New House
We got our house, and have now moved into it.
It's a beautiful house, about 70 years old. It's about one mile to Duke University or downtown Durham, in the historic Trinity Park neighborhood (the house is one block off of the historic district itself). The neighborhood is quiet, with giant trees knitted together over the streets. Our neighbors are really nice people...one of them even helped me carry my severely overweight TV, though I don't think he knew what he was getting into when he volunteered.
Moving was difficult...I never imagined I'd have enough stuff to fill a 17' truck, floor to ceiling and front to back, nor that I'd have to carry it all. Next time, I will hire movers!
I don't plan to get telephone service, as our cell phones work well out there (they worked terribly at our old place). Since there's no land line, I had to get the 'cell guard' service for the alarm. It was expensive, but at least it can't be disabled by cutting the power. Instead of DSL, I'm now enjoying a cable modem. In the past, DSL has always been sufficient for my needs, since I don't really download a lot, but I can't go back now that I've tasted the bandwidth.
We are tossing most of our old furniture. We got couches and some chairs from Rooms to Go, and shelves, storage, and other goodies from IKEA.
IKEA doesn't ship large items, and the nearest one is in Woodbridge, VA (near Washington DC). The trip was quite an adventure...I had a friend drive us there (it's only a few hours away), where I rented a large truck. We then went to IKEA, and bought a lot of stuff, including some couches and things friends had asked us to pick up.
As we were loading the truck, it began to rain. I usually drive a very small car...driving a truck is very different, and in my opinion, it is fairly hard to do. It began to get dark, and it was no fun at all driving the truck in the rain at night. The mirrors got all fogged up, and it was hard to see.
Driving the truck was frustrating and nerve wracking. After some time, I decided to stop and get a bite to eat. Parking a truck is even more difficult than driving one, but some restaurants have parking just for trucks, and are relatively easy to get in and out of. There isn't a lot between here and Washington, and there aren't a lot of places to stop. I saw a sign that said there was a Cracker Barrel restaurant ahead, and decided to go there. I don't very much like their food, but they have truck parking and my options were limited.
I got off the highway where the sign said to, and then followed the arrow that said it was one mile down the road. I got about five miles down the road without seeing it before I decided to turn around. As I drove back towards the highway, I carefully checked each shopping center. Finally, I spotted a small sign that said Cracker Barrel, and turned into the parking lot.
Unfortunately, the restaurant had burned down.
Back on the road, I found an Iron Skillet restaurant, and decided to eat there. If you have never eaten there, don't. It was interesting to see all the truckers in their natural habitat, but the food was horrific and nearly killed me. I found a small piece of metal in my mashed potatoes, a thin wavy strip of metal.
On the way out, we saw a man that looked exactly like Brent Spiner, and I choose to believe that it was him. He got into his car very quickly when he noticed us looking at him. His car has Ohio plates.
I eventually got home, and ate there. We unloaded the truck the next day, and returned it the following.
Furniture from IKEA nearly all comes in flat boxes and has to be assembled. I got several pieces put together, but still have a lot more to do. When it's all done, we will be able to get everything unpacked...for now though, it seems like no matter how many we open and put away, the number of boxes around the house doesn't seem to be decreasing.