Mover update again

So I got an anonymous post today asking about a move update... WHO ARE YOU!?!?!?!?!

Regardless, here's the update. NOT MUCH!

Once again I thought they'd gone away and written it off. Nearly a month has gone by since my last rebuttal to them, and I hoped it was over. The last email I sent was the first time I mentioned that we would sue it it was pursued, their response last Friday (they LOVE ruining my weekends) was pretty much 'too bad' and gave me until the 24th to pay up.

There is more though. Saturday I picked up the phone and called my so called friend, the branch manager there that promised to take care of me. I've not heard from him since I moved, he's never returned my calls, never emailed. My message wasn't nasty, but it was to the point: Thanks alot BUDDY! I wasn't sure if I'd get a response, but I did. A page back Sunday at 3AM Central Time. Maybe someone else couldn't sleep.

So, there's more to come. Today we actually talked, and from what I can gather, he's never taken the time to read any of the emails or really has much clue as to what is going on. So for now, I wait.....

Mover update

Just again when we thought it had gone away, Friday afternoon came and there's an email from the moving company. (See, they like to do this, send an email about mid afternoon Friday to make us worry all weekend. I am not kidding, every single email from them comes on Monday, or Friday, it's the Friday ones that are after a silent period of weeks.) This time it's been since Friday 8/1, and they are making an addition "goodwill adjustment" for $300.

Three Hundred?

We have already told them they owe *US* near Three Thousand, and they are now only wanting us to pay THEM a little more than that. They make it sound like they are losing money, with no regard for how much we've paid, much, much more than they ever told us we would. All the areas we point out are us paying for their mistakes, but that doesn't seem to matter. Once again I outlined how we were overcharged, and Friday is just around the corner. Man it's lovely.

Lawsuit coming?

Well, after more than a year, Gr. Moving has laid down the line and given us until the end of the month to pay them an additional $3900. We've bantered back and forth in emails and while never agreeing 100% with our logic, they've backed down from $6100 due to mistakes they made. We finally time-lined it out and put some figures down and without getting nit picky, we feel they owe us $2400. What's so frickin' frustrating about this whole debacle are a number of things:

1. I made the mistake of thinking that the branch manager was a friend of mine, he has never returned my calls.
2. I made the mistake of trusting the verbal and handshake contract.
3. The blame is often laid on me, I said this, wouldn't do that, wanted this, moved more than I said. All lies.
4. The amount of money we paid already is double the initial estimates, with money paid to Gr. Moving and PODS.
   
5. And lastly that this has caused a lot of stress and sleepless nights for the both of us.

Will I move again? You bet! Will I ever hire a moving company? Not likely. I've learned a lot, but the biggest thing I learned was it doesn't cost $30,000 to move.

The year milestone

It seems very hard to believe that exactly one year ago today, at near this hour, I buttoned up the house, loaded up the dogs, hugged the neighbors and looking like the Clampett's, we started our road trip here. One Year!! Man does time fly, even if you're often bored. Do I miss KC? You bet. Do I regret it, no. Not at all. There are times in your life you have to take chances, and this was it for us.

The dogs knew they were home!!


Ah, that first drink of CRISP Nevada water:

Sittin' Pretty in the once empty garage:

Had to explore everything, right?

Happy Anniversary!

The biggest change....

I've been in Nevada for 9 months now, and sometimes still can't believe we made the move. It doesn't seem like 9 months, yet in some ways it does. To date I'm still fighting the overcharges with the moving company, still don't have nary a tool or most garage items unpacked, haven't found (or looked for lately) my crock pot or EPROM programmer. When I do open up a box, I'm often struck with a sense of "Huh! Forgot about that!". Since there are no built in bookshelves like the old house, most books are still packed up. As are lots of things I probably don't need. Will I ever be unpacked?

