The End is Nigh!

Whew, finally...  I think I have just one more load of moving and I'm done.

I picked what was probably the most disorganized and inefficient way of moving from one apartment to another.  I schlepped a backpack and a tote bag of stuff on the subway, over and over and over...  A few times I left the tote bag and carried a box or a suitcase, when those had to be moved, but otherwise, nearly everything came in those two bags...

I knew at the start that I wasn't going to be organized enough to actually pack and have everything ready to be moved in one shot, or even a couple, despite a friend offering to drive down to New York City and help me (it wouldn't be fair to her to drive down and me not have anything ready...)

So, when I got the keys to the new apartment I started with what items I would need to spend a first night in the new apartment.  The next day I prioritized based on what I would need to spend a first work night in the apartment and get to work in the morning.  Then I had a surprise and had to change some priorities because the new apartment had no hot water at the time...

All subsequent weekends this month I've simply taken the subway back and forth between the two apartments.  Carrying the empty backpack and tote bag one way, full the other...  Fortunately both apartments are pretty close to stations on the R line.

The hardest part of each trip is getting out with full bags at the 9th Street station in Park Slope.  I have to walk up the stairs, then it's uphill for an avenue block, when I'm already winded...

Today I hired some movers to help with the furniture, the dining table, four chairs and bookcase, which were too much for me to haul on my own.  I suppose I could've taken the chairs and bookcase, one-by-one on the subway, but I decided not to.


Late in the morning I looked up movers on Craigslist to see what options there were.  I found one that had a reputable looking website where they also listed prices, so I called them.  It was $75 an hour for two guys with a van, which seemed reasonable.  That was the cheapest option listed that included transportation, others involved labor but no transportation, which was exactly the problem I have doing it myself...

I called them and the guy said to email him all the details and he'd call me back.  So, I did that, emailed the two addresses, the quantity of stuff to be moved, and that I'd like to get a ride with the movers.  A few minutes later he called and said they'd be there at the old apartment at 2:30pm and I confirmed the price with him.

Then I headed to the old apartment.  There's not so much left to pack at this point, but still garbage to throw out.  I didn't realize how many plastic bags I've accumulated in just six months.  Lots and lots!  I brought a pocket knife with me so I could cut the tape on various shipping boxes that were lying around so I could flatten those out.

I also left my Visa card and most of my cash in the new apartment, since I expected to get a ride with some strangers and didn't want to risk them stealing too much if it turned out to be a scam to get me alone and rob me.  Craigslist has a bad reputation for crooks using it to set up meetings with people who'll have cash, though I think that applies more to people offering stuff for sale for nontrivial amounts to get prospective buyers to meet them, carrying cash (e.g. I could use it to advertise a $1,000 computer and expect a prospective buyer to meet me somewhere with $1,000 cash, so I could then beat them up and steal the money) than it applies to services (one recommendation I read is if you want to buy something via Craigslist, arrange to meet the seller at a police station, if they're legitimate they won't have a problem with that...)

Around 2:10pm they called and said they'd be there at 2:30pm.  I continued doing my stuff and around 2:30pm I was taking a load of trash out when I saw a black, windowless van pull up and stop in front of the apartment.  A couple of minutes later they called and I asked if that was them in the black van and they confirmed, then one of them got out and introduced himself as Danny, and said the other was Tyrone.

Tyrone stayed with the van while I went up with Danny and we moved the chairs and bookcase down to the van.  Then I stayed with the van while they went up and got the table, the largest, heaviest item.

Once loaded in the van Danny sat in the back on the floor while Tyrone got in the driver's seat and I sat in the passenger seat.  Tyrone set the GPS thing to give directions, which gave weird ones that would work, but involved quite a few extra turns, so he just followed mine.

In front of the new apartment I put down the door stops so we could load all the stuff into the lobby, then Tyrone stayed with the van while me and Danny got things in the elevator and up into my apartment.  I didn't really want just the two of them in my apartment without me, so that's why I did half the work...

Once finished I paid Tyrone $75 since it took almost an hour from when they arrived till we finished.

