Moving. The Extremely Early Planning version.

Ok, sorry I've been quiet lately, but if you hadn't heard, it's official: We've made the decision to move back to the States.

Or rather, my employer has made the decision to move us back to the States. Sometime. Like next summer. And this has kept me busy.

I knew we'd be moving, and so on my last trip out to Massachusetts (is that how you spell it? If we're going to live there, I suppose I had better learn) (Confirmation: it is.), I had a quick conversation with my boss about needing to confirm what was up, what with a kid in school, and a life kind of on hold until we made this decision. His answer: "What's to decide? We know you're moving next year, and if you're moving, we know you'll move here."

OK, well, there you have it. Now to get my ass in gear.

The problem is, I know nothing about Massachusetts, except that they make the beans there, and that the Affleck-Damon movie machine started out in the area. And something about baseball. But I don't watch baseball, so that's kind of useless. I also am pretty sure that it wasn't too long ago that they were still shooting at people from below the Mason-Dixon line, and so I was a bit nervous about venturing too far out on my own.

Our new office is in Cambridge, about halfway between Harvard and MIT, in a lovely spot. And while I had seen a nice hotel there, and a couple of lovely restaurants, the only other experience I've had until now with the area is Logan airport. Which is pretty much a pile of goat crap with planes.

This trip out, I have two things on my list: get to know the suburbs, with an eye towards likely spots to hide a transplanted Southerner and his banjo collection, and start visiting schools. Seem too early? I'm 2/3rds of the way through, and the one I saw today makes the Queen's School for Girls look easy going. But they had an observatory. How freaking cool is that?

More later.

Wish me luck.