Brooklyn Bob

Well, so much for daily blogging. Brooklyn Bob is bushed! It’s probably going to be all-nighters from now until truck loading time next Friday.

It’s been plant-watering time yesterday and today…and there are still some of them waiting for their 10-day drink. They’ll need water again before getting on the truck.

Incidentally, it was good to get a supporting opinion about the planned plant packing method from Jeff Page, an interiorscaper friend from Orange County. He said that one of the significant big box houseplant suppliers uses stretch wrap to secure the plants on rolling racks when they make deliveries.

That’s what Matt & I will be doing next week. Then, we’ll pick up the U-Haul truck and roll the racks up the loading ramp. Now that should be even more jolly good fun.

This is the Harmon Kardon SoundSticks II stereo system connected to my computer. I was pleased to see this system at the Apple Store of iPod fame. It’s nice to know they’re selling it since I bought mine at Costco.

It now plays my entire collection of over 400 CDs that were digitized into MP3 files. It’s cool to see the little blue LED in the sub-woofer under my desk.

Harmon Kardon is also a familiar name from my past. They were just a five-year-old company on Long Island in 1958 when they introduced the first stereo receiver.

That was the year I started my sales career with NCR as a “student salesman” (check that title). Haron Kardon was a new customer of the “senior salesman” I worked for. They had just purchased an NCR Class 31 accounting machine (speaking of dinosaurs).

Matt’s friend came today with his truck and picked up my collection of components from the last 25 years or so. It included my JVC rack system with speakers that looked like the twin towers with a sub-woofer that you could serve tea on.

Bits sure do take up a lot less space than boxes.

As a box of receipts, going back to the early ’80s disappeared into the shredder, names of restaurants were flashing by. It was like watching a fast cut movie.

Receipts, guest check stubs, airline ticket stubs and other markers of these years in So Cal will travel with me in some of the boxes as recycled paper packing material. There are already two large black trash bags full of this stuff.

The shredder is being put to productive use.

So who was famous for this saying? Three yards is a helluva long gainer in the game I’m playing. I was never a big fan of his, but I sure could use some of his guts right now. Note that he’s looking East.

It’s almost time for a shredder ceremony. We found boxes with receipts, etc going way back to the ’80s. That prompted me to stop in at Costco and buy a long overdue shredder. I think I can operate this one without a tutorial. The MacBook is still in the box.

It’s been most interesting to open boxes from the attic and see artifacts from different decades of my life. We even found a couple of boxes of antique bottles from IBM days living in East Windsor/Hightstown, NJ. It was fun collecting them.

There are still six file drawers of paper to go through, some of which will be shredded. Most of the folders haven’t been opened in ten or more years. There’s no time for sentimentality.

The Salvation Army truck will be here tomorrow to pick up somewhere around 30 boxes of household stuff, clothes and office supplies. I hope someone gets good use out of all of it.

There was a twinge of nostalgia when I dumped my wardrobe of good quality double breasted suits ( size 33″ waist ) into a big box. A 33″ waist isn’t likely to happen again in this lifetime, but 34″ works after my recent weight loss.

There’s still a lot of junk to get rid of but I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. It would be nice to shine some light on where the truck is going.

Without question, this is one of the most stressful times of my life. I’ll be stronger from the experience, but I’ll be most grateful to look back on it.

One thing I’m already grateful for is the help I’ve been getting from Matt W. His help and advice has been invaluable.

Yesterday, Matt moved all the stuff that’s been stored up in the attic. I can’t believe what was up there. It’s like the findings from an archaeological dig. It’s the detritus from my life in So Cal over the past decades and I have no attachment to it. In Matt’s words, “We’re back to square one!” There’s stuff piled everywhere.

Matt was interested to find my IBM Selectric (golf ball) typewriter. I didn’t know it was up there. I bought it back in the early ‘80s in Playa del Rey. I’m sure it still works. It was my “word processor” back then in the days of carbon paper and paste-up graphics.

Incidentally, the MacBookPro is still in the box, not having the time to learn how to use it. I’m going to take it to the Apple Store along with my Dell and have them load new software and transfer all my old files. Apple’s services are impressive.

I’ve made a decision to take very little with me. That’s the easy part. The difficult part is getting rid of all of it. We’ll use a combination of Craig’s List, charities and ultimately a truck to haul the stuff away. Stay tuned!

There’s another change about to happen. After over 20 years of working with a PC, there will be a new MacBookPro on the seat next to me. Good bye Microsoft, hello Apple and the Big Apple. Now all I’ve got to do is learn how to use it.

The rental truck is reserved for pick up on Friday, September 28. There’s no turning back now. It should be rolling east to the Big Apple by Saturday the 29th. It’s Brooklyn or bust. Wish me luck.

No Sleep Til Brooklyn!