Family
A moving sale
Sunday, 16 Apr 2006 Permalink
Let's see how far I can push this "moving" pun.
So today we had our one-day-only moving sale. I was somewhat dubious and stressed — I didn't think we'd make enough money to pay for the trouble and I proposed we just donate it all to Goodwill. However, Anna made her Persuasion roll (she's got a really high Charisma) and talked me into it.
We worked like mad to sort through all our stuff and decided on what we wanted to throw out of the wagon. We also brought in around $250, which should be our gas money for the move.
The items we didn't sell will be disposed of in some other way. We'll press them on friends, or recycle them, or throw them away, or reconsider.
If anyone wants one or more of the following items (all of which are located in Bend, Oregon), please contact me:
We sold the wheelbarrow and the lime iMac DV and the antique rolltop desk. Anna didn't sell her guitar, not surprising given how she growled at anyone who approached it. The toboggan is also gone. I'm sure attempting to use it on the Organ Mountains would be some combination of fruitless, painful, or fatal, so it's best it stays in Bend.
All in all, I'm glad we did it. Anna, you're the best partner anyone could ask for. I love you.
So today we had our one-day-only moving sale. I was somewhat dubious and stressed — I didn't think we'd make enough money to pay for the trouble and I proposed we just donate it all to Goodwill. However, Anna made her Persuasion roll (she's got a really high Charisma) and talked me into it.
We worked like mad to sort through all our stuff and decided on what we wanted to throw out of the wagon. We also brought in around $250, which should be our gas money for the move.
The items we didn't sell will be disposed of in some other way. We'll press them on friends, or recycle them, or throw them away, or reconsider.
If anyone wants one or more of the following items (all of which are located in Bend, Oregon), please contact me:
- Enough brewing supplies to permanently inebriate the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
- A set of four snow tires, mounted on rims, that fit a Subaru Impreza
- A bowling ball
- Old Macintosh computers (Power Computing clone w/G3, and an LC III, in working order — although I'll grant you that whether or not they work is probably irrelevant)
- A LaserWriter IIg printer, complete with Ethernet interface (see above aside)
- A cubic yard of assorted cloth
- Another cubic yard of assorted women's (actually, one specific woman's) purses
- The usual assortment of vases, coffeepots, stuffed animals, etc. that are only seen at garage sales and are apparently perpetually traveling the globe, visiting each garage in turn (hence the term "moving sale")
We sold the wheelbarrow and the lime iMac DV and the antique rolltop desk. Anna didn't sell her guitar, not surprising given how she growled at anyone who approached it. The toboggan is also gone. I'm sure attempting to use it on the Organ Mountains would be some combination of fruitless, painful, or fatal, so it's best it stays in Bend.
All in all, I'm glad we did it. Anna, you're the best partner anyone could ask for. I love you.
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A moving story
Friday, 14 Apr 2006 Permalink
It looks like everything's falling into place. We're selling the house in Bend, and buying the house in Las Cruces. We'll be able to move directly from one house to the next, with no tedious renting or storage of goods. And we make a profit on the deal, which will help extend the time I have to find a job.
We're using ABF's Upack to haul the goods, while Anna and I enjoy the high life of driving three days with two cats in the car. Upack drops off a trailer, we fill it ourselves, then someone else drives the truck and feeds it fuel. When it arrives, we unpack it again and they come and take away the empty trailer. Sounds ideal to me, especially since we have doubts we can fit into U-Haul's largest truck. We'll let you know how it goes as we move through this process (whoops, sorry about that pun).
Tomorrow's the moving sale, and Easter Sunday we're having a house-cooling party. We need to try to get rid of some snack foods and a certain amount of premium liquor, so come by if you're inclined. Our phone number is 541-330-9761. Poker may occur. Sorry about the date. I guess the Pope won't be coming.
We start loading the truck on the 20th and will be finished by Monday morning (the 24th). Any and all help would be appreciated. Everything that can be boxed will be boxed, but we need to move some fairly heavy furniture.
