More Adventures with Movers

So I have kind of skipped over how special my moving company was in this post, but they just keep outdoing themselves. I emailed them a week ago asking for some claim forms because we have enough stuff that's damaged that we want to make some claims. Well of course they didn't send them. So I called today and asked again. This is the email response I got:

"All paperwork has been received and your claim has been sent to our claims depart. you should hear from them with in the next 3 days. Please do not throw any items away until you have been told to by your adjuster"

This is very peculiar to me because I have not submitted anything to this lady of their claims department. Amazing how they must have already known what it was they broke. This must be where they make all the money and wow their customers after terrible service. Words really fail me here.

DMV Happenings

This week I am became an official NY State resident. I went to the DMV and changed over my title, registration (aren't they one in the same?) and my license. Of course any trip to the DMV has it's tale and this is no different.

I filled out my paperwork online and had absolutely every piece of identification humanly possible and anything they could ask for including the bill of sale from my car. I have been to 3 different DMV's and I would like to think I have this routine down. Apparently not.

I arrived with my arsenal of identification and insurance and proof I am a resident in NY. Apparently I did not have the "right proof of insurance" for the sassy lady at the front desk who copped and attitude with me. I stormed away some what deflated and called my insurance company who immediately faxed the proper paper work and I went to stand in the "New License Line".

I stood there got my picture taken, got the faxed insurance paper work and then went to sit until my number was called. That's always fun. It's like winning Bingo when you are called. So I sat for 30 minutes and then I was called up. It took another 30 minutes to get all the paperwork straightened out. It took extra long because some Idiot in GA stole ID equipment from a DMV and so they had to call and verify I had an authentic Georgia license. Fabulous.

The rest of the process wasn't too bad, however at no point in there did they actually ask for my proof of residency. I think the two people I went to thought the other had checked it. Whatever, I had it on me in case they were suspicious. Being a former NY resident had it's plusses. They just looked up some of my old information and was almost on the "in club" then. They didn't bother with half my title paperwork proof of taxes and that mess because my car had already been registered there before.

Anyway, I now have my official piece of paper from NY State that says that they will mail me a real license in 7-10 days. Yipee! Hooray Official Resideny Status!!

Getting There

Well, we finally got our stuff delivered last week. That was an ordeal in and of itself which I do not have the energy to explain on this blog. It would seem like a long rant about how incompetent my movers were. Basically this is true. People weren't communicating to us at all and now as we unpack our boxes, we realize how amazingly stupid our packers were. Example - One of them actually packed the anit-freeze that was in the apartment. I think this qualifies as "chemicals" and on their "we don't pack that" list. Thankfully some toilet paper took the brunt the spill that occurred in route (drr), but still, wtf??

So as our adventures continue we are slowly uncovering which boxes contain what. Some even contain mysteries like the two boxes that were label microwave when we only had one. Turns out the toaster oven was in the other. Distant cousin of the microwave, but still, not a microwave. We think we have the majority of the boxes identified now. It's the last dozen or so that's making us say, and we would put that where? Some of it has to do with the fact that we moved into a smaller place. The other part of it is we weren't critical enough on the other end to get rid of more things. Thankfully, that problem seems to have resolved itself. We have another two boxes of junk that's on it's way out. I am sure half of the dozen or so boxes left are also going to get the axe.

We haven't had to use the AC since we moved in. The nights are cool and it actually rains here. It's trippy after being in Atlanta for so long. I like it. The cats are pretty well settled in now. It was touch and go with the empty apartment with them squirreling out on us. Family has stepped in to help when we were lacking a table to eat at or pots to cook with. So far that aspect of being home seems to be ok. We are going to go pick vegetables from my dad's garden some time soon. Nothing beats fresh veggies. My sister has supplied us with enough garlic to kill a flock of vampires. :P Yummy!

So, it's been a bumpy ride getting settled in, but I think it's going to be nice once it's official. Then we will be accepting guests. :)

Yay! We're Here!

Well mostly here anyway. The actual car drive here was not bad. The cats were drugged and happy or at least too buzzed to care at any rate. We unloaded the cars and even had help from family bringing up house plants and clothes for the next few days. They were also armed with an air mattress and a bottle of champagne to welcome us home. Hooray! We made it!

