Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Joining the e-reader crowd…

Despite all the hype that surrounded the announcement of the iPad (or perhaps, in some small way, because of it), I decided to finally buy an e-reader, and chose the Nook from Barnes & Noble as my preferred delivery device.

The reason I wanted an e-reader in the first place is because, well, I read. A lot. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-7 books a week, depending on the week. I’ve had all my books for several years and have read them all at least twice, because I enjoy revisiting a story, but I also like buying new books from my favorite authors, and discovering new authors. When I first heard about the Kindle, I thought, well, that’s neat, but I like the experience of reading an actual paper book. The smell, the feel, the experience of it. I love shopping for books and browsing in bookstores. I like bookshelves. All gravy for a book-lover, agreed?

But then, about this time last year, I took a vacation in Florida and, as per my habit, packed about 6 books in my suitcase and another 2-3 in my carryon, as well as my laptop. And since it rained a lot while I was there, I ended up buying a couple more books to entertain myself. And then I was stuck hauling a friggin’ 10-pound carryon all over the damn airport, what with my laptop and my six 500-page novels and my bottle of water, plus my purse. Right about then, I realized that perhaps carrying a 12-ounce device with 1500 books on it would be a superior experience to carrying 6 books of a pound each, at least for traveling purposes.

And then I bought a house and moved, and had to haul fifteen 30-pound boxes of books down 3 flights of stairs into the car and then up 2 more flights of stairs into their respective new homes. Okay, at that point I REALLY saw the appeal of an e-reader.

Coincidentally, Barnes & Noble announced their new e-reader only a few weeks later, and I instantly fell in love with the picture of it. The Kindle has never particularly appealed to me in terms of aesthetics, not that that would have stopped me in a Nook-less world, but I really liked the appearance of the Nook much better, not to mention the fact that it ran on Android (thus opening the opportunity for future app development), that it had wifi (Kindle doesn’t) and that it had an external storage slot for a microSD card, which the Kindle 1 had, but the Kindle 2 doesn’t. (Why not?!)

So, I set my sights on that, lusted over it throughout the holiday season, read a ton of reviews and even managed to get through all the bug reports and the iPad launch without feeling buyer’s remorse. I finally placed my order on January 20th for the February 12th ship date, but B&N had been shipping early, so I knew it was likely I’d have it sooner--and I did. It arrived on the 5th, apparently mere moments after the 1.2 firmware update was pushed out, fixing virtually all the bugs reported in the earlier versions, so it worked great right from the start.

Why didn’t I want an iPad? Well, first, it costs twice as much. Screw that. Second, like I said, I read a lot, and I wanted a device FOR reading. The iPad might be a cool multifunction device, but it’s still an LCD screen like any other LCD screen, and those just are not suited for reading for 3 or more hours at a time (as devoted book-lovers are likely to do). E-ink, on the other hand, emulates a printed page almost perfectly, and the contrast and lack of backlighting are far easier on the eyes. (For this reason, I doubt very much that the iPad will be a “Kindle killer” as predicted.) Yes, the iPad can browse the web and do all kinds of other things, but so what? I already have two laptops and a desktop computer. I don’t really need ANOTHER way to surf the web. Besides, there’s no reason the Nook can’t have a browser one day soon (there are plenty of Android developers chomping at the bit), and it has wifi AND 3G without the extra thirty bucks a month.

So, I’ve had the Nook almost a week now, and I friggin’ love it. The interface is very intuitive, loading content is very easy, and the reading experience is very book-like. So much so, that once I purchased a cover for it, I have to check myself to keep from “turning the page” and flipping from right to left, because there’s nothing ON the left side but the cover! One thing I have heard, and am watching carefully for, is that many users have found that a crack develops in the bevel, at the right-hand page-advance button. Not good. However, one doesn’t need to use the buttons to advance the page: the LCD screen also functions as a page turner with a simple swipe of the finger, which is actually strongly reminiscent of the motion used to turn a paper page. That’s not exactly an excuse for problems in the bevel manufacture, but hopefully the crack issue can be avoided by swiping instead of using the button.

