Archive for June, 2009

mad in SF. . . in every way

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Yes, we made it. Our cross country drive went pretty much as planned (more later, I promise). Today, our first full day in SF, the cable guy came and hooked up our internet access. In other respects, we’re camping indoors. It’s true that you don’t appreciate the little things like running water and a working toilet in the same room until you’ve lost it. Therefore, mad will be focused on some critical infrastructure projects this week before I go back to work–removing wallpaper and painting will have to wait until the little things like electricity and plumbing are addressed. But we do have broadband, which placates me a little and makes it easier to resolve the other issues.

mad on the road

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Greetings from Iowa! mad hit the road on Wednesday. Despite a 3-hour delay where mad and our two cats were stuck camping on the highway with our fellow motorists due to a downed power line in Ohio, we’ve been having fun so far. What’s made the trip a lot less painful is that the cats (and our younger cat, Duckie, in particular) have been a lot more cooperative than they were five years ago. When I drove with my pops four years ago, Duckie would find a way to hide every morning in the hotel room, causing us to take the room apart. Both yesterday and today he emerged in the morning so we could put him in his carrier. Mike and I have taken pictures which we’ll share in a future post. Today, we drive through Nebraska–wish us luck!

it’s all gone

Monday, June 15th, 2009

We are well under way. Today, the movers came and took almost all of our earthly possessions. Yes, we have our wonderful database where our belongings are catalogued and tracked, but yesterday we were still packing in a frenzied dash (why does that always happen?). The clear sign was at 11pm when we were tired and realized we had a bunch of hangers and some bathroom items we forgot to pack. They all went in one box, requiring a little. . .brute force. In honor of this moment we selected a rather fitting name for said box.

a rather fitting name. . .and yes, that's 83 boxes!

a rather fitting name. . .and yes, that's 83 boxes!

A few months ago we selected Moovers, Inc. to move our household items across the country. They came with a bevy of endorsements, and the person who provided the estimate came across as the most honest and straightforward of the three who came to our house. While our experience isn’t over, the start of our Moovers experience has lived up to the hype. Four men showed up to pack up our two bedroom apartment. They wrapped every piece of furniture, and the inventory they completed rivaled my own. In addition, they acknowledged how organized we were before they even began. Without taking any real breaks they worked from 9 to 5 straight prepping and packing our place. And for the record, the total number of items they actually loaded was within the margin of error the estimator predicted. If our cats, Max & Duckie, hadn’t cried, moaned, and freaked out the whole time it would have been almost blissful.

Tonight we’re camping out in our own apartment. We’re sleeping on an air mattress, and we ate dinner on our windowsill (Mike said it felt like a Parisian bistro). Tomorrow we clean, and Wednesday we hit the road. At this point, however, my greatest hope is that Max emerges from the bathroom windowsill at some point tonight.

bon voyage!

Friday, June 12th, 2009

It has officially begun. Today, mad took our second car to the DAS auto shipping terminal. We received quotes from three different auto shippers–and we picked the company that provides an online tracking system, is the preferred auto shipper for ebay, and offered the cheapest price. They’re cheaper because we have to drop off and pick up the car at a terminal. For approximately $20 in tolls we drove the car the 20 miles to Linden, NJ and saved over $300 (seemed like a good trade off to us). It also gave us the opportunity to enjoy our last few moments in New York. Finally, it symbolizes the beginning of the move–there’s no turning back now. This weekend we’re packing the last of our household items and prepping our other car for the trip across this great country of ours. We’ll let you know how the car fares on its journey.

happy trails, mad car

happy trails, mad car

There are some things I won’t miss

Friday, June 12th, 2009

In an earlier post I talked about the joys of NY City living, including the conveniences of living in a full-service building. There are some things I’m glad to be rid of. While the folks who work in my building are great, the property management firm that oversees my building provides me with regular lessons in patience and karma. In order to have anything brought in or out of the building, the company delivering (or removing) the items has to fax a certificate of insurance to the property manager. Given my tendencies, I had spoken with the moving company about this months ago when we first selected them, and I followed up with them and found out they faxed the certificate of insurance to my property manager on June 6. Of course, my property manager didn’t contact me or the movers to confirm or let us know if there was anything wrong with the certificate. I called today, and they said they didn’t receive the certificate (check the boards in Vegas for the odds on the accuracy of that statement). I faxed them a second copy, and called back–only to find out at that point that the certificate needed some changes. Understand, these people will stop the movers from entering the building if there’s one T left uncrossed or one I left undotted. Therefore, in addition to wrapping up things at work before my “vacation” started, I had to deal with faxing and phoning these people who seem to be put on this earth to make things more difficult. Needless to say, knowing that in a few short weeks (once I get back my security deposit back) I won’t have to deal with another property manager (hopefully ever) brings a feeling of joy into my heart.

Red tape never disappears completely, but here's to shedding some of it

Red tape never disappears completely, but here's to shedding some of it

Down to the wire

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

I admit it, the anxiety has set in. We’re down to the last week before we leave the Empire state. Tomorrow is my last day of work, Friday we drop the second car at the car shipper, Monday the movers arrive. Tonight we had dinner with our wonderful neighbors Terri and Jerry (very sad), and we’ve gotten the cross-country tags for the cats in case they try to escape while we’re on the road. Even though we already have 46 boxes packed, I won’t feel like we’re ready for the movers until every last item is prepped and packed. Who would’ve thought that hitting the road towards Nebraska would be a relief! Our intent is to publish posts from the road–but I will admit that day after day of driving 500+ miles might lead to a night or two where we just crash. It’s hard to believe we’re so close to leaving!

For me, living like this right now is reassuring

For me, living like this right now is reassuring

our last knish

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

When you’re leaving a city like New York, you want to savor every last bit you can. You tell yourself that your ability to get an authentic knish will be severely limited in San Francisco. So, for the first time in almost a year you stop and get knishes. They’re so good going down. But then, about 10 minutes after eating said knishes, you remember why you don’t eat them on a regular basis. Then you look at your partner in crime and say “thank God there aren’t an abundance of knishes in San Francisco.” In case you’re curious, knishes are not good packing food.

so good, and yet, so bad

so good, and yet, so bad

mad accomplishments on both coasts

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

The bi-coastal efforts of mad maison continue. I’m happy to report that after months of sorting through over 60 years of my family’s possessions, the main rooms of the house have been cleared of all items by my family. There’s still some furniture in the garage for mad to go through and potentially restore and/or sell, but the floors are empty and ready to be refinished. Even with the existing floors you can easily see the potential of the beautiful Victorian architecture. There will be plenty of work for mad after the floors are done, but things are really starting to shape up.

While not nearly as noteworthy, I’m also happy to report that my assistant and I packed up my NY office today. With my work-from-home days I only have one day left of driving the 40 miles to my NY office!

The emptied living and dining rooms in SF.

The emptied living and dining rooms in SF.

The emptied bedrooms upstairs in SF.

The emptied bedrooms upstairs in SF.