endeavors

Monday, May 31, 2004

Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will.
AKA, a day in the life of me.

Wednesday was moving day. We were going from $890/month to $620. We were going from 1060 sq.ft. to 720. But we still have a dishwasher, washer/dryer, and microwave. The fact that all of these appliances were made in the late '80s is beside the point.

Wednesday morning Paul and I packed our cars full of clothes and went out to breakfast. Well, to be more specific, we packed our cars full of my clothes. Then we drove the half-mile up the road to our new residence to sign the lease. And so begins the day. They forgot to take the $250 off our second month, and they forgot to add the gym membership. Once that was all squared away, we went to find our one assigned covered parking space. #704. Except that it wasn't really covered. The tin that made up the roof sort of stopped at #703. Oh there was still the skeleton of the cover; just a big open space where we were. A quick trip back to the office and we were reassigned a space that was actually covered. We unloaded the cars and hung up our clothes in our walk-in closet. Also our only closet. At the old place, we had a walk-in, a coat closet, a pantry, a towel closet, a guest closet, and tons of cabinet space in the kitchen. We then went to Big O Tires so Paul could get an oil change and tires rotated. They closed at 7, but since the movers were scheduled to come between 1 and 3, we had plenty of time. We went back to our old place to fill up the cars again. When we got to the new place, the rack that held Paul's clothes had broken. We'd been here for two hours and we've already had to call maintenance. Great. But, it gets fixed and we move on.

Around 1:15 I start to get hungry, so we hit Wendy's for lunch. And we wait. The movers were supposed to call an hour before they came, so at the latest I was expecting to hear from them by 2. 3:15 rolled around and still no call. I call them. A man answers and tells me he'll call me right back. Then a girl calls and I again explain my concern. She tells me she'll call back. I finally get a call around 3:45 saying the guys got stuck on their previous move but will be there as soon as they can. They show at 20 till 5. Whatever. Paul and I could only take the one day off work, and we still had a ton of cleaning and little things to do. At 6:15 they were still at the old apartment and we had to pick up Paul's car. He didn't want to leave the movers alone with all of our stuff, but we really didn't have any other option at this point. I called the moving company to see if they were willing to give me a discount seeing as how they wrecked our whole day. They were not. We picked up his car and I took off back to supervise. Paul pulled in 15 minutes later with a very angry look on his face. When he was on the highway, his back right tire lifted off the road. As soon as he slowed down it was fine, but that meant he would have to go back to Big O the next day to get that fixed. I forget what the problem was, exactly, but it cost over $550.

Oh, my favorite part was the second the movers walked in they asked for water. Sure, no problem. Let me just unpack my box of kitchen stuff for you. That didn't bother me too much, though, we do live in Phoenix. Saying no to a water request is cruel and unusual punishment. But 10 minutes later they're bumming smokes from Paul. BRING YOUR OWN DAMN CIGS!! Then one guy notices a coffee maker we were giving away. "What's the chance of you brewing a pot of coffee for us?" Um, slim to none. All of the filters, coffee, and mugs were packed. I couldn't believe his audacity. They finally finish at 8:20. Super. I just have to get up at 5:45 the next morning and I'm pooped. We go to the grocery store for milk and cereal, and unpack and organize stuff until 11, then I pass out.

The next morning...
I'm all ready for work and then I realize I left an important thing back at the old apartment. Shoes. We have a dress code and dirty old tennis shoes are not on the list. I have to drive back to the old place, get shoes, and go to work.

Today...
We finally have everything out of the old apartment. We turned in our keys around noon. We spent the weekend cleaning and taking car loads of JUNK from one place to the other. We were able to attend a cook-out yesterday, which was a lot of fun. But we now have a tiny apartment packed with so much stuff, and no place to put it all. We made a closet out of the under side of our bed. I decide to do my first load of laundry here. Very exciting. I put the load in, watch it fill, and walk away. I put things away in the kitchen for a while, then come across something that belongs above the washer/dryer. I turn the corner and there is standing water everywhere. We soak all of our towels, and that is nowhere near enough to get all of this. We call emergency maintenance, and they come over. It seems that when the tile guys moved the washer, they forgot to put the drain back in the wall. So the entire contents of the washing machine dumped out onto our floor. The maintenance guy sucks up 5 gallons until his shopvac poops out. We continue mopping up the remainder. I called my folks to update them, and my mom informs me they will probably have to replace all of that. The pad under the carpet will never fully dry and will get all moldy and mildewy.

Nice.

And we haven't even been here for a full week.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Since pretty much the beginning of the year I've been working 6-day weeks. There have only been a few Saturday's I've been able to fully enjoy. This weekend was no exception--had to be up at 6am that morning. However, I made up for it today. I never got out of my pajamas, which were mismatched. I threw a pork loin in the crock pot in the morning so I wouldn't have to do anything serious for dinner; mac and cheese for lunch. I watched the last four episodes of Buffy season 5 in preparation for the release of season 6 on Tuesday. I didn't do a damn thing today. And Paul wasn't any better. He switched from playing MLB on the Playstation, to watching Reds highlights on ESPN, back to MLB. He only took a break for dinner when we watched Matchstick Men. A damn good movie, by the way. And now I'm going back to the place I've spent 95% of my day. The Bed.

All in all, it was a nice Sunday.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

If you liked the original Star Wars (Episodes IV, V, and VI) but did not like the new ones, then you must read this. You will like it.

Monday, May 10, 2004

Well, I've been slacking this week. My dad is recovering wonderfully!! There were some complications during and immediately after the surgery, which was scary, but five and a half days after we took him to the hospital, he walked out. He was only in the ICU for two days. It's absolutely amazing. I just want to thank everybody for all of your supportive emails, thoughts, and prayers. And thank you to those of you back in Ohio who are helping my folks out. For the dinners and the mowed lawns. I am so incredibly thankful for you all.