No internet for four days not so bad, but moving sucks

I never realized how reliant I am on the all-mighty internet until I was off the grid for a spell.

It’s been four days since I moved and I thought I’d be begging for Facebook or Twitter by now but, you know what? It has been kind of nice. Liberating, even.

Moving, however, is another story.

I hate moving. That’s a sentiment I think most people share. For the organized among us – you know who you are – it isn’t so bad. If you are one of ‘those’ people, you are probably wondering what I’m babbling about. Four days, man! The boxes should be unpacked by now and everything should be where it belongs. As for the internet and the landline, the organized types would have made those calls a week before the move – not the day before – and wouldn’t be in the situation I am currently in.

But that’s the least of my concerns right now.

It’s been a bit of a chore getting things settled here; mostly because the tenants who lived here before me were pigs and getting years of dust and grime off the walls and floors has been challenging. The stove needed to be replaced and the bathroom? That was another story all together. I have plumbers (as well as a very understanding landlord) here as I write this snaking out my bathroom sink – you don’t want to know what was in those pipes – and I hired a friend to help me with the bathroom cleaning two days ago because it was too much for me.

Bet you didn’t think you would be spending Canada Day on your hands and knees cleaning a bathtub with a toothbrush, huh Anne?

(Thanks also to Matt and Cam – my two oldest boys – and to Bobby and Katie for making the move go smoothly. I can’t forget my pal Steve either. He did as much work as I did lugging my stuff up three floors to my new apartment. You guys rock!)

I will make this apartment livable soon enough. It’s way bigger than my last place – that was the first thing the J Man said when he made his first visit – and the balcony is just divine.

The neighbourhood is nice and there’s a forested path just across the street that takes me right to Jake’s soccer fields in just a couple of minutes. Downtown is close as well. I tested just how close it is when I stopped in at Buster Rhino’s after a short work shift on Canada Day, where I was greeted with a chalkboard sign that said they had Thrust! from Great Lakes Brewery on tap. As this was the gold medal winning IPA from the recent Canadian Brewing Awards, I thought it was my patriotic duty to enjoy a pint.

How did you spend your Canada Day?

It’s been a couple of days since then and still the apartment is cluttered with unopened boxes and only some of my stuff is where it needs to be.

On the bright side, the Bell guy is here and I should be online soon. When he hooks me up I could go on Facebook, check my emails or see that my bank account is still in working order.

Or I could go for a walk.

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One of the downsides of being without the internet is not being able to crow about my soccer picks. See, I went nine for 16 in the first round of the World Cup, which is not something I’d put on my resume if I wanted a job with a bookmaker in Vegas. But the Round of 16 proved to be a bit better for me.

Try eight for eight. That’s 100 per cent when I went to school and that is something to brag about. And me without the ‘net. No worries: I’m boasting about it now.

The quarter-finals will be upon us tomorrow in what has been a spectacularly entertaining tournament so far. We shall see if I can keep this streak going.

I’m going to start with a huge upset: I’m calling for the host nation and tournament favourite Brazil to go down to South American rival Colombia. Everybody’s underdog team – Los Ticos of Costa Rica – will also get their comeuppance in the second game at the hands of the Dutch. (Which is too bad, because the Costa Ricans have done the CONCACAF Region proud in Brazil.) Match number three has the Germans against the French, and while France is at the top of their game right now I have troubles betting against Germany in this one. So I won’t. The final quarter-final has Argentina against Belgium and I really, really want to pick Belgium to win because their form is fantastic and they make great beer. But Argentina has Lionel Messi.

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Genie!

I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my congratulations to Genie Bouchard – Canada’s tennis darling – on reaching the finals at Wimbledon, the first Canuck to do that EVER. She will meet Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova, the sixth seed, in Saturday’s final. Meanwhile, Milos Raonic is one match away from a similar achievement. Raonic plays Roger (the legend) Federer in tomorrow’s men’s singles semi-final.

History in the making for Canadian tennis. Congratulations to both of them!

 Cheers!