Moved In

Moved In.

The movers called, and said they had a team available, they could be there at 8 instead of 9, if I was ready. I said "SURE!"

Two young beefy guys had every stick of furniture and every sealed box (about 95% of my possessions) on the truck within 90 minutes. Even with a flight of stairs to negotiate. They even had the tools to help disassemble the bed! (I'd already packed mine...DUH!)

I checked and they were padding everything very nicely, and nothing looked at risk.

I gave them directions because I had to let the cat out of the bathroom, and they headed out. I was on the road not far behind them, and paced them for a while. Nice steady 65mph. Very nice.

And they had me unloaded at the new apartment in about 30 minutes! Stairs make a HUGE difference.

Total was about $360, and worth every penny!

I then swung by the store for things I needed immediately (like a show curtain), then went back for the cat and another load.

Man, she hit some new highs on the trip. She hates being in her carrier, because it never means good things. But once we'd been on the road for more than the 5 minutes or so it takes to get to the vet, she started getting REALLY strident. I've never heard her so loud or so shrill.

But once we got to the new place, she came out of her carrier doing that head bob cats do when things are new. And she spent the entire time I was bringing stuff in looking around. No fear or insecurity there!

So I got that load in, and then set my priorities: Bed, Bath, Coffee, Computer. Bed, so I could sleep; Bath, because I needed a shower before I went to Bed, Coffee in the morning, and my Computer for my Morning Funnies.

Bed and Bath went fine. Unpacked the linens, made the bed, put away the rest. Bath was also fine: Hang the shower curtain and unpack the Soap, Shampoo, Towels, Shaving Stuff and TP.

Coffee: no problem. Unpack the basic Kitchen stuff so I could set up the Coffee Maker for the morning.

Computer: actually Computer and TV. TV's closer to the cable outlet, so I started there. The system went back together just fine, but I'm not sure where I put the TV will work. I think it's going to reflect the front window. Oh, well.

Then the Computer. Dig out and set up the Power System (controlled from switches mounted on my computer desk), Speakers, USB drive, Printer, Palm/Camera/Phone chargers/connectors, and finally the Computer itself (and keyboard and mouse). Double check everything, then Push the Button.

Sweet! Everything's booting. Normal starting routine, right up until "Windows had encountered and irreparable Registry Error, and can not continue" (or something to that effect).

Crap, crap, crap! Fine. Let's try it again, just to be sure.

This time it didn't even get that far.

Crap.

Okay, fine, it's time to hit the sack any way.

While I was showering I was reviewing my options:

1) try to boot from the Windows Disc, and do a System Restore. Not bad.
2) dig out the boot disk for my backup system and try to restore it. Also not bad, but haven't done it before, no idea how long it would take.
3) do a fresh, clean install on a new disk. It's way past time to do this any way, so this, while the longest, slowest and most annoying option, might actually be the best choice. I'll seriously consider doing that.

Next morning, even though I tried to sleep later (I'm about half an hour closer to work, now), I still woke up about 5:30, with the computer problem waking me. So I got up and did my normal routine. I went ahead and flipped on the computer, figuring it couldn't hurt, and would confirm that I still had the problem.

While I was feeding the cat her breakfast, I heard my normal Startup Sound, which doesn't play until late in the boot! I look and there's a perfectly normal boot in progress!!!

Well, Blessed Be, and Ave Tyche! I'll take it! I had my normal Coffee and Funnies this morning!

Admittedly, there's probably still a serious problem lurking, and it's still overdue for a full reinstall. This just makes it clear how badly I need to do that.

The next week will still be hell: driving to the old place for cleaning and moving the last of my stuff, arranging for Salvation Army to pick up the stuff I don't want, and getting it inspected by the Landlady.

Moving Day

Today I move to my new home in El Cajon.

I came so close to calling the movers and rescheduling, because I knew I would not quite have everything packed today. But then I remembered that the reason I hired them was to move my furniture.

And, once I shut down and pack up my computer, every piece of furniture that's going will be ready to go, along with all of the boxes that I do have ready -- at least 90% of my possessions.

I have gotten rid of so much stuff, I cannot believe it. I have half-filled the dumpster twice in these two weeks, stopping at that point each time and holding the rest until it's emptied. (I will not be one of those jerks that fills the dumpster, leaving no room for anyone else's trash all week.)

And I can tell just how badly I'm stressing it. Yesterday I woke up at 4AM (6-6:30 is normal on weekends), and today I woke at 2!

The full story will be posted after the fact, if you're interested ;)