My Complex Life

Thursday was my first night in the new place. By Sunday I had become a little worried because it was so *quiet*. I was starting to feel that I was going to have to tip-toe around the place to avoid disturbing anyone. That would also rule out noisier things, like playing the keyboard. My fears were put to rest last night when I was awoken by yelling, I think from the apartment below me. It wasn't a fight, but every sentence either began with or contained the f-word, and every other sentence uttered was "f-n-a I'm so wasted dude." I guess I shouldn't have to worry about being very quiet anymore (especially if the culprits really are in the apartment below me). It didn't really bother me all that much, though I was surprised to be woken up after being so tired. I'm more relieved that it's not completely a family complex (there are a lot of kids running around), so I won't be the only bad guy.

So far I really have no complaints. The place is clean, everything works... the shower is especially great, it must not have a "reduced flow" head cause a shower takes half the time as it did at the old place. Best of all, the apartment is not any bigger than I need. You may understand my growing distaste for extra space and extra stuff.

Exhausted

Ugh... due to normal Friday stupidity I wasn't able to become functional on Saturday until late afternoon. I had planned on using Saturday once again to pack/clean, but was only able to put in a few hours that evening. Sunday I got up at 7 am and packed/cleaned/moved 'til 2 or so, then went to the hash, then continued to pack/clean/move from 9 to midnite. I'm still not done. As usual, I think I have only one more carload but that's always the answer. Who knows... after tonight I think I'll have everything left moved into the garage and the interior completely cleaned. I think my landlord said it would be okay if I gradually cleared out the garage while he works on the interior. I am so worn out... I must admit I was close to tears cleaning one of the bathrooms last night. It's just such a nightmare. I am not feeling much better this morning but I am downing iced coffee like a madman. Not that a madman would necessarily do that kind of thing... yes I am still tired. No more houses for me; not 'til I'm married or super rich.

Spell "pants"

Thanks to the Austin Chronicle I was reminded tonight that Chris Elliott will be in town this Saturday, signing copies of his new book "The Shroud of the Thwacker." He'll be doing this at a screening of his 1994 classic (not really.. no not at all) movie, "Cabin Boy." I saw it in the theater when it was first released, and it sucked pretty badly. His TV show "Get A Life!" however, was pure genius.

I just bought two tickets to the show. How am I ever going to find someone to go with me??? Cause they're going to have to sit through the movie.

Bartering

Not exactly the Bluesmobile for a microphone, but I just traded a ukulele for a Belgian Farmhouse Ale. Hey I'm downsizing, remember?

"Okay, I can see that."

Boring Plan for Boring Tonight

Go home, pack, clean. I have consolidated everything into the dining room/kitchen area so I can clean and close out the bedrooms and living room. This just continues to suck. At this rate it will be another half a year before everything is truly under control again. And this makes for such a boring blog, too.

Other leftover things:
the jungle that is my lawn (maybe I'll just let the landlord knock some off the security deposit for this)
the hunk of metal that was my old car (need to call Goodwill to tow it)
the mess that is the garage and laundry area (beats me... anyone need 15 quarts of used motor oil?)

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Am I seein it now finally? I went and looked at a few apartments today. Okay, 2. And I signed up for one that I didn't even see!

I had planned on looking this morning, but regular Friday foolishness (this time including Dale Watson at the Broken Spoke, and a trip to IHOP at bar time) caused me to sleep until after noon.

A friend told me about moveforfree.com, who will move me out of storage into the new apartment for free. That will be a big help, especially since I'm on the third floor. The way it works, though, is that I had to search for and register the apartment complexes I was interested in through their website. Since I only registered three, those were really the only ones I could look at today. One of them turned out to be a dump, the other looked great but didn't have any units available until mid-Novemeber. So, I went with the only one left. If it hadn't passed the inspection I would've registered more complexes this weekend and looked at some more next week. But, since the place seemed perfectly fine I went ahead and signed up. One less thing to worry about. I don't think it's anything special, but it's gated, they have a nice exercise room, and my unit overlooks the pool, so I ain't complaining. The only thing I might have been interested in that they didn't have is reserved parking or garage rentals, but I'm not even sure I would get them if they were available. Oh, and I looked at a mid-size one bedroom but decided to go with the larger one. That's all I meant by not seeing the unit. The mid-size was fine but would've been a little cramped I think.

