BMR Lite

[Thumper]

Worked late yesterday because I'm taking a little time off this afternoon and again next week. So I skipped my workout and headed home. I wondered aloud what I was going to do this evening. Never do that, ever. Got home and noticed something screwy with Mrs. T's garage door cables. (We each have a single car door into our garage. I've got old style springs that stretch along the door rail away from the opening, not the coiled kind that is stationary mounted to the header above the door. One gave up the ghost. Luckily, unlike last time, it didn't tear up the mounts, the rail and some drywall when it exploded. I went in to change into work clothes and check on the computer to see if Home Depot still carried them. Couldn't find the computer, Mrs. T had taken it to work. Fired up The Kid's old MacBook, and had a horrendous time getting anything to come up. By the time I got the broken spring off to take with me, it had started blizzard snowing and bending over I ripped my jeans from the beltline in the back all the way down my butt. I didn't feel like going inside, taking off my boots and changing jeans, so I grabbed my coveralls out of my plow bag and threw them on.

Skidded over to Home Depot and wandered around until I found the springs, it took a long time. Finally, there was an employee who could have helped me find them in the first place. I'm on my knees, (sweating because I'm in my insulated coveralls) trying to figure out which weight range spring I need. Employee looks over my shoulder, says, "Yeah, that's tricky," and walks away...

Buy a pair, make it home and start the replacement. I've got a heater going so even though it's snowing and 22F outside, I'm good. However, to finish the install the door has to be up so the springs aren't under tension. It gets cold. Get it done, put everything away, and sweep the snow off all the walks and porches before heading in to get my coveralls off. I get those back in the plow bag and start warming up, Mrs. T asks if I was able to do anything with it. I say it's fixed. She says, I was thinking we could have gone out to (our favorite local watering hole) to celebrate our last night before The Kid comes home for break, but it's much too late now....I whimper in agreement as I throw away a pair of my favorite jeans.

Gee I wonder what I'm going to do tonight......D'Oh!

[SciFiFisher]

Sort of like "sure is quiet around here" in the emergency room.

[Thumper]

You can be sure I kept my mouth shut yesterday.

[Rommie]

Went out tonight for some celebratory drinks. It's 20F/-7C out, and while heading out of the bar there was a little dog tied up outside, toy sized. She had a little sweater and not much fur (def not really enough to insulate much if at all), and four little booties on her feet that looked like latex condoms for all they helped, and she was shivering.

Legit had no idea what to do beyond tell a friend to hold onto her, as she was tied to the railing, then go inside and tell the bartender. Waiter who overheard was pissed and went around to find the owner. Owner came out in a few minutes, some 20-something girl who claimed "she's just in her first winter and isn't used to it!" Yeah, bitch, I'd like to see how you would do tied to one spot on a cement sidewalk in nothing but a sweater and shoes in well below sub-zero temperatures.

My friends and I left at that point, bc waiter was pissed and I was frankly so pissed off I knew nothing good would come of me having the opportunity to speak my mind. But holy fuck, why are some people allowed to be responsible for other living creatures.

[Thumper]

I think it's a Keanu Reeves quote from some movie, "You need a license to drive, heck you even need a license to fish, but anyone can become a parent..."

[Swift]

Went out tonight for some celebratory drinks. It's 20F/-7C out, and while heading out of the bar there was a little dog tied up outside, toy sized. She had a little sweater and not much fur (def not really enough to insulate much if at all), and four little booties on her feet that looked like latex condoms for all they helped, and she was shivering.

Legit had no idea what to do beyond tell a friend to hold onto her, as she was tied to the railing, then go inside and tell the bartender. Waiter who overheard was pissed and went around to find the owner. Owner came out in a few minutes, some 20-something girl who claimed "she's just in her first winter and isn't used to it!" Yeah, bitch, I'd like to see how you would do tied to one spot on a cement sidewalk in nothing but a sweater and shoes in well below sub-zero temperatures.

My friends and I left at that point, bc waiter was pissed and I was frankly so pissed off I knew nothing good would come of me having the opportunity to speak my mind. But holy fuck, why are some people allowed to be responsible for other living creatures.

Good for you Rommie to get help.

[Thumper]

Yeah, that's what I should have said.

[Thumper]

Be careful with your back, Kids. You might need it some day.

[SciFiFisher]

Be careful with your back, Kids. You might need it some day.

Word!

[Rommie]

You know what sucks? Moving. Moving sucks.

Longer explanation: when I came to Toronto, I basically found my apartment on AirBnB by contacting a guy with a spot I thought looked nice, and renting it sight unseen after negotiating a lower rate. I'm still in this place, and could stay if I wanted, but there's enough in it to make me think if I want to find a different apartment for where I live in Toronto I should go look for one now. One of those cases where there's nothing really bad about it, but more the furniture is not very nice, I get no natural light in the apartment all day because it's on the 5th story with tall towers around it, and it's noisy at night with a building's giant industrial fan across the street type stuff. And because it's just one year more, I'm looking for another furnished place.

