Moved

We moved in on the 15th, have been there ever since! Finally got the garage straightened out so that we can park both cars in it as of yesterday. The study and dining room are still in disarrary, the rest is taking shape pretty nicely.

Looks real

Our (current) house was inspected on Wednesday, we got the buyer's list of things to be fixed today. They were relatively minor and we agreed to fix them. The buyer's earnest money is now non-refundable.

We had a garage sale today, took in about $600. Took the rest of the stuff to the Goodwill. Used the rental truck that we used to haul things to the Goodwill to pick up some new chairs at Pier 1 and outdoor umbrellas at Paddock's. We will be ready for the move next Saturday. We take possession on Friday morning. I am meeting the carpet cleaners at 9:00 am, then picking up a rental Tahoe at the airport. John and I will move a bunch of boxes that Susan does not want the movers handling.

Big Changes

We got an offer for the house yesterday, made a counter offer (minor tweaks) and they accepted this morning. Close of escrow is 8/23. We will have one (8/1) overlap house payment, which is no big deal at all. Not sure how they measure days on the market but if it is from when you list it to when you have a contract, the number is 27 days, not too shabby.

Susan accepted a job as Director of Special Education at Fowler Elementary School District, starting 7/17. She was with PVUSD for nearly 20 years.

Latest developments

The housing market is in the crapper and we have lowered our asking price. The house has been on the market for 19 days and we have had 16 visits to the house so we probably should not complain, but it is nervewracking.

We close on June 30 but lease back to the current owners for two weeks.

Garage sale on July 1

Take possession at 8:00 am on July 14th, carpets cleaned that morning.

Movers arrive between 8 and 9 on the 15th.

I am taking the 30th, 3rd, 14th and 17th off of work.

There is a SOLD sign at the new house.

Lots more pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures of the house.

We bought it

We made an offer on the first one in my previous post and it was accepted!

Here is a map of the place. We are 2 blocks from Encanto Park, 5 blocks from Central, 9 blocks from the light rail stations at Central/Thomas and Central/Encanto, 10 blocks from the Heard Museum.

Moving?

We have decided to sell our house and move to some place like the Willo or Roosevelt districts. Here are a couple of houses that we have looked at:

I was ready to buy this one

{This was a link to a house on West Almeria, the link is no longer valid.}

Susan didn't like the flooring in the first house and thought that the yard would be too much work. The second one turned out to have the businesses facing McDowell across the back alley (pawn shop, tattoo/piercing parlor, apartments).

We have gotten hooked up with a real estate agent and have started cleaning out closets.

Need to post more often if I expect anybody to read this stuff

Lori and Mike are having a baby and buying a new house in Maricopa. Plenty of details on Mike's blog (link to your right). I am starting to get used to the idea.

We leave for Vienna on Friday.

Korea is leading the US 7-1. I can't watch anymore.

PC blues, iPod stuff

First, the new computer wouldn't burn DVDs. As I mentioned below, I was concerned that it was getting too hot in the cabinet, so I moved it out sit behind the subwoofer in a corner of the room. No help. I called HP. This was the second time. The first time that I called, the nice man in Mumbai told me that I need to have Lightscribe disks. I subsequently found out that this was not true. A Lightscribe drive can burn to any disk, only needs Lightscribe disks to burn labels. Anyway, I had tried that before calling back. This time (it was Saturday morning) it took me twice to get somebody that I could understand and that had a decent connection. My intention was to have them ship me a new PC or a new drive and then ship them back the old one when the data was transferred. The guy asked me a bunch of questions and concluded that "the drive is working". I disagreed but he contended that since I could read DVDs it was working. My only option was be transferred to another nice subcontinental fellow who would charge me $60 for the privilege of speaking to him. IF that person agreed that it was an HP problem and not my fault, then they would waive the charge. Right about this time Mike came to the door to take me to Lowe's to buy some cabinets for the garage. I had no time for this nonsense so I chewed the guy out and hung up.

My options appeared to be:

1. Take the thing back to Best Buy with the same story
2. Roll the dice on this dubious sounding $60 venture
3. Give up. I hadn't needed a DVD burner and would have paid the same amount for a PC that didn't have one. It was just a matter of principle.

I spent the rest of the day and most of the next dealing with the garage. On Sunday night I noticed that the Squeezebox was not lit up, which happens when it can't connect to the server (which runs on the PC we are talking about). This will normally happen when it loses its wireless connection. But it stayed that way. I switched the plasma over to PC mode and there was nothing there. I checked the PC and it was off. I couldn't make it come on without pulling the power cord, reinserting it, and turning it on. It came up OK, the Squeezebox came on and I switched back over to watching TV. A little later I noticed this happened again. Some time the next morning I had determined that it couldn't stay up for more than about 5 minutes.

