Moving Out
The storm is over for now…We’re decompressing here in SE Pennsylvania at Maki and Dave’s house before we have to recompress next week.
The last two months were very stressful, and last week was the worst. I didn’t think we’d get everything packed up in time but somehow we did. We had some help from friends and family. Madeleine was our only guest at an impromptu document shredding party last Thursday night. She stayed over until 2 AM enabling us to get rid of a ton of paper. For me, shredding is always a bit slow since I can’t help looking at things before I destroy them. I completely regret my past practices of saving all paperwork, and won’t do it again. I had to go through 11 years of credit card statements and receipts. I never had time to do this before, and didn’t really now, but I felt I had to do it because I didn’t want to take all this paper with us or waste storage space. A few interesting things that occurred to me while I was going through my Visa statements: my credit line 10 years ago was a measly $1,500. Guess they didn’t trust me back then, I wouldn’t blame them. I consistently had balances carrying over each month. And, a gallon of gas in the Cleveland area in 1997 was around $1.09.
On Thursday, Eric also came over around 11:00 and bought our TV, removing one of the last entertainment sources from our home. Our Bose iPod sound dock was already packed, so we were left with music playing out of the cheap Radio Shack portable speakers that I bought in Newport a few years ago. Then, on Friday, someone who saw our post on Craig’s List finally came to get our sofa bed after a few false starts. We were happy to get a decent amount of cash for it, but more important, I was relieved that we would not have to load the behemoth into the U-Haul. With that gone on Friday, we were left with two barstools as furniture. I’m sure this didn’t make our babysitter happy when we went out for one final party in the neighborhood on Friday night, but she didn’t complain.
I did some final shredding on Friday night during Jenn and Peter’s farewell visit to our place. They may have thought me a bit rude (I did), but I didn’t care at that point. Dave arrived late on Friday night, and we prepared to load everything up on Saturday morning with the aim of a noon departure. Dave and I went to take a few things to his minivan parked on 73rd Street before going to get the U-Haul. It was gone. Mistakenly, he had parked in a “No Parking 8 am to 6 pm except Sundays” spot on the side of Duane Reade. It was Saturday. We needed to find out where the impound lot was. Fast. But our Internet had been cut off the day before by Time Warner. Luckily, Rodel, who was helping us move, knew where the lot was—a few blocks from his apartment in Sunnyisde. So, Dave and Rodel went to fetch the van, and about two hours later they came back with the 14 footer.
By that time, we had a few more visitors. Aya’s friend Nikki had come to buy her purple Specialized Dolce racing bicycle. Nikki was training for her first triathlon—St. Anthony’s in Florida—and since Aya is temporarily retired from the sport, she felt she could part with it. Nikki’s friend or new boyfriend (I’m not sure which), Mike was there too, which turned out to be a lucky break for us. They decided to hang out for a while, and Mike, apparently trying to impress Nikki, offered to help me take our things down to the lobby while we were waiting for Dave and Rodel. I didn’t want to take advantage of him, but he insisted on helping. We stuck to the less weighty items since I knew they would be bringing a hand truck and some pads with the truck. The lobby was full of stuff when they arrived, and to my surprise, Mike continued to help us, including some hefty pieces of solid wood furniture. I had never met this guy before, but I guess he was getting something out of it if it helped him make a good impression. All I know about him is that he’s Italian and from the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, but if asked I would give him an endorsement with Nicky based on his chivalry last Saturday.
After an hour or so, with Aya and Nancy alternately guarding the truck and watching Ana, our apartment was empty. We hit the road around 1:30 pm—not bad considering the towing fiasco—with me behind the wheel of the minivan and Dave the truck. Stupidly, we went through Manhattan instead of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Getting across town wasn’t bad, but going down 9th Avenue toward the tunnel was an absolute crawl. Dave managed to keep pace although he was usually a block behind. The tunnel was slow but the worst part of the drive occurred on 495 on the Jersey side. According to the sign, there was a fuel spill and/or accident. We inched along and finally got past the trouble spot. It was around 4:00 already and we were only in Secaucus when things started moving. In all, the normally 2 ½ hour drive to PA took almost six hours. We were exhausted when we got there but still had to unload the truck and schlep it upstairs to our room for the next week. Dave’s friend Neil was a huge help. As was Dave, who got roped into this by Maki and was not too pleased with the day’s events. But, he still did what we needed him to do which we really appreciated it.
We’ll be back in Jackson Heights on Sunday, but by that time our old place will be newly occupied by our tenant, Brian. I would have liked to have taken a few pictures of the empty place, but with the parking problems on our street and the aggressiveness of the NYPD traffic cops, I didn’t want to take any more chances. So there you have it. We’re now technically homeless for the next few days, even though I assure you we’re eating very well down here.
On a side note, a telemarketer called me last Thursday. I said I’m busy but they could call back next week. Oops, I forgot to mention that my phone was going to be disconnected the following day.
