(NOTE: I tried to make this short for Reddit, but ended up with this wall of text. After getting downvoted for that, I decided to cut and paste the ton of text here.)
So what's happened since? Here are some details:
1 - Moving expenses
I decided to scan the bad results of my PET scan and email it to my old landlady who also happens to be a nurse. She was someone in dire financial straits herself, but that scan REALLY got to her right where she lived. As a result, somehow, somewhere she came up with enough money to pay for the move on top of my miserably small original move-in deposit. That was VERY generous of her. :)
2 - Finding the new place
My (now former) landlady had written a positive letter of recommendation for any future landlords after some real estate genius told me some months before that a letter like that was even better than a credit check nowadays. Time to use it now. :)
I did a lot of calling of ads on Craigslist and interviewed the heck out of prospective housemates over the course of a few days. Finally one seemed pretty OK. As soon as I took a look at the neighborhood and the new place, I was sold. Wow... lots of mature trees, central location, fantastic express bus line AND definitely closer to my cancer center? Where do I sign? :)
The new landlady REALLY appreciated the letter of recommendation. It made THE difference in my being able to snag the new place
3 - Help with the move
Only a day after the new rental agreement was signed, my old landlady let me know that her house had to be tenant-free and clean in 4 days due to some crazy WTF pressure from her bank.
I posted [this](http://sezzme-seeds.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-march-of-2012-whole-lotta-crap.html) call for help as part of [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/vegas/comments/rdsgy/longtime_redditor_and_breast_cancer_patient/) thread in my local subreddit.
~~Gondor~~ I called for aid and ~~Rohan~~ Reddit did answer. Hardtoremember has a person in his life who works for a small moving company. The owner of the moving arranged for professional movers to show up AT COST to help with the move. Redditors EscoAK and "graveyard-working dude with pickup truck" (forgot his Reddit name, how embarrassing) came in person to help pack stuff in boxes over the course of two days. The move successfully happened without a hitch, no pun intended. Would not have been possible without my fellow Redditors. I made sure to post a [thank-you comment.](http://www.reddit.com/r/vegas/comments/rdsgy/longtime_redditor_and_breast_cancer_patient/c4767un) :)
4 - The car
I had an AAA card that was running out at the beginning of March. The last thing we needed was a dead car left in the old place. So on the last day of my AAA membership (perhaps a week before the move) I had the car towed to my mechanic. He agreed to store it in his lot for free until I somehow came up with the cash to pay for the fix.
I yelled for help from some local cancer charities for help with the car. After a bunch of weeks, a local foundation eventually wrote a check to my mechanic to cover the cost of the replacement transmission.
Between that donation and now I had to deal with some bureaucracy from Nevada DMV (long story) about re-registering the car again. I finally untangled the red tape just this week.
The cost of re-registering plus insurance is a daunting expense, so I am going to have to arrange something about THAT detail sooner than later. (Beats the hell out of the cost of the transmission!) The mechanic says that he will be finished with the car around this coming Wednesday. I just hope he doesn't find something ELSE screwy with the car, like the brakes need replacing, or something. Wish me luck.
5 - The cancer
I did 2 rounds of chemo, then on Monday, May 14 in the chemo room, my body said "Screw THIS!" and I [started heading into shock.](http://www.reddit.com/r/SezzThoughts/comments/tnyqi/i_had_a_very_scary_anaphylactic_shock_experience/) I finally saw my oncologist yesterday (the 24th) about it. She does not want to risk that particular drug combo again. She decided to see about getting me scanned again and THEN deciding what my chemo should be. So I am off chemo until around mid-June, which is a relief. A vacation from chemo. I definitely need to recover from the fear of that shock experience.
IN RETROSPECT:
When I look back at the whole thing, I have to be freakin' astonished. I feel like some character in some movie with a crazy plot twist.
Seriously, if it wasn't for my getting cancer again, I might had ended up homeless and I would most likely have lost everything. Instead, BECAUSE of my finding out about the cancer within 48 hours of finding out I was to be evicted (jumping jesus on a pogo stick... what the fuq?!), now I am safe with the combined help of my old landlady, Reddit and at least a couple of cancer charities.
While shaking my head in utter disbelief, I feel like telling the two metastatic tumors in my liver: "Damn you, you @#$%! little bastards... thanks for your help. Your timing was perfect. You can leave now, OK? Capiche? Good gawd...!"
THANK YOU REDDIT for your support in helping me be safe again. (I can't say THAT enough.) :)
Friday, May 25, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Big thoughts from my being at the NAB convention
This past week has been amazing. Right now it's Friday, April 20, my legs hurt, my feet REALLY hurt and I am not walking anywhere today. I am probably going to sleep the rest of the day.
This week has been a hell of a blur. The official start of the NAB convention was Monday, but as you guys already know, I got an invite to help out a small company set up. Woohoo! Backstage pass to a tech convention that attracts 100,000 people! Nice!
I really blew my limited amount of energy helping my video engineer friends set up their company booth. Theirs was a small 10x10 booth with three fancy cameras and controllers all attached to three-legged trusses. I could NOT believe how complicated it was to set up in just that small space. It was fun coming up with a few good solutions to some of the build problems they had. Together we got it working. I did what I could, then hit the sack for the big opening of NAB on Monday.
On Monday, I had NO energy. I got to the convention maybe around 4pm. It closed at 6pm. On Tuesday I slept 14 hours and got to the convention around 3pm. Phooey. On Wednesday I got there at 10am. THAT's better. Wednesday was the last full day of the convention, so I ended up seeing a LOT of techy stuff and enjoying it.
