Happy belated Memorial Day. This past weekend went by so quickly. On Friday, we went out to dinner with Steve and caught up with him on his travels. On Saturday, we went househunting for a few hours in Alameda, Bay Farm, Walnut Creek, and Rock Ridge. Nothing really to note. We realized that we didn't really like Bay Farm. It has good schools, but it is right by Oakland Airport and it was just too isolated. Walnut Creek is nice and has good schools, but kind of far from SF which would probably make the commute a little long. Alameda has some good parts and we were told that it has recently become more active because they opened a Starbucks and Peets Coffee. It generated a lot of foot traffic which has increased small businesses. Then, we went to visit Kai, Jamie, Kaori, and Maika in San Mateo. Kai is already looking so different.
On Sunday, Edwin went surfing and I went shopping. I was so bummed when I scratched my car. I was trying to get into a tight parking spot in the garage across the street from Macy's when I decided it was too small, I tried to get out of it and that's when it happened. It's only an inch long and I have plenty of other dents and dings, but this is one that I caused which made me feel horrible. And I just got it waxed last weekend! Then, we dropped off a carload of stuff at the Salvation Army. It feels good to get rid of junk. Though you wouldn't be able to tell that we got rid of anything from our apartment! We also saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. It was entertaining, but long.
On Monday, we did some more househunting in Alameda and found 2 properties that we were interested in. The first house we saw is a craftsman that has a lot of cool wood detail. It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath place that needs a lot of renovation though we could move in and live there for a while. The owners are not living there and it is a trust sale which is similar to a probate sale, but better because there is no judge or bidding. It's probably someone who is too old to sell the house and has someone selling it for him. The floors would need to be refinished, but it is in good condition. The kitchen would need to be redone (it's all yellow and has an old push button electric stove), but I'm not sure what could be done because it is a rather long, narrow space with a breakfast nook and counter. The second bedroom has a narrow closet, but is a good size. The master bedroom is large, but there is no master bath. The only bathroom is pink. All pink- sink, tub, tile, etc. However, it is a good size with both a tub and separate shower. Though it technically has one bathroom, there is also a bathroom in the basement outside. It's just a toilet and sink on a concrete floor, but it does the job. The outdoors is very nice with a mature orange tree and has a patio with an outdoor bar. The garage has lots of storage space. The neighborhood is very nice and walking distance to a park and restaurants and great access to a bus that goes to SF in 35 min.
The other property we were considering was a townhouse. It had great high ceilings and spacious rooms. The kitchen was small, but functional. The only shared space is the floor because it is a top unit. It was very quiet and had nice views of the marina. The HOAs were high at $400. It came with a garage and had 2 balconies, but Edwin noticed that the balconies were full of bird poop from all the ducks and geese that wander the property. Both bedrooms were huge and the 2 bathrooms were decent as well. The neighborhood is located near a shopping strip, but is kind of isolated. It was in move-in condition.
Such different properties, but they were priced around the same. We think that the older house is overpriced, but seem to like it more even though we know it will be more work. We're thinking about putting a low bid on it just to see, but want to do more research on loans and read up on the disclosures. Fun fun! I went into Citibank today to talk to them about their mortgage products. Their eyes just lit of when then heard why I was there. They were very eager and kept telling me how mortgage brokers are no good and online offers can't be trusted. It made me feel like I was talking to some used car salesmen. I totally thought that the wedding industry was bad about trying to take all your money, but I'm starting to realize that the housing industry is just as bad! Will it ever stop?
So glad that this is a short work week! Bummer that our Tivo seems to be on the fritz right now. Hope that it doesn't die on us because I think it's the best invention ever! Though it's over 5 years old and it can't last forever, right?
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Bay to Breakers and more!
On Friday, we saw Spiderman 3. It was definitely better than 2, but we still liked 1 the best. On Saturday, we had a picnic with Janet, Show, Sujay, Matilde, and Kokomi. Janet was visiting from Hawaii and it was a gorgeous weekend for a picnic. Then, we headed to the Legion of Honor for some culture. Bank of America was holding a promotion for free museum tickets in the month of May, so we indulged. None of us have been to the Legion of Honor before, so we didn't know what to expect.
