Those car commercials

You know those car commercials that show a car swerving around bunch of giant pipes falling off the back of a truck? I hate those. I see them, and I think to myself, "self, this is ridiculous. Things like that don't happen in the real world."

So.

I'm driving to work yesterday morning (through Iowa) and I see this flatbed 18-wheeler pulled over, two police cars parked in front of it. It's got them giant pipes on the back. And I'm like, "oh, so he was probably speeding or whatever." Not another hundred or so yards down the highway behind him (I was going in the opposite direction) I see some of the giant pipes strewn in the median. Right where the pipes are the road curved, so I imagine he took the curve, the load shifted, and bam, pipes all over.

I would not recommend passing a truck laden in such a way on curves. Just a little heads up, alright?

And just for the record, I really, really, really, really hate that capital one commercial with Santa designing his card. First of all, I just hate capital one. Second of all, this bloated gas bag as 364 (or sometimes 365) days a year to design his stupid card. Why would he pick the one day when he actually has to do real work?

Breakdown

Not sure what possessed me to do this, but the flat screen is, indeed, on its way. I still managed to keep some frugality at the forefront -- it's refurbished, and I bought it online ... so while I paid shipping, there wasn't any tax. Oddly, it's going to show up right in time for Bowl season and college basketball games. ... so yes, we got cable, too. Hey, ok? It's a long, cold winter here. You have no idea.

This is how the holidays work

Ok, since we don't actually celebrate Christmas, we're going to do so indirectly. Or something. Anyway, here's the win-win situation being a homeowner: Maria wants a custom made bookshelf for Asim's room. Thus, I will buy tools to make it. I'll also add some sliding drawers to the cabinets in the kitchen. I get an excuse to mess around with wood, and we all benefit from life being easier.

It snowed here a bunch last night. I was annoyed at first at how much I have to pay for snow removal and lawn cutting for the house, but then after I took a shower this morning, I peeked out the window and noticed the driveway was already cleared! Hooray! One less thing to do. Just a few inches, but still. I hope it snows a lot more to make it even more worthwhile.

No, man, it's cool

We're still here, rocking away. I am still debating what new compact digital camera to buy. We are still freezing in the below-freezingness of the Great Nebraska. Of course, having your driveway shoveled for you (by not-your-wife) is a pretty cool thing. Maybe not worth what I have to pay for it, but whatever.

Asim is going to be looked after two days in a row in the evening this coming weekend as Maria and I have some social engagements. The first is about an hour and a half, the second almost 3-4 hours. Not sure how he'll fare on his own with sort-of-not-really strangers, but I'm guessing not well.

Very cool how excited the kid is to see me when I get home every day.

Not cool how I had a work thing last night that lasted until about 7:30. By the time I got home, kid was asleep. Suck.

Maria and I are mentally connecting regarding things around the house. It's a little creepy. Like, I'll get home, and she'll mention a "project" or idea or something that we should do. And it's frequently something that I've spent a good bit of the day researching online ...

I forgot how much I enjoy driving in the snow.

But. In another sign of me Getting Older and Wiser and Not Needing to Impress Anybody, I've got the sense to take the all-wheel drive wagon to work in the ice and snow versus the rear-wheel drive BMW. This also prevents Maria from going out -- ha!

Sounds like I might be able to refinance my loan soon ... after only two months! So maybe that big new high-def tv is in our future after all.

Back to normal

So, Maria and Asim have been back here for a few days. Maria has been really busy setting everything up in the house since I really didn't bother putting much of anything away. Except for my tools. Of course.

Asim is back to a normal sleeping schedule. It's actually better than the 11-10 one that he did before -- it's like, 8 to 7 or so. Sometimes earlier. But that's good so we can actually do stuff in the evening and enjoy the quiet of the house.

Other than that, the weeks are getting colder as we slowly march toward the holidays. We have no plans to leave Nebraska but may do a little bit of traveling come January. I totally forgot how freakin' cold it gets here. It's like, 20 degrees out and then there's a windchill that sticks things firmly in the single digits. Good times. I have been able to forego the flannel-lined khakis since I don't walk to work anymore, but I'm still rocking a sweater every day. The other upside is that I don't have to iron the dress shirt under it. Score!

The flickr photos are somewhat lacking of the new house. It all goes back to selling the camera and ... not buying a new one. I might have to break down and do that before the end of the week since the Vimeo page has like, half-year-old videos on it. If nothing else, you should get videos of Asim running around the empty basement.

Did I mention that Asim doesn't speak English any more? I apparently didn't speak English at all when I was his age either. But, thanks to tv and school, everything turned out sort of ok.

Right now

Let me explain what is going on right now. I am here, at the computer. Maria and Asim are sleeping. They have been sleeping for something like five hours already. This happened yesterday, too. I am hoping they do not wake up at like, 3 a.m., all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and whatnot.

Cause I will be asleep and would like to stay that way.

