the official timeline of "the big move"

Sunday 10/12 to Saturday 10/18: Packed very little. Drank very much. That's what happens when you combine procrastination with friends appearing in town from far far away.

Sunday 10/19:
7:00 am: Woke up frantic because realization set in that Tim was showing up in six hours and the apartment didn't look much like I was moving out of it.
7:05 am: Made list of "Things to get done before Tim gets here," few of which were actually accomplished before he got there.
12:00 pm: Gave up on being organized. Stopped making an inventory of what went in each box. Everything now labeled "random."
1:00 pm: gave up on packing. Realized empty stomach, since I had forgotten to eat, took much higher priority. Hopped on MAX to airport, early, and ate crappy Chinese food and stared at the arrivals board for half an hour.
2:05 pm: still staring at arrivals board for his flight to change from "On Time" to "Arriving." Was startled when Tim walked up, having apparently arrived. What good is an arrivals board if it doesn't tell you when the plane has arrived?
3:30 pm: We decide it would be a genius idea to rent a car early so that we can get the Goodwill run over with before the next day. Walk to rental car place. For reason's to boring to describe, didn't end up renting a car. Walked back home. Time wasted not packing: 1h 22 min.
7:00 pm: gave up packing and decided to release Tim from kitchen cleaning duty, and ran to Rock Bottom. More drinking.

Monday 10/20:
6:00 am: Alarm clock was ignored.
6:15 am: Alarm clock ignored again.
7:00 am: Walked in pouring rain to get rental car.
7:15 am: Made Tim drive to Stump Town so that I could get a cappuccino, even though "coffee is coffee," and Starbucks was closer. But, damn it was worth it!
8:00 am: Van loaded. Off to post office, Goodwill, then Comcast (to return the modem), then Mom's house. Was serviced by the slowest mail-lady ever at post office. At Mom's house it was discovered that it is quite possible that she owns more pointless stuff then anyone I have ever known.
11:00 am: Back at the apt. Ben shows up to help Tim with van run #2: Second Goodwill run, then UPS.
11:00am to 5:00pm: Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean, clean, and you guessed it, more cleaning. Though, I did finally vacuum the cobwebs from the celling. That felt good, since theye'd been there for almost two years. --Tim returns van.
6:00 pm- Apartment empty. Yay!!! Off to hotel. Stop at Buffalo Wild Wings near airport. More drinking.
6:30 pm: First major glitch. My *insert any curse word you want* little brother throws one of his classic temper tantrums and refuses to bring us the cat. He just simply doesn't feel like it. He informs me that if I want the cat I'll have to take a cab. I then think about throwing temper tantrum.
8:30 pm: Oliver finally shows up at the hotel after my mother ends up driving from her house in NE to my brother's house in SW and then back to our hotel at the airport to drop off the poor thing.

Tuesday 10/21:
4:30 am: Wake up, and find self surprised that cat hasn't peed on anything.
5:00am: tranqualize cat, and head to airport.
6:30 am: take off, and the beginning of a long day of peering under the seat in front of me to make sure the cat is alright.
5:00 pm: After long day of flight, layovers, and Wendy's chili, land in Maryland. Realize that my cat is the coolest cat ever because we didn't hear a peep out of him the entire trip. He spent almost ten hours in his carrier and didn't seem to care.
6:00 pm-ish: First thoughts on new apartment. We did a good job. It's nothing fantastic, but the carpet and refrigerator are new, and there's a dishwasher. Yay!. There's a lot of open space at the moment. Hey, as long as there are no clanging pipes and no homeless people climbing up the fire excape I'm happy!

Wednesday 10/22:
8:00 am: let Comcast guy in to install internet and cable. Consiously decide not to be a grumpy grumpy girlfriend even though, well, I'm tired and grumpy, and have no where to sit because there isn't any furniture.
9:00 am: make eggs.
11:00 am: atemp to leave for the first of many Ikea trips.
11:05 am: try to figure out what the best reaction should be to the explatives spewing from Tim's mouth because his car has chosen now to not start.
11:35 am: after three unsuccessful jump start's, call AAA (and thank myself for making him get AAA in the first place).
12:00 pm-ish: off to mechanic.
1:00 pm - realization that now on top of furnishing an apartment, now we also get to repair the truck. And no, not just something simple like the battery. The damned truck needed a new STARTER. And since they had to drop the transmission just to get to the starter, it ended up putting a real dent in the furnature fund. Boo. Oh well, we'll deal. Powerball, anyone?
5:00 pm - truck back from mechanic. Off to second IKEA trip of the day.
7:00 pm - extricate Oliver, for the third time, from his new favorite hiding place: behind the washing machine.
9:00 pm - dinner, TV, and a little - or a lot- of blogging. :)

Pictures soon...

Don't Vote

So, I know that the deadline has already passed for anyone to register to vote, but I so loved this PSA that I just had to post it anyway. Yah, and also, this is me playing on YouTube and NOT PACKING.

a few (of many) things that i will miss about portland

1) Double Apple sheesha, black tea, and by far the worst service in Portland at The Pied Cow.

2) Scrabble, and in tonight's case - 'Only Oregon Trivia' at Beulahland.

- and a notable mention, not enjoyed tonight - but guaranteed to be missed: beer on cask.

i'm bored

I’ve decided to do the blog thing. I’ve realized recently how much busier everyone’s lives have become, mine included, and even e-mail seems difficult to keep up with these days. This way, those who choose to, can keep up at their own pace. Also I figured since I already have a myspace page (though it’s seldom used), a facebook page (yes, I finally gave in), and a flickr photo page (which I’m quite addicted to), why not add a blog to the list? I’m sure my quickly approaching dash for the east coast will provide more then enough opportunity for stories that need to be told…if for no other reason then to save my own sanity!

And speaking of The Move, I’m currently in that pesky mode where absolutely everything is “pending.” We have an apartment lined up in Maryland, but I can’t yet change my address or forward my mail because, well, I’m not there yet. I’m applying for jobs, but have yet to nail one down, so I have no idea how to budget what I’ve managed to save (quite a problem when it comes to having to completely re-furnish an apartment). I can’t start piling, packing, craigslist-ing, or Goodwill-ing yet, because I’m still here for another eleven days and still need a bed to sleep on, and a kitchen that has more in it then a coffee maker. I’m having separation anxiety over the notion of selling even one of my books back to Powell’s, and as of tomorrow I won’t even have a job to occupy my time!

Oh well, I’ll have to load up on Netflix for the next couple days, and maybe make some jewelry (so I don’t have to ship quite so many beads), finish up some of those old knitting projects (so I don’t have to ship all that yarn), paint a few pictures (so I don’t have to ship all that paint)…do you see a theme here?

:-)