I went to my old apartment last night to finish painting. The bathroom is done. I was more concerned about it because of getting up on a ladder in the bathtub. But It’s done.  However, when I went to finish painting the one wall in the living room, the paint was missing. I had agreed to paint that wall the same color as the rest of the living room. I know that my landlord’s wife liked that color, and I know I had it Saturday when I was there cleaning. Sometime between Saturday night and yesterday, it disappeared. So I called him today and let him know it wasn’t done yet. I hope I can get out of painting. It’s not that I mind it so much as it is that I don’t want to go back to the place.

It has made me realize that I really don’t want to paint at my new place. It’s just a pain in the ass when you move out.

There is something I really enjoy about the peace and quiet of Sunday mornings. I got up, took Reggie out (a feat in and of itself) and then came back to make some coffee. This morning, I filled the grinder with Green Mountain’s Rain Forest Blend, certainly one of my favorites. I sat on the back steps, looking at the city skyline, drinking my coffee, and talking to Reggie. He didn’t have much to add to the conversation, though.

Today’s chores include more unpacking and hanging two more mini blinds in the bedroom. The bay windows had the old roller blinds that were in pretty sad shape, so I bought some off-white (alabaster) mini blinds from Homo Depot. I also need to go to a pharmacy and to Target. I do need to get a few more coffee mugs and some socks. Where the hell have all of my socks gone. Laundry needs to be thrown onto my list of things to do as well because I don’t think I have anything to wear tonight.

Tonight, I’m going to see Aiden James in Somerville.  He’s an openly gay singer/songwriter and he has a golden voice. I found him on MySpace and want to check him out. Besides, I might meet some nice gay boys at his show.

Tomorrow, it’s back to work, and it’s going to be an insane day. First, we’ll be arriving to an office space that’s been renovated over the weekend. On top of that, we have a new consultant coming in to fill in for Debbie while she’s on maternity leave. I’ll be doing most of her training. The good news is that she already knows our project management system, just not the way we use it. It will certainly be an interesting day.

And tomorrow, I want to go back to hittiing the gym at least twice a week.

When Beth and Paul were here last night, Paul noticed the lack of a sofa. I had to leave mine behind in Providence because it wasn’t going to make it into my little place in Dorchester. Well, now, I’m without sofa. Today’s quest was to find one. At Paul’s suggestion, I went to Logan Furniture and didn’t see anything I liked and was in my price range. I just want a small, simple sofa that will last about two years when I’m hoping to buy a condo.  I even looked at Building 19. They had a few things that were okay, but their prices weren’t very good. I finally landed at Ikea. I found one I liked that was even in my price range. Better yet, they had one in their “as is” section for $120. It was dirty and I think my little green machine will make short work of the dirt. Worst case, I can slip cover it. Considering that I have a Pug who sheds like mad anyway, a slip cover might be a smart idea anyway.

My friend Steven said that if I needed help moving a couch, he and his truck would be there to help. I’m taking him up on that. Tomorrow, he’s picking me up and we’re making a trip to Ikea. If we don’t get the one from the “as is” section, I’ll buy one that’s new. I might even go straight for the new one anyway.

I’m all connected at the new place. Comcast was here this morning to hook up my cable and cable modem. After that, I plugged in the wireless router to the cable modem and I’m all set.

When the cable guy tried to hook up my cable box, which came from the old place, it wouldn’t work. He asked when I used it last. I told him I disconnected it yesterday morning. But I did point out that I had been in a different neighborhood. That wouldn’t work, he told me. It appears that certain cable boxes won’t work in certain neighborhoods. I have a new cable box, and it’s smaller than the cable modem. I’m going to have to buy the TiVo serial cable now because there is no way the TiVo IR ports are going to work with this.

All of my stuff has been moved into the new place. EVERYTHING is still in boxes, though, so I can’t really say I’m moved. The upstairs neighbors (right above me, Jamie and John) seem nice and the guy beside me (the super) seems really nice. I don’t know about the woman above him other than she has two cats. The people above me have a dog as does the guy beside me. I understand the people below me have mean dogs. We’ll find out.

The one thing missing right now is Reggie. Either I’ll go get him this evening, or maybe Beth and Paul will come see the new place, such as it is.

Comcast will be here tomorrow to hook me up.

I went over to my new place tonight to take a few pictures.  Here is the visual tour of the apartment. It’s a little smaller than I remember, but that’s okay. It’s still better than where I am now.  Keep in mind that these are bare walls and floors. I haven’t done ANYTHING yet.

This is the view when you walk in the “back” door, or the door that comes in from the back deck/steps.  The door you see is the “front” door. The stove is to the left of the door. You’ll see that shortly. Notice the nice, big cabinet above the fridge. To the right is the doorway that leads to the living room.

When you enter the back door, the sink is to the left. You’ll see there is a counter that was added to the right of the sink.