It was a fun week back east. I shall summarize over the weekend. For now, there are random photos on flickr taken with the beastly D1H. At times, a more beastly flash was attached to it, lighting up the entire house and allowing some mighty-fine picturage. Or so I think.

Hood is almost done

The last step for the hood install (which um, has to happen this week) is to cut a hole in the exterior wall of the house and then route the duct through there. Last night after I got back from another fun weekend in Minneapolis, I formally attached the hood and its parts to the wall. I put the wire in conduit and then sent that through to the attic. So one duct connection and the electrical bits, and we'll be in shape.

When I was up in Minneapolis, I managed to get myself to the Ikea to buy some toys for the kid and a small table and set of chairs. I ripped out all the trim in Asim's room last night, so the painting and re-install will also happen by the time I leave on Thursday.

Photos of the hood are on the flickr account.

Oh, home projects

On the one hand, I'm kind of annoyed at the magnitude of this hood installation for the stove. I'm venting this beast outside because Maria wants it that way. So that the whole house doesn't smell like food. I suppose that's a valid reason. However, it's going to be a huge pain in the ass. On the other hand, I'm actually looking forward to crawling around up in my attic, running duct work and rerouting a bunch of cables. Why? Because I need to prove to myself that I can not only start projects but finish them in a non-half-assed manner.

The hood installation seemed simple enough. Cut hole in wall, run duct, hang hood.

Bought the hood on Friday. First of all, it needs 8" duct. There's not wall-flapper unit that they sell at Home Depot (or Lowe's) so that's a special order item. Need to also buy a few pieces of duct and some tin snips. And of course, duct tape.

So that's that, Then I start reading the directions since I'm wondering how this 35-lb beast is going to hang on drywall. Oh, I see. You have to hack away at the drywall and then add a cross-brace between the 2x4s and hang it on that. Gotcha. Then I measure off where the duct is going to go, making sure to clear the ceiling of the hallway on the backside. I push a screw through the drywall, crawl up into the attic and ... oh, there it is. Behind the insulation, at the bottom ... ok, so it's gotta come up another four inches (bottom of the duct) so it can clear all of these 2xwhatevers holding up the roof. And by the way, I almost drilled into some cables. But at least I know where they are now!

So, the cables need to be rerouted via junction boxes and then into the power outlets below. The larger 220 cable needs to be routed to the garage for that power distribution (yay, I don't have to go through the basement). But then I look again at where the hood will go, make some more measurements, and man, is that duct going to be way up there. I look at the cover for the duct that they supplied. It goes up to cover a duct about 29". My elbow will be located at nearly twice that height. Gads. So then I look online. Is there an extension piece for this thing to make it look all pretty? Of course! It's only $100! Which is like, a third the cost of the hood. I love my wife.

Not to mention that the wall flapper is nearly $50 as well.

So today I must order the wall flapper and maybe tonight I'll crawl around the attic some more and make some electrical tie-ins of sorts. I also think that the extension piece for the duct work probably won't get bought right now. It'll look funny, but that's alright.

This is the last big project. Over the weekend Nick and I put in a bifold door to the laundry room to take care of that issue. Man, is it ever easy to put in a bifold door. Who knew? The hardware doesn't match the others and the door is kind of bowed inward, but hey, that's par for the course.

Holy sense of normal

Ok, so the office is officially set up at home. Blue-grey walls, packed bookshelves, closet slightly full of the other odds and ends, a camera bag and tripod. After two months, the Mac is hooked up again, and the goal will be to keep the desk spartan save for the blinking lights of the Internet.

It feels good to be surrounded by clean walls, taller trim and so many books. Omaha is cold and rainy today. I spent the whole of the work day watching a presentation online and listening to a conference call on the same. Tomorrow I'm at an all-day off site meeting. Wednesday will be a half-day of the same off-site fun.

Since I went to work at 6:30 this morning, I left around 4. And man, is there ever a lot of time in the evening when it's just you and no cable. I tried to watch some sitcoms, but the acting on "How I Met Your Mother" was sucking something fierce. Back to organizing.

I'm sure I'll forget, so let me just say that this Wednesday, November 12, will be my 7th anniversary of Working. I started back in Lancaster in 2001, and it's been a long weird trip ever since.

Wiring stuff

Ok, so the productivity train keeps rolling here at the house. Nick came over today, and we wired up another light in the garage. It's a 3-car, and even with a double-bulb at the only socket, it's still pretty dim. Hence, another ceiling fixture. I'll stick another pair of lights in there (these are all CFLs, mind you) and it'll be perfect. In a side note, I totally dropped two of those CFL bulbs in the garage. There's mercury everywhere. Good thing the kid's not around.

Sunday I'll be wiring up two more lights in the basement. There's a storage room with the AC and water heater and whatnot. Plenty of space for other stuff, but not enough light ... you see the trend here?

Nick also helped me add an electrical outlet so the stove would be happy.

Next up is running the 40 amp service from the stove area (it's gas now, so the giant outlet is available for other purposes) to the garage to a new wall panel. From there it'll power two circuits around the garage (outlets) and then new sconces on the outside of the garage eventually.

