Monday, June 2, 2008
A lot has happened since I returned from Graduation Week in Baltimore. The short versions is: I bought & closed on a house. I moved.
Wow! What a week. I first want to thank all my friends for helping me move. I couldn’t have done it without both of you. (one of them I had to pay)
I’ve included a few pics of 56. Aka my new house number and now the house’s name.
Closing was on Thursday, the 29th of May. By noon I had entered the world of “home ownership”. Yee Haw! By 5pm I had my bedroom and bath moved and was prepared to spend the night in my new abode. By 5:01 I was at happy hour.
Friday was a big day because it involved coordination. What are the chances that the cable guy, Sears, and the AT&T person show up on time? Add to your probability numbers that all three show up at the same time. (some of you are enjoying this math. Most of you are just reading this blog. Which one are you?) So by noon I have two new DISH’s on my roof and the pleasure of watching the evening new in HD. I’ll tell you now that it doesn’t make the new any better. Sharper, yes, but not better. Four rooms are wired for cable coupled to two receivers and a one DVR. AT&T showed up, thankfully, and redid some of the old phone lines , got me connected to the internet (high speed DSL) and even was kind enough to run another line so that my DISH receivers could be connected. Sears was great in delivering the new side-by-side as shown in one of the pics. They also delivered and unwrapped the new mower, filled it with oil, and unpacked the gas powered weed wacker. My attempts to get them to mow the lawn were sadly unsuccessful. Mowing the lawn: that’s another story.
I shouldn’t admit this but do you know how long it takes a rocket scientist to mow the lawn? Especially given 3 or 4 new lawn machines! 5 hours. (flat) Let’s see, you got the new manuals that have to absorbed and then categorized and filed. You have rebates to complete and prep’ed for mailing. New address labels to be printed to go on the rebate envelopes. You have fuel to purchase for both 4 stroke and 2 stroke engines. (had to walk down to the station to get this fuel) Did you know that for 2 stroke engines you need to mix oil with the fuel in a 40:1 ratio? At least I had some fun with the math. Do you keep a pen/pad in your garage for such circumstances? You should, you know, eh! I had to purchase cooling agents and beverages for hydration. That was another trip to the store. By now you must be amazed that I did the lawns in only 5 hours. It gets better. Did you know that you can’t start a riding lawn mower while standing next to it? Did you know that there is a special lever to turn on the blades for such mower? That only took me 2 or 3 passes to discover. Did you know that riding mowers really can’t get within an inch of the For Sale sign, safely? After it was all said and done, 5 hours flat, the lawns, in my opinion looked like crap. The lines weren’t straight. The radius cuts were not symmetrical. The excess clippings, because I didn’t know the mower was clogged, were hideous. Gotta love home ownership!
I have to thank Cathy and her sister for the house warming gift of potted flowers in the absolutely so appropriate ‘Cold Beer’ container. I also learned that they used crushed beer cans on the bottom of it for drainage. Now to keep them alive. Thank-you!
A lot has happened since I returned from Graduation Week in Baltimore. The short versions is: I bought & closed on a house. I moved.
Wow! What a week. I first want to thank all my friends for helping me move. I couldn’t have done it without both of you. (one of them I had to pay)
I’ve included a few pics of 56. Aka my new house number and now the house’s name.
Closing was on Thursday, the 29th of May. By noon I had entered the world of “home ownership”. Yee Haw! By 5pm I had my bedroom and bath moved and was prepared to spend the night in my new abode. By 5:01 I was at happy hour.
Friday was a big day because it involved coordination. What are the chances that the cable guy, Sears, and the AT&T person show up on time? Add to your probability numbers that all three show up at the same time. (some of you are enjoying this math. Most of you are just reading this blog. Which one are you?) So by noon I have two new DISH’s on my roof and the pleasure of watching the evening new in HD. I’ll tell you now that it doesn’t make the new any better. Sharper, yes, but not better. Four rooms are wired for cable coupled to two receivers and a one DVR. AT&T showed up, thankfully, and redid some of the old phone lines , got me connected to the internet (high speed DSL) and even was kind enough to run another line so that my DISH receivers could be connected. Sears was great in delivering the new side-by-side as shown in one of the pics. They also delivered and unwrapped the new mower, filled it with oil, and unpacked the gas powered weed wacker. My attempts to get them to mow the lawn were sadly unsuccessful. Mowing the lawn: that’s another story.
I shouldn’t admit this but do you know how long it takes a rocket scientist to mow the lawn? Especially given 3 or 4 new lawn machines! 5 hours. (flat) Let’s see, you got the new manuals that have to absorbed and then categorized and filed. You have rebates to complete and prep’ed for mailing. New address labels to be printed to go on the rebate envelopes. You have fuel to purchase for both 4 stroke and 2 stroke engines. (had to walk down to the station to get this fuel) Did you know that for 2 stroke engines you need to mix oil with the fuel in a 40:1 ratio? At least I had some fun with the math. Do you keep a pen/pad in your garage for such circumstances? You should, you know, eh! I had to purchase cooling agents and beverages for hydration. That was another trip to the store. By now you must be amazed that I did the lawns in only 5 hours. It gets better. Did you know that you can’t start a riding lawn mower while standing next to it? Did you know that there is a special lever to turn on the blades for such mower? That only took me 2 or 3 passes to discover. Did you know that riding mowers really can’t get within an inch of the For Sale sign, safely? After it was all said and done, 5 hours flat, the lawns, in my opinion looked like crap. The lines weren’t straight. The radius cuts were not symmetrical. The excess clippings, because I didn’t know the mower was clogged, were hideous. Gotta love home ownership!
I have to thank Cathy and her sister for the house warming gift of potted flowers in the absolutely so appropriate ‘Cold Beer’ container. I also learned that they used crushed beer cans on the bottom of it for drainage. Now to keep them alive. Thank-you!
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