Almost unpacked at the undisclosed location

I haven't written much about our move since the Moving Day post of January 27. This is not, however, because the move was wholly uneventful --

On the very day of our move, while we were packing frantically at our old office, a painter stopped by at the new one, just to touch up a door frame or two.

It is customary for the landlord to agree to repaint the walls and so forth when attempting to entice new tenants to sign a lease. In our case the landlord agreed to provide new carpet as well. We also had to reconfigure a number of interior walls, adding interior windows, called clerestories, that allowed us to turn a dead-end hallway into a miniature conference room and a storage closet and adjacent equipment room into what is now my office. The costs of these improvements, no matter how loudly the leasing agent protests to the contrary, are in some way figured into the rent ultimately charged.

In any event this work had progressed satisfactorily by the date of our move, with only minor clean-up and touch-up (such as the aforementioned door frame work) left to be done.

I don't know whether the painter was in an extreme hurry or whether he simply felt that the setting out of a dropcloth for such minor work was somehow beneath his professional dignity. In either event, the painter eschewed a dropcloth on this occasion.

Nor can I reconstruct exactly how events unfolded. I can only surmise that some sort of twisting motion was involved as the can of black oil paint fell from the ladder. My conclusion in this regard is based on the Jackson Pollock-like spill and drip patterns which resulted... in my office... in the hallway outside... in our receptionist space....

Such an artistic spill pattern might have provided an interesting conversation-starter for visitors to our new quarters but, alas, the painter, or someone from the building, decided instead that the spill might be blotted up before we noticed. Turpentine or some other solvent was brought in for the attempt -- which resulted in huge, ugly smears on the new carpet and eye-watering fumes in the air which did not even begin to dissipate until I brought a fan from home to move the air around.

On the other hand, I am assured that there will be no extra charge for the plastic sheeting and masking tape overlay which the landlord thoughtfully provided.

The carpet will be replaced this weekend, I'm told.

The landlord wants to try and cut out the stained portions and insert patches and I hope that this proves an adequate fix -- because the alternative would be to re-carpet my entire office and that would effectively require me to move yet again. The landlord is not optimistic -- there has been some initial difficulty getting carpet from the same mill run and, even if this has been accomplished, there is no guarantee that an exact color match may be made. And even if an exact color match can be made, there may still be very visible seams.

So I'm worried about that.

But I have checks again, as of yesterday. I'd ordered new checks sooner, of course, to arrive more in conjunction with the date of the actual move -- but I got fancy when I ordered the replacements. I thought I'd add in my new phone number -- and the printer obligingly attempted to comply with this request, the phone number appearing on the initial delivery and the actual phone number differing by only one digit.

And I'm still having phone problems.

But I'll write about that later, perhaps, after I calm down. If I don't have to move again....