Fast forward a week and a half and you might think we are getting quite settled in and unpacking. Well that's where thinking gets you. Our stuff is still MIA. Our original window was the 3rd-13th of July for delivery. When we called last Wednesday (the 8th) to ask where our stuff was we found ourselves on the end of a very disturbing conversation. Well Rob did anyway, I was driving to NJ for a business trip. It went something like this:

Rob: Hi I am trying to get a status update on where our stuff is and when it will get here.
Mover Person 1: Oh, you want to talk to MOVER LADY, we only packed your stuff, they are coordinating the move.
Rob: Oh ok, thanks.

New phone call to MOVER LADY:
ROB: Hi mover people. So I was told stuff should show up between the 3rd and the 13th. Can you be any more specific now that it's the 8th?
MOVER LADY: Oh, do you have a destination for us yet?
ROB: [a bit confused]: Um, yes, we wrote it down on every piece of paper the movers asked us to sign. Also we've been telling you for weeks.
MOVER LADY: Oh, well, can you tell us again? I didn't know and it never occurred to me that I should actually ask you for that crucial piece of information. I somehow assumed you would anticipate my failure to talk to anyone else or to even make any attempts to "coordinate" this "move". I'm only the "Move Coordinator" after all.
ROB: Well that was a surprisingly frank yet oblivious admission of incompetence.
MOVER LADY: I try. Oh, and good news, your stuff is leaving Atlanta today!
ROB: It's been a week and a day since you loaded it on the truck
MOVER LADY: I *know*! Aren't we swift? It usually takes three to four weeks to make these shipments and you may be getting it as soon as two weeks after you left!!! I think it's the new feed they're giving the mules.
ROB: So we aren't getting our stuff in the 3rd-13th window then?
MOVER LADY: Goodness no. Since it's leaving Georgia today it will probably be another 4 to 10 days before it arrives.
ROB: So the original "last possible day" is now (roughly) our "earliest possible day"?
MOVER LADY: Yes. No. I don't know. I'm not so good at math.
ROB: Did you used to work for Comcast?

So needless to say, we have no idea where our stuff is. I called CARTUS, the super coordinator of all of this that hired MOVER LADY and company to express my frustration. Today I was supposed to be called by 4pm by the van line which did not happen so I called CARTUS back and they are doing whatever they do. At this point, I don't care when it gets here, well I do, but I just want to know what date to expect it. Right now it has been, "should be tomorrow", for a week and a half because no one told us what was going on. If I knew two weeks ago it wouldn't get here until 7/15, I would have been fine with that, but it's been like hanging a carrot in front of a mule. Just a little more....

We will have a party when our stuff gets here. Until then, here's to camp chairs, card tables, the laptop (aka entertainment center), and the air mattress.

Tell Me What I Can Help You With

One of my biggest frustrations with moving is all the time you spend on the phone. You need to call people to disconnect everything at your old place, call everyone to change your address, and then call more people set up all your service at your new place. I am sure you can do some of it online, but that's almost as bad. You need to set up online accounts which each place and remember all those passwords and navigate through the murky waters. It's just time consuming no matter how you do it.

Most of them go pretty quickly and I get to talk to a human and it takes about oh, less than 5 minutes per transaction. However, when I get the Decepticon (the autonomous computer system) on the other end of the phone, my blood pressure goes up at least 50 points and it's bound to take twice as long. The stupid Decepticon wants to show how smart it is because it can understand English so when you talk to it, it goes off to process what you say and then repeats everything back to you. Well, let me tell you I am not impressed. Maybe that's why the Decepticon hung up on me twice. Or maybe it's because of all the muttering/swearing I do when it doesn't understand what I want. I will never know. I hate those systems.

Here's a little trade secret though, just keep pushing zero at the first "tell me what I can help you with", it will claim it doesn't understand you until it finally gives up and you can go talk to a human. Now who's being deceptive? Mwuhahaha....

Kitties Visit the Vet

In getting ready for our move, I decided it would be a good idea to try and get some tranquillizers for my cats this time around. When I moved from DC, Dory meowed for 7 out of the 10 hour drive. It felt like I was killing the poor thing. I did everything I could to make them more calm to no avail. This time around we wanted to have some ammo. :)

They went to the vet today and Rob helped lug their fat butts in. They took them to be weighed and Dory came in at 14.8 pounds and Sparky came in a 21.9 pounds. The house sitting service was right, they are mountain lions!! We got a little one on one time with the vet to ask some questions about general cat problems we have been having or things we wanted to know.

Question one - how to get my kitties to loose some freaken weight. Turns out they need a prescription to get some high fiber food that should help them shed a pound or two. That would be nice! I have the magic piece of paper, so when this food runs out, it's diet time!

