As a general rule most moving companies only move hot tubs or spas that are small enough to fit inside a 26 ft. moving truck and light enough to be carried. There are very few spas that meet this criteria so most often people require the services of a speciality hot tub moving service. These types of companies have the flat bed trucks and special tools such as a fork lift or spa lift to perform this sort of service. But, when and old friend from “back in the day” calls up and asks if we can move five of them, well I just couldn’t resist the challenge. That old friend happens to be the owner of Lone Star Spas & More here in Austin, and after reconnecting on facebook a while back he decided to see if we could help him with some inventory shuffling. My first response was “no I don’t think that’s our cup of tea”, but after we discussed it further I got all excited and just had to give it a try.
The whole load up went off without a hitch and although not the prettiest looking load in the world, everything got to its destination in one piece. I would not recommend those of you at home try this though, Lone Star has done this sort of thing for years and they really know how to do it right. I didn’t even know spas could be stacked on top of one another like that, but as we were told “that’s how they come from the factory”. My crew and I learned a lot about the art of spa moving and the benefits of having a forklift around. If only we had one of those on every job. So any way, Thanks to the guys over at Lone Star and if anyone out there ever needs Spa advice or service on an existing unit these are the guys to call.
What the people of Cedar Park accomplished last night was nothing short of amazing. The whole place had a nice flow to it; kids play area over here (with two playscapes and a rock wall!), live music over there, carnival stands down the way, volleyball, horseshoes, and a swiming pool right in the middle of it all. The recent rains and overcast sky keept the temperature bareable if not just slightly muggy. The Fireworks were amazing! My nephew’s 18 month old son would say “Pop!” everytime one exploded, and my mother-in-law said the show was comparable to ones she had seen in Boston. I guess I never thought of Cedar Park as a big city, but it’s getting there.
*The picture you see here is not actually of the 2010 fireworks show at Milburn Park. My camera wouldn’t play nice with the lighting last nite and I had to give some visual representation of the show so I “lifted” this photo from the internet, who didn’t seem to mind too much.
John Tran, a 25-year-old Tetris master from Menifee California Talked to the guys over at Kotaku and gave them some advice he has learned from his years of playing Tetris. I’ve always said that packing a truck is exactly like tetris, I even posted this video a while back to show you guys what I mean by that. Now a real-live Tetris Pro is agreeing with me. Here’s what the master had to say…
Packing Tips From A Tetris Master
• “Take a glimpse at your next pieces (moving boxes in this case) to determine the best placement positions.”
Think ahead. Putting a box in a spot that fits nicely might seem like a fine accomplishment, but when it makes it difficult to place subsequent boxes it does more harm than good.
• “If you have a box that doesn’t fit neatly, hold onto it and un-hold it when it won’t mess everything up.”
The urge to simply cram everything into the back of the truck as quickly as possible is strong. Don’t force it. If a container doesn’t fit, simply set it aside until it does.
• “Stack as flat as possible. The even field will save you reaction time and give you more stacking options.”
Not only will stacking flat allow for more stacking options, it’ll also increase stability, reducing shifting while you make your move.
• “Avoid creating unnecessary gaps to maximize space usage.”
This tip goes along with saving pieces until there is a good spot for them. Don’t leave gaps. If you need to, dig through what you’re packing to find something that will fit the space. A tight pack is a stable pack.
• “Leave an empty column open for your long boxes, and if you don’t have any long boxes buy some.”
Long boxes aren’t just for comic books anymore. The long, slender containers are perfect for filling gaps where wide boxes won’t fit, adding precious stability to your stack while maximizing space usage.
• “Don’t waste your long boxes!”
That having been said, don’t simply toss the long boxes in where they aren’t needed. Save them for when you need to make a packing Tetris. A nice long box can stabilize several rows of boxes all at once.
• “Multiplayer will help you reach a faster time, so have some friends and family help you out.”
Extra hands are always helpful when packing, but make sure you and your friends and family are on the same wavelength. Without coordinated strategy, even the strongest stack can topple.
