Moving!

With the exception of my final walkthrough at my old place, I am officially moved!

The moving itself went a lot smoother than I expected.  This is my fourth move since graduating college and my first move since making the trek from Virginia last year.  Using a freight service for a long distance move really changes your perspective on moving.  Before last year, I always just used the "anything goes" method of packing.  "Just throw it in the back seat!"  "Don't wrap those pictures!"  "A laundry basket and trash bag ARE acceptable packing materials!"  When you have to use a freight service (like an Atlas or a Delta Van Lines), EVERYTHING has to be packed in boxes or they won't take it.  When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING -- including dirty clothes!  If it's not wrapped correctly, then they will charge you extra to crate it or they simply won't take it. Originally I had the "oh I'll just take it in the car" mentality but quickly realized that my car was too small for, um, basically anything.  Unless you're moving from a mansion, you have to share the tractor trailer with other people's stuff, so the moving company will tag it and then you hope it gets unloaded at your house (and not someone elses).  Fortunately I grew up in a small (slightly redneck) town in Maryland, so I put neon duct tape on every single box so that there was no mistaking my stuff.  Instead of hoping that I had made enough friends to help me move, I hired movers but I may have gotten over-zealous in this year's packing.

What resulted was a minor freak-out when I got to the new place and couldn't even see through the mountains of boxes.  My new place is a few square feet smaller but with a much different layout so there was a lot of "OMG WHAT DID I DO?!  ITS TOO SMALL!".  I unpacked the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom within the first 24 hours and then realized that it wasn't as small as I thought (and I'd be ok).

With all of my IKEA furniture, I figured I'd have a few fallen soldiers but I (surprisingly) had none!  The only hiccup I had throughout the entire process was with the furry one.  She has a new trick of opening cabinet doors from the front.  Unfortunately she hasn't figured out how to prop them open or open them from the back so she sometimes gets stuck.  On moving day, she got stuck in a bathroom cabinet for EIGHT hours at the old place.  Whoops.  Don't worry.  She recovered quickly with lots of treats.

I had a pretty strict budget for this year's move and I stuck pretty closely to it for all the major things.  I always forget though how much the little things add up.  For instance, you have to tip the movers (usually in cash and at a per person rate).  Also there's the household things like curtains.  Usually curtains are the last thing I buy but my new blinds are flimsy (read: see through) so they jumped to the top of the list.

All in all, I think the move was a success.  My new place has much more a 'neighborhood' feel and it's certainly quieter.  But that's to be expected when there isn't a freight train 500 feet from your back door.

Friday Favorites

Can I double plagiarize?  It's my blog so yes!  I stole Shannon's Friday Favorites...

I recently moved --- that's a whole separate post --- and I was so impressed by southern hospitality!

Seriously I talked about moving enough that everyone in the entire southeast knew.  Most of you reading this are probably in the mid-Atlantic region of the US and thus make up any excuse possible not to help someone move.  In fact, you've probably spent most of this past spring with your phone off for this very reason.  Remember The Oatmeal's comic about it?  It's funny because it's true!  But I can't even tell you how many people texted, called, and offered to help me from everything from packing to disassembling to transport and moving to reassembling and even rearranging furniture.  I just figured everyone was being nice pre-move but then people called and texted the day of and after!  Southern hospitality is real, ya'll.

Like I noted in my last blog post, I've been a little technology challenged recently.  In addition to these woes, I've been sick of all my standard wallpapers for my iPhone.  First world problem, much?  Luckily, the app Paper'd provides me with a little dose of modesty for the day AND provides both a matching lock/home screen:

People who don't know how their Facebook privacy settings work and allow me to see their entire life without being friends with them.  No, but for real.  This wasted like an hour of my day earlier this week.  For those of you who do not wish to be stalked by the bored and creepy --- (or worse, get robbed like one person who posted pictures of cash) --- Do yourself a favor and read this.

Last but not least is SUMMER!  I am so happy that summer is OFFICIALLY here.  Bring on the BBQ, baseball, beer, and FUN here in Atlanta:

Technology Fails Me.

Not me.  I prefer to use the remote control.  JK JK.

It's been one of those weeks months with me and technology.  Of course this happens as I am in process of moving so I can't respond to the moving company's emails, look up how to register my car in a new county, or post witty commentary on the move to Facebook.  In no specific order, here is a list of May/June's technology fails:

DVR - My DVR and TV have played nicely for almost an entire year without a problem.  Sometime in May, they decided that they no longer like each other.  Anytime I try to watch anything in HD (including on demand and recorded shows), the DVR box flickers with the "DVI" error and the TV adjusts resolution.  Some days I can't even get through a full episode of 16 and Pregnant without this occuring but other days it's flawless.  Maybe the DVR is sick of all the crap that I watch?

Dell Laptop - I was a sophomore/junior in college when laptops started becoming mandatory for students.  At the time, they told us to expect the life of a laptop to be about 2 years (if you were lucky).  I have owned my current personal laptop for approximately 4 years this fall.  It was a birthday gift to me from my boyfriend at the time and I was so touched that someone would spend so much money on a gift for me that I've taken extra good care of it.  I have never spilled anything on it.  I have never dropped it.  Except for the occasional Starbucks trip, it has stayed in my apartment mostly.  Over the last year, it's started having problems.  First the battery stopped holding a charge.  Then I started getting a lot of "disk checking" when I started up.  Now it's overheating.  I can use it for approximately a half hour at a time before it starts a shutdown cycle.  You call it inconvenient.  I call it effective time management.

iPhone - I went to a information security training last week and now I'm convinced that my iPhone has been hacked.  Symptoms?  Sporatic alert tones.  Dropped calls.  Failure to send/receive text messages.  Drained battery while I'm not using it.  When I shared this with Matthew, he made the same smirking noise that he makes when I inform him that I think I have diabetes/shingles/malaria and told me that it's more probable that I've downloaded a buggy app.  He does know my affinity for free apps.  (My current favorite is "Paper'd").

Work Voicemail - Can someone please explain to me how I never ever receive voicemail messages and the week that I receive THREE very important ones is the week that my voicemail stops working.  Dial number.  "Welcome, Megan!  Please enter your password."  Enter passcode.  "Please hold."  Busy signal.  Hang up.  Dial number again.  "Welcome, Megan!  Please enter your password."  Enter previous passcode.  "This is not your password.  Please enter password."  Rinse, repeat.  Luckily, this was easily fixed from FIVE help desk communications.  Problem?  My passcode started with a zero.  Why did the system even let me change it to that if it couldn't handle it?!

Random work software - There is one piece of software in particular that I have not mastered.  Things I've done just this past week that required outside support to resolve?  Locked myself out of it.  Submitted a time sheet for the wrong date and couldn't delete it.  Pretty much the only thing I have been consistent with is the string of expletives that I say while I'm using it. 

Given my major in college and work experience, I feel like a mechanic who has a problem with every car they own.  This list doesn't even include the random other things (like my conference call number at the office, my pharmacy rewards, an outlet in my bedroom) that aren't working.