Monday the 24th is when the driver takes the trailer away and we hand off the keys to the new owners and make a run for (50 miles north of) the border.
And why are we moving? Long story, tell you later. Right now I've got some boxes to pack.
We're using ABF's Upack to haul the goods, while Anna and I enjoy the high life of driving three days with two cats in the car. Upack drops off a trailer, we fill it ourselves, then someone else drives the truck and feeds it fuel. When it arrives, we unpack it again and they come and take away the empty trailer. Sounds ideal to me, especially since we have doubts we can fit into U-Haul's largest truck. We'll let you know how it goes as we move through this process (whoops, sorry about that pun).
Tomorrow's the moving sale, and Easter Sunday we're having a house-cooling party. We need to try to get rid of some snack foods and a certain amount of premium liquor, so come by if you're inclined. Our phone number is 541-330-9761. Poker may occur. Sorry about the date. I guess the Pope won't be coming.
We start loading the truck on the 20th and will be finished by Monday morning (the 24th). Any and all help would be appreciated. Everything that can be boxed will be boxed, but we need to move some fairly heavy furniture.
Monday the 24th is when the driver takes the trailer away and we hand off the keys to the new owners and make a run for (50 miles north of) the border.
And why are we moving? Long story, tell you later. Right now I've got some boxes to pack.
They made us an offer we couldn't refuse
Thursday, 09 Mar 2006 Permalink
After two weeks and sixteen real estate agents trooping through our house, we returned from a weekend trip to San Francisco to find three offers on the table. One of them was offering $7000 more than our asking price and was clearly the most attractive, so we accepted it.
Their home inspector will arrive on Friday. Assuming he signs off on the house, and their loan really is pre-approved as it appears on the paperwork, that should seal the deal and 45 days later we need to be out of here.
We're excited - it's off to Las Cruces!
Their home inspector will arrive on Friday. Assuming he signs off on the house, and their loan really is pre-approved as it appears on the paperwork, that should seal the deal and 45 days later we need to be out of here.
We're excited - it's off to Las Cruces!
Would you buy a used house from these people?
Tuesday, 21 Feb 2006 Permalink
We listed our house for sale today. The first customers came by this afternoon. I hope this bodes well for interest in our house.
We decamped and had a leisurely lunch at a nearby Mexican place, and returned home to find a realtor's card on our dining room table.
The house didn't look too bad, except for the family room, which looks like this:
That's most of our library in the boxes. The rest of the house awaits the tender embrace of corrugated cardboard.
Having been underimpressed with the quality of the average set of pictures on house-for-sale websites, I decided to take my own pictures and post them here for the realtor's webmistress to download. It worked out pretty well.
We decamped and had a leisurely lunch at a nearby Mexican place, and returned home to find a realtor's card on our dining room table.
The house didn't look too bad, except for the family room, which looks like this:
That's most of our library in the boxes. The rest of the house awaits the tender embrace of corrugated cardboard.
Having been underimpressed with the quality of the average set of pictures on house-for-sale websites, I decided to take my own pictures and post them here for the realtor's webmistress to download. It worked out pretty well.
China Anniversary
Wednesday, 18 Jan 2006 Permalink
We had a sushi lunch at Yoko's, then went home and watched a movie ("Kinsey", recommended) from our Netflix queue, then dressed up and went to Merenda for a swanky dinner.
We marveled at the fun we've had for the last two decades, and talked about the decades to come. I'm going to get a job in the space industry, and Anna will help make ends meet by playing poker online.
Check in again in twenty years and see how we've done.
The End (of the year) Is Nigh
Friday, 30 Dec 2005 Permalink
So, Christmas is over and the new year approaches. The "no presents, only stockings" thing went over pretty well, although I must say I missed the fun of picking out presents for people (as well as opening my own).
