THE MOVE

This was perhaps the easiest move I think I’ll ever have in my entire life. Having said that though, I can’t remember the last time I hurt so much.
Victoria and I spent Wednesday and Thursday nights throwing out all our old or worn out junk and packing things into boxes. Friday we moved all the boxes to the new apartment as well as anything that was to go into our closets. We basically wanted to get as much into the new apartment as we could while still keeping it clear for moving in furniture as well as clearing the furniture in the old apartment so that it would be easy to move everything quickly.
Saturdy morning we expected 4 people to help us: Victoria’s parents, Becky and Mike. Mike brought four others. So with 8 people moving things around the move went REALLY fast.
Well it also helps when your moving next door. In an apartment that means out one front door, and into the other. Less than 10 feet. Nice.
Saturday night we watched Mirrormask and emptied some boxes of clothes and books.
Sunday we spent the day scrubbing and cleaning the other apartment. That was real tough after all the moving of stuff the last 4 days. We got it done around 2pm and returned the keys. Then we went grocery shopping. UGH.
We still have about 5 boxes to open and our apartment is full of stuff so we’re going to spend the week getting it unpacked and all niced up so I can take pictures for you all.
At the moment after 5 days of moving stuff around and cleaning, we’re both really sore and tired of exercise. We’ll take a break tonight (I have my Chapter 2 quiz in Algebra) and tomorrow we’ll commence opening the last boxes and putting stuff away.

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Movin’ Right Along…

So it looks like we’re moving. We got notices about 9 months ago saying they weren’t renewing any leases and they were rennovating the apartments. This was weeks before our lease was to run out giving us just 10 days or so to find a place and move. They were offering to move us to an apartment in the complex that had already been rennovated but none were ready or available yet.

So instead, they renewed our lease for 6 months, thus giving them time to finish rennovations on apartments and making them available for us to move into. Also this would give us time to find another place if we didn’t want to transfer.

SO when October comes around and I start asking about apartment availability they tell us we’ll be getting another 3 month renewal. There are apartments available but it would make it easier on us so we don’t have to spend our Christmas money on moving.

Fast fordward to February. So now the lease is set to end March 31st, 2006 and we get a call a couple weeks ago (while I was sick as a dog) asking if we will allow them access to the apartment to inspect the walls. It seems the apartment above us and on the other side of the building from us (we share a kitchen and dining room wall) had a bad leak and there’s some poor plumbing which is causing some structural damage. They want to check our apartment to see if it’s been affected.

So they come in with inspectors and they plug this machine into the wall in various spots and it beeps when there’s moisture or something. Well it’s beeping nearly every place they plug it. SO they want to move us out as soon as possible…to the apartment right next door, which I take for granted they’ve already inspected otherwise they wouldn’t have installed the expensive maple cupboards and granite counter top.

Come to this past Saturday. Victoria and I are cleaning like mad in the storage closet, dumping all sorts of stuff we have accumulated over the years that serves no purpose for us (not even nostalgia). On one trip out to the dumpster we notice an envelope on the door. We open it to see that it’s a rental form. They want us to move the following weekend (this coming weekend).

Well, this is unacceptable. We have no money! So we ask them if we can wait to pay until March 1st. They’re fine with that. PLUS they’re giving us $300 off our first month’s rent! Nice gesture? Hardly. It’s either pay 4 hours for movers to come help us move, or give us $300 to get our own movers. I guess it’s something they legally have to offer in such a situation. So we’ll take the $300 and move ourselves. There isn’t a lot of heavy furniture and it’s just out one front door and into the other, so no big deal.

So Saturday is moving day. We already have about 10 boxes of stuff packed up and we still have a bit more to do. I think we can at least get the furniture cleared off by Friday night so all we’ll have left is clothes for Saturday and pillows and sheets to sleep on. Otherwise it’ll all be packed up and ready for the move.

For those friends and family wishing to know what our new address will be…just add two to our apartment number. Simple as that. Our phone number? We won’t have the 1406 number any more. We’re going to be switching to our cells. This way we get no sales or charity calls, and no matter where we are, we can be reached. It’ll save us $30 a month as well which is going to help with all the added rent. From $1057 to $1225!

