Finally Online (aka "my love/hate/really hate relationship with Time Warner)

We are moved in! At least James and I are. Poor Blake is still back in St. Louis working and getting the house ready to sell. It goes on the market tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Our new apartment is very nice. It actually seemed bigger after our stuff got here (my first 2 days were just me and an air mattress). It is only about 200 square feet (and a big 2 car garage) smaller than our house was, and since we also got a storage facility, it is very comfortable here. I'll post pictures another day. After I get pictures up on the wall. Really, that is all that is left to do, but being short, I think I'll wait until my mom is here next week to help. She has a better eye for these things than I do, anyway.

Here are a couple of lists, before I start in on Time Warner.

What is worse about an apartment:
1. No recycling
2. Have to walk a fair way to get the mail
3. Have to walk almost that far to take out the trash (and up a hill)
4. Our "view" is a parking lot -- if we were on the other side of the building it would be towards the lake.
5. For some reason, in this apartment, they thought a sealed concrete floor would be nice. We have some of it covered in carpet squares now, but not done with the main areas yet. Clumsy 2 year old had his first fall on it today. He has a bump on the back of his head, but is otherwise quite happy -- I think he enjoyed the extra attention and hugs he got after the fall. And the extra snack.
6. No covered parking.
7. I miss my old dishwasher. Despite apartment brochures always advertising their "Whirlpool appliance packages", they always get the cheapest possible models.

What is better about our apartment:
1. Nice location -- there is a coffee shop, a subway, a CVS, and soon a restaurant down the block.
2. More updated than our house was, and for less money than a newer house would be.
3. One of the cupboard shelves was broken, and I didn't have to pay anyone to fix it -- just call the office.
4. Pool.
5. Nice big bathrooms!
6. Outlets and cable hookups everywhere.
7. Fitness Center.

Overall, I am very happy here. And people everywhere I have gone (ok, just various stores and McDonald's) have been SO NICE! I mean, ridiculously nice for people working at grocery stores, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and McDonald's. And James is having so much fun with his granparents, aunt, uncle and cousins.

The people at Time Warner are nice, too. But, you do need more than nice. I was supposed to get internet, cable and dvr last Saturday. When they didn't show up, I called, and was told that they had to unschedule me because the previous tenants hadn't cancelled their service. Thanks for telling me. The good news is that the guy personally came out and hooked up the 2 tvs to regular cable, no charge, and gave us a free month. The bad news is no internet until Wednesday. (By the way, I was seriously needing to get online to check our bank balance, because we are hemmorhaging money during this move and by getting home repairs -- hence the importance of #3 in the second list.) So, Wednesday, it all gets set up, I can record Yo Gabba Gabba, Blues Clues and Dora as much as James wants, and I can access the internet in time to see that I need to asap transfer money from savings to checking. But, I can't access my new email account. That took a 30 minute phone call this morning and a 50 minute phone call this afternoon. I know it is not politically correct to say so, but it really is frustrating to be talking to someone in India for that long and not getting anywhere. And being called Hee-ther.

Anyway, I have more accounts to update!