Dave

Staff member
Well, we’re moved. Sort of. When I’m back on a PC and not typing on my phone I’ll give the whole story. But god damn we don’t fit into this place. The garage is completely packed, there’s no room to move in the house itself, and there’s almost no closet space to speak of. And we can’t set anything up because they are replacing the carpets tomorrow so we’ll have to move everything out & back in again.

Oh, and I had to leave early because of a gig that was just weird.

Many stories of fun and woe.
 
Finished straining my first batch of cold-brew coffee. Tastes about as good as store-bought, so I guess this is what I'm doing from now on. I'm back to having caffeine, though only 1 cup in the morning (and my pre-workout pill). I'm also adding an eyeballed 0.2-0.5g of L-Theanine into it, which (maybe due to the placebo effect?) has cut down my jitters tremendously.
 
Just did a class presentation for my teacher friend. He wanted to invite a writer to talk to his class, so for some reason, he thought I'd be a good candidate.

Heh, but you know, it actually went over pretty well. The students asked some really great questions. Though my reading of the book was...horrendous. I read a chapter from my first book, THE CITY OF SMOKE & MIRRORS and...ugh. It's just written so poorly now. I wish I could rewrite time, slap Past Nick upside the head, and edit the crap out of it.

The funniest moment was one student asking if I played Fortnite, the current super-popular video game. When I said I'd tried it, that actually got a cheer from the class.
 

Dave

Staff member
Well the clusterfuck of clusterfuckery continues. Geez I'm not going to know where to start once it's all done.

For a preview, they were supposed to put in the carpet last week and couldn't so instead they reset it for today. They knew we were moving in Saturday but said that their guys would move everything and then put everything back where we wanted it. They show up today...and it's one guy who had no clue what was going on. Good thing I took today off...
 

figmentPez

Staff member
A few caveats:

1. When reading paragraphs "typed in Courier New a fixed width font." The authors say they think the results should carry over to modern fonts, but they said nothing about modern word processing methods that may put differing spacing bewteen sentences, regardless of how many spaces were added by the user.

2. "Reading speed only improved marginally, the paper found, and only for the 21 “two-spacers,” who naturally typed with two spaces between sentences. The majority of one-spacers, on the other hand, read at pretty much the same speed either way." You only read faster with two spaces after the period if you type with two spaces after the period.

3. "And reading comprehension was unaffected for everyone, regardless of how many spaces followed a period." Even if you're reading faster, you're not understanding any faster.

Science hasn't proven very much at all. Especially since it doesn't seem they've tested in any sort of modern typography environment.
 

Dave

Staff member
Well, the carpet is down and the computer is up & running. The chairs/TV/kitchen tables and stuff like that are placed, now it's just little things. We have to run to the store in a bit and then we're going to chill out HARD tonight. And tomorrow I get to go to the zoo with the kid I mentor. He's got pretty severe ADHD so I'm going to run a marathon keeping up.
 
I honestly feel so stupid writing this out, but I want opinions.

So. My best friend owes me money...like I paid for her plane ticket for the cruise we went on last month, this isn’t some small amount she owes me - it was easier to book the tickets on one credit card instead of trying book on two and still sit by each other, etc etc, when we booked she expressly told me she’d pay me back later.

She hasn’t. She hasn’t even mentioned it. She’s gone to multiple concerts, gotten piercings and bought other things since then and I’m getting more and more upset.

I don’t feel like I can bring it up out of the blue, since her and I haven’t talked much since she moved a few weeks ago and I just??? I dunno, if you owed a close friend money and they came to you to collect, how would you feel? Am I bad friend? Help me.
 
I'd feel like shit for not paying my friend back sooner and pay them back at the first opportunity, apologizing profusely for being a bad friend.

This isn't some hypothetical either, I've been there.
 
I honestly feel so stupid writing this out, but I want opinions.

So. My best friend owes me money...like I paid for her plane ticket for the cruise we went on last month, this isn’t some small amount she owes me - it was easier to book the tickets on one credit card instead of trying book on two and still sit by each other, etc etc, when we booked she expressly told me she’d pay me back later.

