Getting Wired & Wrapped

Moving all my accumulated goods from point A to point B will involve a heap of physical work starting with the packing of boxes and probably requiring the physical stamina of a college athlete. That part of the upcoming move to the country hasn’t started yet and I can only hope that when the time comes in a week or so, my own stamina doesn’t fall short. Some moving companies offer a deal where they come in and do all the packing for you, but in my neck of the woods that kind of pampering is not a part of the basic package and would add considerably to the bill. Not even sure I could really trust others to handle and pack some of the more precious or breakable items. But I haven’t reached the packing point just yet and my concerns now are more along the lines of setting things up, scheduling movers, installers and the necessary paperwork of stuff like insurance.

I’ve been thinking about television out where I’m going and someone told me the TV antenna with artfully wrapped tin foil ears sitting atop my set will prove inadequate out among the bears and possums. So I called the Dish Net cable company recommended by friends and asked what the deal is out where wireless networks are stranger than fiction and TV remotes have only four buttons.

Wilderness doesn’t stop the folks at Dish Net and within a minute I was hearing offers of 200 channels, premium bonus channels, free movies from Blockbuster and popcorn on Friday nights. The telephone reps have the sales spiel down pat and I wondered more than once when friendly Imogen was going to take a breath and give me an opening to say, “Basic plan without the frills, please.” Hearing that I would only be connecting one television, I could almost see Imogen’s mouth drop open. After a moment’s silence she asked if it was an HD television. I had some fun with her and said it was a black & white console model from Motorola. 

The next call was to HughesNet to arrange Internet hook up. Service in the southern part of Oak Hill where I’ll be living is either via satellite or not at all, and the neighbor I spoke to said HughesNet will do the trick and the prices aren’t bad. On the telephone I was swamped by the enthusiasm of a young woman who spoke 630 words per minute and never ran out of script. If she hadn’t sent it all to me later in an email I might not have known what I signed up for. It all looks good. After the free installation on May 3 I should have a fast and continuous hardwire connection with Wi-Fi inside and out—a lot more than what I get here at the beach.

One thing alone sold me on Two Men And A Truck, the company that will move my furniture and books on May 2. I have to think they learned it from the Japanese: running from house to truck and back again. My guess is the running part will come on the empty-handed leg of their back and forth trips, because who other than the Incredible Hulk could run with a 300 pound sofa on their back? I was also told by the company that it isn’t necessary to remove things from drawers in desks and chests of drawers, that they will shrink wrap anything with drawers and carry it to and from the truck with the contents still inside. Would be great if they could shrink wrap the books into manageable bundles, but I’m guessing that would take too much time.