Where's Dtrini?

To the uninformed, I am currently in moving hell. I love the adventure of a new home. I hate the journey getting there. I want to be able to just, Jeannie style, blink myself to the new locale. Unfortunately, reality being the bummer it is, we instead have to pack all our shit up and move it our damn selves.

This past weekend, my sister Gemini and a former co-worker and friend of mine helped DW with packing the kitchen. Let me tell you, the packing was neither pretty nor elegant nor organized, but in the blue collar vein, "Git 'er done", it was completed Friday night when we thought it would take two days for sure. DW just had some minor things and other items to deal with during the day on Saturday.

Our nephew Hammy also came out and gave us a hand on Friday and Saturday. We got some loose, non-boxed items and fragile essentials into TR for the first visit to the new homestead. TC and I obtained the garage door openers, the mailbox key and the house keys from the realtor agent earlier that evening. So, we transported the stereo cabinet and our precious main stereo components up and showed them the house. We made plans on what we wanted to move next and headed home for some rest before the big push the next day.

On Saturday, with little sleep, I got up and continued packing boxes in the basement. We were not getting the Uhaul rental truck (a whole separate post is coming on those assholes) until 5PM so Hammy, TC and I, plus my buddy AL would be running some initial transfers back and forth to the house with the unboxed, unboxable and sensitive/fragile items in the POS and TR. I think we made about three or four trips total doing that.

I had to stay at the house at 2PM to wait for Rogers to show up and install our new Home Phone (cause I hate them less than I do Bell Canada, but not much now) and the cable for TV and Internet. The Home Phone guy was there and working by about 2:30. He had to drill a hole for a line from the right side of the house into the basement so it took him a little time. The next guy had not shown up yet when the first guy was leaving just after four so I asked DW to call in. I was on call so I did not want to tie up the BB at the time since it does not receive email when the phone is operating.

We were told that the Rogers guy had until 5PM so what was the issue. The lady DW was speaking to told the dispatch that I was waiting there and that it was after four so we wanted to be sure he was coming. Five o'clock rolls around and no guy. He calls and either tells DW or leaves a message that he was running late and apologized but we were next. Six o'clock rolls by and there is a door bell. DW said the guy sounded West Indian but there was an Oriental technician at the door. There are West Indian Orientals, but none of them are stupid enough to work for Rogers so I knew this was not the guy. Turns out the first tech was still at the last stop so they sent someone else. This guy says, when he finds out the phone dude was here, that if it were him here earlier, he would have volunteered to pull the other work order and complete it all since he was already here (since all of them do everything anyhow). We both agreed that it was dependent on the tech that showed up.

He went off and connected everything and left me a very long connection in the basement as I had asked, plus an extra splitter and two short lines in the living room so that the stereo and TV could be connected. Unfortunately, the builder's were very shortsighted as they did not think to run phone and cable to every room in this day and age. The room we designated as office/hope-to-be-nursery has neither. So, for now, the Internet will have to be connected in the master bedroom until I can rectify that issue. So, with the entire afternoon in the tank, nothing to eat since morning, and a cold Blue (ugh) in my belly, I headed back home in the hopes of finding KFC still there and some helping hands. Thankfully, I found both.

BB and her fiancee plus Reddlion was waiting at home. I got in, quickly inhaled the last of the KFC chicken from the bucket and was ready for action. The truck was there and we just needed to form our plan, our chain gang and get it done. It took about two and a half hours to fill the 17ft truck with all the boxes we had in the living room, the Webber, two bikes, the bar fridge from the garage, the snowblower, a couple of IKEA shelf rails, one DVD shelving unit, some cushions and assorted other loose bits. We also threw some loose and fragile bits into the cars and headed out. Unloading, especially with a few more hands, was a bloody dream and took all of a half hour. Pizza arrived as we were doing this so it went even faster after that. Nearly had to thump the PizzaPizza dude though, as buddy sees us offloading and actually thought it okay to walk past us into the garage to enter the house. Uhm, er, how about NO?

Truck unpacked, kitchen almost finished set up thanks to DW and KJ's diligent work while we were packing the truck at the old house, pizza in the belly washed down with some beverages and we were one tired, but happy and satisfied clan. I was not felling great so I went upstairs to the living room and laid down on the cushions for a little while. Apparently, I was sawing some serious wood before DW woke me to say goodbye to our guests and helpers. It was 2:30AM and time to go old-home and leave new-home for the time being.

When we woke up yesterday, DW, TC and I were beaten and tired and felt dragged out. TC and I were talking when she corrected me by saying that we really only had three days left before the move. Holy Crap!!! The child was right as Sunday was a basic right off as we simply could not get much done and Thursday 9AM is when the moving dudes were showing up. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is all we gots left. Shite!!! So, I was going into work today to show my face but that is now scrapped in favour of working from home and trying to get some boxes packed so if DoubleD can come out and help me later, I will be ready to fill his vehicle. If he cannot, then the POS and TR will continue to run back and forth until we cannot move anymore. We will repeat this for three days, hopefully with Hammy's assistance on one day at least, to try and get as much of the stuff out before the movers come in. It makes it faster and easier for them and cheaper for us as a result; and that was our goal in the first place.

Well, that's it for now. I know I still have Cuba and Vegas things to post, not to mention a whack of other stuff like why Uhaul is a shitty company, why Rogers sucks ass and why Bell can bite my right one. I will get to all those posts in the new home. Before I finish this long post, I would like to express deep thanks and gratitude from my family to all those that helped us this weekend: BB, EdWood, Hammy, Gemini, Marshmallow, Reddlion, KJ and the boys, and AL. We appreciate all the time, effort and backbreaking you performed and endured to help make our move smoother, easier and cheaper. We hope to return the effort in kind one day soon.

Next post will probably be on Friday with a final word on the move itself and some pictures. I will try to post beforehand but I cannot make any promises as work and the move will be all encompassing. Unless, of course, I get bored at either and take a break in front of a working, connected computer. :)

Ciao.