I think it is great to be recognized by name - feels so much more personal that way.

Our comments already have our "name" on them, so we're not very obscure.

And I have to agree with Victoria, much more personal!

ALthough, sometimes, some people get missed. I was posting on ATNY for at least a month before I was recognized on Chicago.

Not that it matters, it's just the internet, and I'm neurotic.

:)

It matters if you're neurotic and you're left out. I never got welcomed. The first response to my contributions ended up in the incoming spam folder. And the text that was put up on the site was mostly mine, but there was some other text, and I guess it had come from Patrick in an older post (that I couldn't find) and everyone thanked Patrick. Ahhhh!!!!

Since so many people had told me to shut up, when I saw my name for making a "record number of posts" the previous day, I thought it was an insult and I was being made a fool of (I'm fully capable of doing that on my own).

It was like a nightmare, where for awhile it seemed every single name that was mentioned as a welcome linked to a thread in which I was chewed out just above or below the welcomed person. hahahaha.

Then I realized I probably wasn't being focused on in a mean way in the welcoming thing, I really was being picked on in most of the posts, and any post that was linked to would have that occur.

Best picking on was when I'd said I'd gained weight after becoming disabled and somewhere else I'd said I was short. Nobody was sure if I was a guy or a gal. So some guy thought he'd really pick on me, in a guy way, and asked if I'd like to be told how to lose weight and that they make shoes for short people.

I'm thinking to myself, this is the kind of person who pushes over wheelchair bound people and tells them to get up and walk. Then I realized they thought I was a guy and they were picking on me for being a short, fat man. I'm not a short fat man.

By the way, Victoria, I want my body back. Mine was smaller, but about the same shapes and proportions. Not now. I do have that Jabba the Hut look these days. You've got the porn-starlet face. I've got the giant head that had people say (as if I'm not there), "attractive, but in an unusual way".

Any other ladies have guys come up and make totally inappropriate comments? Stuff that should be reserved for "Dear Penthouse" tales of fantasy? Makes me want to start a burka trend in clothing.

When it comes to my body, Andree, there are a # of things that I would change as well. I maybe be only going on 22, but my chest is far too large for me to support with my frame. Most of the other issues would be easily fixed by exercising more often, which I plan to do once the insanity of moving is over.

A rambling moving update ...

* CAT PREP - Monster, my 2-year-old male cat, will be traveling with us. The airline knows so all is well. We have to take him to the vet to get a travel health certificate & an update on his shots. The kicker is that we got him from a shelter & he has been an indoor cat since we got him, so he has had no vet visits. Call it crazy if you want, but it saved money and hasn't hurt him a bit. So, Friday morning he goes to the vet to get ALL of his shots & the ok to travel; translation: $$$$ (a few hundred dollars, according to the receptionist).

* MOVING DAY - Saturday, May 27th; leaving BDL airport @ 1:55pm via Delta airlines to Atlanta, short layover, and then out of Atlanta to Oakland airport with arrival @ 8:32pm. After that, we take a taxi from there to our apartment (much cheaper than renting a car).

* PACKING - Started today and quickly found that we had more stuff than I thought. We should still be able to afford to ship what we need to, but it was still more than I expected. Via FedEx, it will take 5 days (via the cheapest option) to get the boxes from CT to CA, so we will be shipping the stuff out Monday, May 22nd. Everything we need from then on will be packed in our carry-on luggage. The boxes will likely arrive on Tuesday the 30th, since Monday is Memorial Day.

* UTILITIES - All taken care of; all CT utilities will be out of my name/off on May 31st. PG&E in SF will be in my name on June 1st (but still functional before then); Comcast comes to install the high-speed internet on Wednesday morning, the 31st.

I've got a list typed up of all the stuff that we are taking with us from CT, as well as what we need to buy in SF (the 2nd list is longer). I'm going to do my best to find some nifty furniture on Craigslist, but otherwise, secondhand stores and IKEA will be my other two sources for all home stuff. I estimate it will be roughly 3 months before we get all the furniture and such that we have on our list. Sleeping on towels or a blow-up mattress isn't my idea of heaven, but it is only temporary until we can afford to get our mattress @ IKEA. Other than food, we know what we need to get first: mattress (IKEA), computer desk (IKEA or secondhand/Craigslist). After that, we will get what we can as the money is available.

The arrangements with my boyfriend's job transfer are going very well. He'll be working in a store right in the business district that they have been remodeling for a year. It sounds like a damn sweet gig, along with the fact that he will have steady hours (the store is only open on weekdays and for traditional business-like hours due to its location). All he has to do is call the DM (district manager) when we get into town and they will give him a start date (very likely to be less than a week after he arrives, which is good for the money situation).

