Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Moving on (Pt. 11)

SAN JOSE, Calif. My move-in expectations were low & Whining Joe managed to meet them.

Although, upon learning in Seattle that my apartment has two levels, he’d whined that he’d “have to hire an extra guy”, he showed up here yesterday at 0845 with only two unloaders. When I asked what happened to the “extra guy”, he said he hadn’t realized there were two levels. I reminded him of our conversation—that I’d told him it was a townhouse & he’d mentioned needing another person—he shifted his eyes & mumbled, “I forgot.”

Yeah, right.

No doubt the number of men on the team comes out of his profit, so he was just trying to save some money.

Well—kinda. He now has to drive 1100 miles to Albuquerque in two days.

They crushed one of my bookcases—not one of the Ikea ones; one of the Jerry Piller’s cases. Plus crushed one of the plastic bin frames & punched a hole in an Ikea case. They told me about the first; said nothing about the others. I wrote them on the bingo sheet. But now I have to throttle a claim out of the company

It took them until nearly 1700 to finish the delivery; exhausting for me because you have to be available with that damned bingo sheet to check in every tag. Which was problematic as there are at least 16 cartons that weren’t tagged. Meaning that either the packers or the loaders/driver didn’t bother to put tags & inventory them.

& now I’m wondering if, for some reason, the cartons with my bedside lamp & all my computer software CDs & peripheral drives were also not inventoried & are on their way to Albuquerque with Whining Joe. Because they are not in my house.

I’m going to have to go through all the cartons in my storage unit to see if they’re in a mismarked (i.e., marked for storage instead of not) carton. Along with the cooking pots & spice rack I’d designated to be here & not in storage.

I’m definitely not whelmed by this whole crowd. The packers were extremely stingy with the packing paper—one sheet per item, whether it was a box of SOS pads or a framed picture or Waterford crystal stemware. They didn’t even bother to wrap a lot of stuff, including the bowl (with lid) of salt; so the latter just came open in transit.

So it’s going to take me a lot longer to get settled than I’d have judged by having an allegedly professional moving company.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Moving on (Pt. 10)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. Last day (I hope) of being here but not in the apartment. This transient life is wearing on me. Even though I got another library card, from Milpitas, I’m itching to be able to start residing at my home, even if the next week or so will be nothin’ but cartons.

(The Milpitas application, BTW, was quaint: you fill it out on paper, & a library clerk enters it into the system. Paper. In the Silicon Valley. The other two library systems gave me dual cards—one for the wallet & one for the key chain; Milpitas is evidently conserving plastic: I had to choose one or the other.)

Got a call from Whining Joe, the Allied driver. He says everything’s on for tomorrow. I’ll believe it when my household goods are actually in my house & he’s gone.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Moving on (Pt. 9)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. So, my lease started on Friday; picked up the keys, signed a bazillion papers, unloaded my car.

I realized that the place has more room than I’d anticipated; but I’ll still need the storage space I’ve rented on the apartment city campus. I’m going to try living with just eight bookcases out. (I’d planned for only six, but with all the space, I decided to go for eight; that’ll help curb any impulses I might have to buy more furniture.)

The kitchen is problematic—inasmuch as it’s about 33% of what I had in Seattle. I’ve planned for putting about 40% of my kitchen stuff in storage; I hope it’s enough.

Hansen Bros, the Allied agents in Seattle, continue to infuse me with non-warm-&-fuzzy feelings. I’ve told my “move coordinator”, Vicki, twice that I have no confidence in the driver & therefore suggested she have someone from Allied at this end work out how to make the delivery. (I do NOT want Joe to show up on Tuesday, the last day of the spread, & float off in a sea of consternation about how impossible it is to deliver my stuff.

Vicki said it was up to Joe.

In other words: once you’re out of their face, they don’t give a toss.

I collected Pele the Wonder Cat from air cargo Friday afternoon, & set her up in the apartment. When I left she was huddled in the ground floor powder room, trying to look like fake marble countertop. I spent a couple of hours there yesterday, morning & afternoon; she’d moved to the counter of the second bathroom upstairs. By the time I left she’d at least turned around, facing the door.

Today she actually came out when I sat down in the second bedroom to read. She demanded pets for about 40 minutes, & then again when I came by this afternoon. That’s progress; but the turmoil of the move-in (hopefully on Tuesday) will set her back again.

She’ll spend the next six months hiding under my bed.

I found the local Trader Joe’s & Whole Foods. Sadly they’re four miles & nine miles away, respectively. No more impromptu drop-ins to pick up a bit of this or that. I’ll have to plan out my shopping trips & make them last.

I also got library cards for San José & Santa Clara. Still have Mountain View, Milpitas & Sunnyvale to go. With your one address you can get cards in each of the system, but they’ve not advanced to the point where one card gives you reciprocal rights in all systems, as with Fairfax & Loudoun Counties in Virginia. (Washington didn’t do that, either: I had one card for King County Library System & another for Seattle, which is in King County. No crossover.)

AT&T managed to screw up the landline—no dial tone. & you can’t talk to a humanoid, & the automated system gives you your choice of DAY for a technician to come out—as in 0800-1800. “No four-hour appointments for that day.”

I can’t believe there’s an outfit—even AT&T—that makes Comcast look customer-centric. I ditched AT&T after nine years of cellular service—with every contract they managed to charge me more than they’d said, or give me less than they’d promised. If they can’t fix this expeditiously I’ll move to Comcast or just go with my Verizon cell phone.

So, one more day of this-&-that, move-in (I hope to God) & then some mad activity to get myself sorted.

& then—the job search in earnest.