Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

I finally broke down and went to get some whole bean coffee from the local grocery store down here just now. Cola and/or napping in the middle of the afternoon wasn’t cutting it, and I wanted the ritual of being up and getting some coffee on the weekends.

Managed to get a good chunk of my clothes out of boxes and into either the closet or the chest of drawers last night, after I put the couch together and got the mattress out of the bedroom (where it was blocking the closet). It was really nice to get the couch together so I had somewhere to sprawl out upon, other than the bed. Also consolidated the boxes of books to one location (all dozen of them) so I had some floor space in which to put the couch. I need to dump empty boxes soon to clear up more space. As boxes have emptied and space has become available it’s been easier to get a feel for the flow of the apartment, even while it’s still in flux.

I am officially annoyed with Presta valves. I can’t seem to get my front tire on the tri bike inflated to save my life, which killed taking a ride this morning, until such time as the bike shop opens and I can figure out where I’m going wrong on the inflation thing. User error, but not sure where the error lies.

I’ve yet to use it on aught but the bathroom floor, but I picked up one of those “swiffer” things to get all the dust and tree sperm off the floor. While wandering around barefoot on Friday I noticed that my feet quickly turned black from all the residual dust. I wish I’d had a chance to clean the place now (hindsight, 20/20, all that) before I moved in, or at least have run a damp mop over the floors to get the dust up. Ah well, working at it bit by bit now.

But having the stuff mostly together in the bedroom has been wonderful. To have one space where I can stop, not be looking at five gazillion boxes in various states of repair and fullness, and just relax, has been invaluable for my mental health. The gorgeous weather we’ve had, which has allowed me to have the doors wide open, has also helped. I say doors because the way this apartment works, the “windows” in the living room are floor to ceiling glass which open onto the screened-in balcony, one of which slides behind the other to open up the room. The windows in the bedroom don’t open at all, but there is a door to the balcony which opens up into the bedroom to allow air in. Has been fun running from the bedroom to the living room via the balcony. I’m sure that’ll stop once it heats up outside, but it’s nice now, and lends to the feeling of openness of the apartment.

Packages seem to be a hit and miss thing. Got my blender and my TV just fine, but haven’t been able to get the toaster out of hock yet. It’s here according to Amazon, but they’ve not given me a package notice on it yet, and the guard couldn’t find it because “there are a lot of packages back there” in the office. Oy. I’m sure it’ll turn up Monday when the regular office folks are back in. Good thing it wasn’t something important like coffee making equipment.

I’ll get some pictures up once I dig out the camera and clear some more floor space.

Yay for neighbors with unprotected wifi networks. I didn’t expect to be back online until tomorrow afternoon after the cable folks showed up.

And yay, yay, triple yay for hiring movers this time around. It came in, with tip, to just under what I’d budgeted for it, and it was worth every freakin’ penny. I did get shooed out of the way when I was trying too hard to be helpful, and I’ve never been called “sir” so much in one morning (outside of a B&D scene), but as I said, every freakin’ penny.

And so far, since they’ve been gone, the only thing I’ve done is find the wifi network and set up my desk. Because honestly, right now I just don’t feel like doing much more than sitting in my chair and enjoying the afternoon sun.

Looking at the boxes spread out all over the living room, I’ve very glad I culled stuff over the past week, and the past year. I can’t imagine having to go through all that stuff again to find homes for it. As it is I still have to go pick it up and dispose of it this weekend, but I don’t have to find a place for it in my life, or my home, and I’m grateful for that.

Tax forms printed and in the mail, 95% of everything I own packed away, all that remains is to head to bed, get up tomorrow and get ready, greet the movers, pack the remaining 5%, and get over to the new place.

You know, packing is fucking depressing.

