Sunday, 6/16/2019

I definitely need those blackout curtains. Or well, I suppose I could buy a sleep mask but I don’t like wearing those. Anyway, awake at 6. Paper didn’t arrive until 7:30; I hope it will come earlier on a weekday.

Awake, and dressed, with no paper to read, I started assembling the desk. It went together fairly easily, and was done about the time the paper arrived. Later in the day I unboxed and set up my big iMac and the file cabinet. Here’s how my almost-complete bedroom/office looks now.

Panorama makes it all wonky. The printer will sit on the cabinet to the right. Out on the deck are some boxes of stuff yet to be sorted out, as well as a big pile of empty boxes to be disposed of.

I took the paper and walked out to find Sunday morning coffee and a baked good. I first looked in at Blue Bottle Coffee on University. Not a nice atmosphere, dark and cave-like, and I didn’t think much of their baked good selection. So up the street to Paris Baguette. Better baked goods. Still not right. On the way home (note word choice) I noticed that The Prolific Oven is even closer than the other two. That’s where I’ll try next week.

Now I launched on a long mess of errands. Things to get from the old house, things to buy. Paper towels for a fascinating example. At Fry’s I got a short coax cable to solve the splitter interface problem. Then at 12, Bill, the buyer of the bed, came in his large SUV, and I helped him in the half-hour long task of breaking down the bed. It was pretty complicated with various drawers and frames. Eventually he got all the pieces fitted into his car and off he went. Unfortunately he did not want the fine McCroskey mattress, so now I have that to dispose of, along with the pillow-top and the mattress cover that were over it. And the feather duvet. Well, that might sell.

At 2340 I took down the AT&T internet modem and tossed it in the car. After a few more stops, and thinking I was done, I remembered it. Oh heck, I have to back-track to the AT&T store at Page Mill and El Camino. I do that, and walk in with the modem under my arm and say, I want to cancel my internet. Oh no, says the friendly young floor rep, you have to do that online. Then they will send you a return kit for your modem.

Meanwhile, I’ve received an email saying the return kit for my DVR is on its way. Despite the fact that I’m positive I purchased the DVR, I realized it is stupid to refuse to return it. It has no use to me anyway, and nobody would buy it. So, I’ll return it.

Back at 621, I fiddled with getting the TV to work, and set up the big iMac, and took a short break before heading out to meet with Chuck. I did not feel like driving more, so on impulse I took a Lyft to his office just off California Avenue.

Bottom line from a long discussion: we really don’t understand L.L.’s motivations or her situation. She has treated her own agent as well as me, rather badly. However, that deal isn’t over yet. She put $50K into escrow. The deal isn’t over until she presents a document for me to sign, telling the escrow manager it is ok to return that. She hasn’t presented it, and conceivably still could come back to close the deal.

In the meantime, we are under no obligation to her, and can market the property to anybody and sell it if we get another offer. So we talked about the timeline for doing that. The critical path item is to get the house emptied, so that it can be painted. That can’t happen until The Sale. Later I talked to Deborah, and she really can’t hold the sale before July 6-7. After that she needs another couple days to clear any unsold items either to trash or a charity. So Chuck is now to schedule a painting contractor to start work on 7/11. He will also get a quote on my favorite upgrade, converting the step-in tub/shower to a walk-in shower. And if the L.L.’s foundation inspection has any action items, we can do those as well.

Back home again, I set up my new Comcast X1 DVR. Its remote has voice input, which I rather pooh-poohed but in fact it works amazingly well. You hold down the mic button and say “Find So You Think You Can Dance” and release the button, and it immediately shows exactly the words you said in text on the screen and executes the search. In this way I quickly set up subscriptions to the 25-odd shows I had subscribed on the old DVR.

The only time the voice unit failed was when I asked for the car show, “Find Fantom Works” and it looked for “Phantom Works” and said it couldn’t find it. Ok, B for effort.

Anyway, the TV is working, the DVR is working, sound bar is working, both computers are up, all the furniture is assembled. I have a stack of boxes as well as a lot of stuff that is just piled in a closet to sort out, but it’s a good start.

 

Saturday, 6/15/2019

Up about 6; look out; no newspaper in the driveway. That’s as it should be. Later today I expect to find my newspaper on the floor in front of the door of #621. Made my coffee, dressed, sat for a short while to drink the coffee. Then launched into the Saturday to-do list I’ve been curating since about Wednesday.

First up, strip the linens off the bed and start them laundering. Fold the colorful crocheted bed cover we made (hey, I crocheted at least 1/5 of the squares!) and set with other soft things to be packed.

Strip the mattress cover and put it in a pile with both pillows, to be discarded. Under its cover the McCrosky mattress looks good. I hope that Bill, the buyer of the bed, will take it with him tomorrow. Organize all the crap in the bathroom. All medicaments and supplements in a single bag. Toiletries and blah blah arrayed around the sink. All the little drawers opened and emptied. Finish coffee, put cup in dishwasher and start it. Several other things.

About 7:30 I had pretty well cleared the list. Looking at the plants on the porch, I noticed that two of them — shit, I cannot remember what they are, common name “Chinese something”, big green leafy things that thrive in indirect light — are kind of flopping out of their pots. Their stems have grown and want to lean. They could easily flop around and break during transport. Check online: Summerwinds nursery opens at 8:30.