Right now I'm at Freebird's having a burrito. They kick ass. Also, Wisconsin is about to beat Purdue. They kick ass.

The Wings Again So Soon

Dang wasn't gonna post this; now you know I've been here twice this week! The old location this time though. At least I got something done, I 'registered' to see a couple of apartment complexes online... more about that later. For now, thoughts about what's playing:

"Rock Me" - Steppenwolf - Huh, I didn't realize I knew anything by them other than "Born to be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride." I didn't even know it was them 'til I looked it up. Sorry I can't come up with the chords off the top of my head at the moment, but I love how the chorus seems to be in a different key than the verse. And how the chorus wraps up quickly "'til then... as best as we can!"

"Vehicle" - Blood, Sweat, and Tears - Ooh my favorite BST song. Love the brass line. Didn't the band (college b-ball, NBA, whatever) always used to play this one during games? Must be that brass part! I guess it was nice to be reminded of this song when they used it in some auto ad awhile back, but it did cheapen the song somewhat.

Bike Pump

I made this mistake of reading some old entries. Generally, they seemed more whimsical and fun rather than factual and boring. Does this mean I was happier back then?

Here's a question: Would I look stupid inflating my car tires (or checking the pressure) with a bicycle pump? I checked and reinflated the tires on my motorcycle with it last week, in the embarrassment-free environment of the garage. It worked fine and didn't take too long. I just never considered it as an option. I got to thinking how inaccurate those gas station air pump gauges are, and that my bike pump is probably much more accurate. So why not? Or is this a stupid idea?

Laundromat!

Wow, my first post from a laundromat. Yeah, cause the W/D is in storage of course. I figured I'd see if I'd be able to pick up any wireless access here and whaddya know there's a computer place nearby that I'm picking up a signal from. This ought to make this chore much more painless. I should be searching for apts online now, but so far I am just goofing off. I wonder, with all this free wireless access in town, is it even worth paying for broadband anymore? I was even able to sniff out a neighbor's wireless at my house (my broadband got disconnected yesterday). Using someone's private (yet naively insecure) access is not ethical like using one that is supposed to be public, and free, so I wonder, with access at work, maybe I could survive without home internet by going out for it if I needed to? I might... but since I can afford it, I imagine I will get it for the convenience.

Dammit!

My sister (brother-in-law and niece too, hi Bridget!) had some excitement today. It turns out a dam less than a mile away from her house is threatening to burst and flood the town. Luckily for her, she lives upstream of the dam (green marker) and hasn't had to evacuate. I believe the dam in question is near the red marker.

The dam has been holding so far, the lake level has been dropping, and there has been sunny skies so far today. Keep your fingers crossed!

PS. I'm not 100% sure I have the right dam. The one I pointed out is the Whittenton St Dam, whereas the newspapers are referring to the Whittenton Pond dam, which I couldn't locate. I'll correct it later if it turns out I'm wrong.

A Couple of Wings!

Found myself at a different wings location between work and downtown. I don't think I've been to this one before, but they are playing the music. I have just enough time for a few comments!

"Polk Salad Annie" / Tony Joe White - what the hell is Polk Salad? You don't need to look it up, just listen to the lyrics (or look the lyrics up like I had to) Man, her momma must've been a bad ass if she was workin' on the chain gang!! (a wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' woman, Lord have mercy. Pick a mess of it). This is some funky late 60's soul with the "sock it to me" brass parts (half-step 'trills', riffs that end on the minor seventh) Elvis covered this one, perfect choice for him. PS: the waitress told me they have a secret hotter than bentley sauce here called the 'Elvis'

"Old Time Rock & Roll" / Bob Seger - yeah, we've all heard this one (remember Risky Business, with the pre-scientologist non-judgmental Tom Cruise?) my comments has to do with oldies stations, so I haven't had to deal with this in awhile since our city doesn't have one. But why do they throw this song into the oldies mix? Just because it's about oldies doesn't make it an oldie. This came out in 1978, guys. You cause everyone to completely lose their oldies groove when you play late 70's classic rock on an oldies station.

