Back from Vancouver. Usually, when I go on these sorts of trips, I'll have a day set aside just for travel, and I didn't in this case. Maybe this is the fallout from that. On the other hand, last week was two days visiting with a client, and no other work - Monday was travel, Tuesday and Wednesday were with the client, they couldn't fly me home on Wednesday night so Thursday was travel too, and Friday I took off for a pair of docs appointments (and more moving). Karmic payback, maybe?
I feel like I've been running myself a bit ragged lately. All my stuff has officially been moved out of my old apartment into my new condo, but I'm still not fully settled in. The current project, for instance, is assembling a chest of drawers that I picked up from Ikea in Portland on Tuesday, along with hanging a mirror at the same time. I tackled a bit of it yesterday, before my lovely assistant pointed out that the hammering involved in the project might disturb my neighbors, given the late hour. I'll pick up where I left off once I get home from work today.
A bigger issue is the continuing lack of curtains/blinds. I had hoped to be able to pick some up from Portland and install them, but apparently my windows are big enough to require special orders or something. I've got to have somebody come out to my place, measure, and install them themselves. What this means for the moment is that I need to make sure to avoid stripping down too much outside my bathroom. Cable finally gets hooked up on Saturday - maybe I'll see if I can get the blinds guy to visit around the same time.
In the meantime, I've been invited to take part in beta testing for an expansion to a MMORPG. On my way back from Vancouver yesterday, I stopped off at the office and started downloading the expansion. 16 hours later, it's reached 71%.
“Everything has been taken out of my old apartment I have turned the keys in. And now it's just a question of putting everything away in my new place. And maybe loose furniture and or ___ to round everything up. That's it talk to you guys later bye”
Yep, I'm going to be semi-incommunicado for a while, at least at home. Net and cable access got switched off at my old place sometime on Wednesday, and doesn't get switched on in my new place until a week from tomorrow. Until then, I bid you a fond hasta luego (although I will be able to post and read e-mail when I head back to work next week).
Made it safely back to Pennsylvania, although the landing in Dulles (for the stopover) was one of the roughest I can remember. It's quite remote out here, but nonetheless nice to be in the state of my origin. Tastykakes, sadly, don't seem to make it this far west, but I did see signs for a Friendly's. I also saw a woodchuck crossing the road (stapled to the chicken, probably), and a horse rolling around on the ground.
On the home front, thanks be to hollyqueen for helping me pack on Sunday, and kotyenohk, dreethal, and butterkittye for helping me move subsequently. My first night in my new condo went pretty decently, although I was once again struck by the need for some curtains/blinds. I've got some dimensions measured, I just need to head to Home Depot and pick out some styles.
A trickier problem is the fact that I can't simply transfer my cable service from my old place to my new one. Despite the fact that my new place is less than a mile from my old one - probably closer to half a mile, as the crow flies - my cable company doesn't have service in my new condo. I called them up on Monday morning to see if I could transfer, and when I couldn't, simply canceled my old service. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the cable company that *does* have service in my new place wouldn't be able to fit me in for an installation until the 23rd, so that's quite a bit of time without any cable to watch - or, more importantly, home internet access. I guess it's possible that they may have switched on the signal so that I can watch it on my cable-ready TV immediately, but I'll have no way of knowing until I get home on Thursday... at which point, I'll still probably be busy moving stuff from my old apartment.
“I'm now officially moved in, alright. Now the unpacking begins there are still few more things left in my old apartment but the ___ stuff is there. Alright”
Today was probably not quite as productive as I'd hoped it might, but nonetheless, Shtuff Got Done.
Let's start off with something that technically wasn't today, but is certainly a milestone: I made my first mortgage payment on Friday. I feel like one of those parents you hear about, who consider the first time their firstborn fills a diaper to be a momentous occasion. I'm sure I'll get sick of the whole process soon enough, but what the heck, it's worthy of note. It wasn't actually due until the first, but I figured that as long as I had the statement - and since Friday was payday - I may as well get it out of the way while I could.
