155 Pieces

The moving truck arrived today and whisked away all the material manifestations of my existence. Ok, not quite all of my worldly possessions... I still have my laptop, a suitcase of clothing, my net connection, a few tools, and my Calphalon pans... you know, the vital stuff.

I was stuck waiting for a few hours in the morning--their truck had some problems, according to the call I received from dispatch. When they arrived, the movers walked in, looked at the pile, and said, "Woo, boy..." However, the move went relatively smoothly and painlessly. I helped stage everything to the room right next to the stairs, as they moved things out to the truck. Also, there were only two movers (and the boss was doing paperwork half the time), so I helped haul some of the heavier items to the truck.

I know that a lot of folks would have the attitude, "Dude, you're paying them to move your stuff... why are you lugging crap around for them?" First, I have an immense amount of guilt in my persona--I find it difficult to idly watch others work while knowing that I could help. Second, I figure that making their lives easier is a Good Karma thing--I've had enough jobs lower down on the food chain (elementary school janitor, maintenance worker at an office park) that I know what it's like to be bossed around from up on high. Finally, these are people who will be in a good position to move your dishes to the truck via shot put techniques--it's probably a really good idea not to piss them off. Therefore the tip, and the promise of a case of Bud on the far end.

After these two moves in 2.5 years, I have decided that I need to make everything I own transportable by one person, including up & down stairs. Most of the furniture I own can be broken down into pieces. My dressers are an exception--I'm planning on switching to wire baskets on a rack, in a walk-in closet. Also, my 27" TV is a bit of a bear--probably worth switching to an LCD projector one of these days.

As for the title of this post, it turns out that I had 155 items/pieces--they tag them with numbered labels to track an order.



Damn. I'd guessed 75-100... I figure that having a good grasp on what you own, every once in a while, is a good idea.

If you're wondering, this is my trick for carrying several pipe wrenches with one hand--it's a U-bolt and a short length of garden hose as a handle. You need at least two pipe wrenches to fit iron pipe (to torque against each other); the fourth piece is a chunk of pipe used as a "cheater bar."