Now I need to resist going crazy in B&N’s e-book store.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Zoinks! A coyote!

Check it out:

You’ll probably want to view the large version of the picture (via the gallery) to get a clear look at it. That’s about 200 yards beyond my house, taken yesterday evening at sunset. Cool, huh? I looked up and saw something floundering in the snow but couldn’t tell what it was. I snapped a few shots anyway just because, and now looking at the pictures, it’s obviously a coyote. (At least it wasn’t a bear.) Coyotes are pretty new to Minnesota, but they’re not just found in the sticks anymore. I’ve seen one about 3 miles west of Lake Calhoun (which is smack in the middle of Minneapolis proper, 5 miles out of downtown) and my sister has a few running around her first-tier suburban neighborhood. The funny thing is, when we were kids growing up at that house, we NEVER saw wildlife around there. Once in a great while the occasional racoon or owl would come around. Now the place is overrun with deer and wild turkeys, a bald eagle showed up across the street last week, and then coyotes just down the street. Crazy!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Reflections on the year.

I updated my site a little early. So it’s not quite 2010 yet, but it says it is, because I could just tell that the next time I thought of updating the graphic would be sometime in February. Better to strike while the iron is hot, I say.

Right now I’m enjoying a beautiful sunset, with the fire and all my candles lit. I have to say that 2009 was a good year for me. It was an incredibly stressful year, to be sure: impending layoffs in February, which I fortunately wasn’t a part of; Casey getting sick in April and needing hundreds of dollars in vet visits and round-the-clock care; buying the house. My God, at some points I thought I was going to lose my mind. Fortunately, I didn’t, and even the stressful events had happy endings. Casey’s lost a ton of weight (from 19 lbs down to about 8 or 9), but he’s responding well to the medication and is practically his old cheery self (he’d be more cheery if Moocher weren’t around to hog the limelight). The house is everything I thought it could be and more, and for less money than even my most wildly optimistic estimates. I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the new LCD television. And the holidays were great. Work was very low-stress with a reasonable workload, which borders on the miraculous. I’ve been able to take a few days off and enjoy the season. My family had a wonderful time at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we all got along great, also miraculous. Considering how many people spent 2009 trying to stay in front of an avalanche of shit, excuse the metaphor, I feel very, very lucky indeed.

So, what’s in store for 2010? Well, the Chinese are going to discover life on Titan and Dave Bowman is going to rematerialize in his interdimensional form. Just kidding. (Nerd humor.) I don’t know, but I’m looking forward to a few upcoming incidents. Once I get my W-2 in a month, I plan to file my taxes as quickly as humanly possible, and score that $8000 tax credit. After celebrating for about 5 minutes, I’ll then use that to pay off my car loan, which will be a huge financial coup for me (I’ve only had the car a year and a half). Since 2010 was something of an expensive year (TV, vet bills, paint for the house, etc), I plan to pay off my credit card again, and try to keep my debt footprint to a minimum. And I’ve decided that it’s high time I saw some of the world, so I plan to begin putting money aside for a vacation fund, get my passport, and start boldly going where I haven’t gone before, starting in 2011. I’ve got plenty of vacation time racked up, and I’ve been to Florida enough times that going there is a slightly more expensive version of staying home. Time to visit some new places and take some new pictures!

But tonight will be a calm and lazy night (as they all are, to a certain extent). Eat a few cookies, watch some Ghost Hunters, doze on the couch, play Sims 3 World Adventures. It’s going to be great, I can feel it!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

We’re supposed to get up to 20 inches of snow by Saturday morning. The snow began a couple hours ago, and already the roads are pretty bad. I wrapped my Christmas presents, and then drove to my parents’ house to drop them off, figuring that even if I couldn’t make it on Friday, at least the loot would be there. As soon as I got onto the highway, I reconsidered the wisdom of making the trip. I made it without incident, but man! I’m not budging until the plows come out, that’s for sure. In fact I might not have a choice in the matter.

But, let me tell you. I’ve got tomorrow off, I’ve got the fireplace going, the TV’s on, the cats are running around doing whatever, and my car is in its heated, attached garage not getting snowed on. If I had to be anywhere getting 20 inches of snow dumped on me, I couldn’t pick a better spot than here.