We took our wedding photos outside the Legion of Honor, so we knew it had nice views. In the inside, it was a smaller art museum than most of the ones in SF, but I really liked the fact that it had a lot of Rodin's sculptures. The Rodin Museum in Paris was one of our favorites. He's the guy that did the Thinker and The Kiss. The coolest part about that museum is that it is located in Rodin's house. It's so cool to walk around in the rooms and think that this is where he sculpted these works of art. The other thing I just find remarkable in general is the ability to mold rock and stone into these statues that are so life-like. I am definitely not an artsy person and so whenever I see sculptures, I always marvel at how somebody was able to create that with their own 2 hands because I know that my 2 hands would never be able to do something like that. I can do a lot of things, but art is definitely not one of them. Painting, I can at least hold a brush and pretend like I could do something, but sculptures- never! If I had a chisel and rock, I could probably only make the rock into smaller pieces.
Anywho, they had quite a collection of Rodin sculptures in the Legion of Honor. They also had an exhibit on French jewelry. Now, I like jewelry like all other women out there, but most of the jewelry I saw there I would not wear. Some of it looked really cool, but it just was not my style-lucky Edwin. Too ornate or just heavy looking.
Housing update: So we have started looking at some houses in Rock Ridge, Montclair, and Lake Shore with Matilde and Sujay's realtor. Many of the houses are renovated and quite nice. However, we did see one house that was a fixer-upper that needed the kitchen and bathroom redone. We really liked it and it was selling on probate, so our realtor originally thought that we might be able to get it below asking. Boy were we mistaken. There is a court date to determine who wins the bidding process, but the current bid is already $120K over the asking. I couldn't believe that someone wanted to pay that much for a fixer upper. There are many houses in that area that you could get completely renovated for much less and I can't fathom why someone would want to bid so much over asking when they didn't need to.
The good news is that Edwin and I seem to agree on the houses that we like a lot and the houses that we don't really like. I would say that Edwin might be a little pickier than me, but I think that's a good thing. We saw 5 houses last weekend and we both really liked the same house. I think that's at least a good sign that we won't really disagree too much on which type of house. Now if only we could find something affordable...we're going to start looking around Alameda and Bay Farm this weekend. Not sure I want to be that close to Oakland Airport or living on an island with access via tunnel and bridge only. We'll see.
This past weekend was also Bay to Breakers. We didn't walk the whole thing, but
we walked a couple of miles with Janet and Matilde. I'll post pictures later if we have some. I can't wait for Memorial Day Weekend. I just need some extra time off from work. Last week was brutal because I had to go to Idaho and meet with clients during the day and answer emails at night until midnight. It was exhausting. I'm glad I don't have to do that more often!
We took our wedding photos outside the Legion of Honor, so we knew it had nice views. In the inside, it was a smaller art museum than most of the ones in SF, but I really liked the fact that it had a lot of Rodin's sculptures. The Rodin Museum in Paris was one of our favorites. He's the guy that did the Thinker and The Kiss. The coolest part about that museum is that it is located in Rodin's house. It's so cool to walk around in the rooms and think that this is where he sculpted these works of art. The other thing I just find remarkable in general is the ability to mold rock and stone into these statues that are so life-like. I am definitely not an artsy person and so whenever I see sculptures, I always marvel at how somebody was able to create that with their own 2 hands because I know that my 2 hands would never be able to do something like that. I can do a lot of things, but art is definitely not one of them. Painting, I can at least hold a brush and pretend like I could do something, but sculptures- never! If I had a chisel and rock, I could probably only make the rock into smaller pieces.
Anywho, they had quite a collection of Rodin sculptures in the Legion of Honor. They also had an exhibit on French jewelry. Now, I like jewelry like all other women out there, but most of the jewelry I saw there I would not wear. Some of it looked really cool, but it just was not my style-lucky Edwin. Too ornate or just heavy looking.Housing update: So we have started looking at some houses in Rock Ridge, Montclair, and Lake Shore with Matilde and Sujay's realtor. Many of the houses are renovated and quite nice. However, we did see one house that was a fixer-upper that needed the kitchen and bathroom redone. We really liked it and it was selling on probate, so our realtor originally thought that we might be able to get it below asking. Boy were we mistaken. There is a court date to determine who wins the bidding process, but the current bid is already $120K over the asking. I couldn't believe that someone wanted to pay that much for a fixer upper. There are many houses in that area that you could get completely renovated for much less and I can't fathom why someone would want to bid so much over asking when they didn't need to.
The good news is that Edwin and I seem to agree on the houses that we like a lot and the houses that we don't really like. I would say that Edwin might be a little pickier than me, but I think that's a good thing. We saw 5 houses last weekend and we both really liked the same house. I think that's at least a good sign that we won't really disagree too much on which type of house. Now if only we could find something affordable...we're going to start looking around Alameda and Bay Farm this weekend. Not sure I want to be that close to Oakland Airport or living on an island with access via tunnel and bridge only. We'll see.