Of course the stocking loophole is pretty big. We have big stockings for everyone, but there's still not enough room in them to store all the stuff that's supposed to be inside. We each probably ended up with about a cubic foot of small-to-medium presents.
I ate too much chocolate and now have a sore throat. I'm not feeling my best, so that explains any lack of substance or sparkle on this post.
Lillian did a great job with the house and the cats. Pike even sits in her lap now!
Of course the stocking loophole is pretty big. We have big stockings for everyone, but there's still not enough room in them to store all the stuff that's supposed to be inside. We each probably ended up with about a cubic foot of small-to-medium presents.
I ate too much chocolate and now have a sore throat. I'm not feeling my best, so that explains any lack of substance or sparkle on this post.
Lillian did a great job with the house and the cats. Pike even sits in her lap now!
Christmas 2005 Prep
Thursday, 22 Dec 2005 Permalink
This year, Anna and I are joining our parents (both sets!) in not exchanging Christmas presents. It's surprising how much this has reduced Christmas stress. It remains to be seen if missing out on getting and giving the loot is worth the extra relaxation.
Tonight we're getting everything ready for an early-morning departure to my parent's house in Portland, where we'll spend the next several days with Mom, Dad, sister Charis, and both of my grandmothers. The cats stay home, with Anna's Aunt Lillian in residence to watch them and the house.
Merry Christmas, everyone! See you when we return.
Tonight we're getting everything ready for an early-morning departure to my parent's house in Portland, where we'll spend the next several days with Mom, Dad, sister Charis, and both of my grandmothers. The cats stay home, with Anna's Aunt Lillian in residence to watch them and the house.
Merry Christmas, everyone! See you when we return.
Best migraine I've ever had
Thursday, 15 Dec 2005 Permalink
I get migraine headaches from time to time. As I've gotten older, they come less frequently and with less severity. They can still ruin my day. Around puberty, they were so bad that I'm lucky I never clawed out my own eyes. It hurts to remember.
We tried a lot of different remedies over the years. The thing that worked best was to take something that made me go to sleep, where at least I wasn't conscious of the pain. These days I've got three treatments - tincture of feverfew, niacin, and good old aspirin. Feverfew and aspirin make the head stop hurting, and niacin dilates the blood vessels in the brain, counteracting the constriction that apparently causes the pain.
So this morning I started getting "migraine sign", a particular vision defect where a spot in the middle of my visual field starts to flicker. Quick like a bunny I downed the feverfew, aspirin, and two niacin capsules. This is the first time I've taken all three at once. A few minutes later, I turned bright pink and began to tingle - the niacin was working. Then the feverfew and aspirin kicked in and I got severely nauseous for a few minutes.
But then I felt fine! Well, relatively, anyway. I spent the rest of the day with the vague hollow ache that tends to linger for a day after a bad migraine, but I never really experienced this migraine.
My thanks to our chiropractor, Dr. Bonnie Spatrisano of River View Chiropractic, for suggesting the niacin. It worked a treat!
We tried a lot of different remedies over the years. The thing that worked best was to take something that made me go to sleep, where at least I wasn't conscious of the pain. These days I've got three treatments - tincture of feverfew, niacin, and good old aspirin. Feverfew and aspirin make the head stop hurting, and niacin dilates the blood vessels in the brain, counteracting the constriction that apparently causes the pain.
So this morning I started getting "migraine sign", a particular vision defect where a spot in the middle of my visual field starts to flicker. Quick like a bunny I downed the feverfew, aspirin, and two niacin capsules. This is the first time I've taken all three at once. A few minutes later, I turned bright pink and began to tingle - the niacin was working. Then the feverfew and aspirin kicked in and I got severely nauseous for a few minutes.
But then I felt fine! Well, relatively, anyway. I spent the rest of the day with the vague hollow ache that tends to linger for a day after a bad migraine, but I never really experienced this migraine.
My thanks to our chiropractor, Dr. Bonnie Spatrisano of River View Chiropractic, for suggesting the niacin. It worked a treat!