I think the height (depth?) of that was removing the magnets and comics from the refrigerator. Going through all of these memories, quickly, and having to quickly sort them into ‘want,’ ‘don’t want’ and ‘deal with later at a more leisurely pace’ is really draining. Thankfully most things sort easily into the first two categories with only a few items (old letters, mainly) falling into the third. I used to write multi-page letters to people via snail mail and I have a lot of that correspondence from the early 90s still, and I’m reluctant to part with it as yet. But it does bring back a lot of looking back, both good and bad, on that period in my life. Harder yet has been having Richard shred years upon years worth of financial records, many of which sat in envelopes, unopened, in storage. And I had deluded myself into thinking I don’t suffer from depression. Ha! Those unopened envelopes put the truth to that lie pretty quickly.

Part of the financial mess I got myself into back in the late 90s, after grad school and both while I was living with The Ex and after, was that I just didn’t want to face that I was in so much debt. It took years to get out of that, and finally smacking myself and organizing my finances in such a way that I had a system I could follow (and follow to this day) to pay all my bills on time and not accumulate more debt than I could handle. I’m proud of having gotten out of that, but not so much about having gotten into it in the first place. Thankfully I picked a profession and a career path that’s allowed me to make meaningful progress on my debts and do things like buy this apartment.

Took today off to do more packing. I’m going to need more boxes, but I’m not sure how many at this point. I think I may be at the point where I’m just going to have the movers pack what else is ready. Shouldn’t be a problem, especially seeing as how the bulk of my stuff is packed. I’ll continue to sort my stuff so they only need pack the things I’m taking with me, and I’m glad we packed so much this weekend, but I think I’m tapped out for this mess now.

The house is a mess.

As planned, I packed the majority of my belongings yesterday. The kitchen is 90% done (silverware and utensils remain outstanding), most all of the books are packed, I’ve accumulated a large pile of things to be donated, and I’m feeling a tad bit less overwhelmed than when I started this yesterday.

Headed out to shop today, need to pick up a few things to have on hand once I’m moved on Thursday or shortly thereafter (e.g., mattress). Also want to pop by the new place and pick up any packages that’ve already arrived. Have to arrange time for laundry before the movers get here, too. So much to do…

I recently upped the amount of protein I’m taking in, in order to help with my training. Picked up some Spiru-Tein soy protein powder and have been having a shake in the morning with breakfast. I do notice that I’m not as hungry mid-morning as I usually am (the joys of the lessened appetite effect that comes from eating more protein), but that’s about it thus far. The only other effect was to notice that I don’t currently own a blender (I’ve been using Richard’s), so I had to order one, as well as a toaster, to be delivered to the new place. Hopefully they’ll be there before next week’s move-in date.

Okay, time for my Pet Peeve of the Day™: If the urinal has a foot pedal for flushing it, men, you have no excuse not to push the thing down and flush the urinal once you’re done. You’re not touching the handle with your bare hand, you’re stomping it with a covered foot; there’s little to no chance you’d pick up any extra germs that way. So don’t be lazy and remember to flush. ‘kthnxbye.

I think I may have to go back and see my physical therapist and/or a coach about my running. The sore calf keeps intermittently coming back, and it’s starting to get me worried about my race in June. If I can’t run more than a 1/2 hour at a time without pain, it’s kinda hard to imagine doing a 1/2 marathon at the end of the tri without injuring myself pretty badly. So the PT gets called today to set up an appointment, I think.

I feel today like I’m back in 2nd grade. That was the year we discovered that the mysterious headaches I was getting, severe enough that I went home several days that spring, were seasonal allergies. I suspect today that it’s a combo of the newly horny plants and the lovely storm front that’s been passing over all day, but right now I just want to take something that’ll knock me out and let me sleep this off. I know it’s not a migraine, I blessedly do not get those, but man does this hurt.

I wonder if any of it is fighting off Richard’s current cold, too. Or stress from the move. Or all of the above.

