September 2006 was the start of the madness - it was a crazy month that ended with me and my five cats living in a 700 sq. ft. apartment in New York City.
The first part of the month I was in Geneva, Switzerland for work. I was training and touring. Geneva was beautiful and the people at Iomega were perfect hosts.
While I was in Geneva, on Sept 5th, my nephew Christopher John was born. What a surprise - he was about 6 weeks early. I think he wanted to make sure and see me before I moved to NYC. 
He had some health issues and was in NICU at Loma Linda University Hospital for about 2 weeks. I was able to visit him while he was at Loma Linda. He was really cute - he didn't want to wake up for his bottle and then once he started eating he wanted to fall back asleep before he was done. He had really skinny little legs - he needs to eat and fill them out. Mom and I looked at baby photos and he looks like Jason as a baby.
A week before the big move, MomO came to stay with me. Between Mom and Rebecca everything was packed and cleaned. There is no way I could have packed without their help. Plus it made unpacking kind of fun, I didn't know what was going to be in each box or wrapped up in the paper. Mom drew pictures on some of the the wrapped items - those packages were great, they made unpacking really fun! The only thing that was broken during the move was the bathroom scale - I couldn't have planned it any better.
Saturday, Sept 23rd was the big day - of course it was a crazy day. Ashley and Josh came over with their truck to make an emergency dump run. Ernie, Leslie, and Eric Gee came over to buy my little bug. I'm so happy my car went to a great home. Big Daddy O came down to get a load of 'stuff' and pick up Mom. Rebecca was my airport shuttle. She brought Michael and we loaded up the Yukon with luggage, cats, and people. The cats were surprisingly quiet on the way to the airport... 
Once we were at the ticket counter the Trixie and Sadie had to get checked in to cargo (or 'kitty first class' as I told them). They had to call over a TSA inspector, who was of course allergic to cats, to inspect the cats and the cages. In the middle of the airport I had to pull the cats out of the cages and hold them while he checked out the cages and then kind of eyed the cats up and down. Luckily they were scared enough not to try and run. Once they were all set, we had to go through regular security with Beckham and Blackjack.
Michael went through first and picked up the carry on bags. I went with the boys in to a private screening room. In the room I had to take them out of the carriers while TSA inspected the carriers and the cats. Blackjack was fine, he's the mellow old man - but I was really nervous how Beckham would react outside of the carrier. He attached himself to my head when we put him in the carrier - I wasn't sure I would be able to get him in a second time. The little guy was so scared he didn't move while I was holding him and he zipped right back in to the carrier once the inspection was complete. Our flight went off without a hitch. The gate agent gave us an entire row, which was so luxurious. We also had a free cocktail from one of the flight attendants.
The girls were waiting in baggage claim when we landed. We put all of the cages facing eachother so they could check in with one another - they were all fine. The taxi ride home was exactly what you would expect from an NYC taxi driver - welcome to NYC kitties! They all settled in to the apartment very quickly.
My furniture showed up Thursday of the next week. The cats were so happy to have their couch and their bed!
Roxy wasn't too happy to have her private time with Michael come to an end. She has adjusted and seems pretty happy, especially since she doesn't have Chandler chasing her any more. She and Beckham have started wrestling at night. It's pretty funny, he will wap, wap, wap her and then she will just lunge with all her weight and take him down.
I love working from home - it's made the transition so much easier for the cats and me.