I made another trip down to the old apartment and filled the bags, then realized, that there's not two bags worth of stuff left!  Whoo hooo!

But I'll use both, anyway, I think I'll haul the robot down tomorrow and let it run wild a bit.  It should like the wide open, empty apartment.


So, after I do the last load, I'll write a letter to my former landlords, stick the keys in an envelope and slip it under their door.

AND THE SUBSEQUENT WEEKENDS ARE MINE AGAIN!

What is computer programming?

Recently on Slashdot I read a comment about a new Microsoft programming environment, TouchStudio, for the Windows Phone 7 that allows programmers to write programs on the phone to run on the phone.  Another commenter wrote:

So, it appears to be not true programming but just script manipulation.

Well, that brought up something that I've heard a lot, especially as a professional FileMaker Pro application developer...  What is programming?

Other developers working in FileMaker Pro used to say that it wasn't programming, but just "scripting" or things (often with some concerns over how it would look on their resume and what negative effect it would have on future career options).  Sure, with FileMaker Pro we didn't sit down with a text editor and write code to compile or interpret, it had a lot of point -n- click, choose items from a list, etc. to create a script.  And FileMaker Pro used the term "script" for code written in it.

But I don't agree that it isn't programming.

To me, computer programming is simply about instructing the computer what to do later.

Later is any time after the instructions are created, whether it's a one-time fix for something, or a piece of code that'll run a thousand times a second for a few years or an event handler to deal with users clicking an OK button somewhere or a scheduled task for every day at 3pm.

The way I see it, whether it's assembly language, BASIC with line numbers,  C, Java, SQL, JavaScript, FileMaker Pro, LabVIEW, Access, Python, Ruby, Logo and a virtually unlimited list of others (and I could grudgingly add VisualBasic...) if you're using it to tell the computer what to do sometime after you've given the instructions, it's computer programming...

Blessed be those who speak to inanimate objects...

...For they shall be computer programmers.

From a sign on my uncle's old office in the math department of Whittier College in 70's...

House Cleaning is Hell

I'm not known for my love of doing house cleaning...  In fact, probably just the opposite...  The apartment I lived in Beaverton, Oregon in the 90's I don't think I ever thoroughly cleaned in the seven years I lived in it.  The only thing I like to clean are the dishes...

It's not that I don't appreciate a clean house.  I mean, I like how Leena keeps the apartment all nice and clean and puts such a tremendous effort into either doing it herself or managing the servant through it, or a combination of both.  Especially in Pune where the amount of dust blowing in is simply incredible and most of the tools are sub-par.  And I've always enjoyed visiting my Aunt Lenore in Florida where I can walk around her apartment in bare feet without them getting filthy (my parents' house misses this qualification not because of dirt, but because the Oregon coast weather means always wearing socks in the house...)

But rather, it's just that I don't find the act of cleaning to be worth the time, effort and energy.  I work my butt off at the office, and while I earn a decent living, I pay a heavy price in terms of time, so when I have free time, there's so many other, far more rewarding ways to spend the time: reading, writing, web surfing, programming, playing computer games, exploring the city, baking, eating, watching a movie, sleeping, laying back and staring at the ceiling...

And it's worse because I'm not very good at it.  Or is that an understatement?  I suck at house cleaning.  Sure, I possess the knowledge of how to do it, but it seems like after I sweep a floor there's still dirt everywhere, if I wash a bathroom there's still dirty water streaked all over the place.  So on top of the miserable work, there's the end result that just makes me feel angry, frustrated, like I'm totally incompetent and I wasted my time.

To top it off, whenever I sweep I usually end up getting a sore throat and a cold that lasts for a week or two of sneezing, sniffling and coughing afterwards, while using cleaning chemicals gives me headaches and makes me nauseas...   And the noise of the vacuum cleaner causes pain to shoot through my ears...

I'll go out of my way to avoid making messes, but over time it does accumulate...  And I just don't find it worth it to deal with it...

Anyway...

I for one welcome our new robotic vacuum cleaner overlords...

I've had this now for a bit less than a week...  It's less noisy than most vacuums, which is good, and best of all I can just start it and step out...

