Tomorrow morning, the moving truck arrives. Chaos ensues.

Today, I head to Chapel Hill to visit a client and discuss what I can do for them. Then its back to the new house for more pre-moving stuff.

I hope I can juggle things the next few days as there’s lots for me to do.

From the found while surfing department. Read about the Brooklyn Bridge here.

We’re in our rental house now, the one that we used to own for five years. Hallie announced “we’re home!” but I had to correct her and tell her we just came from the home we now own. She was an incredibly good sport throughout things today. I know closing wasn’t fun for her, but she managed to entertain herself somehow.

There’s lots of cleaning that needs to be done to the new place. The carpet cleaners arrive early tomorrow. Even earlier, the refrigerator delivery guys will be there. Thus, I will be up early to make it out to the house before either group gets there.

We can’t wait until we’re settled, though there is plenty of emotional attachment to this Garner home. We put a lot of work into fixing it up. We’ve had a number of magical parties with family and friends here, too. It’s just a charming place, inside and out. The neighbors have been truly special. It will always feel like home.

Already, though, the new neighborhood is welcoming us. Our next-door neighbors are quite friendly and have told us all about our new neighborhood. The kids in the neighborhood spent time playing out in the street in front of our house. Plenty of people out walking around, too. Very friendly.

Tomorrow, we make our new home a little more ours.

I’m signing on from the new house. Closing went well and the prior owners seemed pretty nice.

We’ll be here most of the day, doing some cleaning. But it’s ours!

This morning at 9 AM, we sign the papers for the new house. Then it’s all ours to clean and scour. Or, as our agent has urged us to do, to “paint the closets.”

Yay!

New MT.Net member Jeremy P. has requested a new poll, so I’ve refreshed it.

(Before y’all start lining up, this is a tongue-in-cheek poll. No assistance is necessary.)

We sold our house today at noon. Things went so well, it’s amazing. The buyer is a wonderful lady who seems beside herself about owning the home. She seemed charmed by Hallie as she wandered around the room, too.

We got back and I took our “for sale” sign out of the yard. It was out there seven and a half weeks. We got her offer around ten days after it went in the yard, and today we sealed the deal.

After all the paperwork was signed, Kelly and I each got a bonus hug from Marian, the new owner. It was really kinda touching!

Marian even offered to let us take a tree with us! We got a dogwood tree as a gift when Hallie was born. been growing nicely in the backyard for those two years and we were resigned to the sad thought of leaving it behind. Marian said we’ve “done such a great job on the rest of the yard” that she’d not even miss it. So if there’s a way we can dig it up without killing it, we’ll soon have the first tree in our new yard.

So we’re moving this week, right? We’ve been going down the list of things we need set up for the new house. I’ve taken ownership of getting our Internet connection going at the new digs.

We use Earthlink over Time Warner’s cable. Up until now, it’s been no sweat at all. Since our mail goes through our home mailserver, changing email addresses is not an issue. Time Warner still mails us a bill, only it’s $29.99 per month rather than $45 (Time Warner’s rate).

In other words, things were sweet as long as I didn’t need to contact them.

So the other day, I begin the process of switching things over. An Earthlink voice menu directed me to a webpage with detailed instructions for moving. I spent 15 minutes filling out all the appropriate blanks. Well, that’s that, I thought.

Poking around the “order status” page didn’t list any move requests, so I was back on the phone yesterday. After wading through more voicemail menus, I get connected to a person who sounds distinctly foreign and seems to have trouble hearing me.

Oh great. I’m talking to India, I thought. No big deal, I’ll just proceed as normal.

I give the woman my move information and account information. She asks for my new address, which I provide. She then checks to see if cable is available there, after I swear up and down that it is and there’s no need to check. Five more minutes go by on the phone before she pops back on and confirms that, indeed, cable service is available at the new house. Thanks for letting me know that, miss.

Another delay or two goes by. She tells me I need to return my cable modem and begins to give me the number for Time Warner.

“Excuse me, but I don’t need to turn in my modem. I’m just moving across town,” I tell her.

“No, you need to call us and let us know when you’ve returned it, or else we’ll have to bill you $21.95.”

“Uh, ok,” I say, humoring her as best I can.

She then puts me on hold again before transferring me to their sales department to “establish new service.” Another few minutes go by while I’m transferred.

Some American chap in the sales department picks up. I explain I’m moving and need to get service established.

“Please hold while I transfer you to our customer service department.”

Oh no. Back to India. Click! I hang up and plot my next move.

An hour later I’m ready to try again. I call the same number and apparently get the same foreign woman. Though she sounds eerily like the last woman I spoke with, she has no recollection of my details. We go through the same script as before, with exactly the same outcome. Except I don’t wait for the sales guy to pick up this time.

My next move is to call Time Warner, since they handle billing and seem to actually have a clue about moving people.

Immediately, a man named Wil picks up. He seems to have mindreading skills, almost finishing my sentences for me. He sets me up with overlapping service: turned on at the new house on Thursday, turned off here on Monday.

So, to summarize:

What it took Earthlink to not solve my problem:
One web visit, two calls, two continents, and over an hour on the phone.

What it took Time Warner to solve my problem:
One call lasting two minutes and fifty four seconds.

Do the math.