Wren and I went to see The X-Files: I Want to Believe on Friday night. My assessment of the batch of trailers before the movie: "The Samuel L. Jackson Quotient started out high, but dropped off later." Her assessment of the movie itself: "Next time, we should watch porn." She managed to leave her cell phone at my place, and I hope to be able to return it to her tomorrow.
Today was spent goofing off. Well, at least the earlier part of the day was. I spent way too much time doing pretty much nothing. Later in the day, I managed to get a decent amount of packing done. I arranged a Zipcar for 5-8 - or so I thought! I biked down to the area, only to discover that my card wasn't working, and a couple came up shortly afterwards and drove away with it. I guess I didn't fully complete the reservation process. So I biked back to my apartment.
But it all turned out to be for the best, since right after I got back to my apartment, the sky opened up with a pretty significant rainstorm. It would have sucked to have to load the car in that weather. So I booked another zipcar for 8-11, and sat down to have dinner... during which time I made another pleasant discovery: classic Doctor Who is being shown on Seattle-area PBS. I recall that it was shown when I first moved to the area, back in 2004, but IIRC, the BBC revoked the rights to show the classic series back when the new series first came out - not sure exactly why, but it looks like they've reconsidered their position. In any event, I caught parts 1 & 2 of "The Androids of Tara" with dinner.
Then I loaded up the zipcar. I haven't got everything moved, but things are still proceeding apace. Tomorrow's going to be the biggest challenge. I've got a U-haul truck arranged, and I'll be moving the stuff that'd be too big to move with more conventional transport - mattress, box spring, sofa, bookshelf, and 2 chairs in particular, although time permitting, we'll probably also handle the TV and some framed paintings/posters. I say time permitting because they didn't have any trucks available until 3 PM, and my apartment building is only giving us 2 hours with the elevator and garage door at our disposal. Still, I think we can do it.
Aug. 9th, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
Yeah, it's been about a week since I picked up the keys for my condominium. Not a lot to say about it beyond that, although they're still doing some final renovations even now (hooking up the power outlet for the microwave that slipped through the cracks the first time through). Nothing much to say about it, just wanted an excuse to use the title.
In other news, my flight to Atlanta has been cancelled. For once, I'm pretty sanguine about it, mainly because I hate flying to Atlanta (you usually wind up going via Delta, one of my least favorite airlines), and because I have no plans for the day tomorrow. Don't worry, Wren, I'll definitely make it back in time for Gordon Biersch, even though I may wind up spenidng the night out here in Lexington. Here's hoping the replacement flight they book me on will be via Northwest or Continental, my two favorite airlines.
Moving is still on for Sunday, although it looks like it'll be happening later in the day rather than 10 AM. More news as it develops.
Here's my upcoming IMNAT schedule:
August 11-14: Altoona, PA (first time going to PA for business reasons, rather than personal)
August 18-20: Vancouver, WA (this trip could not come at a better time - I'll likely be driving down, and I'll probably need a few extra things (like a chest of drawers) for my new apartment. This will give me a great opportunity to sneak across the border and make sales-tax free runs to places like Costco, IKEA, and Home Depot, and drive the spoils back. Yar)
August 27-29: Auburn, CA
September 2-5: Englewood, CO
September 8-10: Jasper, TN
September 23-26: Redmond, OR
Looks a little thin at first blush, but I'm pretty sure things will fill out a bit more before October.
Aug. 7th, 2008 @ 01:38 pm
I have arranged a U-haul truck for Sunday, during which time I should be able to get the last vestiges of my possessions out of my apartment and into my condo. I've moved a bunch of stuff already, but I still have some larger stuff that I'll need at least a second pair of hands for (mattress and box spring, couch, easy chair and desk chair), along with my books, DVDs, crockery, and clothes that I haven't already moved.
