It's gonna be the future soon...

Following up:
No response yet to my email.
I just called and left a voicemail. (Call would've happened first-thing if it hadn't been after midnight last night.)
I forwarded my email to the landlady to my downstairs neighbor, whose email address I had from a previous group email the landlady sent to all of us without BCCing people. :P

---

And phone call came back while I was typing this.

She apparently had hired someone to clean out the buildings - in two weeks, before the close date of the sale. Wires got crossed somewhere and he came by yesterday. Not only did he willy-nilly clear things out, he had tossed a bunch of stuff out on the street such that my landlady was called by the fire department yesterday evening and fined a bunch of money for the garbage on the sidewalk.

She will be trying to find out if our things (assuming some stuff of my neighbor's is missing as well) exist in a recoverable form, and if not, is totally willing to reimburse given an itemized list.

Phew. Still, ARGH. If my bike had been in the hallway rather than under my butt, would it be gone, too? I'm glad I didn't move my space heater or vacuum cleaner down there yet. And what trash-removal guy takes away a perfectly good set of movable shelving but NOT three broken standing fans? ...so, it seems I'm still pissed off. But progress made.

to (landlady)
date Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 12:31 AM
subject missing items from hallway/basement

(landlady):

I came home just now to discover the front hallway and the basement cleared of several items, many of which I did not own but some of which were personal items that I was storing in the front hall and basement. Assuming that we were not robbed, my guess is that the hallways were somehow cleared as part of the sale of the building, but NO attempt was made at communicating this to me either by phone or email, nor any attempt made to confirm what was and was not garbage. One of the items, my mattress's box spring, was being stored in the front hallway since it would not fit up the stairs, but I never intended to get rid of it and it is a high-cost item. Also missing is a shelving set I had put in the basement to use as storage for various items of mine, some of which I found in the newly-empty front hallway (my cat carriers.) If the box spring and the shelving was indeed taken away and is not recoverable, I will need to be reimbursed for these items which were NEVER labeled or indicated as trash but instead were being stored inside the building as you told me I could do when I moved in.

---

I am SO pissed off right now.

[edit]
Similar shelving unit: $50.
Similar box spring: hard to say, because my set was bought from a store in Oklahoma City that hand-makes their mattresses and possibly their box springs too, so I would have to call them up to research what to do if I suddenly have just a matress from their set. I have no clue what my parents paid for these but they have lasted me great for YEARS (as they should) and oh my god I'm so pissed.
Bicycle tire pump: $20.

Thing 1: biking

I've ridden my bike to work twice now. It works out to take almost exactly the same amount of time to get there as if I walked to Porter and caught the best train. As I often don't catch the best train, or there are train delays, or something else slows down that commute, this means that biking is a good idea. Plus, if I do it more, I'll be able to handle the hills along the way faster and get there in less time, right? (Although it turns out I still do have the high-gear-isn't-high-enough problem on THIS bike, too, sigh grumble.)

HOWEVER, I'm not about to start doing this daily yet, as it turns out I can't work out on my own a safe route back from work - at least the office to the Longfellow Bridge part. Inbound, I use Charles Street and cut through the Common. But Charles Street is one-way. The nearest route in the other direction uses Bowdoin Street to Cambridge Street, the former of which is small, busy, and not well-lit and the latter of which is large and SUPER busy, and neither of which have bike lanes. Also, Cambridge Street onto the Longfellow involves going through a pretty nasty intersection where I, as a pedestrian and a driver, have really never seen bicyclists go. So... yeah. I need to get my hands on a bike map of the city and figure out how to get home from work without endangering myself. THEN I can start doing it regularly.

Thing 2: The Pie Hole

I got an email yesterday from my landlady saying she's selling the building, and showings start on Monday. Meep. There was some discussion on Twitter, and thanks to folks' input there, I'm not worried about anything upsetting my lease. The new owners will probably just take the place of my landlady as far as lease terms go, so I'm good until next February. Still, more instability and changes in life, sigh. (And, to some extent, it would be okay for the lease to end at a more convenient date. Me + 2 cats looking for roommates in February? Hard to find.)

Thing 3: personal life

Just a quick update for anyone who is not on my more personal filters: I'm having a rough time with stuff right now. Looking into getting some professional help for it. You can assume I am out of spoons at any given time, and in return I will assume that you have commented saying you're here for me if I need it.

So you all might remember that when I moved in a month ago, my bed's box spring did not fit up the stairs. It is still sitting in the downstairs hallway, unfortunately blocking easy access to the basement.