I really need to get on insulating that garage. It's stupid cold in there. The weather here in Omaha has dropped to a nice steady 40 degrees ...

Finished the trim (finally) in the "office." Should be able to get that all set up this week. Asim's room is left. The days are numbered, and my travel schedule is spiking here at the end. I have a trip to Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Ohio and then Lancaster. Actually I think this is my last full weekend here before Maria and Asim return.

Gas

The plumber came over this morning to run the gas line to the stove. I have the ability to cook! What's next is adding an electrical outlet to power the stove -- we used an extension cord to check the range -- and then buy the hood and get that installed.

I understand that the plumber is a professional and all that, but I'm still kind of annoyed at how much it cost! I think the electrical bit and the duct work are within my abilities ... I'm sure photos are to follow.

I will also run some electrical out to the garage while I'm at it. More lights!

I had a good time last night painting some trim and watching the election coverage on NBC. The local races were really tight, too.

My boss and I went to vote around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. No line. We were numbers 38 and 39 at the polling station. It was the old-school scantron style. In PA I remember it was the more traditional booth with levers. I would have preferred that. They had a bunch of judges who were up for reelection or whatever ... I opted out of those votes. No need to mess anything up that I don't know anything about.

Bush whacking

Had a really productive weekend. Spent all day Sunday outside (the weather was perfect, and this was the plan) clearing out the landscaping. Photos on flickr. It was very satisfying, and I fixed up a bunch of the downspouts. Apparently the people who cut the grass for our neighborhood enjoy running over the downspouts, making them utterly useless. So I busted out the grinder, cut them back and threw down some splash pans. It's supposed to rain this week, so I figured I should stop letting water creep in under our house.

Tonight before Pittsburgh plays I'll go buy some more stones and dirt and finish clearing out some overgrown bushes around the driveway. I filled up a half-dozen of those lawn bags and I suspect two more are coming tonight.

Made my first trip to Mulhall's here in Omaha. It's a lawn and garden store. For whatever reason, I felt calm and content walking in there. Maybe it was the plants, maybe it was the likeness to Stauffer's -- but about 4x bigger. It was probably also the guy who loads your car trying to find out which rocks I bought and then saying, well, I think this is it. To which I replied, well, yeah, I just need small rocks like this.'Like this? Yep. Ok, here you go! And then they threw in a mostly full open bag of topsoil when I bought six bags.

The weekend was also great thanks to Pitt's 4OT win against Notre Dame. That's some tenacity. Now only if Texas would have won ... oh well.

Marathon

Ok, so to reach my goal of losing a bunch of weight, I've found a marathon to run. This is a rather ambitious goal, yes, but it's got two things going for it.

1. It's the Pittsburgh marathon. Run around Pittsburgh. What's better than that? And even run through Shadyside. I can't tell from the map if I get to run by our condo or not. It comes close.

2. It's May 3rd, putting it a bunch of months away and at least a fortnight before I turn 30.

I ran somewhat regularly when we lived in Pittsburgh in Sept-Oct. Then it got cold, and I lost interest. But when I was doing that, I was happy to see that starting off slow actually worked. I would run the five or so blocks from our condo to Aiken, stop, and then walk back. Then it turned into run there, run back. Then it was run up to Fifth Avenue, down to Aiken, back on Walnut. And so on. Eventually I got up to a 5k which was at a fairly slow pace, but still not too hard.

So last night I started that pattern again. I ran 3/4 of a mile, stopped and walked most of the way back. Yes it was cold, but I'm going to have to suck it up if I want this to work.

Anyway, I tell you this so I can actually like, be accountable and stuff.

30

Well, it's right at 30 weeks until I'm 30. So, a goal. Lose 30 lbs.

It's been raining here all week. All freakin' week. Not all day, but it's basically gloomy and whatnot.

My flight is this afternoon to Louisville. Of course I'm excited about that.

I had my annual review the other day. It went well. Spent more time talking about what the future might hold for me after a few more years in this position. I sort of got here in a hurry, so doing this for a while doesn't really bother me.

The economy is tanking, but I managed a slight raise, so I'm keeping up with inflation and the higher cost of our healthcare plan.

No updates on house projects. Travel last weekend and this made for a rather unproductive week. I cut a few pieces of trim, but they still need to be painted. At least I cut them correctly.

A lovely day for a bike ride

Minneapolis was perfect. I am about 99% sure that it'll be the next (and likely last) stop on the places-to-live tour. Maybe in 2-3 years we can make the move up there. I loved every minute of it.

And there's even an Ikea there! Next to the Mall of America! So that's officially the closest Ikea. Who knew. I didn't take the wagon, though, so I wasn't able to load up on furniture/whatnot.

Went for a bike ride on Sunday afternoon. My buddy, Vishnu, who lives near Lake Harriet guided me around the lakes and then to downtown. On bikes. No really big hills, which was nice.