Yea I know, you’re not supposed to link to your competition. What can I say, I had too. This thing has been freaking me out since 9 o’clock last night when my living room was invaded by this abomination. I read some of the comments on You Tube and some people actually thought it was ‘cute’. What? Cute? Puppies are cute. Babies are cute, and babies whose diaper I’m not in charge of are ever cuter, but this thing… Am I the only one creeped out here? And what exactly is the message here? Please help me understand what it all means.
On a side note that doesn’t involve gargantuan marionettes that disturb me to the core, our Project Re-Cycle has been a huge sucess so far. Just the other day we had one customer donate 3 bikes for the cause. Starting to run out of room and it’s about time to plan/coordinate the first giveaway date. So stay tuned…and stay away from 20 foot tall puppets.
Did you know there are books that help kids deal with moving day? Not just one or two that, in passing mention a character is going to be moving, but tons of them dealing with everything from the actual move to making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones. I did a little research (clicked around amazon for like 5 whole minutes) and was delighted with what I found. Here, I was going to write a lengthy essay about my thoughts on helping your kids cope with moving day but it seems that topic has been covered in great detail. Here are just a few of the titles that caught my interest:
Hey everyone, I know we haven’t updated the site in a while but we’ve been working on something that I think you may like. It’s called Project Re-Cycle and it’s all about giving used bikes to kids that otherwise wouldn’t have one right here in Austin. Being a moving company we get our fair share of customers who just have too much stuff, and on moving day many people offer to give our employees the things that they simply no longer have a need or room for. We get everything from Televisions to sofas and we get a ton of bicycles. So that is where the idea was born. Now I have to give most of the credit here to Nowell who first came up with the general concept. it just so happens it was the same week I was teaching my youngest son how to ride without his training wheels. An accomplishment that I swear has changed his demeanor and confidence level in a multitude of ways. I think he even stands taller now. Here’s a cell phone video of his first night riding on his own. Every kid deserves this experience.
So that’s the concept and over the next few months we will be giving you more details about the project and hopefully be rolling out a website and maybe even finding a few sponsors. And speaking of sponsors, our dear friend JC over at Allstar Copying & Printing has already given us a first run of fliers to hand out to all of our customers.
Two things smoothed out my family’s move a few years ago: designating Open First boxes for each room in our new home, so that on the first night after the move we wouldn’t be missing any essentials; and this Smart Move Tape.
The clearly marked and color-coded designations (Office, Bedroom, Bedroom #2, Kitchen, Storage, etc.) made unloading go quickly for our movers, and organizing our many cardboard moving boxes much easier for us later on. No doubt we could have accomplished something similar with a handful of colored Sharpies, but it would have taken a lot of consistently careful writing to even approach the same effect—at a time when we were looking to make less work, not more—and the colored tapes really help make sorting a breeze.
– Elon Schoenholz
Smart Move Tape Two Bedroom Kit
2 bedroom rolls, 2 kitchen rolls, 1 living room roll, 1 bathroom roll
each roll is 2″ x 30yd
$12
That is a thing of beauty. Our family recently aquired the piano that my mother recieved for her tenth birthday, and I wanted to know a little bit more about the history of the company that built it. The company was called Starr Piano Company. Through digging around I found this picture and just had to share it. If you are an American history buff I encourage you to take a look at this site and learn more about the company and what they used to call “The cradle of recorded jazz” in Wayne County Indiana.
First off, I want to thank Charlie Pitkin for the idea of this post. It is a question that we get asked quite frequently and one that takes more than a 5 minute phone conversation to answer. So buckle up, this might be a long ride…
Moving to another state is probably one of the biggest undertakings most families ever encounter. New schools, new friends, new jobs and no more Central Market or Chuys can be enough to make most people dismiss the whole idea entirely. I mean really, you want to leave Austin? If you must, if you absolutely have to leave the great state of Texas you are going to have to find a way to take all of your stuff with you. There are 4 commonly used ways of accomplishing this goal…wait scratch that, there are 5 ways of doing this. Continue reading National Carriers vs. Local Moving Companies
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