A Moving Update

So after two weeks of no time and no energy, I'm finally finding the time to write again. I don't have time still so this is going to be nothing more than bullet points chronicling some of the trials and tribulations since the last entry on 4 August. In that last entry we'd just packed up the house and the loaders were coming the next day.

Tue 5 Aug - Loading went fine. All our stuff fit into 3/4 of a shipping container.

Wed 6 Aug - Cleaners came the following day. We let them in then bailed out to let them do the work.

Thu 7 Aug - Met our landlord and a representative from our relocation company at our apartment for a final inspection. It was a non-event. Landlord was very, very cooperative. In point of fact we'd left the apartment in good shape, but he was going to have to do work to get it ready to rent again after six years ... cracks to be repaired, bathroom fans that don't work, faulty boiler (water heater), kitchen range fan doesn't work, yada-yada. Too bad for him. We're gone.

Fri 8 Aug - Two taxis, compliments of Continental Airlines business class, met us at our hotel. Loaded all our stuff except a set of golf clubs into one taxi. Clubs went in the second ... how bizarre ... but we didn't have to pay for it. No problems leaving UK. Business class flight to Houston fine except Wife and I not sitting together. Breezed through US immigration, which had been a concern originally, got our bags and picked up Jeep Laredo that easily held all our stuff. I'd brought our sat-nav (formally known as Fiona in UK, but now Americanized to Lisa). She took us right to our hotel downtown.

Sat 9 Aug - Met our realtor, Marla, and looked at townhouses near downtown. Nice, nicer than I expected, but still no room to be outside in most of them. Relatively expensive too ... $400,000 sort of ... but big. Also looked north of city at some houses. Drove back out north after finishing and looked at cars. Dealerships closed on Saturday for some strange reason, but managed to talk to Toyota and to Chevrolet dealers just to pick up glossy brochures.

Sun 10 Aug - Realtor took us to look at houses way north of city. An hour commute or more. Liked the houses, but didn't love any of them. Cities were Spring, The Woodlands. Then west of city to Katy. None we loved there either ... except one model home for $650,000 on a lake that we would've bought if we could have moved in in less than nine months.

Mon 11 Aug - My first day at work. Surprised to find that I have a private mini-office with a super view of Houston. It is on the 43rd floor after all. Also found that my mobile phone is a Blackberry that allows me to receive emails, take pictures, and other stuff I'm not smart enough to figure out. Also found that I have a laptop. I'm not a big laptop fan, but I think it's going to turn our good at least in the short run. Had a whole series of meetings with people including my new boss to start to get me up to speed. By that night I really started to feel poorly. Felt like flu coming on.

Tues 12 Aug - Woke up feeling awful: stomach ache, aches and pains, feverish. Rallied as best I could and made it to work. Had luncheon meeting with two vendor reps that I'll be dealing with. I suffered through lunch eating only soup. Managed to hang in until 3pm then met Wife at hotel. She'd checked out at noonish. We migrated to corporate apartment about 15 minutes from work. OK place. One bedroom. Fairly clean. Better than a hotel ... and lots cheaper. We found a Kroger a couple miles away and laid in some supplies. I crashed. First day of no house hunting.

Wed 13 Aug - I'm feeling only marginally better, but went house hunting. Visited houses northwest of city and found two that were 'possibles'. One single floor one (Pink Brick House) I really liked, but it was built in 1998 and Wife was afraid we were inheriting someone else's problems. Other two story we liked (Red Brick House), but not good enough to go with. Cheap though: $243,000.

Thu 14 Aug - Worked until about 1:30pm then met Wife for more house hunting. Visited more townhouses. Saw one we loved, but right at intersection of two busy streets. Darn it. It's the first townhouse I really felt like buying even though it was $400,000+.

Fri 15 Aug - My day off. Drove south of city to Pearland with our realtor and hit the jackpot. Saw a house on a lake that we loved and another even prettier one, but with no back yard. We were sold. Brand new houses buying from a builder who we thought was anxious to sell. Excitement reigned.





Sat 16 Aug This day is a fog, but I know I thought I bought a car. I researched online and found a demo 2008 Camry that looked like a good price. We drove to Calvert Toyota and "Gary" brought it around for us. It has a moon roof that I'm not thrilled about and some other do-dads. Bad part: it's filthy. Looked like someone had had a coffee fight in the front seat and even stains on the ceiling. I know they can get that out, so we take test drive. I talk him down to $21,500 and we call it done. Then I try to pay for it with my AmEx card. Gary says, "Can't take credit cards." OK, well, I think I can work that out online. Then Gary asks, "Have you got insurance?" I say, "No." I use his computer and look up an agent online. It's just before 5pm and I call them. Can't help because they're closing, but transfer me to 24-hour help line. They can't help me because we have UK licenses and I'm honest when I say we've had an accident in the last year. Gary says, "No prob. We'll work it all out Monday." In the mean time Wife has looked out on the lot and found a 2009 Camry for the same price as the 2008 one I just bought. She is not amused. We drive home and I listen to litany of what I bad deal I made and how she doesn't like the dirt and how it has 7000 miles, not 5000 like he told us originally, and on and on.

Sun 17 Aug After a sleepless night worrying about pretty much everything, but especially about the car, I call Gary and tell him deal's off, but that I'll be out Monday to buy a 2009 from him. I actually did feel better.

Then I get online and start researching the houses we looked at. Oh OH. Several websites talking about a landfill in the area and the problems with odor that that particular subdivision has been having. A bit of time with Google Map and I figure out that our two houses are across the road from the site. F--k. We can't believe it and drive out to the houses on our own. At the first (Katy's House on the Lake), we meet our presumed next door neighbor who turns out to be Russian! Yes, they had smell problems when he first moved in a year ago, but now you only smell it, say, once a month late at night. Oh GREAT. We prowl around some in the subdivision and realize that you can actually SEE the site from our street. It's very depressing. We wanted that house. The builder asked $360,000 but was willing to take $325,000. I'd offered $288,000. Knowing what that it's next to a garbage dump, now I wouldn't take it for $88,000.

Mon 18 Aug I work all day and then we drive (Wife drives) to the Toyota place. She prowls around and we find a silver Camry we like. We set our negotiating strategy and are excited, then realize: it's got a sold sticker on it. We find another one and go inside to talk with Gary about it. He tells us that it is a demo also, but that he has a brand new one just like it. What does he bring to us? The one we wanted in the first place and thought was sold. He says, "Well, yes, but it's been 'sold' for six days, so I pulled rank on the other salesman and it's yours if you want." We want. Wife starts negotiating. At the point where she wanted the last drop of his blood, I start doing emails on my new Blackberry and ignoring the whole thing. Finally she hits a price and a really good price (according to what I could find out online) and a better price than I would've gotten by a couple hundred dollars. We sit and sit and finally talk to the finance guy. He talks me into extended warranty: four extra years (seven total) and 75,000 for $650. He also talks me into Lo-Jack theft protection for $250. I just spent all the money that Wife saved. But, actually she agrees both items are a good idea. We can't do the insurance thing so we (Wife) drives home.

Tue 19 Aug TODAY I work all day, except for a hiatus about noon. Wife calls: "Movers are here with our air shipment, but I don't recognize anything in the boxes." I jump in the car and get home. No boxes. Wife says, "They had all our paperwork but the boxes, when we really looked at them, were all for someone else." So I'm back in the car and back to work.

I just heard that they've located our shipment and are bringing it to the house. Hopefully all is good. Check in with me tomorrow.