Fairwell, Old Friend

Nobody wants to buy a couch that has been loved like this one for so many years. Nobody will even take the couch for free. In fact, we decided, nobody will want to buy a condo that has this couch in it.

So, Jamo gave a heartwarming eulogy, and set the beloved couch free. Moments later, he says, it was compacted to the size of a dime by some kind of monstrous garbage machine.


Yesterday was a big day for me in terms of moving milestones. Firstly, I told my manager I was leaving -- and oh my goodness, I was completely unprepared for how hard that would be. I mean, really, it's not my manager's fault that San Francisco is way more fun than Westminster, MD. So it goes.

Now I'm in that awkward in-between stage at work, where my leaving is not completely common knowledge yet, but a few select people know about it. There hasn't been enough time for word to spread far, so I'm never sure who knows and who doesn't, etc, etc. Luckily, I have a four day weekend, starting today, so that should help get my mind off work.

The other moving milestone achieved yesterday was the official listing of my condo. Here's the clip:

Internet Remarks: FANTASTIC TERRACE LEVEL CONDO! LOVINGLY MAINTAINED, OPEN FLOOR PLAN, NEUTRAL DECOR, BERBER CARPET, CROWN MOLDING, PRIVATE SIDE ENTRANCE & PATIO, ALARM SYSTEM, CEILING FANS, DUAL SINK, HARDWOOD FLOORING, LARGE STORAGE ROOM/PANTRY OFF KITCHEN, SECURE BUILDING ONLY MINUTES FROM METRO AND SHOPPING! THIS ONE WILL NOT LAST LONG!

What do you guys think? Will this one last long? Are the internet remarks speaking the truth?

phase 1: repair

in an effort to make vanessa's place more marketable we decided to repaint the hallway of the main entrance. in large part because of the wall patches that were still showing from the previous owner. also, we wanted to add as much more stress as we could to this whole process. turns out we should have taken the advice of the surly home depot paint counter employee when he said, 'if you paint over one kind of paint with a different kind of paint, you gotta prime it first.' of course having been a professional painter for a summer about 5 years ago i thought my eye was good enough to tell paints apart. wrong-o. so here we are with a gallon of semi-gloss painting over god only knows what. also, the paint we bought is significantly lighter than the undercoat making the paint difference all the more noticeable. excellent.

so now we got a photographer coming over thursday night to get some sweet shots of her crib for the introweb and her place will be on the market by this weekend -- according to armondo (not an alias) the real estate agent, this weekend is a big deal for house hunters.

monday i was officially promoted to manager of my store. thank you, thank you. the extra money will be nice and the notch on the resume will be even better. but i can't help but feel a little guilty about this. i know i can't tell fastenal i'm leaving in two months for a variety of reasons. and i can't reasonably turn down this promotion. certainly the "right" thing to do would be to sit down with the powers that be and tell them my situation and work with them to get someone in here while i'm around to show him the ropes of the store. but all of the business-minded and successful people i've talked to about this have pushed me into keeping my mouth shut and convincing me that the way i'm currently handling it is the only way i can.

okay, time to paint!

clerical error

k2 makes a good point over at his house:

Jamo and Vanessa's california list apparently doesn't include "finding a house to live in, in california." I guess that's on my list.

uh. yeah. i guess that falls in the "absolutely necessary" category. not real sure how that happened. the person responsible for this nonfeasance will get a good stern talking to.

at first i was really scared about finding a place to live out there, but vanessa and i have been looking at craigslist on a daily basis over the past week or so and have found no shortage of really sweet-looking places in amazing locations (i don't know much about san fran area, but it seems like throwing at dart at a map of the city earns you an 80 percent chance of hitting a great neighborhood to live in). and despite the horror stories swirling around bay area affordability it seems like lots of these places are actually reasonable; especially if we share rooms.

so even though we were turned down for our first choice -- a seven-bedroom beaut mere blocks away from nightlife and stumbling distance from a hospital or two (could come in handy) -- i have unsurpassable faith we'll find a place that will make us very, very happy.

