God, do I feel guilty. I haven't posted in several days. But wait, I do have an excuse. I moved today. The movers came and took my belongings away and left me with a mess of an apartment that I will clean tomorrow. So my excuse for not writing is that I have been spending every spare moment getting ready for this move.

And it was the worst move ever. It took almost 10 hours for the movers to take the belongings of my one bedroom apartment, put them on a truck and move them cross town to my friend T.M.'s garage where they will live for two months. 10 hours. Why 10 hours.


The movers arrived 3 hours late because of some problem they had with a move from yesterday. So instead of arriving at 8 they were at my apartment at 11. Two guys and a truck. Except it turns out it was only 1.5 guys and a truck. James, I find out is new and has never done this before. Fine, so it'll start slow but get better, I mean everyone has moved either a friend or themselves. There's not that much to learn. What I didn't bargain for is the unnaturally hot San Diego weather that we have been having. It was in the 90's today. This is unbearable in a city that never sees the temperature above 70. So poor James, he started to melt almost immediately, and began saying things like "It's hot, and the hot makes me tired". I am translating loosely since he spoke hardly a word of English. Not that I mind once again, anyone can be a mover. But as the day wore on it only got worse, until Frederico the boss guy comes to me and says "James is done, he can't take it anymore I am sending him home. It's now 1:00 p.m. and they've barely started. So now instead of 1.5 guys, I am down to 1. I am told that a replacement is on the way, and i try and stay calm, ignoring the fact that I am paying a ridiculous hourly rate for these guys.

It's now 1:30, did I mention the replacement is on the way. Now it's 2:00 and the replacement is on the way. 2:30 still coming. 3:00 not here yet. 3:30 he just left the office. 4:00 he's only about 10 minutes away. 4:30 ah, here you are. It's only 3.5 hours later that they finally get me someone. Turns out he's the boss of the San Diego office. Also turns out that he has to do all of his end of day paperwork while he's at my house so I still only have 1 mover and the day is wasting away and did I mention that I have plans to have dinner with a couple friends followed by the going to the theatre.

At 6:30 finally the last of my belongings are on the truck. What I haven't mentioned yet is the argument I have had with the boss who tells me for my aggravation they are taking off 10 dollars an hour to make me happy. I go ballistic. I ask him how 70 dollars is going to help offset the fact that my move is still not finished and the whole thing should have taken four hours start to finish. He just glares at me, I glare at him and we agree that we'll discuss at the end of the day, which is fine except that I am scared I am going to get a bill for 2,000 bucks for a move that should have cost 500.

So I give them directions to T.M's house and off we go. Did I mention that drive time is calculated at double time and it's now rush hour and we are driving 10 miles on the freeway. Did I also mention that it's 6:30 and I haven't eaten all day. So I get in my car and stop and get food and a soda and then drive to T.M.'s. It's now almost 7:00. No truck. It's almost 7:30 before they show up with my stuff. And now in case you haven't noticed, dinner plans have been cancelled and I'm supposed to be sitting in my seat at the theatre at 8:00. Yeah, those plans are down the drain as well.

It takes them another 2 hours to unload the truck. So now my day is shot. I am pissed, I am tired. (I didn't mention that I went to bed at 5:30 a.m. because I was doing the last of my packing.) I am hungry. I want a beer and I want all of this to not cost me a million dollars.

In the end it worked out okay. We negotiated times and costs until we found terms that we both would live with. The move cost more than it should have, but it didn't come anywhere close to my fears. I got dinner with T.M. which included two beers. Came home, had some ice-cream and am now blogging and am about to fall asleep at my computer. It has been one VERY long day. But the first part of the move is over. I leave for Portland, Maine on Sunday and then fly to NYC on July 10.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I apologize now for my worse than normal spellnig, grammar and anything else that doesn't make sense. I'll be more coherent tomorrow.