10 observations when moving your stuff

In no particular order, but for many reasons.

1.  You have more stuff than you think.
2.  Whatever amount of time you allot for moving your stuff multiply by three to get the actual time.
3.  You will find that "thing" you thought you lost a year ago, and you'll end up throwing it out anyway.
4.  Because most of your stuff isn't square, most of it will not fit nicely into packing boxes.
5.  "And on the 8th day, God created the hand-truck, and it was good."
6.  National Geographic magazines present a particularly difficult quandary.
7.  You actually, really do own 37 plastic storage containers.  You just didn't know that until now.
8.  You find more lost silverware that you never knew were lost.
9.  You discover that those lost socks went behind your washing machine to die.
10.You discover that you own more medication than is typically found in the average sub-Saharan hospital.

das Haus verlassen, #15

And so it begins...

While just buying a house if fraught with anxiety, selling and buying basically at the same time is an ulcer cocktail.  Never the less, I'm not one for doing things the easy way, so why should this be any different?

Anyway, over the next few days I am getting the current abode ready for the closing, which should happen, like, eventually.  Well eventually in the sense of it has to happen on or before the closing for the new house, which will be next Friday.  Needless to say, next week should be "interesting", to say the least.

It's now just a shell here, with just the essentials, including a computer, a nice chair and marshmallows.  One has to eat.

The Days Ahead

Monday 12/02 - "normal" work day.  I was supposed to leave the office this afternoon to travel for a class that starts tomorrow morning, but I decided that less time away is better, so I'm leaving tomorrow morning.  Kudos to my VP who basically said I could cancel the class attendance if I needed to on account of the closing(s).

Tuesday 12/03 - Business travel.  Up at something like 4:30am and on the road by 5:30.  With any luck I will be back in Scranton by 8pm.  The joys and glamour of business travel.  Oh, and since I hoped organize this particular class, I think I will have some hosting responsibilities.

Wednesday 12/04 - "normal" work day, and I think my calendar is packed.

Thursday 12/05 - The great clean-n-move-out.  This is the day when I finish moving out all my stuff and get the house ready for Friday's closing.  It's also the day when JeanLuc the cat starts his 8 or 9 day kitty vacation at Springbrook Kennels & Pet resort.  I don't expect either one of us will be happy about it.  The day will probably start early and will no doubt end late.  I have a feeling that when all is said and done I'll need an Advil drip.

Friday 12/06 - Closing on this house & my official week of homelessness begins (wave to me as you pass under the Davis Street Bridge on I81).  I have to talk to the attorney about logistics, but I am hoping that I don't have to be there for the actual house closing.  I do have the day off from work, and seeing as though I already have a ton of days off from work to spare, I will probably keep it.  Some time will probably be spent fully preparing for the next closing.

Saturday 12/07 - Traveling to Philadelphia to see Chris' nieces participate in Lucia Fest at Old Swede's Church. I will be nice to get a way for the day.

Sunday 12/08 - An actual day of rest.  Maybe I will cook.  Generally speaking I hate cooking, but there are times when it is both necessary and almost therapeutic.

Monday 12/09 - A day off.  I had scheduled this day off a while ago, basically in anticipation of my house closing date changing.  With all signs pointing to a closing on the upcoming Friday, I'm hoping to actually get some Christmas shopping done.  Despite everything else going on, apparently Christmas is still on for this year.

A post that isn't about moving, home selling, home buying or anything else of a similar ilk

I was going to write, yet again, about my current all-consuming activities, but then I came to my senses.  Instead, here's just an assortment of random "stuff".

My favorite album titles
In no particular order for no particular reason:

• Seven and the Ragged Tiger - Duran Duran; not only does it have a cool title, but it has a few good songs to boot (including one of my favorites, "New Moon on Monday").
• Babylon and On - Squeeze; another great album that I also own that has a cool title.  "Hourglass" is a workout staple for me.
• Learning to Crawl - The Pretenders; one my the best albums I have ever heard.  I love the back story behind the album as well.  Google it and read for yourself.  I've often times contemplated my own moments in life when I've had to "learn to crawl".  Favorite tracks?  Really, mostly all of them.  
• Learning to Flinch - Warren Zevon; I don't own the album and I'm not especially fond of acoustic sets, but I just love the title. I don't know if Zevon was thinking about the Pretenders album when he came up with the name, but never the less it's still pretty cool.
• The Unforgettable Fire - U2; yeah, an album titled after a description of a nuclear bomb explosion is somewhat pretentious, but I like it never the less.  "Bad" is one of my favorite songs of all time.   

