Done last week/month (20170326Su - 0401Sa)

[mdlbear]

This was a week of settling in to life at Split End -- our apartment in the U District. Unfortunately, we took pretty much everything that was in the kitchen -- even after taking two boxes back there's much more than we have room for. Yeah, the boxes fit in the apartment, but...

Much sadness about leaving Rainbow's End. Yes, it's an adventure, and Naomi says that she likes the way that I almost always say "yes" to adventures. I grumble about them while they're in progress, but then find that they were worth while. And she's basically right. I worry, and I get down on myself for the decisions that seemed like good ideas at the time, and freak out occasionally, but apparently I keep doing it. So here we are.

I have, however, been having a pretty rough time of it emotionally. Near as I can tell, because alexithymia. (Which is to say that emotions are happening, but I can't usually tell what they are. Only that they hurt.)

We are preapproved for a $300K mortgage on a second home. We will probably make any offer we make contingent on selling RE just so we don't get stuck with two mortgages if it doesn't sell right off or the buyers back out after the inspection. But still.

We can haz internet. Went with Comcast, because they do service with no contract. Had the devil's own time getting connected, in spite of the fact that Comcast could see and provision my modem just fine. Turns out that the only way to get a DHCP lease is to *reset* the modem! Remind me to stay away from TP-Link equipment in the future. (It also took me a long time to set my router up -- apparently you have to reboot it after a hard reset. Otherwise it just hangs in the boot loader, possibly waiting for a TFTP load.

Saturday we went to look at houses in Snohomish. The first was amusing; we were basically run off the property after the owner drove by our van to let us in, and saw our Obama bumper sticker. Ooooookay then. Thanks for telling us what we needed to know about the neighborhood.

The second place was superficially attractive; it even had a ramp--in the pictures. They had apparently removed it. It was, however, in pretty poor shape, with water damage to the floors and foundation issues. So we'll keep looking.

Notes & links:

0326Su
  * up 6ish; ; unpacking
  ... unpacking.  ongoing.  At least 3 boxes of stuff to be podded, and one or two to go
    back.  There will be more.
  ! 12:00 depressed.  Or something.  Over the panic/anxiety/adrenaline attacks and/or
    meltdowns for the moment, but still very fragile.
  * 3:20 downloaded 2017 statements from Union Bank (for preapproval)
  * 5ish downloaded 2016 1099s from Morgan Stanley
  : we have a battery powered can opener, but no batteries.  TJ's mushroom and herb
    risotto for dinner.  Tasty, but wants protein.  Our two cans of crabmeat will have to
    wait. 
  : We have a full set of table knives, comparatively few forks, and three spoons.

0327Mo
  * up 7:05; W=198; unpacking, shower, ... laundry, dishes
  : The good knives turned up at the bottom of the box labeled "snacks".  Good grief!
  * went downstairs around 9:15, met (building manager) Jaime, and got keys and fobs for
    me and Colleen.
  : Very different commute -- lots of younger people.  not surprising.
  * ordered CPAP prescription from Kaiser.  Should have done it a week ago, of course.
  * Tracked down pay stubs and W2's for loan preapproval.
  * set up paperless reporting for Amazon (adp.com)
  : Have to decide whether to get internet from CenturyLink, Comcast, or Verizon.
  * Stopped at Safeway on the way home, and got bacon-wrapped sirloin steaks and rosemary
    bread for tonight, and chicken for tikka masala tomorrow.  Also cat litter, laundry
    and dishwashing detergent, chocolate, and yogurt.  And I will keep my Oxford comma,
    thank you very much.
    : There's an Amazon locker in the Safeway.  Because Seattle.
  ! I seem remarkably cheerful this evening.
  : AT&T's Wireless Home Phone & Internet looks perfect, except that it doesn't appear to be
    available in Seattle; it won't ship until May if I order it online.
  : I can, however, get a cable or DSK modem on Amazon for 1-day delivery (because
    Seattle).  So I need to compare non-contract plans from Century Link and Comcast.
    -> leaning toward Comcast because they show no-contract prices and there wouldn't be
       any problems with the accounts getting mixed up.  Unless I can transfer the phone
       number without losing the internet at RE.  OTGH, what would I need a phone for?
  : The dishwasher is very clever -- the controls are on the top edge of the
    door.  Everything inside is stainless steel except for the silverware bin.
  * set up my Dwelo account.  The app is lamentably low-contrast.
  * set up my smartbuilding.com account.

0328Tu
  * up 6:30; ; laundry, dishes
  : CenturyLink doesn't do service without a contract, and Comcast is cheaper.
    Comcast is 25Mb/s for $49.  Since RE is half that speed, no need to go higher.
  * got rather litle done at work.
  & wasted a couple of hours trying to get a comcast internet account set up.  I'll
    probably find tomorrow morning that the installer will balk at setting me up without a
    modem to connect to -- I ordered it in the morning when it looked like I wasn't
    getting an install until Thursday, but there was a morning slot tomorrow.  Had to
    order twice because something lost my first try.  Had to get a different username
    because ssavitzky was apparently already taken.
    -> apparently they can leave one on premises to be replaced later; I assume that means
       they can just leave me an open jack instead.
  x 4pm Anita Brown -> she's out sick.  Just as well, since I have a meeting to go to.
  : don't see how I can get to a 1pm appointment in Shoreline tomorrow; with the amount I
    haven't been getting done at work; it will eat up the whole day.
  & N needs the van tomorrow - the original plan was for her to take the bus and meet me
    at work, but my 3pm meeting got rescheduled.  So I drove down to collect her; we then
    proceeded to schul to pick up the kids, and back to Split End for dinner, hanging out,
    and a little guitar noodling.
  & wasted ten minutes or so looking for my glasses, which I appear to have misplaced.
    Pretty much have to be here or at work.
  & found my black loafers -- they were in the dresser drawer with my shirts.
  % 10:40 have been dozing.  Need to load drugs and get to bed.

