Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Move

I feel sorry for all my friends who have recently picked up and moved to different cities. I just moved across town, and it was pretty exhausting. Since it is just across town, I was able to start moving last weekend and bring boxes over during the week so that the load was not as much this weekend. Yesterday, I had a couple people help me move all the big items. It only took 2.5 hours, so it wasn't so bad, but today I was cleaning and boxing up everything else . . . and now I'm absolutely exhausted . . . and I still have a few items to get over here plus arrange all my new things. It's nothing compared to what others have been doing, so if I'm this tired, I know you guys must have been at the end of your rope.

The move wasn't all bad, though. If nothing else, Bo and I got to pull off our greatest moment of furniture-moving zen. For those who have seen my couch, you know it's basically like a pregnant brown cow. Really, it's not terribly heavy, but damnit if it's not the puffiest thing you've ever encountered. We got to the condo, and the back door is too narrow to squeeze it through, so we had to bring it through the front door, which has about three or four feet of space before you reach the stairs, and due to a low-hanging light at the entrance, we could not stand the couch up on end. Furthermore, there is a banister going up the stairs which eventually runs into the ceiling of the living room. The situation looked so dire, that my other mover felt compelled to go grab his tools so that he could remove the banister. He had no idea what Bo and I were capable of accomplishing. While he ran for the tools, we faced up to the daunting task. Bo composed a plan which he dubbed the tumble and twist (catchy, I know). Because the banisters quickly intersect with the ceiling of the living room, we couldn't just roll the entire couch over the banister--it would get caught on the ceiling. But Bo saw fit to do a partial roll, at which point, I (at the bottom of the stairs) would start to walk directly to my left. Meanwhile, with the couch hanging precariously over the banister, Bo descended the stairs, twisting the couch as he did so. We pulled it off flawlessly and, immensely pleased with our efforts, gave each other an enthusiastic high five.

Look out Savory, there's a new sheriff and deputy in town.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Movin on Up (movin on up) to the South Side

OK, if anyone is even paying attention to my sorry excuse for a blog, I'm on the move. My cousin Bo, from Rockford, is moving to the area, and we finally agreed to rent a two-bedroom, 1.5 bath condo in Savoy, IL, or as I keep typing into my computer, Savory. I don't know why that "r" keeps slipping in there, but something is amiss in my mind when I try to type Savory (honestly, I just typed in the "r" again by accident, so I thought I'd leave it as is to illustrate what a terrible disconnect is occurring between my mind and my fingers). Single ladies, I assure you, that my fingers are generally quite magical (or shall I say, savory). OK, sorry for that, but everyone who knows me is LTAO right now. (And Jess, if you're there, don't dare forget what a badass indexer I am.)

OK, I'm obviously in quite a randy mood right now, especially because I have never used that word (randy) in my entire life, and words are begotten of reality. I apologize for that break from your regularly scheduled Benjamin.

So anyway, I'm moving, and while I won't provide the address here for fear that some random young lady will fall prey to my promise of magical fingers and show up at my door unannounced, if you would like to know my address for any reason, I'll be glad to provide it after a thorough six-step screening process.

I'm excited about the new place though. It's a townhouse setup. It's got a dishwasher, washer and dryer, garage, fireplace, and it's right on a bus line that runs near to my workplace. Furthermore, I will have space to entertain. No more six-person limits on my parties. Clear out the furniture, and we could have a full-on game of Red Rover or Steal the Bacon. Too bad 95% of the people who read this blog don't live here, because you'd all be invited to my housewarming party.

Well, I guess that's the news. For those who took an interest in my Polar Plunge event, it happened yesterday. After my ever-so-emotional appeal for my friends and family to keep me out of the water, you responded, raising $303 in my name, allowing me to eek out a non-wet position for the Polar Plunge event. However, peer pressure ensued as 8 of the 9 other people involved were jumping into the water. So despite your valiant efforts to keep me dry, I went in anyway. Considering there was still ice on the lake and they had to chop out a place for us to go in, it wasn't so bad. It would have been worse had we been required to stay in for any amount of time. It definitely took your breath away, but when you run in and out real quick, it doesn't lower your body temperature. I showed up with a towel, a blanket, and a coat to the Plunge, because I was shaking uncontrollably for an hour after getting out of the Irish Sea, but when I went in the sea, I stayed in there for like 30 minutes. So this was pretty tame in comparison, even though the water was colder.

Take care all. Hopefully you haven't totally given up on reading this blog. I'll really have to come up with a few gems to make up for my blog hiatus.