Moving Sucks (and so do you!)

No one reads this blog anyway, but I still apologize for the lagtime since my last post. It has been a busy few weeks.

My wife finally joined me in NC (from Ohio) Memorial day weekend. She had to trooper it on down 12 hours in the car with our three cats in crates. She arrived on Friday night, and the movers were due to arrive on monday, so we were able to kick back, relax, and eat too much for two days and just re-acclimate ourselves to, er..., ourselves (too many ourselveses). We did determine that a one-room apartment is not big enough for two people and three cats. You can go ahead and write that down. They are largely nocturnal, and in that small of a space they will be sure to wake you up with their normal play, chasing, and general misbehavior.

Monday was the big move. The truck showed up around 9 and left around 4. They were professional movers so the wife and I didn't have to do much lifting, but it was a lot of standing and directing them where stuff goes. Since I am freakishly pale, I managed to get sunburned despite standing in the shade as much as possible. The real revelation about the move is that we have too damn much stuff. We need to get active on craigslist or yardsales or something.

I took Tuesday off to unpack and get the house settled (enough to sleep in at least). The cats were not too excited about the new digs at first, but were more or less settled within a couple days. There was also a lot of moving boxes from where we had thought they belonged to where they actaully belong. This succeeded in really wearing out my triceps for the rest of the week (I am in horrible shape, unless you count round as a shape).

We are renting the place from my parents. This has pros and cons, the principle con being my dad is less motivated to be the landlord than he would have been for strangers as tenants. So far, our hot water only works when it feels like, the dishwasher "runs" but doesn't open the soap dispenser thing, the fridge doesn't work at all (and the repairman today informed us that it is leaking freon) and the water line to the fridge doesn't hook up right so we are collecting water in a bucket at an average of 2 gallons a day.

Let's see, other than that it has just been a lot of unpacking, work, cold showers, and a mountain of boxes that has completely blocked our foyer to all but the most nimble kitties.

I have started playing rec volleyball with some folks from work. It is a place that has several sand courts (but more importantly draft beer). It is a really casual group in a casual league, but it sure reminded me how out of shape I am. It doesn't seem like it would be much exercise, but all those short bursts of running and jumping were killing me (and the triceps still hurt). We'll see how I do tomorrow, but worst case it is a big team and we can afford to bench me.

Other rants in rapid fire mode:

Top Chef - How pathetic was the "cheftestant" pool this season that fucking Lisa is top 4? She is awful. I wouldn't hire her to work at a Waffle House. Not that Spike was better either, it is just sad how few worthy chefs there were.

M:tG - For those of us who are Magic players, Monday was one giant clusterfuck of bad news. They changed the list of allowed cards in Vintage tournaments to completely turn the format on its head, basically saying that several of the most popular cards can't be played with anymore. Then they revealed that they will be changing the composition of future sets, making it much harder (i.e. more expensive) to complete sets, or at least to obtain the rarer cards. I don't know why they are doing either thing, much less announcing them at the same time, but it is bad news bears.

Gas - Regular is at least $3.85 here, most stations have it higher. How in the hell do people making minimum wage (or close to it) survive? My first job was as a cashier at KMart, making about $4.85/hour. I would be spending about two hours worth of pay just getting to work and back at these prices (yes I know minimium wage has been raised, but still). Anyone making single digit $/hr, you have my sympathy. I hope you live in a city with decent mass transit. The price of diesel fuel is so high that our mover (who was an independent contractor for Atlas) said he was probably going to have to shut down because he can't keep up with the fuel costs.

Pregnancy - We went to a baby shower this weekend for some good friends of ours. Two of our other friends present were also pregnant, as is one of my co-workers. Let me state for the record that almost every single thing about pregnancy grosses me out. The weight gain, the fluid leakage, the various unpleasant side effects like morning sickness, the tearing of ladyparts, everything. I am starting to come under pressure from the wife and the moms to have a kid, but I am at a loss for what the appeal is. And sorry, but very few babies are actually cute. Most are purplish, slimy, cry-ey, and in general like an animal you would not reach down and pet if you saw it in the park.

Morons in the Ohio Dept. of Taxation - Back in December, we got a notice stating that we owed the Ohio taxes for the tax year 2006. We did not live in Ohio a single day in 2006, and I told the not helpful ass on the other end of the line as such. He informed me that I had to PROVE that I wasn't a resident of Ohio that year by sending in copies of our tax returns. Why I should have to correct their mistake, I'll never know. Then in April, we got a bill from the state saying that in addition to the taxes we owed, we now owed over a thousand dollars in penalties! Due in 60 days upon penalty of imprisonment! Calling them up, they evidentally lost or never received the tax returns and assumed we were criminals. The solution? Send us your 2006 tax returns (again)! We called them again yesterday, and they weren't sure if they had recieved them or not (apparently they have one central fax line that everything gets sent to, and MAYBE someone finds your forms and maybe they don't). I faxed them in for the THIRD time today to some guy's direct fax line. Does this not all seem like pretty excessive hoops for me to jump through for their fuck-up?

That seems like enough blogging on the company dime for today. I will likely be posting more often now that our house is more set up. later bitches.

Props - Herr's Salt and Pepper potato chips; Me, for rocking out with or without my cock out; my wife, for totally TCB'in with all the new house nonsense.

Slops - State of Ohio; Oppressive heat/humidity; Procreation