Hi everybody! Long time no blog!


As anyone who frequents Bibliophiles, Bibliomaniacs, and Orthographers knows, I am currently in the process of redecorating my study. Happily, my eight new bookcases plus one file cabinet arrived yesterday. The downside is that I was obliged to dismantle the eight old bookcases and bind the pieces with twine so that they could be properly disposed of.

OH...MY...GOODNESS!!!

It was back-breaking work! Altogether it took me around two entire workdays to remove the adjustable shelves, unscrew the fixed shelves, pry loose the nails which connect the bookcases' backing to the side panels, and undo all the other little bells and whistles which were attached. I ended up with dozens of pieces of wood, which then had to be sorted into bundles which were light enough for me to carry downstairs and set onto the sidewalk for the garbage man.

I stayed up until the wee hours of Saturday morning working my hands raw with the twine. I ended up stacking a maximum of five shelves together before tying them, and believe me when I tell you: Weightwise, even five boards was pushing it! Thank goodness I had the endurance to keep going until I got the job done.

Now I'll come to the point: Yesterday, two gentlemen came to deliver the new bookcases. Allow me to comment that the new cases are a whole foot taller, and around ten inches wider than the ones I prepared for disposal. However, these guys casually mounted them on a shoulder and carried them up to the third floor. Just like that. I was in awe. Back and forth they went, bringing one bookcase after the other, without even stopping to take a breath. The shelves which belonged to the bookcases were packaged separately. Coincidentally, there were 5 adjustable shelves in each package...the same amount I'd opted to use in the bundles I prepared the night before. These guys carried the packages in, four at a time...that's a total of twenty shelves in one trip!!! I (foolishly) decided to lighten the load of one of the porters and relieved him of one of the packages. It was so incredibly heavy; I was afraid I'd drop it! (By the way, I'm taller than both of these men.)

Finally, they brought up my two new DVD towers and the file cabinet. The towers aren't so bad, but the file cabinet (solid oak wood) is fiendishly weighty! I was greatly impressed by the gentleman who nonchalantly set it onto one shoulder and blithely strode up two long flights of stairs with it. After all was said and done (and even though I paid $130 for the delivery), I tipped them $10 each, although if I could've afforded it, I would've given them more.

The fact that these guys could accomplish this, and I could not, has deepened my appreciation and respect for all the men who work in the field of furniture delivery. (Mind you, I've never met a woman who does such a thing for a living, but if she exists, I have the greatest of esteem for her.)

I was intrigued by what such a position might pay, and after a brief Google search, I found that most furniture delivery jobs pay between $9 - $13 per hour. Why so little? I believe that the people in the furniture delivery field deserve a serious raise! I'll illustrate why: Accounting jobs begin at around $20 per hour. The vast majority of us hire accountants, not because we're incapable of filing our taxes on our own, but simply because we dislike math and aren't willing to sort through all of our documents. Furniture delivery guys, on the other hand, work in our behalves in order accomplish a task that many of us simply CANNOT do for ourselves. So why should they be paid any less than an accountant?

That's just my two cents. Thanks for sticking around until the end.


*hugs & kisses*
-Tee