I didn't wear a helmet, either. That's right. Here's my whole thing about that. I didn't wear it because the drivers there expect there to be bicyclists out and about. They don't here. Or pretty much anywhere else I've been. But you're saying that I wear a seatbelt when I drive. It's the same thing -- with the car, it's not me I'm worried about. It's the other guy slamming into me.

I think if I were riding around with Asim, I'd wear a helmet, though. Because I want him to wear one when he's young and then decide for himself.

Anyway, I love that we biked everywhere. I loved that there are trails around the lake, and that the pedestrian trail is seperate from the bike trail. I love that there are shops all over the place. I love that everywhere I looked, a bike was there. I loved how easy it was to go anywhere on a bike. I loved how I could just go downtown and be there in a few minutes. Love it, love it, love it.

Off to Minneapolis!

On Saturday I'm leaving for Minneapolis. I have some work things to do there on Monday, and possibly Tuesday. In the meantime, I'm going to spend time with a coworker buddy of mine and see an ol' high school friend. I'm pretty excited about all of this. Tonight I'll dig out the digital camera and make sure to take a lot of photos since the flickr account is looking a bit lean these days.

Work is going slowly on the house. I'm happy to pull back because now I realize how much time I have and how little work is actually left. Also, next weekend I'm going to Louisville to see the brother which is tied into a business trip on Monday at a plant in Ohio. I gave myself a four-plus hour drive on Monday morning to the plant from Louisville, but fortunately the meeting starts just after noon. Any excuse I can get to see my brother and his family works for me.

Boy scouts

Last night as I was messing around in the garage (with the new nail guns) some kid came up on the driveway and asked if I wanted to buy Boy Scout popcorn. I declined. I don't have any issue with the Boy Scouts or whatever, but that stuff is expensive. And at work ... I can get all sorts of popcorn products for a lot less.

The only issue was karma. That is, I then pictured a few years down the road when I'd be driving Asim around the neighborhood doing the same thing.

Guess it wouldn't have hurt to get a box.

Nail Gun on its way

According to the gremlins at FedEx, my nail gun set should be here at the office tomorrow. I can only imagine what fun I could have with my coworkers and a nail gun, but I will try to control myself. The other reason I'm excited is because now I'll have compressed air on hand to blow around all the damn sawdust I've been creating (a pain to sweep) and take care of the tires on the cars. And yes, I am driving both of them fairly regularly. The BMW to work, and the wagon to haul wood/tools around in. The wagon is also full of sawdust. It also creaks and groans more and more each day. Huh.

Managed to get a little bit of tv hooked up over the weekend. I have the big three which provided some college football late Saturday night and two games on Sunday which was very nice. I hate that Monday Night games are on ESPN, but the Sunday night on NBC is fairly good tradeoff.

I watched about ten minutes of some "Chuck" show last night on NBC. I'd seen a few minutes of this before several months ago. And it was the exact same scenario. Bad guy has something that good guys want. "Chuck" awkardly tries to take care of it, messes up. Hot chick comes to save the day. Kind of stupid. I'm waiting anxiously for 30 Rock to come back. Maria and I watched the whole first season on Netflix and were hooked.

Economic slowdown

So just checked the ol' bank account. I think it's time to stop the trips to Lowe's and Home Depot. Thankfully October is one of the two three-pay months, but still, man, time to ease off on the home improvement for a while.

I made good progress over the weekend putting more stuff away, getting the futon set up and acquiring three channels on tv -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- which facilitated some football viewing and chip/salsa eating. Asim's room is done with paint. Now the trim remains for the two. I should have Asim's bed painted this week as well. His room is blue, and his bed will be yellow ... hmmm ... I guess it was subconcious on my part. Given this plan, though, it'll probably backfire, and he'll go to Michigan or something.

Went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday with Nick and Family. It was good and wholesome, but rather lame compared to the Apple Festival Thing we did a few weeks back. They had a little petting zoo at the Pumpkin Patch, some activities for the kids, a corn maze, and a hay ride. With no hay. That took you to a "pumpkin patch." Which was just pumpkins spread out in a little field and not the actual patch. But the day was nice, and the people friendly, so that was cool.

Workbench for me, workbench for you

Spent several hours last night at Nick's putting together a more fancy (than mine) workbench. After we got through 80% of assembly, we realized it was too wide, so we had to take it all apart, cut some pieces and reassemble. And of course during that we found some other issues to correct, and lo and behold, I got home at like, midnight trying to figure out what the hell happened.

Since I worked on Sunday, I'm going to go ahead and take tomorrow off, which I'm really excited about. Should be able to get a crapload of work done around the house and maybe even get the car registered (finally). It's got a temporary thing now, but they never called me about the plates, so I have to sort that business out.

The weather here in Omaha is pretty nuts. I go to work and it's like, 45. I get home, and it's about 80. I have a sweatervest on now (ha!) but I'm sure I'll be sweating on the way home. Freezin' in this here office, though.