This past weekend was also Bay to Breakers. We didn't walk the whole thing, but
we walked a couple of miles with Janet and Matilde. I'll post pictures later if we have some. I can't wait for Memorial Day Weekend. I just need some extra time off from work. Last week was brutal because I had to go to Idaho and meet with clients during the day and answer emails at night until midnight. It was exhausting. I'm glad I don't have to do that more often!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Greetings from Lewiston, Idaho!
This year, I will be visiting several states that I have never been to. This week, I am in Idaho to visit a client. So far, so good. It was interesting to pull out of the airport parking lot straight into suburbia. So weird to have the runway on one side and a Little League baseball field on the other. We had to connect in Seattle and get on a puddle jumper to arrive in Lewiston which is literally 5 miles from the WA border. We got off the plane in Idaho, but our hotel (Quality Inn) is located in Clarkston, WA. There are these really nice mountains in the landscape and the town is really along 2 streets. I expected to see more chain restaurants like in TX, but there really weren't that many. We even had dinner at what seemed like a local restaurant called Tomato Bros. I don't know what I was thinking ordering seafood here, but the halibut was quite nice. Maybe since we are close to WA, the seafood is fresh? (I was going for the healthy option.)
There were no potato farms in sight, so I had to purchase my souvenir potato at the local Albertsons as if I was shopping at home. Are potatoes allowed on planes? I mean, technically, I could build a potato bomb, right? Well, I guess I could ask the ticket agent/security inspector/baggage claim handler, right? JK! There isn't just one person running the whole "airport." However, I think that there is one gate and the baggage claim is right next to the gate which is convenient. (Come to think of it, I don't think that it ever gets used because you pick up your bags when you walk off the plane onto the tarmac...) It is eerily similar to the airport set that was used in the old TV show called Wings.
Anywho, I got a kick out of the Hertz rental car agent who gave mass instructions to everyone in line on how to arrive at the Quality Inn from the airport. (A 5-minute drive and apparently one of the only hotels in the area.) Couldn't we just caravan?
Anywho, next month, we'll be visiting our sisters in AL and NC. 2 new states in one week! I guess that I'm giving up my international vacations for more local ones. I guess that there are plenty more states that I haven't visited. I'll have to put together my list of states that I still have never visited. Does driving through or layovers count?
There were no potato farms in sight, so I had to purchase my souvenir potato at the local Albertsons as if I was shopping at home. Are potatoes allowed on planes? I mean, technically, I could build a potato bomb, right? Well, I guess I could ask the ticket agent/security inspector/baggage claim handler, right? JK! There isn't just one person running the whole "airport." However, I think that there is one gate and the baggage claim is right next to the gate which is convenient. (Come to think of it, I don't think that it ever gets used because you pick up your bags when you walk off the plane onto the tarmac...) It is eerily similar to the airport set that was used in the old TV show called Wings.
Anywho, I got a kick out of the Hertz rental car agent who gave mass instructions to everyone in line on how to arrive at the Quality Inn from the airport. (A 5-minute drive and apparently one of the only hotels in the area.) Couldn't we just caravan?
Anywho, next month, we'll be visiting our sisters in AL and NC. 2 new states in one week! I guess that I'm giving up my international vacations for more local ones. I guess that there are plenty more states that I haven't visited. I'll have to put together my list of states that I still have never visited. Does driving through or layovers count?
Friday, May 11, 2007
Happy Bday Kai!
So Jamie, Kaori, and Maika welcomed the newest addition to their family today. Congrats you guys and we can't wait to meet him. Kaori has been trying to get him to come out for weeks now. I think that his official due date was on the 9th, so he's only a few days late!
So I locked myself out of my apartment yesterday. I was working from home and was taking some trash out the back door when it closed behind me. Luckily, my neighbor was home and I was able to call Edwin. I'm glad that he wasn't in a meeting when I called. I had no phone and was wearing sweats. When I went downstairs to wait for Edwin, I realized that we had left the garage door open. Luckily again, nothing was taken. So I sat in Edwin's car and remembered that we have a phone in the garage (don't ask!) So I started dialing the numbers that were programmed on the home phone since I had 45 minutes to kill. It's really funny- I would have called more people, but I can't remember anyone's phone number. I think that I know about 3 phone numbers. My cell phone, Edwin's cell phone, and my home phone number. If I had to call anyone and God forbid dial the number, I would be screwed. I guess that's what happens when you have cell phones. You don't really need to remember phone numbers anymore except your own.
