Boxes, I need boxes

Yesterday, I decided to get an early start on the packing portion of the moving festivities. I figured I'd start with the books because there are a lot of them and I have some smaller boxes that are good for books. During a few of my earlier moves, I was a complete idiot about packing books -- let's put them all in the big box so I can't even lift it! Who needs a spine?

So, I filled up five or six smaller boxes with books. That takes care of one book case. There are three others. Not to mention the rest of my crap -- kitchen stuff, CDs, regular house stuff, bodies in the back yard... Ugh. I'm going to need a few more boxes.

Which reminds me, I hate moving. I've moved an average of every two years since I was four years old. It sucks. It's totally the opposite of fun. Maybe I'll just stay put... anybody want to buy a house? Can I claim squatter's rights on a house I previously owned?

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Effective communication is hard

We've got some clients that are using our test server to do demonstrations for prospective clients of theirs. Something came up today (mainly, a minor fuck up on my part) that means we'd like to get a new build out to production. In order to build to production, we must first build to the test server, so I wanted to find out how we can do that without screwing up their presentations.

You'd think that a simple email asking about their schedule would be followed by a simple reply containing that information. Apparently not.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rebecca
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 9:49 AM
To: K
Subject: your schedule

Hi K,

We've got a few more changes that we'd like to build to production,
but I don't want to interfere with your presentation schedule.  Can 
you let me know what hours you anticipate using the staging server
today and tomorrow? 

Thanks,
Rebecca


-----Original Message-----
From: K
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 10:16 AM
To: D
Subject: FW: your schedule

I don't know the schedule.

Could you perhaps assist with this.  I'm late!!!

K


-----Original Message-----
From: D
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:41 AM
To: Rebecca
Subject: Re: FW: your schedule

Please don't do anything today on the server - a presentation is 
occurring all day

Thank you,
D


-----Original Message-----
From: Rebecca 
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:41 AM
To: D
Subject: Re: FW: your schedule

Hi D,

I won't be doing anything on the server during the day, but I would 
like to get an idea of what times the presentation is scheduled.  For
instance, if I can start a build at 5:00pm PDT tonight, that would be
great.  Please let me know the following:

Hours the presentation is scheduled (including time zone)
Hours, if any, you are presenting tomorrow

Obviously, I won't start a build at the exact moment the 
presentation is scheduled to be over.  But I need a little more 
information so we can accommodate your needs and still be able 
to get our own requirements out the door.

Thank you,
Rebecca


-----Original Message-----
From: D
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:41 AM
To: Rebecca
Subject: Re: FW: your schedule

Tomorrow anytime would be best

Thanks!


-----Original Message-----
From: Rebecca 
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:41 AM
To: D
Subject: Re: FW: your schedule

D, what time are your demos scheduled to end today?  I'm 
assuming they won't be going all night.


-----Original Message-----
From: D
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:41 AM
To: Rebecca
Subject: Re: FW: your schedule

9 CDT

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A whirl of to do

Brain = mush. There are all these lists, you see, but things are added faster than they are crossed off. Call insurance agent. Find rogue homeowner's association president. Fix bugs. Feed turtles. Learn new and exciting things about application architecture. Make sure loan officer has all required information.

It's swirling around in there too much. If I wind up feeding the turtles to the insurance agent, I'll plead temporary insanity.

Just kidding, Katie, I wouldn't do that. I'll feed them to the loan officer instead.

7 comments | link

A question of manners

Which is more rude: showing up early, or showing up late?

Obviously, it's not generally considered rude to show up early to a bar, but what about for dinner at someone's house? Is this more or less rude than wandering in a bit late?

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A house I did not buy

One thing that helps a house sell is this completely ambiguous thing they call "curb appeal." My new house definitely has curb appeal. My current house has a bit of curb appeal, but most of the good features are inside. This house, on the other hand, looks like it wants to eat you:

"Errrr! Tasty!" says the house.

That's not my house.

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Snopes calls Debbie Harry a liar

I have heard the tale that Debbie Harry narrowly escaped Ted Bundy, but nobody seemed to know if it was true or not. Snopes to the rescue! At the very least, it's extremely unlikely.

