originally posted may 31, 2005

Let's Go Home.

Whoa. I feel so... residential.

Life In a Box Farm

On Saturday, May 21, my new bed arrived and my old bed was removed. That signaled the first time when I really had to sleep in my new home. On that same Saturday, I and three friends moved virtually all of my current furniture over. Ever since then, I've been moving the remainder of my belongings over to the house. I'm surrounded by boxes and bags.

The week before I moved, I helped a married co-worker move out of an apartment within sight distance of my new house. The two of them are a few years older than I am, but they have far more than twice as much stuff as I do. My moving day required two pick-up trucks and a station wagon to make one trip each; my co-worker required an army of six trucks and 10 people making at least two trips. It really is amazing how much stuff people accumulate over the years.

Now I actually have too much furniture. The Highland Park Community Club runs an annual yard sale that's coming up on the 5th of June. I'll be there.

Well, the Electronics Work

The house came pre-wired with four speakers -- two upstairs and two downstairs. They're nothing special as far as speakers go: the speakers are Radio Shack's house brand and they're wired with what appears to be lamp wire. Nevertheless, one of the first things I brought over was my beaten-up old receiver to test out the speakers. They work just fine. Now my old receiver has an Airport Express connected so I can wirelessly transmit tunes while at home. It's a nifty little device.

The "V" in my A/V setup is almost good to go. I bought the floor model of a 46" Samsung DLP television at Best Buy and set it up on a nice stand. On a friend's recommendation, I decided to sign up for TV with Dish Network. I can enjoy upwards of five high-definition signals. Dish Network is coming tomorrow morning to install everything for my old TV in my bedroom and for the new TV downstairs. Among the new gear is not one but two satellite dishes to receive all my local channels. In addition to the DirecTV dish that came with the house, that gives me a grand total of three dishes. That's just ridiculous. My house is being bombarded with signals that I'll never get to view.

All Systems Go

Compared with what some of my co-workers dealt with in their homes, I moved into a palace. My place had very few defects that I needed to address before moving in.

The Hole: Patched

When I inspected the house, there was a hole in the lower-level ceiling that was created during some plumbing repair work. It wasn't until closing day that I learned that the seller had arranged to patch that hole up. She hired a contractor, the contractor came, the hole was patched, and I didn't owe a dime.

The Closet: Imaginary

I didn't realize how smoothly the hole-patching job went until I started looking for contractors myself. I've contacted five contractors so far to have a small closet built around the unsightly large water heater in the corner of the lower level. Despite glowing recommendations, I've had three people fail to return my calls and two no-shows for appointments. The reason must be simple: my closet request pales in comparison to more significant renovations like new decks or new kitchens. What I need is not a "good" contractor -- they're booked solid -- but rather a "good enough" contractor. Eventually I'm just going to give up and buy a screen at Pier 1 to put around this water heater.

The Garden: Green

My family joined me for Memorial Day weekend here at the house. We experienced much of what the area has to offer, including the nearby Home Depot and the Pittsburgh Zoo. During the weekend, my family helped me rip up the weeds and dead plants and replace them with bright new perennials and bushes. Now I have a hose as well, and right after I type this up I need to head out to give everything a light soaking.

The Dryer: Replaced

When I moved in, I was all set to wash and dry my laundry. I knew from the walkthrough that the dryer had some red stains on the inside but I was optimistic that I could remove them. I sought advice on-line. I first tried all-purpose cleaner with rags: that got some of the color out but much of it remained. I then tried diluted bleach, which also did not work too well. I photographed the dryer and brought a picture to a Strip District cleaning supply store. They identified the probable cause as paint and sold me a can of "Censor," a product designed to remove graffiti from the side of buildings. Censor produced some pretty toxic fumes but got the paint off; unfortunately it was going to destroy the dryer drum if I kept applying it.

Meanwhile, a co-worker just happened to have an extra gas dryer just lying around. One day, with the gracious help of my co-worker and his fiancee, we transported the old dryer down to the alley outside and brought the new one up into place. Now I can wash and dry to my heart's content -- and for free! What amazing luck to have a co-worker that has an extra dryer and, despite his own moving-related stress, can offer to help move such a heavy item.

The Phone: Ringing Off the Damn Hook

For the first time since early 2003, I have a landline phone. I found it unnecessary to have a landline at my apartment where I lived alone, but now I have a security system that requires a landline to function. I also got set up with Verizon DSL which of course requires a Verizon phone line.

I've had a few occasions to work from home, and DSL works great for that. Unfortunately, I discovered a dark secret about the Do Not Call registry: there's a 31-day grace period during which telemarketers may freely call you. I've fielded a handful of calls and intentionally missed many more from all sorts of companies. At the same time, I've been getting an insane amount of junk mail for all sorts of sketchy "protection" schemes for my mortgage. I can't wait until the end of the week comes and I can start busting telemarketers for $11,000 fines.

What Happens Next

Well, I've got some serious unpacking ahead of me. My bookcases need to be propped up a couple of inches to fit over the high baseboards; since they'll be so high up, I also plan to brace them against the wall. There are pictures to hang, appliances to unpack, and old stuff to unload on fellow members of the community.

I'm home. I'm at the point where I don't want any more stuff in my house but there are many more Home Depot trips in my future. Highland Park is a really nice neighborhood thus far. It's a 10- to 15-minute trip from here to work by car or a little longer by bus. There's virtually nothing left at my apartment. All that's left is for my apartment to be cleaned and for my landlord to rent it out to another tenant. If that's done before my lease expires on June 30, I can save a little extra money to boot.

Life is still good.

Back to May 2005, or to the year 2005.