2.28.2007

home again

I woke up in our new home for the first time this morning.

We drove out yesterday morning (leaving at 4am.) Scott and Evan helped us unload the truck in a phenomenal five hours (considering that it took three days to load it.)

We're still swimming in a sea of boxes and I can't find my clean pants or our food, but we're here, and we're pretty blown away.

Our place is a lot cooler than I remember. Plus, I didn't notice a lot of the more amazing features... there is 24 hour access to the roof... with a beautiful panoramic view that includes an entire panorama of the city, the hollywood sign, and downtown. We have an elevator with the gate door that you pull to the side, like you see in movies. (That gate is heavy, by the way.) Plus our place is pretty big.

We're trying to sort out how this place works a little. We need a parking pass, and fast. We already got a ticket... Our street is preferential parking only and without a permit, we have to move our car every two hours during the day and cannot park anywhere between 6 and 7 (both am and pm) which is tiring. We have to jump through some hoops... get our car registered and DL's in CA, a confirmation of utility bill as proof of address, and so on... lots to do.

And we pretty burned out. I just want to sleep for two days. (And hire a temp person to unpack in the meantime.)

Since I am piggybacking on some strangers' wireless connection to write this, I will wait to post pictures until our cable guy puts in our high speed internet connection tomorrow.

Things are going... moving along.

2.26.2007

last az day

Today is the day we drive out to CA for keeps. The moving van is nearing capacity and our rooms are sparcely littered with only odds and ends around the perimeter, cleaning products, and trash bags.

It looks like a crack house.

Still plenty of work to do and now, just 24 hours to do it in.

The goodbyes have been harder than I expected.

2.21.2007

contrasts

Our last move seemed a lot less complicated. I guess that life is accumulative, both with respect to the tangible and the intangible. This move has a lot more at stake.

It is surreal.

The house is looking pretty empty. Most everything has migrated to boxes stacked in the living room or is gone. We got rid of fantastic amounts of "stuff." If we haven't touched it in a year, it went. (Except nostalgia items, which we agreed had to fit inside a storage tub.) It was a difficult cleansing... but we are lighter for it, and prefer to be even lighter still. I think more will naturally go as we unpack and can't find places for everything.

Ever since our apartment burned, I like to remain unattached to our things, and remember that our stuff is not our life... our life is our life... that what we do is what matters, not what we have.

Also, I am reminded how awesome it is to have a partner who is in synch with me on the important things. I really appreciate Mark at times like these.

2.13.2007

moving along

We are off work in 10 days, pick up our rental truck in 12, and move in 14. It is all very surreal and we are starting to realize that it is actually happenning.

This weekend we spend much time going through things and getting the apartment ready to turn in our keys. I spent most of today with cleaning gloves on. The stove is glistening. I love getting things done and working hard.

We have plenty to keep us busy next weekend, too. Our only caveat is that we really wanted to do a couple of fun things before we leave that we will miss, so fitting it all into next weekend will be our challenge.

I don't have any pictures of our apartment, yet. It is VERY quaint. I will give the whole gushing report when I can support it visually.

2.08.2007

call

Farmers insurance wants a telephone interview with me :)

2.05.2007

progress

Done and Done.

Done (1) We have the apartment we looked at yesterday. I looked around and as I suspected, nothing measured up to it, and when you are in love... love is happy. Now we just have to restrain ourselves from pimping the place out, as urges go when you have a cool place.

Done (2) Mark finished the process for his job-transfer, so one of us is working when we get here.

Still pending... my job... hire me, I'm extremely smart, talented and amazing and not at all egotistical!

Also all the tiny details that are involved with changing your entire life... I wish I could hire a personal assistant... smile.

Oh, and a BIG thanks to Kevin N. for getting me sick, since I really love cough drops and naps.

Oh, and if you owe me money... our move-in deposit is huge and cash only... so every little bit helps.

super

I watched the superbowl with nachos and bean dip and Mark and his brother. It was pretty fun. I was up for a ridiculous amount of hours beforehand so I fell asleep when I came to the sad realization that the Bears would need a miracle to recover.

However, on the way here, we stopped at an apartment Mark found last week that I had previously vetoed because it is a little higher in price. Mark knew if I saw it... all kinds of magical thoughts would begin, which was true. He suggested all the bugetary things he would be willing to give up to live there... and I could see sacrificing a little to live in such a pretty place.

We love it so much that it seems pointless to go out today and look for places that are cool and cheaper (because I'd be thinking the whole time... yeah, but for an extra $75, I can live in that one place.) I'm still going to look, because LA is just loaded with cool, tucked away places that are precious.

We HAVE to pick and make financial arrangements THIS WEEK so that all other things can fall into place afterwards. I will post the winner, soon.

2.02.2007

good jeans

While I was job seeking, I came across ZAFU. They develop complex algorythms for determining what clothes will fit you best for mail/catalog items. I tried out their website and they recommended 37 different specific pairs of jeans that I should try and where to buy them. Data mining like this gives an educated guess to shortcut an otherwise random process of selection. The results are "suggestions" that narrow your search toward the most likely items, but not all of them will fit perfectly.

I particularly like the "wishlist" question, on which you place a checkmark on what you wish your jeans hid, such as "muffin top" and "saddle bags."

Off to LA again this weekend. Still no job, no apartment.