Perfect?  No...  As one friend pointed out, he bought one six years ago and hopes they've improved its algorithms since then.  But even if they haven't it still probably cleans better than I will over the course of six years...  

First Weekend Of Moving

The afternoon view from my new
apartment...  Looking north.

Well, it's Sunday night, and this ends the first weekend of moving to my new apartment...

Some ups, some downs...  Some stuff that's cool and some that isn't...

I started off yesterday morning with the goal of bringing over enough stuff that I could spend last night in the new apartment and get up this morning for breakfast and a shower and all that.  That was how I prioritized what's gotta go.

I used my biggest Oakley backpack and a tote bag.  Most of the trips I tried to pack the heaviest things in the backpack, since it's easier to carry with weight, and bulky, but lighter stuff in the tote bag.  And for the most part that worked quite well.

The hardest part of each trip was getting up the subway steps at 9th Street and then walking uphill on 9th Street to 5th Avenue.  After the stairs, the uphill was killer.  If the light was red, I'd get a short moment to stop and catch my breath at the corner of 9th Street and 5th Avenue.  And once there, the remaining walk wasn't far.  At least the new building has an elevator.  I may not always use it, but for carrying stuff, it's useful.

After I stopped for lunch yesterday, though, I started to get diarrhea.  I'm not sure it was lunch, or if that was just a catalyst.  I'd eaten Indian food from a street vendor on Friday night in Manhattan, so maybe that could've been what was truly not agreeing with me.  I don't know.

But after the first round of diarrhea in the new apartment, I found out something not so hot...  There's no hot water...  The water heater is simply not working...  Uh oh...

Around 11pm, at the end of my last trip, I ran into the building superintendent in the lobby and told him "garam pani nehi" which he didn't understand, so then I thought more about it and switched to the appropriate Spanish, though possibly not grammatically correct, "no agua caliente".

He came up and checked it out, then called someone on his cell phone and spoke in rapid fire Spanish, then handed the phone to me.  It was Jones, whoever Jones is, and he said he'd try to get a mechanic to come today to look at it.  I told him I'd be in and out, and might not be accessible on my cell when I'm in the subway, so he said "then we can do it on Monday."  I told him better to do it Sunday, so I can get a hot shower before work on Monday morning.

One thing I discovered at night was there's no light in the bedroom.  There's a switch, but no light fixtures anywhere...  I hadn't noticed that before...  I guess I'll have to pick up a floor lamp of some kind. The switch is probably for one of the outlets.  The living room is the same way, no lights, although it's a single room with the dining area, where there is one.  On the other hand, I like dark and walking around the apartment in the dark.

I slept in the new place on an inflatable mattress that wasn't very comfortable, but I was exhausted...

In the morning I got up early enough and figured I'd dash over to the old place for a shower and the first trip before my morning call with Leena.

That worked.  For the call I sat on the window sill of the new apartment, watching the view out the window.  It's also the place with the least echo in the empty room...

Then I got on the phone to switch over the electricity to my name, followed by the gas.  Only the gas company wasn't doing that on Sundays.  I got through, followed all their voice menus and everything only to get a live person who said I'd have to call back tomorrow.

Then I called the one contact I have for the new apartment and he said the cold water was because I hadn't yet switched the gas to my name, so the gas company locked it.  A reasonable explanation, though I wish he'd have told me in advance.  And it doesn't explain why the stove has gas.

So, my next trip I figured I'd bring back my biggest cookpot.  That way tomorrow morning I can use one of the skills I picked up in India.  I'll heat a pot of water on the stove and use a cup to shower with warm water in the bathtub.  I've done it before, lots of times, so I can do it...

I took a lunch break and walked around Park Slope looking for something to eat.  Some places look good, but on a sunny Sunday afternoon in a trendy neighborhood they were all crowded, with people waiting outside for tables.  I ended up back at a sushi place I'd been to before and had a tasty tuna platter.

Then after another trip I simply fell asleep on the bed for an hour and a half in the new apartment.

Now it's about bedtime...