So I locked myself out of my apartment yesterday. I was working from home and was taking some trash out the back door when it closed behind me. Luckily, my neighbor was home and I was able to call Edwin. I'm glad that he wasn't in a meeting when I called. I had no phone and was wearing sweats. When I went downstairs to wait for Edwin, I realized that we had left the garage door open. Luckily again, nothing was taken. So I sat in Edwin's car and remembered that we have a phone in the garage (don't ask!) So I started dialing the numbers that were programmed on the home phone since I had 45 minutes to kill. It's really funny- I would have called more people, but I can't remember anyone's phone number. I think that I know about 3 phone numbers. My cell phone, Edwin's cell phone, and my home phone number. If I had to call anyone and God forbid dial the number, I would be screwed. I guess that's what happens when you have cell phones. You don't really need to remember phone numbers anymore except your own.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Garage Sale!
So the weather was beautiful this weekend. It was the hottest I've seen it since our wedding. Almost 80 desgrees. Perfect for our garage sale on Saturday. It was a long day, but a nice day to be outside and get rid of some junk. We didn't have anything big to sell, but we got about $80 for a bunch of junk we were going to throw away anyways. We're going to bring the stuff that didn't sell to the Salvation Army.
It was funny to see the different pricing strategies employed. For Michelle and Mike, they were asking for top dollar for the items they were selling which is probably why they garnered the highest sales of the group. I almost always underbid what they were asking for. My reasoning is that if someone wants it, I want them to have it. I need it out of my house and they will help me to not have to haul as much away. I was pricing for items to go. Believe it or not, we'll still purging. We probably should have done that first before the garage sale, but oh well.
We also went for drinks and dinner with Show and Derrick. We completed the evening with karaoke. Can you believe we had to wait 45 minutes for a room to open up?
On Sunday, Michelle, Mike, Show, Edwin and I went for a bike ride in Golden Gate Park. You would think that starting to discuss it at 2:30Pm we could have actually started the bike ride before 5PM. Between us forgetting our helmets and seat post which resulted in having to go home twice to retreive said forgotten items, Michelle and Mike got waylaid because they were stuck in traffic on 101. They had to rent also and the bikes had to be returned by 6PM, so our bike ride was a little short, but fun.
It's still warm out today, so I want to skip out of work early, but I keep having to wait for this report to come out and it's taking forever!
It was funny to see the different pricing strategies employed. For Michelle and Mike, they were asking for top dollar for the items they were selling which is probably why they garnered the highest sales of the group. I almost always underbid what they were asking for. My reasoning is that if someone wants it, I want them to have it. I need it out of my house and they will help me to not have to haul as much away. I was pricing for items to go. Believe it or not, we'll still purging. We probably should have done that first before the garage sale, but oh well.
We also went for drinks and dinner with Show and Derrick. We completed the evening with karaoke. Can you believe we had to wait 45 minutes for a room to open up?
On Sunday, Michelle, Mike, Show, Edwin and I went for a bike ride in Golden Gate Park. You would think that starting to discuss it at 2:30Pm we could have actually started the bike ride before 5PM. Between us forgetting our helmets and seat post which resulted in having to go home twice to retreive said forgotten items, Michelle and Mike got waylaid because they were stuck in traffic on 101. They had to rent also and the bikes had to be returned by 6PM, so our bike ride was a little short, but fun.
It's still warm out today, so I want to skip out of work early, but I keep having to wait for this report to come out and it's taking forever!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Allergies Suck!
So I just read on Laura and Alex's blog (see link on the right- lauralexnmore) that Timothy had an allergic reaction to peanuts last weekend. I know my allergies are getting worse everyday. I am wheezing a lot more nowadays. And poor Show has an asthma attack almost every time she comes to our apartment. (I swear, we clean and dust!)
So why does it seem like allergies are affecting more people now than when I was young? I don't remember ever seeing any products that were gluten-free or made in a manufacturing facility that has peanuts. I knew of kids that were allergic to strawberries or bees. But why does it seem like there are so many more people now who are afflicted with allergies? Does this allergy epidemic stem from changes in the atmosphere that leave our bodies unable to defend itself against these germs? Or are there more germs now than there used to be? That seems unlikely to me. As I've grown older, I have also learned that I am now allergic to cats and kiwis. Maybe I wasn't around cats very often when I was a kid so I didn't notice it. I know I didn't eat very many kiwis growing up in Cleveland.