Yeah, that counter is a little out of place but look at all of the storage that comes with it.

This is a brand new microwave and there is even storage above it. Are you seeing a pattern here with the storage in the kitchen?

As you walk into the living room, you’ll see the door leading into the bedroom. To the far left is a little cove where the TV will go.

This is the little cove I was talking about.

As you stand in the cove, you see a door that leads to a nice big living room closet. I’m going to try putting the table in front of that window. My concern is that Reggie will jump up on the table so he can see out the window.

Lets take a walk into the bedroom. It’s what sold me on the place… This is what you see in the bedroom as you walk in. The bed will be on the wall to the left in this picture. Notice the closet in the back left. If I really wanted, I could put a shower curtain bar in the big doorway and have one HUGE closet. Not yet, though. To the far right in the picture, you’ll see corner the bay window.  The bay window overlooks Trenton Street.

There is also a window on the wall opposite the closet. 

As you stand in the closet, this is the view of the bay window . The door on the right is the one that leads back into the living room.

The new place isn’t huge. But it’s bigger than what I have now. More importantly, it has closet space and kitchen storage. I’m not saying it has more closet space, I’m saying it has closet and kitchen storage, period.  I can’t wait to see Reggie come in and do a pugtona through the place.

This may be hard for some to believe, but I’m actually a really quiet person at home. Unless I’m playing with Reggie, I don’t make a whole lot of noise. Loud music bothers me, and I keep my TV volume at a reasonably low level. My former downstairs neighbor actually had people ask her if I was home because I made so little noise. I’m that quiet.

I don’t ask the same in return. I just ask that you don’t be excessively loud. If my walls shake because of the volume of your music, that’s too loud. If I can sing along with the jingles of the TV commercials coming from your apartment upstairs, that’s too loud. When I look forward to someone else going to church every Sunday morning so I can get an hour of peaceful sleep, that’s just not right. Thank the diety of your choice that I’m getting away from these people.

I’m off work until Monday. Tonight and tomorrow are prepping for the move. The movers are coming on Thursday at 8:00 and I need to be ready for them. Reggie is vacationing at Aunt Beth and Uncle Paul‘s house. The little shit is certainly having more fun than I am. He’s probably eating better, too.

Anyway, I need to run a few errands and then get packing.

Today, I called the movers to confirm. They will be here at 8:00 AM Thursday morning. The rent has been paid. A certified check went in the mail today and my new landlord should have it on Wednesday. I need to call my landlord to let him know it’s on the way. The utilities are all set as well. I think I’m about ready to go once I get everything packed. I even have a Sprint EV/DO card so that I can stay connected while my high speed cable isn’t yet connected.

One of the things I’m really looking forward to at my new place is having my own hot water heater and not sharing it with the family upstairs. I just took a cold shower because somebody was A) doing a load of laundry and B) washing dishes at the same time. This means that A) the supply of hot water was limited and/or B) said limited supply of hot water had expired. That’s right, I’m going to have my own hot water heater at the new place. Better yet, it’s new and energy efficient. This makes me happy.

I just got a call from Nicole, the woman who bought my washer and dryer. She said that there is a leak in the washer’s outer tub. She said that it immediately was leaking water all over the floor. She said the replacement part is going to be $120. Part of me thinks that she bought it as is, but part of me says I should do the right thing and split the difference with her. That’s what I offered. I’ll part with $60 and send it to her. It worked the night before she came to get it. I was perfectly honest with her. But if I’m an ass about it, my karma is going to come back and bit me on the ass, and I’ve learned that karma has some pretty sharp teeth.

I’m kind of distressed here. This washer has been really good to me. I don’t want anybody to think I was out to screw them. That’s not the person I want to be.

On the other hand, I had to sell this at a discounted price anyway. Instead of selling it for $250, I ended up getting $140. I’m not really thrilled about this.

My upstairs neighbors are just plain wrong. The one respit I get every week from the noise they make is on Sunday mornings when they go to church. For some reason, that didn’t happen today. Someone stayed home and turned the TV up really loud. I’m half tempted to start throwing breakers in the basement until the noise comes down.  That sounds really passive aggressive, but I can’t even knock on their door because they’d never hear it.

When I fed Reggie this morning, I noticed that we’re running low on kibble. So I put that on my list of things to do. I ended up heading to the Pet Express on the north shore and drove past a WalMart. I thought I’d see if they had any of Reggie’s favorite purple toy. They had a bunch of them, but only two in purple. The rest were blue, orange, or green. I bought both of the purple ones, plus one in orange and one in blue. That’s right, I bought four of the same toy for Reggie. He’s now curled up with the orange one on my bed.  That means I have spares! They’ll stay in the closet until needed.

Last night, my friend Steven had a few friends over for dinner. He made Indian food and french onion soup.  Like my friend Beth, he couldn’t cook bad food if he tried.

The movers come Thursday morning. I’m not ready for them. I will be. I hope.