My closing has been moved up from next Friday (the 7th) to this Friday (the 31st). Eeck! I’m still looking at a two-week process for the move, now doing the packing next weekend (the 8th) and then having the movers come on the 13th.
Basically, everyone was ready to go, I think the seller is anxious to be done and over with the property (it’s being sold by an estate), so we’re doing it sooner rather than later. Fine by me!
The visit to the parents and other family members was good. My new niece, the three and a half week old one, is tres cute, with a full head of very black hair (all spikey, too – punk rock baby!). We’ve determined that her nickname is one that irritates my sister-in-law, so of course we’re all using it (including my brother, interestingly enough). The older niece turned nine on Friday and liked seeing her Uncle Moose, especially since I think I roughhouse a tad more with her than her father does or my parents can (i.e., picking her up, flipping her over, etc). I’m enjoying the chance to play with her while I still can – both her parents are a good chunk taller than I am, and she’s catching up to them rapidly.
Despite the best laid plans, I did nothing more athletic than lifting a wine glass the entire time I was there (though I did get through several levels of Super Princess Peach). Ah well. The Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler is going to hurt this weekend.
Placed a couple calls about the utilities today and was pleased to discover that it’s going to be pretty painless to switch the cable and phone stuff over to Richard without a disruption in service. Thank heavens. Of course, the cable company I use now doesn’t have service in the new building, so I have to decide what I’m doing for ‘net access. I’m leaning heavily toward DSL as opposed to cable because frankly I don’t think I’m going to notice the difference between 3Mbps (DSL) and 5MBps (cable), but I know I’ll notice the $20+ price difference (~$35 for DSL, ~$57 for cable). A decision to be made soon, but not necessarily today.
I’m also dealing with some drama with my real estate agent, but that should get resolved today. I hope. Nothing that’s screwing up the deal, that’s solid and set, it’s just some timing issues on things.
Work has been absolutely insane today, with things we thought were waiting on something else suddenly not needing that something else, or the meeting that we thought was happening on topic A suddenly being on topic B. Ugh. Hopefully that’s not the trend for the entire week, but I don’t have my hopes up.
Drove down to the home of the parental units today. The drive was uneventful, though I seem to have maintained my case of leadus footus, and managed to get here in a little under 3.5 hours. I’m reminded of why I enjoy not owning a car, and not driving on a regular basis – it drives me batty (no pun intended). People don’t get out of the way when they’re not passing, they go slow in the left lane, they don’t use turn signals, etc. Ugh. But I got here just fine.
The niece is enjoying Super Princess Peach, and ’twas fun seeing her. My brother, on the other hand, lives like a pig. Admitedly, he was sick the past couple of days, but their apartment is an absolute mess, with stuff everywhere. Glad he’s not in a highrise or he’d have had bugs all over the place – they love that kind of environment. I shudder just thinking about it.
Showed my parents pictures of the new place via snapfish. I’ll get them uploaded & posted here sometime this next week, after I’m back.
Otherwise it’s quiet here. Going to do some shopping tomorrow with the ‘rents, and I think we may be doing cake for the niece. After that drive I should sleep like the dead tonight, and then I have to figure out if I want to swim or run tomorrow. Either would be good, it’s a matter of where & how long.
I think the enormity of buying shares property has finally caught up with me. I’ve been totally unfocused on work all day, and very much feeling like I have too much (personal stuff) to do and too little (personal) time in which to do it, none of which is conducive to concentrating on obscure references to old statutes. [insert loud sigh here]
Right now I think my schedule is going to be: April 7, close, spend that weekend shopping, picking up some things for the new place (mattress, trash can, shower curtain, etc.); April 15, packing get-together; April 20, get movers in to relocate me; April 21, attempt not to hyperventilate and get the apartment set up. I have the leave approved for the 7th, 20th & 21st, now I just have to find movers and close.
The Little Piggy Who Stayed Home is a trifle sore, and I can tell the nail is a tad darker than usual, but oddly enough it was completely pain-free on my run this afternoon. The dress shoes are another story, but those are never large enough for my toes, even at 2E width (I wear 4E width in running shoes). Doesn’t help to have odd feet.
Am definitely addicted to Super Princess Peach now. It took a bit to figure out that the water wheels had to be cried upon to get them to move, and the windmill had to be cycloned to get it to move, but now that I’ve learned their tricks I was able to move up two levels tonight. Such fun.
Tried to swim tonight, but the Y, as usual, never updates their web site so they had a class in there when I wanted to go in, so I got some Thai food, then groceries, then home to goof off.
I’m excited about the move, but honestly, I just want it over and done with. I want the end result, but not the process (unlike, say, triathlon, where the process is more the point). And I’m worried about window treatments, of all the odd things. I don’t need any in the living room yet, but I will need some in the bedroom so I can sleep (which means I want it as dark as possible at night). And I have no clue what’s out there, or what I want. I only know that whatever faces the outside of the building has to be white, per the cult rules (so, a liner or sheers on the inside/outside?). Ugh.
Headed home this weekend to see my parents, my brother, his wife, my 9 year old niece and my three week old niece. Should be fun, and I’ll get to try out the bed I’ll be sleeping on in the parents’ RV in June when we go up for my triathlon.