One thing that blew my mind on Wednesday was my accidental discussion with some folks representing a group of highly respected industry VIPs. Good lord... I'm actually chatting with these amazing geek gods of the film and video industry - and we are discussing graphics problems with some of their promo materials and how maybe I could help with some good ideas? Excuse me? I'm standing there discussing unique solutions and troubleshooting ideas from my past, long-ago experience in graphics and they actually give me their card and ask me to stay in touch. Wha? These are THE way-up-there top professionals and they are asking for and appreciating MY possible help? Mind blown.
My friend took a picture of me talking with them. There I am in the middle of some expressive hand gesturing and talking while the look on that rep's face was nothing less than 100% pure happy fascination about what I was yapping on about. I deal with a huge, depressing phobia about me possibly accidentally alienating and pissing off other people due to some social cue I have no clue I shouldn't have missed, especially with VIPs, so that was quite a different experience.
So time went on as I explored the rest of the convention. There I was, walking around (more like dragging myself around) the NAB convention with fatigue in my body and suffering with REALLY hurting feet - but determined to not miss all this techy fun. I started mulling over an invention I have been mentally working on for the last few weeks and started getting pissed that it didn't exist already. The concept is is a compact mobility device for people dealing with extreme fatigue and/or foot pain, potentially small enough to fit as carry-on luggage.
Suddenly a breakthrough flashed in my imagination, a simple modification that would make this device extra-useful and VERY practical to get someone like me with fatigue problems and hurting feet to enjoy an event like NAB with no problems and no wheelchairs.
I immediately hobbled to an oversized booth owned by some multi-zillion-dollar technology company that was filled with expensive chairs and tables. I plopped myself down at a table within view of some random VIP-looking middle-aged guy sitting there in an expensive suit. I decided to not give a rip about that (normally being around VIPs get me into a big fit of self-consciousness) and yanked a pencil and a blank piece of paper out of my carry-bag. I commented to my friend who was with me that dammit, even though I missed the chance to become an engineer in my lifetime, I am going to figure out how to make this gizmo happen anyway.
I immediately proceeded to diagram out this new modification of my invention, just enough to help me remember the details of this new, useful aspect of the concept. I barely know how to draw, but with arrows and words and lines drawn and re-drawn, I managed to get it down. Finally I put my pencil down and explained to my friend the concept, how adding this feature balanced the better ease of use with how to make the thing durable enough, comfortable enough AND compact enough for an event like this. My friend thought it was ingenious. (No I can't tell you guys on Reddit WTF I was inventing... I'll have to figure out how to do the whole patent thing first.)
Anyhoo... after several minutes of furious scribbling and drawing, I finally heaved a huge sigh, relaxed, put the drawing away and looked up to see VIP-looking guy grinning at me. I decided to explain: "This freakin' idea I had would NOT leave me alone until I got it down on paper." He replied: That's better than not having an idea at all!" Then he told me with a smile that I really was an engineer. He had heard my regretful comment to my friend. He told me only an engineer would think like that and have a passion for coming up with and writing down ideas like I just did. I proceeded to stutter, feel self-conscious and managed to get a gracious thank-you out of my mouth to him before I left.
Me, an engineer, even though all I have is a pathetic 2-year community college degree from too long ago? I remember the day I stood in front of the mechanical engineering tech display at that community college, completely falling in love with what I was seeing. I had just taken an aptitude test which included a measure of mechanical aptitude. The average for mechanical aptitude was 60 and the average for females 40. I had gotten a 99 score, which the school counselor said was "unheard of".
I remember looking at the requirements for getting into that program and feeling like a complete failure just looking at the math requirements. I gave up the idea of becoming an engineer right then and there. Who was I to even try here? I had flunked math from the get-go and the adults who raised me told me I was stupid. They also convinced I was crazy as well (that's what an abusive family will do to you). The idea of believing that someone like me could be anything resembling as awesome as an engineer... that seemed to be way beyond reality. So even trying to become what I had fallen in love with within that window was obviously just a ridiculous idea. That's like a sparrow trying to fly with the eagles. I was obviously (to me at least) no "eagle", I was no engineer, that was for smart people who could probably handle going to a real college. You can't be an engineer without an engineering degree. So how lame was this, my trying to believe that someone like me could ever fly in the same "sky" as the awesome people known as engineers?
I ended up losing one job after another after graduating community college, confirming my original childhood sense of being born a failure. If the job involved following someone else's checklist, I screwed up. If the job ever had some small aspect of my coming up with a solution or troubleshooting something, I did brilliantly. I had no one to encourage me in the right direction, so I stumbled and fumbled my way through life, every once in awhile deciding that I was going to investigate what I REALLY should be doing. However whenever I tried that, the same damn conclusion kept coming up - go to a university and become an engineer. WTF... why the hell should a little sparrow try to even hope to be able to do an eagle's job?? Every time the dream came up, I dismissed it with a sense of crashing despair as something that had nothing to do with who I was.
But now at NAB, the same thing kept happening over and over again in different contexts. My highly-educated friends whose booth I helped set up told me I was definitely someone who thought like them, an engineer. The geek god reps I talked to earlier had treated me like I was one of them. That expensive-suited, grinning VIP-looking guy (who turned out to be in charge of a major TV news station) told me I was definitely an engineer already. What was this... more than one conversation with some highly-educatedeagle engineer at various high-tech companies resulting in them treating me so much like one of their own? I couldn't wrap my brain around it.
That night, my not-often-mentioned other half and I sat in a booth in a fast food place and talked for several hours. His father was an engineer at NASA during the moon-landing days. Hanging out and working with various kinds of engineers was a lifetime experience for him. I asked him why in the English language someone would be called "an engineer" even though the word does not really specify what field the engineer might specialize in. He explained to me that being an engineer has to do with how the mind of an engineer is different from the rest of the population. I loved, loved, loved techy innovation and solving problems and inventing things. Despite my protestations about my math trauma and my lack of a real college education, kept explaining to me "They were right, you are ALREADY an engineer. You were born to it."
