Sorry it's taken a week for me to post again. There's been so much to do. We move into our house on Wednesday. I've been a packing fool all week. We're now in that awkward stage where over half of our possessions are sitting around our apartment in boxes. We are not living here in the apartment, we are not yet living in the house. We are in the chrysalis stage.
So what tales can I tell of life in the chrysalis? Well... let us start with idiot plumbers. I called our local electric and gas utility 10 days ago, to get the service at our house put in my name. I was told that they planned to turn off our gas service and put a lock on the meter because the previous owners disconnected a gas dryer. Now there was a valve on the end of that pipe... and we fully intend to get a gas dryer... but since that valve was sitting there not attached to anything, the utility considers it to be a safety hazard.
So, after talking this over with our realtor, she located a plumber to cap the line. This guy was with a local "discount" outfit, and the man was as the realtor put it "the most uncommunicative contractor I ever met". A good contractor should be able to explain what needs doing, tell you why, and be able to offer alternatives. I've met blocks of wood that were more expressive than this guy. He did not inspire any confidence on my part. I strongly suspect that he is an idiot -- the plumbing equivalent of the M.D. who graduated at the bottom of his med school class.
It's been a long week of box warfare. A typical day has involved getting up just before sunrise, packing for a couple hours, going to work, ducking out of work for a couple hours to wait at the house for some appointment or another (like the idiot plumber!), coming home, and then packing four a couple hours in the evening. I've been pretty much going it alone where the packing is concerned; Mrs. Geek has had her own battles to fight this week, and helping with the move hasn't been her highest priority. This "going it alone" mentality has brought out some of my hermit tendencies... and that's not necessarily to the good. I've been too busy in the eye of the hurricane to accept help. I'm in survival mode... putting out fires. No time for niceties and keeping more than two thoughts in my head at a time.
I should recommend all of this as a weight loss program. My diet has slipped a bit during the last few days, but my weight was down by a few pounds at my last weigh-in on Thursday. This makes sense -- get up early, and move around all day by packing and moving boxes, and the pounds should come off, right?
All this activity has not been without cost to Mrs. Geek and me. Our mental state is frayed. We snarl at each other more than we probably should. Mrs. Geek hates dealing with boxes... and our life is boxes right now. I'm not in great shape to be making quick decisions... I'm in the eye of the hurricane, not viewing it from far above. This bothers her... but we survive. And it will all be over soon... at least until the home improvement projects (of which there are now about half a dozen) begin to take over.
In the meanwhile, Mrs. Geek had her car burglarized this morning. It was a simple smash and grab. One or more persons have hit several cars in the garage of our apartment building in the last few days. The building manager has suspicions about who the thieves might be, but no proof. The only thing stolen out of Mrs. Geek's car was a $60 Monster iCarPlay FM Transmitter. It was visible on Mrs. Geek's dashboard, and was probably why the thieves broke into her car. Our collision insurance will absorb most of the bill, but it's just more trouble that we don't need.
If I don't post for a few days, know that it is not because I don't want to. Things will be hitting the end of a long crescendo around here over the next few days. Update time will be hard to come by.
said drgeek
on 2007-10-07 at 10:56 p.m.
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