Obligatory post

Still alive. I haven’t posted about anything because nothing interesting has happened. Almost done with the Christmas shopping, work’s going great, we’re supposed to get 20” of snow starting tomorrow evening. That’s about it!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The house is great!

I’m really enjoying home ownership thus far. Of course, it’s only been a month, but thus far it seems like all the convenience of apartment living combined with all the privileges of a single-family home. I still don’t need to worry about trash pickup and mowing the lawn (well, as long as I remember to put the can out on the curb on the designated day), but I also never have to worry about getting a hot shower at 10am, or hoarding quarters for the laundry, or having to wait to do laundry either. The place actually isn’t that difficult to clean, either, though it helps that half the house doesn’t have furniture in it yet. The utilities are also dirt-cheap: I paid $87 for my first power/gas bill, my phone bill will be about $50 a month, and my 2010 property tax estimate was $500 less than I had budgeted for. So I’m essentially paying about $400 more per month for about 2.5x the space and a lot more amenities besides (not to mention the equity and tax benefits).

Other than that, work has been quite busy, as one might expect just before the onslaught of Black Friday and the upcoming holiday season. Working, working out, playing the Sims, cleaning, watching the cats chase each other around, that’s the sum of my life. Casey’s about a third of the cat he used to be--he’s about 7 lbs and a little frail, but still finds time to snuggle (which he seeks out less often now that he gets more attention from Moocher than he really wants) and his appetite is hanging in there. Moocher, on the other hand, is getting a little chubby, so I’m going to have to get him to run around a little more.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Enjoying the weekend.

Yesterday, I cleaned the entire house, top to bottom. Man, that was a lot of work. I hadn’t cleaned since I moved in, whereas normally it’s my habit to clean once a week. But hey--now it’s done, and I have the entire weekend to enjoy (or, at least one more day of it, since it’s Saturday night). I’m sitting here with the fireplace lit, watching “Dead Zone” reruns on DVD and sitting here with Casey snoozing next to me. Ah, this is the life! With holiday season right around the corner, I’m enjoying what free time I have, because the craziness will start any minute!

So, not a lot to report otherwise. I went for my first Hugo bike ride earlier today, and it kicked my ass. That was the first exercise I’ve gotten in a few months, and boy, do I need to build some endurance back up. The weather’s been really cruddy this month (rainy and gloomy for most of the month) so there haven’t been a lot of opportunities to get outside, but that’s no excuse--I have the complex gym practically within sight of my house, so if I were smart, I’d go USE it for a change instead of sitting here thinking about it. Maybe tomorrow.

Back to the lounging! 

Sunday, October 11, 2009

I just unpacked my last box!

I love the house. This marks my first full week spent in the place, and now that everything’s put away, I feel like I can breathe a little more easily. I’ve only got about half the house painted, but at least it’s the important half: master bedroom, living room, hallways and kitchen. Right now, I’m doing a load of (FREE) laundry, I’ve got the fireplace lit, and I’m thinking about running to Target for the 500th time to pick up some household items. The rest of me just wants to make lunch and then go take a nap.

Things I’ve noticed about living here:

1. I’m in the sticks, big-time. There’s a horse farm in my direct line of sight from my living room. It’s actually really picturesque; on nice days, I look out my window and see horses milling about in tranquil fashion. It takes 10 minutes to go anywhere because Target, Cub, and other various big-box locations are at least 6 miles away. That’s not SO bad, but it does make “just running out” a little more of a chore than it used to be. On the plus side, there’s a grocery store and other small locations (gas station, some cute cafes and such) just down the street from me, so I do have choices.

But you know, even though it’s only been a week, I have to say that being near all this green space and wild areas (there’s a large regional park only a couple miles away, and the complex is surrounded by wetlands) really just does nice things for my mental state. I’m surrounded by people, true, and I have whatever modern conveniences at hand that I wish, but if I want to see some wide-open areas, gorgeous lakes and huge trees, all I have to do is look out my window or drive down the street. I love that.