Question two - Sparky bites, why? Apparently he just wants to play. Lovely. We are supposed to ignore this and hopefully he will stop.

Question three - Dory bites her nails, why? The vet said, "That's weird. In vet school they can tell us what dogs do and why, but when we get to cats, they have little explanation for a lot of their behaviors." Awesome. :P

Question four - We are moving to a complex with berber carpeting, what do you suggest for them to not get caught on the carpet? She suggested something called Soft Paws. It's like fake nails for kitties. I want to get pink ones for Dory and blue ones for Sparky. :) It should also help them not scratch the furniture anymore.

Also, I was able to play with this cool tool they had laying about called the FURminator. At first I thought it was some vet tool to run through their fur and check for fleas, but turns out, it's just to brush your pet with. The idea is that the tool grabs all the loose hairs that other brushes leave behind and I can tell you this thing works! The demos on their website are pretty much accurate with how much fur comes out. I had a mound when the vet came back and I was like, "Ummm, where can I put this small new cat?" She raved about it and I know why. I want one!

Overall it was a very educational trip AND we got the kitty tranquillizers. :) As the vet put it, they won't knock the kitty out, but just take the edge off, like having a few glasses of wine. Sweet. :)

House Hunting

I spent this past weekend in lovely upstate NY house hunting. What an adventure! It's been over 10 years since I have lived in the Syracuse area and I have never had to look for an apartment while I was there (thanks Dad!). So this was a little weird for me. I knew the area, but never ever thought about rentals until now.

I set out with a list in hand and thought I had found some sure fire winners based on what I had seen on the web. Let me tell you, I was so dead wrong. I don't know who they are paying to doctor/edit their photos, but they must be shelling out some dough. These places looked nothing like what I saw online! I guess this goes to show you how important a house hunting trip really is. If I had gone by web only, we would have had a living room that's the size of our current dining room and a dining room the size of our kitchen even though this place boasted more square footage!

After a VERY disappointing start on Friday I was set to find some real steals on Saturday! I even had a few homes picked out that I felt like had to be winners. Sadly, this was not to be the case. The homes I had chosen (which btw, it's not easy finding homes to rent) were basically either in a ghetto or next to one (like 3 houses down). I was about ready to scream. Thankfully, I had an ace in the hole.

When my sister and I got out of the car at this complex, all we could hear was birds and the breeze. This place was actually built in the last 10 years instead of oh, say 30 years ago (with zero updates since). So hooray! It's not a town home like we wanted, BUT my kitties do get a balcony again and I know they will love that. It's 25 minutes from work and 20 from my sister and parents. So we are decently centrally located. That and we are in a safer and MUCH nicer place. It was a tiring search, but the hard work paid off!

Crazy June

Returning from vacation and getting back into the swing of things took just about all week. I think I relaxed so much on vacation it was especially hard to care about going back to work or doing homework. I think mentally, I was still out to lunch.

Despite my reluctance to do any work last week, I did make progress on the move. I talked to the real person at the relocation office that would authorize my travel and get things going (defined dates, details, etc). These are things that keep me sane. I don't like the - don't worry it will happen. I know it will happen, I want dates. I am a planner, I need to plan! And this conversation was holding up all other plans.

This month has a whirlwind of last minute adventures starting next weekend (well starting Thursday) with a house hunting trip. The following weekend Rob and I are going to Savannah. I will kick myself if I don't go before I move back north. The weekend after that is bound to be full of good bye parties, sorting for movers and general last minute mayhem. Then the last week they pack us up and I am on my way north! I start in my new location on July 6th.

Moving does bring on interesting resource management problems like trying to manage food consumption. We are planning all of our remaining meals to use up what is left in the freezer and in the pantry. We are also trying to finish as many liquid containers as possible before making the move because the movers won't take them. Cleaning windows 6 times is a good use of Windex right?

There are so many other details that go along with moving that I am sure I will be busy all month long. The nice part is that I am done with classes starting Monday for two weeks so I can focus on the move more than the homework for a little while. What I am really trying to say is that blog posts may be more sporadic over the next month until we are settled into the new home. :) Here's to chaos!

A New Place To Call Home... Sort Of

I was going to write a blog a few weeks ago entitled, "Indecision 2009" because of all the things that were in the air about my future. The good news is now some of those puzzle pieces have found their way of coming together. Funny how life works out.

