Concepts in the Paradox

I am now 49.71% unpacked. The desk, TV, cabinets, and clothes are assembled and setup. All I have left is the huge bookshelf furniture wise, but I don’t know where to put it.

I have pictures, but alas, I am missing the USB cable to the camera. Why doesn’t my fancy camera have Bluetooth?!

I now have DSL. I plugged it in and off it worked without any issues. I was downgraded to 1.5/384k service because of the location relative to the central office.

I shopped the Haight and picked up some fancy smelling soap, as well as some tools at the local hardware store. This area is so small-town, I think everyone knows everyone here. I feel like an outsider.

I met another neighbor, the guy upstairs. That makes two neighbors that have said hello to me, including the cute hippie girl next door.

Tomorrow I’m going to an art show with Jill. I’m hoping to pick up some inexpensive local art to put in the front room, hall ways, kitchen, and bathrooms. I have so much wall space it’s incredible. I think this place is much larger than the pad in the TL was.

I am now 71.65% packed. 30 boxes so far, I’m not sure if that is more than last time or not, but I keep thinking that I have less stuff.

On the way home from putting food in the new apartment I walked by the Powell BofA ATMs and noted a pack of indigents trying to break into the ATMs. I kept walking, but now I hear sirens. Never a dull moment in the TL!

I am now 52.8% packed. The big challenge today was taking the sofa apart. It comes apart into 4 pieces to fit down the narrow birdcage elevator, but the guy I hired to assemble it last time did some wonky stuff. I’m not a carpenter, but does a bolt really need 8 washers? I think not, and so the sofa took most of the day to take apart.

Today it was hot, so all the SRO dwellers in the TL were laying out on the sidewalk like sausages baking in the sun. Surreal.

To battle the mid-day heat, Jason came by and we watched an air conditioned Spiderman 3 movie. If you are thinking about seeing SM3, save your money. I’ve never watched writing as horrible, or directing as bad. I know moving making is hard, but maybe hollywood should hire some people from the Academy of Art? It would be an improvement.

So far moving has been an adventure.

Friday, 10AM, Tenderloin District Police Station.

“I would like a no parking permit for Mason St.”

Officer in charge of permits: “Oh the old Olympic Hotel eh? There used to be a “massage parlor” in there if you know what I mean.”

Me, making conversation, said, “Yeah, the prostitutes used to crawl up the fire escape and go into the units downstairs.”

The permit officer replied, “Were they hot?”

My reply well, let’s just say…

TENDERLOIN PERMIT: DENIED

Friday, 5:30PM, Mason St.

“Excuse me sir,” I said to the construction forman who is doing all the work on my block, “Do you mind if I park here while I’m moving out?”

“No problem, and thanks for asking.”

BEING A NICE GUY PERMIT: APPROVED

Saturday, 3PM, Parkside district Police station.

“I would like a no parking permit for Carl St.”

Officer: “Here is the form, that will be $129 please.”

PARKSIDE PERMIT: APPROVED

I am 40% packed, the movers are arriving at 9AM on Thursday, and my PTO has been approved.

Things will move smoothly, no?

Over the next 3 days I’ll be moving this site, along with my hostees, email, blogs, image server, and database to a new swanky machine courtesy of DataSieve. I have tons of data to move, so I’m going to have to move services over one at a time, so if the site is inaccessable or images are broken, don’t panic, I’m all over it.

For the technically inclined, I’m going with a Dell PE w/Dual PIII’s at 1Ghz + 1GB memory, 60GB disk. Not high end, but this is a shoestring operation! OS: FreeBSD 6.1, jails as ‘containers’ for various services. I’ll have an implementation doc posted as soon as I’m all done.

Today is Spare the Air, and you know what that means? Invasion of the rollerbags. I’m getting pretty good at jumping over roller bags that people stand beside on the escalator. Please stand on the right so people can pass on the left and get to work.

It must be some sight to see: a 6′1 male running down the escalator and flying over a rollerbag. As my friend Sherrod says, “I look out the corner of my eye thinking it is a dog, but then I’m sad when I realize it is just a bag.”