With brand new carpeting, doors, doorknobs, fresh paint, granite countertops, maple wood cupboard doors, and brand new appliances (oven, fridge, washer, dryer, microwave and dishwasher) I can’t complain. We already got new windows and moldings…whatever those things are called that the glass is placed into…I figure it’s all the window.

Anyways it’s all new. New paint job on the exterior of the apartment buildings (new colors and I like them!) plus brand new roof tiles and they’re changing all the lights around the complex to be more asthetic (and also a bit brighter). I really like what they’re doing.

So yeah, we’re moving Saturday and cleaning up Sunday. Gotta clean the oven and fridge since the appliances are going to another property and we have to bleach the tub to get my blue hair dye out of it. Otherwise, they’re tearing everything else up so they told us not to bother vacuuming, cleaning walls or cupboards. VERY NICE.

Well that’s it for now. Back to work!

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Ooooh Baseball and Soccerr…..

OK Baseball: Camps started this past week and the WBC starts up in a few weeks. I can’t say I’m really that excited about the WBC. I’m a bit pissed that they eliminated baseball and softball from the Olympics but decided to keep TRAMPOLINE. Yeah, you read that right. Anyways, just happy to see some baseball again. Time to break out The Natural. Required viewing for the start of every season.

NOW for soccer: Arsenal continues it’s slide while Norwich City starts it’s futile playoff run. We picked up Earnshaw and the man has been an animal. We won two and lost one this week. That’s right, 3 games in one week. Soccer is one of those sports that, like football, you just can’t play 3 times a week without getting so fatigued that you risk injury. This morning apparently, they looked up beat and ready for another. There’s no way they can get into the playoffs. They’d have to win 8 of their last 10 and they certainly aren’t capable of that. If we can just place above Ipswich Town I’ll be satisfied.

OK Olympic thoughts: Johnny Weir…you make Darren Daulton look normal. This guy’s talking about how his aura, black heart and missing his bus caused him to go from 2nd to 5th in men’s figure skating. BULL. You got nervous and you bombed. End of story. Meanwhile, your teammate Lazarus gets the flu so bad he can’t stand up, is hooked up to IVs most of the day and he turns in the performance of his life. Johnny Weird. Get over yourself.
Glad to see the flying Tomato and Hanna Teter win gold. Great couple of people. Or so they seem in interviews.

LAST My thoughts on the Pads pre-ST:

Starting Pitching: B- Jake Peavy and Chris Young are amazing and I expect big years from both of them. If Clay Hensley is allowed to start, I think he could complete the trio. If not he’ll be a force in the bullpen. Woody Williams, Shawn Estes and Chan Ho Park are a trio of has-beens and I’m disappointed at all the money we’re shelling out for them. I certainly hope those first three are starting and not the last three.

Bullpen: D+ Trevor Hoffman and Scott Linebrink are the only things saving this bullpen from total distruction. Scott Etherton? Alan Embree? Did we dump all our great bullpen arms and replace them with everyone who had an ERA over 6.00 last year?

Catcher: C How fitting. Mike Piazza still has some pop but he’s lost speed on his bat with age, and he’s never been accused of being a great defensive backstop. In fact he’s been accused more of just being a human backstop. Doesn’t throw guys out, slow moving behind the plate and doesn’t block the plate on throws home (Ramon Hernandez, anyone?). At least he calls a decent game, or so I hear. Doug Mirabelli is defensively everything that Piazza is not. Offensively he’s about the same. Someone who will hit .250, hit 20 HR and strike out 175 times.

Corner Infield: C+ Ryan Klesko and Vinny Castilla. That would have struck fear into pitchers ten years ago, but not now. They both still have power and can still hit for average. Castilla is still a great third baseman, but their age has slowed their bats and their reflexes. I expect .270 averages, maybe 15-20 homers and much less striking out than we’ll see from Mirabelli and Cameron.

Middle Infield: B Young but very very talented. Khalil Greene and Josh Barfield should be superstars before their time is through. At the moment, Greene is expected to have a breakout year while Barfield will just be learning the majors. I hear Josh is slow at the DP. That can’t be good. What is good, is that’s the only bad thing I hear about him. He’ll hit .300 and will add some excitement to the lineup. Greene should finally top 20 homers and hit over .280. I’m expecting this to be a strength for us.