Finally got the mailbox key yesterday, too. The locksmith came and put another one on. We had this hilarious moment when he's like, "eh, do you have like, some papers that show that this is yours?" Sure do! Here are all closing documents, still in a folder, still in the trunk of my car.

Weekend activities

1. Epoxy-coated garage floor with Nick. Then went to his house and did his. Turned out fairly well. It's only a problem if you look at the whole thing at once. Then you notice patches. But there will be "stuff" and "cars," so not a big deal.

2. Second coated the study. Asim's room is still left.

3. Watched part of the Nebraska game. Not good times for people here.

4. Susan Komen 5k on Sunday morning! That's right. Like, several thousand people came out, and I actually ran the entire thing, which is kind of a big deal for me (since I'm still fat). I figure I finished in about 33 minutes or so. I thought I signed up for chip timing, but apparently not. Whatever. I can read a clock.

5. Worked for like, 12 hours from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. down in Lincoln. Driving back at that time isn't the best idea in the world. Thank goodness I can turn the music way up in the car and it can shake me awake.

Y'all are losers

After helping buddy Nick with some easy housework, we went over to a sports bar last night so I could watch the Pitt-USF game. (Hail to Pitt! We won!) Anyway, as I said, we went to a sports bar. One big tv, many small ones. About a dozen people in there, probably could have held a hundred. Anyway, got the Pitt game on the big tv (score) and noticed other sporting events (Cubs game, Utah game, golf) on the other channels.

And then they also had the debate on.

The VP debate.

On two of the televisions. Not a big deal. Fine, it's news. Something crazy might happen, and you will want to say you saw it.

But then there was the table next to ours. Six people, clearly organized, who had gathered to watch the debate.

At a sports bar.

Y'all are losers.

We are in Nebraska. Not in DC. Or anywhere in the beltway. Do not come to a bar to watch the debate.

But why not? It's on, it's ok.

Then don't cheer at the tv. Don't high-five your buddy. Don't jump out of your seat. Don't laugh at comments made.

It's a sports bar.

They give you these little speakers to put on your table so you can hear whatever channel you want. So naturally I continued to turn ours up since they cranked theirs.

But seriously, people. Make your little blue-and-red cookies at home and keep them there for your party.

All moved in

So last night I finished up the move; everything is totally in the house now. Glad that's over with. Now The List begins. I ordered a bunch of tools last night -- in my continuing efforts to single-handedly save the economy -- which should be here on Monday.

I was originally going to paint tonight, but there's a Pitt-South Florida game on tonight. So something will have to be done there. Each room only takes an hour to paint, but I still don't have cable, so that's not really helping. There's a bar down the road (instead of within walking distance as before).

There are some changes going on here at work that have kept me mentally preoccupied, but I think ultimately they will be for the better -- a bit of cleaning house, I hope. Not of me. Just a bad apple that managed its way in. I also got this automated e-mail that says my annual review is coming up in mid-October. I'll be celebrating four years with the company (in two stints) and have only had one previous review.

Paint

So the weekend was busy with the rodeo (get to it in another longer post) and painting. I picked out a gray-blue for my office, and blue for Asim's room. I wanted to go with a green for his room, but I couldn't decide on the right shade. So he got a blue that came from one of those cards they have at the paint color display. The first coats are on both rooms, and I probably won't get around to the second until Thursday since I still have a few things to move out of the old apartment -- kitchen things, mostly.

I also had a 10% off coupon at Lowe's which I thought was for one item. No. It was for the entire purchase at that time. Oh. Time to get more stuff. Several hundred dollars later, and I had more paint and the rest of the epoxy coat for the garage. That damn stuff ain't cheap, either. But it will sure make the garage look nice! That'll likely be next weekend's project. I also got a miter saw (Walz!) and a battery-operated nail gun which I'm really stoked about.

The miter saw and nail gun are for reinstalling taller trim in my study and Asim's room. Eventually the entire house will be changed over, but since I painted these ones already, why the heck not. Once the second coats are done, then I can finally get around to organizing and getting our new home life in order. That goes same for the garage. Which requires ... insulation and drywall. But before that -- we need to run electrical all around and put in more lights. I figure I can tap off the 40 amp circuit that's powering the stove. Since Maria wants gas. So I need to get someone in to run the gas line. And so on and so on.

I also had trouble lighting the pilot light on the water heater. So I took another cold shower this morning. I can't smell any gas when I turn on the gas line, so I'm a bit worried there. Maybe when they come to install the gas for the stove they can help me out. Until then it's going to be cold showers. The good news is that a cold shower tends to be a very quick one.

Another move, another UHaul

Yesterday I bit the bullet and got a UHaul truck to finish up the move. Kind of had to since it started raining -- the first move that I've ever done in any kind of rain, mind you -- and the only other option was a buddy's pickup. That would have been terrible.

I often wonder how people without friends move. Are they the ones hiring out for an in-town move? Thanks to coworker Nick, the Moving of Large Items took about three hours total. There was minimal scratching, but must consternation over getting the futon mattress out the door.