My agent just called, I’ve been approved to join the cult co-op. Now I just have to go to settlement on the 7th, and I’ll be a property owner share owner in a co-operative corporation.
Even if it is supposed to snow today, the first full day of Spring, the DC Department of Parks & Recreation made sure my first spring day was complete by weed-whacking their front lawn in sub-freezing temperatures this morning. Nothing like the smell of freshly cut frozen grass to make you feel all warm & fuzzy. Or at least all sniffly.
Today the “G” in “OGC” stands for “Grammar.” I’m reviewing a report that we have to give to our overlords the Congress and it’s just chock full ‘o nuts errors. Semi-colon abuse is the most frequent problem, but there are plenty of others clamoring for the top position.
Oh, and I have seen an occasional snow flake this afternoon, but they’re awfully sparse thus far. I think it’s waiting until the evening rush because, as one co-worker put it, “It’s not a real storm in DC unless it hits at rush hour.”
I started pre-positioning myself to be in the new place with little in the way of entertainment (i.e., no television yet) and bought another game for my DS. Super Princess Peach. It’s so delightfully cheesy, a twist on the classic Super Mario games in which Princess Peach has to save the boys instead of the other way around. Played about 1/2 an hour tonight and it’s very addicting. Not quite as addicting as Animal Crossing: Wild World is, but still fun. Also bought a copy of it to give to my niece for her birthday this weekend.
This is making it all the more tempting to get a gaming console when it finally comes out. But first, of course, the television is needed to run it on. I’m leaning toward a dual use machine, one that’ll be a TV and a computer monitor. I’m going to put my desk in the living room so I don’t spend all of my time in the bedroom, so it makes sense just to have one device for the PC/Mac Desktop and television. I’d like to eventually also get a media PC/Mac to run stuff from, but that’s a while down the road. First get in, get settled, then worry about larger entertainment issues.
I might lose a toenail. I’m not sure yet, but the Little Piggy Who Stayed Home on my right foot got rather testy in the last 5 minutes of my 2 hour run today. Hasn’t turned black or anything, but it’s definitely not happy with me.
After the run I dragged Richard with me to City Lights for some much needed protein (mmm, tofu…). Was pleasant, both the meal and the company, and I enjoyed both immensely.
I supposedly have a closing date now: April 7th. So in not-quite-three weeks I’ll be signing lots of paperwork to send myself into lots of debt (but with the reward of a place to live). I’m looking forward to it (the place to live, not the debt). I will likely hire movers this time, but I think I’m also going to have a “packing party” to get stuff into boxes beforehand. So if you’ve evern wanted to see what bad taste I have/had in clothes, or what my sex toy collection looks like, I’ll welcome any assistance.
Other than that, the cold I had last week is pretty much gone, replaced by the lovely spector of DC allergies. Now I remember why I keep the sudafed around. As I mentioned above, the run went well. Hopefully I’ll be knuckling down a bit more on the training as I’m a little over 2 months out from the race (eeck!). Have to arrange for leave and all that fun stuff soon, too, but I think not until after I get moved.
If you had to have a day off this week, yesterday was the day to do it. It was absolutely glorious here in DC, high in the 80s, nice wind going, just gorgeous. I had the day off for my every 6 months cleaning (“You don’t floss enough, do you…”), which necessitated biking down on the mountain bike, then home again to switch bikes and go on a nice not-quite-2-hour ride on the tri bike. After a second shower, it was off to the grocery store with my bag lady cart to pick up food & sundries (TP!), then a nice, lazy afternoon resting from all the riding and walking.
This was the first time I’d gotten a chance to head out for any extended period of time on the tri bike since I bought it, and I was looking forward to the chance to sit down in the aero bars and see how that felt “in real life” (as opposed to sitting on the trainer). It was surprisingly comfortable, except for my neck. I’m going to have to get a different helmet, without the cute little visor thing on the front, because that had me keeping my head craned up at too strong an angle to see under it, which lead to some neck stiffness about half way through the ride. Oh, and I have to remember to get some fresh sun screen – I have a lovely farmer’s burn on my arms, with a nice sharp line across the biceps. The joys of being paler than pale.
Having just gone to the grocery store I was able to make a lovely, simple dinner of sauteed broccoli over pasta (heat olive oil, throw in cut up broccoli, cook for a while until the broccoli “reduces” down, then throw in chopped garlic, maybe some red pepper flakes, and pine nuts, saute a few minutes, throw in 1/4 cup or less of water, cover, cook 5 minutes or so to steam the broccoli, serve over pasta; add oil as necessary while cooking to ensure you have enough to coat the broccoli and the pasta), some salad and toast. Yum. That was lunch today, too.
This morning, though, the legs were really telling me I had run more than I have been used to (damned time out), and that biking in real life is not the same as the trainer; my quads were especially unhappy with me when I awoke this morning. Thankfully after a nice, slow recovery run this afternoon they’ve calmed down considerably.
Unfortunately as this week goes on, it’s getting colder and colder, reminding us that it’s still winter, officially. Hopefully it won’t be too nasty this weekend (doesn’t look it) so I can get outside and work out more. Winter’s hold is slowly giving way, and it can’t leave soon enough.