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New house!

I got the house!

They accepted my counter-counter offer last night. Inspections will follow. The timing couldn't have worked out better -- I will have 10 days between the time I take possession of the new house and when I have to vacate my current house. During those 10 days, I expect I'll be ripping out a lot of carpet, scrubbing walls (I hear vinegar gets the smoke smell out), painting, and attacking the wood panels that decorate so many walls, not to mention moving in.

After those 10 days, I expect to hate my new house. I will think I was stupid to ever think moving into a house that needs work was a good idea. I will curse its one-bathroomedness and wish fervently that I still had three toilets in my house. Mostly, I will be extremely tired, and probably kind of bitchy. But then I get to go to NYC for Morgan's and Alice's wedding (yippee!) and to see my dad, Lisa, and the kids. So I'll be away from the house for a few days and will, undoubtedly, start to miss it. Upon returning, I will fall in love with it all over again. Once the hard work is over and the hating has stopped, I expect I'll be very content indeed.

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Out with the new, in with the old

So assuming everything goes through and inspections don't turn up anything terrible or unliveable, my new house will be 74 years older than my old house. It will be quite a change. As a homeowner, I haven't had to deal with much. The toilets have needed some maintenance, and one of the doors was pulling off its hinges. I transformed the back yard from 600 sqft. of barkdust into a cute little garden with a sad and lumpy lawn -- that was, by far, the biggest home improvement I made. No previous owners ever did anything stupid to the house because there were no previous owners.

I realize I've been pampered and that I will be a little shocked at moving into an old house. What my current house lacks in character, it makes up for with its multitude of electrical outlets, new plumbing, and overall dependability. Bit it's all beige -- beige walls, beige carpet, a slightly darker beige on the exterior (more of a tan, but definitely in the same color family). I haven't painted because I've always intended to sell, and here I am. Selling.

But the new house does have character. There are obvious things I can and will change immediately, and less obvious things I'll change over the next 3 or 10 or 20 years -- who knows how long I'll be there? And there are things I'll want to keep exactly the same. Anyhow, I'm excited and hopeful. They made me a counter-offer and I turned in a counter-counter-offer last night. We've agreed on price, but not on closing date. Hopefully that will all happen today. Or someone might come in with a better offer today and woe is me. But my hopes are definitely up.

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The fortune, house mayem

So the fortune (see previous post) wound up not being a fortune at all, but it did presumably come from a fortune cookie. It said, "You are very attached to your family and home." This is a statement, rather than a fortune, which is an unfortunate trend in fortune cookie fortunes.

It amuses me that this is what the fortune said, since I'm totally not attached to a home at the moment. Assuming everything goes through (and there are six hundred things that can go wrong), the new owners of my house will move in July 31. Closing date is set for July 6th, but we wrote lease-back option into the offer so I can stay while I'm finding a new house.

And because the real estate market in Portland moves at the speed of light, I found a house I liked yesterday and put in an offer to close July 17. I haven't heard back yet, and there are another six hundred things that can go wrong with this one, but there you have it. My house = sold, other house = maybe bought. Quite a weekend!

The new house is at the top of my price range and it needs some work, but it's in a fabulous location (very near the Crystal and the Brian, and not terribly far from Yolanda or the Price's). It's quirky, it's on a quiet street, and once the smell of the smokers who have lived there for 30-40 years is eradicated, it will be even better. Except for the wood paneling. That has to go. Quickly.

Anyhow, this is all conjecture at this point, since I did not put in a full-price offer and they haven't accepted. Fingers crossed!

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Found, in an old purse

• One tube lipstick, now discarded
• Two red tickets to something -- they're the generic kind that say "TICKET"
• $.83 in change
• A fortune, but now I don't remember what it said
• A scrap of paper on which I had written the following character sketch. I don't remember about whom I was writing, though I have a few guesses.

  Everything is stated with an air of the utmost importance. He's really taking this seriously. He's trying to sound authoritative -- "I know," his tone and demeanor attempt to convey. "I excel at my job. I am impressive."

  I fail to be impressed. The guy's a jackass.

