Mary and I have moved in. It was a terror of epic proportions. (Note to self -- if you are moving to a place where you don't know anybody, don't pack a lot of shit that you can't move without the help of 4 good buddies.)
By the way, for those of you that helped us pack all our shiznit in the truck, we were only charged for 8 linear feet (rather than 9 like we had anticipated). Thanks for your help in that venture and you guys saved us some serious cash on that extra foot.
Getting our stuff out of the truck was an adventure. I rented another 16' UHaul, only when I went to get it they only had a 26' available, but gave it to me at the 16' price. A 26' truck is like a semi. Its huge. And while Mary and I were able to back it up to the semi truck and load all our stuff into it, we couldn't leave it in the parking lot overnight like I had planned due to its hugeness. You see, I met a dude named Ryan while I was scoping for apartments early last month and he agreed to help me move on Saturday morning (as he works on Friday). The problem was that the trucking place was not open on Saturday so our plan was to load up the uhaul and then unload it on Saturday. But you can't park a 26' truck anywhere overnight that won't take up 4 parking spaces.
So we had to move it all ourselves on Friday. Up three flights of stairs. Unfortunately, a lot of our stuff requires 2+ people to move. Mary made an excellent showing by helping me move the couch upstairs, but then couldn't move her arms. So I was at a loss. Fortunately, one of our new neighbors came home at that time (we were taking up his spot, but he totally cool with it). I shook his hand, told him we were moving in, and in desperation offered him $60 to help me move our stuff in. He said he'd do it for free. Then he (Jordan) got his roommate (Aaron) to help a little bit as well, and Jordan and I got all the heavy stuff into our apartment just as I was about to pass out from exhaustion. I then offered him money again, I mean really pushed it on him, and he refused! I would've totally taken the money as it was a serious job (we were all gasping by the end), but he didn't. He said we can cook him dinner sometime. A true class act.
Then on Saturday Ryan suggested we go out to a place called the "Bier Stein" on saturday and meet his buddy Dan, so Mary and I did. The Bier Stein is a bar/restaurant here in Eugene which has beers from around the world, both on tap and a grocery-store like cooler where you can just grab a bottle and take it up to the register. Its really an awesome place and I know Brando, for one, would love it. Here's Dan and Ryan:
Also since Eugene is in the Willamette Valley, which boasts the one of the highest numbers of Sasquatch sightings in North America (the Cascade Mts are teeming with the suckers), there are "life-size" smiling Sasquatch statues to pose next to (Mary presented for scale):
I hope you sons of bitches are prepared for some Sasquatch huntin' come this summer. I don't want any pansy excuses either. You think people are dissapearing in the mountains because of the winter weather? Think again.
Sasquatches.