So yeah, I told the guy I'll move out March 1, and obviously this is the height of looking for a new place. And ugh, I hate how stressful it is! Right now, I did get an agent for the rental because one of my dad's cousins in the greater Toronto area is a lawyer specializing in real estate law, and she referred this guy. He's definitely nice and works a lot with the cousin. BUT all the furnished places for the most part he found are completely crap- like, I'm not saying it has to be amazing, but a dining set older than me w stuffing coming out of the chairs is not acceptable, especially at the rental price I'm willing to pay, even if the market is going crazy right now. (That's everyone's excuse, the market is going crazy right now in Toronto. True, but if it is, you can definitely afford to go buy some new chairs!) He's definitely way better at finding nice unfurnished places, so I'm checking out a few of those... but guys, I'm living solo right now, and don't have a car. I cannot begin to describe how stressed the thought of moving AND getting all the furniture/ general stuff you need in an apartment AND doing it solo sans car AND maybe showing up for work along the way makes me. It's funny btw, I'm someone who doesn't frazzle much in serious situations, but tell me to get a bed and a mattress and set it all up and for whatever reason it worries me more than it should.

So just spent some time this morning checking out listings on my own, saw some nice ones, and shot off some emails to other agents to see if they're available and if I can arrange a viewing. Hoping something good comes up.

But yeah, I guess the point is moving is just plain stressful, because you don't know on a short time scale how it's going to work out, and even if there are issues there's a lot I like about the security of knowing the place I have now (the location for example is amazing). Well, hope it all works out.

[SciFiFisher]

You know what sucks? Moving. Moving sucks.

Yes. Yes it does.

If you do resort to renting an unfurnished place there are a couple of options. Most furniture places will include delivery and set up of their furniture. If you pay enough for the furniture some of them will throw that in for *free*. If you buy good quality furniture for a fair price they will charge you a fairly reasonable set up and delivery fee. All the heavy lifting is done for you.

A second option which is super convenient, but you pay for that, is to use a furniture rental outlet. You rent the entire apartment worth of furniture and they deliver and set up. When you move you can have them take it all back. It is somewhat pricey but they deal with all the maintenance issues. I.e. if you rent a washing machine and it breaks they replace it for no additional charge. In the U.S. if you rent the furniture long enough you wind up with ownership. Usually about 18 months. When you move you sell or gift the furniture to avoid having to pay to transport it thousands of miles away.

If you are looking for low cost furniture that doesn't look like thrift store bargain bin stuff try locating the Rent To Own store outlet. We furnished our 2100 square foot house for less than $2,000 buying slightly used furniture that was probably corporate rental returns. It all looked like brand new stuff. That included things like lamps and bedstands, couches, and etc.

[Thumper]

Those are great suggestions. And there's probably independent companies you can hire to move and set up stuff. A couple around here are 2 Guys and a Truck, and College Hunks Hauling Junk. I believe you about real estate prices, they are off the hook in CA. Watching those housing and fixer upper shows that are set alot in Toronto. Jeesh, for the price of a decent sized nice suburban house there, I could buy my whole township...

[SciFiFisher]

Those are great suggestions. And there's probably independent companies you can hire to move and set up stuff. A couple around here are 2 Guys and a Truck, and College Hunks Hauling Junk. I believe you about real estate prices, they are off the hook in CA. Watching those housing and fixer upper shows that are set alot in Toronto. Jeesh, for the price of a decent sized nice suburban house there, I could buy my whole township...

The good news for me and Brite is that we bought when the market was tepid and our home value is about $100,000 more than it was when we bought. The market here seems to be leveling off a bit so I don't expect to make a million bucks when we sell. But, we probably will walk away with a decent down payment on our next home if we do decide to move.

[geonuc]

Yes, moving sucks.

[Loresinger]

Rommie I am not sure this would help but I am only 2 hours away from you. When you find a place I have a pretty nice cargo hold with my Kia Soul. It would hold a bunch of your boxes nicely. I would just want to be sure to park where I won't find dings in my car LOL

I am serious tho. Getting away from home for a day or two would be like therapy.

Let me know

[Rommie]

Man, it's always so nice to post here with all the kind advice and help. Thanks!

Funny timing, one of the places I contacted last night was a furnished place that will actually work well- it's a lady's condo who's traveling too much lately for work, so makes more sense to let it out type situations. First place that I actually saw that I think I'd like, and checking out several more today/tomorrow, so think if I don't find something good through tomorrow I will take that one (it's only been on the market two days, and she said I was the first seriously interested person, so prob got that much time). Location is decent, and building even has a terrace area that looks like it'd be super nice when the weather gets good (right now it's shut due to all the snowdrifts), my only issue is it's maybe a little on the small side for two and we're still hoping bf may move over before the year's done.

So, hopefully this will be sorted sooner over later. Some more stuff may come on the market in coming days for March 1, but honestly I'd rather pick one by end of the week and not have to worry about it.

[Rommie]

Update! Saw a great (furnished) place yesterday and the application is in! Hopefully get confirmation tomorrow.