She hasn’t. She hasn’t even mentioned it. She’s gone to multiple concerts, gotten piercings and bought other things since then and I’m getting more and more upset.

I don’t feel like I can bring it up out of the blue, since her and I haven’t talked much since she moved a few weeks ago and I just??? I dunno, if you owed a close friend money and they came to you to collect, how would you feel? Am I bad friend? Help me.
Explain that your credit card isn't on a zero interest rate and that it's hurting you financially, and could she please pay you back ASAP?

Every time I've owed money to a friend and not paid back it's because I plain forgot to. When (finally) brought up, they get a profuse apology, full repayment, and some sort of apology gift. Happened once with rent, and once with a con hotel room. Now I pin any debts to my Google Keep (at the moment... I owe $1 to an SCA buddy).
 
I'm with Bananahands. Just mention that she said she'd pay you back, and you were wondering about it. You could even couch it in a less confrontational way, something like "I know you said you'd pay me back when we got the tickets, and I was wondering if you were going to do it with cash, paypal, whatever"
 
All I can think of is advice from my cynical dad who watches way too many daytime TV court shows, which isn't a good way to handle issues with friends, so as others have said, bring it up.
 
I honestly feel so stupid writing this out, but I want opinions.

So. My best friend owes me money...like I paid for her plane ticket for the cruise we went on last month, this isn’t some small amount she owes me - it was easier to book the tickets on one credit card instead of trying book on two and still sit by each other, etc etc, when we booked she expressly told me she’d pay me back later.

She hasn’t. She hasn’t even mentioned it. She’s gone to multiple concerts, gotten piercings and bought other things since then and I’m getting more and more upset.

I don’t feel like I can bring it up out of the blue, since her and I haven’t talked much since she moved a few weeks ago and I just??? I dunno, if you owed a close friend money and they came to you to collect, how would you feel? Am I bad friend? Help me.
 
I'd also say bring it up with your friend.

As a minor aside, this is why I never lend anything (including money) that I wouldn't feel comfortable never getting back. There are multiple people who owe me money, but oh well, I've literally forgotten who they all are and how much they owe me. There's a girl who borrowed a few of my bags and never gave them back, but oh well, I wasn't using them anyway and she really needed them at the time. And I lent a couple of tennis rackets to some people at my graduate institute, never got them back either, but oh well, it's not like I was using them anyway, the last time I played tennis was, like, in 2004.

Also the girl who borrowed those bags is really hot, so there's that.
 
I honestly feel so stupid writing this out, but I want opinions.

So. My best friend owes me money...like I paid for her plane ticket for the cruise we went on last month, this isn’t some small amount she owes me - it was easier to book the tickets on one credit card instead of trying book on two and still sit by each other, etc etc, when we booked she expressly told me she’d pay me back later.

She hasn’t. She hasn’t even mentioned it. She’s gone to multiple concerts, gotten piercings and bought other things since then and I’m getting more and more upset.

I don’t feel like I can bring it up out of the blue, since her and I haven’t talked much since she moved a few weeks ago and I just??? I dunno, if you owed a close friend money and they came to you to collect, how would you feel? Am I bad friend? Help me.
If it were $20, I’d say forget it. However, a plane ticket is a lot of money and your friend needs to pay you back. My best suggestion would be to ask directly.

My meds make me super forgetful and I’ve forgotten to pay my friend who does my hair before and when she reminded me, I thanked her for reminding me and apologized for forgetting. I’m glad that she reminded me. So, just in case your friend has forgotten, a reminder may be well received.
 
Along with the others I suggest bringing it up.

If you feel awkward about the timing, use the credit card as an excuse.

“Looking at my credit card bill I’m reminded that you still owe me for the plane ticket. What are your plans for paying that back?”
 
It wouldn't hurt to remind her that it's not like you're rolling in it. Something like, "Things are kind of tight right now, it'd be a big help if you could start paying me back for covering that plane ticket for you," etc.
 

Dave

Staff member
Okay so this is my long overdue and just plain long post about this last weekend, in all its gory details. Ready? Ready.

