stupid online accounts

Tonight I have been updating most of my accounts with my new address, many allow me to do this online. Lovely. Except for my stupid car insurance. It takes me 15 freakin minutes to get into the damn account cause it keep asking for random shit that I had to go look up to verify my identity like "account effective date". Why not just get my SSN and then it'd be easy. But noooo, and after all that crap where I had to re-register cause I forgot my password, then enter many many numbers, they don't have an option to change my address. So I'll have to call them on Mon. b/c of course their office is closed for non-emergencies intil then.

moving continues

Picked up the keys for my new place today. Talked to the new landlord, he and his wife were putting finishing touches and cleaning so I won't have to do any cleaning once I move in. E came over today and helped with some of my packing - she did most of the glassware from the kitchen which was a huge help since most were on high shelves and I would have had to go up then down several times to get them all down, then wrap and pack. My living room's mostly packed except for the computer and tv and air conditioner. All that's left in my bedroom besides the bed is to move the clothes in my closets - they're all going into suitcases as is, hangers and all :). I have many suitcases, acquired on my many many trips to my sis or back home - I often end up borrowing or buying an extra one for the trip back.

Spoke to my landlord today and asked if he would install my air conditioner in the window himself, that way he can fix it right and I don't have to be concerned about damaging the window sill. He agreed and I went to home depot today to get a piece of plywood to place on the sill for support.

Stupid cable company can't come until the 8th to "transfer" my cable. What I don't understand is this - why can't I just plug in the stupid box there. I'm pretty sure that's all they are going to have to do but nooo, I have to wait a week and half and pay $25 for a "technician" to come in. The woman who was in the apt before me had cable so it's not like they need to install a new line. I'm pretty sure they can do this remotely but are going to send in a technician just so they justify charging me. It's all a racket, I'm convinced. Tempted to just tell them to cancel it but who am I kidding. I would be very unhappy without cable.

E and I drove over to the new place so she could check it out - she thought it very cute.

moving in progress...

Packing still in progress. Last night I got rid of a few things that won't fit in my new digs - my friends who gave them a new home paid me for them so that was pretty good. I left it at their discretion what price to give me for them and they were more than fair. They came to pick them up and we managed between the 3 of us to get them on the truck in short order. Afterwards we had fajitas. I'd never been there before - it's like having restaurant food at fast food prices/wait times...can we say the best of both worlds :)

Took most of my pcitures from the walls down and have used these cool spackle stuff to caulk the holes left after I pulled the nails out. Then I used the Magic Eraser to remove the excess spackle stuff. You can barely see where the original nails were. Very cool.

I'm picking up my keys tomorrow and plan to head over there on Sun, take a few things over - the stuff I plan to move myself like plants, PC, etc. Naturally I have a list :)

I've got all my pots/baking pans/kitchen gadgety things packed. What's left is cutlery, foodstuff and the contents of my medicine cabinet(currently a shelf in one of the kitchen cupboards). Oh and also several bottles of alcohol. I really need to have a party of some sort so it can be used up cause I don't really drink strong stuff when it's just me. May move that myself as well.

Too wired to sleep.

picnic

Went to the company picnic today amid the torrents of rain. At least it stopped when we first got there and there was a wide covered area.
There were guys outside in the pouring rain playing soccer. They were still out there when we left around 3pm. That takes dedication.
I had a delicious pulled-pork sandwich and corn and ice-cream. Plus I won a prize in the raffle - best buy gift certificate. So cool. I never won anything before probably b/c you need to get a raffle ticket from the booth(free tickets, you just go up and ask for one :) and I never asked for a ticket at any of the other picnic's I went to ;)
Right now I should be cleaning or packing but am not in the mood to do either. Have a party to go to later but am not really in the mood to go back out in the rain. It was raining so hard on the way back from the picnic that I could barely see the brake lights of the car directly in front of me even with my wipers at full-speed. Got soaked on the way in to my apt b/c of course there's was no parking anywhere near but it's ok cause I was going to be inside soon.

movers

I'm getting movers to move my stuff. My initial plan was to have them only come for about an hr and just move my heavier items. But most have some sort of minimum time limit so even though their rate for 2 guys seemed reasonable, with the added min time, it just seemed like was too much money to have them move 4-5 things. I did get a few slightly cheaper quotes but no help to me b/c they want cash/check and I have to put it all my credit card. But it's fine. I just didn't think it was fair to ask my friends to move my heavy stuff (queen bed/futon/dresser) down 2 flights, across a long walkway, then up two flights to my new place. A few people offered to help me move but most weren't really serious offers-I could tell.
I think it's for the best though. I've gotten boxes from work (10 so far) plus I have several here and I plan to pack up most of my kitchen/books & art stuff in living room. That way I'll know if I need more boxes and will be able to tell the movers more or less how many boxes I'll have. Also have to do some cleaning today so that it's not all left for next week.

