We're all moved

Well, mostly moved. 99.9% of our belongings are now in the new rental apartment. All that's left is our desktop computer and some odds/ends. It took 10 hours, $1000, and all the sanity the two of us had. I loathe moving, but we were well-prepared and I'm glad it didn't drag out into a multi-day event.

It's a nice place, plenty of room and plenty of storage. We're going to need to work on getting rid of a lot of what we have as storage. Before moving, it was spread around the basement and clustered in the garage, and now we have filled all permissible space, in all 3 dimensions, of the garage we get as part of our rent. Some stuff is easy to see say bye, other stuff will be harder to part with. What I don't want to do is clutter up the inside, because we'll just be moving again in a year or two and the same nonsense will apply.

Shocking, especially if you've been following my progress with giving stuff away, was how much more we have now than what we moved in with. It's unreal. The move from the CD to Phinney was barely one truck-ful, but this took two trips, and the 2nd trip filled the truck almost half-way. I'm glad we didn't pay by the pound.

The best thing about our new place is its proximity to Green Lake. We're right behind the part where there's a playground and the baseball fields, so it'll be fun to sneak beers down there on weeknights and watch some grown-folk play softball. It's also decent for the dog, since the trail is a little bit of a walk. We can either let her run & sniff or take the trail around the lake. I'm pleased!

Craigslist.org Freebie Dump Run

We're packing to move out of the house this weekend, and I've bilged up so much operational but otherwise useless junk, I had to get rid of some stuff. We live pretty close to a Goodwill, which takes garbage in the name of donations, but I tried posting some stuff to Craigslist's free-stuff site to save myself a trip.

Here's what I was giving away:

• 2 Table Saws - they're both broken, in different ways, and they're different brands, so even a table saw manufacturer would have a hard time Frankensteining one saw out of the pair.
• Helium Tank & Balloons - we bought this to test a balloon backdrop for our wedding, but then common sense took over.
• Lamp - this is an absurd piece, no joke. It is one of those multi-headed jobs where each bulb is on a flexible cable, but it's ugly as death. The shades on each of the bulbs had a purple hazy fabric crunched around it. I bought it thinking it would provide great light in the basement if I took the shades off, but I never took it out of the box. This cost me $15 from a co-worker.
• Stereo - Not a bad deal, but you could get one of these shelf models for $80, and you'd have a guarantee. Mine was old, ugly, and I couldn't remember whether or not it worked and didn't take the time to check.
• Fat Suit - If you're a fan of my Halloween costumes, you know I specialize in the 'fat guy'. Whether he's Rerun or the Skipper from Gilligan's Island, he had a huge butt and deep creases. I'm getting a little tired of the fat guy, so I gave away the understructure for the suit.
  

The responses came in an insane barrage. No exaggeration, I posted the ad at 9PM on a Monday night and received 200 responses before midnight. Some highlights:

Long Distance Packrats
Nothing I was offering cost me more than $50. Still, with gas as expensive as it is today, there are people who offered to travel incredible distances for my garbage. Assuming the price per mile of 25 cents, here's how each of the items topped out in terms of what people were willing to pay:

• Saws: Kent, WA / 25.3 mi (one way) / 1hr 12min round trip / $12.65 (not bad!)
  
• Balloon Tank: McChord AFB / 46.9 mi (one way) / 2 hr 6 min round trip / $23.45
• Lamp: Anacortes, WA / 78.1 mi (one way) / 3 hr 8 min round trip / $39.05
• Stereo: South Tacoma, WA / 41.4 mi (one way) / 110 min round trip / $20.90
• Fat Suit: No one really wanted this
  

Sad Stories
Some people can't catch a break, even with free stuff:

• Stereo: "My stepdaughter's biological dad promised her a stereo for christmas and once again left her hanging, so it would be awesome to surprise her with this. (she's 10)."
• Stereo: "Well today is my birthday.... and my last stero was stolen... I was saving up for a new one.... but free is always a good present... " (his '...').
• Lamp + Stereo: "I am in need of both if you still have them, due to my ex-landlord giving all my stuff to Goodwill without my permission or even letting me know he was about to. "
  

The Multi-Responders
For some reason, the notion of a freebie that you would throw away yourself is enough to have a person up all night obsessing. The best of these by a landslide is a lady named "Tish". Persistence paid off for her, actually. The guy who claimed the lamp didn't show, so I left the lamp and the fat suit in my driveway from her and she grabbed it while me and Eazy were out having dinner.

