That whole "moving" thing...
Okay, so, yes. As I mentioned, I'm officially moved into the new apartment, and everything seems to be going well so far. I'm mostly unpacked at this point, and I've only found a few things so far that I really need to buy and/or try to find out if 
kate_aldasse and/or
pocketmouse ended up accidentally taking to their place.
It was... a very long weekend to move. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but Mouse ended up having to work all weekend so it was up to me and Katie to get everything moved into the two new apartments. The weather, taking pity on us, decided to cooperate fully. And by "cooperate fully," I mean that it rained nonstop all day Saturday and Sunday. Except for the three or four hours where it was snowing. Before turning back into rain.
... yeah.
The fun started earlier in the week. I spoke to the Verizon rep at the apartment complex I was moving into on Monday, and he promised me that it wouldn't be a problem to have someone stop by to get my internet/phone/tv up and running on Saturday. He told me to expect an e-mail scheduling an appointment time for them to show up.
Cut to the next day. I got an e-mail, all right. Except the scheduled time? Was 11am-2pm Monday. Several days after I was supposed to be moved in and in the middle of a work day. I immediately called him and asked "wtf?"
It was fairly late in the day on Tuesday when I called, so I wasn't surprised to not hear back from him that evening. So I called him again during my lunch break on Wednesday to ask "wtf?" He answered that time, acted shocked and appalled that they'd scheduled the wrong time, and told me that he'd call back after I got off work that evening.
I got off work. No call. So I called him. No answer. I left a voicemail. Cut to the next morning. Still no call. I tried again and left another voicemail. Cut to lunchtime. No call. I called him back. No answer. I left another voicemail. Shockingly enough, still nothing from him. I called again that evening, after I got off worked. I left another voicemail.
Rinse and repeat on Friday. Except, by that point, I was pretty pissed that he was obviously ignoring my calls. (One of my coworkers tried calling on her phone, five minutes after trying on my cell, and he answered immediately. But he immediately claimed to have another call coming and hung up as soon as she mentioned my name.) So I got on Twitter, posted three not too scathing tweets, and heard back from support in less than five minutes.
I shot them a reply back saying that I was on my lunch break at work but would get back to them ASAP once I got home. Cut to that evening. They initiated an online chat with me, I explained the situation, and they went to work. They told me that they couldn't make any promises, but that they would do their best to make sure someone could be at my new apartment the next day and I would hear back from them, one way or the other, by 9am the next morning. Which, you know, was a hell of a lot more than the rep had done for me.
Saturday morning, I got up and headed to the new apartment to sign the final paperwork and hand over the last of the money I owed them in exchange for the keys. Since Mouse had some heavy things to carry with her to work, I told her that I'd drop her off.
Anyway, the people who run the Verizon Twitter account are awesome, and on my way to the new apartment I got a call letting me know that they'd arranged for someone to show up at my apartment between 11am and 1pm. And then the guy called to verify that he'd be coming and added at the end: "Of course, if you're there now, I can be there in twenty minutes."
... best. people. ever.
So, yeah, I got everything taken care of in the leasing office and then headed over to the apartment to let the Verizon guy inside to get everything set up. We shared recommendations for good bars in the area, he got everything up and running, and and then I hurried back to the old apartment.
And then, you know, everything went downhill.
For those of you who aren't in the DC area, it rained all weekend. Well, except for those four hours on Sunday where it was snowing. On March 30th. Yeah. :-/
The lovely demonicsymphony showed up with her brood around lunchtime, and they were live savers. She ended up having to watch the Peanut for most of the time (i.e., the small child that ended up enjoying Frozen on my desktop before falling asleep on my mattress), but she helped when she could inside. And her other half helped us get two loads piled into the moving truck, one for my apartment and one for the roommates' apartment, and get them unloaded at their destination.
At which point it was, like, 9pm and we obviously weren't going to finish that night. So Katie and I went back to the old place, ordered pizza, and crashed for a couple of hours.
Cut to Sunday morning. Katie went and picked up the U-Haul, Mouse showed up for an hour or so to help us load what we could into the moving truck before she had to get to work. We dragged another load of big items to their apartment and started unloading. In the snow. Because the weather decided that the second-to-last day of March is a perfect time to drop snow on people's heads.
Anyway, by the time we finished, it was late afternoon, and one of Mouse's friends was off work and able to help us finish up another load to take to my place. Once everything was loaded, Katie and I drove to my apartment and unloaded everything as quickly as possible. It was raining again instead of snowing by that point, and since it was after 8pm by the time we got there to unload parking spots were... a bit limited. Meaning we had quite a bit longer of a distance to drag my things before we could get them inside.
After we finished with the truck, we headed back to the old apartment and started loading what we could into my car. (While the big stuff was moved, there were still plenty of smaller boxes and other items that we hadn't been able to fit into the truck.) I managed to make a few trips back and forth between the two apartments before, somewhere around 2am, telling Katie I had to get a few hours' sleep if I was going to be able to function.
