Breaking Internet Silence

Yep, I’ve been more or less Online-Incommunicado for 11 days. The reason is the boring one; once The Wife arrived, I moved from the Old Friend’s pad to a little bed n’ breakfast (I’m still amazed that after putting up with me for nearly a week, we’re still friends) which claimed to have a wireless internet connection. While it’s true that the place does indeed have a wireless network, the wireless modem on this ol’ laptop I’m still using was unable to connect.

Which means, of course, that this post is now being made from the New Digs.

So here’s what’s been happening in the meantime.

The Wife arrived safe and sound. Much to everyone’s surprise, especially hers, she didn’t immediately die upon stepping out of the Pearson International airport into the wintery white of Ontario. We checked into said B & B, thus causing said internet outage, and spent the last few days doing stuff like getting Social Insurance Cards (her first, mine lost since the Clinton administration and needing a replacement) and then checking out potential apartments that she’d sussed out online.

That did not go so great.

The old adage once again prevailed, about things looking better in pictures than they do in real life. The apartments ranged from either downright appalling to bizzarly Lynch-ean in aspect. A few were just in bad neighborhoods with genuine crack whores hanging around outside the doors while others were inhabited by strange cowboys surrounded by lace and Hindi decor.

However, while wandering around in the neighborhoods around the B & B, we found a few nice looking old houses that had “For Rent” signs outside the doors. One of those ended up having an entire second floor, complete with old fashioned water radiators for heating and bay windows. The neighbors on the first floor were incredibly friendly, cool people, and the landlord actually bent over backwards to accomodate the fact that we were basically immigrants with no credit record or any of the usual references from previous landlords that seems to be de rigeur for Toronto rentals.

We also checked out some of the other areas such as Bloor (which is in walking distance, we’ve got a pad in the Annex area of Toronto. Go us!), downtown with Eaton Center, and we’re slowly putting things back together. A quick trip to Ikea got us our cheap, standard issue Insta-Home, and there are still a few boxes waiting to be opened and assembled. The Wife has her studio slowly coming to life with a drafting table, and I totally lucked out on a decent Hi-Def TV. Thanks to the magic of Craigslist, we found someone selling a never-out-of-the-box Samsung 30 inch CRT flatscreen for $625. He had some kind of deal going with the distributors where he took damaged goods off their hands and in this case, damaged goods meant the box, NOT the TV, had gotten banged up during shipment. So I’ve got my first HD TV, and even though it doesn’t go all the way up to 1080p (only 720p and 1080i) it’s still a hell of a lot better than what I was initially expecting (which was more like a crap, used 20 inch CRT) and I’m seriously contemplating getting some HD cables for the ol’ PS2. I also got a new cellular phone and unfortunately, it’s pretty fancy, despite the fact that was trying to get the cheapest phone with the fewest functions when we signed on for our subscription plan. The screens are in color and it has camera and video playback, a far cry from my old monocrhome Nokia who’s single greatest feature was that it had flashlight built in.

I also think that perhaps my body is slowly regaining its Edmonton constitution. The first few days were a shock, and the cold was almost like a physical blow, today however, even just helping the delivery man bring in the futon sofa, I was able to walk out in just a pants and T-shirt, even though it was -6 outside. While I’m sure I’m no longer a match for Edmontonians dealing with a typical winter, I think I’m better able to cope now than the native Torontonians.

Things are still going to take a while to completely settle down. While the Ikea-fication of the apartment is nearly complete, our stuff from Singapore still hasn’t arrived, and won’t until later in February. The cats, however, will arrive on Friday, which is good, because I miss having them around, poor bastards. They must be traumatized by having not seen us for a week and the the plane trip will be an ordeal and a half for them.

There are a few more things, but I can’t really remember them right now, I’m a wimp and I’m tired from moving TVs, bed frames, drafting tables and other heavy stuff up two flights of stairs as well as using the almighty Allan Key to screw together chairs, tables, book cases and night stands.

But at least things are coming together. The Wife is here, our cats are on the way, and so is our stuff. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to call this place home.