ebonlock | Entries tagged with moving

Ok I'm about to take apart the internet and tv system so I won't be available again until I get up and running at the house, so if you don't hear from me that's why. If you need to reach me just give me a ring. I should have my phone on me pretty much constantly over the next few days.

Before I sign off, though, I wanted to thank

reluctantgenius for stopping by to help me cleanse the new place. The house was delightfully calm and happy by the time I left. Now if I can get all the electronics taken apart and boxed up I'll be in good shape.

So I'm off to work, but first Kage is demanding attention...

Current Mood: accomplished

After a bit of a run around by Comcast I'm finally back online and I've got my cable set up again so I'm pleased. Many, many thanks to everyone who helped out on Saturday and made the move a great deal less hellish than it could have been. It was way too hot, but I think with all of the preparation ahead of time helped smooth things out. The biggest shout out to

moonlightnrain who really went above and beyond helping out, including arriving at 8:30 to help with the pre-move prep so I could run the cats over to the new place and then stop by Comcast.

As one might expect neither Kage nor Pye were thrilled at being locked in the bathroom for hours. Pye, in particular, expressed his dismay with loud yowling and flinging litter all over the place. Thankfully Aelf took pity on the cats and let them out when

moonlightnrain and I ran over to drop the truck off and pick up some pizza for all my hungry workers. They continued to be freaked, but after I set up the living room and it was just me and them they started calming down.

We had a slightly rough night which wasn't unexpected, I knew Pye would melt down again and sure enough he did. But I got enough sleep to be functional on Sunday and that was the important thing. Again

moonlightnrain went above and beyond playing the Aggie to my Kim as we scrubbed down the old apartment. Fortunately it was pretty clean so it was finished up right on time. Loaded up my car one last time and went over to the office when nobody showed up to do the walkthrough with me. Turns out the manager's on vacation and the woman working couldn't leave the new tenants she was talking to so I dropped off my keys and ran to the grocery store. As I was about to leave there I got a call from the gal in the office who apologized and then said that the apartment looked spotless and that she didn't see any reason I wouldn't get my full deposit back. Glory hallelujah!

Yesterday was all about unpacking and Mount Box is now down to a very small hill and all the vital stuff has been found. I will admit I'm missing the shed from the old place, it was a damned handy place to keep spare boxes and empties but I'll figure something out here. In the meantime the wall space and cabinet space here is seriously kicking my ass, it's almost an embarrassment of riches. And my new shower is to die for! The pressure and the showerhead remind me of some of the best of both I've experienced in great hotels in the past. If I can get the bathroom completely sorted and maybe set up the bookcase I'll consider that a good day's work.

Current Mood: tired

More stuff carted to new place despite the heat (ugh) and I did my walkthrough checklist. Chatted with the manager for a bit (it's just what we do) and when she found out I'm a mint nut she was immediately intrigued. I suspect we're going to be exchanging cuttings some time soon ;)

On the way over I heard the good news on the radio, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage in the state! Nearly drove off the road yipping with glee. Sometimes I really do love my adopted state.

I also decided what I'd like for my birthday this year (aside from a job, that is). I saw this incredible film on KQED called "A Walk to Beautiful" about the plight of women badly injured during childbirth in Ethiopia. These poor women not only lose their babies but become incontinent and are shunned by their families and communities. It's just horrifying what they're forced to endure, especially when a simple surgery can cure most if not all of them. And what I'd really like this year is for donations to go to the Fistula Foundation to help pay for the hospital and its work. It would make me so unbelievably happy to know I was able to help these women in some small way. Absolutely the perfect birthday gift.

Current Mood: pleased

I have the best friends in the world. Seriously, you really should envy me, and I don't tend to say that too often. The turnout for the Weekend Moving Extravaganza was just phenomenal and I almost felt a little guilty that I didn't have more stuff that needed to be lugged. I now also know that a fourteen foot UHaul truck is more than sufficient to contain all of my worldly possessions, which is both welcome and kind of disturbing at the same time.

At any rate, I should like to thank everyone who turned up to lend a hand, I hope no one ended up too exhausted. And a special round of thank you's go out to those incredible folks who showed up for both days of the move, major love to

aelfsciene the tireless,

tersa the ill but massively helpful,

jsmitty_o the uber-organizer,

scoreboard cheerful lifter of heavy things, and of course

moonlightnrain the loyal who helped with every single part of the move from start to finish...and then came back yesterday to set up my kitchen for me. I don't know what I've done in this life to deserve such treatment, but I'm incredibly grateful for it.