Do You Know Where You're Going To?

I suppose since I'm supposed to be moved out already that I should probably start looking for a new place to live.

I've had this aversion to moving into one of those apartment mega-complexes for some time, and have probably sworn I'd never live in one again. Some of my reasons for this are my thinking that I don't take advantage of the extras (pool, weight room, etc.), the possibility of annoying neighbors, that kind of thing. Probably my biggest fear, however, is turning even more into Office Space guy. The area of town I'm moving to is close to NI, IBM, Dell, etc. so I'm going to be surrounded by corporate drone types. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's kind of a stupid fear, really. Why should that matter, I'm pretty droney myself.

It seems I may be having a change of heart. The added responsibilities that come with living in a house don't seem worth the extra space, privacy, and $$$ right now. I want to be free of that. I also don't want a big place (I intend to keep the storage for awhile, hoping I'll be able to downsize somehow), would like the lower bills, and actually wouldn't mind being "around" other people (as long as I can always retreat to my apartment). I don't know any of my neighbors where I am right now; they all have families anyway. Maybe I can get to know some more cool people. Maybe I will use the workout room. Mr. fish pointed out a service that would get movers to get my stuff into one of these for free, too. You know I wouldn't mind that.

I suppose I could also go with a regular old fashioned non-apartment complex apartment and realize these benefits. It's strange, but that doesn't seem as appealing at the moment. Too boring?

Weekend Over... Again

Another weekend, down the drain. Well, not really. Obviously, if you read my last entry, you saw that I got a lot done on Saturday. And, I had fun partying yesterday. I stayed out a little late and didn't sleep very well last night. I was feeling like crap 'til about 7:30 am, when, like flipping a light switch, all symptoms of my overindulgence of last night vanished. At least I don't have to curse myself all day for how I'm physically feeling. I wish I was in a better mood though. I keep asking myself "what is the point." What is the point of this job. What was the point of drinking so much. I don't know. I guess I'm getting bored. Maybe the move will provide something new and exciting, when it's finally done.

A lot of people have recently discovered my blog but I haven't felt the need to hide anything personal, not that I've posted anything really personal here anyway. Actually with more readers it kinda makes me want to say more. I'm pretty awful at socializing so maybe people can get to know me from this thing, a little.

I Felt Dirty

so I took a shower. Actually, I was dirty. Why? Another beautiful day spent moving. That's right, it's another exciting entry about how I am slowly extricating myself from this house!

I can't decide if today was harder than last Saturday or not. I made a wise decision to rent another truck, because I was able to practically fill it up again. I got all of the big stuff last weekend, and this time it was for everything else (almost). I realized today the other reason I have to move stuff into storage. The first reason was not having a new place to live yet. The other reason is that there is so much crap to move that I wouldn't be able to put anywhere except a garage or a storage unit. Like dirty old grills, and especially dirty old stuff collecting dust in the garage. The idea when I moved in here several years ago was to get everything out of storage and put it in the garage. Then, while I was living here, I could go through the stuff and throw out a bunch of it. Well, that never happened so it's all back in storage again. A lot of it is in rotting moving boxes from as long as five years ago. There's no way I'd want any of that to go inside.

So I think today might have been tougher because it certainly took longer. The big stuff was hard to move last week, but there was less of it. Today it took me two and a half hours to move all this little stuff from the truck to the storage unit, a distance of 20 feet. I began to worry that everything might not fit, but I got it in barely. Nothing is accessible, but what do I really need anyway?

Even though this has and will continue to be a big pain, I have been lucky in avoiding complete disaster. For instance, if my nice landlord held me to the Oct 15 date I gave him, I'd be screwed. I haven't started cleaning yet and I probably have several car trips to make to get out of here, as well as trash to get rid of. My landlord is planning to do some fix-up stuff after I move out, so this place isn't going to get rented immediately. Not only was he fine with me taking a few more days/weeks, he said he would prorate the rent until the day I leave. That basically means I'm renting day-to-day now! Also, if the truck rental company held me to my half day reservation today, I'd also be screwed, since it ended up taking all day.