Even with three of my friends helping, moving into my new place took for ever, plus it was 2 trips in the uHaul to get everything. I ended up with a couple of losses in the process, the first being my pink sofa (anyone want a pink sofa?) and my box spring (uh, need a box spring?). I need to make a shopping list, because I’m throwing out so much old stuff and I want new stuff. For example, a sofa would be nice. Perhaps some sort of move-able wall to partition the front room for the rack. The front room is turning out to be much larger than I expected, same with the bedroom. More shelves would be nice, who ever made this place made tiny closets without shelves! I need a dish drying rack: no dishwasher! I’m thinking about getting an Areon chair for the office too.

I have Comcast cable for the moment, 6mb by 286k/b, for those in the know. The computers aren’t setup yet, just the laptop. I’m still debating on where everything should go. At the moment I’m putting them in the bedroom, but I have so much space in the front room I could put it there and just leave the backdrop of Market & Mason for what is behind my computer.

The car needs to go somewhere. I’m 2 miles away from where I can park my car, and there is a Cityshare spot (a Civic Hybrid! with a bike rack!) not 20 feet outside my door, and a Budget up the street. The no-car idea is as strong as ever.

Speaking of getting rid of stuff, I have oh so much more to throw out. As I unpack, I think to myself, “Why did I bring this?”

And then I think, “Why not just get new stuff, something nice, since you have the money to do so now?”

House warming soon. Maybe when I have places for people to sit other than the floor or my two wooden dining room chairs?

You Belong in San Francisco

You crave an eclectic, urban environment. You’re half California, half NYC. You’re open minded, tolerant, and secretly think you’re the best. People may dismiss you as a hippie, but you’re also progressive, interesting, and rich!

In movings news, I’ve topped 40 boxes, and my pile o’ crap takes up a quarter of my bedroom now. Going off line for a few days, since it is time to pack up the ‘ol iMac and Linux box, so see ya kids around!

The stack of boxes keeps growing!

Pile ‘o crap:

While it is a tad cold out, today was a very beautiful day for a walk downtown. I saw an ad for a top floor apartment in lower Nob Hill on CL, and set out to check out the apartment, then wonder aimlessly around downtown: a favorite activity of mine.

The place is on Bush and Jones, not a bad area, and as I mentioned before it is on the top floor. It has a freight elevator, making moving in a breeze, huge lobby which actually looks like an inviting place to take my laptop, stare out at the side walk, and compute away as people come and go from their apartments. The view isn’t so great, it faces Jones Street, and it has no view of downtown; though it took me a second to realize that I am already downtown, so a view of downtown is redundant.

Apparently the top floor had been gutted about 3 years ago in a fire, so the place is immaculate after rebuilding. New hardwood, a modern bathroom and kitchen, and noise-proof windows. There’s even a fire escape, for if I want to sit outside and watch the action down below. Also a bonus: cats and dogs are allowed.

$1775. Not too shabby. The realtor, who has lived in the building for years, said that there would be a unit that faced Bush street opening soon, which would offer a bit more of a view and be on the corner. This is via CitiApartments, so if I apply and I’m accepted, I can reject the offer and opt for any place that CitiApartments offers instead, or just say no altogether.

After the apartment hunt, I stopped at the various thrift stores and computer stores looking for a wireless card for my Zaurus, since it is pretty much useless until I can track one down. I guess I could use the usb to connect it to my phone for dialup. Now there’s an idea.

On the way back home, I stopped by Union Square and bought a couple prints from the local artists selling there. William Gregg, a Mill Valley resident, had all these acrylic paintings of what he called “actual cats he had, but in human situations”. One I got was of a blue eyed siamese, which I’m going to send to my mom: she has a beautiful siamese named Missy. I also got one myself, of a black cat on top of a chimney, with the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit tower at night in the background.

Now to go do something productive, like grocery shopping and laundry. Hey, PopRoxx is tonight, maybe I should go again?