Too many times over the years he'd seen me take some gizmo I'd never seen before and fix it or modify it to make it better - and I'd found it to be fun and easy. He kept explaining that it wasn't a college degree that would made me an engineer... it's WHO I WAS to begin with.
Suddenly I felt like a sparrow who was staring at a single giant eagle feather which had suddenly sprung out of her wing. What the heck is THAT thing doing there?
I slept on it Wednesday night, thinking and thinking before drifting off into dreamland. On Thursday (yesterday) I got to NAB around noon. There were two hours before the show closed and I would help my engineering friends tear down their booth for shipping. I decided to wander into the NAB gift shop.
There were lots of books and gifts for the professionals attending that show. Everything was half-price because it was the last day of the convention.
On one shelf was a pile of t-shirts that said "I AM AN ENGINEER." I looked at of those t-shirts in my size, then just stood there and thought for awhile.
So what do engineers do? They solve problems, they innovate and they build. I have too much fatigue, cancer and financial problems to go to college and get my real engineering degree, but I can still solve problems, innovate and build things. I've been doing it in various ways with various small tools all my life.
I thought about my upcoming work on my innovative new mobility device. I hoped to have my first working version complete before NAB 2013. I hope to be happily zooming around on this neat, compact innovative gizmo, enjoying the convention and not letting my fatigue and pain get in the way. I'll be able to tell others "I engineered this device. This is my prototype. I hope it can eventually help a lot of people."
I pulled out my 12 bucks and bought that t-shirt.
This week has been a hell of a blur. The official start of the NAB convention was Monday, but as you guys already know, I got an invite to help out a small company set up. Woohoo! Backstage pass to a tech convention that attracts 100,000 people! Nice!
I really blew my limited amount of energy helping my video engineer friends set up their company booth. Theirs was a small 10x10 booth with three fancy cameras and controllers all attached to three-legged trusses. I could NOT believe how complicated it was to set up in just that small space. It was fun coming up with a few good solutions to some of the build problems they had. Together we got it working. I did what I could, then hit the sack for the big opening of NAB on Monday.
On Monday, I had NO energy. I got to the convention maybe around 4pm. It closed at 6pm. On Tuesday I slept 14 hours and got to the convention around 3pm. Phooey. On Wednesday I got there at 10am. THAT's better. Wednesday was the last full day of the convention, so I ended up seeing a LOT of techy stuff and enjoying it.
One thing that blew my mind on Wednesday was my accidental discussion with some folks representing a group of highly respected industry VIPs. Good lord... I'm actually chatting with these amazing geek gods of the film and video industry - and we are discussing graphics problems with some of their promo materials and how maybe I could help with some good ideas? Excuse me? I'm standing there discussing unique solutions and troubleshooting ideas from my past, long-ago experience in graphics and they actually give me their card and ask me to stay in touch. Wha? These are THE way-up-there top professionals and they are asking for and appreciating MY possible help? Mind blown.
My friend took a picture of me talking with them. There I am in the middle of some expressive hand gesturing and talking while the look on that rep's face was nothing less than 100% pure happy fascination about what I was yapping on about. I deal with a huge, depressing phobia about me possibly accidentally alienating and pissing off other people due to some social cue I have no clue I shouldn't have missed, especially with VIPs, so that was quite a different experience.
So time went on as I explored the rest of the convention. There I was, walking around (more like dragging myself around) the NAB convention with fatigue in my body and suffering with REALLY hurting feet - but determined to not miss all this techy fun. I started mulling over an invention I have been mentally working on for the last few weeks and started getting pissed that it didn't exist already. The concept is is a compact mobility device for people dealing with extreme fatigue and/or foot pain, potentially small enough to fit as carry-on luggage.
Suddenly a breakthrough flashed in my imagination, a simple modification that would make this device extra-useful and VERY practical to get someone like me with fatigue problems and hurting feet to enjoy an event like NAB with no problems and no wheelchairs.
I immediately hobbled to an oversized booth owned by some multi-zillion-dollar technology company that was filled with expensive chairs and tables. I plopped myself down at a table within view of some random VIP-looking middle-aged guy sitting there in an expensive suit. I decided to not give a rip about that (normally being around VIPs get me into a big fit of self-consciousness) and yanked a pencil and a blank piece of paper out of my carry-bag. I commented to my friend who was with me that dammit, even though I missed the chance to become an engineer in my lifetime, I am going to figure out how to make this gizmo happen anyway.
I immediately proceeded to diagram out this new modification of my invention, just enough to help me remember the details of this new, useful aspect of the concept. I barely know how to draw, but with arrows and words and lines drawn and re-drawn, I managed to get it down. Finally I put my pencil down and explained to my friend the concept, how adding this feature balanced the better ease of use with how to make the thing durable enough, comfortable enough AND compact enough for an event like this. My friend thought it was ingenious. (No I can't tell you guys on Reddit WTF I was inventing... I'll have to figure out how to do the whole patent thing first.)
Anyhoo... after several minutes of furious scribbling and drawing, I finally heaved a huge sigh, relaxed, put the drawing away and looked up to see VIP-looking guy grinning at me. I decided to explain: "This freakin' idea I had would NOT leave me alone until I got it down on paper." He replied: That's better than not having an idea at all!" Then he told me with a smile that I really was an engineer. He had heard my regretful comment to my friend. He told me only an engineer would think like that and have a passion for coming up with and writing down ideas like I just did. I proceeded to stutter, feel self-conscious and managed to get a gracious thank-you out of my mouth to him before I left.
Me, an engineer, even though all I have is a pathetic 2-year community college degree from too long ago? I remember the day I stood in front of the mechanical engineering tech display at that community college, completely falling in love with what I was seeing. I had just taken an aptitude test which included a measure of mechanical aptitude. The average for mechanical aptitude was 60 and the average for females 40. I had gotten a 99 score, which the school counselor said was "unheard of".
