Bike shopping; oh, and I moved
Bit of a thought: is there anyone who will be in Portland on Thursday afternoon 2:15ish with a car, who is interested in bicycle shopping? It'll be a bit of a pain in the tuchus to get to Clever Cycles, home of Dutch upright-riding-position street bicycles and wool knickers, on public transit... But on the other hand, since I'd actually be hopefully test-riding bikes etc it wouldn't do much good to help me out just because of my inherent lovability. I carefully maintain my lovability by not making people wait around for me while I ponder the 43% blue versus the 46% teal. Thus, just throwing this out there in case someone is an actual bike-interested person...
Um... Oh, did you all know that I moved? Yeah, last week. I'm in a place of my own. Nice little house behind another house, with its own fenced-in area all around; big concrete patio for parking, big shed I can put my car in with space to spare...
Lessee, walkthrough: you go up about six steps to the porch, and east/left into the front door. The living room is small and has the sticking-out-of-the-wall gas heater that will probably heat the house splendidly once the pilot light gets lit Tuesday morning... Though I haven't been suffering, indicating that I have finally found a house that has some insulation. (That, and adapted my internal temperature to "cold", which I have.) Right from the living room is my bedroom, with carpet (yay!) and a south and west window (yay!). Forward from the living room is the big-ass kitchen, in which my the dining table will probably fit nicely even with the leaf in it, so I can seat six-eight without fuss. Not so much with the counter space, being all built-in stuff of 20s faux-Victorian style, but hey, big table, eom. Right from the kitchen or forward from the bedroom is the big bathroom, with a clawfoot tub, which is good because the one fly in the ointment is that the water pressure all through the house is pathetic, and showers are impossible. From the kitchen, southeast/rightish is the laundry room, with two wash sinks and hookups I hope to fill soonish; and the back door to the north.
The house has good flow for a single person; I'm circling a lot, and I do really like having more than two good exits from nearly every room. It's been newly painted and had new flooring put in in many rooms.
I moved because the crazy roommate got to be more annoying than paying money to end the problem. It doesn't seem that I'll have problems stashing all my books and stuff; the new house is enormously easier to light and heat; I'm leaning towards WIN.
The move itself wasn't too bad. I have really good friends. Enough were there to help that I don't think any one suffered too much... Hopefully. I've caught echoes of "wow that was a lot of stairs I felt it the next day" but no one seems to have moved from "Hm exercise" to "CURSE YOUR WITHERED SOUL ZDASHAMBER". Win? Anyway, as for the really good friends, total shoutout to ericorange... When they showed up and saw my room, still largely unpacked, and I despaired and cried that it was hopeless, he was reassuring and sent towhomdoihum off to get more boxes. Mike S as well was lovely and reassuring about my failure to get things in boxes. towhomdoihum, Vicky, ebonlock, aiyume were also endlessly good about carrying odd and unpleasant things down shattered and entropic stairs. And the lady at the UHaul in Alameda was a real sweetie in her ancient cluttered 1950s closet/office, letting me go fill the UHaul up and avoid a crazy fuel charge, and also not charging me a late fee.
I've been pretty happy with the way my yen towards redundant systems has paid out... Makeup and deodorant in a box somewhere still, but by damn I have the car overnight kit. Shampoo forgotten in the old house until Monday, but there are the travel shampoos in the Go Bag. Clock and alarm clock in a box somewhere, but cell phone works for those...
But anyway, I've been pretty goddamned stressed, what with volunteering for the election, packing, moving, unpacking, and ACNW coming up. And it's party season. I could name what I've done every single night for these three weeks. And that's where I've been. Looking up and forward.
Um... Oh, did you all know that I moved? Yeah, last week. I'm in a place of my own. Nice little house behind another house, with its own fenced-in area all around; big concrete patio for parking, big shed I can put my car in with space to spare...
Lessee, walkthrough: you go up about six steps to the porch, and east/left into the front door. The living room is small and has the sticking-out-of-the-wall gas heater that will probably heat the house splendidly once the pilot light gets lit Tuesday morning... Though I haven't been suffering, indicating that I have finally found a house that has some insulation. (That, and adapted my internal temperature to "cold", which I have.) Right from the living room is my bedroom, with carpet (yay!) and a south and west window (yay!). Forward from the living room is the big-ass kitchen, in which my the dining table will probably fit nicely even with the leaf in it, so I can seat six-eight without fuss. Not so much with the counter space, being all built-in stuff of 20s faux-Victorian style, but hey, big table, eom. Right from the kitchen or forward from the bedroom is the big bathroom, with a clawfoot tub, which is good because the one fly in the ointment is that the water pressure all through the house is pathetic, and showers are impossible. From the kitchen, southeast/rightish is the laundry room, with two wash sinks and hookups I hope to fill soonish; and the back door to the north.
The house has good flow for a single person; I'm circling a lot, and I do really like having more than two good exits from nearly every room. It's been newly painted and had new flooring put in in many rooms.
I moved because the crazy roommate got to be more annoying than paying money to end the problem. It doesn't seem that I'll have problems stashing all my books and stuff; the new house is enormously easier to light and heat; I'm leaning towards WIN.
The move itself wasn't too bad. I have really good friends. Enough were there to help that I don't think any one suffered too much... Hopefully. I've caught echoes of "wow that was a lot of stairs I felt it the next day" but no one seems to have moved from "Hm exercise" to "CURSE YOUR WITHERED SOUL ZDASHAMBER". Win? Anyway, as for the really good friends, total shoutout to ericorange... When they showed up and saw my room, still largely unpacked, and I despaired and cried that it was hopeless, he was reassuring and sent towhomdoihum off to get more boxes. Mike S as well was lovely and reassuring about my failure to get things in boxes. towhomdoihum, Vicky, ebonlock, aiyume were also endlessly good about carrying odd and unpleasant things down shattered and entropic stairs. And the lady at the UHaul in Alameda was a real sweetie in her ancient cluttered 1950s closet/office, letting me go fill the UHaul up and avoid a crazy fuel charge, and also not charging me a late fee.
I've been pretty happy with the way my yen towards redundant systems has paid out... Makeup and deodorant in a box somewhere still, but by damn I have the car overnight kit. Shampoo forgotten in the old house until Monday, but there are the travel shampoos in the Go Bag. Clock and alarm clock in a box somewhere, but cell phone works for those...
But anyway, I've been pretty goddamned stressed, what with volunteering for the election, packing, moving, unpacking, and ACNW coming up. And it's party season. I could name what I've done every single night for these three weeks. And that's where I've been. Looking up and forward.