Since we have such a long overlap on our two leases, we decided to move as much of our stuff as possible ourselves rather than paying the moving guys. (Even with that, the moving estimate is $2500). Might have been a mistake. 🙂

We took a load of ‘stuff’ down Monday morning to the new place; it’s almost exactly 2 hours one way. We picked up the keys (key codes actually, there aren’t any physical keys). Did a walk-through. Made note of stuff that needs to be addressed (nothing too major). Meaning SHE did the walk-through while I unloaded the truck and her car. Mostly we brought down boxes of books and movies just to get them out of the way, but they were also heavy as heck. We brought almost no furniture.

We wildly underestimated how bad the lack of seating was going to impact us. We had a camp chair and a stool. We took turns with the chair trying to get rested. The floors are vinyl with no carpet so just crashing on the floor was out of the question.

Mattress was supposed to be delivered Monday afternoon but didn’t show so we had to sleep on an inflatable mattress which was NOT designed for two people as round as we are. It was just laying on the floor (no frame) and you should’ve seen us trying to get up between it being so low and so ‘squishy’ and us both being super-stiff from hauling stuff. And my gout was flaring up big time to make matters worse.

We had no internet and the wireless signal was terrible so I had to… *gasp* read something. She forgot her purse at home so had no driver’s license with her, no credit cards. And we brought no food so I had to go do some shopping, which was the first time I’ve been in a grocery store in years. Had Jersey Mike’s Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner.

But yeah, not a great night’s sleep. My gout was screaming at me and every time one of us moved we basically bounced the other off the mattress.

I unpacked books so we could bring the empty boxes back and re-fill them, but had nowhere to put them so they’re just stacked up everywhere, no doubt in the way of later trips.

Today was better. Internet guy came and we discovered that the place is wired for ethernet but he could only enable 2 ports since the modem he installed only had 2 jacks. I’ll have to do some research on how to set these up since it’d be easy enough to add a switch and wire up more rooms if we need them, but at least both our offices have a wired Ethernet connection. Otherwise he have a couple of “Plume” WiFi hubs, one on each floor.

While that was happening the mattress showed up. Dude basically dropped it in the street and left and I had to hump it up the stairs which just about ended me. All over the box were warnings of it being heavy and a 2-person item for moving. Reminder that I am 1) in terrible shape and 2) a senior citizen. I am not made for carrying mattresses alone. I ended up standing it on one end (it was one of these foam mattresses that comes tightly rolled up) and just lifting it up the stairs, one by one, like it was a telephone pole or something. Caber tossing? Then I slid it along the floor once it was on the 2nd story.

We didn’t bring anything to sit on but we did bring the fake Christmas tree which she set up while we were waiting for the Internet guy. It looks tiny (see image at the top of the post). In our current place the star almost brushes the ceiling.

In spite of all this bitching, the place should be pretty nice once we’re settled in. Or at least compared to our current “built in the 1980s and never really upgraded” place. We have high ceilings, ceiling fans, 2 zones for A/C, as mentioned the place is wired for internet. There’s a hose and electric hookup outside in both the front and back. The kitchen is pretty nice with an induction stovetop, a built in microwave, a fridge with an ice maker, and a nice sized island with power outlets and what SEEMS to be actual granite. The toilets are modern and don’t use 5 gallons per flush and when you flush them they work. Our current place the toilets are generally 2-flush systems or they get clogged. Hoping this means our water bill will be lower.

The area seems pretty nice, too. People seemed friendly enough although when I was in Jersey Mike’s, out of about 7 people waiting in line 2 (neither of them obvious officals or police or anything) were wearing sidearms which was a little alarming for me, but no one else gave them a second glance.

The only real downside to the apartment itself is the complex is pretty compact. We have a tiny patio outide in the back but it’s maybe…75 feet to the patio behind the next row of buildings. And in the front the windows are RIGHT on the sidewalk and then there’s a narrow street and then the front windows of the next row over. But we don’t spend much time outside anyway.

But crikey am I beat. I am TOO OLD for this stuff! Plan is to go down again Friday with another load, and come back Saturday, giving us Sunday as a recuperation day before going back to work. Pro movers come on Dec 11th so once that happens we’ll for real move down there. Hopefully the next trip will be better. We’ll have Internet, we’ll bring some furniture to sit on, we’ll have a bed.

And most importantly there is now beer waiting in the fridge…