The nice thing about moving in was slapping the truck ramp right into the front door. And so now the "living room" is filled with everything. Just tossed it in there. Some of the master bedroom furniture is lazily strewn about, and last night I slept in the condo since the new house hasn't got hot water or any sense of order. And by "sense of order," I mean the condo looks like my dresser threw up, so that's not really much better.

Tonight I need to get the rest of the clothes, picture frames and electronics packed up. Thursday the kitchen will need to get packed. I'm saving that Christmas-wrapping bonanza until then.

Scratched and dented

Went to the Country's Largest Furniture store today. No, really. It's here in Omaha. Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Anyway, the last few times I went there, I was less than impressed with their new appliance selection. Particularly the gas stoves. There was a bit of a cost "gap" right where I was ready to spend money. I love Maria, but I don't love her $2,000 stove enough. I also routinely check the returned stuff, and there's never a fridge in my price range or a matching set of washer and dryer.

Except today.

Today I walked in there and spotted a fabulous GE washer. And its matching dryer. Front load, and get this -- pedestals included. Let me say that again -- pedestals included.

For those of you who have lusted over front load washer and dryer units, you understand what a rip those pedestals are. I was ready to splurge on the units and build my own pedestals. Maybe it doesn't look as good. Maybe they're flimsy. Maybe they don't have storage. But at least they're not like, $180 each.

So score on the washer and dryer. Then I walk around a bit more past the $4,000 fridges. And the $2,000 ones. And find ... one in my price range. Another GE! Two small dents on the front. I'm sure Asim will trump those, so add that to the list.

No gas ranges in sight, so I head out with the saleslady, and she points me to a rather nice model -- GE that's right in the price range. But then I think about how much I love my wife and how much I hate buying jewelry (ha!) so I look at the range to the left, see a marginal price premium and say, yep, toss that on the order, too.

You see, the issue is that the appliances we have now in our swank downtown loft are pretty nice. I've never had a gas range before, but I've noticed that, quite simply, the more btus per burner, the better. So I went for the most btus I could get. Plus everything sort of matches. After another year or three I'll stainless steel up the dishwasher -- it's white.

I think I spent more time waiting for the saleslady to enter the order than it took me to pick the stuff out. But hey, I went back online after work, put everything in "brand new," and found out that I saved at least $800. So I was happy.

This evening I bought a remote control for the garage door opener. And it works! I programmed it and whatnot. I also noticed the other night the total lack of outdoor lights. Like, none. Nothing on the ground, nothing on the exterior. Fortunately, the garage isn't finished, so it looks like mounting them on the outside of the garage should be fairly simple. And those lights should do the front up really nice.

Tomorrow I'm borrowing a buddy's truck, so the big ticket items will be on their way. The wagon is still doing a great job hauling the smaller stuff.

Going well so far

The Moving of Stuff is going fairly well. The Usage of Tubs is exactly what I thought it would be -- fill a bunch of tubs, take it to the house, empty them, take them back. And I bought a dolly, too. The kind that transforms into a four-wheel beast. Perfect.

I changed the locks today, too. And then realized that the silver finish that I got for the handle doesn't exactly match the brass knocker and kickplate. Ooops. Got a ladder to change some smoke detector batteries. I'll also need it to change the fans and lights which are also rather ugly.

The Volvo Wagon is proving to be a wonderful Hauler of Crap, too. I want to see what the limits are as far as furniture. Somehow, I don't think the queen-size box spring probably won't fit in it.

The closing went well on Friday afternoon. Found out there was an outstanding lien -- the previous owners hadn't paid any of the HOA dues. Ever. But that's not an issue I need to worry about. The bank that sold me the house is obligated to clear everything. It's just funny that there aren't any legal repercussions to not paying the dues. It's not like they'll stop cutting your grass or something. Nope. Still take out the trash.

Walked through

Had the walkthrough this morning. Nothing spectacular. The only issue was a few areas that needed to be patched up after some leaks were fixed. You see, once they turned the water on -- to do the home inspection -- some things leaked. So drywall was cut, and pipes were fixed. They did a "satisfactory" job in patching and repairing.

It seems like every time I go to the house the rooms get smaller. And I notice more things that need to be fixed or cleaned or both. Like all along the trim there is a nice layer of dust. Hands and knees, hands and knees.

Closing is today at 1 p.m. Pretty stoked. I think after the closing, I'll swing by the Lowe's, pick up some new locks and then go to the house. A bunch of packed tubs/suitcases will make it over tonight. I haven't really decided on the "cutover" to the new place for myself yet.

House!

Just heard from the mortgage guy -- the loan is good! No exact date/time for closing yet, but there are no longer any hangups! So excited!!

CostCo

So every once in a while when Nick and I get bored at work and are pining for a cheap lunch (cheaper than peanut butter and jelly, of course) we head over to the CostCo. Not for the free samples, but because you can get a hot dog (kosher) and a drink for $1.50. And then a slice of pizza (way too thick and cheesy, so you only really need one) for $2. If you're ambitious (as I am) you'll opt for the $1 churro as well. Total cost today: $4.80. And I'm stuffed. Not exactly healthy, but it works out well.