Alas, my poor little nephew will never know the joys of peanut butter. Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations. (To be truthful, almost anything and chocolate is pretty good to me.) But I love peanut butter and apples, peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joes, peanut butter on a bagel for breakfast, I think even some egg rolls are made with peanut butter... I could go on ala Bubba and his shrimp in Forrest Gump, but I'll spare you.
So why does it seem like allergies are affecting more people now than when I was young? I don't remember ever seeing any products that were gluten-free or made in a manufacturing facility that has peanuts. I knew of kids that were allergic to strawberries or bees. But why does it seem like there are so many more people now who are afflicted with allergies? Does this allergy epidemic stem from changes in the atmosphere that leave our bodies unable to defend itself against these germs? Or are there more germs now than there used to be? That seems unlikely to me. As I've grown older, I have also learned that I am now allergic to cats and kiwis. Maybe I wasn't around cats very often when I was a kid so I didn't notice it. I know I didn't eat very many kiwis growing up in Cleveland.
Alas, my poor little nephew will never know the joys of peanut butter. Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations. (To be truthful, almost anything and chocolate is pretty good to me.) But I love peanut butter and apples, peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joes, peanut butter on a bagel for breakfast, I think even some egg rolls are made with peanut butter... I could go on ala Bubba and his shrimp in Forrest Gump, but I'll spare you.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
We had a lovely little picnic on Saturday at the Berkeley Rose Garden. The weather was beautiful. We also went cleaned the apartment to get ready for the garage sale this weekend.
On Sunday, we went out to the East Bay to look at a charmingly renovated French farmhouse. It was the cutest thing. Barn doors, wood floors, wood heating stove, wrought iron fixtures... the price was a bit steep, but within range. We're not quite ready to make a bid, but we thought about it. So I'm reading the termite report which is like 100 pages of legalese. And what do I see? There is a list of things that are included with the house like dishwasher, sprinklers, and what do I notice? There is one box that is not ticked- central heating. CENTRAL HEATING? What kind of house doesn't have heat other than an igloo? I just assumed that heating was one of the things that a house comes with. You can do without a dishwasher, sprinklers, but heat? They should probably also have a checkbox for 4 walls just in case that's not included. This is one of what I am sure of many things that we will need to check for in future houses. Good news is that we found an area that we want to explore some more called Rock Ridge.
While we like the area, but it comes at kind of a bad time for Rock Ridge. For those of you who don't live in the Bay Area, you may not have heard about the gas truck accident that caused a major freeway to collapse. Well, this freeway accident is about 5 minutes from Rock Ridge and how you would get from SF to/from Rock Ridge. Well, who knows, maybe this will help us to get a house in the area. I guess only time will tell.
Yesterday, we got to go to the Morrisey concert with Show. Thus, the name of the post. It was a great show and while I'm not as big of a fan as Edwin, it was definitely worth going. Just the people watching alone was worth it. There were a lot of pompadours, red-white-and black dresses, and indigo jeans rolled up at the ankles.
On Sunday, we went out to the East Bay to look at a charmingly renovated French farmhouse. It was the cutest thing. Barn doors, wood floors, wood heating stove, wrought iron fixtures... the price was a bit steep, but within range. We're not quite ready to make a bid, but we thought about it. So I'm reading the termite report which is like 100 pages of legalese. And what do I see? There is a list of things that are included with the house like dishwasher, sprinklers, and what do I notice? There is one box that is not ticked- central heating. CENTRAL HEATING? What kind of house doesn't have heat other than an igloo? I just assumed that heating was one of the things that a house comes with. You can do without a dishwasher, sprinklers, but heat? They should probably also have a checkbox for 4 walls just in case that's not included. This is one of what I am sure of many things that we will need to check for in future houses. Good news is that we found an area that we want to explore some more called Rock Ridge.
While we like the area, but it comes at kind of a bad time for Rock Ridge. For those of you who don't live in the Bay Area, you may not have heard about the gas truck accident that caused a major freeway to collapse. Well, this freeway accident is about 5 minutes from Rock Ridge and how you would get from SF to/from Rock Ridge. Well, who knows, maybe this will help us to get a house in the area. I guess only time will tell.
Yesterday, we got to go to the Morrisey concert with Show. Thus, the name of the post. It was a great show and while I'm not as big of a fan as Edwin, it was definitely worth going. Just the people watching alone was worth it. There were a lot of pompadours, red-white-and black dresses, and indigo jeans rolled up at the ankles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
