Tag Archive: moving

Last moving experience

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Tue. June 15, 2010

I had to take a day off work today to help my parents move their stuff from the house to their new condo. They’ve been packing for this day, but when I arrived at their house this morning I found them rather unprepared. They really only planned on sending the big items with the movers, and leaving the smaller things to be picked up at a later time. They made sure they had this luxury by choosing a move date mid-month, and leaving the rest of the month as a transition time. That’s all well and good, except that they still had a lot of small things lying around in and around the big things. How the heck they expected the movers to pick up the big items while they were still loaded is sort of beyond me. The whole situation reminded me of the time we all moved from North York over to Scarborough. That one move was entirely one of the worst moves ever because we were entirely unprepared. More than half of everything was unboxed. The movers were clearly frustrated and didn’t treat my parents all that well. That bad experience led me to make sure that everything I needed to move when I was moving to my condo was boxed and ready to go. That move was entirely quick and painless. For my parents’ move though, I was fearing the worst.

I didn’t want things to be in entirely bad shape, so I was scrambling all over their house to get as much as I could in order. I emptied out cabinets, and rearranged things so that the movers could have easy access. All this time, my parents didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned. Oh man, that bothered the heck out of me. What if I wasn’t there? Would they have left things as is? What if they ended up with another mover with a nasty attitude? Of course I was worried. Well, I worked my ass off right up until the movers came. To my relief, my initial assessment of the movers was a good one. They seemed like they wouldn’t take advantage of my parents, so I was comfortable leaving them alone. I drove over to my parents’ new condo and waited. God, that was a long time. I actually napped on the couch for a few hours just waiting for them to arrive. Apparently they took a long time loading up the truck. I was worried.

When the truck arrived, my father came in and told me to get ready. I got off the couch and started anticipating things. Ooh, there sure was a heck of a lot of stuff. My dad seemed to not want to let go of a lot of furniture, despite the fact that they were downsizing. My father consistently told me that he measured the big pieces of furniture and that he was sure everything would fit. There were many moments where the movers and I shared a laugh over his insistence on making things fit. There were many tight squeezes all over. In the end, yeah, things fit, but there really needs to be a lot of organization.

I’m glad that my parents are downsizing, because they really do not need a big house for themselves. They’re now empty-nesters that deserve to have a more relaxed lifestyle. I would imagine that this move will be their last, so at the very least they won’t have to go through this moving hell again. This time they were fortunate with the movers who must have had a bit of respect for these elderly folk. I know that they’ll be able to get everything organized, but it won’t be without a bit of struggle. The next two weeks will be rough, but I’m sure they’ll enjoy it. Normalcy is something off in the distance, but they’re patient and hardworking. Everything will work out; I’m sure of it.

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The after effects of moving

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Sun. August 16, 2009

Oh man, it’s already the end of yet another Sunday. There’s still so much that I need to get done, but I currently don’t have the time or energy to tackle it all. Yeah, the weekend sure was productive, but have I done enough to recharge my batteries? Can I say I’m refreshed and ready to tackle another week of work? Good question. Hmm.

OK, so I’m sure that once all of the after effects of moving dies down, I’ll finally be able to enjoy my weekends again. Meanwhile, I’m just going to have to ride it out. I’m just concerned though. Am I possibly running myself into the ground? Where’s my breaking point? What if I hit it?

Maybe I’ll feel better in the morning.

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Slowly piecing it together

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Fri. August 7, 2009

God, I have a lot of stories to share so far with regards to this move. As much as I want to unload it all, I think I need to just control myself or else one entry could explode into thousands of words. I’d prefer not to go that route. It’s harder to read that way, isn’t it?

For the last few days, I’ve been sleeping at my parent’s house just because there isn’t any furniture over at my place. Instead of sleeping on the floor, I figured it would just be easier to head on over to the condo whenever I need to. There has been a large amount of back-and-forth movement, for sure. Each time I’ve done so I’ve had to bring along a large amount of stuff. Sure, I got most of it during the big move. I thought that I’d leave little bits behind, I mean, how hard could it be to bring in the remainders? Well, I’m actually quite surprised at how there doesn’t seem to be any end. Oh well. My Corolla is getting a good workout.

Yesterday, I had the appliance delivery scheduled. Long ago I’d called in to say that I had the elevator booked for 1-3 p.m. The building people were stressing that we all needed to book the elevator, even for deliveries. Fine, so I did my best to try to get it all to work. The day before the delivery I got a call saying that the delivery would be coming at 11 a.m. What? I told the person on the phone that I told them to come at 1-3 due to the elevator thing. She said she’d tell the driver. Fine. Anyway, when morning rolled around, I decided to try to arrive early just in case. En route, I got a call from the delivery people saying that they’d be over in half an hour. Holy crap! Lucky thing that I decided to get moving. By the time I arrived, the truck was already there, and my stuff was being unloaded. I had to rush upstairs to clear everything out. In the end, I did fine. Right now, only my fridge and stove are plugged in and functional. For now, that’s all I need. The dishwasher, water line for the fridge, and washer/dryer combo can wait.

