I had not seen the apartment I was moving into.
The utilities were handled and move-in was three days away. I asked the building if I could stop by and look inside so I could figure out what furniture to buy.
No. The unit was still being prepared and would not be ready to view until move-in.
I asked for photographs or a floor plan instead. “Really anything would help lol.”
This was my second base for working at TRX in Newport Beach. Cold Spring was still home with Amanda and Eva. The plan was to move back and forth, spending enough time in California to work with the team without pretending the rest of my life had moved west too.
I had been at TRX for about two months. The work was already broad. One brief was about making the first product experience less confusing. Another was about cleaning up the split between the brand site and the store. Employee wellness had its own list. None of them were small.
The apartment was just one more thing that needed a working flow.
Friday afternoon, the building finally sent a Matterport tour of another unit with the same floor plan. I wrote back that it helped a lot. It was as close as I was going to get before showing up with my things.
I was also trying to buy a used Mini so the California setup would work without a rental car. I preferred an automatic because Amanda might use it too, although I told the dealer I would take a manual if it checked every box. When they asked me to come by, I explained that I had been in meetings all day Thursday and Friday, “literally 14 hour days,” and was moving Saturday.
The move happened. The first pictures from inside the apartment are a mattress, half-open packages, bubble wrap, and an unreasonable amount of cardboard. It was not much of a second home yet.
It was enough to get back to work.