In the end, on May 27th, I'll be sleeping in my new apartment in San Francisco. My goal is to keep that in mind while trying to work out the logistics of getting my crud there.

If there is anyone in the East Bay or near SF that would be available to pick us (me, my boyfriend, our cat Monster in a carrier, and a few bags) up at the Oakland airport on Saturday, May 27th (between 8:30 & 9pm) and drive us to the Richmond district in SF, let me know - I'd be happy to pay for gas money.

Victoria, you might find this is what you need:

http://www.supershuttle.com/htm/cities/sfo.htm

Andree, I have come to enjoy your posts. As someone who has been beat up on blogs before, I say...just do what you do.

I rarely go onto the open threads because on other blogs I have found that people would say mean things about others "behind the scenes."

As for the greeting thing, I never actually noticed who was being welcomed. I have scanned that section mostly to see if there was an interesting subject being discussed.

um, what's up with these ridiculously bloggy posts??? it's nice to throw yourself up on a website you obviously feel comfortable with, but these long, personal posts above seem entirely inappropriate to me. can we get back to interior aesthetics?

thanks.

Victoria:

have you checked into "Door to Door" for moving stuff?
http://www.doortodoor.com/

I thought that would be a great idea. They drop off and pick up the container. They can store it for you for as long as you want (if you have larger items to move). And then you have them deliver it, or you can pick up stuff at their storage area, I think.

And, yeah, we all have stuff we want to change. But, I guess I'm relatively happy. The ideal of beauty varies from time to time and culture to culture, there isn't one fixed set of rules. I think the world would be quite dull if we all looked the same.

Pat:

Thanks very much. It's certainly nice to know there are a few people that read them. I guess SOMEONE read the post for Liz's hallway, because people keep going to look at the Argyle FLOR runner I made, but there are no new posts in the thread. And no comments there (other than mine).

Dear AT SF,
I need hotel advice. I have a meeting next week in the Civic Centre district, which I understand is a pretty shady area, and would like a hotel room under $200 that's close enough to be convenient but far enough to be safe. High-speed internet is a must, and warm modernist decor a plus. Walking distance to both Chinatown and my 10 UN Plaza meeting would be ideal!

anon - the point of the post was to "Unspool thyselves", so that is what I did

I've found the cheapest way to get from Oakland airport to the Richmond neighborhood is to take BART to Montgomery St in SF and then take a taxi, so that is the plan.

I have heard of doortodoor.com and it was one of the services that I looked into. Still, it was too expensive for me to undertake.

Victoria, taking the Bart can be a pain if you have a ton of stuff + a cat. You have to take a bus (AirBART) to the Bart station and then BART over.

victoria, a taxi from downtown sf to the richmond is going to be expensive. you should just supershuttle it from the airport to your new home. that way you don't have to deal with airbart and bart with all of your bags (awesome, quick, and cheap, but annoying when you've got a lot of stuff).

go to supershuttle dot com

Can't someone volunteer? I've thought about it. My car is barely running as it is. It made some kind of explosive sound yesterday and then didn't want to start. I wouldn't trust it to get to the airport. I don't even trust it to get out of the parking garage.

And I still go into panic mode at the mere thought of the Bay Bridge, as I broke down on the bridge when a clutch part broke. I don't like heights. I don't like falling. And I'm not a good swimmer.

There's nothing quite like being in the middle of the Bay Bridge at rush hour with trucks rumbling towards a little car and me with a death grip on the steel rivets on the side of the bridge, terrified to look anywhere.

Even though I've lived here in SF for 13 years or so, I don't know squat about the names of areas. I have no idea where the Richmond District is. I don't know where the Oakland airport is either.

While I might be willing to risk stranding myself, as it's happened so many times now it's not funny, I'm not willing to risk Victoria, Monster and boyfriend.

Certainly someone knows the area, has a car big enough for two people, a cat, and baggage, that is willing to pick up new folks. Geez, my car doesn't even have a good trunk. And it's full of crap.

For me to pick up Victoria, I'd need to spend hundreds of dollars on car repairs, clean out the dang thing, get a prescription for anti-anxiety medication, take practice runs to know where things are, memorize streets I've never been on via maps, and all the stuff still might not fit in my 1986 VW Cabriolet, a trunkless wonder.

It's a great way to meet people. Someone who has a bigger car than mine, volunteer. Or loan me your car, and I'll pick them up. After I call the doctor for the anti-anxiety medication necessary to cross that bridge.

Victoria -
It's been a while since I looked into these things, but when I moved cross-country before I sent boxes via the post office at book rate.