I remember looking at the requirements for getting into that program and feeling like a complete failure just looking at the math requirements. I gave up the idea of becoming an engineer right then and there. Who was I to even try here? I had flunked math from the get-go and the adults who raised me told me I was stupid. They also convinced I was crazy as well (that's what an abusive family will do to you). The idea of believing that someone like me could be anything resembling as awesome as an engineer... that seemed to be way beyond reality. So even trying to become what I had fallen in love with within that window was obviously just a ridiculous idea. That's like a sparrow trying to fly with the eagles. I was obviously (to me at least) no "eagle", I was no engineer, that was for smart people who could probably handle going to a real college. You can't be an engineer without an engineering degree. So how lame was this, my trying to believe that someone like me could ever fly in the same "sky" as the awesome people known as engineers?
I ended up losing one job after another after graduating community college, confirming my original childhood sense of being born a failure. If the job involved following someone else's checklist, I screwed up. If the job ever had some small aspect of my coming up with a solution or troubleshooting something, I did brilliantly. I had no one to encourage me in the right direction, so I stumbled and fumbled my way through life, every once in awhile deciding that I was going to investigate what I REALLY should be doing. However whenever I tried that, the same damn conclusion kept coming up - go to a university and become an engineer. WTF... why the hell should a little sparrow try to even hope to be able to do an eagle's job?? Every time the dream came up, I dismissed it with a sense of crashing despair as something that had nothing to do with who I was.
But now at NAB, the same thing kept happening over and over again in different contexts. My highly-educated friends whose booth I helped set up told me I was definitely someone who thought like them, an engineer. The geek god reps I talked to earlier had treated me like I was one of them. That expensive-suited, grinning VIP-looking guy (who turned out to be in charge of a major TV news station) told me I was definitely an engineer already. What was this... more than one conversation with some highly-educated
That night, my not-often-mentioned other half and I sat in a booth in a fast food place and talked for several hours. His father was an engineer at NASA during the moon-landing days. Hanging out and working with various kinds of engineers was a lifetime experience for him. I asked him why in the English language someone would be called "an engineer" even though the word does not really specify what field the engineer might specialize in. He explained to me that being an engineer has to do with how the mind of an engineer is different from the rest of the population. I loved, loved, loved techy innovation and solving problems and inventing things. Despite my protestations about my math trauma and my lack of a real college education, kept explaining to me "They were right, you are ALREADY an engineer. You were born to it."
Too many times over the years he'd seen me take some gizmo I'd never seen before and fix it or modify it to make it better - and I'd found it to be fun and easy. He kept explaining that it wasn't a college degree that would made me an engineer... it's WHO I WAS to begin with.
Suddenly I felt like a sparrow who was staring at a single giant eagle feather which had suddenly sprung out of her wing. What the heck is THAT thing doing there?
I slept on it Wednesday night, thinking and thinking before drifting off into dreamland. On Thursday (yesterday) I got to NAB around noon. There were two hours before the show closed and I would help my engineering friends tear down their booth for shipping. I decided to wander into the NAB gift shop.
There were lots of books and gifts for the professionals attending that show. Everything was half-price because it was the last day of the convention.
On one shelf was a pile of t-shirts that said "I AM AN ENGINEER." I looked at of those t-shirts in my size, then just stood there and thought for awhile.
So what do engineers do? They solve problems, they innovate and they build. I have too much fatigue, cancer and financial problems to go to college and get my real engineering degree, but I can still solve problems, innovate and build things. I've been doing it in various ways with various small tools all my life.
I thought about my upcoming work on my innovative new mobility device. I hoped to have my first working version complete before NAB 2013. I hope to be happily zooming around on this neat, compact innovative gizmo, enjoying the convention and not letting my fatigue and pain get in the way. I'll be able to tell others "I engineered this device. This is my prototype. I hope it can eventually help a lot of people."
I pulled out my 12 bucks and bought that t-shirt.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sezzme moving help - the conclusion
BIG FAT UPDATE AS OF 10:00 PM, Monday, 3-26-12:
Back home in the new place which has internet access, posting before I sleep. I am going to be back out again at the east-end-of-Charleston place tomorrow morning to try and pack some more.
My landlady has no choice on the matter of having to get us to move us out... the law in Nevada unfortunately does not protect tenants in a short sale. If the bank says "We got an offer, now give us an empty house in X time or else" the house owner (and their tenant) is just plain stuck with it.
In the meanwhile...
A hell of a LOT of stuff happened today. First of all, the landlady was able to give us some moving money to start with to try to help us out, then a friend of mine from out of state gave 100 bucks.
A fellow Redditor has a wife who works at a small, local moving company. We were able to use that combined cash to reserve a professional moving truck and a couple of guys for a decently compassionate price. AWESOME. The truck will arrive at the old end-of-Charleston place at 9am and we should be done with 95% of the move by 12 noon if the packing works out OK to start with.
So I spent the day knocking myself out trying to freaking PACK... and I pretty much crashed in the middle of the day while trying. Yikes. :(
The now-former landlady (who normally lives out of state) is here for a few hours trying to help with the packing while trying to do other stuff she has to do at the same time. She's just clarified that the time we needed to be out is actually Friday. WTF?
OK, I can't blame her... she's been jerked around so much by this whole real-estate thing that a lot of miscommunication had been going on. She's actually a really nice lady, but has a hard time thinking things through under stress. Besides, that gives us two whole extra days to do a basic cleanup or move stuff we didn't have time to pack after the major truck move is done, so that works out anyway in our favor. I decided I don't want to be at that place again after Thursday.
Now that we have the professional truck, we do need help packing on Tuesday, if anyone's available. After I quit typing this update, I'll start answering comments and dealing with PMs.
