So I haven’t been posting much lately, this is something which I intend to fix starting now. The reason that I have dropped off the radar lately is because of a great change in my life: I moved from a studio apartment to a two-bedroom apartment.

I knew I was moving for a while, but of course, having last moved two years ago and then to a new city with lots of friends to help, I didn’t appreciate the full agony of moving. I thankfully was smart enough to schedule getting the new apartment on August 15, leaving me half a month to move out completely. I didn’t really need all that time, but it was nice to not have to move it all in one day.

After conducting a wonderful three-week long search for apartments, I found a wonderful one-bedroom apartment that is situated right next to the new light rail system making it a very low-stress and simple ride into school. I filled out the application and the check for the deposit, and got a call a couple days later saying I was set for the place. The thing that clinched it for the apartment was the dishwasher. People who know me pretty well know that I despise doing dishes. A dishwasher is a dream come true for me.

Of course, I was supposed to move into a one bedroom apartment. I got a call around the 6th from the general manager of the apartments, saying that the one bedroom wouldn’t be ready by the time I wanted to move in, and wondering if I would take a two-bedroom instead. Thinking it a cruel trick of some kind, I asked if it would be the same price, and assured her that I could move in on the 20th if needed. So I was excited to get the two-bedroom for the one-bedroom price, but wary of course.

The day came (after the reunion) and as I showed up I noticed that there was someone in my apartment. I had showed up at 10am, but apparently they weren’t expecting me until noon, and the former resident wasn’t out of the apartment yet. I walked upstairs and signed the lease with the resident manager, paying pro-rated rent for the first month and making sure there weren’t any tricks. I got one set of keys to the place, and talked to the former resident saying that I wasn’t going to move anything big today, but if he could be out by noon (like he had expected) then I would be pleased to move in tomorrow or later that night. Visiting the place later in the evening I discovered that there were still large pieces of furniture there. I was getting mad at this point, because I did expect to move some of the large boxes of stuff I had in my car at that point into the apartment.

I called the next day to the general manager and got it all worked out - the stuff would be gone by 5. I also got more of the full story behind the mess. Apparently one of the two general managers decided to take an unscheduled vacation. This caused a failure in communication on who was to move where. The other general manager was shuffling upstairs to a new apartment and there were two or three other shuffles going on as well. Normally they don’t allow any moving withing the saame building. Anyway at 5pm that day, I was happy to see the general manager in my apartment helping to finish up the cleaning and the handiman came in to change the lock on the sliding door (it was previously fairly loose) and to change the deadbolt on the apartment door. This of course settled the issues that I had with the apartment at that point. I was very happy - I am getting a two-bedroom apartment for $65 less than I had previously been paying for a studio apartment.

Boring moving ensued, spanning many days. Soon everything but the large stuff that wouldn’t fit into either my car or Di’s (which is a station wagon and considerably larger). I also moved a bit of Di’s stuff because she is moving as well - although to one room of a two-bedroom. Then came the 22nd, the day which we had worked out would be best for the moving of large furniture. Having scheduled a rental of a U-Haul truck in the size of 17 feet the week before, but not receiving a call beforehand, I call on the day asking when and where I should pick up the truck. Originally I scheduled pickup at 10am. Calling the general office for the twin cities told me that somehow that was moved back to noon. This was okay, as I had the truck until 6pm still, and this was ample time to get everything moved, including the big-ass couch that was such a pain to move earlier in the year. Going out to breakfast and then to the actual U-Haul store, I discover that the assholes don’t expect me until 3pm. Now, I’ve had some issues with this U-Haul place before, but they were handled fairly quickly and nicely (see the couch ordeal for examples). However, I had already been delayed that day and I had plans for things closely after 6pm. To top it off, they couldn’t give me a 17 foot truck as I had ordered, but only a 14 foot truck. 3 hours is NOT enough time to move that big couch and all the other things we needed to move, and to top it off, I had A waiting for me to show up in the truck to help. Fairly obviously fuming at this point, they called around the twin cities trying to find a truck that I could get right away. They found a 14 foot truck in Burnsville. Of course now I’m complaining because U-Haul charges by the mile, but I need to get that truck. The guy at the U-Haul on Nicollet gave me $30 in gift certificates in order to make up for the difference, which didn’t really make it because the Burnsville one closes at 5pm and I wasn’t planning on returning it until 6pm, making them useless. We got everything moved - the big couch went to my place because it was much MUCH easier to move into the 1st floor than it would have been to move it into the already-full apartment.

At any rate, I’m never using U-Haul on Nicollet and 34th ever again, I’m all moved into my new place, and I am back to blogging again regularly. More about what has happened later.