look what the new guy dragged in...

#19 JCU Move-In Day

i was recently reminded of my need to share the story of this memorable evening in late August 2008, when a current JCU RA living in Murphy Hall asked me, "when would you like to come get your tv stand?" i couldn't contain my laughter.

if you don't know the story of the infamous tv stand, please excuse my tardiness in sharing this epic narrative.

right before i moved from my JVC house and into my new on-campus apartment at John Carroll University, i received word from the president of the Saint Martin de Porres high school (Cristo Rey school in Cleveland), Rich Clark, that he had a beautiful piece of furniture (tv stand) that he would be willing to give me for FREE (as long as i picked it up from his house). always read the fine print.

at that time in my life, i was in this recycling mode of not throwing away reusable stuff, so you can imagine what i did. i told Rich i would be by to pick the furniture up and thereafter called my buddy, jake, who i knew had a pick-up truck that could carry this item to JCU. unfortunately, what i failed to ask Rich, in making our transportation arrangements, was the size & weight of his tv stand. when jake and i arrived in Rich's driveway and realized the size/weight of my new piece of hardware, we knew immediately that our task was cut out for us that night.

after managing to lift this monstrous, top-heavy tv stand into the bed of jake's truck (with, of course, the help of every single one of the ropes & pulleys that jake threw into his truck before we left), we realized that it was too long and the tailgate wouldn't shut. we figured that we would probably do more damage by removing if from the truck bed than driving it to Carroll, so we tied that puppy down and were ready to make our drive cross-town. topping out at 40 mph on route 71N, jake drove as slowly as possible in order to avoid our cargo sliding off and into oncoming traffic. we frequently glanced into the rear view mirrors afraid that our wooden box might disappear into the evening sky only to be followed by splintering wood and screeching brakes. thankfully, the three of us made it safely and intact to campus. little did we know, however, what (or rather who) would be awaiting our arrival.

as jake pulled his truck as close to my new residence hall as possible, he parked. suddenly, we were frantically greeted by a couple dozen men who were running towards us dressed in SWAT team-like uniforms and carrying firearms. jake and i turned to each other in utter bewilderment. one of the security officials approached along the driver's side and asked us what we were doing. we explained to him that we were moving into Murphy. he informed us that we would have to wait until the JCU security team completed their drill training. we complied and were eventually directed to the south side entrance of the dorm.

since i had already moved most of my stuff to my new apartment earlier that week, the tv stand was the only object that had to be carried in. thank goodness for that! upon using the old-fashioned, sliding elevator (which i had never experienced before), jake and i arduously lifted and dragged this hunk of furniture about fifty yards to my room--all the while pulling up chunks of carpet and creating imprints in our fingers that seemingly did not disappear for days. it did not help that the backing of this piece of furniture was a particle board! once we (and when i use this word "we," i mean JAKE) managed to transport this tv stand to room 218, WE WERE DONE. sweaty. exhausted. late for our dinner date with our friends.

jake and i often revisit this evening in late July and shake our heads in disbelief.