Does anyone in a stable living situation have room to store the box spring for me for an unspecified amount of time? I don't want it in the hallway, but it doesn't fit anywhere else. I don't want to toss it, because I don't plan on living here forever and will reinstitute it as part of my bedroom set whenever I move.

If you have the room, let me know, and we'll work out details of getting it there. Danke!

I am up stupidly late and have no excuse other than finally basking in the soft light of the internets. I've caught up with a lot of emails, waved my hands at the LARPs and conventions happening soon, and for the first time in approximately a month, I read my friends list for the day. Yay!

But what I wanted to update you all on was life in the Pie Hole as it stands so far. So far, it stands quite packed still. I have my necessary winter and work clothes all unpacked and one of the two bathroom boxes unpacked, so I can do most of the necessary daily things necessary to be presentable. The computer is of course all set up, though I don't have my own connection yet - that's being set up Monday (have I said that already?) I'm currently working off of borrowed wireless from my downstairs neighbor. More about him below. A little bit of the kitchen has been unpacked; I have made myself meals now, though they have been things like "a cheese quesadilla" and "frozen ravioli with jarred sauce." Nothing more sophisticated yet.

A lot of my fears about the shape and size of the apartment are much less pressing now. Sure the shape is weird, but I've actually got it working out pretty well in the bedroom at least. Bed, computer desk, dresser, and clothes rack are all fitting nicely. Bathroom involved a bit of muscle work to get one of the folding sets of shelves into the tight space on the back wall, but it eventually fit! And that leaves the living room/kitchen to be worked out, but that will take time as I paw through my possessions. And I still haven't visited the basement to see what kind of room for storage I have there.

There is a LOT of room for decoration here. The entire stairwell portion from the second floor up to my apartment is free reign (there is no door from that stair to my apartment, so it's like another hallway), and drastically needs an awesome design scheme. And a repaint, or maybe just covering with pictures or posters or something cool. Although if someone really wanted to go crazy with painting it, like, that would be awesome and unique and I'd pay or knit you something or something.

My downstairs neighbor, Ryan, is both cute and nice. He gave me the password to his wireless connection without blinking. He has a cat named Beatrice who is large and almost fully black except for a white patch on her chest. Beatrice gets free reign of the inside staircase and goes down into the basement and catches mice. She once dropped one on the stairs. I forgave her, though, because she is very nice. Ryan works "selling light bulbs" in a manner that involves going around businesses and telling them how to be greener.

Regarding the actual "pie" in the Pie Hole: I have tried three different pies from Petsi's: apple crumb, bourbon chocolate pecan, and Mississippi mud. It will be hard to get me to order anything but the Miss. mud in the future, as it is one of the best things I've ever put into my mouth, but you can try. I've also tried their banana-chocolate-chip muffins, a muffin of a type I can't remember that I shared with usernamenumber, a raspberry almond scone, a cheddar dill scone, and a tomato mozzarella scone. Their scones are AWESOME. So yes, Petsi's has made some money off of me and will continue to do so.

Pho 'n' Rice has made more money off of me. Since moving on the 7th - so 13 days - I have been there 5 times. And since I walked in the second time saying, "Sawat dee kaa!" and got shocked looks and raised eyebrows (and kept it up since then), my plan of being a recognizable face there has totally worked. It was after the third visit that I was on the sidewalk outside unloading purchases from my Zipcar, looked into their window, caught eyes with a waitress, and was waved at. Earlier tonight I went in and was greeted warmly, managed to order "whatever you suggest tonight," (bo luc lac, nom!) and after I had paid, was offered something to drink. Playing it coy, I only got water, but if they ask again after I've paid, I'll see if I can get a free Thai tea. Oh yes, I am well on my way here. Oh, and the food is excellent. :P So if anyone is EVER in the mood for Thai, I've got your hookup here.

Okay, it's hit 4am and I need to get up between 9 and 10, so how about I skeedaddle now and put myself to bed?

Thanks to the heroic efforts of zigdon, bkdelong (and wkdelong), nyren, and two of my friends from out of town, I am (90%) moved.

My day started at 5:30am, when I woke up and began packing with furor and vigor. The above-mentioned trickled in around 11ish and helped finish up the job. I acquired Ziptruck at about 12:30, and various logisticts meant the first load got there about 3. The first load featured the only casualty - the box-spring for my bed, after having been with me for a decade now, does not fit up the staircase to the Pie Hole. It is currently propped up in the downstairs hall, future unknown. We entertained thoughts of taking a saws-all to it, but the "spring" part of box-spring put an end to that. If anyone has thoughts, please let me know! Plan B involves buying a bunch of planks to span the bedframe and prop up my mattress off of the floor. Plan C involves mattress on the floor.