Because of logistics, I broke down all tech Thursday night. Friday our internet and cable were being put into the new house. We get a call from the painters that they were running late, so they and the cable guys would be in each other's ways, but they'd work it out. Meanwhile, the carpet guys said that they couldn't make it and they would have to do the job on Monday...after...the move...But rest assured, they said, they'd be moving everything, doing the carpets, then moving everything back.

Painter: Did an awesome job. Finished early. Was gone. One thing he DID do, however, was because he knew the carpets were all being replaced, he brought in a cabinet set he needed to paint for a DIFFERENT client, set them on the carpets, then painted them, which of course left huge box-shaped paint marks all over everything. Luckily they were dry by the time we did move in.

Cable guy: Not sure what this dud was thinking, but he ran a cable through the neighbor's fence (sound familiar? That's what they did at the other house as well, which says to me this is CenturyLink's SOP) and ran in ACROSS THE YARD to the house. Like, it's either just hanging there about a foot off of the ground or it's on the ground. They can't bury it because of a sidewalk so I have no idea what the hell they are planning on doing with it. And since we share a back yard with our neighbor's, I hope this doesn't become an issue before CL resolves it.

Friday was a packing day and not much happened there. Remember that a lot of our stuff was still in boxes since we never unpacked - the INCIDENT happened so soon after we moved there that we never really bothered. We got everything ready to go and slept there for the last time. Kerri took a bath in the HUGE WHIRLPOOL TUB because we knew it was going to be the last time we had anything like this. I did have a friend come over to grab my sound equipment as we had a gig out of town Saturday night. More foreshadowing to the future.

Saturday comes bright & early, we get up at 6, I run & get donuts and coffee for people. I have to pick up the U-Haul at 7:30, the movers are coming between 8:30 - 9:00. I told our helpers to get there about 8. We tear down the beds and I leave to get the truck.

When I got back with the truck only 1 person had shown up to help. Not too much of an issue, we started and soon after about 5 more people showed. So we had a pretty good crew. The problem is, they were very exuberant and didn't follow directions about what to take and what to leave, so I ended up with some of Nick's (the former boyfriend who was kicking us out) stuff. This will come into play later. The effect that this had was that we had no clue where anything was and was not able to coordinate what went where. We took that load to the new house and loaded it all in the garage (not wanting to put anything in the house itself thanks to the carpet guys screwing us over). Again, though, people piled things in very indiscriminately so it was a royal mess.

By then the movers were at the house, and my wife was there to direct them as to what they were taking. Note that 5 months earlier we used the SAME COMPANY to move the SAME ITEMS. This also comes into play.

The movers were fucking clown shoes. Slow as fuck and they had no idea what the fuck they were doing. It took them 2 hours to get the stuff out of the house and into their truck. For comparison, the crew we had in December took two hours to load our stuff, take it to the new place, and get it inside and placed. So the first crew was done in the time it took these idiots to load the truck in the first place.

But what their slow as shit selves did was throw everything else behind. We couldn't load the U-Haul because they were the way. So everyone just kind of stood around. And the clock kept ticking.

So the movers get finished and start for the other house, we pull the U-Haul in and we go to town. We finish filling it - as always just a clusterfuck of boxes in no particular order - and head to the new house. The movers are there and have loaded in 1 item. So we wait. When they are finally done - 2 hours later - they give me the bill which I do sign, because by then I'm out of time and just didn't have time to argue. I have to take it up with the office later. They leave, we pull in the U-Haul and we go nuts. During this time, there are a number of people at the old house who are loading stuff into regular trucks. They get to the new house about the time we are unloading the U-Haul. But now it's 1:30 and the U-Haul is due BACK so I have to leave. I take the U-Haul back, find out that I've overpaid $40 and I'll get that back, then I head back to the new house. My partner in comedy for the night is there and we have to leave to drive to a gig 3 hours outside of town. Which means I'm leaving after about 3/4 of the move is done. Great.