I still haven't told my neighbors yet but I think I'll have to get it over with today. I've been sort of sneaking my boxes. Partly b/c it's easier to drop them off in the back near the rental office than to have to walk from wherever I have to park with them in tow. I've been putting it off for as long as possible. I have to tell my downstairs neighbor and I'm not really looking forward to that conversation. I just can't wait to move.

how we feelin? hot-hot-hot! hot-hot-hot!

The past week has been really good for me sleep-wise. I've been logging in 6-8hrs most nights without the aid of tylenolPM. My body is still doesn't know what's going on but I think it likes it :)

Going to bed soon. It's so hot in my spt now. My bedroom temp is currently 86° with 46% humidity (according to my trusty hygrometer). I've had to turn my AC down a notch every 30min or so. Lately I've been keeping it at 75° until I'm ready for bed then I turn it up to 77/78° with the energy-saver on for the night. Currently, it's set at 68° and I'm probably going to have to sleep in my living rm tonight.

For some crazy reason I thought it'd be a great idea to have a cup of hot chocolate. Now I'm boiling and the air doesn't seem to be making much difference unless I stand directly in front of my AC(which I've been doing every so often).

Need to get ready for bed. Maybe after I turn the pc off, that'll reduce some of the heat being generated in here. I'm sweating, just typing and sweating. Enough.

a place to call home

I've found and signed and pd for my new apt. It's in a nice area, only 5 min from where I live now. I saw it Tues at lunch, called the guy that night and filled out paperwork, etc. Wed/today. So it's all set. The layout is much better than the other apt I saw over the weekend that was 5 min from my job. The landlady from that apt called me right after I decided to take the apt I saw Tues. She told me the girl's mother didn't like the apt so it was now available. I felt kinda bad at first but you know what, I think it all worked out for the best. When I looked at that apt, they made it seem like it was a mere formality for me to get it, not once did they mention that someone else had put money down on it. Then when the lady called me and told me that, I took it as a sign that I needed to keep looking. Aparently there are people out there who do give up a $300 deposit. Crazy!

Although, the apt doesn't have a laundry on-site, it's fine. There are a couple laundromats nearby. It's much cheaper than my current digs and still has heat/hot water included. The kitchen has a pantry attached and it also has a small porch. Plus the added anonymity of having your landord on seperate premises. There is one other guy living in the house but that's it. Plenty of windows.

No neighbors watching my comings and goings...or asking me if I came in late the night before...or commenting that I must have worked late when I get after going to the gym. No more wishing they would wait until after 8am to turn their stupid tv on stun. In other words...I'm going to LOVE it.

exhausted

I'm exhausted. Apartment hunting is draining. Did find 2 real possibilities that have almost eveything I'm looking for. Actually, one is perfect, 5min from my job but unfortunately someone's already put some money down on it. They did tell me that I'd get 2nd preference if the person bails but who in their right mind bails on an apt after paying a non-refundable deposit? None I can think of. Still I think if it's for me, it'll happen, if not, then it's not. The other one is good except that it smells weird to me - not a new wood smell(wood floors), not a new paint smell(freshly painted walls). The best I can describe is an old, old, building smell, maybe mold or some other airborne nasty that i'm probably allergic to.
I say an apt that had a kitchen/living room that is the size of the kitchen in my current apt - no joke. Not a real option.

Have several calls to make tomorrow. Still have to talk to my landlord who never seems available to ans his darn phone. I want to check to see if I can get an extension if I need it for a month or 2 and if not, If I can be out aug 1 or 2 even though my lease if actually up jul 31. I wanna see how much leeway i'll have. Also have to call movers even though I don't exactly have a new addy for them to move my stuff to, I figure I probably need to contact them for an estimate soon. Can't move my futon or my queen-sized bed myself.

Got to get to bed in 10. Nite.

the joys of reading craigslist

A few gems from craigslist that cracked me up. Enjoy.

1)question and the response: the best part = soul deprived viper

2)handsome man

3)initial post(do people really talk like or is this just for kicks?) and then the following a, b, c and d are the responses.

4) last but not least

5) I had to add this one as well - alien

All I can say is thank-you craigslist :) The weirdos on craigslist don't discriminate i.e. can be found in every city.

stalker-free, still apt hunting

So I made the call to the EB, told him I didn't think we had anything in common, didn't want to date him anymore. If it was me and someone told me that, I would say, Thanks for letting me know, bye. It was in a word, excruciatingly awkward. He kept asking why, for me to give reasons(plural). Not in the mood to get into it all just now but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Might give more details later and transcipts of the stalker-like emails he sent me if I'm in a mood. Just glad it's over though.