So there you go. The adventure continues. Somehow I still have some energy left, and now I am clean, so I may wander out and about for a bit.

Sly Has Finally Arrived

Friends of mine no doubt remember listening to Madison's own blowhard Sly on 101.5 FM on the way to school. I think he's finally made it. How can I tell? He (along with Hannity) was spoofed on my favorite segment of the Daily Show, Great Momemnts in Punditry. TiVo caught a repeat for me; click on the link to see for yourself! (Hannity vs. Sylvester)

iTunes Tag

Okay I am way late on this, and I'm not going to tag anyone cause I find chain letter type things a bit annoying at times, but as I recently burned a mix CD and am therefore listening to something regularly in addition to the two Weezer CD's I bought, here is my list (including a couple songs from those Weezer CDs of course):

THE RULES: List five songs that you are currently loving. It doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the songs in your blog, then 'tag' six other bloggers/friends to see what they're listening to.

dayoldfish
1. Five for Fighting - Bella's Birthday
2. The Shins - New Slang
3. Scott Weiland - But Not Tonight
4. Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky
5. Alphaville - Forever Young

My List
1. Weezer - Haunt You Everyday
2. Weezer - Why Bother?
3. Blur - Coffee and TV
4. Jet - Look What You've Done
5. Kool & the Gang - Hollywood Swingin'

Slowly Moving

I found myself sorta freaking out last night about finish up my move, and didn't get anything done. My default stress response mechanism kicked in, which is going to sleep. In some ways maybe this isn't a bad thing as I am now sleeping on a bean bag (or rather mostly on a bean bag, the rest on a hardwood floor), which probably shouldn't be all that comfortable. However, because I am stressed out, I have been having no trouble at all sleeping on it. In fact, I keep on intending to make a more comfortable set up with comforters on the carpet but keep falling asleep before I get to it. I think the wisest plan is going to be just renting a U-haul again this weekend. I figure what remains is half stuff I want to keep and half trash, but it will all end up going in the storage unit for now. It was suggested I make a trip to the dump, but if I'm going to do that I'd also want to take an old couch, recliner, and mattresses that are in storage now. That would just be too much to do in one day, and I think most of the dumps are closed on the weekend. I don't want to take a day off of work to deal with this yet, so I guess I'll get rid of the trash when I get stuff out of storage.

Move Complete (Phase One)

Yeah, I should know better! Activity #1 after work kinda screwed up my schedule. It went more like this:

1700-2000 Go see band I see every month, have a few drinks
2000-2200 Pick up some food on the way home, watch TV
2200 Fall asleep on couch
0100 Wake up, move to bed, fall asleep
0400 Wake up because I'm worried about my plan getting screwed up
0500 Wake up again, same reason
0530 Realize I'm going to keep waking up, get up and start packing stuff
0830 Pick up Uhaul, due back at 1530
0900-1300 Load up stuff
1300-1500 Unload stuff, return Uhaul
1600 Pass out from exhaustion
2000 Regain consciousness, watch TV

So my plan went a little differently, but no harm done--I managed to completely fill up the Uhaul in the time alotted, and move everything that can't fit into my car. So, technically I can take care of the rest through car trips though I'll probably see if I can find someone with a pick-up truck to help out this week. It's a good thing I went ahead with the Uhaul today though cause now I realize how much I have left to do. There is still a bunch of small crap, but there is enough of it that it will still be a pain to get out. So, instead of devoting this next week to cleaning and finding an apartment, it will probably be devoted to moving out and cleaning.

I ask myself why I find it so hard to ask for help with stuff like this. I guess that it's because I don't want to inconvenience anyone. But then I think of how I feel when I've helped others out, how it's no big deal and that I'm glad to help out. Maybe if I can keep that in mind it will make it easier for me to ask for help when I need it. Though I did manage alright on my own today, it certainly could've been a hell of a lot easier if I had even one person to assist. While I was moving today, however, I thougth of a second reason I didn't want any help, and that has to do with my being so unprepared for the move. I mean it's just embarrassing the condition of the house, stuff laying about everywhere. If I can spend the next couple of days getting the rest properly packed, maybe I'll feel alright asking for some help getting it out of here.