Speaking of other pains, the movers have been arranged. I went with Tod & Doug’s folks over Starving Students (both were recommended to me) mainly because with Metropolitan I was talking to the local guy, not a national number, and he was much, much friendlier. Not to say that SS wasn’t friendly, but they were damned pushy when I was making it clear (I thought) that I was merely calling for a quote. I’ve already gotten 2 calls and an email from them (and called to ‘cancel’ the move I hadn’t yet signed up for). No thanks, don’t need the hard sell, guys.

So that’s set for the 13th. Also arranged to reserve the elevators, etc.

In shopping for trash cans I’m now thinking an 8 gallon or smaller trash can for the kitchen will be plenty. I’m reltively close to the trash chute and stuff doesn’t need to sit in my apartment for that long. Plus the kitchen’s not as large as I’m used to currently, so smaller would be better from that dimension, too. Still want it to be pretty (duh), but don’t think I need large unless it’s difficult to find medium bags at the local grocery store.

Have my first co-op meeting this evening, voting on officers for the “members’ council,” something separate and apart from the board, evidently. We’ll see how that goes, but if what I’m hearing from folks is any indication it promises to be fairly painful entertaining.

And one last pain, this one in the nipples, for the usual reasons. Not quite to the level of the bruised ribs I had from the tickling scene I did back in 1999, but riding the bus this morning was still a chance to be reminded that they’d been worked over pretty well the previous evening.

Well, it’s now official: I have far too many keys on my keyring.

Closing went off without a hitch, paperwork’s all signed and happy, and I’ve got the keys on my keyring. Mortgage payments, here we come. But until then, it’s nap time.

Anyone for Titan bar HH tonight?

Decided to go ahead and go with the cable modem, so that’s set for installation on the 14th, the day after the movers come. Also decided that I’ve become far too spoiled by having TiVo service at home, and since TiVo has extended their lifetime subscription option until April 15th, 2006, it makes sense to get a unit now and pay the one-time fee, even if I’m not planning to get cable TV immediately. The decider there was that cable modem service sans TV service was the same as cable modem service plus the TV service, so why not go ahead and do that. Now I just have to figure out which TiVO box to get.

(and yes, I know, series III this summer, HD, prettier picture, blah, blah, whatever. I just want something to record shows and be easy to use and TiVo is it for that)

Will be sending out the “help!” posting about details on next Saturday the 8th soon.

The sure cure to panic over things like, say, moving, for me at least, is to sit down and make a list. Started that today, writing down those items I’m thinking about buying for the new place (TV, shelving, etc.), putting a cost (item cost, shipping, tax…) to them, and where I’ve found something, the name and vendor. It does help make the whole thing more manageable and not quite so overwhelming. I’m lucky in that the seller’s credit I’m getting at closing will leave me with more cash than I was expecting to have, so I’ll be in a position to pick up a couple of things sooner rather than later (TV…), which should make the home a tad more comfortable.

Overall the image of the place is coming together in my head. The acid test, of course, will be getting the existing furniture in there so I can see what will and will not work, but I’m liking the concepts I’ve got floating around. The one big thing I’m doing that’s different from previous apartments is that my “office space” is not going into the bedroom, it’s going to be out in the living room. I want the bedroom to be just that, a bedroom, and not to spend all of my time sitting in there at the computer. To keep with that, I’m looking at flat TVs that can be an “all-in-one” solution, meaning it can be TV, computer monitor, and (eventually) gaming console monitor. Any thoughts on that are welcome as I do my research (and yes, I’m pretty much set in getting one device rather than at least two).

Heading out to Tysons this weekend to do some in-person shopping at West Elm to get a feel for a couple of their pieces. I’m very much the “I want to see it and touch it and make sure it looks in person like it does on the web site/in the catalog” kind of shopper, when that option is available. Also have to pick out/up a mattress. After the closing Friday I’m going to try and sit down with the desk folks at the building and chat about package delivery and how that works, but that’s not an immediate need, and could be done over the phone if needed.