So, knowing how these delivery people can be slightly unpredictable, I’ve decided to sleep in the condo tonight. I mean, what if the people come at 8 a.m.? I won’t be directly on the floor though because my mom had the sense to send me off with a banig to put on the floor. At least it’s something. This place will slowly become more and more like home. Just need to get settled.

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Nomadic

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Wed. August 5, 2009

You know, due to the nature of the engineering program I was in (back in the day), I’m not really a stranger to moving. Back then, my schedule was such that I had four months of studying then four months of work. This cycle repeated over and over for six years. Each time I had to switch I had to pick up all of my gear and lug it all 90 minutes down the highway. Over time, I became really efficient at making the move. Back in 2000, during my first few moves I basically took anything and everything. It resulted in a minivan load or two. By 2006, I got everything to fit into my car. That’s just the way things went.

I’m just mentioning all of this because this moving process that I’m going through right now reminds me of those days a great deal. The big difference this time is that I’m not supposed to pack light. This is a case where I have to pack just about everything. While doing so, I have to also pack efficiently such that I can carry most of my things in minimal car loads. I’m trying to transfer as much as I can today, but I also recognize that I can leave some stuff behind to pick up another time. It’s tough striking a balance. I’ve heard stories of people taking months to fully move out. I’d prefer to not drag it out, honestly.

Well, the process is now under way. Wish me luck.

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All it took was 29 months

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Tue. August 4, 2009

All it took was a 29 month process. Now that it’s a done deal, I can now say:

I have a place to call my own.

Right now I’m feeling exhausted. Tomorrow will be a long and arduous day as I begin to move boxes and get settled. Despite the fatigue, I’m going to sleep well tonight.

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About airy batter

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Mon. August 3, 2009

This whole packing thing isn’t not going over as well as I had hoped. I didn’t bother renting a truck because I figured that I didn’t have that much stuff. Well, as today wore on and my stuff went into boxes, I’ve been shocked at just how much I’ve accumulated over the past few years.

I’ll write more about that another day. For this post, I want to post pictures of the results of a bit of a diversion I had late in the afternoon. Packing was going slowly so I went downstairs to see what was up with the rest of the family. My mother had set out some ingredients because she had plans to make a pineapple upside down cake. Sensing it as an opportunity to get away from the nightmare of packing, I offered to do the cake myself. She easily agreed, meaning that I got my needed distraction. The cake part of the recipe was a basic sponge cake. The following two pictures show the results.

Looks great, tasted better.

I want to share an important point about any airy batter like a sponge cake batter. Once you whip the egg whites and sugar to the point where you get those familiar stiff peaks, you have to be very careful when you add the rest of the ingredients. Put down the hand mixer! You do not want to beat the rest of the stuff in. If you do, you’ll beat all of the trapped air out of the batter and end up with a collapsed dense mess. You’re supposed to add the other ingredients a little bit at a time. Each time you add something, just fold it in with a spatula. Don’t stir it, or whack it. You want to keep the air in as much as possible. Once it’s all together you should end up with a light and airy goo. If the goo isn’t airy, you’ve got a problem.

Anyway, that’s all. Tomorrow is a big day. I should be getting my keys. After that, I’m going to start the long arduous process of relocating my stuff. I’ll keep y’all posted.

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Cutting it close

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Thu. July 30, 2009

I’m cutting it a bit close right now. So far, the mortgage hasn’t been signed because the paperwork is still being drawn up. I got a call from my lawyer earlier this afternoon. She set off a little bit of panic in me. She was telling me: if I don’t have the papers signed soon and over to her, the builder might not be able to hand over keys on Tuesday. See, Monday is a holiday. That leaves tomorrow as the last day to get things in. Gaaaaaah!

So my lawyer told me to call my mortgage dealer to get a status. I sheepishly called in to her and she was really nice about it all. At the same time though, she was stressing the point that this is what happens when you do the mortgage stuff late. It wasn’t accusatory, but more of a lamentation: “That’s the nature of the beast.” See, in my case, I had actually started the mortgage process slightly early. Thing is, there was a small bottleneck. A particular document was required that I didn’t have on me. So, I put a request out to the builder’s office. Despite several emails, it took three weeks to get copy of that thing! Crazy! I still find it hard to believe that something like that set me back by so many weeks. Well, there wasn’t a flurry of activity up until the past day or two. And now…it’s all a big rush to just get things done. Damn! It wasn’t supposed to be this way!

So, there’s now a rush to get my mortgage docs done at the bank. As soon as I get the call, I’m going to leave work and hustle over the the bank. Once there, the docs have to get to my lawyer, who’ll then get in touch with the builder’s lawyer. If all goes well, hopefully the builder will still be able to give me my keys on Tuesday. If not…well…what else can I do, right? It’s out of my hands.

