In This Technological Age

Considering how nomadic the people of the world have become – moving streets, cities, states, countries at a whim – you’d think the art and science of moving would have improved.

But really, it hasn’t changed much since the settlers moved west in covered wagons. It’s still just your stuff, a lot of cardboard boxes, a big truck and some muscle.

That’s it. No better. No improvements.

I need some razzle dazzle technology here, people. Can’t the finest minds in Silicon Valley and beyond get on this?

If they can build a better toilet and build a better thermostat then they can build a better moving system.

Let’s think beyond the cardboard box, people!

I’m talking about something like Star Trek transport. Push a button. Boom baby, your crap is at a new address.

Or levitation. Alakazam! Your sh*t’s in the truck!

Or wiggle my nose Bewitched style and it simply happens. Move house and cook a post roast, all in three shakes of a nariz.

Something better than boxes and packing tape rolls that always run out just at that crucial moment.

*sigh*

I say all of this as I take in the view at my home. Boxes everywhere. The Good Man and I wondering why we both have so much crap. Wondering if we can cull it down more. Wondering how in the heck we are going to get this all done.

Moving sucks.

However.

Because perspective is a lovely thing, on Monday, I was chatting with a coworker who also has an upcoming move. We were talking about packing and shredding and donating and both of us were tut-tutting and shaking our heads at it all.

He asked me “how far is away is your new house?”

“Oh, a few miles,” I said.

“Imagine being me moving 6,000 miles. To a new country.” (he’s moving from Dublin to San Francisco in two months)

So ok. He’s got to pack all his crap into wooden shipping boxes. Talk about space limitations! Talk about a man who could use an easy transporter.

Ah well. Hand me the bungee cords. Let’s get back to work.






Today’s Theme Thursday topic is: view

Photo from Lavazza Article


About Author

Karen Fayeth

Comments

  • brian

    ugh moving can def be such a pain…all the packing and then unpacking….travel light…and i am hoping on that teleporter before my next move…

    • Karen Fayeth

      Brian – For some reason I’m quite stymied by that “travel light” thing. I gotta get a little tougher on myself and my choices of what to keep and what goes out.

  • Emmett

    Oddly when in the military I argued for not owning anything but personal goods.
    Everybody needs a couch, everybody needs a table, chairs
    Why move ’em?

    • Karen Fayeth

      Emmett – I think it’s the Depression Era mentality that my folks had, and I seem to have carried forward. I have to keep THIS couch because what if something happens and I can NEVER have a couch again!!!!

      This can also apply to shoes, dishes, books, and so on.

      I know, I know….

  • Ur bro

    Hmmm. A bit of money seems to work almost as well as teleportation….. On our move here people showed up and packed everything (including the trash in the rubbish bi) and in kl others unpacked it all…..

    • Karen Fayeth

      Big Bro – Yeah, when I moved here from NM I also had the paid movers, and it was great. But at the end of the day, it was still two guys with a stack of cardboard boxes and a truck.

  • Natalie

    I’ve moved so many times it’s just ridiculous. The last move, Chicago to ABQ, just about killed me. Said I’d never do it again…

    So far, so good but I still have all those damned purple bins.

    Just in case…
    LOL!
    I hope you have lots of help ’cause it’s a pain!!

    • Karen Fayeth

      Natalie – In some ways moving a lot is good, it keeps that “travel light” thing in play as you cull down on each move.

      I lived here for 8 years. Seven in my last place. Like a good Taurus, I tend to dig in where I live, like a tick.

  • Ephraim F. Moya

    Chica,

    Nice touch, that pic of an okie passing thru New Mexico.

    The saying then was: “mas alla”! (while pointing west)

    Regards,
    El Viejo

  • Alan

    I HATE, HATE, HATE moving. And Anna and I have done our fair share together. We had a nightmare move when we moved from AZ to UT four years ago. My company “paid for” (i.e. reimbursed) the move, but I realized too far into it that I’m certain I didn’t get the executive-level moving budget. I would have been better off doing it with a couple of buddies.

    Anna documented that absolutely hellish trans-state move here:
    http://ahhnna.blogspot.com/2008/03/movin-in.html

    • Karen Fayeth

      Alan – My friend. My pal. My fellow writer.

      You totally could have given me that link AFTER we moved. Now I’m all whacked out!! ;)

      Holy cow what a crazy move. I can’t imagine you, your beautiful wife, four kids, two states and shyster movers. Just. Wow.

  • Mrsupole

    I am so glad to not be moving. We would need at least 3 large diesel trucks to move all of our stuff, well my stuff at least. When we were kids we used to move all the time. I think we were allowed to have two boxes of stuff and that was it. I don’t know what the hell happened. We have a 3 car garage stuffed to the gills, a four bedroom house with one also stuffed full of boxes, another half filled with boxes, a living room that is full of stuff because no one uses it and the thing is that a lot of this stuff is not ours. The kids and grandkids just keep leaving stuff here. Or family members have passed on and somehow we ended up with their stuff and you feel guilty about getting rid of it. I need to stop feeling guilty and just figure out how to use ebay and turn my stuff into someone else’s treasure.

    Thanks for sharing your view with this weeks TT. Oh and if you ever figure out how to do the winky, winky, wiggle your nose thing, I will be first in line to buy.

    God bless.

    • Karen Fayeth

      Mrsupole – I moved a lot when I was younger too, but mostly in college. At the end of every semester we had to move fully out of the dorm, even if we were coming back to the same room the next semester. It was brutal. And I think that’s why I hate moving so much.

      I’m already over it, I have to say. Tired of cardboard boxes!!

  • Anji

    Just think how good you’ll feel when it’s all done. The only advantage could be (if you are lucky) finding all those things you thought you’d lost over the years.

    There is no easy way. I tried the nose trick à la Bewitched – it didn’t work

    • Karen Fayeth

      Anji – I have to say, I have already turned up a couple things I thought were lost, so that is definitely a plus.

      But there is also an awful lot of “now why in the hell did I keep that” going on too.

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