Selling Everything

I've never used craigslist to sell furniture before. I decided to try it for (1) my desk and (2) my kitchen table (which you already know the fabulous details of)

It's been 2 days, and so far I have received 3 email responses to the posts. Two of the three are the pushiest scammer emails I have ever seen.

Behold, an excerpt:

I will like to buy the kitchen table sets
so pls do withdraw the advert from Craigslist. I will also like to
inform you that i will be paying via cashier check due to the distance
as i am located in Connecticut.

Basically this guy's telling me, he will buy my table and I am forbidden to sell to anyone else. Also, he'll be paying with a cashier's check for maximum scammability, and he's sending his mover's over to beat me up and take the table even though the check was worth no more than garbage.


Another fabulous contender likes to use ellipses for maximal creepy effect:

I am interested in the item you have up there in yourposting....What i would wish is a hassle free purchase...What i do need from you is an address where you can receive the check and also a full name that i could have it issued to thats if you are ready for transaction...It is going to be an overdraft cashier check.Do send me the necessary info i requested for so that the check would be sent out to you in no time.I'll send the movers to you for pick up...

And maybe the bold font will intimidate me into throwing all of my cash at the movers when they come over.


The third email I received simply asked if the desk was still available. Maybe that lead will actually be a real human wanting to exchange money for furniture. Here's hoping.

lists

vanessa is big on lists. always has a list. she says it's the only way she can remember to do things. so we sat down the other day and started a california list. the idea of the list is that it lets you visualize all that needs doing and lets you budget your time accordingly. instead, our california list just freaked me out.

there is so incredibly much that we need to do before we can even begin to think about moving: giving notice at our jobs, quit our jobs, move out of my place, move out of her place, sell (or rent) her place(!), find movers, sell one of our cars, get the other one to california, go to europe (yeah, we got a 10-day jaunt around england planned for mid june. and she has to go to italy for another ten days to attend a workshop/conference/wine tasting something or other with robots and computers. this happens one week before she starts at google). and so much more. so we looked at our list and decided we'd better get moving else we'll never be ready to get outta here. so this weekend we're having a condiment party. come to vanessa's, bring something you like to put condiments on (not restricted to food), and help us finish her condiments/drink the rest of her alcohol. oh yeah, and bring your checkbook. that fine oak finished dining room table with the tile inlay can be yours for only $400.

down the memory hole

one of the thoughts that occasionally occupies my mind is how days of our lives seem to disappear with time. think back to may 15th 2006. do you have any idea what you did that day? chances are you don't, unless of course it's your birthday, you got married that day, had a child that day, went to a raging fun party that day, broke up with your signifcant other that day, etc. (in which case happy birthday/congratulations/congratulations/sweet/condolences (or congratulations). in fact i'd be willing to bet that many of us experience whole weeks in which not a single memorable occurence transpires.

i feel like this is at least a contributing factor for vanessa and i starting this blog. not that we think we'll ever be able to forget how these next two months shake out, but it will be cathartic to get some thoughts out from time to time and it will be neat to have a record of what went down when.

San Francisco Flavored Henry St

K2 sent us an email today about a 7 bedroom apartment that he found right in Mission, the area of San Francisco where we're most interested in living (super fun nightlife, lots of restaurants, close to Google shuttle stops, etc). The place is huge, plenty of space, and best of all, we can pack it with tons of awesome people. K2 says the house is reminiscent of Henry Street, the setting of so many of our happy college memories. It amazes me that we can move across the country and still be a part of a community of familiar, fantastic friends. We're sending over our applications tonight!

I also stumbled across another apartment today, on the outskirts of Mission, which has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a 2 car garage, and a hot tub. Somehow, I think finding an awesome place in San Francisco is going to be no problem at all.

In fact, what's becoming a much greater concern is the fact that I would rather spend my time at work cruising housingmaps.com for sweet San Francisco apartments than spend my time on actual *work*. I mean, I have at least 5 weeks left working -- it's just not a good plan to let go of interest so soon! Somehow I'm going to have to figure out how to forget about California for 9 hours a day before my coworkers catch on to my distractions.