A twist in the story: the landlady has a bunch of furniture in the house that she is unable to move out in time. She needs to make a decision by at least the end of tuesday what she wants us to do with the big, heavy, wooden dining room table, the two overstuffed chairs, and the two not-fantastic-but-usable/acceptable dark green recliner sofas. Stay tuned for updates.
If the former landlady is willing to let us decide what to do with her old furniture, I'd want to offer it all for free to my fellow Redditors rather than to just anyone on craigslist. (It would take too long to try to sell it all anyway.)
My new landlady has dibs on the dining room table. Unfortunately adding that big table to the professional move might cost more than what is budgeted for the moving company. If that's true, I may need help with some Redditors and a truck anyway later Wednesday afternoon. (No worries about needing a covered truck for that table.)
If you still want to help, PM me with your phone number. I'm getting up early to go back to the end of Charleston by bus starting around 8:30am tomorrow (tuesday). There's no Internet access there at the old place, but I will try to a break and bringing the laptop to the local McDonalds on Charleston and Sloan mid-morning and then mid-afternoon to see what you guys have to say. (I have no smartphone)
Thanks in advance, guys. :)
(Third update from 7am Tuesday morning: (I just woke up.... I REALLY hope that my energy for packing does not give out today before everything is taking care of. Yikes. Wish me luck.
TUESDAY NOON UPDATE:
Next door neighbor at old place is letting me on their router with an ethernet cord right now. YAY! Don't have to drag myself to McDonalds a mile away... I'm tired enough.
It's official: Free furniture everyone! Pizza and free furniture for all who help!!! :-D
Turns out that we need packing help today (and thanks to those who offered it - I just sent you PMs). Someone came through with a little extra cash for us, so we can definitely afford pizza for anyone who can help.
On wednesday it turns out that the biggest thing will be last-minute packing, then a ride to follow the truck to the new place. The movers said they will arrive with their professional truck sometime between 9 and 11. Anyone who helps us get from here to there will be fed PIZZA and have their choice of free furniture. :)
If you have a truck and are only available in the afternoon, that can work... you'd have to grab us near our new place and drive us back to our old place, though.
TUESDAY 4PM UPDATE Long story short... EscoAK came over and REALLY helped me knock out 90% of the packing. Wouldn't have been possible without him.
We just have a little packing left, but I am REALLY shot, as in burned out, exhausted, blasted and fried so I am just going to sleep for a few hours. I or my life partner MIGHT be able to handle a little more packing work after 6pm tonite after a good rest... stay tuned.
I will post again if we can use help in the evening. There's a chance that we can have Redditors over for a couple hours then, if anyone wants to be here then.
I am also going to get up early tomorrow and take care of the last 10% before the truck comes. Redditors are welcome in the morning for help.
I now have permission and the password to the neighbor's wifi (awesome neighbor!) so we can keep in touch.
TUESDAY 9:30PM: ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Wednesday 8:15am I woke up TIRED, but my guy has some energy and can handle and coordinate stuff. Still some packing to do. 2 redditors due at 9 am to help. Truck due between 9 and 11. I am going to ask for it to be closer to 10 to 11 if possible.
Wednesday 8:25 PM All stuff moved into new house. That part's over. Current health state: shaking exhaustion. It was damn hard to hold it together today enough to be normal enough make this move work.
Unfortunately I have to go back to the old place tomorrow and deal with final clean-up and taking pics proving we are out. Landlady also wants us to deal with getting rid of her old furniture, since she live out of state. She made me and my guy sign a legal agreement that we do this for her (under pressure) or else we would not get funds for moving. Legal agreement also includes a clause that we do something we have no permission to do from a certain third party - or else.
Crap... I am too tired for this sh**. I just want to sleep for a week. The first treatment for my new round of chemotherapy is coming up and I am tempted to tell my oncologist to delay it because I can't handle this much exhaustion and chemo at the same time. I just sent the landlady an email telling her this.
I'm looking forward to having all this behind me, being able to give proper thanks to the Redditors who helped, etc.
Thursday morning Finally had my first GOOD SLEEP at the new place in nearly two weeks. Woke up with an idea. I think I know how to handle the pressure from the landlady. Without revealing certain legal details, I figured out an angle which will make that pressure go away. :)
Thursday evening Got the legal help I needed to clear the legal crap mentioned above. Also getting help with the clearing-out of the old house. I am one day away from being finished with this whole move. YAY!
Friday night It's over. I'm safe in my new home now. :)
Saturday: took all this text off of my original post and moved it to this blog.
Back home in the new place which has internet access, posting before I sleep. I am going to be back out again at the east-end-of-Charleston place tomorrow morning to try and pack some more.
My landlady has no choice on the matter of having to get us to move us out... the law in Nevada unfortunately does not protect tenants in a short sale. If the bank says "We got an offer, now give us an empty house in X time or else" the house owner (and their tenant) is just plain stuck with it.
In the meanwhile...
A hell of a LOT of stuff happened today. First of all, the landlady was able to give us some moving money to start with to try to help us out, then a friend of mine from out of state gave 100 bucks.
A fellow Redditor has a wife who works at a small, local moving company. We were able to use that combined cash to reserve a professional moving truck and a couple of guys for a decently compassionate price. AWESOME. The truck will arrive at the old end-of-Charleston place at 9am and we should be done with 95% of the move by 12 noon if the packing works out OK to start with.
So I spent the day knocking myself out trying to freaking PACK... and I pretty much crashed in the middle of the day while trying. Yikes. :(
The now-former landlady (who normally lives out of state) is here for a few hours trying to help with the packing while trying to do other stuff she has to do at the same time. She's just clarified that the time we needed to be out is actually Friday. WTF?
