Goddammit.

I sat down on my bed this morning to put on my socks, and the bed collapsed. The frame itself held together, but some of the slats and crossrails (it doesn't use a box spring) gave out. Since my apartment doesn't actually have lights in the bedroom and I haven't been able to find where my lamps were packed yet, I'll have to wait until I get home tonight to find out what the damage is and if I'm sleeping at my parents' place tonight.

When did I acquire so much crap?

Seriously. Everything's been moved up to my new apartment and there's probably a grand total of 50 square feet in my place for the time being. I knew that I had bought a fair amount of stuff down south and had enough space at the time that it wouldn't be noticeable, but right now I'm wondering how long it'll be before I can actually use my kitchen.

The renovations weren't quite finished when I moved in on Tuesday, and the building manager had her handyman over last night trying to replace part of my bathroom sink. Somehow he managed to turn the wrong valve and dumped around 10 gallons of water on my floor before he could shut it off again. I'm definitely glad that I got water damage coverage with my insurance package.

On the plus side, my couch looks really good with the new paint and carpet, I have my own bed to sleep in, my entertainment center is set up to help prevent me from chucking stuff off the balcony in frustration, and I have internet in my home for the first time in nearly 3 years.

Also, there's a great coffee shop on the ground floor of my building. Seriously. Great coffee that's not roasted to the point of near charcoal, AND free homemade muffins with any coffee from 6 - 10 am? Somebody explain to me how the hell is the Starbucks across the street still open?

Well, I am back from Arkansas for likely the last time. The original plan was to fly down on Friday, supervise the packup & loading (and make sure that the movers didn't forget anything) and sign a few forms on Saturday, then fly back on Sunday. Almost immediately after booking my tickets, though, the movers asked if they could do the packup on Friday and load on Saturday. I agreed, beginning to wonder if I really needed to go back down to Arkansas at that point. Last week they asked if they could do the loading on Friday too.

The long and the short of it was that the moving company had packed and loaded everything before I touched down in Little Rock (excepting one cupboard of corning-ware and an empty suitcase that they missed). Ah well. It was good to see the house one last time, if more than a little depressing. Also, the movers loaded the wine. Yay!

On the flight back I ran into more delay at the Calgary airport than I've ever experienced before. It took me over 25 minutes just to make it from the airplane to the beginning of the customs area (at which point there was at least another 30 minutes worth of disneyland-like lineups back and forth before you got to talk to anybody). Fortunately at that time I could get into the Nexus lineup. That pass is worth its wait in gold some days. Still, I can at least understand that if for some reason that they have about a dozen planes landing at once its going to cause a delay.

The parking situation was another matter entirely. They normally have 8 tills open to pay your parking tab upon exiting. In this case they only had 2 open. It turns out that their automatic pay system was down. Fine. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is them labeling 4 of the 6 closed tills as "open" and allowing traffic to split into 6 lanes before they can see the little pylons that they've put in to block your way. This forced the mother of all traffic jams as people tried to merge 6 lanes into 2 that was actually backing up traffic so far that people were having delays getting in to the parkade to park. Naturally the airport was still charging people for the extra time needed to exit the parkade.

Ahh Calgary. How I've missed you.

Happy Dance!

Woot! The buyers countered my own offer with a realistic offer of their own. I'm making a little bit on the house, though I have to give them the lawn tractor, fridge, and freezer. I get to keep the washer & dryer (by which my parents get almost new washer & dryer). All in all, very fair - especially for me. I won't be completely satisfied until I've got the paperwork, but it's definitely a stress relief for me.

Wow. It only took me two days to be fed up with the cold and the snow. I really did become a wimp down south. In actuality, I think that the cold is easier to deal with than 105 degree heat with 90% humidity. I just like to complain.

I found an apartment in town. South facing, good size, decent price, and only seven blocks to the office. The only real bummer is that the kitchen is tiny. I'll have to work on that to see if I can find a way to extend it. My stuff should be arriving around November 2nd, so I'm looking forward to that.

Also, some people finally made an offer on my house. They low balled me on it, but it's a start. My realtor is cautiously optimistic that she can get them up to a more reasonable price.

Whew. Busy couple of weeks.

Got back to Calgary, bought a car, went to my cousin's wedding, got set up for work, and am still in the process of apartment hunting. The house still hasn't sold, but I'm not worried... yet.

I've never had as much problem with the dry air up here as I'm having this time around. I'm also having enough sinus problems that I think that I should see a doctor.

Still, it's good to be back.

It's strange how different it is moving my stuff back to Canada than it was getting it down here in the first place.

On my trip down, I just had the movers show up at my apartment, gave them my new address, and the next time I saw them was at my house down here. Going back I need to get them proof of my current (US) residence, meet customs officers, and whatnot.

Now I'm also having issues with my alcohol. Getting down here, it was just packed up and unpacked with everything else. I didn't think twice about it and the movers didn't mention it.

This time, the movers have said that their policy is that they don't handle alcohol at all - even sealed bottles. So I tried FedEx, and DHL, and other shipping companies. No dice. "Fine." I thought. "I'll just pack it good and check it with my luggage on my flight. The company is paying for that anyhow." Until I find out that they need special containers for alcohol. It wouldn't be an issue if it was just a couple of bottles - I'd just wrap it up good and stuff it in my bags. Unfortunately, I've got a couple of cases of the stuff (most of it local wines that you can't get outside of the wineries down here). It's not the end of the world, but it is frustrating. The way things are going I might have to leave it down here until somebody from our company decides to drive up to Canada and then reimburse them for the duty.

I've managed to actually get money transferred back up to Canada, which has made me annoyingly - albeit temporarily - chipper. Although it might seem like a small thing to some, if you remember my difficulties in getting the money down here in the first place I think that my reaction to getting it wired the other way in three days is understandable. What really blows me away is that the tiny local bank down here in the middle of nowhere has said that they have no issues arranging a transfer for the rest of my money remotely once I'm up in Canada and need to close down this account. BMO said that I had to go to one of their branches in person to arrange such a thing.

I think that the stress is getting to me right now. I have a nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something, but that's likely just the worry about having stuff to sell that hasn't sold yet. Still, it's making me testy. Garbage pickup was late yesterday? I was seething. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot left for me to do. I've inventoried my house and set up services to be canceled once I move out. All I really have left to do is sit and wait. And wait. And wait.