Get to the gig and find out that there was a charity event for a local person in that town who has brain cancer. The charity event was actually scheduled for 2 weeks prior, but that last freak snowstorm postponed it...to Saturday night. We had an audience of 3 people at our comedy show. The owner, the cook, and the waitress. NOBODY came to see it. But they all got food and entertainment for the cancer lady. Fuck cancer. We each did 20 minutes anyway, filmed it, and did Facebook live. We had 15 people or so watching on Facebook Live. Found out they were all minors, but they loved the show! So...score?

Get home Saturday night about midnight and go to bed. Sunday was spent taking it rather easy, but we did hook up the washer/dryer, fridge (we have 3 fridges in this place as it came with 2 already), and getting our stove in. It's a gas range and we were having issues with the gas seal. I ran to the hardware store at least 4 times Sunday getting things we needed. I get a phone call from the carpet place at 10:11 to confirm the carpet guys coming over, but I had the phone on vibrate and missed it. I caught it right away, though, and called them back at 10:14 only to get a message saying they were closed and to call back later. The fuck?

Also Sunday I had to run some stuff back to the other house that got moved by mistake. The sister was already moved in and everything was set up. I wanted to tell them all to go suck a bag of dicks but I stayed nice. It was hard seeing their stuff in our dream house. I hope they get drunk and drive and fuck up their dream house. It would only be fair. Which is really fucked up. I don't even fucking drink and drunk drivers fucked up my fucking life. But I digress.

Monday comes and I've taken the day off. The plan is that while the carpet guys are moving shit and getting the carpet in, my son and I will get all of the boxes out of the garage into the basement, putting them into stacks based on their desired location - living room, kitchen, bedroom #1, etc. The carpet guys are supposed to be here at 8...9 rolls around and nothing. I call the carpet place and they say that someone will call us between 8 - 9:30 to let us know they are on the way. We get the call at about 9:28 and the guys says they are almost here. At 10 am the van rolls in...and there's only 1 guy. And he doesn't know anything about the promises that they'll move everything. So my son and I have to move everything out ourselves. That's 2 beds, 2 loveseats, an entertainment center, an armoire, a kitchen table, several bookcases, and a few other side tables and stuff. It was nuts. And a good thing I stayed home from work.

The carpet guy got done about 4 in the afternoon, then we had to put everything back in and get everything set up. We finished but had to run to the store to get a few things. The kid and I were able to get almost all of the boxes to the basement and it's great being able to know where everything is. Then we came back and collapsed.

I got a couple emails this morning. 1 from the movers and 1 from the carpet place. They were "How did we do?" surveys. I am going to have a LOT of fun filling these fucking things out...
 
Okay so this is my long overdue and just plain long post about this last weekend, in all its gory details. Ready? Ready.



I got a couple emails this morning. 1 from the movers and 1 from the carpet place. They were "How did we do?" surveys. I am going to have a LOT of fun filling these fucking things out...
At least you might be able to mine this for comedy gold?
 
Cable guy: Not sure what this dud was thinking, but he ran a cable through the neighbor's fence (sound familiar? That's what they did at the other house as well, which says to me this is CenturyLink's SOP) and ran in ACROSS THE YARD to the house. Like, it's either just hanging there about a foot off of the ground or it's on the ground. They can't bury it because of a sidewalk so I have no idea what the hell they are planning on doing with it. And since we share a back yard with our neighbor's, I hope this doesn't become an issue before CL resolves it.
There is special boring equipment that is used to move cable under a sidewalk, driveway, or road. If this was a temp line because you need cable dug, it's not unusual for it to just sit there like that for a while until they can get the permits necessary to dig, call in to the digsafe company, and get the job assigned to a contractor. If it's in an unsafe position, call and have them move it. Otherwise, that's the price you pay for having cable/internet right now instead of waiting for the permitting process to complete. Depending on how efficient your local cable and government agencies are, it's not unusual for it to sit for up to 21 days.
 

Dave

Staff member
I did tell a joke Saturday night that went something like, "I moved today from my dream house into a matchbook with an attached garage. I have no idea why you are laughing, I'm still kinda traumatized. Why are you laughing at my pain?"
 
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