilizes all four seasons and not just summer.

But.

That’s not the entire truth. I haven’t told you why I moved. Or rather, why I had to move.

See, Mississippi has the honor of being the fattest state in the nation and is currently trying to improve its image. To that end it is trying a two-pronged approach. One: there is a expansive movement to educate and motivate people to eat right and exercise. An example of this is the Let’s Go Walkin’ Mississippi campaign. If you live in Mississippi, you can’t help but be inundated with TV and radio ads touting the benefits of walking. But, there is a lesser-known, second approach to improving Mississippi’s standing in the health statistics.

If you’re over a certain BMI, your name goes into a lottery drawing. Once a month they draw a certain number of names and these names have 6 months to move to a state with a lower obesity rate. The thought behind this is that Mississippi’s numbers are instantly improved and the other state’s numbers are worsened in one fell swoop.

Pretty shrewd, ain’t it?

Well, my name came up so I’m doing my part to make Mississippi healthier and pull New York down. Now you know. Which is totally half the battle.

Pretty much everyone is doing their 2008 recap. What happened? What did you do? What goals and milestones did you reach? You know, that kind of stuff.

I think you already know most of mine but without further ado, we here at IMKH will hit the highlights of ‘08.

January: I think I got a new pair of shoes.
February: I..uh…I’ll come back to this one.
March: If I remember it right, I had heard gas was three cents cheaper across town so I headed over there only to find out it was the same price as my side of town. Oh man!
June: High dive. Dong exposure. Small children crying. That’s all I’m saying.
September: Uh…pass.
Octo…

Forget it. Nothing really happened in ‘08 with our country or for me personally worth mentioning. Here’s hoping 2009 takes an upswing. Maybe I’ll finally get that navy blue blazer I’ve been wanting.

Here’s the picture I posted before of our street soon after we first moved in.

And here it is again a couple of weeks ago after our first snow storm.

They say in the south, you’ll never meet a stranger. People will bend over backwards to help you if you need a hand. Admittedly, I was afraid that when I moved up here to New York I’d be put off by the unfriendliness of the locals. I think everyone has heard how New Yorkers would step over a dying man rather than do anything to help.

You know what? Everything I had heard is completely wrong.

Back home you tend to know just about everyone around town. It’s not uncommon to be out and around town while someone driving along will see you and give you a friendly honk. Etiquette dictates that you return it with a friendly nod and a wave. This is about the only time you hear a car’s horn.

Imagine my surprise while walking down 34th street and every other car is giving me a friendly honk. They tend to lay on the horn a little more than they do back home but that’s probably because there’s a lot going on around me and I may not notice them honking right away. So I turn their way and give them the required nod and wave. I tell ya, I can’t walk two feet before having to stop and wave at someone. It’s great everyone is so friendly but it takes me twice as long as it should to walk a single block.

So let it be said that New Yorkers are way friendlier than you might have heard. So much so that I have trouble sleeping at night while they honk a little hello to all their friends.

First, let me address my cryptic post recently about being in San Francisco. I was barely getting settled in NY when I had to take off to SF for a week of training with my new job. I had fully intended to sit down that evening in the hotel and write up a big My New Life Thus Far post but I wimped out and made up some nonsense instead. My apologies to all.

So. I’ve been in the Big Apple for just over 2 months now. We’ve gotten all settled in and there are no more boxes sitting around. It’s kinda late right now, but remind me to post some pics of our apartment after the movers delivered all the boxes filled with our junk. Holy Moley.

I think about our life and friends and family that we left in Mississippi and I miss it all so. Fortunately, we like it here too and it balances out pretty well. But, Lord, is it cold.

We packed everything up as best we could and let the movers do the rest. It was weird to sit in our empty trailer after living there for 7 years.

We caught a last football game (and the Dawgs won!).

Then we rented a car and started our 3 day trip to NY.

We stopped in at the Natural Bridge.

I managed to snap a quick pic as we crossed the Mason-Dixon Line. Goodbye South.

We stopped at Hersey, Pennsylvania and tried not to spend too much money on chocolate.

I drove across Manhattan and over the Manhattan Bridge. Regardless of this photo, I was completely sober.

The next day, all our junk was delivered.

This is right outside our door looking up towards Prospect Park.

We live 4 blocks from Prospect Park.

This is our neighborhood, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

We took a carriage ride in Central Park. The horse decided to leave without the driver, who is taking the picture.

We’ve already had the first big snow storm though I’m not sure if we got any pictures. We also had visitors from Mississippi which was fun. Now the new year is upon us and we look forward to what it will bring. Personally, I’m hoping for less siren noise.

Since I forgot how to make videos, here’s the last Christmas one we did. The Good Commitment Christmas episode. Good times…

I’m in San Francisco. I decided that 4 weeks was enough of the east coast and now I’m trying out the west cost. Tomorrow I plan to check out the hard-to-find island from LOST because it is just way too boring around here. Though I guess I should wait until my training for my new job is done, but then I’m so outta here.

The reason I logged into this here website with my name on it is to update you on my new (but short lived) life in New York. But since I’ll soon be hanging with Hurley and Locke (or maybe not, I can’t remember how last season ended and who was where), I ain’t gonna. I’ll send a new update for the blog via carrier sea gull as soon as I can trap one on the island and convince him (or her) to carry my Very Important Message back to you all on the internet. I’ll have to google the directions to get to the internet from the island because I don’t know what they are but birds are smart, especially sea gulls because they always know just when to poop when flying over you such that you get a nice present on your head. That’s an innate grasp of physics, folks.

So I’ll get back with you soon.

Around midnight the neighborhood decided to celebrate Obama’s victory on our corner.

>rent a car bulgaria testing out the wordpress app from my phone.

Tomorrow we are going to the Statue of Liberty. Also loads more unpacking.

I’m tired of typing on this now.

If you follow me on twitter, you may know this already: I’m joining the ranks of other esteemed Mississippi ex-pats and striking out for new adventures, namely New York City.

How did this come about you ask? Well, it’s been a long time coming and I won’t go into the entire back story. The important bit to know is M is all finished up with her (third, but career-changing) degree and we will need to relocate to find work for both of us. As much as we love the south, we would like to experience other areas of this great nation before it completely falls apart. Both the east and west coasts were considered and in the end we choose bitter, cold winters over earth quakes.

So, I start my new job on October 20th and there’s so much to do between now and then. Like packing up my entire household and finding a place to live. It’s amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over the years and it feels good to get rid of it by pushing it off on neighbors and friends.

We’re excited and sad. We’re excited about starting this new chapter in our lives. We’re sad because we’ll be so far from our friends and family. We’ve lived in Mississippi our entire lives (all 21 years!) and I will miss fried okra a lot.

Y’all come and visit us.