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Creepy bathroom

It turns out my camera did save a photo of the porn studio bathroom. Sadly, the full splendor of the bathroom surrounded by an unfinished basement in a house that's smelly and falling apart doesn't come through in the photo. You'll just have to take my word for it.

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Exploding Diet Coke

When you put Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke, it explodes. The folks at EepyBird.com have video of their completely fabulous demonstration of that concept.

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Houses 1 and 2, a review

I looked at two houses today on my lunch hour. The lovely Miss Joseph of Vincent Properties was my guide.

House #1, I was pretty excited about. It's in a great location, has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a garage. The photos on the web looked great, and it's much lower than I anticipated spending. What I got excited about was the idea of building equity by spending less on the purchase and having money left over to put into the house to fix it up how I want it.

In theory, this sounds good. However, when the house in question is in complete disrepair and apparently used to be a porn studio, well, things seem a little less rosy. Once I laid eyes on the huge bathroom in the unfinished garage where porn was definitely filmed at some point, I decided that wasn't my house and never would be.

House #2 was much nicer, but I didn't love it. It had great big rooms on the ground floor, though one of them is a bit dark. There was a cute little deck in the back yard, perfect for a paper and cup of coffe, as Ransom pointed out. But it felt like old people, though that might just be the lace curtains talking. It was nice, but on a busy street and at the top end of my price range. It's in the "maybe" pile. I could be happy there, but I wouldn't be all like, "Omigod, my house is so frickin' awesome!"

At any rate, I've got some time to find a new house -- mine isn't even on the market yet, and that has to sell first since the bulk of my down payment is depends upon it.

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To be yard sold

This is by request, but also gives me the opportunity to post a list. Everyone loves a good list.

• 2 Omega B-22 enlargers -- one has useable, though not ideal condensors, the other would need new ones
• Stuffed animals
• Some of the toys I purchased during my dot com days when there was no work for me to do
• Various old electronics
• Candle holders? Who needs candle holders? I have one for each of you.
• Scented candles. I don't like scented candles, but lots of people do. I have a crapton of them.
• Teflon cookware that I've gotten rid of, which I may not sell due to moral considerations.
• The blue drinking glasses I don't really like
• Some speakers -- I don't know anything about them; they're Katie's
• Most of the cheesy jewelry I purchased when I was an ear piercing specialist at Afterthoughts in the mall, including a pair of earrings that look like telephones where the handset is in the front of your earlobe but the rest of the phone is behind. They're immensely sexy.
• A giant plexiglass clothespin
• Clothes from when I wore everything 8 sizes too large
• The potted tree I stole from the dot com (they said I could have it but now I'm killing it and it needs a better home)
• The tires off my Honda Civic with a little bit of tread left
• Some of the cassette tapes I've already replaced with CDs (mostly The Cure, Morrissey, and Depeche Mode plus a few that were gifts -- Toad the Wet Sprocket anyone? -- thrown in for good measure). I'm totally not selling my Tiffany or Milli Vanilli tapes, though, so you can forget about those.
• The rest of the various items I've carried around in excess of 10 years and never really wound up needing like I thought I would. Plus, Katie's selling a whole bunch of things that I don't know about.

12 comments | link

It begins

In less than 24 hours, the yard sale bonanza begins. I hope hope hope it won't rain, but it is the beginning of the Rose Festival, so rain is pretty much mandatory. Luckily, I can easily turn it into a rather cramped garage sale if need be. If you want to buy some of the crap I've been accumulating and lugging around forever, stop on by from 9-3.

In one hour, I will go look at the inside of a house -- the first I'll visit in the search for a new domicile.

In one week, my house will go on the market.

The big fear, of course, is that I'll find a new house before mine has sold. My dad's going through this right now, where he's in the new house and waiting for the old one to close. Scary stuff. That's something I'm not prepared to do. In a miraculous world, I would find a house at the same time as mine sells and both would breeze through inspection and have the same closing date (or maybe an overlap of a week while I transport my stuff). This is what I'm hoping for. This is totally not going to happen, so my next hope is that whatever does happen is easily adapted to.

3 comments | link