Words I use to describe peanut butter
I hate peanut butter.  I despite it.  Here are a few choice words to describe it:  Acrid.  Disgusting.  Putrid.  Vile.  Vulgar.  Nauseating.  Foul.

I don't know how any human being could consume this stuff.


The Number of times BBC America has played "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"
At least 476 times, give or take a dozen.


Things that 20-somethings do that irritate me
With no offense intended to anyone, and I realize that there are plenty of younger folks who don't fall under these categories (but there are some...).

• Pretend to be worldly - You can't be worldly and be young.  Sorry, you can't.
• Think they are owed something - The world doesn't own you an education, a cellphone with a data plan, or a leadership position just out of college.  Speaking of education, "going to school" isn't a vocation, it's a means to a vocation.
• Disrespect the past - Want to understand the present?  Study the past.  Don't want to study the past? Well then don't pretend that you actually understand the present.
• Are suckers for marketing schemes - The folks at Apple must love the average 25 year old.  "Behold, the latest iThing, with new 4% larger screen!".
• Think that things are free (that really are not free) - Basically nothing in this world is free.  Facebook?  Nah, it's not free; the cost is much of your personal information that is whored out to marketers.

Things I've recently learned to enjoy
Where "recently" is defined as being over the past 4 or 5 years:  Blogs, classical music, BBC America (especially Top Gear), English Breakfast Tea, supporting a local rescue mission, A Prairie Home Companion, stuffed chicken thighs from Gerrity's, Evernote and Mental Floss magazine.


Reasons why I really don't like the winters in Northeastern Pennsylvania

• Parts of my skin develop a lizard-like quality.
• Breathing in super cold air does not make my asthma very happy.
• Two words:  Dirty snow.
• Three words:  Dark at five.
• People who drive Jeeps during bad weather and somehow believe that driving a Jeep makes you immune from the basic laws of physics.  Want evidence?  Drive down I84/I380 just after a major winter storm and count the Jeeps stuck between the north and south lanes.

Meeting the "Shake Off The Grind" Thanksgiving challenge

Preface:  I want to note before anything else that this was exceptionally difficult to write.  More like "pain in the butt" to write.  But I'm glad I did.



I subscribe to frequent emails from a great website/blog/personal development resource called "Shake Off The Grind".  You can link to it HERE.

Now with Thanksgiving coming, I have a "I am thankful for..." posting basically written.  Then I received this challenge from Shake Off The Grind.  After reading it, I thought to myself "what the heck" and I'm going to take the challenge.  For purposes of simplicity, the challenge asks you to be thankful for some very specific things:

1. List 5 people in your life you are grateful for.
2. List 5 things you're grateful for about your home, community or where you live.
3. List 5 things about your physical body you are grateful for.
4. List 5 life experiences you are grateful for.
5. List 5 personal skills and talents you possess that you are grateful for.

So here goes nothing.

5 People in my life I am grateful for
(Disclaimer - I'm going to limit this to people who are actually alive)

• I am grateful for the joy of being the father to my oldest daughter, Katrina.  She is exceptionally bright, musically talented and passionate about her vocation.  In a world full of people who just "telegraph it in", she strives to make a difference.
• I am grateful for the joy of being the father to my middle daughter, Korin.  Like her sister, she is exceptionally bright, shares my love of Science and has a wonderfully wry sense of humor.  
• I am grateful for the joy of being the father to my youngest daughter, Rebecca.  Like her sisters, she is exceptionally bright, possessing a wonderful singing voice, and is the hardest working 20 year old I've ever met.  
• I am grateful for my partner, Christine Elizabeth.  At my darkest hour I looked up and she was there...it doesn't get much better than that.  Chris, our life together is a blank canvas, and the world is full of paint.
• I am grateful for my brother Richard, who helped me at every step of the way as we got the house ready to sell.  Could I have done it without him?  Sure, but he made it far easier.

