Tag Archives: Moving

First Night…

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You don’t realize how much time you spend sitting down until you don’t have anything to sit on. There’s the floor, of course, but in the final analysis, you just sitting on the floor looking at four bare walls. Not exactly what I was planning on doing tonight. Instead, I’ve spent most of the afternoon and evening hanging blinds. I know that it’s something that needs done, but I would have preferred to spend the first night sitting on the couch, watching TV, and possibly even drinking a beer. I’ve spent the day on my feet and at 9:30 CST, I’m beat… Looks like its time to inflate the bed.

Missing my furniture, cable television, and internet access aside, closing came off without a hitch. The biggest upset of the day was that either I forgot to tell them or Home Depot forgot to order blinds for my frigging giant dining room window. Not a huge deal, but until I manage to get something to cover it, you can see straight through the house. I have as much of a voyeurism streak as anyone, but not when I’m staring in the picture.

Living room furniture and the cable guy are coming tomorrow (Friday) sometime. At least I hope they are. The furniture store called this afternoon to confirm the delivery, but I made the appointment with Comcast almost a month ago and neglected to call and follow up to confirm the installation. I’m hoping for the best, because God help me, the prospect of spending the next five days without TV or the internet is terrifying beyond words.

Moving on…

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Blogger’s Note: The following is a verbatim copy of an email sent under the same subject line. If you didn’t get the original email, please accept my apologies, as apparently, I have not been keeping up with several of your email address changes. Exclusion from the original distribution was not and intended slight in any way or fashion. – JDT

Friends, Family Members, and Sundry Others who have made it to the Distribution List,

As many of you know, it is nearly time for me to say goodbye to Maryland for the greener pastures of Tennessee, but I couldn’t let the occasion pass without saying a few words. To say I part with mixed emotions doesn’t do justice to the raging tides of excitement and uncertainty that I am feeling at the moment.

The last year and a half has been a busy one for me, as I know it has been for many of you as well. Time marches on as they say, and things seem to have a way of slipping away before you really know it has happened. I have not kept in touch with some of you as regularly as I would have liked or taken the time to visit as often as I should have. I regret that and can only express my gratitude for your patience and your indulgence.

Each one of you means more to me than you know and although I have always had difficulty expressing it, you have all helped make me the man that I am today. In some cases you may not exactly think that is a compliment. I assure you, it is.

The next time you have an inexplicable craving to spend an evening in a smoky blues bar or backwater barbeque joint, look me up and then plan a road trip. As long as I have a roof, you’ll have a place to stay.

While my time here grows increasingly short and the thousand and one details of planning a move are again demanding my attention, I did want to stop and take this brief opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an extraordinarily bright and happy New Year.

Home Station…

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I’m back in the People’s Republic of Maryland for the next week and a half. For anyone who may be interested, the rough plan is to head back to the old homestead some time next Saturday and putz around up there through Christmas, either heading back to the EC very late Monday night or very early Tuesday morning. I’m hoping to have the movers here on Wednesday to clear out the apartment and drive all day on the 28th so I can be back in Memphis to meet the new furniture and appliance delivery people on the 29th.

Christmas is hereby cancelled due to lack of available daylight. The holiday will be reinstated with all rights, privileges, and family activities in 2007.

Happy friggin’ holidays, people.

Punch List…

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I did my final walk through with the builder and inspector this afternoon, put together my “must fix” list, and crawled around parts of the house I will very likely never see again. It’s entirely possible that I will be hacking up blown insulation for the rest of my natural life. I’m fine with it, since that means I am one step closer to getting this damned move behind me.

With two pages of punch list handed to the builder, the only thing that’s really left for me to do on this end is sign the paperwork once my realtor and the inspector verify that all the repairs have been made. The big day should be on or about the 26th, when the lawyers FedEx me the final paperwork. After that, all that’s left is meeting the realtor on the 28th to pick up the keys and physically take possession. Of course then there is the small matter of waiting the week or so for my stuff to catch up with me. Fortunately, the new living room furniture I ordered should show up the day after I show up, so I won’t be spending the long weekend in a completely empty house… Just a mostly empty one.

It’s satisfying to see everything coming together, especially considering the short timeline I set for myself. When it’s all over, I think I may lay down and sleep for a week.

Update…

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I realized this afternoon that it has been a while since I posted anything. I think this might actually be the first time since I started blogging that I’ve let five days go between getting some thoughts out here. It’s also one of those things that I realized I missed when I didn’t do it. With that said, I’m back for a quick update before dinner.

A lot of the really hard decisions have been made already. The house is where it is, the finance people are doing their thing, the lawyers are drawing up the necessary paperwork and I’m running from pillar to post here in Memphis working the detail stuff.

In the last week, here’s what we’ve managed to accomplish: carpet picked and installed; linoleum picked and installed; washer and dryer purchased and delivery scheduled; refrigerator purchased and delivery scheduled; cable, electric, gas, service change scheduled; cable, electric, and gas service in Maryland terminated, blinds measured and order. There are a bevy of other issues resolved that I can’t remember in detail.

Here are the major things still to accomplish by the end of the month: Install washer, dryer, and refrigerator; put the punch list together with builder and do walk through; fly back to Maryland; finish packing and close out the apartment; get an estimate from the movers; actually do the move; drive back to Tennessee; unpack; collapse.

Oh, and I almost forgot squeezing 10 hours a day in for work and grad classes. Can someone tell me why the hell anyone ever inflicts a move on themselves?

And don’t call me Shirley…

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To be perfectly honest with you, I’m just killing a few hours before I need to head to the airport this morning. I’m back in the home of the blues for a few more weeks before Christmas. In retrospect, I wish I would have driven down again this time. I would have been just getting to Harrisonburg if I would have left at my normal time. One of the great annoyances of flying is having absolutely no control of your schedule. That annoys me almost as much as not being able to see out the front of the airplane. They should put in some kind of monitors on the bulkheads and simulate a “windshield” view, but I digress.

I’m leaving a half packed apartment and I can’t say that it upsets me all that much. I need a reprieve from packing for a while. I am always surprised that the sheer amount of junk one person is able to accumulate in a small space over the course of three or four years. As much fun as the great purge has been, I’m ready for a few days of something more normal… And yes, I do note that I am talking about living in a hotel for three weeks as “more normal” without a hint of irony.

It’s time for a fresh cup of coffee and a smoke, so the next time ya’ll hear from me, I should be safely delivered. See you all then.

Getting real…

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The fact that I will soon be closing out the current chapter of my life is been something of an academic exercise up to this point. Even house hunting, as damned frustrating as it can be at times, can be reduced to cold logic. The packing process is something, however, that is altogether different. It requires you to take account each individual item and make a conscious decision of what to keep, what to lose, and what needs to be kept available to the very last minute. I’ve never been accused of being a minimalist and it’s no surprise that what I absolutely need to survive is apparently a considerable amount of “stuff.” Although I suspect that if in a pinch, I could get by with the coffee pot, cigarettes, and the laptop.

At any rate, I’m in the throws of packing these last few days with plans to have everything moved by the end of the year. If actually working, living on the road, squeezing in grad school and occasionally trying to go do something fun isn’t sufficient, I suppose moving is something small to add into the mix for a little flavor. It’s a lot of things around here, but it’s never slow.