Really, I’ve been really antsy since this afternoon. I don’t want things to go wrong! As the day wore on at work, I could feel my stress levels rising. It was horrible; I wasn’t able to concentrate on work. It wasn’t until I took a few moments to calm down a little bit that I put it all into context. So, if I’m suddenly unable to get my keys on Tuesday, it’s likely that the worst that can happen is that I will have to get my keys on Wednesday. That isn’t so bad, really. If it happens early enough on Wednesday, I won’t have to miss my elevator appointment. If I have to, it’s not even like I have that much to move. Sure, it’s not really a problem but certainly it’d be a joy-killer. If it gets bumped to Thursday, that’s a totally different story. My appliances are set to arrive on that day. If I don’t have my keys, I’ll be triply- screwed.

Well, I suppose there’s no point in worrying now. Tomorrow, I will just have to be ready to act at a moment’s notice. I’ll be ready!

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Pre-delivery inspection

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Wed. July 29, 2009

The whole condo process has been pretty long and drawn out: years in the making, really. As such, each time I reached a new milestone, as much as each was pretty cool, they didn’t really hype the excitement level by a particularly large amount. OK sure, settling on a mortgage was a big event in my life, but it doesn’t have that…punch. Know what I mean? Well, finally, something has come along that kind of has that big wow factor. This morning I went through my PDI (pre-delivery inspection). Prior to this date, I could only imagine how the condo would look. I knew the layout, and what finishes I chose. I had a nice image in my mind, but at the same time it was all rather nebulous. This PDI was my chance to take those images and crystallize them in my head.

I parked my car by the station and walked to the building. As I walked along side, I could see that there were people already living on the lower floors. Some of the windows already had blinds. Some suites had furniture. I don’t think I saw anyone in the units, but perhaps people living on the ground level have just gotten good at camouflage. Heh. Well, it’s not like I was staring in. Anyway, I felt rather dwarfed by the building. I usually just drive by it, so I never really had a chance to get a sense of the building’s size. It’s not so tall that the proportion of concrete and steel to human is overwhelming. See, the building is only a few floors high–it’s not overwhelming at all. The result is that…it’s like…the building is in the realm of stuff that I can still compare myself to. As a result, it feels massive. Did that make sense at all? It’s kind of hard to explain.

As I neared the front entrance, I saw a woman in a hardhat waiting by the front entrance. I presumed that she was the inspector that would be accompanying me. Indeed she was. I shook her hand and in we went. She told me that this would be more of an orientation than anything else. As I entered the lobby, that’s when it really started hitting me: wow…I’m going to be living here very shortly. HOLY CRAP. I had my bag with me. I was smart enough to carry my camera with me so I asked if I would start taking pictures. She obliged and let me start snapping at this and that. I was a freaking kid in a candy store. Look at that! What’s that over there? Oh! Oh! Oh! Really, can you blame me? She took me around the lobby area and showed me the mailboxes and the garbage area. The interior really felt spacious. I was expecting something a little bit more cramped, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was also kind of disoriented. My mind was overloaded, really. She took me to the basement to see my parking spot. It’s my luck that I got a great spot close to the elevator bay. Whoo! As much as the basements were interesting though, they weren’t the reason I came. Soon enough we were on our way to my suite.

When we got to my floor, the first thing I noticed was that the area by the elevators was spacious! No kidding. The ceilings were high and there was enough room to swing a cat if I wanted to. There I was still snapping photos of this and that when the inspector allowed me to be the one to open the door to my unit. I’d forgotten how I was in close proximity to the elevator. In my mind I imagined the hallways to be cramped, but no, this building is pretty decent. Anyway, as my hand reached for the knob, I could feel my heart beginning to race. With a good turn, I opened the door, and whoooooa. I was floored.

All of the imagined images were shattered at that moment. What I saw was a bright, spacious, and well-dressed unit. No kidding. The hardwood floors, the selections I made for the kitchen, the tiles, the countertop–it all just came together. Before I saw all of the upgrades as kind of just bits and pieces here and there. I made some damn good choices though. In the unit was one of the many tradespeople around the building site. He told me that everything looked really great. Sure, it’s sort of his job to say that, but the way he said it made me believe him. He said that it was a good size and good look for a single guy. I agree. The inspector said that the kitchen look was very masculine, and yet a woman could live there. Looks like I struck the perfect balance then.

She took me through the rooms and explained all of the controls in detail. I was listening intently, but to be honest there was just so much information that I couldn’t retain it all. Luckily she left me with enough reading material to last me a long while. I just couldn’t get over the fact that all of that would be mine in short time. According to that widget on the right: 6 days.

When it was all over, and all of the forms were signed, I left in a mild state of shock. I mean, I was still trying to process everything that I had seen. Really was a lot to take in in the span of an hour. This whole home-ownership thing is reality. There really is no question about it anymore. Seriously, next week is going to be one hell of a week.

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