So, I’m done moving to Cambridge. Everything went smoothly (although I do believe I have more stuff than I should… definitely still a packrat, despite having thrown away about 12 bags of stuff). The Penske truck was completely pain-free and actually had a iPod jack… who knew?
I got all my stuff into the house up there, unpacked a few essentials and booked it back to nyc yesterday for one last night in the Big Apple. Now I’m sitting at LaGuardia waiting to fly to Chicago for a few weeks. (And hopefully acquiring an iPhone later today).
Two lessons I learned while moving:
1. Girls have lots of stuff too. But their boxes are labeled with things like “Shoes 1″ and “Shoes 2″ and “Shoes 3″ and “Purses.” Weird.
2. Mt Kisco, New York is not a good place to stop for food while driving between New York and Boston. While attempting to make a rare appearance at Burger King (because who eats Burger King in nyc? do they even have Burger King’s in nyc?), we followed a road sign that said there was a Burger King at the Mt Kisco exit. Well…. literally 3 country roads, 18 minutes, several miles, and a pass thru DOWNTOWN MT KISCO (which is, in fact, nowhere near the interstate), we found the Burger King. It was so far away from the highway that we took a different route back to the highway than we took getting off the highway.
Anyway. Lessons learned.
Looking forward to spending the next few weeks at home. Looking less forward to finishing the Finance and Quantitative Analysis modules for HBS in the next few days, but that’s not so negotiable.
I got back late last night from a great weekend upstate with friends. I’ve spent most of today packing boxes of my stuff in my apartment. It’s beginning to get a little crowded with boxes in here. Friday is the big moving day, so I feel pretty well on top of things, I’ve probably got another 6 or 7 boxes + clothes to go… Penske called today to confirm Friday’s truck rental. Fingers crossed for that…
After posting yesterday about choosing to rent a Penske truck over a u-haul for my move next week, I was happy to see that I had a visitor to the site from a penske domain today. I hope that means somebody in their company is actually engaged in proactive customer service on the web (or at least has a google alert set up for Penske). It’s like companies that have a CSR on Twitter. You have to like that. Nobody visited my site from u-haul, even though I’ve mentioned them a few times in the last few weeks. Already I’m feeling better about my decision. Hopefully Penske comes through next week.
I’m trucking my household from New York City to Cambridge, Massachusetts next week. (I should add that I do have the help of friends, and for that I’m grateful.) I started looking for places to book trucks online and started with the big obvious one: u-haul.
When I started sifting through their website, I was actually impressed. I guess I have a somewhat dilapadated mental image of u-haul, so when they had a simple, well-designed user-interface for renting trucks, purchasing boxes, and getting loader/unloader help, I was surprised.
Then I started walking through the process of booking a truck.
Toward the middle the process I noticed some language that stipulated that the truck couldn’t be guaranteed, and that if the truck was not available I would receive $50 from u-haul. So I took a spin over to consumerist.com and found this. Cue alarm bells and visions of showing up to u-haul in midtown only to be told “NO TRUCK FOR YOU!!”
So, now with my deadline bearing down on me, I finally decided to screw u-haul and pull the trigger on a Penske truck. It worked out to be only slightly more expensive, but I just trust the product a little more. So, here’s to a smooth move… let the packing begin!
No, not that kind of purging.
As I’m getting closer to the actual day of relocation from New York City to Cambridge, I’m starting to look forward to the sort and toss that will inevitably take me 3 sentimental days. You know? Going through stacks of pictures, cards, and miscellaneous crap that I’ve collected over the course of 3 years in this apartment and countless trips for work and fun. There’s something daunting about it, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to getting rid of the stuff I thought I would want to keep when I received it. Looking through the lens of hindsight and realizing things aren’t needed any more can be a good thing. It’s also generally a good time loading up trash bags full of heavy junk and lunging them into the seven story trash chute, waiting for that great thud at the bottom.
I’ve relegated most of the little tasks associated with moving (ie closing my account with con-ed, damn energy prices) to an elaborate scheme of to-do lists and sticky notes. Hoping that I’ve accounted for everything – because I’m really looking forward to enjoying a mostly stress-free (though packing-filled) final few weeks in New York City.
I have officially finished the prematriculation coursework requirements as of this morning. My finance final exam was fine. Glad that it’s over. The remaining big tasks are: Finance Tutorial and Quantitative Analysis Tutorial, both are online modules offered by HBS. I will likely finish those over the next few weeks, but for now I’d like to focus on the remaining time I have left with my friends in New York City.
I also have to begin to get my head around packing/moving. My boxes of supplies, including these rolls of tape, which are awesome, arrived this week. Sadly u-haul left a few things out of the shipment, so I’ve begun the customer service process, hoping to have the rest of my goods by week’s end. I don’t plan to officially pack until after I quit my job and go away for the 4th, but having the supplies here makes me think about it…