That second pair of hands, however, is where YOU come in. Show up at my place on Sunday to help me move - a very short distance and a comparatively small amount of stuff - and I shall feed you delicious italian food. Okay, I can't yet be sure it's delicious, but there's a pizza place just down the block from my new place that I've been dying to try out, and I can't think of a better reason than to reward those who help me move. Details forthcoming - just reply to this post, and when I've nailed down a time, I'll let you know, but it's likely to be between 10 AM and 6 PM (probably ending quite a bit earlier).
Why is jet-lag kicking my ass so much more severely on this trip? Hopefully, it has to do with the fact that my flight out on Monday left SeaTac at 12:30 PM rather than the usual Stupid o'clock AM, rather than Richmond, KY's status as the largest repository of WWI-era nerve gas in the Eastern US. Whichever, I've got another day and a half here. Can't wait to get home and move some more stuff.
Aug. 6th, 2008 @ 04:31 am
"Now it's just pathos. See, you're dying in my lap, and I'm all like 'Scott! Scott, don't you quit on us! Don't you dare!'" "You just made your unavoidable death more pathetic."
In other news, that's quite enough apartment/condo moving for one weekend. I'm sure my body is going to kill me when I wake up tomorrow, but progress is being made.
Aug. 2nd, 2008 @ 09:20 pm
Closing went off without a hitch - I've been asked if I'm now a proud homeowner, but really, all I can say is that I'm a proud document signer. Closing was originally scheduled for Friday, but I agreed to delay things until Tuesday since my travel schedule made it tough for me to receive what I needed to sign, sign it, notarize it, and FedEx it back on time. But the escrow agent was willing to come in on a weekend and let me sign things then.
What this means is that the keys won't be available for me to pick up until Tuesday - during which time, I'll be in Tennessee. So the first day I'll be able to pick them up will actually be Thursday.
I had originally planned on starting the move-in process yesterday, but wound up just shopping for a few extra things I'll be needing. The biggest thing, I think, will be blinds. Floor-to-ceiling windows on both the front and back walls. But I picked up some rugs and floor protectors - I may also be needing a desk and bureau, but those can wait for the moment.
Spent yesterday at a b-day party for jedifreeman, and then came home and disassembled my bed. Sadly, I broke my reading lamp doing it, but oh well. Some superglue may just fix it, but we'll see.
A few of you have been asking for pics of my condo, so I direct you here, the entry I posted back when I first made the offer on the place.
Jul. 27th, 2008 @ 09:26 pm
I have officially wired the down payment on the condo to the escrow company. Signing will happen on Saturday. I gave notice of leaving the apartment a tad too late, so I'll wind up having more than a month of overlap when I've got both my new condo and my old apartment. Moving is going to be a month-long process (so those of you that have read or are readingStill Life with Woodpecker - or who just want to show up for some yummy wine, snacks and fun conversation - are still invited to my old place rather than my new one).
I've been seeing a lot of Idaho in the past few months: Coeur d'Alene good, Twin Falls bad, Idaho Falls medium, generally.
Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 06:25 pm
The Post Falls, ID Albertsons does not have high-quality sushi.
In other news, I've got a decision to make: see The Dark Knight tonight at midnight, or tomorrow at a more reasonable hour. If I didn't have work tomorrow, I'd be totally down for a midnight showing. On the other hand, I have no idea if I'll have any database work to tackle after tomorrow's meeting with my client. I suppose I'll take the risk and wait until tomorrow.
Jul. 17th, 2008 @ 01:08 pm
My copy of yahoo instant messenger appears to be misbehaving. It informs people that I'm online when I am, in fact, not. It also sometimes simply refuses to send me messages that I should be receiving in a prompt manner.
So, for all of you that send me messages, don't feel bad if I don't respond. It's probably just the cybergremlins screwing around with us.
Jul. 17th, 2008 @ 08:45 am
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ianmcin's journal
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
