Except, that's a lie, of course.
SETTLING INTO THE NEW APARTMENT has been pretty easy, actually. My parents helped quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday. It was nice to spend some time with them, even though most of that time was spent assembling furniture, cleaning, and unpacking boxes. (See "before" pictures at the bottom of this post. "After" pictures are in the post from yesterday.) The most impressive part of their trip—to me, at least—was that they made it from the bus to my apartment with very little confusion. From Port Authority to 181st is an easy feat, but not always for out-of-towners who have never before been on a subway. They actually showed up at the same time the movers did.
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Oh... this is where I make my plug. If you're looking for something in Washington Heights, The Cloisters, or Fort George, check out Stein-Perry Real Estate. Our broker, Matt Bizzarro, was amazing in every way. He understood what we were looking for, was accepting of what we wanted to spend, and was very supportive during the entire process. The fee wasn't bad, either. I'm very happy with my first experience with a broker/agency. Highly recommended.
If you're in the W-B area and you need a moving company, I highly suggest Best Darn Movers. Joel and his helper, Steve, were great with my move. They loaded everything on Friday night, stopped at the place I was staying temporarily to grab that stuff Saturday morning, and then unloaded everything by 12:30. Their price was great, too. Very professional, very affordable.
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ANYWAY, by Saturday night, my parents and I had all the furniture put together and most of the decor hung. My mom took to the kitchen, and I haven't reorganized anything. I like the way she set it up. I'm sure Matt will move stuff around, but that's his job. The kitchen is his domain, and I'm fine with that. Saturday night we went for dinner at an Irish bar down the street and Sunday morning we went for breakfast at a pretty good restaurant down the street. I think all the food was pretty good. Mom's chicken parm was awesome. I'll definitely go back to those places.
On Sunday, after they left, I tried to find a decent supermarket, but failed miserably. There are a ton of little markets and specialty markets (see also: Dominican), but I couldn't find a real grocery store. The one I did stumble upon around the corner had the worst frozen food section I've ever seen. This kind of depressed me, until I realized that the produce at the little markets is pretty fresh... and it makes sense to sub all that frozen food/preservatives/sodium for fresh fruit and veggies. Today, though, I did some Google-ing and came up with Key Foods on 187th. It's similar to Schiels, and smaller than Price Chopper and Wegman's, but it'll do. For me, at least. I'm sure we'll have to do a bit of traveling when Matt wants to go to Whole Foods, but day-to-day or weekly shopping can probably be done at Key Foods.
ASIDE FROM STRESSING about finding a good grocery store, I've been so frustrated with my internet service. The cable is working great. The internet though... Wow. Just, wow. I can actually sit here and watch my computer connect and disconnect to WiFi. And when I call Time Warner, they have me do stupid shit like uninstall Google Chrome or empty my cookies. And then they say there's nothing more that they can do because the modem is sending out a strong signal and it must be the computer. They tell me to monitor my connection over the next few days and call them back if I have any issues.
Well... I've called every day since Saturday. And now I think I'm on some type of list. Today I called because it was connected, but taking almost two minutes to load pages. So I go through the automated options and then it tells me to reset my router (which... I don't have... just a modem), hang up, and call back in 10 minutes. So I wait on the line for an operator, and it tells me to hang up again. It refused to give me an option to speak to someone, no matter how many buttons I pressed or how many times I called back. They must be sick of dealing with me, so they put me on this special service. I can't get through to anyone; it's really irritating.
But then I started thinking about a conversation I had with another intern today about this predicament. She suggested plugging my computer directly into the modem with an ethernet cable. Of course, I made a comment about basically not being able to use my laptop as a laptop at that point, but... I'm desperate. So when I couldn't get a good connection unplugged, I plugged in... and I've been on without any issues every since. Which makes me think... is it the WiFi service? Or is it my computer? My computer is brand new. I just bought it last Christmas, I think. Maybe even a little before that. So the WiFi card shouldn't be outdated, right? But if it's not my computer... then why do my Wii and Kindle and phone work just fine? I don't know how to remedy this problem, so I suppose I'll wait until Matt gets his computer here and we'll see what happens. If he picks up a good signal, then my computer is the problem. If he doesn't, then Time Warner is getting a really nasty phone call...
Ahem.
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS of the past few days include: (hopefully) securing near-future freelance work, setting up a near-future double date in Astoria with a coworker, and unpacking all my boxes. Now all that's left is Matt's stuff, all packed into one room. I hope I left him enough closet/drawer space. We'll find out, I suppose.
Speaking of Matt... he's meeting with Chef at the restaurant where he'll be working next Wednesday. He should be visiting this weekend, and I think we're planning on going to Coney Island if the weather is nice. His last day of work at Rustic is July 8 and he should be moving in July 9. I can't wait to have him around. It's been... weird. Not being able to see him as often as I was. Even when we were "broken up," we saw each other more than this. It's, again, weird, though. Because I don't really mind this separation. Sure, I get lonely sometimes, but there's honestly so much going on that it's easy to manage. I miss him, but I don't feel like my heart's exploding or that I'll die if I don't seem him again soon. I haven't even really cried. Which is even stranger because I'm a natural crier. Always have been, always will be. I think I've just been too busy to focus on how I'm feeling, relationship-wise. All my energy is going into figuring out my new neighborhood, doing the best work I can at my job (which I still love), and making new friends. And I think I'm doing pretty well in all those areas, so... I think it's all working out. (I still can't wait until he gets here, though.)
Tomorrow after work, I think I'm going to go to Planet Fitness and see if it's well-maintained. And if I like what I see, then... I'm signing up! Again. And then I'm working out! Because if I'm going to have pizza for lunch ($1 a slice!), then I should really sweat it off later that same day.
Bedroom.
Living room.
Bedroom.
Steve and Mom.
One of the more amusing spelling errors of the day. I also enjoyed "elegtronics" on a different box. (What kind of relationship would we have if we couldn't make jokes at the other's expense? lol.)
Second bedroom/office.
Living room.
Kitchen.
Living room.
Living room.
Daddy! Trying to figure out the wall mount we decided not to hang because the wall is cement.
We had a nice time helping you. As far as Time Warner, haven't I taught you anything....just keep dialing 0 when they are giving you options! :)
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