2. It’s SO QUIET here! I treasure quiet, so boy, did I make a good choice in that respect. It is so quiet here that if I don’t have the TV or radio on, I can actually hear the blood rushing through my ears. It’s sensory-deprivation quiet. Even with the window open, I may hear *a* car drive by, or some people outside walking their dog. Otherwise, nothing. I’m in an interior unit (I share two walls) and I haven’t heard a peep from either neighbor. Hurray for double soundproofing!

3. I don’t have a hall closet of any kind. Hrm. I’ll have to get a coat rack for guests to hang their coats.

4. Having an attached garage with an automatic door opener, my own washer and dryer, and fireplace is everything I thought it could be and more.

Being that it’s my first month here, I’m trying to be a little conservative with my energy usage. Not doing partial loads of laundry or dishes, not running the fireplace all day long no matter how tempting and pretty it is, not leaving lights on. Of course a 1900 sq. ft. house is going to cost more to operate than a 750 sq. ft. apartment, and I’ve budgeted on the high end for what I estimate the utilities will be, but I’m trying not to give myself too much of a sticker shock when that first bill arrives.

Otherwise, the only things left to do now include painting the other rooms, and starting to save for and buy furnishings. I need curtains and curtain hardware and a dining room table to start, so if nothing else, nobody will be wondering what to get me for Christmas for a few years. But I’ve got 30 years to furnish the place, so no rush.

Monday, September 28, 2009

No house yet.

I was supposed to close today. And in fact I did sign all the documents for closing, and handed over my check for the remaining closing costs. But Pulte sent along an incorrect document for the soil test, and despite being hassled about it for the last two weeks straight, they claimed ignorance at the closing table and then spent the next two hours trying to dig up the correct one. Eventually everyone sent me home and said that they’d bring me the keys as soon as the correct form was faxed over, but at 3:30 today, my realtor called and said that the underwriter didn’t approve whatever Pulte sent, so now I’m waiting until tomorrow to get the keys. I was okay with this earlier, but now I’m actually quite grumpy about it. I was hoping to get a lot of moving done tonight and set-up for painting tomorrow, and now I can’t because of THEIR fuck-up! Not to mention that I’m paying interest for one day on a house I can’t enter. Thanks a lot, jerks! 

Thursday, September 17, 2009

All sorts of good news today.

I woke up this morning to a phone call. Usually, this is one of my least favorite ways to wake up, but since I no longer have to look for a lender or a realtor, my loathing for the phone is subsiding a little. So I answered it. Turns out it was my insurance agent, asking for a couple piece of documentation regarding my master association coverage and dwelling exceptions. She’d gotten the appraisal from the lender, and suggested I ask my realtor to dig up those particular items. I promised to do so, and since I hadn’t seen the appraisal report yet, asked her what the house had appraised for.

“It looks like it appraised for $161,600. Sounds like a beautiful house!” She said.

Woohoo! My purchase price is $153,100, so that gives me $8500 in equity right out of the gate. Awesome! Granted, with an FHA loan, one still has to pay PMI until 20% of the LOAN is paid (as opposed to the appraised value of the house, unless it is lower than the amount of the loan), so this is mainly academic for me until either housing prices recover, or I pay off 20% of the loan. Still, it’s great to know for certain that I’m buying at the bottom of the market, and getting a deal.

I don’t think I mentioned this before, but when I first started seriously searching for a house, I’d saved about 10-15 listings of homes I wanted to see that fit my criteria. I had seen this particular model of home (everything I looked at was a townhome, because I specifically wanted one) before and absolutely LOVED it, but I was really hoping to spend about $130K at the most, and in July there was tons of inventory at that price point. The only reason I even went back to this particular model was because they’d posted a listing on the MLS that was about $10K lower than previous models had been listed. Of course, we got there and NATURALLY those were for models that would be built in February, not for any of their existing inventory, which was in the $150-153K range. But we looked at them anyway because I was already very familiar with them (hell, I’d been at that model 4 times already since 2006--the listing agent knew me by face). And when I saw “my” unit, I fell in love.

