Weekends Rock

For the first time in over a month, I am enjoying a weekend in my own house sitting on my furniture. I think this pretty much rocks my socks off. It's so quiet here at our new place that I can hear birds chirping and the wind blowing in the trees. Of course we also get the occasional wrong car coming down to the dead end, but that's nothing.

We finally got our dining room table cleared off (another table was on top of it) and ate at it last night. That was fantastic to have some where other than the coffee table to put glasses and plates. While functional, it still had that unsettledness to it. We have 95% of the boxes sorted through so they are dwindling in their numbers as well. The next phase will be putting up the pictures. As we have discovered, we have a LOT of them. But they are the finishing touches that make a house a home.

We even made it to the theater yesterday to watch the latest Harry Potter movie. Most excellent. I have really enjoyed the way to movies take life on the screen. This one was probably the most changed of the books, however, due to it's sheer size I am sure it was a necessity. I still approve which is weird because I am one of those that won't watch movies if I have read the book, but in this case it doesn't bother me. I think it's because it was so in your face, can't ignore it kind of a deal. Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is I enjoyed the movie.

In any event, I am going to continue enjoying my weekend. I recommend you all do the same. :)

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. :)

My Going Away Present

This is one of the cooler photos that I have had taken of me. Enjoy!

From

If you click on it you get a bigger version. I had to post a smaller version because the large one fits funny on the screen.

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.

Celebrity Death Match

There have been a lot of celebrities that has passed this week. First it was Ed McMahan, which hey, that's sad, but he was older and it wasn't that unexpected. Then Farrah passed on which we all knew was coming, but still, we mourn. Of course about 12 hours later Michael Jackson decided he wanted to join the big party in the sky and so he went to. That was probably the most shocking of all the people who passed on this week. Sure he was weird, but he didn't have any kind of publicized health problems he was battling with (aside from plastic poisoning) and he was only 50. Plus, he was the King of Pop so that's always an immortality booster there.

But the last straw came today with the passing of Billy Mays. :( You may remember my post a while back about how he was my hero. That man could sell you anything. He could have sold you rodent repellent that equated to stinky socks that we left in a black bag, baked to perfection in a trunk of a car in 100 degree heat for a month and you would have thought you were getting a fantastic deal. I think I speak for all of us when I say, there will never be another Billy Mays.

With all of these deaths, it kind of makes you wonder if the world is finally throwing down the gauntlet on the apocalypse. Here's hoping that's not the case, but just a weird series of events. I have a lot more living left to do and no where in my plans is there an apocalypse to live through.

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....

Raptor Fu Fu Strikes Again

Since both myself and the VP who dubbed me Raptor Fu Fu are both leaving, I thought it would be appropriate to give him a going away present to remember all the Fu Fu by. Left over Halloween sequins, beads, and feathers plus tweezers and super glue made it all possible. It was appreciated and greeted with a hearty laugh from the VP and the entire room full of people that he opened it in front of. :)


Teaser - I have pictures and stories from Savannah as well, but probably won't be uploaded for a while. It was a good trip though!