Oct 14th: UAB and MISC Stuff

Just going to cover some of the events and stuff leading up to the 14th here. On each individual day things were pretty minor so it feels like a waste of effort to make a different post for each. Over the days I had been keeping myself entertained with some games around the house and busy planning this site out. It was around this time that I decided to make it and had to do some shopping around to find out which website creator would best fit my needs. So around this time was when I was putting together the ground work on this site - though the entire thing continues to be a work in progress. I also had discovered some things about my apartment that needed to be resolved.

You see the spot I am living in is really nice, with these super sturdy concrete walls everywhere. The walls are very nice looking, and I have total faith in their ability to do wall things... But there is an unfortunate side effect to them. Wifi signals dont propagate really well through dense walls like this, so my router in the living room only can give me a connection if I am in the living room or two of the front rooms. Both front rooms are designated as spare rooms, and dont have queen sized beds. So the two rooms that I am probably going to be spending the most time in, the office and master bedroom at the back of the complex - have next to no wireless signal. I decided that the best fix for this was to buy myself a WAP (wireless access point) and put another node in one of the back rooms. The solution cant end there though, because I also wanted to have my PC hardwired into the network instead of depending on a wireless signal - so I also needed to get a network switch. After researching several options available on the market and what they could provide I made a pretty extensive list of items for my plan. The big part of my effort with this was that I wanted to have things that were either POE (power over ethernet) or using common cables (like USB-C) that I would have access to where ever I might be. I didnt want to buy equipment that uses the Indian style power bricks, because then whenever I move to the next post I would need to convert local power to both Indian AND USA style plugs, and that sounds like a huge pain.

Long story short, I made myself a list and put all the items in amazon set to order. I also decided to spend the EXORBITANT price of 80 USD for a trashcan that is an appropriate size. All of the trashcans I have seen here are absolutely tiny, and this was my only way of getting a decent sized one. Put all the items in amazon and was even lucky to be getting a bit of a deal. Oct 20th is a local holiday here called Diwali, and amazon was having sales because of it. Well I went to order these items... And I couldnt. I had forgotten one crucial thing, you need an Indian bank account to order items from Indian amazon. I had thought that having the phone number might be enough, but that is not the case. The phone number is also crucial for ordering from amazon here, but for a different reason. From what I have been told in order to receive an order you have to provide a confirmation code over the phone to the person delivering it. Sad moment, I just had to sit there with all these nice deals in my cart and wait. Luckily there wasnt anything in there that was spectacularly vital, just stuff to make living here a bit easier. Honestly I think the item I was missing the most was that trash can. I ended up just having a raw trash bag sitting out so that I could go a little while without having to empty it.

Now onto the big event of the 14th! Today my UAB (unaccompanied air baggage) finally arrived. I really shouldnt say "finally" all things considered it only took it about two weeks to arrive, which seems like a pretty reasonable amount of time to wait to me! There were three things that I was really happy to see out of there, a spare blanket, my coffee machine, and my computer. Having PCSed twice now I think I have a better idea of what items I should be including in my UAB. And I have gotta say that the tips other people were giving really just dont line up with my needs at all. I guess that is what happens when people try to boil down the unique experience of thousands of employees into advice. Some things just get lost in translation. I will cover some of the lessons I learned further down below. First I want to talk about the experience.

Even at the time when I was packed out from D.C. I was less impressed with the packers compared to the ones that I had in San Antonio. But after getting my stuff out of the boxes I am glad to say that my instincts were correct! These packers really sucked compared to the ones from San Antonio. (After chatting with a few of my co-workers over the weeks I heard that this is a common experience, specifically out of D.C. the packers seldom do a good job). I dont think I described my most recent pack out on this site yet, but here is a good place to put some of those details. Specifically on the UAB portion, I wasnt paying close attention to my HHE section, so hopefully my dishes made it through OK. I just had the terrifying thought right now that there is a good chance that if my UAB came through like this, the rest of the packing might be similarly garbage.... Hopefully being on a boat instead of a plane makes the rest of my stuff come through safer, I really dont want to loose some of my favorite dishes. ANYWAYS - the UAB packing. To make things easier on the packers I had put everything that I wanted in UAB in one of my side rooms. Some items of the items that I felt were fragile, or that I wanted to be kept in one unit - I had already boxed up in clear boxes. This was a good move on my part. When I was packed out of San Antonio the packers had brought their own small-medium sized boxes that they loaded with stuff. But here they only had the large boxes that they were putting things in. This mean that almost ALL of my stuff was just going into one of several large boxes RAW. I mean, they put paper in there... But without the structure of additional cardboard problems arise. I didnt realize this until later though. In regards to my UAB they loaded one box up to the brim. Bursting at the seams first. And I've gotta say, it looked really sturdy. Especially after they duct tapped the whole thing down and all around. I didnt think that anything would go out of place in that box.

Then they started packing my second UAB box. For whatever reason they decided to only put my appliances is this box. So in went my coffee machine, water filter, air fryer, dense tupperware of coffee beans, monitors, and gaming PC. There were a few other things in that box, but those were the ones that stood out. Had I packed both of these I would have tried to mix the heavy appliances in and among the other items. Especially since most of what had gone in the other box was much more malleable and soft. So it in of itself would have helped secure my other items. I have learned since then that it would have been well within my rights to tell them to re-do it the way I wanted. Whoops. At the time they tried to fill in the gaps with paper and it looked mostly correct. Then they weighed everything and it turns out I had gone over my weight limit anyways. This was another point when I probably should have made them pause. Far as I understand it the rules are that if I go over weight on UAB I would be charged extra... But they had already wrapped the hell out of these boxes and clearly didnt want to undo that work so I could pull some items out and bring the weight down. They flubbed the numbers and I got away with it this time around, but just because I wasnt charged doesnt mean I didnt pay.

