We’re here!
Big truck full of stuff we couldn’t part with, his Explorer on a trailor, and twelve hours with a cat in the cab. Then, four floors of up, up, and up. Don’t wonder why we haven’t kept this updated. We are just now catching our breath, getting Internet, and trying to get the gas turned on. Let me start with the day we arrived…
We were dead by the time the trip ended. We were actually gone by 4:30am as planned, and we started hitting traffic just outside Chicago after twelve hours. We were so close, and now we had to wait. We just wanted to get out of that truck! Yet, we still had to mess with the U-Haul place to get the Explorer off the trailor before they closed. Driving and riding in the moving van wore us out, but the biggest toll was taken on the cat. As many of you know, she keeps a hectic schedule napping in various places around the apartment. In the cab, there was no possible way she could get a moment’s shut eye without being jarred awake by bumpy roads or channel changes on the radio. She tried, trust me. It was fruitless. Eventually, she became hypnotized and delirious. She just sat there, between her daddies, falling asleep and getting jarred back awake. I knew the feeling, but I had to laugh.
We hauled a few things up the stairs to be able to sleep and take a shower. I barely remember collapsing into bed. We both woke up bright and early to forage for food nearby, which was a breeze. We started moving a few things in ourselves, and we were making excellent progress. We got to a logical stopping point, and was ready for a breather, but the movers show up an hour early. Any other time, I would be glad for that. Not so much right then. Jamocha immediately hid under the covers and did not come out for the rest of the morning.
We got the entire truck unloaded and up the stairs in two hours. We were done by 11:30am. We take the truck back to U-Haul, and have breakfast, again. I get a call from Comcast between my coffee and French Toast. He wants to come over now, instead of the arranged 2pm appointment. What is up with all these early birds? I explain that it will be a couple of hours before I have a computer working, and we need to stick to the original appointment. We eat and get back to the apartment, and we are feeling the burn. I get a computer and the TV setup for the cable guy to install video and Internet. Long ordeal ensues, and I end up with television but no Internet. Maybe I will tell that story next post…
We discover the gas is not on, and try to call the gas company to make arrangements. Automated hell and stupid wait times follow. I try to establish service online, by driving to a nearby coffee shop with Internet access. I complete a huge web form, with all my personal secrets, and hit submit. The result page tells me that the system is being upgraded, and someone will call me in five days. Five days. That is FIVE DAYS. I can pay instantly, but nobody is going to do any thing about turning my service on for a week. They could at least have told me BEFORE I filled out the form that it would take a week. I might have held on the phone for an hour if I knew it would take FIVE DAYS for someone to check their email.
We have a microwave and no Internet. You can imagine how lost I was. Joel comes to the rescue. Apparently, some time ago, they started making a frozen entree called TV Dinners. I had to read the box it came in for instructions. There were no recipe ideas or serving suggestions like I am accustomed. Apparently they are meant to be eaten as is, and that is a shame. Know I know that TV stands for Taste Vacant. I had no idea they could grow vegetables that tasted like nothing. Even after a hearty pinch of salt, it just tasted salty. The next night, we ordered Pizza. We might be broke from the move, but there is no reason to suffer bad meals for it.