So I made an offer on this house, which was flatly rejected by the builder, and they refused to take any price lower than the asking price. My parents were livid at that rejection of my perfectly fair offer, and thought I was a total moron for not simply walking away because I’d already been handed the bait-and-switch with the listing prices, and considering the market, my “deal” didn’t seem like much of a deal. And I did walk away at first, but after another week of looking at another dozen townhomes, none of which were anything even CLOSE to what I wanted--except one, which had an offer on it literally in the time it took to schedule the showing and arrive 20 minutes later--and realizing that the market was increasingly picked over, I decided that the smartest thing I could possibly do at this point would be to stop looking at the dregs to find something I could put up with, and get the house I LOVED and had everything I wanted, and to do it before someone else snapped it up.

Long story short, I put in another offer for the asking price. They told me I could get incentives if I used their lender, but I’d already locked in at 5% with another lender, so I couldn’t take advantage of that (which is too bad, because they came up with a hell of a counter). But a 5% 30-year fixed-rate is pretty fantastic as it is. Plus, I have a little more peace of mind knowing that the appraisal and inspection are truly independent, something I couldn’t have guaranteed if I’d gone with the builder’s lender. Suffice it to say that the builder’s lender has been giving me the super-hard sell and kind of been underhanded about the whole thing (e.g. pursuing a deal even after I’d locked with another lender, which is illegal in MN).

So, between my parents giving me a hard time for my apparently poor homebuying decisions, looking at other townhomes (none of which were as good as “my” townhome) and all the monkeying around with the builder’s lender, the first 3 weeks of the process were extremely stressful. But now that all the players are finalized and we’re rolling toward the finish line, everybody’s relaxing and beginning to appreciate the fact that, builder assholery aside, I’m actually getting a damn nice place! Getting that appraisal was a vindication of sorts (especially since it WAS with an independent lender, who obviously had incentive to be objective) so I feel really good about that. I called my parents to deliver the good news about the appraisal, and they were appropriately positive.

A few hours later, I got a call from my insurance agent’s assistant, who had a policy roughed out for me and wanted to get my verbal agreement to draw up the papers (pending arrival of the docs they’d requested earlier). Now, a typical homeowner’s policy for a house in my price range is about $65-70 a month, and that’s what I was expecting to pay. So the agent assistant outlines what the policy covers, and then tells me that because it’s a townhome and thus covered by the hazard insurance policy required by the HOA, my homeowner’s insurance will be about $115 a YEAR. Holy shit, why so cheap? Because I only really need to insure the interior, and have my policy cover the gaps that the HOA’s master policy doesn’t cover. Awesome!

So, great! First my house is worth $8500 more than I’m paying, and now I’m paying $50/mo less in PITI. Could it get better? It could! I just googled “Hugo, MN” to see what might come up, and saw the local paper (which may or may not also have a printed version), so I clicked on that. I read a couple articles about local goings-on, then saw an article about a goof in tax assessments. It turns out that the tax assessor zigged where he should’ve zagged when planning the preliminary 2010 levy, and taxes were predicted to go up when they should’ve gone down. So property taxes for 2010 will actually decrease. Ha!

I did take a spin tonight around my future neighborhood, and I have to say that I’m a little intimidated by the idea of living so far out in the boonies. Granted, I’m only 15 miles out of downtown St. Paul, so I’m not completely in the hinterlands, but it is definitely exurban, missing “rural” by the skin of its teeth. But the area is beautiful, plus I have a college friend who lives right in the same complex(!), plus there’s a clubhouse with a gym and a pool. I’ll be only 10 minutes farther away from everyone than I am now.

Being two weeks out, I’m starting to plan the major cleaning jobs (like the stove, fridge, blinds) and the packing. I actually packed a couple boxes of books, then realized that I could easily end up packing virtually everything but my furniture in a single day, and then I’d just be tripping over moving boxes for two weeks and wondering where I put everything. So packing can wait another few days. Tomorrow, I’ll start changing all my accounts to reflect my new address. At least the advent of online bill pay means that I don’t need to worry about missing payments in transit.

Time to go dream about furniture.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

15 days and counting!

I’m so excited!!!