I went back to my new apartment, collapsed on my mattress, and slept for somewhere in then 3-4 hours range. Then I got up, went to take a shower, discovered that while everything else in my new apartment worked the bathtub apparently didn't, said "fuck it" and took a sponge bath, texted my boss to say that I was going to be late to work, and headed back to the old place to load what I could into my car.
Katie and I basically broke the laws of physics when it came to shoving things into my car. We couldn't quite fit in everything, but we got a large number of my things crammed in there. I didn't have time to take everything back to the new apartment, unload it, and then come back (because I had to get to work), so Katie made arrangements to pick up a Zipcar for the afternoon to load the rest of our stuff into. Nothing important, of course. Just, you know, things like my computer. And
biteyberen.
Anyway, I'd been sending my boss updates all morning, so I sped off as soon as I finished loading the car. I hurried to work (leaving everything in my car and hoping the fact that I was parked in front of the police station would keep it safe) to put in an hour or so.
During my lunch break, I headed back to my new apartment and unloaded my car. I was at the point of exhaustion where food isn't appealing, so I wasn't even hungry. The first thing I did was call maintenance to say, hey, I don't have a working bathtub. Then I shoved about 3/4 of my things into the apartment, sped back to work, and tried to stay conscious the rest of the afternoon.
I was technically scheduled to get off at 6pm, since it was the last day of renewal season and we were swamped, but Katie sent me a frantic text asking if I could come help finish unloading the Zipcar she was in. I pleaded a move-related emergency and got permission to leave, at which point I headed back to my new apartment to A. finish unloading the rest of my things very quickly and B. see if the water was fixed. (It wasn't, but when I poked my head into the office they immediately sent maintenance to get it fixed, and it was up and running in less than ten minutes.)
Then I headed down to meet Katie and Mouse at their apartment, helped drag their belongings upstairs, moved my stuff from the Zipcar to my car, and went home. With a detour at Kohls and Target to pick up a few basic things that I'd discovered I really needed ASAP. Like shower curtain hangers. At which point I took a shower, collapsed in exhaustion, and slept for something like twelve hours straight.
... yeah.
A few things still made it to the wrong apartments. We've made a few hostage exchanges so far, and I expect there will probably be at least one more. I spent most of last week slowly but surely trying to put furniture together and unpack, and I think that I'm finally done. I finished unpacking the last box about twenty minutes ago, and everything actually looks like an apartment now. Which is awesome.
... but, yeah, we definitely picked the worst weekend ever to move. :-/
This entry has been crossposted to Dreamwidth, and it currently has
replies there. Comment on whichever site you prefer.
kate_aldasse and/or
pocketmouse ended up accidentally taking to their place.
It was... a very long weekend to move. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but Mouse ended up having to work all weekend so it was up to me and Katie to get everything moved into the two new apartments. The weather, taking pity on us, decided to cooperate fully. And by "cooperate fully," I mean that it rained nonstop all day Saturday and Sunday. Except for the three or four hours where it was snowing. Before turning back into rain.
... yeah.
The fun started earlier in the week. I spoke to the Verizon rep at the apartment complex I was moving into on Monday, and he promised me that it wouldn't be a problem to have someone stop by to get my internet/phone/tv up and running on Saturday. He told me to expect an e-mail scheduling an appointment time for them to show up.
Cut to the next day. I got an e-mail, all right. Except the scheduled time? Was 11am-2pm Monday. Several days after I was supposed to be moved in and in the middle of a work day. I immediately called him and asked "wtf?"
It was fairly late in the day on Tuesday when I called, so I wasn't surprised to not hear back from him that evening. So I called him again during my lunch break on Wednesday to ask "wtf?" He answered that time, acted shocked and appalled that they'd scheduled the wrong time, and told me that he'd call back after I got off work that evening.
I got off work. No call. So I called him. No answer. I left a voicemail. Cut to the next morning. Still no call. I tried again and left another voicemail. Cut to lunchtime. No call. I called him back. No answer. I left another voicemail. Shockingly enough, still nothing from him. I called again that evening, after I got off worked. I left another voicemail.
Rinse and repeat on Friday. Except, by that point, I was pretty pissed that he was obviously ignoring my calls. (One of my coworkers tried calling on her phone, five minutes after trying on my cell, and he answered immediately. But he immediately claimed to have another call coming and hung up as soon as she mentioned my name.) So I got on Twitter, posted three not too scathing tweets, and heard back from support in less than five minutes.
I shot them a reply back saying that I was on my lunch break at work but would get back to them ASAP once I got home. Cut to that evening. They initiated an online chat with me, I explained the situation, and they went to work. They told me that they couldn't make any promises, but that they would do their best to make sure someone could be at my new apartment the next day and I would hear back from them, one way or the other, by 9am the next morning. Which, you know, was a hell of a lot more than the rep had done for me.
Saturday morning, I got up and headed to the new apartment to sign the final paperwork and hand over the last of the money I owed them in exchange for the keys. Since Mouse had some heavy things to carry with her to work, I told her that I'd drop her off.
