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November 2, 2003
Back in the Saddle...
...but without the horse (internet)
It's amazing how disconnected from the world one can feel when they lack an internet connection and a television. The TV is less of a concern, but internet...well...let's just say that I'm in my office at 9:30am on a Sunday.
Six days without email was enough. I popped open my accounts to find over 250 spam emails waiting for me, along with a myriad of "why haven't you updated your blog lately?" and "how come you haven't answered my emails yet?" inquiries.
Well, here's the update in brief. Tomorrow, when I'm actually in the office for a reason other than not wanting to deal with 400 emails on a Monday morning, I'll provide more specifics.
The Closing. Far less traumatic than people told me it would be. I think that I signed about eight papers (mostly doubles and triplicates) and wrote four checks in addition to one bank check. The only embarrassing moment was when I lost my motor coordination in the bank, pre-closing, and knocked off the top of the ATM swiper at the teller's counter.
The Move. Perhaps one of the more stressful days of last week. Everything made it to the final destination, though. The movers had to take off my front door to get one of my sofas in. But more about that later.
Irving. After 15 minutes of Irving refusing to allow Cheesbus and me to squash him in his normal cat carrier, we were forced to put him in the rather large, see-through topped retro carrier that I somehow acquired a few years ago. It's far too big for the cat and the clear top frightens the crap out him. So Irving and I rode the subway from Carroll Street to 7th Avenue...he spent the trip swirling around the carrier on his stomach trying to burrow under the towel.
The Apartment. I'm finally fairly settled. I wound up taking the rest of the week off work, mainly because, as a result of the movers taking my front door off and rehanging it, none of my locks aligned correctly. The result, as I discovered on Wednesday evening as I was about to leave to get some food, was that I couldn't lock any of them. A Skutchie visit, father visit, and locksmith visit later, things finally worked out. The results are the images below.
Park Slope. The Slope is weird, but I knew that prior to moving. It's been a bit of a culture shock moving from Cobble Hill-- as much as people want to say that the area has gentrified (which it has), it still has a long way to go before it will rival Park Slope. I was inducted by the Halloween Parade, which I didn't know existed, and will now avoid annually for as long as I live there. It was like Park Slope's version of Mardi Gras for children.
Lesson #1: Old men should not dress in wet suits for Halloween.
Lesson #2: One should not go to the 1st Street Connecticut Muffin between 8:30am and 5:00pm any day of the week, but particularly not during weekday mornings, unless you'd like to wait on a line out the door and be run over by baby carriages and stay-at-home mommies and daddies.
Ahh. Park Slope. 'Tis now my home. And no, Dad, I will not be having a baby in 18 months. I am politely evading this requirement.
The kitchen.
The living room. No, there's no nuclear bomb exploding outside, it's just a lot of morning sun.
More living room.
One corner of my place of slumber.
Lastly, I must express my extreme frustration with Verizon, who told me on the phone that DSL was available at my apartment and then sent me an email reversing their claim. Now I am connection-less in Park Slope, seething, and holding fast to my no-cable ethic. I have no TV, so having to pay for basic cable along with a cable modem collection seems ridiculous, doesn't it?? GROWL.
On the upside, no TV/DSL has allowed me to consume books at a voracious rate. I've read Motherless Brooklyn (Jonathan Lethem) and July, July (Tim O'Brien) over the past 4 days. Now I've moved on to It Must Have Been Something I Ate, by Jeffrey Steingarten.
Wow, I guess that this has been more than a brief update. Internet absence must breed verbal diarrhea.
Posted by callalillie at November 2, 2003 10:20 AM | Home Improvement
All in all, not as bad an experience as it might have been. The place is looking good and Irving actually did come out from under the covers during my visit - he'll love the big windows and will settle in soon.
But no broadband... I think not. I see Road Runner in your future. You are no longer a dialup woman.
You should feel no pressure to get pregnant but you will probably will want to get a stroller to push around anyway - it seems to be part of the female personal space in PS. (Irving would love it...)
Posted by: bobtrancho at November 2, 2003 1:14 PM
ya know, Pinky loves to be pushed around in a stroller ...
i hate to shill, but have you looked into getting earthlink cable? there's no tv involved, just lovely internet megabits. it runs about $42/month, could be worse.
the pad looks good! i'm sort of surprised you actually put everything in its place already. when i move, i leave boxes piled up all over the place for months.
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at November 2, 2003 1:28 PM
The place looks great--very homey in more than one sense! There's alot of your previous home and mine...I will always be reminded of lots of good years in our NY home everytime I walk into your new home! Love the pot rack...probably time for some nice new pots though!
Posted by: nancy trancho at November 2, 2003 1:37 PM
New pots??? Sheesh! No more money!
I'm a stickler for feeling settled....as it is, I lost my cell phone charger in the transition. I'll check out Earthlink...this checking email at friends' houses stinks...
Posted by: corie at November 2, 2003 4:17 PM
congrats on the move. i can't believe that you unpacked already. thats possibly the most impressive part.
Posted by: tien at November 2, 2003 8:43 PM
The new place looks great callie.
I think your dad has the right idea. Have a baby in 18 months, do the world a favor, you've got good DNA!
Posted by: ChrisM at November 3, 2003 7:37 AM
I guess that I did unpack rather quickly. You could barely move in the apartment once all of the boxes were inside...and all I wanted was to go to sleep, which entailed putting together my bed, finding sheets, etc., etc.
Posted by: callalillie at November 3, 2003 8:24 AM
Looks terrific, but where's the Viking?
Posted by: mp at November 3, 2003 9:48 AM
nope...i guess that they don't make 24" viking ranges these days!
Posted by: callalillie at November 3, 2003 10:30 AM
Wow. the new digs look great. congrats.
Posted by: josé at November 3, 2003 12:01 PM
The place is beautiful. Look at all that light. I am jealous. Enjoy your new home.
Posted by: Skutchie at November 3, 2003 1:04 PM
yes, congrats.. it looks awesome
Posted by: rachelleb at November 4, 2003 5:29 PM