Outfield: A- Giles, Cameron, Roberts. This isn’t the best outfield in the majors but with Giles and Cameron tracking balls in the spacious right and center fields (not to mention their bats), this is the strength of the club. Giles and Cameron both have the talent and ability to hit 30 homers and hit .300. They will come short of both I think, but not by much. Cameron has legs and with Roberts should provide a great 1-2 punch in the lineup. If they can both stay healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see us have a couple of guys with over 30 SBs.

Defense: UPGRADE
Lineup: UPGRADE
Starting Pitching: UP IN THE AIR (With Henlsey, UPGRADE; without him, DOWNGRADE)
Bullpen: DOWNGRADE.

Expected finish at this point…..85-77, 2nd place in the NL West, no playoffs.

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Once More With Feeling

OK I don’t know how many of you are or were into the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer TV series, but I’ve had the songs from “Once More With Feeling” in my head a lot lately. Victoria got a copy of the soundtrack and I’ve been listening to it quite a lot.

When the series was on TV I never watched because at first I associated the show with the movie and wanted nothing to do with that. Then all I heard was women watching it and talking about it at work so I assumed it was a chickish show and I avoided it.

Then Victoria started renting the DVDs of the series from Netflix. I watched the first season. I was still skeptical because she was also watching DVDs of Charmed and I wasn’t too keen on that. So I skipped a lot of episodes in Seasons 3 & 4. Then I started watching again and now I really like it. We just recently got through the end of the series. Now we’ll start watching Angel. Now that I really appreciate it, I want to go back to the beginning and watch them again.

Anyways…just wanted to share something. Haven’t posted in a few days.

Ciao

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Still ill…

Got sick Friday night. I felt bad all day Saturday and didn’t have the energy to clean the house like I had wanted to. Sunday we enjoyed the Super Bowl while I just flopped on the couch. Monday I missed work.
Tuesday and Wednesday I came into work only to be sent home because I was so sick.
Thursday I stayed home.
Today I’m at work and I have energy so I’ll stay all day but my nose and chest are still buggin me.

I’ve taken Day-Quil, nasal decongestant, VapoRub, Robitussin, hot rag press on the forehead to fight the fever, plenty of rest, Orange Juice and water all the time, I spit out everything I coughed up and was blowing my nose so much that I have a scratch on the front of my nose (need to clip those finger nails) and my nostrils are dryer than a desert.

NOW Victoria has caught something. Sore throat, she says. She says that it comes in waves where sometimes she feels great and other times she feels horrible. So, I’ll go home and take care of her tonight. We’ll watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics at 8pm and go to sleep.

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No!!!

So I’m sick for Super Bowl weekend. What a bummer!

I finished my first assignment for my HTML class last night. Just a basic mini-bio using various list types , headers and just showing that we know how to use basic code like bold or italics or insert pictures. It was kinda fun.

So I’m going to sorta relax a bit today, clean a little around the house, and try to get as healthy as I can for tomorrow.

Good thing about this though. Got sick on a weekend so no days off of work (Shouldn’t I be feeling the opposite about that? What’s wrong with me?) and I’ll be all better by Thursday night. Really looking forward to Butch’s party. Well…I’m off. Wish me luck.

HUH?

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New boost to color and New Canaries

Well, I gave my hair a little boost of color Friday night. I didn’t like how light it had turned out before. Now I’m more amazed at the wide range of colors that are going on in my hair. Most of all is this cobalt blue that I love so much. I’ll keep it around until Saturday, February 11th when I’ll dye it back to it’s natural color..or close to it.

Now for the Canary side of things (as if you guys even care). Norwich City FC signed Zesh Rehman from Fulham for the rest of the season. Rehman is mainly a defender but can play midfield. They also got themselves a couple of strikers: Jonatan Johansson from Charlton and Robert Earnshaw from West Brom. Rehman is a loan, Earnshaw is a 3-year deal, and Johansson is on loan. Things are going to look up a bit I hope. Especially since they just lost 4-0 to Reading today. Worst loss of the season. We’ll see what happens on that front. I don’t believe in the board or Worthington and have no confidence in them whatsoever. If these three help get us to the playoffs and perhaps a promotion back to the premiership, then I’ll change my tune. Until then…they can all sod off as the English say.

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