With the house closing and the big move already scheduled for April, getting all that done was first and foremost on my list. Anything else was going to be just extra icing on the cake. My goals were:
- Finish the Move Without Dying
- Unpack to 90% Complete
- Build Data Scrapers
Finish the Move Without Dying
This was a success. Didi and I loaded up our cars on Friday morning, we went to closing, and then we went and dropped off the first load of stuff. We went and picked up the U-Haul, a 15-footer, and Eddy and I got to work while Didi waited on furniture deliveries. That first day stretched out to 18 hours — our first load included a stop at Cort for some furniture we purchased, and a stop at Home Depot to pick up the Mother of All Tool Chests™ for the garage, before we got back to the house and got jamming on loading stuff up. Eddy and I worked at the old place to load up while Didi waited on the arrival of a bunch of furniture at the new place. I was pleasantly surprised at what a workhorse he was — no complaining, no whining, no unreasonably long breaks. While we were working on the remaining space in the truck, Didi arrived, and we got the rest of it loaded and down to Rosemount. Kate dropped off Sam who wanted to help unload, and the four of us blasted through almost everything in the truck — except for the giant, solid-wood entertainment center because we were wiped the fuck out. We took Sam and Eddy back to Kate’s, and then we went back to the old place and got the pets. The first load, we just took the two dogs, and it went fairly smoothly. The second load, I went back solo to get the cats, all of whom were loaded into kennels. Lucky lasted about 4 or 5 blocks before he puked all over his kennel and himself. Schultzie yowled the whole time, Emi was dead quiet, and Cole decided it would be a great time to panic shit all over himself and his kennel halfway through the drive. Happy Friday, y’all!
Saturday morning we unloaded the entertainment center and left it in the garage. We were too knackered and it was too goddamned heavy for us to contemplate the stairs. I took a CBD gummy and a bunch of Advil and we got back after it. Di and I drove separately to the old place, left the U-Haul there, and went and got breakfast at the Standish Café. Then we started loading up. Kate dropped the kids off at noon, we finished loading the truck, and we got the next load down there and emptied out. At this point, the house was basically empty, except for the furniture for the movers. So we turned our focus to the storage unit. Drove up there with Sam, and left Eddy at the new place with his iPad and the pets. We loaded about 2/3rds of the contents, ran out of energy, and drove back to the new place, skipping the unload for the night.
Sunday morning, up bright and early, we unloaded the truck, and Eddy and I headed up to the storage unit to finish it off. We got through most of it, but were stymied by the cedar chest that we overlooked. Didi and Sam drove up, we finished it off, and we got the fuck back to the new place to unload quickly. We returned the U-Haul on-time and under-mileage, and that was all she wrote for the day.
Monday, I had to get back to the old house, as the movers were showing up for the heavy, bulky shit. The furniture. It went quickly and efficiently, and I was grateful I didn’t have to do any of it.
Tuesday morning I was back (again) at the old house and was supervising the professional cleaners that came to knock out the rest of the stuff that needed done.
Wednesday was the carpet cleaners to address the basement carpet. The fun just never ended.
And then on Saturday, I started touching-up the stain where the window frames and hardwood floors were scratched. I discovered that my superpower is matching stain colors. Anyway, as of this posting, all of that is done, the yard is re-seeded in back to deal with the aftermath of the dogs, and all our shit is out of there. We’ve moved on. DONE.
Unpack to 90% Complete
The big focus here had to be two-fold: get stuff to the right space, and to do a little more every day. As of the 24th, I’d say were were about 50% unpacked. Lots of stuff in the right rooms, but still lots of stuff in cardboard boxes. As of the end of the month, we were probably 85% unpacked. My office needs some work, the basement needs a ton of attention, and neither of the kids’ rooms have been tackled yet. I’ll call it good enough. DONE.
Build Data Scrapers
Given all that we had to do this month with the move and me starting a new job, there was no way in hell that this was a realistic undertaking. In my defense, however, I did not have a job when I made this list of to-dos. In the interest of GSD1, I’ve decided to vibe code my data scrapers for the Scoutreads project. I got a Cursor account, I got a salty attitude frothed up, and I’m gonna get down to business during the first half of May. This is going to be an interesting undertaking. But for now it’s a FAIL.
Minor/Other Accomplishments
- Started my new job.
- Signed up for in-person guitar lessons.
Reading
Blockers
- Too many things, too little time — adding a commute to downtown 3x per week put a wrench in things, particularly because reading or typing seems to give me violent motion-sickness. I’m going to try one of those acupressure wristbands and see if that helps, but if it doesn’t, I’m going to be miserably unproductive.
Lessons Learned
- You will always end up moving stuff that when you unpack will leave you wondering why you bothered to move it at all.