2 Bit Hacker

This is my first family holiday in a while where I’ve had no family things to go do. It’s kindof odd. Just me and the Bailey cat at the moment. He moved in on Friday, and seems to be enjoying himself. I think he’s a little confused that the floor is covered in carpet and there aren’t cages on the walls. He’s kindof like a big old kitten; everything here is new to him, and he has some of the kitten skittishness to him.

Work has been going well. My department just finished up a major project, which went pretty smoothly. Now we get some breathing room and will hopefully be able to fix up some of the less important things that deserve to be fixed. The company has issued me a Mac Book Pro, which I am quite liking. I keep comparing it to having a Linux laptop where everything works properly without having to futz with it. I’m really liking the little things, like iCal and Address Book, and how well everything syncs together, including my BlackBerry.

Stuff in the apartment has stalled a bit now that most of it is how I’d like it. The past couple of weeks I’ve been coming home, taking a walk, and just haven’t felt like doing much around the place. I should probably work on the office a bit this afternoon. Once I get that squared away, I’ll have a nice work area for doing projects. I should get some pictures posted once I get everything in place.

Finally got down to IKEA last weekend to buy some bookshelves for the new apartment. Picked up two of the tall units and two of the shorter ones. The plan was to put all four along one wall, but I measured wall to wall, not between the mouldings at the bottom of the walls, so I was just a bit short. I think it worked out pretty well anyway, and the other short case is in the dining area.

Now that I have a place for my books, I’ve unpacked the last of the boxes, and it finally feels like I’m settled in to the new place. Still a bit of clean up to do in the office, but that shouldn’t take long. And once it is done I’ll have space to start working on some of my other projects.

The only thing left on my list of things I want to get is some bedroom furniture. There’s a set at Bob’s Furniture that I like the look of, though none of their sets match what I want. I think I’ll end up getting the bed set, two night stands and a chest of drawers. Other than that, I’m pretty much set.

I have to say, I am impressed. It took over a month, but Delia finally moved the bulk of her stuff out on Friday. I was expecting piles of trash and stuff she didn’t want to be left behind for me to deal with, but she actually took everything. The only trash appeared to be a half bottle of ginger ale left on the counter, and I don’t mind that so much.

The apartment looks huge now. The second bedroom, which we used as an office/box storage room is almost totally empty, with only my desk left in it. The living room feels larger as well, with the bookcases gone. I’m starting to wonder how the new apartment is going to feel with so little in it, but I think that’s a problem I can handle.

The big move is next weekend, and given how many people have agreed to help, it should go smoothly. Hopefully I’ll be doing the walk-through and getting the keys either Tuesday or Wednesday, then I can move the boxes on my own, just leaving the furniture for Saturday. The only piece I think is going to be a pain is the sofa, as the sleeper section is rather heavy.

I’m really looking forward to getting out of here.

Progress is continuing on my apartment move. Today, Angelina and I went and retrieved all my stuff from the storage unit that Delia and I used to share. Upon opening the door to the unit I was impacted by an avalanche of stuff falling from the inside of the unit. I had more stuff than I remember in there, but still not a lot. Four boxes of books and such, my trombone, my child’s rocking chair (I consider it a family heirloom, one day my child shall rock upon it) and my old footlocker, packed full of all my most precious things. It felt good to make some progress on the move, and rediscover some of the items that mean so much to me.

We also stopped at Lowe’s to pick up some shelving to put in the carport storage at the apartment. It looks like some of my stuff was water-damaged in there, so I wanted to get everything up off the floor. I may go back for a second unit tomorrow, as it fits very nicely and makes that space much more usable. I should move the Christmas stuff into there and see how much room is left first though.

Tomorrow I intend to pack up my books, largely to clear off the bookshelves that they currently inhabit, as Delia will be taking them. I’ll also be purchasing my new vacuum cleaner. Would have done it today, but I didn’t think the box would fit in the back of the Prius along with my storage unit goodies. I’ve also been looking at some new furniture for the new apartment, and I think I’ll finally be able to execute my plan of buying some real furniture for the bedroom.

Speaking of which, I am simply amazed at how much less I’m already spending. My weekly expenditures for dining along have dropped to almost nothing, spending about $50/wk on groceries instead of $250/wk on eating out. My savings are nearly back to the levels they were at before I met Delia, and I should be on track for putting a down payment on some property in early 2010. With my reduced space requirements, I’m thinking the condos I looked at in Derry would be perfect. I loved the floor plan, I only hope there’s an opening when I’m ready to buy.