Wild Abandon
Sunday, 30 Jan 2005 Permalink
We came up to Portland this weekend for a couple of Anna’s Amaranth functions, one of which was a magnificent crab feast. But since my birthday is next week, my parents decided to celebrate this week. I chose a dinner out, at Wild Abandon.
Since we left Portland for Bend, one of the things I miss the most are the restaurants. “Gee, why doesn’t Bend have any great restaurants like Wild Abandon?” In my mind, it’s the archetypal great Portland restaurant.
The decor is funky yet sumptuous, the food is inventive and delicious, the wine list interesting and affordable, the service warm and friendly, the desserts — well, the desserts are merely very good, but that’s OK with me since I’m not supposed to eat them anyway.
So we had a great meal, and a great time. Thanks, Mom and Dad! I love you.
Since we left Portland for Bend, one of the things I miss the most are the restaurants. “Gee, why doesn’t Bend have any great restaurants like Wild Abandon?” In my mind, it’s the archetypal great Portland restaurant.
The decor is funky yet sumptuous, the food is inventive and delicious, the wine list interesting and affordable, the service warm and friendly, the desserts — well, the desserts are merely very good, but that’s OK with me since I’m not supposed to eat them anyway.
So we had a great meal, and a great time. Thanks, Mom and Dad! I love you.
Christmas begins
Tuesday, 21 Dec 2004 Permalink
So yesterday we spent getting ready for Christmas. We’re spending the week with my parents in Portland. My sister Charis will be arriving too, but no grandmas this year.
We had a lot of packages to wrap, and some of them were biggies. I sent Anna out to shop for the things we hadn’t picked up yet while I wrapped and packed. We finally got everything done and set out on our three-hour drive at 9:30pm. Fortunately traffic was light (Monday night at midnight is apparently not a popular hour for driving through the mountains, imagine that) and we made good time. I didn’t fall asleep and drive off into either solid rock or empty air, either, which is always a good thing.
We arrived at a darkened house and crept upstairs and into our bed.
This morning I awoke to find Mom gone to a Gideons meeting and Dad gone to do a grandma swap. Dad’s mom Ida lives in Portland and is spending Christmas with my uncle Darwin in Medford (to the south). Mom’s mom Phyllis lives in Eugene and is spending Christmas with my aunt Louise in Vancouver, WA (to the north). So Dad gets to drive Ida to Eugene and hand her off to Darwin, and pick up Phyllis and drive her back to Vancouver and hand her off to Louise. He’ll be back home around 5:00pm this evening.
Meanwhile, Anna has opened up her laptop and fired up Geneforge and I have been catching up on my email. The hospital seems to be carrying on without me.
Now let’s see if this remote blogging trick works. Hello, world.
We had a lot of packages to wrap, and some of them were biggies. I sent Anna out to shop for the things we hadn’t picked up yet while I wrapped and packed. We finally got everything done and set out on our three-hour drive at 9:30pm. Fortunately traffic was light (Monday night at midnight is apparently not a popular hour for driving through the mountains, imagine that) and we made good time. I didn’t fall asleep and drive off into either solid rock or empty air, either, which is always a good thing.
We arrived at a darkened house and crept upstairs and into our bed.
This morning I awoke to find Mom gone to a Gideons meeting and Dad gone to do a grandma swap. Dad’s mom Ida lives in Portland and is spending Christmas with my uncle Darwin in Medford (to the south). Mom’s mom Phyllis lives in Eugene and is spending Christmas with my aunt Louise in Vancouver, WA (to the north). So Dad gets to drive Ida to Eugene and hand her off to Darwin, and pick up Phyllis and drive her back to Vancouver and hand her off to Louise. He’ll be back home around 5:00pm this evening.
Meanwhile, Anna has opened up her laptop and fired up Geneforge and I have been catching up on my email. The hospital seems to be carrying on without me.
Now let’s see if this remote blogging trick works. Hello, world.