Shannon -
I don't know any specific hotels in that area to tell you, but the financial district hotels are within walking distance. I always send visitors to the Marina hotels - nothing fancy, safe, inexpensive, but those are not walking distance.

As far as the welcoming tradition - I suppose it's kind of nice. I hadn't thought of it as a "welcome" before, but as a way of referencing back to older topics.

No offense but relying on a stranger to go thru the enormous hassle of going to the airport to pick you up because you don't want to spend money for a shuttle is ridiculous. I've moved to SF twice with luggage and cats in tow and trust me, this is not the time to skimp on transportation. Do yourself a favor and use a door to door van. Start penny pinching once you get inside your front door.

A SF hotel that people often fail to think about is the Miyako in Japantown (it was a Radisson last I knew, but was in the middle of being purchased). It's reliable, central, inexpensive, and adjacent to some wonderful Asian (mostly, but not all, Japanese)restaurants. The parking is about half what it is in downtown hotels.

As for trendy and central to downtown, people say wonderful things about the Triton.

Public transport is good enough in SF, and distances are short enough for taxis, that I wouldn't worry about being walking distance to things. I would never stay in the civic center myself. Nor would I walk there any more than necessary.

I agree with Anne, 150%.

I'm going to 3rd or is it 4th? the opinion that SuperShuttle is the way to go. I understand that moving is stressful and expensive, but SuperShuttle is not THAT expensive (especially compared to a taxi), and they do take credit cards.

I don't really care one way another about the greetings, I wasn't "greeted" on AT when I first started posting and that was just fine with me.

And all this personal stuff seems out of place to me at this site, and further, it gives me the willies the way there seems to be no regard for safety and well being when it comes to what is posted where thousands and thousands of people can read it.

regards,
trillium

Trillium!

YIKES! I forget all the time that it's not just "us"...whomever has posted in a thread. Some psycho could graciously offer to pick them up and...(insert scary music here)...

Thanks for the reminder!!!

***hanging well-meaning, overly-trusting, naive head in shame***

Heather - I had no idea it was that tough just to get to the BART station. Ok, so it is not THAT complicated, but with 4 large bags and a cat carrier, it would be an orchestration.

I checked out supershuttle.com and their rates seem pretty affordable. When it comes to going from OAK to a residence, they establish price based on the zip code. I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what it might be.

Andree - I had a friend that lives near SFO volunteer. I said I'd pay for gas, and he said that if I did that, he'd buy a pizza. I just might take him up on that :)

Amy - My mom suggested that I sent the boxes via USPS as well. I just feel a bit safer going via FedEx, since they handle heavier/bigger packages more often.

Anne - You make a damn good point. After having to get Monster (cat) updated on all his shots and sending boxes, we will be very close to the end of our savings. Still, the last thing we want is to arrive at the airport and spend over 2 hours just to get to our apartment across the bridge.

trillium - You do make a good point, but I was quite sure that I would get more offers for ideas on transporation than just random people offering to pick me up. Seems I shouldn't have included that part & I apologize to anyone that feels uncomfortable because of that.

good luck with your move victoria, it isn't easy, especially when one of your family members is furry. the last big move I made I had my then 16 year old diabetic cat in tow, and ended up in tears at the united counter when they told me she counted as a carry-on (after I had asked if she did count as a carry-on when I made her reservations and was told she didn't). the thought of checking through all of our photos and impt documents on top of everything else made me cry like a baby!

a tip if your bags are very heavy and large (there are very strict weight limits now, I don't know if this would still work) and you are moving from a biggish city...we tipped our curbside baggage check in dude $40 for our four big trunks and suitcases and he not only checked them in without any troubles, but he very happily put some first class stickers all over them too, so they were waiting for us in a neat pile when we got off the plane and to baggage.

regards,
trillium

Thanks trillium :) I did end up booking the cheapest shuttle they had from supershuttle.com, so all that is worked out. Just have to finish up the last details these 9 days before we leave.

Ah, nice, thank you for the tip with the bags. We are going to take advantage of the fact that we (my boyfriend and I) can both check 2 bags each (free shipping!).

i was wondering if any folks have stayed at the whale watch in
gualala. if so what are your thoughts...

thanks and best,
darla

Thanks for the hotel tips, Pat--my collague's reserved at the Handerly Union Square so I think I'll bunk there too, but the Miyako is very tempting...

Victoria:

Double check the weight limit on your bags because if you go over you can get charged an extra $100 or more.

I don't know about domestic flights but the weight limit on intl flights was reduced significantly this year.

According to the Delta.com website, each bag can be no more than 50 lbs