Packing and Cleaning

Ra:
This post is much easier written AFTER we are done with the packing and cleaning. and... yes, we are done, in case you were wondering.

Took us about a week to pack everything up - I made Sasha swear she would get out of her office and help me start packing around the 20th, and that's what we did. With the exception of the party, this is what we've been focused on, and is the main reason why we haven't been showing up to parties/events.

Overall, it wasn't that bad of an experience. We got rid of a lot of stuff, but also kept a lot of stuff. Our upstairs neighbor, michael, GUARANTEED us we would regret keeping anything besides the most precious stuff, and I think he's right. but letting go of anything - let alone LOTS of stuff is hard on anyone, sasha and I included.

Our lives have been ruled by boxes. Looking for the right size box has been on my mind almost 24/7 in the past week. we ran out of boxes at some point, and I went to the "professional" moving store - the one the movers go to - and got more boxes/packing tape/bubble wrap, etc. if you didn't know, I was a mover for about 8 months a while back, and while moving and packing is no one's cup of tea, it doesn't scare me as much as it does other people. one small step at a time will get the job done :)

So, sat arrives - our imposed moving day - and we are almost ready.I found a storage place in alameda called CSI Ministorage (we suspect it's about crimes happening in storage places, but we're not sure) that gives you 4 months at 50% off, AND sends a truck and two guys to load your stuff, bring it to their storage space (Alameda or Richmond) and unload it into your space FOR FREE. yes, that's right, free. So, at about 2pm - about an hour after they were supposed to show up - they grabbed the wrong paperwork and went to Vallejo by mistake - the guys showed up and started packing.

A few things I've learned from my time as a mover:

1. DO NOT PISS OFF THE MOVERS. they now have your stuff. they will be handling your stuff from now until it gets to your house. piss 'em off and they can accidentally drop things 47 times until they break.
2. TIP THEM EARLY. I'm not usually a fan of automatic tipping - think Mr pink in reservoir dogs, but a little less... aggressive... about it - but this is the one exception. you WANT these guys to be nice to your stuff. ESPECIALLY on a free service such as this, i'm sure that many people simply use the service and don't tip. so, $100 between 3 guys is a super cheap deal, and everyone is happy.

The guys did a great job packing both the truck and the storage space. In fact, when we got there, the "leader" of the movers insisted I take a specific space which "is bigger with higher ceilings - management doesn't know about it, so they won't charge you more"... best $100 I spent all week.

The end of the day has arrived, and we are exhausted. Driving home from Alameda, we are feeling pretty good about ourselves - we got everything packed, met  the schedule we set for ourselves, and now we just have to clean our place. That's when it hit me.

"Baby, where are our Passports?"

"oh, they are in the red bag, inside the metal filing cabinet that's.... Oh."

Yup. We forgot to take out the passports from their normal resting place, and they are now buried somewhere within the 16'x8.5x10' space that holds our possessions. Did I mention i spoke to the movers and encouraged them to pack it tight so we have space left over in case sasha's office has to go in there?

That, as you can imagine, put a damper on the evening. That was also the night the Giants lost - coincidence? I think not.

The next morning, around 11am, we went back to the storage space. Opening the door and looking at our space, we were bewildered by just HOW MUCH stuff we have, and how tightly packed it was. The guys really DID do an excellent job. Sasha, from behind me, asked if she can start crying now - to which my usual response is a cheery "no, we can do this, it's not as bad as you think..." - however, this time, my response was a sullen "yes".
I called Tom and woke him up - i wasn't even thinking this was the night after Halloween, we've been so busy with our stuff - and asked for a huge favor - to come and help me unload this space until we reach the metal filing cabinets. A grumpy tom took that request pretty well - love you dude! - and asked for time to have coffee and food. we decided to reconvene at 4pm.

I hung up and started looking a little deeper into the space and the stuff. and suddenly! I couldn't believe my eyes! a foot and a half behind the line of scrimmager, so to speak, was a metal filing cabinet! but hang on! there are two of those! one is dented, and is NOT the one we want. the other one - the not dented one - is the one with the passports in it. is this one dented? NO! IT'S NOT DENTED! THIS IS THE ONE!!!

I called Sasha back in, and after dancing the shiksa hora with her for a minute, put on Daft Punk in the car, and started unloading stuff to reach this very reasonably distanced metal filing cabinet. We unloaded, grabbed the passports and reloaded the stuff before the first song was over :) we're both very happy to be laughing at this, since this could have ended quite differently. but for now, this is one for the books :)

So, now we are packed and ready to go. Tonight is the last night we are spending in the US for a while. And how are we spending it? Like good Americans, by suing someone! That particular someone is the guy who ran the skool for a little while - while it was still open - who took our deposit and never returned it. but, more about that later...