OK, I can't blame her... she's been jerked around so much by this whole real-estate thing that a lot of miscommunication had been going on. She's actually a really nice lady, but has a hard time thinking things through under stress. Besides, that gives us two whole extra days to do a basic cleanup or move stuff we didn't have time to pack after the major truck move is done, so that works out anyway in our favor. I decided I don't want to be at that place again after Thursday.
Now that we have the professional truck, we do need help packing on Tuesday, if anyone's available. After I quit typing this update, I'll start answering comments and dealing with PMs.
A twist in the story: the landlady has a bunch of furniture in the house that she is unable to move out in time. She needs to make a decision by at least the end of tuesday what she wants us to do with the big, heavy, wooden dining room table, the two overstuffed chairs, and the two not-fantastic-but-usable/acceptable dark green recliner sofas. Stay tuned for updates.
If the former landlady is willing to let us decide what to do with her old furniture, I'd want to offer it all for free to my fellow Redditors rather than to just anyone on craigslist. (It would take too long to try to sell it all anyway.)
My new landlady has dibs on the dining room table. Unfortunately adding that big table to the professional move might cost more than what is budgeted for the moving company. If that's true, I may need help with some Redditors and a truck anyway later Wednesday afternoon. (No worries about needing a covered truck for that table.)
If you still want to help, PM me with your phone number. I'm getting up early to go back to the end of Charleston by bus starting around 8:30am tomorrow (tuesday). There's no Internet access there at the old place, but I will try to a break and bringing the laptop to the local McDonalds on Charleston and Sloan mid-morning and then mid-afternoon to see what you guys have to say. (I have no smartphone)
Thanks in advance, guys. :)
(Third update from 7am Tuesday morning: (I just woke up.... I REALLY hope that my energy for packing does not give out today before everything is taking care of. Yikes. Wish me luck.
TUESDAY NOON UPDATE:
Next door neighbor at old place is letting me on their router with an ethernet cord right now. YAY! Don't have to drag myself to McDonalds a mile away... I'm tired enough.
It's official: Free furniture everyone! Pizza and free furniture for all who help!!! :-D
Turns out that we need packing help today (and thanks to those who offered it - I just sent you PMs). Someone came through with a little extra cash for us, so we can definitely afford pizza for anyone who can help.
On wednesday it turns out that the biggest thing will be last-minute packing, then a ride to follow the truck to the new place. The movers said they will arrive with their professional truck sometime between 9 and 11. Anyone who helps us get from here to there will be fed PIZZA and have their choice of free furniture. :)
If you have a truck and are only available in the afternoon, that can work... you'd have to grab us near our new place and drive us back to our old place, though.
TUESDAY 4PM UPDATE Long story short... EscoAK came over and REALLY helped me knock out 90% of the packing. Wouldn't have been possible without him.
We just have a little packing left, but I am REALLY shot, as in burned out, exhausted, blasted and fried so I am just going to sleep for a few hours. I or my life partner MIGHT be able to handle a little more packing work after 6pm tonite after a good rest... stay tuned.
I will post again if we can use help in the evening. There's a chance that we can have Redditors over for a couple hours then, if anyone wants to be here then.
I am also going to get up early tomorrow and take care of the last 10% before the truck comes. Redditors are welcome in the morning for help.
I now have permission and the password to the neighbor's wifi (awesome neighbor!) so we can keep in touch.
TUESDAY 9:30PM: ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Wednesday 8:15am I woke up TIRED, but my guy has some energy and can handle and coordinate stuff. Still some packing to do. 2 redditors due at 9 am to help. Truck due between 9 and 11. I am going to ask for it to be closer to 10 to 11 if possible.
Wednesday 8:25 PM All stuff moved into new house. That part's over. Current health state: shaking exhaustion. It was damn hard to hold it together today enough to be normal enough make this move work.
Unfortunately I have to go back to the old place tomorrow and deal with final clean-up and taking pics proving we are out. Landlady also wants us to deal with getting rid of her old furniture, since she live out of state. She made me and my guy sign a legal agreement that we do this for her (under pressure) or else we would not get funds for moving. Legal agreement also includes a clause that we do something we have no permission to do from a certain third party - or else.
Crap... I am too tired for this sh**. I just want to sleep for a week. The first treatment for my new round of chemotherapy is coming up and I am tempted to tell my oncologist to delay it because I can't handle this much exhaustion and chemo at the same time. I just sent the landlady an email telling her this.
I'm looking forward to having all this behind me, being able to give proper thanks to the Redditors who helped, etc.
Thursday morning Finally had my first GOOD SLEEP at the new place in nearly two weeks. Woke up with an idea. I think I know how to handle the pressure from the landlady. Without revealing certain legal details, I figured out an angle which will make that pressure go away. :)
Thursday evening Got the legal help I needed to clear the legal crap mentioned above. Also getting help with the clearing-out of the old house. I am one day away from being finished with this whole move. YAY!
Friday night It's over. I'm safe in my new home now. :)
Saturday: took all this text off of my original post and moved it to this blog.
Monday, March 26, 2012
My original posting to /r/vegas asking for help with moving
In March of 2012, a whole lotta crap happened to me at the same time, and I posted this text on /r/vegas below. I am now changing the original posting to stay something different, but saving the original text for posterity.:
Imagine learning that the cancer tumor which had spread to the liver (and you thought had been defeated by your previous round of chemo) is back - AND that you are being kicked out of the place you live at - both in the same freakin' week? :-(
I am being treated at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers Of Nevada. I has just discovered I have to go back into to chemo in a couple of weeks. My life partner (who is also my caretaker) is out of work with a severe back injury, though he has been getting some good treatment recently.
Both of us have a perfect longtime rental history with our landlady. However because of her legal/financial problems (which have nothing to do with either of us) she is losing her home in a short sale where we were her tenants. We were supposed to get several weeks warning if/when there was a sale offer, but unfortunately there was no word until we recently got hit with less than a months notice to move out.
