After three years of breathless waiting, with venture capital funding for the company I’m a minority partner in always just around the corner but never quite in reach, things have finally happened–and when they did, they did with breakneck speed.

I’m in Gainesville, Florida, as I type this. Last week, the company finally secured funding. On Friday, I quit my job. Saturday and Sunday I spent with smoocherie and her partner Fritz, then Monday I started packing. Yesterday, I rented a van and hauled about half my stuff from Tampa to Gainesville, where I will be living with Shelly for the next few weeks while the company gets its facility in Atlanta prepared and I look for an apartment there. During this time, I’ll be working remotely full-time for the company. The cats are up here, and believe me, they didn’t appreciate the trip one little bit. Molly cried for an hour and a half.

On or about the 10th of next month, the facility will be ready and I’ll be moving to Atlanta.

Things I learned last night while packing the rental van:

– There is no graceful way for one person to move a king-sized mattress. None. Anyone who tells you he’s found an easy way to do it is lying.

– We own more sex toys than I thought. A lot more.

– You can’t fit four computers on one standard-sized desk, even with a KVM switch. Especially if one of them (the G4 Cube) has a proprietary monitor.

– The two-hour drive from Tampa to Gainesville is a study in tedium. It’s more interesting, though, if you’re driving a big, clumsy, underpowered Chevy van that handles like a cow; it’s more interesting still in the driving rain. In that ‘may you live in interesting times’ kinda way.

– General Motors can not design a vehicle that’s worth a goddamn to save its bloated corporate ass. Why would anyone voluntarily buy, own, or drive a GM vehicle?

– A small cat who’s unhappy can make more noise than any sane man would expect. It’s rather amazing, really.

– We also own more bedding than I thought. And a lot of it is still in Tampa.

– Everything is more difficult than you think it is and takes longer than you think it will, even if you keep this rule in mind.

On the good side, once in Atlanta I’ll be making nearly three times what I was making, plus commission and bonuses, plus stock. On the bad side, it all happened so fast I didn’t even have time to tell many of my Tampa friends I was leaving.