I hope it hasn't been too obvious from the site's contents that I've been busy with things for a couple of weeks that have forced my focus away from this site. Just in case, I posted a cryptic note on the home page:

Notice: Updates to this site will continue to be somewhat sporadic for the next several days because of an unanticipated non-web requirement.

The non-web requirement? After months of negotiation about what the management of the building I've lived in for 23 years was going to do about several items of neglected maintenance (Like, say, big cracks above windows from the Nisqually quake), I was told two weeks ago that they'd fix things in here and I could stay, but only if I removed much of my stuff and put the rest into a small stack in the center of the floor.

I've lived in the building for 23 years. I've lived in this unit for 19 years. And, uhhh... so... I have stuff -- not necessary or even useful stuff. Just stuff. A lot of it.

During the long negotiation, management had told me they'd give me two weeks notice when they decided to come in and fix things.

Two weeks ago Monday, I was given notice -- but not the two weeks notice they'd promised. They told me I had to be out with my stuff by the following Monday. I almost made it.

But not close enough.

The building manager called moments after the work crew left Monday with this pleasant greeting: "Mr. Evans, you'll have to find a new apartment."

She told me that I hadn't done enough to make the work environment (i.e. my apartment) conducive for their crew to fix the problems caused by the structural instability of their building. She went on to explain that since I hadn't gotten enough stuff out of the apartment, the building managers would refuse to fix it until I move out.

Now, of course, there are so many things wrong with this, but I decided to see if we couldn't come to some better solution. I called a negotiator into the situation who knows much more than I about these sorts of things. After a bit of hand-wringing, it was agreed that they'd be able to start work on the following Monday. That has given me the past extra week to shrink everything into a tiny square in the center of my studio apartment.

And now I'm leaving. I won't be here Monday to hear what their new excuse is for why they won't fix what it is their responsibility to fix. I'll be in Montana, visiting family while they (hopefully) work on the unit.

While I'm there, I hope to keep the blogs here up to date. I should even be able to get back to tackling the long-list of technical to-dos that have accumulated. (I've had to completely stop dev. work on the site while working through this mess.)

And on Monday, I'll go hear Montana activists talk as only activists can about a very serious issue -- hate crimes.

So... See you all soon from the cold side of the Cascades.