Setting up the new place
News, Technical ·Monday August 31, 2009 @ 21:05 EDT (link)
It's been a long weekend, even without taking Monday off.
Almost everything is moved out of our spacious house in Duvall now, with only a few items remaining in the freezer that we'll collect tomorrow.
On Saturday we got a Penske truck (same as the week before, but a 16-footer this time, 10' shorter and perhaps 2' lower, and gas, not diesel) and packed it with the remainder of the "big but I can lift by myself" things: the TV, its stand, some old side tables that we're selling, boxes of kitchen items, clothes, chairs, desks, etc. We picked up the truck at 1000, started packing at 1040, and finished at 1530. We drove to our new place on Avondale in Redmond and unpacked from about 1630-1900. We dropped the truck off at 1945; since it was after hours we stopped in Sunday to get our receipt, and ended up talking with the owner for a while, about guns, training, storage, etc.: he used to be a federal police officer in California.
Even with the hand cart, that was a lot of packing and lifting. And afterward, there was even less space to move around than before, if that was possible. Sunday was spent trying to move things to their place, putting our bed together, setting up a desk in the spare bedroom (it was a bit like solving one of those sliding block puzzles, except to start with we didn't have the empty space). Mattresses were moved, desks were assembled, etc. I also put the TV up, with all the cables that entailed. Since we ended up being up until about 0630, I decided to take Monday off. The cable guy came at 0830, so we couldn't sleep until after he left. We ended up sleeping until 1430. There was still plenty to do in the kitchen (mostly Honey), and setting up computers (me). The TV and computer both have a perfect rat's nest of cables behind them.
The place still has pretty tight corners, but we can move around in the kitchen; we both have computers set up, and I'm able to RAS into work; the TV works, and the Wii is set up. As we put things away/sell or give things away/downsize/pack or throw away boxes, the place will become more a normal apartment and less a crammed warehouse.
The new Internet (Comcast business, instead of Broadstripe) seems faster, but the setup is massively braindead. Instead of giving me the static IP, I was given a local (10.1.10.1) address, but it required JavaScript and frames, so I couldn't see it from the server machine and had to temporarily configure a machine with a GUI (liberty) to connect to view the settings: completely braindead. They should realize that not everyone using their service is going to be a twit with a sole Windows box. Nor do people want to be forced into using their NAT, but fortunately it and DHCP can be turned off; there's a good article about how to fix it up so a machine (or router) can be configured to run on the static IP without interference.
Books finished: The Politically Incorrect Guide To the South.DVDs finished: Coupling: The Complete 1st Season.
Even with the hand cart, that was a lot of packing and lifting. And afterward, there was even less space to move around than before, if that was possible. Sunday was spent trying to move things to their place, putting our bed together, setting up a desk in the spare bedroom (it was a bit like solving one of those sliding block puzzles, except to start with we didn't have the empty space). Mattresses were moved, desks were assembled, etc. I also put the TV up, with all the cables that entailed. Since we ended up being up until about 0630, I decided to take Monday off. The cable guy came at 0830, so we couldn't sleep until after he left. We ended up sleeping until 1430. There was still plenty to do in the kitchen (mostly Honey), and setting up computers (me). The TV and computer both have a perfect rat's nest of cables behind them.
