Inspection day or, as I refer to it, time to freak out!

Well, our offer was accepted on the house. Good in a 'wow we have a nice place to live in' kind of way and bad in a 'what the hell do we do with our remaining lease on our current residence' kind of way. Moving is kind of like Jenga, you can make the whole thing collapse with just a few wrong moves. I wish our place just had a buy out clause, but instead we will be searching for subletters. Hopefully we find someone in the not too distant future.

As for the inspection, nothing major came up, but there were, of course, enough minor things to make me REALLY think about this whole buying a home notion. Good lord there are a lot of things that you just don't give a rip about when you are renting. Some cracks in the floor (how much is that too repair?). Using the wrong possible wiring combinations (electrical safety inspection now required). A furnace in the crawl space that would requiring cutting open the floor to remove it (what in the hell!?!?). Other than that, the usual litany of doors not hung properly, some shoddy worksmanship on the caulking, and other little time consuming but not generally financially onorous repairs. Hurm!

In other news, I finished up my 2 days of hospital orientation which, while somewhat tedious, were actually fairly informative. It is clear they do a WHOLE lot for their employees from discounts at local places to very comprehensive benefits including a traditional pension plan. I feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten a job there, especially in this economic climate. The computer training was a bit less useful, only because I was really only tasked with following a minimal amount of what was covered because my position doesn't require it. Odder still, I was exempted from a lot of the other general hospital training that my friend Bob had to go through when he oriented for the same position fresh out of school. I know I have some experience now, but most of the other people orienting that had to go through the training had far more (years worth) and I can safely assure you they need the general training less than I. Just the same, I am sure I will be fine and not feeling poorly educated and incompetent for two weeks will keep my confidence high.

I better get out to do some running so I can go get my allergy shots this afternoon. What would a weekend be without swollen itchy red arms after all?

Ah, the negotiations.

So, house #1 is a bust. We officially withdrew our offer Friday morning. The short-sale process was taking too long and, honestly, with the aptly named Ozie-Arkies (spell check that for me Tom) out back and the traffic out front, we were falling less and less in love with it. In retrospect, house #1 is too akin to the one we reside in now; wonderful to rent, iffy to purchase. Plus, the place was going to require a fair amount of work to get it to where we wanted it to be. Sadly, Labor costs money. Supplies cost money. The house itself costs money. Where this money actually would come from is anyone's guess. Unless you guessed from us, in which case I would applaud your vibrant imagination where we could live off of the cookie trees and it would rain gumdrops (yum). Combine the funding issue with a lack of time and a general disinterest in renovations of that scale, and you have a losing combination altogether.

Anyway, onward and upward...........we were poking around and found place #2. We are now in the stage where the sellers have our offer and we are awaiting word as to whether the negotiations are to begin in earnest. There is this difficult tightrope you walk when buying. You find out the cost they want to sell it at upfront, then you find the comps in the area (rarely are these two numbers congruent), and then you make an offer that you hope is not so high that they jump at it excitedly (making you feel like you are overpaying) or so low that they reject it outright. The thing that I find most difficult about this is that the response takes some time......1 or 2 business days. Then, you have the same amount of time (roughly) to respond to their response. And so on and so forth. But, we still need to sublet this place, so if it were to not come through, I would be sad but not crestfallen. The balance between finally having a place of our own and the relative savings of not having to move, sublet, and pay a higher monthly payment is difficult to accurately quantify, but still strangely compelling nonetheless. Word to follow when anything actually happens.

rmls: 8108913

link of the moment: who doesn't love the early 90s rap/dance of DJ Cool and also love the Fraggles? Like peanutbutter and jelly really :)

Canucks, Transylvania, & Envy

Oddly enough, I guess this past week was a combination of vacation and being unemployed. Its a weird feeling, but one I could get used to. Starting the day when you want to. Performing tasks at your own pace. With the exception of being broke and Tia staring daggers at me, its pretty ideal. Damn you money!!!

We spent the past week in Vancouver........the, eh, one that pronounces 'ou' like 'oo' not the pseudo-suburb of Portland with the cheaper homes and infuriating commute. It was cold and wet, but enjoyable nonetheless. We walked.........and walked..........and then for good measure walked some more. It is quite a lot like Portland, but on a larger scale. Lots of little shops and eateries in the outskirt neighborhoods and even cheaper eateries closer in to downtown. The large distinction is that the shopping downtown is akin to what you would find at the mall or wandering around the Pearl. We did get to try a Transylvanian bakery (who knew they were so adept at baking, what with the whole Vlad the Impaler thing hanging over them, I just assumed they coasted by on fear tourism or, you know, bloodletting). The bakery items, tiramisu for Tia and a spiced rum cake for me, were spectacular and extremely sweet.

We had them as dessert after stumbling upon a Pho restaurant that had the most amazing Bahn mi sandwich I have had to date. If they could market them correctly the Vietnamese could destroy the business of Subway, Quiznos, or their bretheren. And I say this as a fan of those other places.