5 things I am grateful for about my home, community or where I live

• I am grateful to live in the United States of America, a place where, while politically dysfunctional, you don't get shot/imprisoned/water-boarded for actually saying the government is politically dysfunctional.
• I am grateful for the community of folks that comprise my employer, especially those with whom I work with in the Scranton office.  We have some of the best and brightest that NEPA has to offer. 
• I am grateful for having had a home wherever I ended up roaming.  When I think about the challenges that some face just finding shelter, I am reminded of how blessed I have been in my life.  As the saying goes, "not all who wander are lost".
• I am grateful to live in the area known as Northeastern Pennsylvania.  Be it ever so humble, there truly is no place like home.
• I am grateful for the virtual communities of which I have been (and continue to be) a member.  I've met some wonderful people and learned a tremendous amount about subjects far and wide.

5 things about my physical body I am grateful for

• I am grateful that my body is durable.  Despite the nutritional abuse I throw at it, my parts all seem to function well.
• I am grateful that I have physical stamina.  Despite my inability to get much more than 6 hours of sleep a night, I am always able to get up, get going, and take care of business (and on most days that includes about 30 minutes of cardio).
• I am grateful for my sense of smell.  While I can't see all that well and my hearing is getting worse as I get older (harmed in no small measure by too much loud music over the decades), my nose can still pick up the stench of peanut butter from a room away.
• I am grateful that I still have (mostly) a full head of hair.  There is nothing wrong with being bald, and to be honest, if the choice came down to mostly bald or totally bald, I'd say "shave it all".
• I am grateful for my eyesight.  Yes, while it isn't the best in the world, eye doctors have marveled at how well I've managed to adjust to not seeing well, particularly when it comes to depth-perception.  I tell people that I probably don't really know what "good" eyesight is anyway, as I only know what I have always experienced, which is okay with me.

5 life experiences I am grateful for

• Age 16, 4H Camp - The first time when I experienced the possibilities that life had to offer was when I worked at a 4H summer camp.  I learned the value of hard work and of how wonderful independence could be.  I will be forever grateful for the opportunity that this first "real" job afforded me.  
• Age 20, Penn State Harrisburg - While 4H Camp gave me a taste of independence, that feeling was magnified 20 fold when I spent my junior and senior years of college at Penn State Harrisburg.  For me, this is a sacred, special place, as evidenced by the small number of people who are close to me that I've taken on the "pilgrimage" to PSH over the years.  I make it a point to go back to the school from time to time and I am honored to be able to financially support the university in a small way.
• Age 24, becoming a Dad.  I became a Dad at an early age, and on one hand it was exceedingly frightening having so much responsibility at such a young age.  On the other?  It is simply wonderful being young enough to see your "children" become fully functional adults.  Parenthood changes everything in your life, I will add ultimately for the better.
• Age 25 (and a half), starting to work for my current employer.  I am very grateful for the opportunities that have been created for me to grow personally and professionally.  I am also very grateful for the ability it has given me to support myself and others.
• Age 49 (in progress).  I am grateful for the experience to date of selling my home and finding a new place to live.  While it continues to test many things (patience, ability to sleep, finances, etc.), this is one of those "once in a lifetime" things that I will look back on fondly in years to come.

5 Special talents or skills I am grateful for

• I am grateful for my inquisitive nature.  From an early age I was reading any and every non-fiction book in the house.  And I continue to do that to this very day.  I owe a special dept of gratitude to my late mother for instilling in me a desire for lifelong learning.
• I am grateful for having a desire to write.  Note that I didn't say "being a writer", because I firmly believe that, for example, Garrison Keillor is a writer; I, on the other hand, am a person who writes.  And I write, at times joyously.  
• I am grateful for the ability to be graceful under pressure.  
• I am grateful for having my own sense of visual composition.  There are times when I capture something in a photo and then I end up marveling at what has just occurred.  
• I am grateful for having a positive outlook.  This wasn't always the case, but I am living proof that we all have a shot at redemption.

das Haus verlassen, #14

The countdown begins.