I am somewhat distressed by the lack of forward progress on Delia’s out-moving. Near as I can tell, she’s taken her computer, most of the stuff from her bathroom, a couple of food items, and roughly half of the giant pile in the bedroom. I’m hoping there will be some significant progress this week. I would really like to stop having the remnants of her life strewn about my abode.

I think she was right about me not being happy either. On average, I have been feeling far better about my life since she left. I feel free. I’m no longer trying to keep anyone else happy. I do what I want, when I want, how I want. What to do for dinner? Throw together some ground beef, chips, cheese, and poof! Nachos! Good enough for me, and cheaper than eating out every night. I think many of my reservations about buying a new place were grounded in my displeasure with the state of our apartment. Why would I buy a place with this person if she’s going to treat it like she treats the place? A place to sleep, surrounded by piles of unworn clothes and unopened boxes, getting surly whenever asked to do anything to better her surroundings, and just generally putting no effort into anything.

I think I’m coming across as being rather negative toward her, but I really do feel like my personal life has been stalled for years, and now I can get back into gear and do all the things I’ve wanted to do.

PS Pseudo-scientific research has discovered that Danger Mouse is really f-ed up, to subjects both drunk and sober. I still love it, but watching it now, 20 years later, it just boggles the mind.

Okay, the plans have been finalized! I am going to be moving to another unit in this complex, a two-bedroom that costs $330 less per month than my current two bedroom (at least for the next year, then it goes up by $200, but I intend to move again at that point.) With my other utility cost savings, this should drop my monthly expenses by $492, which almost entirely covers the amount that Delia used to contribute, so I can continue my savings plan as it has been.

The only tricky bit is I have to move entirely on February 28th, and for that, I will need help. I know I’ve been relying on my friends a lot lately, but anyone willing and able to help with the move would be greatly appreciated, and I’ll gladly pay for a grand feast in your honor once the task is done.

My plan is to spend my spare time in the next month reducing the amount of stuff I have to move. I intend to donate most of my books to the local library (feel free to look over the list and claim anything you’d like,) donate my excess clothing to Goodwill or something similar, and give away my excess computer junk that I rarely touch anymore.

I don’t feel like it’s going to be all that bad. I have a few pieces of large furniture (bed, couch, a couple desks) but not that much little stuff to move. I’m looking forward to the fresh start in a new place all to myself.

It occurs to me that my previous calculations on savings are flawed. In order to actually save more than I’m saving now, I need to reduce monthly spending by more than $500, in order to compensate for the lack of the money that Delia used to contribute. That pretty much rules out the apartment building right next to work.

After chatting with Big Dave though, I am hopeful about being able to move into another unit in the same complex. Apparently his daughter transferred to another unit a couple of months into a year lease. I will definitely need to talk to them about that. Delia has also expressed an interest in taking over the current apartment, so she wouldn’t have to move all her stuff. No idea how the management company will want to deal with that, as currently my name is the only one on the lease.

Unfortunately, this is all hitting at the same time as a ton of stuff going on at work, so I’m unable to take any time off to deal with moving.

So, I’m living on my own again, and I think it’s time to make some changes. First off, this apartment is too big for me, and too expensive to live in alone. So, I intend to move. My goal is to move by the end of February, thus maximizing the amount of time I have to recoup the cost of the lease break fee over the year. Lease break is one months rent, so $1,435. If I break end of February, that’s only 2 months into the lease, so I have 10 months to recovery the cost in order for it to make sense not to ride out the lease, so I need to find a lease that’s at least $143.50 less per month.

I’ve been considering Manchester Place, as it is literally right next door to work. Their lowest cost 1 bedroom unit is $1,155/month, a savings of $280/mo. And that’s not counting the reduction in driving, as I’d only need to use the Prius on the weekends.

Also considering some other cost cutting measures, dropping television service, the TiVo subscription, GameFly, dropping Netflix to the 1 disc plan, and such.

That’s a yearly savings of $5,304, which I intend to throw towards a down payment on a townhouse once my next lease is up. The Comcast doesn’t drop to zero as I intend to keep my own Internet access, although I could possibly just leech off of the connection at work. The location is only a couple of blocks from the CO as well, so DSL is a strong possibility.

We shall see. I intend to make some phone calls tomorrow. There’s also a townhouse rental place on the north end of the city that looks interesting.