The funny thing is that my membership expired in August, and I haven't bothered renewing it yet. But I've still got the card which gets you in.

Still freaking out

So, I gave the bad news to the mortgage guy -- namely that my condo fee in Pittsburgh is what it is. There's not way to lessen it despite my efforts -- even though it covers more than just the maintenance. Anyway, it's in the hands of the underwriter as we speak, and I'll find out this afternoon if it's all going to happen or not.

I'm not sure how to feel about all of this. On the one hand, I feel that they want this to happen just as much as me. And would be willing to do whatever it takes. On the other hand, if I'm out of getting a house and thus my earnest money, I'll still save money long-term by renting after our lease ends at the end of this months. I don't know where we'd live or if Maria would still be up for living downtown, but I guess we can face that issue later.

Freaking out

So I'm spending today freaking out. You see, there is one letter remaining that we need to have to make this closing happen. And of course it's in someone else's hands, and it's taking a long time to get back to me. My fault of course for not getting it earlier, but really, I didn't think they'd need documentation for every freaking thing in my financial life.

The issue is that the closing is slated for Thursday. Each day that we go past that, it's a hundred bucks that I have to pay. So we're already looking at a Friday closing. And a Monday one would be $300. So annoying. The only good news is that it's freakin' beautiful out today. And I am continuing to rediscover the joy of microwave popcorn.

Tub move

So this time for the move, I'm going to focus on using giant plastic tubs to haul the stuff to the new house. Screw the cardboard boxes. Nick was able to give me a few boxes, and I bought a bunch from WalMart and Lowe's. I found out that if you buy really cheap bins, they smell really, really bad. You need to get the nice ones from Walmart or Target or whatever.

I also realized the other day that this move will be about 2.5x what a sole move usually is. And what I'm used to on my own. So it's going to be a little more painful. Cause like, Maria? Yeah. Lots of clothes. And stuff. That kid's got a lot of stuff, too! It's all tiny, but there's a lot of it. So if you integrate ...

Also, I learned that if you go to a restaurant, and they use "cheese product" on their nachos (like whiz) that you should never order them again. I made that mistake last night, and things are still rather unsettled today. Oy.

Power test

So I've got this fancy exercise bike that tells you how much power you're putting out. My buddy, Nick, who lives in Omaha (also an Indy transplant) rides to work and coerces me to go on long Saturday morning rides as well. However, this Saturday I convinced him to come over and do a Power Test to find out his functional threshold power. You can then repeat this every month to see how you are progressing in terms of fitness.

The test can be done two ways. The first is to just do an hour "time trial." That is, go for 60 minutes as hard as you can, but still keeping up the same effort for the whole hour. It's a tricky thing to determine.

The other way (the way that he did it) was to warm up for 10 minutes, go all out for 5 minutes (to wake up your body) then take it easy for 10, then time trial it for 20 minutes followed by a cool down. Then you take the 95% of the average over the 20 minutes and use that as your power.

After seeing him do this (I packed and did some laundry and tried to encourage him as much as possible) I decided not to put myself through a similar hell. I also certainly didn't meet my goal of 100 miles over the weekend ... ended up doing an easy ride for an hour while I watched football on Sunday. It gets so ... boring. And painful. Since you're not moving and there's no cushion between you and the "road."

Baking

Since I have some time, I've decided to try my hand at baking. Last weekend I made some zucchini bread, and there are two loaves of pumpkin bread in the oven. I'm not really particular about the recipe. I search for one online and use whatever comes up first. They're pretty basic, old-school versions -- several cups of sugar and all.

Last week's zucchini bread yielded two loaves. One went to work and got eaten up in about an hour (there are about a dozen of us in the office now) the other I worked on myself.

I can smell the pumpkin permeating through the apartment as we speak. Glorious.

What I need to do

Ok, so here's the list. Or at least part of it. Because I'll likely add to it. But these are the things that I started thinking about when Maria's trip got really serious (her younger sister is getting married in early Oct., in case you're wondering why they went).

1. Paint, tile and trim laundry room.
2. Paint, tile and trim bathroom x 3
3. Paint study
4. Paint Asim's room
5. Replace light fixtures and fans
6. Stabilize deck
7. Install oven hood that vents to outside

The deal with the house is that for now, yes, it's totally livable. Really, we don't have to do anything to it. However, I know that we want to do. We would like ceramic tile in our bathrooms and laundry rooms. We would like rooms painted. And there's really no better time to do time-consuming dirty work then when your two-year-old is out of the country.

Oh, right, the deck. So, we had the home inspection, and the guy is like, your deck is wobbly. Say what? We go out to the 12x12' deck, shake our asses, and lo and behold, it sways almost a foot in each direction. A foot! Insane. The deck will be totally rebuilt next spring, but for now, a few braces should take care of it (no worries. I have a degree).