Barring one of the largest financial services firms on the planet actually lying to me, the last hurdle between myself and the sale of my house should be removed some time mid-next week.  On one hand I am relieved, on the other I'm exhausted.

Call it "house fatigue".

I thought I would be excited at the prospect of the changes to come, and deep down I am. It's just at the moment I'm really, really tired.  As I've noted before, there's been a lot of effort to get this far, where the effort part encompasses just about everything.  Oh, and I also have the rest of my life that continues to happen around me.  Did I mention that I'm not sleeping all that well most nights?  Mind you this is "not sleeping all that well" by Steve (as in minimal) standards.  Nothing like waking up at 3am thinking about the next series of tasks you need to perform.

Anyway, I'm also tired of complaining about it.

The truth is that it really is the home stretch.  The side of the house that my mother formerly lived on is about 95% ready to go.  I just need to get my brother to handle a few last details.  My side?  Well it is, once again, a maze of boxes and stuff.  But it's boxes and stuff that are on their way out, as in out of here.  Yes, it looks bad. but in reality the looks are deceiving.  And outside of a bed and a couch, I can pretty much move the rest of the stuff by myself, with the moral support of a cat, a hand-truck and a Nissan Rogue.  After all, I moved in here by myself with the help of a Chrysler PT Cruiser, so anything is theoretically possible.  Sadly and believe it or not, the PT Cruiser actually had more cargo room than my Rogue.  Too bad it was as piece of crap (from a reliability perspective).

When I think about it, I actually have less than two weeks here when you factor in Thanksgiving and some work commitments I have for the week after next.  In the scheme of things, that's a blink of an eye.  After vacating here, it's off to a week of temporary lodging (sans cat) until (hopefully) the closing on the new home on or about December 13th.  Could there have been any worse timing for all of this?  Probably not, but then again you don't always get to call the shots in these sorts of things.

When it's all said and done there will be a deep sigh of relief and then sights set on new adventures.

Dear United States Senators from the Democratic Party

Congratulations in having "gone nuclear".  Now please don't cry when the tables are turned and the next Republican President wants to nominate the equivalent of Joseph Goebbels to some federal judgeship...and you are powerless to stop it.

Like little kids at Christmas, you will eventually learn that the having is not nearly as sweet as the wanting.

"All in all I'd have to say, its been a rather dismal day"

The title comes from a song by the 1970's soft-rock band Bread.

It was a  rather dismal day, yesterday that is; why?

Well first, since I love cats, it was painful to do what had to be done. The "it" was having my late mother's elderly cat, Sarah, put to sleep.  Sarah was about 19 or 20 years old, completely deaf and had a cataract in one of her eyes.  She also was very frail.  I kept her at the house for as long as possible, but with a closing on the property potentially coming soon (or maybe later...keep reading), I had to act.  Having her go live with someone else was not an option, as given her greatly diminished senses, any other environment would have been hazardous to Sarah.  There just weren't any other viable choices, and it quite literally broke my heart to take her to the Vet.  But I had to do it.  It was the longest 10 minute car ride I've taken in a very long time.  My only consolation is that Sarah, with her skin-n-bones, arthritis ridden body is no longer in pain.

Rest in peace old girl.

Then there is an issue that potentially impacts the closing date for the sale of this property that resulted in too many phone calls, far too much note-taking and far too much uncertainty.  For me, the biggest point of contention is that I've been living with basically a shell of my belongings for months now.  I'm tired of it, and while I'm not a consumption-oriented person, I would like to have the benefits of what I've accumulated.  Those benefits do me no good sitting in a Moosic storage unit.  You can make that plural, as I now rent two of them.  I am sure that it will all get sorted out in the end, but that doesn't diminish the suck-factor of it all.

Here's to days to come when I don't have to get treasured pets euthanized and I don't have to worry about being homeless.

Scranton's revenue problem is not the problem

Well, the initial turd hit the fan blades last week:  the Mayor of Scranton proposed increasing property taxes and the garbage tax (from $178/year to $300/year).  All told, I believe that the Scranton Times figured the total increase to be in the neighborhood of about 400% on the average city taxpayer.

It will not be enough.

Consider Pat.