Flash back to the present - one of the first items pulled out of the UAB box is the Tupperware with my coffee beans in it. This is a box that is very sturdy plastic, this is one of those real heavy duty almost plexiglass containers. So I was very worried when it is immediately clear that during transit something had shattered the side of it. There was a huge hole in the side that was not there when it went into the mail... The reason that this worried me was because inside of this same UAB box was my very expensive computer... which is made of an aluminum frame with literal glass paneling on two of the sides... I think understandably I was a bit worried.

Eventually the unpackers did get to my PC and while it was damaged in the move, it was not ruined. Some of the aluminum was clearly bent out of shape and damaged, a screw had come loose and left one of my cooling fans dangerously dangling in the middle, and one of my RAM sticks had shaken out. But that was really the sum of all of it. So I got off very lucky there. All of the issues (apart from the damaged aluminum) were very easy to fix. But this is a good mark for a "must do" item before I move again. I will need to rebuild my PC in a new case, ideally one that is smaller and sturdier. I'm thinking I will pick up a small form factor and put everything in there. It'll mean purchasing more than just a case unfortunately, a new motherboard for sure and probably a few other components. I think the motherboard is going to be the real struggle, since space will be a very critical element, and I like having a lot of things available in my PC. Oh well, thats a problem to worry about a few paychecks after the shutdown is over.

There was one item that I cared about that was truly lost in the move. I had a headset for my computer that I've been using for about a decade now. It's a true 'gamer' item, but it does what I need to. And it does it well! Wireless conection, quick enough charging, comfortable to wear, and it has both input/output abilities. Since I didnt put it in a box myself, the packers put it in the big box my simply wrapping it in a single layer of paper.... And it was in the same box as all of my heavy appliances. So in the journey from the states it shattered in a few spots. The worst element is that one of the clamshell headphone pieces was just ripped off, so using the headset is a delicate balancing act. Best thing I have here at the moment so I make do lol. The poor thing had been on its last legs anyways, so I'm not too heartbroken that the move killed it. My biggest grip is that buying a new one here in India is a bit more expensive than it really should be - but good news! It is half off due to the Diwali sale on amazon! The biggest savings of anyhting that I was trying to purchase. Bad news! I cant order from amazon at the moment 😭. Hopefully my bank account gets set up before Diwali (Oct 20th).

ADDING THIS FUN BIT IN LATER: I was writing up another post and just remembered a fun lttle adventure that happened with all this mess that I had failed to mention. As you can imagine, power through the outlets here works a little bit different than in the states. I have a number of devices to help me translate that power difference into one that my appliances can read... but I haven't paid to much attention to the details on them. So I was plugging things in and had set up the PC with power and was plugging in my AV cords into my monitor when I got shocked! This was really odd, because I hadnt plugged the monitor into power yet. But every time I touched it I was getting zapped. Took me a little bit to figure it out... But it turns out that the transformer I bought off amazon was NO GOOD for my PC. I guess it was overloading it a bit or something because all of the metal components on it were also shocking me, and the current had been going from the PC through the HDMI cable into my monitor. Luckily there were some step down transformers in the kitchen and once I plugged the PC into one of those it stopped zapping me, but what a wild ride!

Luckily the only other things that were damaged in the move were some old hangers that I brought with me. I can buy new ones of those, and all things considered probably should have saved weight in UAB and just planed to do that from the get go. One other element that wasnt damaged but rather I realized was a waste of space was my water filter. There was really no way to know this going into this post, but the water filter they have in my house is spectacular. There is literally zero need for an additional one, so that was just a waste of effort to bring over... And also a waste of space now that I am here. Luckily there is plenty of space to use, so it really isnt going to cause too much of an issue.

Next up is a set of lessons learned, sharing here for fun - but mostly putting it as many places as possible so that I can hopefully remember ONE of them around the time I have to move again so that I can check and not make the same mistakes.

PCS LESSONS - DONT FORGET (PLEASE)

1. BOXES - Dont trust the packers to put thing in sub boxes. It is on YOU to do it.

   1. Clear storage boxes are peak. Have tons of them available in various sizes.

2. Dont be a fool, pack your luggage for the flight FIRST. And weigh it.

   1. You need two new suitcases. One to replace the green one, and one extra.

   2. It is worth it to pay out of pocket for an extra suitcase.

3. Dont pack plastic items (kitchen goods).

   1. You want to microwave stuff in a bowl of decent size? Bring it with you cuz it will not be provided.

   2. Put your favorite mugs in UAB. The provided ones are trash. (Just box/pack them yourself).

   3. Some cups of your pint glasses to, shot glasses as well.

   4. The tip about knives is good, bring your own.

4. Skip the GO BAG. What a waste of space/weight. Just put it in HHE.

5. Dont let the packer secure any box until both of them have been weighed.

   1. Like they say... It's YOUR MOVE - Have them distribute the items like you think will be best.

6. Pack more blankets in UAB. Towel as well.

7. Talk to the GSO at your receiving post! They are a great resource and can tell you what will be included in your welcome kit. Adjust your UAB based on their input.

More of these might come later. This is what comes to mind right now. Next a list of items that were good to have in UAB plus those that I should make sure to pack next time.

1. Coffee pot / beans

2. Air fryer

3. Favorite pot/pan

4. Knives

5. PC / monitors / peripherals (BOX THEM)

6. Pint glasses / plastic glasses (pops 6 flag, boy scout grey)

7. 1x shot glass

8. Wine opener / Bottle opener

9. Laundry Basket

10. Trashcan (Maybe - reach out to GSO at new post)

11. Try to bring at least ONE board game. Cards go in luggage.

12. 1x Brown pillow

13. 2x (at least) blanket