Saw several apts tonight - none of which I can possibly live in - neighborhood too sketchy/looks like a dump/smelly. Why show an apt in that condition - crap hanging from the ceiling. Plus the guy showing the apts(all from the company/slum lord?) didn't know anything about the apts, not when they'd be available, not what utilities were included. Nothing. I have found one that has most of what I'm looking for. I do have a couple reservations about it b/c a)no laundry facility b) 2 people from my HR dept currently live there. So not my ideal situation.

spaghetti anyone?

I was doing some random googling and found this - I've heard/read of it before but not in such detail.

Fun times

Went out Fri night - dancing with my bff S (not my term but coined for us by a woman we know - my response to that was of course - are we 14 again? :)
It was great fun, haven't been dancing in a while and was really in the mood. Considering all the junk I ate that day, it was a good way to burn off the calories. Only bad thing was that they played 50 cents latest so many times I almost wanted to jab a sharp object in my ear to try to drown it out. What was great is that they played a lot of the Dub I grew up with from my teens - at least 15 or 16 years ago.

Those were the days my friend, those were the days - days when the public transport of choice for most teens my age were these medium(24 seats) and small(12) sized buses (called maxi-taxis or just maxis) which were decorated and had cool names emblazoned on the front (like 'quiet riot' or 'checkers' or 'tiny dancer'. Real names people. And then there would be what we call the 'hard-pong' which is literally how loud they could play their music before people started bleeding from their ears(not literally but close enough :). Most of the music played(pounded) was Dub or ragga or reggae. There was also the rock maxis and the chutney or kaiso maxis.
Maxis are colour coded depending on their route and their prices are fixed from point A to B. So very convenient for traveling about the island. They're not allowed to play their music so loudly anymore, several laws were passed outlawing it - all for the good really, at least for the good of their/our hearing.

I was not the coolest teen and tended to avoid these fast-driving, extremely loud, maxis and opted instead for the quieter, unnamed, smaller maxis more commonly/derogatively known as bread-vans. You don't want to be seen coming out of one of these if you are in the cool cliques at school. Whenever I traveled with my cousin, she insisted that we wait for one of the cooler, hard-pong maxis since she wouldn't have been caught dead in a bread-van. Ahhh. Fun times.

apt hunting

Have been doing major apt hunting this weekend. Have seen a few good apts and a few bad ones. Still haven't found the right one for me yet. Going to send in my application for one that I found cause it has almost everything I want except for laundry on-site. I have to let them know by the end of the week though. Trying not to get too stressed about it all. I don't know what I expected. Some of the potential landlords seemed like they were looking for a new tenant and were easy to talk to and I was able to set up an appt almost immediately to see said apts. Others seemed to have decided that I wouldn't be a good tenant just from the sound of my voice cause they were most unfriendly and downright surly in some cases. Plus the rental application they want you to fill out seems way too intrusive - I can understand them wanting to know what other financial obligations you have but one wanted me to note my bank account and credit card numbers. Why is that necessary. If they pulled my credit report they won't get the actual numbers, at least I don't think they would. I would expect that they'd get name/amt owed/min due but actual 16 digits for each card. Just seems like a way to leave oneself open to identity theft. This is all new to me b/c when I first moved here (into my first apt) I didn't have to disclose such information. My plan is not to put the credit card numbers in the application.

Tried to call the EB to tell him I don't want to date him again but he didn't answer his phone although he has been emailing me frantically all week (6 since Sat)- and it felt wrong to just leave a message. Maybe that would be better. Kinder. Or just less trouble for me. I wish I was a guy or at least had their mentality b/c then I could just ignore him and not call until he got the message and feel very little guilt about doing so. I also didn't want to do it by email. I have kinda been ignoring his emails. Some of them I haven't actually received. I just want it to be over and I don't want to be friends and I fear he'll ask for that. and I don't want to be mean but I may have to be so I'm dreading it. Maybe I should leave a voicemail after all.

For some reason aol has been bouncing emails from my mailbox with weird error messages. It's not like my mailbox is full or anything so i just have no idea why it's been happening but I know it has cause a few of my friends have tried to send me email without success. Somehow though, all the stupid forwards that a particular friend of mine sends(8-10/week) always get through. Most are stupid chain-mail crap that I delete as soon as a I realize what it is. Personally, I'd prefer to receive 1 email every 2-3mths from her with a short note, you know, saying "hi" or "how she's doing" instead of ~40 freakin crap forwards without a note or word from her except stupid threats about bad luck if I don't clog someone else's mailbox by forwarding them. I'm not a big fan of forwards. I have to be really amused by one and it has to be short read or one pic for me to actually send it to anyone. I don't forward chain-mail. I stopped a few years ago b/c I don't like getting them and decided not to inflict them on others when I hate them myself. What ends up happening is that I delete most of the emails from her unread b/c i figure if I don't open it then the bad luck has to pass me by right ;)