It’s a beautiful morning out there, so I snapped a shot of the sunrise as I see it on my way to work (I head west in the morning).

Sunrise

So, um, this is going to be sort of a mishmash of thoughts, potentially stream of consciousness level stuff. You’ve been warned.

Coming home last night, I drove past this guy panhandling at the end of an off-ramp.

Got
change?

I hate that shit. You know, I do feel bad for people who can’t make ends meet and all that, but come on now - leave me alone. I’m not going to give you any beer money, man. Particularly not in the middle of rush hour traffic. I donate to the local soup kitchen; my tax dollars go to facilities to help people like you… use the proper channels. Harrassing me on my way home is not the way to go.

Oh, and when the brand new Suburban picked up another guy off the corner and dropped you off, like you’re all rotating panhandling positions? Yeah, I saw that, friend. Kind of sours my attitude.

Went to Mervyn’s a couple of weeks back and saw these little handbags that looked like bustiers. There was a black velvet one that I thought would go good with some decor we have in the dining room, but I figured there were three of them on the rack so I’d go home and think about it.

Came back two days later and they were all gone.

I’ve been trying to find that one ever since. Unfortunately, Mervyn’s is one of those stores that doesn’t know when the next shipment is coming in or what it’s going to contain, so I have to keep calling back every few days, which I’m quickly tiring of.

After four days of not calling, I called again yesterday and they described a couple of the styles they had in. Nothing I’d seen before, so I went with Jenn and checked them out. Jenn ended up getting a little pink one with roses on it (to carry around):

Jenn's new
bag

And I got a gold Asian silk one with frog closures on the front that will go well with some stuff in the living room (I don’t have a picture of that). I’m still looking for the black one, but not as avidly. I checked eBay and they have several interesting styles, but not the one I saw before. Bah. I should know better; if I see something I like, I have to buy it on the spot or I miss my opportunity. Always happens.

home comments edit

My house inspection was successful except for some pretty minor cosmetics:

  • There’s a cracked tile in the kitchen countertop
  • The grout around the kitchen sink needs to be touched up
  • The trim around the front door needs to be repainted
  • There’s a spackled area above the front door that needs some touch-up paint
  • There’s a dime-sized area on the ceiling above the storage closet under the stairs that has lost its texture
  • There’s some ceiling patching in the kitchen that needs to be painted up (it looks like they’ve had some settling cracks that they had repaired; I’m waiting to hear back on a confirmation that that’s all it was)
  • There are some loose electrical wires (presumedly not hot wires) in the crawl space that need to be bundled up and properly terminated

Since that all went according to plan and I was able to go back there and spend some time taking pictures, as promised, I posted some pictures in my photo gallery for those curious to see what the house looks like.

I also promised some specs/stats, so here you go:

  • 2315 square feet (1151 upstairs, 1164 downstairs)
  • Vinyl siding
  • Composite roofing
  • 4 bedrooms and a bonus room (master bedroom, two regular bedrooms, bonus room, and an office… but I think they count the office as a bedroom)
  • 2.5 baths
  • Built-in microwave, range, oven
  • Gas fireplace (with blower)
  • Walk-in closet and bath off master
  • Gas heat
  • Air conditioning
  • Maple cabinets and tile counters in kitchen
  • Oak hardwood floors (not Pergo!) in the entryway and kitchen
  • Two-car garage with automatic opener

I hope that’s enough for those of you craving more info. Again, I highly encourage you to check out the pictures and see what you think!

traffic comments edit

It’s been a little while (hey, I’ve been busy!) so I figured I’d start this fine day out with a Traffic Asshole.

Today’s is less a “Traffic Asshole” than a “Parking Asshole.” This right here is why I hate people who own large trucks:

Parking on the line doesn't mean you're in the
space.

Here are a couple of pointers for those of you who somehow feel the need to buy gigantic trucks even though you don’t go off road and you don’t haul anything:

Don’t park in compact spaces. See the label on the space that says “COMPACT?” Your truck doesn’t qualify. Don’t try it, it’s not going to fit. Even if you squint, it’s not coming close. Go park in the larger spots. It will probably be less convenient, but that’s the price you pay for wasting our natural resources.

Parking on the line doesn’t mean you’re in the spot. If your tire’s riding the line, especially if it’s all the way on the line, you’re not in the spot. You need to be between the lines. Pretend those lines are walls. You can’t park in the wall, can you? Of course not. Don’t park in the line, either.

It’s okay to try again. If you get out of your behemoth and you see you’re not quite in the space, nobody cares if you get back in and correct yourself. In fact, I’d wager people would openly encourage you to resolve the situation. Back ‘er up and try again. There’s no shame in it.

If you follow these handy parking tips, I think the world in general would be a better place. Wars would cease and famine would end. I bet they’d find a cure for the common cold and cancer. All you have to do is try. For all our sakes, please try.

home comments edit

My original plan was to rent a U-Haul truck, move the small stuff myself, then hire some guys to come and load/unload the heavy stuff.

After calculating it out, it would only cost a couple hundred more bucks to get a full-service outfit to do the whole thing (minus packing).

So I called up and canceled my truck rental reservation and now the moving company will show up at 9:00a, truck and all, ready to go. I just need to be supervisory/moral support and the work will all be done for me. That’s exactly how I like it. Hopefully this will take the sucky lameness out of moving so I can focus on the positive portion of things. Plus, these guys are hooking me up with some boxes, so I can start the packing process right away. I like that.

I’ve contacted my apartment complex to get the paint color I need to repaint my walls to (we have a cobalt blue wall in the living room that Jenn and I painted up) and it turns out they’re just going to leave us some paint to use, so we just have to go get some primer and a couple of rollers. Good deal.

Finally, the escrow company mailed me a receipt for my earnest money check, so I know that’s all going according to plan.