The Movers

Although we've done our fair share of moving we've only used movers twice in the past. When you hire movers there is a lot to think about, how much should you pay, do you get the extra protection coverage, etc. Both times we've used movers it was paid for by my company and we didn't get to choose, it was Allied.

They did such a good job packing us up and replacing the TV stand they broke that it was an easy decision to go with them for a third time around. This time I had to see the price though, and it was more to move us to Maryland than it cost the company to move us from Seattle to New York. I'm guessing that the company has some sort of discount program with Allied that I won't be able to use this time.

So we will foot the bill out of my signing bonus and cover any of the differences ourselves. The good news is that we won't need to worry about packing the apartment we're letting them take care of that. It's the least I could do for my wife after she takes care of the baby while I'm at work everyday.

Now all we need is for our brand new apartment to be ready on time. We are scheduled to move in May 8 but they won't guarantee anything and just say that it depends on the county inspections.

Cross your fingers for us.

Maryland, here we come!!

We've been in New York for slightly less than 2 years, of course this was our second time around in the area, but I am glad to say that I've taken a job in Washington, DC and we will be leaving in about 2 1/2 weeks.

While New York has its good points it's hard not to become calloused by the difficult circumstances of working and living in a place with so many people. It's probably one of the only cities in the world where you can be surrounded by millions of people and feel totally alone. With all of the panhandlers and people handing out fliers on the street it becomes easy to ignore everything going on, you become cynical and hardened.

I made a trip to Seattle last fall and my coworker and I couldn't figure out why people were honking at us, we were just crossing the street just like we would in Manhattan, on the "Don't Walk" signal. The drivers were freaked out that we would even attempt to cross while they were making left turns in front of us. It's a daily occurrence that a car gets within 2 inches from my foot as I cross 5th avenue, and I think nothing of stepping out in front of a car as it stops for the red light.

I'm looking forward to leaving all of this behind and beginning a new job in a new city with my wife and baby.