Annoying thing today: turns out the apartment I want isn't available until March 10. Contact current landlord for extension, he's like ok but it's extra at a weekly rate, then tries to convince me 10 days= two weeks. Um, no. Luckily he came to his senses once I started considering just moving out and crashing at a friend's place for ten days, but yeah, no wonder moving is stressful.

[SciFiFisher]

Update! Saw a great (furnished) place yesterday and the application is in! Hopefully get confirmation tomorrow.

Annoying thing today: turns out the apartment I want isn't available until March 10. Contact current landlord for extension, he's like ok but it's extra at a weekly rate, then tries to convince me 10 days= two weeks. Um, no. Luckily he came to his senses once I started considering just moving out and crashing at a friend's place for ten days, but yeah, no wonder moving is stressful.

Great News! and we are back to the original OP:

Moving Sucks!

Yes! Yes It Does!

[Rommie]

Ok, now waiting for the landlords to agree- they have until tonight at 8pm!

Meanwhile, just got a text from the first place I liked that was slightly less ideal in location, saying she was showing it to someone else this afternoon so do I want right of first refusal! Texted back saying I would know for sure tonight, could she wait until then. She seemed nice, so I guess we'll see.

Fingers crossed that I get one or the other!

[pumpkinpi]

Sometimes ignorance is painful. Argh.

[Thumper]

Sometimes ignorance is painful. Argh.

Hmmm, I wonder if there is a story there...

[SciFiFisher]

Sometimes ignorance is painful. Argh.

Hmmm, I wonder if there is a story there...

I was wondering how long it would take before someone took the bait.

[Rommie]

Ugh. So guys, we have two airports in Toronto, the big international one an hour out (Pearson), and a small one for prop planes literally right next to downtown on an island (Billy Bishop). If I can fly the latter I always do because it is super convenient and I like the airline (free drinks in lounge while you wait, free alcohol on board, plane can only fit like 40 people).

Anyway, we caught a flight last night to come home from Boston after an awesome vacation in Maine/ New Brunswick/ New Hampshire, where it was a bit rainy/foggy last night. And our flight was delayed. Delayed so much, in fact, that it turns out because of the proximity to the city they have a strict noise regulation in place and you can't land at Billy Bishop after 11pm. So we diverted instead to Hamilton, an hour away, with a shuttle back to Toronto. Didn't even land there until just shy of 1am, finally hit my pillow at 3am, today is really not a productive day. Literally would have been faster to just drive from New Hampshire!

So, I mean, that obviously sucks, but sometimes you get bad luck traveling, and they sent both me and the bf a $100 voucher this morning. But the other people, omg. Some days you just meet all the assholes.

- On the drive to the airport, while stopping to get gas for the rental we saw a crazy Masshole driver swerving/tailgating everyone else. The awesome thing about that though is we heard cop sirens behind us, so they caught him, and got to watch the cops tear him apart while fueling up.

- On the crowded shuttle from the rental car area to the airport, bf and I grabbed seats, and there's a guy with a shoulder duffel bag standing next to my seat with plenty of room. Bag keeps hitting me so after the fifth time I say "excuse me sir, but your bag keeps hitting me" or something similar, politely. Literal response? "That's going to happen, and I was here first!" with a glare, as if I was saying something super rude to him. You know that super weird moment when someone's being an ass and you're not sure if you were being the jerk? (I dunno why, but that's always my first reaction!) Didn't last long in this case, because once that guy got off the old man across the way whistled "wow, I'm glad that's over."

- Gate agent was crap, didn't make any announcements about the plane, including the one where because the plane is being diverted, so if you didn't check in at the desk you wouldn't have known until the pilot made the announcement. At that point, a couple with a 14 month old says they want to get off, delaying us another 20ish minutes as their luggage is found and offloaded too. Sucks, but what are you going to do? Well, if you're the woman in the row in front of us, the answer is go stand up and complain to the flight attendant about how disrespectful those people are for offloading, and make sure you give a piece of your mind to the folks getting off with their baby! Then when she sat down, she wanted to keep her righteous streak going by telling her husband "I'm just being a voice for everyone else on the plane!" and getting into a "don't you think I'm right?!" argument with her husband's single syllable responses, because he's clearly just tired like the rest of us.

Like, omg. Whenever I meet people like the above two I always think to myself how happy I am to not go through life being an asshole or that damn self-righteous. Must be exhausting.

[SciFiFisher]

Ugh.
Like, omg. Whenever I meet people like the above two I always think to myself how happy I am to not go through life being an asshole or that damn self-righteous. Must be exhausting.

From what I can tell they don't seem to be exhausted enough.

[Thumper]

Everybody has different links of rope, and some people reach the end of their's faster than others. Not making excuses for A-holes but I have seen the end of my rope a few times. I'm pretty sure I wasn't pleasant to be around. Sometimes otherwise decent people can become self absorbed and indignant when pushed too close to the edge. On the other hand, some say your true colors come out when you're faced with a stressful situation or hardship. So...