Stories on the run

I bought a car Wednesday.

No, not a brand-new car, but one that’s new to me. Besides, it’s essentially new, anyway.

It’s a 2007 Subaru Impreza 2.5l wagon with a five-speed manual transmission. It has 7,500 miles on it and 27 months left on the factory warranty. It’s supposed to get up to 32 mpg on the highway (compared to 16 with the Beast). And I bought it for $14,750 (plus tax).

Thank you, Craigslist.

But I can’t drive it yet. The seller’s bank has yet to mail the title to my bank. I can’t register and license it without the title. So for now, I’ve got this new car in my driveway but I’m still driving my ‘88 Suburban.

Well, that took long enough.

Two modems and two wireless routers later, we finally have reliable internet access. It took from 5 p.m. Monday until 8:20 tonight for me to get everything all set up. “High-speed” internet my ass.

To an end has come my apparent vacation from blogging, excused by a lack of good internet access, for the past week after the move. Now do I really have to catch everyone up on what I’ve been doing the past week?

I’ll do it this way:

Move. Unpack. Shop. Cook. Unpack. Sleep. Unpack. Shop. Work. Cook. Sleep. Drive. Clean. Drive. Sleep. Hang out. Cook. Sleep. Work. Shop. Sleep. Set up internet.

Wow, sounds interesting, huh? Perhaps, for a better, less-lazy chain of events, check out Lisa’s blog. I’ll even link some stuff for ya.

• May 28 - Lisa and I move to Spokane.
• May 30 - Neighborhood sightseeing.
• June 1 - We start decorating.
• June 2 - Lisa starts her new job at the Spokesman.
• June 3 - We go clothes shopping.

PULLMAN — No longer my home is this town. Lisa (graciously) and I just finished cleaning my old apartment here and I locked my key inside. It’s still dirty, yes, but we swept and wiped down just about everything. Now, it’s time for the professionals to give it a go.

Now I’m typing at the Evergreen newsroom — something I’ve done a fair bit.

It has yet to sink in that I’m living in Spokane again. The new apartment is so big and nice that I sometimes feel I’m house-sitting for somebody else. I think it’ll all come together once we hang art.

To catch everybody up: (more…)

This is an obligatory post to just let y’all know we’re all moved into our place in Spokane and enjoying life. Of course, there’s still random knickknacks to put away and all the art needs to be hung, but it’s coming along.

The Comcast guy is coming Monday evening to set up the Internet, so I’ll post plenty more after that. Until then, just know it’s going well. And perhaps, for better updates (at least two pictures), check out Lisa’s blog.

It is time.

I’ve spent the last day and a half doing some serious packing. I had been packing slowly for the past week, but Sunday was the big rush. Putting all my crap into boxes, doing last-minute laundry, changing my addresses.

And now that everything’s stacked in cardboard boxes throughout my apartment, it’s really not all that weird. Because I’ve moved so much in the past year that it all seems so familiar. I look around and think, yep, here it all is again.

The movers should arrive about 9 a.m., and we’ll get this party started. Two hours of loading, one and a half of driving, then two more hours of unloading. Then, of course, unpacking all the stuff I just spent days packing. Seems kind of ridiculous to me.

My next blog post will be from our new apartment in Spokane (and it may not be for a few days, as soon as Comcast comes by to hook up the cable). According to Bank of America, Washington Mutual, The Spokesman-Review, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, the U.S. Postal Service and the Washington Department of Licensing, I already live there.

As you can find out on my “about” page, I have been using datelines on my blog posts whenever I write outside of Pullman. For instance, for my posts from L.A, I put “LOS ANGELES –” at the beginning of the post. When I was covering the NCAA tournament, I started them out “DENVER –” or “CHARLOTTE, N.C –.”

Well, now I’m moving to Spokane. And it wouldn’t make sense to start writing “SPOKANE –” before everything.

So, starting Tuesday, if an entry doesn’t have a dateline, I am writing from Spokane.

Yesterday I posted that I will be moving next Wednesday the 28th. Well, now it’s Tuesday the 27th. The moving company had to reschedule.

Just gotta pack faster.

Today I scheduled Spokane Movers for next Wednesday, May 28, to move me up to Spokane. I used the same company when I moved to Pullman in December, and I liked the guys. It’s a fairly small local moving company, and that’s what I like about it.

I got the go-ahead from my landlord that I can move in after he cleans the place up this weekend. He is also completing painting the exterior of the house. Since he’ll be in Spokane, I’ll be signing the lease and whatnot Friday when I’m in town.

I’ve notified my bosses that I’ll be moving, and that they’ll be seeing an expense voucher soon for the price of the movers. It’s all set on the work front.

So, all I need to do now is, well, just about everything.

• Finish packing. I’ve already done a fair amount.
• Change my mailing address on everything — S-R, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, etc. — and leave a forwarding address with the post office so I get my tax return and economic stimulus check.
• Change my billing address for my Visa card.
• Call my insurance agent to get my new apartment insured.
• Register my new address with the Department of Licensing so my Suburban is registered at the correct residence.
• Reactivate my old Avista account for my new apartment.
• Either cancel my Dish Network account and open one with Comcast, or notify Dish Network that I’m moving so they can install a satellite dish at my new apartment. (This requires finding out if I can put up a dish.)
• Depending on the above step, I may need to open a Comcast account for internet access.
• All the stuff I forgot to list here.

I heard from my new landlord Saturday (yes, I know it’s now Monday, and almost Tuesday) that I all my paperwork cleared and I have the apartment I want in Spokane. This is good news, because now I can relax, pack (though that’s not the same as relaxing) and schedule a time to move.

And oh, how I want to move.

(more…)

I mentioned a few posts ago my original Spokane apartment fell through. Here’s what happened.

ACT 1: Last week, the landlord called me to find out what I was thinking. I told her I really liked the apartment, but I was wondering if I could split May rent with them, since I wouldn’t need to move in until about a week before June 1. She said she’d have to check with her husband, but if he said yes would I commit to the apartment? I said yes.

A few minutes later, she called back and said I could pay half May rent. Awesome. Done deal. Under the above agreement, the place was mine.

All I needed to do, she said, was fill out an application and send her a check. She said I could fax it, but when I told her I’d be up in Spokane for Bloomsday, she said that was great and I could drop it all by then. (more…)