8. Insulate and drywall garage
9. Epoxy coat garage floor

As you can see from the photos, the garage is less than done. And it's going to get cold soon. So I might as well get that done.

There is a good bit of work, but while the tasks may be daunting the idea of having an excuse to buy shiny new power tools is very appealing.

No, we're not moving.

Got a hilarious response from Melissa when I let everybody know this blog was back up.

"I so thought this email was going to say that you were moving to another state!"

(Preface: I have a feeling I've written this before. But I can't find where. May have been an e-mail. But if you're reading it again, just think of it as a good ol' rerun.)

I understand that I've moved a lot. I just thought it'd be fun to find out exactly how much. So here we go. Let's start from college:

1. Pittsburgh to Lancaster
2. Lancaster to Chestnut Hill
3. Chestnut Hill to Ardmore
4. Ardmore to Lancaster
5. Lancaster to Pittsburgh
6. Pittsburgh to Carmel, IN
7. Carmel to Omaha

So, I graduated in August 2001, and by August 2008 there have been 7 moves. Yeah, that's probably a bit much. And of course there's another one coming up ...

In case you didn't know about the house, it is a foreclosure. It's actually been foreclosed on ... twice. It went through the auction process, and nobody loved it enough to pick it up. So we did! We did after putting an offer in on an older home that was turned down after a little back-and-forth. Then I started looking at the cheapest houses on golf courses. And found this little beauty. So it's not actually on the course, but it's in a golf course community. That means that when you walk to the end of the block, you can see a green, and there are golf cart paths snaking around everywhere. Despite being Suburban Hell, it's relatively beautiful. Save for all the empty lots. But whatever!

The driving commute to work is about 22 minutes, and the bike ride in is 11.5 miles that takes about 50 minutes. No, I'm not that slow. There are several rather long hills between me and downtown. And yes, it's hilly in Omaha. No, really. Don't believe me? Come visit, and we'll go for a bike ride.

Thank you boredom, I'm back

Thanks to Maria and Asim being out of the country, I've got a bunch of time on my hands. Hence, the blog is back. I figured it'd be a good way to let everybody know what I'm up to and give myself some accountability when I say I'm going to do something (like lose weight).

So to summarize the house purchase:

We had a closing ... scheduled for today. But then thanks to some documents taking too long to get, it's been pushed until next Wednesday. I also didn't realize that in Nebraska you can't buy property without letting your spouse know. Ha! So I needed to get a power of attorney. From Maria. Who is in Pakistan. Rather tricky. But that's in progress.

I'm a little annoyed at not having the closing this weekend only because I'm losing a weekend of moving. We don't have to move out until the end of the month which is nice. I have started some packing -- using giant tubs -- so at least the night of the closing I can make a few trips to get Asim's stuff over there.

Other than that, I've been doing a lot of reading and minimal bike riding. My goal for the books is to finish one every week for the next three months (on track so far) and then with bike riding it's to (between the real bike and the exercise bike) ride 100 miles a week. I'm not really doing well on that, but if I can bust out 3x30 miles over the weekend as I watch football, I should be alright.

Next weekend: Apple Festival down in Nebraska City. I am really, really stoked about this. Last one that I went to was in college up in Ithaca. That's when I brought back like, three gallons of cider.

Seriously, I think that's it.

That's enough of this blog. I am way too lazy and distracted to keep this up. If you need information on our lives, stay tuned to the flickr feed. That at least gets updated once a week or so.

Ugh. How much longer?

Clearly I'm bad at this. But here are some bits from the past oh, six weeks?

The holidays in Lancaster were a fine time. A week off, quick flight over and back, and many friends at home as well. Even did some outlet shopping.

New Year's in Omaha. Nothing exciting. Enjoyed how I got to see the NYC New Year's at 11 p.m. And then a rerun of the same on another channel at midnight. We stayed home. There were fireworks ...somewhere. Too damn cold to go out.

Maria and Asim have canceled their Pakistan trip until things settle down over there. Maybe in the fall, maybe next year at this time.

Still walking to work. Still a big fan despite the cold.

I will move into our new offices this week, and I'm pretty stoked. I shall have to include photos on flickr.

We figured out where the Pottery Barn is and have determined that the Crate and Barrel Dream Sectional may have to wait for several more years while the Almost-as-dreamy-Pottery Barn Sectional may do. Then again, the futon is doing just fine, thankyouverymuch.

I lost the title for the Jetta during the move. I have requested it from Indiana and when I get it, the car will be sold.

I took my first corporate jet flight this past Friday. It was so nice. Here are the three best things:

1. Drive to airport and get onto plane. Plane then leaves.
2. If you're done early, you can call the plane, and it shows up early.
3. Get off plane and walk to car. Leave.

I went with the client -- their jet, their 6 other people -- so it'll be a while before it happens again. We went to Minneapolis to pick up two people and then to Toledo. Same way back.