Then I work my way through DirecTV and into myATT and find the customer service number, and cancel my DirecTV service. Shavonda, the rep, is very pleasant. Toward the end she is telling me I can return my AT&T DVR anytime in the next few — hold on there, Shavonda. I bought this DirecTV-made HDR-2 myself from Amazon.com, when we switched to hi-def about eight years ago. Oh. Well, it shows here that when you first started, a long time ago, you got a DVR from us. Well, I seriously doubt that, but if I did, it is gone to I don’t know where. Well, we probably don’t care it being so old and all, but… and she kind of leaves it hanging. If they bill me for a DVR… I’ll probably just eat it.

I drive down to Summerwinds and buy a bundle of 2-foot bamboo sticks and some plant ties. Stop at Peet’s for a cappuccino to go. Back home, I stake the Chinese wossnames in their pots. Then move a couple of boxes of video and computer related parts including my new XFinity DVR and modem, to the car, rather than having the mover box them.

Laundry and dishwasher finished; I fold the linens and stack them with the other linens and towels that may or may not sell. Empty the dishwasher and put the few mugs and utensils I’m taking to my mini-kitchen, in a designated section of the kitchen counter.

And it’s 9am and nothing more to do but wait — for the movers at 10:30, and for the L.L. and her Ex coming sometime to do a foundation inspection.

When I weighed myself this morning I was 170 and a fraction. In the fall of 2018 I noticed that my weight was down to 175 from (probably) about 185 a year earlier. That was pretty clearly due to stress and irregular meals while dealing with Marian’s illness. The past few months it has been fluctuating between 172-174. This past two weeks I’ve lost another 2 pounds. I am almost down to the 169 that I considered normal when I was in college. I feel perfectly healthy; so I’ll put this down to the stress of the impending move. It will be interesting to see if it pops up in July after I settle in.

At 10:15 the movers rolled in and went to work. Three young guys, tall, muscular, talking among themselves in some middle-european language. They are fast and thorough. They wrap every small object in paper. They tape every box on every seam. They wrap every piece of furniture in quilts, tape the quilts down, then wrap that in plastic sheet. Despite all the wrapping, they are done and the truck is loaded at 12:40. They head off for lunch, I go to CH to pick up my key and see the room for the first time in a month.

It’s pretty much how it should be. First: the morning paper is right there. Let’s hear it for the SJ Merc circulation department.

However, I’m supposed to have black-out curtains in the bedroom, and do not. There’s a bodged job of mounting a bar in the kitchen closet. These things to be taken up with Angela on Monday. Also, in the kitchen I have only a plywood counter, no sink. In the bathroom, ditto. Some of the cabinet doors don’t open; this may be because of the missing counter top, or rather, the temporary plywood counter top.

Nevertheless, the unit is just as pleasant as I remembered it, bright, airy, with a great view to the East where I can just make out the profile of Mount Diablo. I have been left a tray with some brie and crackers and a champagne glass, and in the fridge is — a bottle of champagne! Nice. Also, useful, the brie and crackers, since lunch service is just over. I nosh on cheese and crackers, and the movers come through the open door at 1:30.

Luis, from the maintenance staff, also arrives then. Since the bed parts aren’t up yet, he starts on my cafe table and chairs, then abandons them to attend to a problem with the building HVAC system. The movers keep bringing stuff in, and I keep directing them to put things here, or there, which is difficult since most of the load is square boxes with minimal notes (“Living room”) written on them.

Eventually the bed parts are in and Luis returns with a partner, and they set to work.

It’s very complicated and takes the two of them over an hour. Meanwhile I finish assembling the two small chairs and the cafe table, and also the armchair. I also open all the boxes. Some of them I move to the deck to be dealt with next week. Some I move to different places and partly empty.

At a certain point I email a panorama of the general look to Amy the designer who helped me plan the furniture.

The panorama mode makes it look weird. Also I’ve added and moved stuff since, but that was the basic living room arrangement and it’s quite comfortable and inviting in real life. I need another piece or two, especially a bookcase for the small number of books I still have, and/or some kind of shelving to display decorative objects that are still in a box. But basically this is it.

When the guys finish the bed I thank them lavishly and they go. (N.B. tipping is verboten at CH, so at least I don’t have to worry about should I have tipped or not.) I make up the bed with the sheets provided, and my new blanket and pillow, and the old crocheted bed cover. I realize I stink, and take a shower. The shower is OK. I dress in clean clothes and go down for supper at 6:40.

While I’m eating I get two things on from Chuck. First is, he has forwarded to me a voice-mail that he received from the other agent. (I didn’t know you could do that!) In the voice mail the agent, Lynn, explains in vague terms that Daphne was expecting to get “a certain signed document” from her ex-husband, and she has not received that document, so she can’t go forward with the deal. In a follow-up text, Chuck says he is “just deeply perplexed” and “It sounds as though their divorce has some loose ends which were not revealed to us.” Oh, yah think?!? It was the same ex-husband who came with her not once but three visits. It’s all just — this is highly unprofessional stuff from a woman who’s supposed to be a partner in a law firm.

Chuck and I will meet tomorrow at 4 to plan what to do next. Obviously we are not going to accept any more tentative or conditional offers from this buyer. If she came along and said, OK, I’m ready to put the full agreed price into escrow and sign now, no ifs or buts, fine, I’d take her money. But nothing less than that.

After supper I set up my Comcast modem which is providing me with sparkling internet access right now. I did not attempt to set up the new DVR, in part because the splitter that Comcast gave me, to divide the cable between the modem and the DVR, has a male input, while my wall plug has a male output. Splitters don’t do gay sex. So tomorrow I need to get either a short piece of coax or a splitter with a female input.

Also I’m a little bit tired, can’t imagine why, and I’m going to go and sit up in my new bed and read and hopefully sleep.