Even worse, the bank just changed the deadline of the house sale closing to much earlier than they originally said. I found out yesterday we must have ALL our belongings out on Wednesday. There is no legal recourse here for us as renters. We don't have access to a car anymore. Plus cancer is an expensive, bankrupting son-of-a-bitch. We have no credit to use for renting a truck, nor the energy to deal with loading and driving it. :(
We do see how we can have enough energy to at least box up our stuff completely.
I was scared of ending up homeless because we didn't have much spare energy or time to find a new place. I didn't expect that the first place we looked at would look at would be THE perfect new, safe home for us both to rebuild our health and lives. It's a nice master bedroom in a house with storage in the garage.
Now for the next hard part. Help, Reddit! We need affordable moving help SOON! On Wednesday, we need help for an hour or two to load near Charleston and Sloan, then transport to the new place near Palace Station and then unloading into the garage.
The only pieces of big furniture we have are two mattresses and a coffee table. (We were also given a good TV, but if there is no practical way to move it, we'll have to abandon it.) Since the notice was so short, we have no chance to sort through our stuff first to reduce the moving burden. We are tossing everything we have into a whole lotta boxes (the small, file-box kind you get at Office Depot) to make them easy for the move.
Our money is very tight but if you have some kind of van or maybe a pickup truck with a cap on it to protect against road dust, that would be wonderful to safely move the larger pieces of furniture. We could probably reimburse the cost of renting a large moving van or small truck. (Our concern is that we might not be able to cover any deposit on a rented van or truck of our own. Of course you'd get the deposit back.)
Anyone else with a working car can join this reddit convoy by helping us transport maybe a few boxes each. I understand that a lot of people have to work in the daytime. If you can get us safe to our new home before 9pm Wednesday, that would be wonderful.
We got our small deposit back from the landlady, so we can use it to help cover your gas costs, offer a little cash as well as feed you some delicious pizza near the new residence. Plus you get positive, real-life karma out of all this. :)
If you know someone else who might want to help, please forward this. I know most of the /r/vegas action these days is on the reddit vegas facebook group, but I am not involved with facebook very much in the first place. So if you could let them know, I'd appreciate it.
I am writing this in the empty bedroom at the new place near Palace Station. The old place on east Charleston has no Internet access anymore, but when I get there Tuesday morning to pack, I'll be checking Reddit via my local McDonalds wifi every few hours for messages. PM me with your phone number and your ideas for help. I appreciate anything practical and positive you can offer.
(as of the evening of 3/26/2012, things have improved... see this posting for details.
Imagine learning that the cancer tumor which had spread to the liver (and you thought had been defeated by your previous round of chemo) is back - AND that you are being kicked out of the place you live at - both in the same freakin' week? :-(
I am being treated at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers Of Nevada. I has just discovered I have to go back into to chemo in a couple of weeks. My life partner (who is also my caretaker) is out of work with a severe back injury, though he has been getting some good treatment recently.
Both of us have a perfect longtime rental history with our landlady. However because of her legal/financial problems (which have nothing to do with either of us) she is losing her home in a short sale where we were her tenants. We were supposed to get several weeks warning if/when there was a sale offer, but unfortunately there was no word until we recently got hit with less than a months notice to move out.
Even worse, the bank just changed the deadline of the house sale closing to much earlier than they originally said. I found out yesterday we must have ALL our belongings out on Wednesday. There is no legal recourse here for us as renters. We don't have access to a car anymore. Plus cancer is an expensive, bankrupting son-of-a-bitch. We have no credit to use for renting a truck, nor the energy to deal with loading and driving it. :(
We do see how we can have enough energy to at least box up our stuff completely.
I was scared of ending up homeless because we didn't have much spare energy or time to find a new place. I didn't expect that the first place we looked at would look at would be THE perfect new, safe home for us both to rebuild our health and lives. It's a nice master bedroom in a house with storage in the garage.
Now for the next hard part. Help, Reddit! We need affordable moving help SOON! On Wednesday, we need help for an hour or two to load near Charleston and Sloan, then transport to the new place near Palace Station and then unloading into the garage.
The only pieces of big furniture we have are two mattresses and a coffee table. (We were also given a good TV, but if there is no practical way to move it, we'll have to abandon it.) Since the notice was so short, we have no chance to sort through our stuff first to reduce the moving burden. We are tossing everything we have into a whole lotta boxes (the small, file-box kind you get at Office Depot) to make them easy for the move.
Our money is very tight but if you have some kind of van or maybe a pickup truck with a cap on it to protect against road dust, that would be wonderful to safely move the larger pieces of furniture. We could probably reimburse the cost of renting a large moving van or small truck. (Our concern is that we might not be able to cover any deposit on a rented van or truck of our own. Of course you'd get the deposit back.)
Anyone else with a working car can join this reddit convoy by helping us transport maybe a few boxes each. I understand that a lot of people have to work in the daytime. If you can get us safe to our new home before 9pm Wednesday, that would be wonderful.
We got our small deposit back from the landlady, so we can use it to help cover your gas costs, offer a little cash as well as feed you some delicious pizza near the new residence. Plus you get positive, real-life karma out of all this. :)
If you know someone else who might want to help, please forward this. I know most of the /r/vegas action these days is on the reddit vegas facebook group, but I am not involved with facebook very much in the first place. So if you could let them know, I'd appreciate it.
I am writing this in the empty bedroom at the new place near Palace Station. The old place on east Charleston has no Internet access anymore, but when I get there Tuesday morning to pack, I'll be checking Reddit via my local McDonalds wifi every few hours for messages. PM me with your phone number and your ideas for help. I appreciate anything practical and positive you can offer.