Things I’ve accomplished in the last week:

1. Turned in the documentation for one financial form.
2. Collected the documentation for the one remaining financial form, which I’ll deliver tomorrow.
3. Bought paint.
4. Made an appointment for movers for Oct. 2.
5. Arranged a closing time (11am).
6. Arranged a walk-through for the 23rd, where they explain the warranty.
7. Took the week of the 28th off work (a coup I wasn’t sure I could accomplish, so hurray!)
8. Got moving boxes and supplies.
9. Gave away my piano.

My dad is such a character. He’s very understated and self-deprecating (not surprising, after 35 years with my mother) and generally not given to emotional displays. So he calls me up Saturday morning and says, “Hey, I have the cancelled check you need for the other half of those forms.” (See item 2.) Great, why don’t I come over and pick it up? He says, “Actually, I’m already out and about, so why don’t I swing by and bring it to you?” Sure, why not. “Oh, and I also have a couple moving boxes for you to move with.” Hey, sweet! I’m thinking he scavenged a few from work and brought them home, or something. He shows up and what does he have? A complete array of about 40 moving boxes from large to small, plus dish-packing foam, packing paper, three rolls of tape and a Sharpie. *laugh* “Oh, I got a good deal at Home Depot.” Aw! Thanks, Dad. What he didn’t know is that I’d come this >< close to buying a box kit the night before, and only sheer laziness preventing me from hitting the “Checkout” button when I was on the site selling the boxes. Procrastination pays off sometimes!

As for the piano, I just saw it off about a half hour ago. I’m a little sad about it. I got the piano for free back in 2000, from a friend of mine who was moving. I’ve moved it three times since then, including to my current place. But the reality is that although I really enjoy playing, I just don’t have the time to play it. I’ve played maybe 10 times in the five years I’ve lived here, and considering they cost about $400 to move, I just couldn’t justify moving it yet again to just sit, unplayed, in my family room for another decade. I decided that since I got the piano for free, I would likewise give it away and hope that it would find a good home. And it did--a graduate music student saw my Craigslist ad, came over to check it out, and immediately agreed to take it for his basement studio. And this evening, he arrived with all his friends (and a rather rickety trailer) and lugged it out. Goodbye, sweet piano! I hope they get it home in one piece. As others pointed out, if I feel inclined to take it up again, I can always get a keyboard. At least those don’t weigh 200 pounds.

So, all that remains for the next couple weeks is to start packing, arranging for utilities, and doing the big ugly cleaning jobs (the oven and the fridge, cleaning the blinds, dusting the trim) so that by the time I’m all moved out, I just have to wipe the place down and hand in my keys. My schedule for the week of the 28th is to close, then go in and tape and lay dropcloths in preparation for painting, plus I can start moving boxed items into the garage. Then one coat of paint goes on on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday. Thursday I can start dismantling the larger furniture so that the movers just have to pick it up and lug it out Friday morning. Then I’ll have Saturday to clean and check out of my apartment, and Sunday to collapse from exhaustion.

Now to go nurse my aching back and play Sims 3.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

The process continues.

Well, I had the inspection on Friday, and it went very well. Nothing came up as an actual problem, just a bracket that needed tightening and a couple hoses for the washer that should’ve been steel instead of rubber. Otherwise, all the appliances work, the fireplace works, the water heater and the furnace are in perfect working order (as they all should be, since they’re new). We did empty out the ice bucket in the freezer because it was packed with ice, and there’s a wasp nest above the door that someone needs to whack down with a broom. That’s pretty much it. So, today I mailed off my second-to-last rent check and the check for the appraisal, the next step on this parade to home-ownership.

