Tag: Moving

Daily Life, Health

Hiring Movers

We recently had to move a bunch of furniture several hours south. Logistically it was going to be complicated. We were going to have to get it offloaded from a semi-truck to one location, and then figure out how to get it all to a different location. Some of this stuff was really heavy and plenty of stairs would come into play. At this stage in my life, my first reaction was that we needed to hire a moving company.

I always worry about hurting my back when lifting heavy things. I worry about damaging stuff because, well, we’re not professionals. I didn’t want to deal with renting a U-Haul trailer. I hate asking for help just in general… asking friends to help move is the worst. It was one thing when we were twenty and people were happy to come over just for the pizza and beer. At this age I’d feel awful if a friend got hurt as we tried to carry something heavy up a flight of stairs.

In summary, I was grumpy about the whole thing before we even started. When the quote came back for a moving company in the several thousand-dollar range, that guaranteed we’d be doing it ourselves. My outlook was not improved.

Despite my sour mood and general grumpiness, somehow things just seemed to work out. The semi-truck driver was a really nice guy and agreed to come directly to our house to offload. We ended up with free use of a nice 16-foot enclosed trailer. A friend called and offered to help without my having to ask. Everything just lined up perfectly.

All this drove home a couple of life lessons:

  • You’re always better off just diving into a project and getting it done. Things are rarely as hard and unpleasant as you make them out to be in your head.
  • Once I embraced the task and broke a sweat, I actually enjoyed getting stuff moved, unpacking, and cleaning up. It felt good to have worked hard and accomplished something.
  • Parents, find a way to teach your kids how to back up a trailer. It’s something I rarely do. It’s embarrassing as an adult male to struggle with this and have lots of people directing and “helping” you in real-time.
  • Don’t let yourself become so deconditioned that you can’t move furniture around.

And last, but not least… strive to maintain a can-do and get shit done attitude. It’ll make you happier and the people around you happier. I’ve certainly lost that lately. Working on it. Recognizing issues is half the battle, right?

Cool, Daily Life

Who Doesn’t Like A Software Upgrade?
  • I think Scott Adams, the Dilbert guy, said it best about our current situation: “When you upgrade software, there is a moment in time in which you no longer have access to the old software but you have not yet completed loading the new version. That’s us, right now.” As someone who spent an entire previous life in the technology sector, I can assuredly say that all new software features and bug fixes are done with the best of intentions. But software is designed and written by people and best intentions sometimes have unintended consequences. For example, we put in a very clever new feature in at one point, designed to thwart DOS attacks on our system. It unfortunately took out the entire network for hundreds of thousands of people trying to tune in to watch the super bowl. Oops. We’re all waiting to see if this upgrade is the one we really wanted.
  • Overnight a Portland Antifa mob attempted to break into a police department, then went on to smash up businesses. Representative Nadler, chairman of the judiciary committee, says they’re a myth. That’s good, because otherwise I might be worried about living in Portland.
  • Update on the ginormous TV. The problem with the weird look (the soap opera effect) did indeed turn out to be the built in motion graphics. Turned that off and we’re back to the 24 frame look that’s expected.
  • The number of people fleeing CA, WA, hell, every big city, to our little town is overwhelming. Last year my local cross-country ski place on a Thursday afternoon would be empty. Maybe one other car in the parking lot. Yesterday the lot was completely full, cars circling for parking spots. I expect that on a weekend, but mid-day on a Thursday? I’m not sure I like this development.
  • The authentic voice discussion continues. Mrs Troutdog and I have been having some serious discussions. It’s getting less scary and a little more fun to think about what might be coming next. It can be overwhelming to realize that you only have so many years left to see and do things. How do I want to spend those years? First up will be some work changes. And keeping an actual budget that we stick to. I got all excited planning some road trips, then realized you also have to plan out what’s actually open these days. Damn virus. She hasn’t bought into the Sprinter van idea yet, but I’m crafting a killer power point presentation that may change her mind. Stay tuned.
  • Speaking of vehicles, I’m at a crossroads with my truck. Ten years old, runs great, have had very few (minor) service issues. Paid off long ago. I *think* it could reliably go another 75k miles without crazy expensive repairs. At least another 5 years at my annual mileage. The unknown is that it is of the age where the transmission could fall out tomorrow. Do I put money into it, bringing it up to the modern era and adding some desired upgrades? Or do I put that money into a new truck (likely my last new vehicle) that in theory will be more reliable for a longer period of time? Or do I hold out for the Tesla Cyber Truck? Opinions?

Song of the day: Cake – The Distance (Official Video)