0329We
  * up 5:15; W=199.2; laundry
  * 8-10 install slot for comcast
    -> as expected, it was already connected -- all I have to do is call with the CMAC
       number and brand of my modem.
  * The glasses were, in fact, at work.
  x 1pm Dr. Mandell @ shoreline clinic - sleep medicine.
     Please call the clinic at 206-542-5656 to cancel this appointment.
  : My router, unfortunately, appears to have been bricked.  Hmm.  Maybe not - arp -a
    returns a result now, from 192.168.1.1.  We'll see whether I can connect.
    now you see it, now you don't.  Grump.  It was up for a short while after a soft reset
  * Started loan application with Evergreen.  Follow link in email to resume.
  
0330Th
  * up 6:15; W=200.2; laundry, dishes
  * As it turned out, all the router needed was a plain reboot after the hard reset.
    Booting with the reset button on leaves it in the bootloader, at first waiting for a
    TFTP load.  After that it just sits there, with the green light blinking.
  * suicide watch resources
  * got loan application in; somewhere around 4:40
  * Several hours on the phone to both Comcast, to provision the line, and TP-Link, to
    finally be told that I have to stick a pin in the modem's reset hole to get it to
    finally give me a damned DHCP lease.  The first call to Comcast got dropped, and the
    tech scheduled me a truck roll without telling me.  The second guy was able to tell
    me, and prove to me, that the modem was working, and told me to contact TP-link.
    TP-link's tech was annoying.
    -> And I had to stab the modem *again*, when I swapped from my laptop back to the
       router.  Didn't bother power-cycling it, since that didn't seem to work before.
    : anyway, we now have a nice, fast net connection.
    : Colleen's kindle seems to be having problems getting a lease.  Odd.
  * Dwelo works.  The bedroom and living room lights are swapped; clearly the closet is in
    the "bedroom".  Foo.
  : C's kindle wasn't getting an address -- somehow dhcp was screwed up on the router.
    Selected DNSMasq and it all worked.

0331Fr
  * Up 6:30; W=197.8; dishes
  : G' is out sick.  That means she won't have been here all week; she spent one day at
    RE, which needed cleaning.  She's probably going to want it as a sick day.
  * Went back to pick up the van.  The place is still a mess.  Apparently, very little got
    done over the last week.  The maypole is still up.  Intended to take the piggie, but
    the cage needed to be mucked out and I didn't see litter.  (It was upstairs, but by
    then I'd already loaded the walker and $A subscription box into the van, and I was
    starting to fade.)
  : met the new neighbors -- turned out to be Ylena from Amazon and the C bus.  Neat!
    Except that we've already moved out.  Also saw G, who had just gotten back from trying
    the commute to Snohomish, which is about an hour.
  % left feeling disconsolate.  Apropos of which, ...
  @ 336 | depression comix songwriting.
  % 10pm getting rather sleepy
  @ Why do people name their plants, cars, ships, and guitars? Anthropomorphism may
    actually signal social intelligence — Quartz (thnidu)
  * set up the folding table for the piggie cage, on my side of the bed.  Not going to
    have anything suitable for the mac and monitor; suppose I can make do with the tray
    table.  Better to try the Windows laptop -- if it works, can skip the mac.

0401Sa
  * up 4:40ish; W=202; dishes, laundry
  * 9:40 Colleen Dr Chopra
  * to RE to pick up N.
  ~ 1pm house showing.  There's a swapmeet at the Monroe fairgrounds, and another house we
    ought to look at.
    -> The owner drove past the van on his way up the driveway, saw our Obama sticker, and
       got in the agent's face saying "Ain't selling this house to no liberal m__f__r!" or
       something close to that.  Thanks for the warning -- if that's typical of the
       neighborhood, we don't want it.
    x the second place was in bad enough shape that it would have needed a lot more work
      to fix up.  With only one bathroom, not worth it.  We need at least a toilet, and
      preferaby a shower, in the master suite.
  * reduce Colleen's food budget to 100/wk.
  % 18:30 more tired than sleepy, I think, but definitely sleepy
  % I want a nice long soak in a hot bath; not going to have that for months.
  % 8:30 going to bed.

Comments

[alatefeline]

*offers hugs*

I hope you can get some rest.

[mdlbear]

Thanks!

[technoshaman]

https://www.banya5.com/

Hope that helps.

[mdlbear]

Interesting. Thanks! (I may still not use it, but it's a possibility. Good to know about.)

[amaebi]

Luck in your quest! ointment drowning your flies!

[mdlbear]

Thanks!

[jcfiala]

Yeah, you want to take your time finding a property anyway.

Good luck with settling in at your apartment! I just had family come through and clean out my kitchen in preparation for my wife getting home from the hospital, and naturally I can't find anything! *laugh*