Currently camping out at home, with just a computer in one corner and an air mattress in another. All I need to get by for a few weeks. (I'll be arriving a few weeks before all our belongings land). I don't miss the TV. Spending a month without it doesn't even register as uncomfortable. But there's one thing that has me climbing walls. I've got no guitar. Don't think I've ever spent a month without one - at least not since about age 10.

So it looks like I'm gonna' be hanging out in music stores. Nope, don't need one thank you. I've got more than enough, and they're all hand-picked over a lifetime; better than anything I'll find here.  But I just want to play something for a half hour so I don't go berzerk. 

All of the logistic headaches are starting to come to a close. My to-do list now fits on the back of an envelope. You've no idea how many reams of paper it took at the start of this ordeal.

At this point it's actually pretty simple. Get everything turned off and then get out of here. Take out the trash one last time on Thursday. Clean out the car so it can be sold (I'm letting a friend actually sell it after I go). Pack the bags. 

It's almost too simple, and that's scary. Have I missed anything? I mean like something major?

Hi Jon, Remember me?

Jon is the problem solver. This is who you call when you get down to the end. Sold everything that could be sold, moved everything that's going to move; and you still have stuff left over.

Sure, I could fill up my car a few times and cart it off to Goodwill. Fill it up a few more times and cart it off to the dump. Borrow a truck from somebody to get the few remaining large items. But then I've still got a problem, because amongst that stuff are a few cans/bottles containing substances that cause grief. Paint, cleaning stuff. Some antifreeze that didn't fit in the radiator. In short, chemicals. They only accept these at the Sunnyvale recycle station a handful of weekends a year - and this weekend isn't on the list.

This is why you call Jon. One phone call.

I've got a problem. Please make it all just disappear. 

The movers were great, but it was easy to notice when their day was coming to an end. All the cautions taken earlier in the day started to make way for the unspoken 'Just get it in the truck. I want to go home.'. 

So I had to abandon my hands off policy. They were looking for something flat to stick on top of the bicycles, which were on top of the boxes. About six inches of space at the top of the container. One guy grabbed a painting and wrapped some paper around it to fill the void. I immediately pictured opening the container at the other end and finding a handlebar stuck through the thing.

Perdoneme? Esta pintura es quince mil dolares! Una caja, por favor...

('Scuse me, but that's a fifteen thousand dollar painting - please put it in a box.). My Spanish isn't perfect, but I know enough to get by. All work came to a halt momentarily while they digested the implications.  A couple even took a critical artistic look at the painting in question, rather than just as an object to pack. You mean some of this stuff isn't just household junk? Si, es muy bonita. Yes, It is very beautiful. From then on, they began to treat everything with just a bit more respect. 

 

These movers really kick. As it turns out, there isn't a whole lot for me to do except just get out of the way. The whole house is abuzz with activity. I learned a long time ago never to watch as your prized possessions are being packed. That would be akin to watching sausage being made. At some point you just have to trust them to do their job professionally and then hope for the best.  

There's a 40 foot cargo container sitting outside my house. Tomorrow everything that's inside the house is going into that big box. The task of sorting and packing has been non-stop for weeks, but now the pressure is really on. Anything that isn't in that box tomorrow has either got to fit in my luggage, or it's just not going. 

I've got a few piles of stuff to go to Goodwill. Anything they don't want is going to landfill. Also, I'm going to be here another two weeks, which complicates things further. I'll be camping out at the house, but with only a few changes of clothes and no furniture. I'm keeping the computer running, but since I don't have a laptop currently, that means I've got to put a desktop system into my luggage. That's about a third of my alloted luggage. It's a logistic nightmare trying to plan this mess.

I'd love to pack up the desktop system and use my work laptop, but my employer still hasn't decided whether they're going to keep me on or not, so for planning purposes I have to assume that my work laptop is staying at work. I thought about picking up a cheap laptop, but there wasn't enough time in my schedule to configure the thing. 

Anyway - I'm buggered. I could work non-stop for another 8 hours and still not get everything done. But it's time to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow. At this point it probably doesn't matter if I'm done. The movers will be here in the morning. By this time tomorrow, the container will be on its way. I've got until they close the doors and drive away to deal with any remaining issues. Tick, tock.

G'night.  

The house is pretty much sold. No time to celebrate - at this point, it's just another item to check off the list of things to do. Now it's time to pack the bags. I've got a little over 3 weeks left. Have to get the movers in, sell off the rest of the furniture that isn't going, and then find a home for anything that's left over - even if that home happens to be a landfill.

Yet another chapter coming to a close. It's still unclear whether I will be able to retain my employment from half a world away. Could go one way, could go the other at this point. Meanwhile, I'm still putting in regular work weeks while trying to accomplish all this other stuff. 

Then there are the little details - hundreds of them. Closing out utilities, transferring financial arrangements. Figuring out how to sell the car and perhaps of some importance, how to get to the airport.  

 

While going over offers on the house last night, it struck me that the Silicon Valley economy in general - and the housing market in particular; aren't quite as stagnant as everybody would have you believe.

One potential buyer went over plans to extend the family room to put in a home theater; and questioned the ability of the roof to support a large bank of solar arrays.  Ah yes - I know where he's coming from. I have all the data.

Would've done all these things myself had it not been for that unfortunate little foray into the music business.