• "You have some bizarre but freakin funny stuff. I saw the 'fat guy' suit. My husband has a 'puke man' suit that's always a lot of fun. Anyway, I'm hoping to come get your lamp Tuesday eve (7-ish) and it'd be fab to grab the saws while I'm at it. We live on a boat so the size is perfect."
• "It's me, Tish, again. Tell ya what. How about we just take it ALL off your hands for you at the same time?"
• "You'll find I've responded to several of your postings and suggested that we just come take it all off your hands at 7:00 this eve. If you still have it available just give me a call and we're there in our little van to help you clear out your basement in one shot. This is serious!"
• "How do we get these things? You have several things posted that we'd LOVE to get! I mean one can never have TOO many Halloween costumes, right? I responded last night and told you we'll just come take it ALL off your hands in one quick swoop."
• "Hey, it's me ... Tish, again. It's almost 7:00 and I don't know where to find you. But I'm sitting here at the ready. Shoes on and just waiting for your call. In case you're not sure (and I don't understand that at all!) I'm the one that's been stalking your postings."

She came to get the stuff, so we never met.

Summary
I have nothing to complain about. The eventual recipients of the items came and went without any drama. The whole affair took 15 minutes, if it even took that long. Thanks, craigslist!

Long Time No Me!

Some ketchup:

1. Talked to architect & contractor, no decision yet
   
2. Signed lease on rental house, moving before May 1
3. Elissa and David Lee are healthy and happy
4. Financial relief courtesy of IRS
   

We talked to both an architect and a contractor to try and solidify our decision on whether to een use an independent architect. The answer: We don't know yet.

The basic decision boils back to the notion of the friendly animosity the architect would have with the contractor. Long story short, the architect will have a strong impression on what the eventual product should look like, and will work for us to make sure it happens. Not to say a contractor wouldn't, but there aren't a lot of contractors out there with experience building modern houses. That said, any of the contractors we contacted would monopolize the design/build decisions, and we'd run the risk of advocating for ourselves to get our final product completed to our expectations. We still have some time, because we can't really afford to pay anyone until the current house sells.

Number two. We signed a lease on an expensive, but awesome, rental. It's close to $1800/month, but we won't have to rent separate storage ($300/mo). I'm happy. It's less than 2 blocks from Green Lake, and they love dogs. We are in like Fred Gwynne with the landlords, and our deposit is already paid. Our 'move-in' date is April 15, but we're going to take our sweet time moving while the home-stretch renovations are getting done.

Number three. We went for another doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is honky donkey. The baby's heartbeat is like a chainsaw, and Eazy's doctor relieved a lot of my concerns with a potential genetic concern (Down's syndrome doesn't pass genetically, except in the rarest of cases). It'll be after my brother Charlie's wedding until we have an appointment that moves expectations beyond the "everything's OK" mode, but the lack of news is good news unto itself.

Number four. Good news and bad news.

Bad news: Out of almost $50k (fifty thousand dollars, whaaat?!?) in mortgage interest & taxes in 2006. Of that huge number, only $2200 went toward the principal of the loan. The rest was pissed into the bank's pot. Can you believe that?

Good news: Uncle Sam pretends like that $50k is money I never made, so I get back the tax money withheld from my paycheck. Unless they figure out I counted a deduction twice or something, I have $10k coming back to me in cold, dirty cash.

Not good news: The lack of the interest payments for the balance of 2007 will make all the money I make taxable. I'll need to remember to funk with my payroll department to withhold enough so I won't get a rude awakening next April.

That's it. Upcoming events are largely uneventful. We'll be moved by the end of the month and there will be more little kid stuff to report. 5 g's.