I hadn't planned to, but I realized that the bike trailer I ordered wasn't going to be here until during the week, and my lease is ending towards the end of the week. I borrowed a hand truck from my office-mate to at least have the option of getting some of the larger things out of my way so I can touch up the paint and clean up the place. I just got on a roll and ended up doing about 12 round trips over the weekend. Got some weird looks from all the Dominicanos hanging out--I probably would have been taken aback by me too.
Mind you, it was only a 17-block move, which is a mile, but a lot of it is slightly uphill. I still have three more trips to make, but that was the bulk of it.
It turned what is normally a short amount of hard work into an epic journey that I'll never forget. I unfortunately have not developed the minimalist side of my ERE self, so I probably lugged a few thousand pounds of stuff to the new place. This is what I see as the long-term benefit of having moved in this manner--I have a greater, deeper sense of what it will mean to own much, much less stuff the next time I move. With any luck, I won't move until ERE (3.5-4 years).
Why didn't I ask friends for help? My close NYC friends have helped me move in the past, and I've moved pretty often, so I felt sheepish about it. I also quickly became interested in the pure feat of doing it myself, by hand. I thought a few times of my great-grandfather, who I never met, but who was one of the many small-time Jewish merchants in the Kiev, Ukraine, pushing his heavy cart all around.