Move Imminent

I guess it is obvious from that last entry that, once again, I did not much get done last night. I packed stuff for about an hour in the kitchen, and then took a break, which I am still on. Had I continued, its possible I might be getting a good night sleep tonight. As it is, it looks like this is going to turn into the same old dump everything into the truck with little organization and worry about it later. Here is my expected schedule (notice I am still wasting time after work):

1700-2000 Go see band I see every month, have a few drinks
2100-0500 Pack stuff and stage it in the garage, do laundry
0500-0800 Nap
0900-1100 Move stuff into truck
1200-1400 Unload stuff into storage unit
1400-2000 Sleep on floor

Wingin' It

Well I did my usual Thursday night thing. But I forgot to bring a pen so let's see what I remember. I heard the Turtle's "You Know She'd Rather Be With Me." I've always enjoyed the Turtles, this just reminded me that I haven't listened to them in a long while. Then "But It's Alright" by J. J. Jackson. I knew exactly when the modulation was coming on this one. On both of these actually. I love modulation, and these songs both use the tried and true technique of modulating up near the end of the song. That got me thinking, Weezer is pretty good at using modulation in the middle of their songs, but they are sometimes clever enough to modulate back down to the original key, which is even cooler than the oldies-style technique. Also heard "Telstar" by the Tornados, a fun one to sing along with. Well, the lyrics are easy, anyway! Not to ignore the 80's, somehow "C'est La Vie" by some jerk name Robbie Nevil made it into the mix. I had to look that one up to find the artist, and it described the song as "infectious." I don't know about that... maybe they meant "infection" as in "ear infection."

By the way here is a picture of me and my niece enjoying some wings last week.

Last week 

ACL Disease Update

A lot of people have been suffering from this. For me, the worst of it was this past weekend, which was unfortunate as it coincided with Bridget and Ann's visit. Sore throat, coughing, and even trouble talking. The worst is over as I haven't had a sore throat all week, and can finally talk again. I'm left with a bit of congestion which is still affecting my talking voice, and, more noticeably and annoyingly, my singing voice.

The Move

My roommate moved out in June and I've been dragging my feet ever since. Last month I gave my landlord a date of October 15, and I plan on sticking to it. I am going to get the bulk of my stuff out this Saturday, a week early, and move it into storage temporarily as I haven't found a new place to live yet. This may seem stupid as it's going to result in my effectively moving stuff twice, but I am so worried about getting everything out and getting the place cleaned up that I haven't been able to think about where I'm going to end up. Also, I am a kind of fascinated with the idea of not being tied down by my stuff or a lease for awhile. But I don't really expect to be homeless for long, or maybe at all. I'm thinking next week I'll find someplace new and I'll move my stuff again that weekend or the following one. Quite expectedly, packing activities still haven't taken off yet. I really don't anticipate it taking too long, I just need to get myself to get started. Tonight. My truck is scheduled for first thing Saturday morning, so I have run out of time. I can't wait for this to be over so I can work on other things.

Bridget's Visit

Yes, that is quite a cute picture! I find myself reloading my blog page at work throughout the day just to look at it again. In case you don't know, Bridget is my niece, who you can also see here and here. Sunday night, when I took that picture, she was acting particularly goofy before going to sleep. The following morning it was a little frustrating getting ready to go to the airport, though. Mommy was reaching her limit! "This is the point where I usually hand her over to Zach," she said.

This weekend I showed Ann and Bridget a few of the places I go to eat and hang out. We also stopped by my work picnic and caught the ("Lance Armstrong presents") Sheryl Crow concert on Sunday. I don't think I have a real good picture of Bridget and myself as everytime we tried, she wanted mommy to hold her. There will be other occasions for pictures though, I'm sure!

Look who came to visit last weekend!

Bridget Marie!