This July I had intended on moving to another business unit and out of Georgia. Georgia's been an experience, but it's taking a toll on us and we are too far from everyone. My two requirements I had were 1 - to be north (preferably VA and up) and 2 - doing something other than Aeronautics. I started my efforts to secure a location back in December to seek out my options. I emailed people, talked to them, networked with other OLDP's, and researched a lot about the sites. While all well and good, it became a smattering of dead ends, incorrect information, and countless disappointing emails. Needless to say I was pretty frustrated and annoyed. After much search, I did however find a location that fit the only two requirements I had made for myself The only thing was it was not my first, second, or even third choice. Syracuse was wide open and eager to offer me any spot that was open (about 6) my choice. After much deliberation, I accepted the offer and I am set to start in mid-July.

For those that don't know, Syracuse is 15 minutes from my hometown. This is one of the reasons why it was not the first, second, or even third choice on my list. For one, parental proximity is at dangerous levels. There's close and there's too close. Especially with a wedding being planned. Speaking of which, we will also be slightly farther from the Outer Banks (about an hour) than we are now. I also wanted to be out and see the world and I felt like moving back home means I failed in some way.

But then I think about all the things I will be able to do and I forget about the negatives. Apple picking this fall in the orchard, going to see an SU football game, experiencing real fall weather, skiing, shoveling snow (I am sure that novelty will wear off soon), hanging out with my sister and eating all the yummy things from her kitchen, WEGMANS, being close to friends, going to alumni weekend at RIT, and much more.

When I stop and think about I think maybe fate had plans for me and anything else I tried was just not going to work. I think it will be a positive move in many ways and I am looking forward to it. So, I am homeward bound to Syracuse, NY this July for another chapter in my journey through this life.

Another Milestone

This is one of the larger recent milestones (to me) in unpacking the house. I have graduated from being on the floor/Tupperware bin to my desk. A real solid honest to goodness desk with a chair. I am very excited. I feel like a grown up.

Moved and Mostly, Kind of, Maybe Settled...

It's been one week since the move. There's been a LOT of change in that one week. We started with the "Box Forest", aka, the entire apartment. I don't think we could have fit anything else in this place. Since then, we have started to find homes for what we can get to. There is, of course, a large portion that hasn't been put away either because it's not staying here or we can't get to that box yet.

Many many many thanks to Rob's dad who happen to stay Sunday night due to some flight delays. He helped clear out the old apartments and place things in this one. I know we would have had a LOT more work to do without his help.

My bedroom furniture has finally been squared away. For a large part of the week, I had to shuffle around some things to get to the bathroom and closet. Fun! We found the dining room table and actually had a real dinner at it last night. It's still surrounded by a lot of boxes, but it's taking shape. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow we will find the living room! One can only hope.

We unpacked our pantry food today. We found out that between the two of us, we have copious amounts of pasta (among many other household objects). The good news, it all fit on the shelf we had designated as the "food area". A trip to IKEA today (can we say zoo?!) solved some storage on that shelf and below it. We made it appear a little more organized. Tricks of baskets and buckets. Shhh... :)

And let's not forget my fuzz faces. I was a little worried about moving them again. The last time I moved, it involved a 10 hour car ride for them and a lot of strange one or two night stays in different places. Thankfully they seem to settling in well. I am sure the rest of the place will follow in due time.

Why Do I Still Have This?

Next week I am moving in with Rob, so of course, that means amongst other things, packing. We have been spending some time going through obvious duplicates of stuff (anyone need a couch?) and trying to sell/get rid of them BEFORE moving.

I have a closet full of seasonal stuff that I barely open because, well, it's seasonal. I forgot that I also packed away boxes I knew I wouldn't open but wanted to keep. I have decided since I am moving in with another person, I shouldn't be a space hog. So I opened all those "wanted to keep boxes". Umm.. wow.

I have found lots of stuff. Sadly, only some of its what I would label "worth keeping" and now wonder what was I thinking when I packed it into the box to begin with. For instance, I found a meal ticket from a rifle competition I was in back in 1998. Seriously? I suppose at one time it meant something to me and until today, I haven't reevaluated it's sentimental value. I have shredded an entire trash bag worth of old records that mean absolutely nothing anymore. Bills from RIT? Yeah, they have been all condensed to monthly student loan payments.

I am not getting rid of everything . I am trying to keep what really means something to me, and letting go of graded papers from college and old parking passes for Anheuser-Busch. And now, back to packing.