Casey fell off the balcony on Saturday--at least, I suspect he did. I was sitting on the couch doing some work, and the balcony door was open so the cats could go out. (I can see the balcony from the couch.) Suddenly I heard *scritchscritchscritch*, then Moocher starts meowing up a storm. I got up, looked at the balcony and didn’t see anything, but suddenly I had a feeling that NOT seeing anything was suspicious. Where was Casey? I searched around the house and sure enough--no Casey! I dashed downstairs and there he was, crouched on the patio of the first-floor apartment. Holy crap! The poor guy was freaked out at being outside, and ran back to the apartment mostly under his own power, and he seemed okay. No limping, no loginess, nothing broken or out of place, and he’s been fine since then, if a bit slow-moving. No wonder, since it’s a 20-foot drop from the floor of my deck to the ground. Alex suspects that Casey tried to take a card out of Moocher’s deck and jump down via the air-conditioner route--since now that he’s down 7 lbs, he’s a lot more agile than he used to be--but directly underneath that route is a border of medium-sized rocks. If he’d fallen onto that, I doubt he would’ve come away with just a freak-out and some bumps. The rest of the balcony is bordered by grass.

So, that was more adventure than any of us were looking for, but we all survived it. Now I’m working my ass off and daydreaming about paint colors.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Enough with the phone already!

Holy Jesus, am I ever sick of listening to the phone ring. Between the realtor (who is very cool) and my chosen lender (also very cool) and another lender (not cool), I must’ve spent 3 hours on the damn phone today. And like most people who once cut their teeth on tech support back in the day, I hate the phone.

Scenario: I locked in a great rate (5%) with Lender 1. The catch is, I pay all closing costs unless I go through Pulte’s lender (Lender 2), who would give me 3% toward closing if I did so. I was fine with paying the closing costs because Lender 2 was advertising a higher rate, but my parents pointed out that having fewer closing costs meant a larger down payment, which would make a lower payment and thus offset a higher rate to a certain point. So, I agreed to at least get a good faith estimate (GFE) from Lender 2. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this because I felt I’d gotten excellent service overall from Lender 1, and I hate taking away business from people I feel deserve it, but money is money, and I couldn’t deny the logic behind at least looking underneath the stone rather than leaving it unturned.

So, to make a long story short, after three days of monkeying around and talking about discount points and the 3% incentive they were supposedly offering, every GFE they gave me either came up with a higher rate, a larger loan amount, or higher closing costs, and usually any two of the three. I finally told them “Thanks but no thanks” earlier this evening, but I still feel irritated at the hard sell and the wasted time. Moreover, considering I had essentially walked away before they came back with their “final offer” of matching the 5% (which turned out to be their FIRST offer, because the loan amount was correspondingly higher by three grand), I feel even more distrustful, and doubly glad I’ll not only be going through an independent lender, but also an independent appraiser, inspector and title insurer. God only knows what shenanigans they might’ve tried to pull once I signed on the dotted line. Lender 1, by contrast, has been very open and transparent, and laid all the cards right out on the table immediately. (And I’ll be happy to provide his contact info to anyone who wants it.)

Pulte’s also the one selling the house, but I’m fine with the house. I trust that I’m getting a good deal there (and my trust will be backed up by an appraisal and an inspection) so that doesn’t bother me. The community itself is very nice. I’m just not at all appreciative of the mortgage arm’s sales tactics. Ugh.

In other news, Casey’s still hanging in there. He’s down a couple more pounds, but seems to be mostly stable, and he gets his meds every day (which he hates). He isn’t hiding under the bed, and still comes looking for pets and kisses. I hope he stays with us a long time. Moocher, by contrast, is getting a little chubby himself, and seems to be mellowing off his neverending path of destruction, thankfully. He’s a very sweet, loving and intelligent cat, and I feel particularly lucky that I have TWO cats like that. 

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I’m buying a house!!

I almost didn’t want to post this until I closed, because I didn’t want to jinx myself, but I can’t resist. (No jinx, no jinx, please no jinx.) It’s a 3-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse with a 2-car garage and family room. The complex also features an outdoor pool and a clubhouse with a gym. I’ve been drooling over this exact model for the last 3 years, ever since I visited the complex during an idle Sunday tour of the Parade of Homes. And now, thanks to the crash of the real estate market bringing prices down to rock bottom, this 1900-square foot beauty is now going to be mine. Or at least it will be, if my posting about it doesn’t jinx me. No jinx!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A skinny Casey?!