And then, as if lugging my heavy shit around for two days wasn't enough,

jsmitty_o and

scoreboard gifted me with a new bookcase as well. I now have an embarassment of shelf space in the new place...but I will not use this as an excuse to buy more books. No, I will not. Seriously.

Another big virtual hug goes out to

rexluscus and

jakejr for driving all the way down from the East Bay to lend a hand. That is friendship indeed. Also many thanks to

chrisber for the wonderful help, plus the use of the padlock on the truck and allowing us to park out in front of the House of Egg Saturday night. Many apologies for waking you Sunday with all the truck revving and dying noises as well. Stupid UHaul truck needing a cold start when temps are above freezing...*sigh* Once again a thank you to

jimweasel for the storage space and for helping out on Saturday. And thanks and hugs to

cyranocyrano for lending a hand on Sunday and for the best moving related comment of the day. I swear when I unpacked the box labeled "bedroom costumes" yesterday I was chuckling the entire time.

I think that's everyone, if I've forgotten you it's not that I don't love you, rather that I'm a bit of an airhead right now. I won't really be back to normal until I've gotten mostly unpacked and settled. However, the consensus of opinion seems to be that the new place is a big hit, a lot roomier with actual air flow and natural light, not to mention a big patio and storage shed. I have new appliances in the kitchen, new light switches and plugs, new lights, new carpeting, new wood flooring, the works. I think I'll be happy here, which is good 'cause I'm not going to be able to afford to move again in the near future. My new goal is to have a stable address for 3+ years. Let's see if I can make it.

So I've found a place to live. I know, I know I should probably have looked around more and comparison shopped but fuck it, I've got a month to get out of my current place and I just don't want to be dicking around. And I really, really liked the place I saw last night. The manager was incredibly sweet, the people we said "Hi" to throughout the complex were friendly, the complex itself is gorgeous, the neighborhood's nice and the apartment is both larger and better laid out than my current one. Oh and get this, I will have a patio! With actual dirt I've been told I can plant anything I'd like in! I've also got a little storage shed on the patio that could hold up to about 4 bikes if I wanted, but will undoubtedly be stuffed full with boxes so I don't have to have any sitting out in my place.

This place also comes with two bedroom closets (one for clothes, one for costumes), a kitchen full of new appliances (including a dishwasher, woo!), a bigger and very nice bathroom, and a dining room with wood flooring. I didn't get one of the units with its own washer/dryer but the laundry room is close by, open 24 hours a day, works with cards rather than quarters (glory hallelujah!) and is full of new, clean, and numerous machines.

But the best part is not only does the complex have a heated pool and jacuzzi, but a fitness center too with, get this, a sauna!

The only down sides are, it's a) $300 more per month than my current place (which is exactly what I was expecting, still...ouch), b) requires that I deal with utility companies again, not to mention acquiring renter's insurance, and c) isn't officially available until Dec. 31. The manager's going to work with me on this and see if I can get in earlier. If I can be lugging boxes over the weekend before Xmas I'm going to be a very happy camper. So, again, keep your fingers crossed for me, and thanks to everyone who wished me good luck yesterday, it seems to have paid off :)

BTW, if anyone local has empty boxes please consider pinging

aelfsciene regarding them. I'm good on my current ones for now, and her need is far more immediate. Also I can borrow them from her when she completes her move so you'd be indirectly donating them to me too, which surely gives you bonus good karma points.

I had a great and thankfully productive holiday. Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to include me in their plans. It was nice to get to spend a little time just relaxing and not freaking out about the whole moving thing.

Speaking of which, here's the latest. I've taken a look at one apartment so far which was in a great location (one block from Castro St.) but was so tiny (I'd lose 100 sq. ft. of space) that I just couldn't consider it a serious contender. I've sent out scads of emails and left messages at every place that looked promising on Rent.com or Craigslist but so far the responses have been disheartening. At best I'm going to be paying $200-$400 more per month for slightly more space, and at worst, the same amount for slightly less space. *sigh*

Anyway I'd like to put in my 30 days notice at the current place when I turn in my rent check on Friday but I'm not going to feel good about doing that unless I have at least one real contender by then. So if folks could keep their fingers crossed I'd appreciate it.

Beyond that my cable went out for good Saturday night and has remained out, and of course I can't get a tech over until next Saturday so I'm currently screwed. Fortunately I have a bit of a backlog of videos to watch so it'll give me a chance to get caught up. Also without the lure of tv I should be able to focus more on getting stuff packed up and organized. So far I've made good progress, but there's still lots more to do. If anyone has any spare empty boxes they'd like to unload I should think 6-10 would do me nicely for now. I'm hoping once I have a place I can start bringing stuff over and re-use a few of them.