suggestions

[piqaboo]

Analog posted an anecdotal comparison between two major brand rent-a-trucks. Apparently has since thought better of it.

<small>[ 03-14-2005, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: piqaboo ]</small>

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Don't want your unborn 7th child. Done raising children. Also don't have any preference concerning rent-a-truck companies. I do have one observation to offer: a powered lift gate is a feature beyond price. Require it in any truck you rent, I don't care what the company charges.

With it, you drag stuff onto the lift gate. Gate elevates. You drag stuff into the truck. A small female with a furniture dolly can move a chest of drawers or a modest-sized refrigerator by herself.

With the inclined-ramp setup, the same chest of drawers and the same furniture dolly requires two strong men to safely get it onto the truck. The refrigerator will require three men, and one of them will hurt himself.

Unloading, with the lift gate: same as the loading process but in reverse. Without the lift gate, gravity will inevitably snatch something fragile and/or irreplacable. And the guy that pulled his back loading the refrigerator will break his foot unloading it.

[monkeymd2b]

I plan on enlisting all the burly men I know. But that powered gate thing sounds like a great idea. I'll have to tell my moving buddy about that.

[lioness]

Originally posted by Selma in Sandy Eggo:
With the inclined-ramp setup, the same chest of drawers and the same furniture dolly requires two strong men to safely get it onto the truck. The refrigerator will require three men, and one of them will hurt himself.

ROFL!!

i also will not move without a lift gate.

btw... Budget doesn't charge extra for it.

[monkeymd2b]

So what you're telling me was that it was wrong for me to watch my mom load my stuff onto the moving truck without either a ramp or liftgate when I moved a few years back. I did remind her to lift with her knees...

Ahhh...tomorrow is unmatch day and now I feel an ulcer growing (or maybe it was the 15 jalapeño slices I ate) so I think I'm going to sleep and try to dream of something happy.

[GreatCarouser]

Btw be extremely careful using liftgates! Things on dollies will roll off and hit the ground, fingers get pinched (or worse!) and other things go wrong when you take them for granted.

Fuel is now very expensive out here in sunny California. Some independent truckers are talking about a strike. You may want to investigate one of those companies that leaves a portable packing 'space ' at your door, you load it and then they pick it up and deliver it to your door at the other end. They will store for a fee if necessary.

[Trumpetmaster]

My neighbor gave a solid wood cherry hutch to his kids. Went over to help move this large piece of furniture. It took 3 of us to schlep this thing out to the truck. Don't know how we would have gotten this thing on the truck if there wasn't the power lift gate. Always get it...

And GC - Yes you are right. Once on the lift we secured that sucker.

TM

[piqaboo]

Monkey, sending you best wishes. I'm hoping you get the match you want.
Good luck today, may it be a joyous one for you.

[monkeymd2b]

Well, I matched...somewhere! I handled it very well. I had work today so I checked my machine 2 times via phone to make sure an unhappy message wasn't left. And I had to wait until now to get home and look for the happy message. But there was a message on my voicemail. So I checked my email first and got the good news.
The message on the machine was to remind me about my haircut tomorrow. silly paranoid overly anxious me.

The funniest part about my inbox is the order of the emails I received:
1. match email
2. Student Loan exit interview
3. Primary Care Loan information
4. Tips on reducing student debt

They don't wait, do they?

Oh and I did find a company with the big hauls that charge by the amount of space I use but it sounds so complicated. Apparently I have to figure out how to secure my possessions correctly and then assemble the provided bulkhead so that my things don't get destroyed (something about providing my own ropes and whatnot). And I don't think my place will allow this huge thing to be parked on our road or in the parking lot. Some of my neighbors are real asses and have harassed other people over stupid things. Crazy lady bangs her broomstick on the ceiling when the upstairs neighbor takes her showers in the mornings or moves too loudly - they're right next to me and I never hear any noise out of them. I try to avoid eye contact with her - it's just safer that way.

[piqaboo]

Woohooo!

When will you learn where you are matched? And will it be by phone or email?

<small>[ 03-14-2005, 06:15 PM: Message edited by: piqaboo ]</small>

[monkeymd2b]

Thursday is Match Day. So every 4th year med student in the country will be given their envelopes with match info at 12 eastern standard time (11 am for me). It's kind of fun actually since in the morning we have a champagne breakfast at a local restaurant. Then we head back to a hotel next to the med school and as we walk into the ballroom, we each put $1 into a jar. At 11 am, the dean blows his trumpet (different song each year) to announce the time. Then in random order, our names are called and we run up to the podium to pick up our envelopes with the info of where we matched. The last person called gets the pot of money (about $150). Then they announce where everyone matched and all the stats of what fields and whatnot. And since it's st. patrick's day, we're going down to the Irish Channel and getting drunk. Otherwise the class plans a drinkfest at a bar.

For the unlucky folks who didn't match today (today is officially called "Unmatch Day" ), they have to do the scramble. Tomorrow starting at noon they frantically call all the schools that didn't fill their programs and try to get in. They're not guaranteed a spot in the field they wanted to match in. It really sucks and I don't think my friends had to do this but I've only talked with some of them so far. But the scramble ensures that come match day, everyone gets an envelope and a job for next year.

<small>[ 03-14-2005, 08:31 PM: Message edited by: monkeymd2b ]</small>