This was great. I had a demonstrably dead soldier on my hands that Best Buy would take back without question, which they did. They had it in stock and I now have a new PC, which can burn DVDs. What had I lost? Not much other than the work of setting the PC up the way I wanted it and a $1.99 episode of Dragnet that I downloaded from iTunes. I had my iTunes library on the Nano, right? All I had to do was load them back down to the new PC. It turns out that this is not so easy...

If you hook up an ipod to a different computer than the one you are synched with, iTunes will tell you that and ask you if you would like to wipe out the songs on the iPod and replace them with the ones from the (in my case empty) library on the new computer. If you answer no, it will bring up your iPod in iTunes but the songs are grayed and you very specifically can't drag them to your library. I guess they don't want people sharing songs. Here is what I did:

Enable disc access to the iPod. That mounts the ipod as a drive which you can then access like any other files. If you drill down you find the songs. Unfortunately they are in folder named F00, F01, etc. all with names like XHRW.mp3. So if you relied on the file names for anything, you had lost them. After some experimentation I found that if you enabled the option that allows iTunes to manage the filenames, etc. AND told it to copy a file into the iTunes hierarchy, that it would place it in a folder under artist and album AND construct a meaningful name. So the procedure was to copy each folder of songs off the iPod into a temporary folder, then tell iTunes to import all of the songs in that folder. When done, you have all of the songs from the iPod in your library, organized in a reasonable fashion. You can then tell iTunes to update your iPod, effectively putting back what it already has. You can also delete the folder of temporary files. Turning off disk access is good too because with it on you have to manually eject the ipod in the application before removing it from the dock.

Been Away

When we last spoke, Michigan had lost to Ohio State. Things have only gotten worse. Although Ohio State DID get into a BCS Bowl, somehow that got Iowa into a Jan 2 bowl, not Michigan. What was worse was that Michigan lost the Alamo Bowl to Nebraska. Worse than that, Ohio State WON the Fiesta Bowl. And the national championship went the wrong way too. ugh

Got a Squeezbox for my birthday. Very cool.

Have made a lot of the reservations for our European trip in March.

AA 870 PHX 03/17 02:26 PM DFW 03/17 05:48 PM First
AA 78 DFW 03/17 06:55 PM LGW 03/18 09:55 AM Business
AA 6643 LHR 03/18 02:35 PM VIE 03/18/2006 05:50 PM Economy

Vienna: Danube Hilton 3/18-3/19
Amstetten: Hotel Exel 3/19-3/22
Budapest: Budapest Hilton 3/22-3/24
Vienna: Hotel Altstadt 3/24-3/27

HG 8734 VIE 03/27 2:30 PM CDG 03/27 4:15 PM Economy

Paris: Hôtel Waldorf Montparnasse 3/27-3/30

Eurostar 9019 Paris Nord 03/30 10:19 AM London Waterloo 03/30 11:54 AM

London: Trafalgar London 3/30-3/31

AA 81 LGW 03/31 12:55 PM DFW 03/31 04:10 PM Business
AA 1807 DFW 03/31 06:01 PM PHX 03/31 07:38 PM First

Notes: Yes, we are flying into Gatwick and transferring to Heathrow. We need to take a bus but there appears to be plenty of time. I will be alone in coach on the London to Vienna flight. Due to the way we got the tickets, Susan will be in business class and I will be in the back somewhere.

We purchased European East railpasses, which will work in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, plus some other places that we aren't going to. Unlimited first class travel on any 6 days. John will be with us but as an Austrian resident he is not eligible for this, plus he has a couple of cards that will reduce the cost of his tickets, one inside Austria, the other outside.

On 3/29 in Paris we are doing a Paris Market Tour, conducted by this guy.

I got a lot of neat stuff over the holidays. I bought a computer to work with the entertainment center. This thing is really small, can sit on its side in the cabinet with the other components. Unfortunately, it doesn't get adequate ventilation and I am having to move it elsewhere, but it does everything I wanted it to. For Christmas I got a framed (actually haven't seen it framed yet) poster of the closing of Tiger Stadium. Also a bluetooth car kit, the Bob Dylan scrapbook, along with some movies, books and other things that I am forgetting to mention. After Christmas Susan surprised me with telling me I should buy an Ipod Nano, which I did, immediately upon her telling me (we were in the Apple Store at Chandler Fashion Square). Got the black one with 4GB.

Michigan Lost

What else is new? I have to hope (ugh) that Ohio State gets a BCS at-large bid so that Michigan can play in the Outback Bowl on New Year's Day. If not, they play in the Alamo Bowl on 12/28, breaking a long string on New Year's Day bowl appearances.

I contacted a lot of people about the TV status of the Michigan-Ohio State game. I sent a note to several members of the Phoenix Michigan Alumni Club. I got two responses, one (the president) said that it didn't matter since they would show it at some bar where the alumni club gathered. The other one said that he was sure it would be on TV and not to worry. They were both pretty condescending. I also contacted the president of the local Ohio State alumni club. His reaction was that it was an outrage and that he would try to do something about it. He also got back to me later with an update. I am not sure where I am going with this but it is not to a place that I would have predicted.

