Semantics

I called a number of storage places this week and discovered that second floor units are cheaper, which makes complete sense to me, particularly when they do not have an elevator. Most of them do--one of my standard questions this week. Though I will be hiring movers to get out of Cedar Terrace, there is a high likelihood I'll use a U-Haul to move out of storage and into the house, so an elevator is essential.

My first stop today was a little mom and pop storage facility in a sketchy area where you had to get out of your car to activate the keypad to get into the complex. Minor detail since they had offered 1/2 off the price for 3 months (yay!) for 2nd floor units, confirmed that they had a "lift," and the gentleman who answered my questions was so very nice. There is apparently a difference between a "lift" and an "elevator," and I'm not talking about the difference between American English and British English.

After ringing the bell and being told by a property manager that they were not open today (I told her that her husband had told me they would be), I got in. We discussed my needs and she was so unpleasant and PO'd at her husband that I'm surprised she didn't send HIM down to deal with me in the 90-degree heat.

She takes me out to see the unit and we go upstairs and down a rather narrow hallway. She showed me the unit and I asked, "where is the elevator?"
She replied, "We don't have an elevator--we have a lift."
Curious, I asked, "Is it cargo sized or person sized?"
"If you have furniture, you'll have a difficult time getting it up here," came the reply.
"Thank you very much. I won't waste any more of your time."
I bet she gave him hell when she went back to the house!

I drove to the next one which has two different sized units, one of which they said was right next to the elevator. Unfortunately, they had rented the 8x10 on between Thursday and now, so I looked at the 10x13. I agreed to it even though I think it may end up being bigger than I really need. I'd hate to be moving in and find out it's not big enough, so I went with it. They were very nice and threw in a free padlock. Cool. Oh, and it really was right next to the elevator, which is big enough for a small car.

So, between this and scheduling service shut off with both AT&T and PG&E, I feel like I've been very productive in the past 24 hours, despite it being 70 degrees out at 6:30 AM and 90-something during the day.

Next up: securing a moving company.