I know, it’s as strange to me as it would be to you. Here’s what has transpired since I last posted:

Casey got better on the prednisone and antibiotics, then declined again when those drugs were stopped. So, back to the vet, where we put him back on one drug at a time, to see which one had the beneficial effect. A week of antibiotics helped some inflammation in his mouth, but didn’t make him eat (and I was hand-feeding him the whole time, so that was a very stressful time for both of us). Okay, so that wasn’t it. Next, a shot of steroids that would last 7-10 days, and when he was on that, he ate up a storm and acted like his old self. So, okay! Now he’s on a daily dose of prednisone in pill form, which I administer by dissolving it in a little bit of water in a syringe, then sucking up some pre-blended food (the same as I’d been hand-feeding him), and giving that to him. He’s used to being fed by syringe and at least that way, he gets all the medication and isn’t spitting it out or fighting me.

The vet suspects that Casey has an autoimmune disorder, which affects his entire digestive system, and which he’s probably had his whole life (Casey’s always been a barfer and had other issues, not to mention his bad teeth, but it didn’t even occur to me that this could be a result of an autoimmune problem). So, he’s been on the pills since Thursday, and while he’s not back up to where he was on the shot, he’s still eating on his own and hanging out with me in the living room, instead of moping under the bed all day. He’s supposed to decrease to one pill every other day by Thursday, but I think I’ll call the vet and tell him of my observations and recommend that we not decrease. The great thing about prednisone (apart from the appetite stimulation, which he needs) is that it’s cheap, particularly if I order it online, so while Casey’ll need a pill a day for the rest of his life, at least that’ll be ALL he needs, and at least he can expect a longer life.

But here’s the real shocker: he’s down to about 12 pounds, from 19 in March. Obviously losing 1/3 of your body weight in a matter of a few months is a serious issue, for a cat as it would be for a person (it’d be like me losing 30 lbs in that amount of time). That’s why I had to hand-feed him and monitor him closely to make sure he didn’t suffer fatty liver disease, which is an issue for cats who stop eating, particularly obese cats--their livers start accumulating fat and they suffer drastically decreased liver function, and this can occur over even so short a time as 2-3 days. This is why “Well, wait for him to eat, he’ll get hungry eventually!” isn’t an effective treatment course for cats. So, now Casey can’t even properly be called fat anymore, he’s just a little bit chubby. And while I do miss my chubby bunny and I worry about him continuing to lose weight, let’s face it--if he can STAY healthy and maintain this weight, it will be so much the better for him. He did make quite an impressive jump the other day that would previously have been beyond him, that’s for sure, and the kitten makes him run around a lot, so I’m sure that contributes as well.

Ah, the kitten. So cute. Due to a surprising total inability to think of a good name, I’ve been calling him “Mooch” and “the Moocher” because he is CONSTANTLY begging for attention and/or food, particularly if I’m giving either to Casey without him. It’s like he can sense petting from another room entirely, because the second I start fussing over Casey, Moocher runs right in and demands the same treatment. So, that’s pretty funny. But Mooch is a very smart, very affectionate, very personable cat who actually reminds me a lot of Casey when he was a kitten. Mooch LOVES Casey and chases him around everywhere, grooms him and snuggles up with him. He loves the laser pointer, catnip toys, and he made a couple of very disturbing excursions off the balcony and down the side of the building before he apparently discovered that the grass wasn’t greener on the ground floor. (Yikes!)

And he’s really a gorgeous cat, too--beautiful soft fur like rabbit fur, lovely markings and golden eyes that match his fur. He’s really a doll, and now that he’s toned down a little on the acts of mass destruction, he’s more fun to be around. My couch upholstery and my balcony screen have suffered (Mooch still has his claws, a situation I may yet rectify) but now I have two cozy furballs cuddling up with me at night. Or, at least I would have, if they didn’t constantly tumble and play-fight while I was trying to sleep. The big challenge is trying to feed HIM an appropriate amount of food. I’ve been feeding them canned food, and Casey should get about a can’s worth and Mooch should get half a can (the ratio is 1/2 can per 6-8 lbs of body weight, and Casey weighs 12 lbs and Mooch weighs about 7). But now I have one chubby cat who won’t eat enough, and one skinny cat who eats too much! Grah.