I'm in Chicago

Schaumburg, actually. It's snowing.

Channel 15 is not going to show the Michigan/Ohio State game this weekend. There is an unverified claim that ESPN will be showing it, although the listings currently say otherwise.

Learned a few things

I couldn't figure out how to:

• have a title for the post
• enable the coments, backlinks stuff

Gonna find out right now if this works.

Just found out that somebody actually reads this stuff once in a while.

The internet problem hasn't come back.

Here is the lamp that we ordered.

Oh, and my internet problem may or may not be resolved. Had no issues for a couple of weeks and then it went south for about a day. This happened like a day after I cut the UPC off the box that the modem came in and mailed it in for the rebate. I connected the modem directly to one PC rather than to the router and it started working. Went that way for about a week (was out of town actually but Susan used it) and then switched back to the router when I got back and it hasn't failed since. Maybe the latest was some unrelated issue that would have been resolved by simply restarting the modem and router.

Just checking in...

I started a diet on Sunday and have lost 4.5 pounds so far. This, of course, is the easy part.

We had a disaster where the rack of wine and martini glasses that hung over the bar in the family room dislodged from the ceiling, destroying all of the glasses and damaging the counter. We found a company that repairs Corian and they did a beautiful job of removing all of the cuts and scratches for $350. Have not replaced the glasses yet and Susan does not want to try another rack.

Mike started taking classes at the University of Phoenix. He plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Business Management(!).

I was pleased with the way the MLB Division Series came out. 3 of my 4 desired finishes happened with only the Houston/Atlanta matchup going the wrong way. Unfortunately I am 0 for 2 for the Championship Series, having favored the Angels and Cardinals. Definitely rooting for the White Sox in the World Series.

Talk about your field of dreams.

So tonight was the last night that a game was played at Bank One Ballpark. BOB is done. Tomorrow they will announce a new name, probably Chase Field. They stretched it out a little, beat the Dodgers in the bottom of the 12th on a 3 run walk off home run by Alex Cintrón.

Something else that is hopefully coming to an end is the ad campaign by Checker Auto in which they continuously congratulate themselves for contributing car seats to poor families with the first run scored at each Diamondbacks home game. The TV (and probably radio too) announcer mentions this each time it happens and they run an ad where Luis González gushes about how wonderful this is with his triplets running around. Think about it for a minute. Assuming (incorrectly) that the Diamondbacks score a run in each home game, that is 81 car seats. The most expensive car seat on Checker's website retails for just under $100. Assuming a markup of 50% that costs Checker $50. So Checker's wonderfully compassionate contribution is worth a little more than $4000 for the entire year. González, who appears to be so impressed with this, makes roughly $18,000 each time he steps to the plate.

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I have the internet connection problem from hell. I have had Cox's internet service since the @home days. About a month and a half ago it started going away on me. My connection would stop working sporadically. It is a bigger deal than it used to be because I have started working at home a couple of days a week. I finally got a Cox service guy out to the house. He couldn't find anything wrong. (Of course it was working then.) The only thing he could come up with was the fact that I had split off a line for my TV. Years ago, Cox put in a dedicated line to the cable modem. A year or two later I moved my desk to the opposite side of the room so I needed to add a connector and another cable. Some time after that I replaced the connector with a splitter and added a tv to the picture. None of that impacted my internet connection. But this moron tells me that they are gong to have to put in another line because that is the only thing that they can think of that might be wrong. And they are going to charge me $75 because I messed with the cable. So I figure that it would be worth $75 if it solved the problem. I call them up to schedule the work and it takes like two weeks to get an appointment. The person on the phone asks me if I had eliminated the router as a possible culprit. So I replace my router--wanted 802.11g anyway. No improvement. The guy comes to the house and suns a new wire. As he drives away the problem recurs. I call the dispatcher and they send him back. He replaces the line from the house that goes under the street. He replaces the connector thingamajig in the box across the street. He tells me that if this does not work the only thing left is the modem. As he drives away the problem recurs. I bought a new modem. Although it seems to have improved, I have seen two brief interruptions since Friday. I have 30 days in which to return the modem. The only thing left is AT&T DSL (cheaper than Qwest). Slower but hopefully more reliable.

I listened to dubyuh last night speaking from Jackson Square in New Orleans. Rarely have I heard more detestable utterances from this creep. He did not have one word of remorse or apology for the tragedy caused by the incompetence of his administration, either in ignoring the problems of the levees before the storm or failing to get help to the victims afterwards. He used the opportunity to try and sell me his religious views. He bragged on what a good job he thought he was doing. Mike said in his blog something about shock and awe, that he was shocked and awed that Bush had appeared to accept some blame in a previous speech. I heard neither shock nor awe, just Karl and Rove.