Pat has a problem managing credit.  Specifically, Pat has managed to get so far into debt that Pat can no longer afford to make all of the credit card payments that come due.  Yet Pat continues to spend, using, of course, credit cards.  So what does Pat do?  Pat gets an evening job at the local Kwik-E-Mart.  The extra income is good, and Pat manages to get current on all of the credit card minimum payments.  But there is a problem:  Because Pat puts all of what is earned into bills (including making minimum credit card payments), Pat has no choice but to continue to use the credit cards for some of the daily expenses of life.  What's more, Pat still likes to buy non-necessities using a credit card.

Anyone think that the solution to Pat's problem is yet another job?

Of course not.  All the extra cash in the world will not solve Pat's problem, because Pat doesn't have an income problem.  Pat simply can't manage to live within a budget.  Pat is in capable of managing expenses.  Pat has an expense problem.

Pat is the City of Scranton.

The credit card bills are the debt the city has incurred over the years.  Include in this the insane award given to police and firefighters that will have to be satisfied...by of course adding to the city's debt.  For the record, the award was the direct result of Scranton's mayor following the advice of the Pennsylvania Economy League (PEL).  While I know it will not happen, it should be PEL that picks up the cost of this ill-decided "award".  Keep in mind though that Scranton was functionally bankrupt even before this award is factored into the mix.

All of the other bills incurred by Pat...utilities, rent, etc...are Scranton's operating expenses.

In the absence of fundamental changes in how the City of Scranton is managed, any additional revenue Scranton manages to pry from its residents will simply be sucked up like light into a black hole.  There will never be enough revenue to solve the city's problems precisely because the system isn't designed to mange expenses...it simply incurs them.  The city's budget exists in large part to do just two things:

1) Pay employees
2) Make payments on incurred debt

Scranton's viscous cycle is that #2 is helping to pay for #1.  As #1 increases (with no end in sight, particularly under Mayor Courtright, who relied heavily on unionized city employees to get elected), #2 will  increase a well.  Where does it end?  Well what will ultimately happen is that the city will no longer be able to access credit.  It will not be able to do #2, then #1 falls to pieces.

das Haus verlassen, #13

It's getting to be crunch time, for real.

In theory, in less than a month from now I will be in my new home.  Note the words "in theory".  Separating theory from reality I have a few (what I hope are) minor issues to work out, including figuring out exactly when I need to move into temporary lodging between house closings.  This is driving things like when I need to get a van to move the rest of my stuff out, when I need to take JeanLuc the cat on this kitty vacation, and countless other details that are so numerous that I actually have a checklist.  Evernote rules, for the record.

While the sale part is creating complexities, I will say though that the purchase end has been fairly stress free.  The owners of the property Ms Rivers and I are buying from seem like very nice people, and they are open to potentially closing early when and if all of the stars that must align actually do so in order to make that happen.  I actually get a chance to meet the former owners, as they have agreed to give us a tutorial on how to operate the wood/coal stove that is located in the first floor living room.

Among the details I am working on during the days ahead will be to clear out the rest of my stuff from the existing property.  Now much of that was done in July and August as I got the property ready for sale, but I did afford myself a few remaining luxuries, such as a desk, television, couch and bed.  Within about two weeks or so most of those will be gone as well.  Have I mentioned that I also need to acquire some additional storage space in order to make this all happen?  The current storage unit is about as crowded as bus in India.

Making this stuff somewhat easier is the fact that I don't have much business travel left in the year.  Maybe one overnight in early December and that's it, well at least until the second week in January.

It will be nice when things settle down, but part of me wonders what it will actually be like.  "Be like"?  Well not so much as in how it will feel to live somewhere else, but more so how it will feel to not have the constant stress of...

...constantly worrying about titles, deeds, lawyers, buyers and paperwork
...coordinating my brother Joe's move
...getting service providers here to do those last minute fine-tuning things
...those impromptu calls by your real estate agent trying to solve some issue
...having most of the temporal things you hold dear locked up in a storage unit
...worrying about how your pet will do while he is being boarded

...this stuff is not for the faint of heart.  I'm thinking that the next move after this will be to a retirement community.  Or a funeral home.  Well God willing not a funeral home.