But it's feeling like home. I no longer flip three light switches looking for the right one, and I can drive home without really looking for my street. My dogs are happy. I love my kitchen. But I tell ya, I'm still lacking PEOPLE. Some KC friends still seem close, others dropped me before I left town, it was kinda weird. Why is it that some people that you rarely saw in person, can no longer pick up the phone or email just cause you moved? In some ways I guess they were never good friends. And I'm not finding good friends here, but I've also kinda given up trying, at least as much as I was 6 months ago. Yeah, there are people that I like & seem OK, but too often I feel like I'm a third wheel, which is a feeling I've ALWAYS hated. One guy has turned out to be a real loser, and it's sad cause he could be OK if he wasn't always so full of bullshit. Another squirrelly guy has actually turned out to be pretty OK, despite being a bit of a loner and a conspiracy theorist. Thankfully we have pinball in common. I know my neighbors about THIS MUCH more than I did when I got here, but I've gotten to know my mailman fairly well. Who woulda guessed?

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, and that means outdoor work. I actually miss mowing, and a garden is right around the corner! I was a long cold winter and I'm ready for a change. It's supposed to hit 70 today to really give us a taste of things to come. I'm sure in 4 months I'll be bitching about the 110 degree temperature, but I'm going to enjoy the time between.

Looking at my life, this is definitely the biggest chance & change I've ever made. Quitting my corporate job, getting married, buying a house, etc were all huge events, but nothing like this one. I'm still surprised.

(This ramble was brought to you by early morning Folger's)

My neighbors are GREAT!

I'm just kidding, I wouldn't know, I've barely met any. Honestly, I've talked more to Jesús, the guy that cuts the grass across the street, than I have almost ALL my neighbors. There's always exceptions, the neighbor facing our backyard came over last night and tried to sell me on some travel agency pyramid/multi-level marketing crap. That killed 20 minutes.

It's made me start to wonder, is this normal? You know how you have some friends that always want to kiss on the cheek and it's just not you and feels awkward? The guy that always, ALWAYS shakes your hand? Maybe it's the thing here, maybe everyone around us is wondering why WE haven't come over, had an open house, whipped out the Welcome Mat. We must be cold-clammy-keep-to-ourselves weirdoes.

Moving sucks

I know I'll have more stories later, but tonight a shorty, cause I'm wide awake after a mere 5 hours sleep, up since 5:30AM and it's near midnight (again), a little wired, tired but alert, feeling old and stressed.

So I thought I was pretty well prepared, but not. Just in 24 hours:

• I've got a half roll of TP. I didn't think about grabbing more. Good thing I have some at the Shoppe!


• I woke up at what time? I dunno, they packed my clock radio. Can't fall asleep to the radio either.


• No dishes and silverware suck more than I expected. Last night I needed a water glass. I rinsed out a Keystone can and used it instead. This morning, I had nothing to spread butter with, and besides it was hard, so I ate dry toast. I had kept aside a coffee mug so I could M-Wave the two cups I got at QT when it got cold, but they packed it. I guess.


• Last night I went out with Kevin & Suzie to Salsa grill, but tonight since I was drinking beer, I didn't want to drive to get food, so I ate.... 10 packages of "Bite Size" peanut butter mini Ritz sammich crackers and enough pickled beets to turn my fingers pink.


• I've been packing crap tonight, throwing away a lot.....guess I should have held back some trash bags. Sigh.


• I'm so smart! I set aside 4 days worth of clothes and put them upstairs on the railing. Of course when I went up there today, they were gone. My fault. I told them to pack everything except the north office, and where did I leave them?


• So I took a shower, but did I leave a towel? NO! Thank God I left (and they left) a washcloth, which was dry so it got an early promotion!


• Headache - need aspirin - call neighbor. Trash bags, call neighbor. ZIPLOC bags, call neighbor. <--- Ironic, they packed two of my cordless phones, which will soon be beeping Lo-Batt. Ha. What's in dat box beepin' boss?

I've been packing my office tonight and when I've found disks, I've checked them for old pictures. Been very nice and kinda fun to find old pictures. I found this one today, a series of about 6 that I took over 8 years ago before we were even married. It made my day. I'm nicknaming it "smolder" (hee!) and I dunno about you, but I read a LOT in to her eyes in this picture, and it makes me remember tons of things about her and why I love her so much.

Maybe I'm incapable of a SHORT blog?