(as of the evening of 3/26/2012, things have improved... see this posting for details.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Help sezzme fix her car (UPDATED)
As of April 20, a cancer charity has decided to write a check to cover the cost of the car repair. :)
That's awesome. :) :) :)
---------------
Goal: Raise a minimum of $750 to get the car running again.
I need the car I use fixed in order to be OK. Since I am in a crisis where I may lose my home, the least I can hope for is having the car fixed so I can find shelter soon. The transmission is broken and needs to be replaced. Fortunately we have a 100% honest auto mechanic named Kevin at a local auto shop named “Car Doctor” who has promised to fix the car for $750. Kevin is willing to take donations on our behalf.
In order to participate, contact Kevin by phone at (702) 732-0112, Monday to Friday: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm or Saturday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. Tell him you want to donate to the “Sezzme Ford Transmission Fix Fund”. (He DEFINITELY knows who “Sezzme” is!) Ask Kevin for his opinion on the best method of payment.
Kevin can also be contacted via his website at cardoctorofvegas.com
That's awesome. :) :) :)
---------------
Goal: Raise a minimum of $750 to get the car running again.
I need the car I use fixed in order to be OK. Since I am in a crisis where I may lose my home, the least I can hope for is having the car fixed so I can find shelter soon. The transmission is broken and needs to be replaced. Fortunately we have a 100% honest auto mechanic named Kevin at a local auto shop named “Car Doctor” who has promised to fix the car for $750. Kevin is willing to take donations on our behalf.
In order to participate, contact Kevin by phone at (702) 732-0112, Monday to Friday: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm or Saturday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. Tell him you want to donate to the “Sezzme Ford Transmission Fix Fund”. (He DEFINITELY knows who “Sezzme” is!) Ask Kevin for his opinion on the best method of payment.
Kevin can also be contacted via his website at cardoctorofvegas.com
Sezzme's Wishlist Part 3: Artistic Materials
Stuff that would help me to be able to afford my own darn food and expenses after awhile... I am still in the process of learning my new craft.
I make pins and pendants with astronomy themes out of artistic material called "polymer clay" that cures at 300 degrees. This silicone stuff listed below would help me upgrade my artwork efforts to a MUCH higher level. Silicone molding material also makes great candy molds too, even though I'm not into making candy.
Silicone mold materials:
1. http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/silicone-spread
2. http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/silicone-plastique
3. http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/ez-shellmaker
(NOTE: There are several brands of polymer clay out there. I've already listed what I need in my Amazon wish list, but if you have any knowledge of the stuff, please avoid "Sculpey III". That stuff is substandard compared to other polymer clays such as Premo, Fimo, and Kato.
I make pins and pendants with astronomy themes out of artistic material called "polymer clay" that cures at 300 degrees. This silicone stuff listed below would help me upgrade my artwork efforts to a MUCH higher level. Silicone molding material also makes great candy molds too, even though I'm not into making candy.
Silicone mold materials:
1. http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/silicone-spread
2. http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/silicone-plastique
3. http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/ez-shellmaker
(NOTE: There are several brands of polymer clay out there. I've already listed what I need in my Amazon wish list, but if you have any knowledge of the stuff, please avoid "Sculpey III". That stuff is substandard compared to other polymer clays such as Premo, Fimo, and Kato.
Sezzme's wishlist: Part 2: Foods and supplements
**Foods and supplements**
Bulk foods bought wholesale online are an AWESOME value! Beats the hell out of grocery store prices. I bought a 50 pound bag of oat grains once and only had to pay $1.10 a pound for it. Put it in the rice cooker and end up with something MUCH healthier and tastier than oatmeal. That lasted for 7 months.
I have learned a valuable lesson: if you get bulk foods wholesale, you get a MUCH bigger bang for the buck. They will store forever and food scarcity will no longer be an issue in your life for quite a loooooong while.
So here's my food list (look for frequent re-edits):
50 pound bag of brown rice so I can always have something healthy to eat. (link will go here, stay tuned)
[Freeze dried veggies so that I can have awesome instant veggie stew whenever I need it](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedvegetablecombo.aspx)
[Dehydrated refried beans seem to be pretty useful](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/refriedbeanflakeslargecan.aspx)
[Freeze-dried MUSHROOMS! I love mushrooms!](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedmushroomscan.aspx)
[Whole eggs in powdered form](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/powderedwholeeggscan.aspx). It beats the livin' heck out of the price of fresh eggs while being a more efficient way of delivering the needed protein.
- [Omega 3 pills, exact brand as recommended by doctor](http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/Products/Product_Details/514/?ProdID=1428)
Bulk foods bought wholesale online are an AWESOME value! Beats the hell out of grocery store prices. I bought a 50 pound bag of oat grains once and only had to pay $1.10 a pound for it. Put it in the rice cooker and end up with something MUCH healthier and tastier than oatmeal. That lasted for 7 months.
I have learned a valuable lesson: if you get bulk foods wholesale, you get a MUCH bigger bang for the buck. They will store forever and food scarcity will no longer be an issue in your life for quite a loooooong while.
So here's my food list (look for frequent re-edits):
50 pound bag of brown rice so I can always have something healthy to eat. (link will go here, stay tuned)
[Freeze dried veggies so that I can have awesome instant veggie stew whenever I need it](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedvegetablecombo.aspx)
[Dehydrated refried beans seem to be pretty useful](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/refriedbeanflakeslargecan.aspx)
[Freeze-dried MUSHROOMS! I love mushrooms!](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedmushroomscan.aspx)
[Whole eggs in powdered form](http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/powderedwholeeggscan.aspx). It beats the livin' heck out of the price of fresh eggs while being a more efficient way of delivering the needed protein.
- [Omega 3 pills, exact brand as recommended by doctor](http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/Products/Product_Details/514/?ProdID=1428)
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