Anyway, the people who run the Verizon Twitter account are awesome, and on my way to the new apartment I got a call letting me know that they'd arranged for someone to show up at my apartment between 11am and 1pm. And then the guy called to verify that he'd be coming and added at the end: "Of course, if you're there now, I can be there in twenty minutes."
... best. people. ever.
So, yeah, I got everything taken care of in the leasing office and then headed over to the apartment to let the Verizon guy inside to get everything set up. We shared recommendations for good bars in the area, he got everything up and running, and and then I hurried back to the old apartment.
And then, you know, everything went downhill.
For those of you who aren't in the DC area, it rained all weekend. Well, except for those four hours on Sunday where it was snowing. On March 30th. Yeah. :-/
The lovely demonicsymphony showed up with her brood around lunchtime, and they were live savers. She ended up having to watch the Peanut for most of the time (i.e., the small child that ended up enjoying Frozen on my desktop before falling asleep on my mattress), but she helped when she could inside. And her other half helped us get two loads piled into the moving truck, one for my apartment and one for the roommates' apartment, and get them unloaded at their destination.
At which point it was, like, 9pm and we obviously weren't going to finish that night. So Katie and I went back to the old place, ordered pizza, and crashed for a couple of hours.
Cut to Sunday morning. Katie went and picked up the U-Haul, Mouse showed up for an hour or so to help us load what we could into the moving truck before she had to get to work. We dragged another load of big items to their apartment and started unloading. In the snow. Because the weather decided that the second-to-last day of March is a perfect time to drop snow on people's heads.
Anyway, by the time we finished, it was late afternoon, and one of Mouse's friends was off work and able to help us finish up another load to take to my place. Once everything was loaded, Katie and I drove to my apartment and unloaded everything as quickly as possible. It was raining again instead of snowing by that point, and since it was after 8pm by the time we got there to unload parking spots were... a bit limited. Meaning we had quite a bit longer of a distance to drag my things before we could get them inside.
After we finished with the truck, we headed back to the old apartment and started loading what we could into my car. (While the big stuff was moved, there were still plenty of smaller boxes and other items that we hadn't been able to fit into the truck.) I managed to make a few trips back and forth between the two apartments before, somewhere around 2am, telling Katie I had to get a few hours' sleep if I was going to be able to function.
I went back to my new apartment, collapsed on my mattress, and slept for somewhere in then 3-4 hours range. Then I got up, went to take a shower, discovered that while everything else in my new apartment worked the bathtub apparently didn't, said "fuck it" and took a sponge bath, texted my boss to say that I was going to be late to work, and headed back to the old place to load what I could into my car.
Katie and I basically broke the laws of physics when it came to shoving things into my car. We couldn't quite fit in everything, but we got a large number of my things crammed in there. I didn't have time to take everything back to the new apartment, unload it, and then come back (because I had to get to work), so Katie made arrangements to pick up a Zipcar for the afternoon to load the rest of our stuff into. Nothing important, of course. Just, you know, things like my computer. And
biteyberen.
Anyway, I'd been sending my boss updates all morning, so I sped off as soon as I finished loading the car. I hurried to work (leaving everything in my car and hoping the fact that I was parked in front of the police station would keep it safe) to put in an hour or so.
During my lunch break, I headed back to my new apartment and unloaded my car. I was at the point of exhaustion where food isn't appealing, so I wasn't even hungry. The first thing I did was call maintenance to say, hey, I don't have a working bathtub. Then I shoved about 3/4 of my things into the apartment, sped back to work, and tried to stay conscious the rest of the afternoon.
I was technically scheduled to get off at 6pm, since it was the last day of renewal season and we were swamped, but Katie sent me a frantic text asking if I could come help finish unloading the Zipcar she was in. I pleaded a move-related emergency and got permission to leave, at which point I headed back to my new apartment to A. finish unloading the rest of my things very quickly and B. see if the water was fixed. (It wasn't, but when I poked my head into the office they immediately sent maintenance to get it fixed, and it was up and running in less than ten minutes.)
Then I headed down to meet Katie and Mouse at their apartment, helped drag their belongings upstairs, moved my stuff from the Zipcar to my car, and went home. With a detour at Kohls and Target to pick up a few basic things that I'd discovered I really needed ASAP. Like shower curtain hangers. At which point I took a shower, collapsed in exhaustion, and slept for something like twelve hours straight.
... yeah.
A few things still made it to the wrong apartments. We've made a few hostage exchanges so far, and I expect there will probably be at least one more. I spent most of last week slowly but surely trying to put furniture together and unpack, and I think that I'm finally done. I finished unpacking the last box about twenty minutes ago, and everything actually looks like an apartment now. Which is awesome.
... but, yeah, we definitely picked the worst weekend ever to move. :-/
This entry has been crossposted to Dreamwidth, and it currently has
replies there. Comment on whichever site you prefer.