After two years living in downtown Durham, I decided it was time for a change. I was tired of people making noise above me and of being downtown generally. As a result, I conducted a targeted search for a house to rent in a particular neighborhood. I managed to find one that was available for rent due to its owners being relocated for work, did a walkthrough, and signed the lease in short order.

I took possession on Friday and delivered multiple carloads of things over the course of the weekend. I set aside Monday for the big move day with the heavier furniture. It turned into a longer day than I’d hoped. Traffic meant things got off to a late start. I’d forgotten how long the distance is between that apartment and the loading dock. It was into the afternoon by the time the truck arrived at the house and the stuff took another hour plus to unload. Due to my severe underestimation of how long things would take I had to reschedule multiple meetings, something I hate doing. The crew was professional and I don’t have any complaints about their level of service, but it is always disconcerting to see your things hauled by people who care infinitely less about damaging them than you do.

Once everything was finally in the house and roughly in the rooms where I wanted things, I ate a very late lunch and jumped into a few meetings to make sure nothing was on fire. Then I started adjusting some things, unpacking others, and working to make it so that I could use the kitchen as a kitchen instead of a storage room. As of the time of writing, not a single room is finished. It has been much more about minimum viable than optimal with respect to my new place thus far. That should finally change today, but only after another trip to a home goods store to pick up a few items. As for when the house will be decorated as I intend, that will not be until Saturday at the earliest. Even this morning, I woke up early to put together one of my beds. I’d forgotten just how time-consuming it is to set things up (and how much your fingers can hurt from twisting screws and using allen wrenches and the like). Typing is not the most pleasant feeling right now, but the show must go on. At least it is rainy today so I won’t be tempted to go for a walk and so will continue to chip away at my task list in setting up my new residence.