Making Progress

The unpacking continues. While it may not look it, we are making significant headway on the unpacking of our apartment and making it a home and not just a place to live.

I started the day by unpacking the most important item, the television. Following that, we made time today to visit World Market, Home Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond, there was time.

We finalized the day by hitting the building in the gym and enjoying a very nice chicken and rice stir fry, compliments of our new kitchen. As an aside, dishwashers makes cleaning significantly faster.

We now close out the day with some nice lounging, and looking forward to some more unpacking tomorrow.

Been Unpacking Like a Dog

Well it has been a while since my last post, and for that I am sorry. Life has been pretty crazy and exhausting, perhaps a good preparation for my new job.

This past Saturday we successfully arrived at our new apartment. After enjoying our first meal, Thai food on the floor, we began the setup of our apartment. This preparation included the cleaning of floors, the washing of windows, and the deflating of the inflatable mattress we used as a bed.

On Monday, the movers successfully unloaded all of our possessions from the truck leaving our living room full of boxes. After making the obligatory trips to Ikea, Home Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond, we began to face the daunting task to unpack several dozens of boxes.

While the apartment has its own degree of idiosyncrasies, such as a leaky faucet, I fixed it, problem with blinds, I fixed it, and a rattling radiator, I'm still fixing it, we are loving the apartment.

As we unpack, we think and thank all of our friends and family who have contacted us and sending us good will.

Out of DC!

Made it out of DC, if you can believe it. Now, spending the night outside of Pittsburgh.  Next stop...Chicago!

Here's Hopeing

This is going to be a short entry since I'm going to head off to bed at 9:15pm. "Why" you may ask. Because, if all goes according to plan, which it has yet to do, Laura and I will depart DC for Chicago.

Here's hopeing all goes well, and you can follow our updates here, or on twitter.

Next time I post, I hope to be out of DC.

Seriously?!!

More snow?!! More snow?!!! 10-20in more of snow?!! coming to DC?

I know what some of you are thinking:

• Q: "Why don't you just leave now before the next wave?"
• A: The storm is coming from Chicago, who, by the way, is getting 2ft of snow today. As such, we would be driving through a giant snow storm and into a city that may not be able to accomodate a moving truck.

• Q: "Why don't you load the truck now and drive it out of the city?"
• A: Having dug out a Honda Civic (see older posts), I dare not risk digging out a giant moving truck. Also, the last thing we want is for all of our stuff to sit in a truck.

After considering all options, stressing, and freaking out, it was around 9am this morning that I reached a zen-like state. There is nothing we can do. No level of planning, scheming, or stressing will change the realities that face us currently. Subsequently, I now resign myself to the reality that; if we leave on Thursday (not too likely), we leave on Thursday; if we leave on Friday (more likely), we leave on Friday; and finally, if we leave on Saturday (Fenty, the DC mayor had best have those streets cleared by then), we leave on Saturday.

Here is hoping for the best, although I have given up planning for it.

Really Trying to Get Out

I spent two hours last night digging our car out of the snow. Two hours of shoveling only so that I could finally get into my car. Note, however, that if I do indeed move the car, I will never again find a spot to park on the street.

Now normally, when the snow start falling, most people stay inside and warm up by the glow of a fire and or television. We, however, could not enjoy those feelings since our apartment was in a series of boxes. We packed for hours. We took a break to eat what little food we had left. Then, following that, we continued to pack more. We have packed so much that our apartment looks like a DMZ. However, we still hope, pray, and plan to leave DC tomorrow morning. Wish us luck.

Snow More Problems

Sometimes you feel as though someone up there doesn't want you to leave. For me this manifests itself as 14-20" of snow three days before Laura and I are scheduled to leave.

While Laura seems to have made a new friend (its a reference to the snowman that Laura also made, get it?), the rest of us are hunkered down hoping that a weeks notice is enough to encourage the DC, MD, and VA governments to successfully plow the streets.

In the interim, Laura and I continue packing boxes and hoping for the best.

Best Laid Plans....

So the stuff just hit the fan (although, its probably not as bad as I think it is).

After learning that the movers we hired would take at least two weeks to deliver our belongings, Laura and I decided to take the plunge and do the driving ourselves. So far we have a moving truck and movers in DC to load the truck for us. We continue to search for a mover to unload the truck in Chicago.

The nice thing to come out of this is a sizable savings in cost, along with the avoidance of two weeks sleeping on an inflatable mattress as we await the delivery of our bed.

I know that all will work out, however, perhaps not the way I originally envisioned.

Been a Long-Time Coming

Back by popular demand (mostly from my spin class), I will be keeping a blog of my transition to Chicago. Now, onto the post.

Well, its been a while since my last post here. Lots has happened, and, if you are reading this, you probably already know most of it. I became engaged to be married, graduated from law school, passed the bar, and had my start date at my future law firm deferred until March 1st. Finally, and most importantly for the purposes of this blog, is that my future law firm is located in Chicago!

That's right, Chicago. City of Al Capone, Doyle Lonnegan (see The Sting), and Richard Daley. Come to think of it, they are all gangsters. Well, there is more to Chicago, my future home, than just mobsters. There is snow. More snow. And even more snow.

So in an attempt to keep in touch with all my friends, and to keep them apprised of my doings and happenings, I am, once again, attempting to keep a blog.

So enjoy as we prepare for one of the largest moves of my life.

Finally, you can follow part of the trip from my twitter feed too (thats right, a blog and twitter, I'm SOOO cool): http://twitter.com/@zman81