The apex of our trip, both literally and figuartively, was a journey between two mountain peaks (well, close enough anyway) in Whistler, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics, that spans almost 3 miles (nearly 2 of which are unsupported. A few cars even sport glass bottoms so that you can see below (we waited for one and, while the view was truly exhilerating, there was a child onboard who was amongst the most loud, loquacious, and misbehaved as any I have had the displeasure of sharing space with...........and his parents were little more than facilitators. One of the other passengers had the temerity that I wish I had and inferred not indirectly that the parents should no longer breed. We felt every one of the 11 minutes it took to cross to the opposing peak). Definitely the highlight (as well as the lowlight) of the trip to Canuck Country.

We returned feeling fat from our many epicurean adventures (Thai, Vietnamese, bizarre pizzas, Indian, amongst a smattering of others...........although sadly no poutine this trip) and tired from our many amblings about. Having displayed a measure of restraint and financial prudence in choosing a trip we could drive to, we rewarded ourselves with a massage at a place called Massage Envy (http://www.massageenvy.com/), which offers an amazingly low price on your introductory massage. Having little resistence to a massage to begin with, the low price was a cincher (much like the $1 double cheeseburger or $2 pints, I am a sucker for cheap meets want). I opted for the first time to extend the time to a 75 minute massage (instead of the stadard 50) and I am officially ruined for the shorted massages now. Every time I get a massage, I remember immediately how much I completely and utterly enjoy them, and then proceed to not get one for a number of months that follow. Admittedly, this is largely due to the cost. Actually solely do to the cost. But they have a plan that extends the cheap massages throughout the year. Now if I can just convince them to also start serving cheap cheeseburgers and beer!

Last day tomorrow

As my friend Josh said to me, "You go through jobs like a vagrant goes through sterno." I thought it was apt (and funny). Tomorrow is my last day at yet another job. I always hope I will stay longer, but one thing or another seems to occur, and I am off to the next.

+ Cambridge had horrid pay and benefits and the ownership/management (not you Josh) was a joke. They wouldn't even let you have a paid sick day and NEVER so much as let us know about accruals (as if it was some European concept). The place was a meat grinder for both students and staff alike.

+ Ride Connection was a great group of people and good cause to boot. Benefits were quite impressive and their PTO was generous. I just had nowhere to go in my position and little growth within it. Hence the whole leaving to live in frigid western NY for school thing.

+ Willamette hospital. Bad fit altogether. Too much poop, too little training. A nightmare despite good pay and benefits. Did I mention poop? (That cannot be mentioned enough based on my patient poop exposure ratio).

+ 'the clinic' was a place that I loved, and not just for the lack of poop (huge bonus). Good people, decent pay, nice schedule, fun boss and interesting job. Free treatment for my own rather extensive list of allergy/asthma problems. But, the benefits, which were not great to begin with, quickly degraded and the hours were wildly inconsistent. Too little pay considering the house mortgage sized student loans. Sad to leave it all the same.

Short post...........last day and all tomorrow and we are short staffed and the schedule is loaded. Sleep time now.

Link of the moment (if you like watching a guy gag on frozen cat and dog treats: http://www.freezerburns.com/wordpress/2009/03/01/episode-63-frosty-paws-and-cool-claws-frozen-pet-food/

If you prefer Flight of the Conchords instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVoCJJFuS60

Beak free eggs

So much going on and so little that ties together that I figured it was best to just post a random assortment of nonsense. Here goes:

+ Celebrated #32 (or as I like to refer to it as 2 to the fifth power........but since I cant figure out how to type that to make it look like anything other than the number 25, we will go with 32). It was the most grown up birthday I have ever experienced. The day began bright and early with a visit to the mortgage broker where we discussed loan rates and how the market is set for them, etc. Then, Tia and I went and looked at a variety of flooring and tile in the inner southeast. We then went and test drove an Infiniti G37 (http://www.infinitiusa.com/g_coupe/?dcp=ppi.16643732.&dcc=0.96526493), which we had no actual intention of buying, but apparently I now look trustworthy enough to not even need to fork over my driver's license to take the car out for a spin (which made me feel good in one way and old in another). We finished up the day with dinner and then an early bedtime because of work the next morning. All the day needed was a glass of metamucil to push it into the truly surreal.

+ Speaking of the Infiniti G37...........well, it was less than I hoped it would be. It was refined and had all the accoutrements I assume one would want in a vehicle in that price range, but had none of the raw power that I had anticipated. My Rabbit is a lot more fun to drive honestly. Half the horsepower, less than half the price, and twice as fun. Bummer.

+ Wake and Cake - After eating birthday cake as an accompaniment to a well balanced breakfast (perhaps well balanced is somewhat hyperbolic) I began to think how unacceptable cake is as a breakfast item. What is a donut after all, but a deep fried cake? So, my new idea is a cake specific breakfast eatery. Potential investors can leave their info in the comment section.

I am dragging ass, so I better scurry off to bed. Daylight savings always seems difficult to immediately adjust to. I leave you with some sugarlumps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtbQaJzZh1k&feature=related