We then took a break and had [breakfast for some, lunch for others, dinner for others, and some combination of the two or three for even others] at the NOW OPEN Thai place on the first floor of my new apartment! Yes, Pho 'n' Rice is now open, and I treated the moving party to foods. Verdict: service needs a little work, but the food is excellent. Perhaps because I'm sick, but their seaweed soup (basically Vietnamese chicken noodle soup with seaweed bits) was amazing. Everyone was happy with their dishes. So yes... the Thai Hole portion of the Thai-Pie Hole has begun. (I have yet to have pie. They closed today before I got any.)

After food was a couple more loads, and then the entirety of the big stuff was upstairs and the rest was little things to be thrown in smaller, quicker loads. People peeled off to get rest or follow up on commitments (or drive back to Baltimore) but eventually we finished up moving everything that was on the slate to be moved today! Hooray!

The things that were not on the slate: the computer (since there's no net at the Pie Hole yet (though I met my cute downstairs neighbor today, and he granted me the power of his wireless password)), cleaning supplies (so I can get some cleaning done tomorrow), and the cats (they're the last thing to go.) I'm now back at the old apartment, utilizing the last day of my nets here to post this long entry to you, and then will crash on the floor with my cats (I have an air mattress.) Oh, and I'm enjoying a Shiner Bock and some peanut-butter-chocolate Tastykakes the southerners brought me. Well-deserved rest, I say.

Tomorrow starts early again, as I drive to princess_muffin's to hopefully pick up an electric piano (!!!), do some shopping (need: planks for bed, new bed linens), drop off the recycling and the Goodwill stuff, clean the old apartment, pack up the rest of this stuff and move it, and get the truck returned before 11. Then it's time for my first D&D session with jmspencer in over a month (!) and a Second Shift cast party, and then I retire to my first evening in the Pie Hole.

Well, um, fuck.

Covad told me that they were going to email me with a setup date for when a tech would be coming to the Piehole to set up the internet access. Instead, they called me this morning to confirm that today would work.

Fuck no, today will not work. I am headed to work at 11:30, and I'm not even currently AT that residence for them to show up before then.

So they said they'd put it off until tomorrow. Tomorrow, when of course I have work from 9-5 and won't be there either.

Then led to a confusing number of phone calls between me and customer service as to whether they will be coming tomorrow or Thursday, which I'm not even sure of anymore. Ultimately I guess neither really works as I can only be there Thursday morning until 11:30 as well, and it'd be a miracle if the techs got there early enough for that.

So who wants to sit in my completely empty, lacking anything fun to do (i.e. no wireless) new apartment waiting for phone techs to show up to let them in? I can compensate for this, though I don't yet know to what extent.

Over the next week, I could really use friendly company and assistance in packing up the apartment in the late evenings after I get home from work. Then, this Saturday is the move-the-big-stuff day, during which as much help as is possible is appreciated.

Monday: 8:30pm and on, includes a Zipcar trip to Porter Square to stop at rigel and contradictacat's place and to stop at the Piehole itself to do a quick sweep (literally; with a broom) and Roomba.

Tuesday: 8:30pm and on, open help packing needed.

Wednesday: 5:30m and on. Have already engaged usernamenumber's assistance for this evening, which will hopefully feature Zipcar-ferrying of a few loads of smaller things to the new place.

Thursday: 8:30pm and on, open help packing needed.

Friday: 8:30pm and on, open help packing needed.

Saturday: I have Zipcar truck rented at 11am and zigdon's assistance already lined up, but more hands = better. Hopefully at this point all we'd have to move are the big things (bed, computer desk, bureau, bookshelves, TV stand) and the "final" things (cats and cat box, clothes, toiletries.) In truth there will probably be plenty of boxes as well, but hopefully enough of those will have gone earlier in the week to be a quick few trips and then done.

Sunday: The plan is to be done moving and be able to attend my much-neglected D&D game on Sunday afternoon.

Any assistance is appreciated. ♥

I have the keys to my shiny new Piehole!

Gift idea: if anyone finds a pie-related keychain anywhere in the world, please get it for me? :)

Also good news: I finally got around to checking the Zipcars nearest the Piehole, and there is a Prius! My Zipcar usage to date has always revolved around the question of "be quick and rent the nearest car, or be choosy/fun/frugal/conscious and rent the nearest Prius?" Now they can be the same answer!

Today is bright and sunny, if you couldn't tell. And now I'm off to a party and good food. Yay.

Contact established with Pielady! Can has Pie Hole! (Well, can has paperwork sent to me, but assumedly there are no more issues.)

It sucked waiting all day to hear back from her. :P

(I will respond to all of your messages to the last post when I get home.)