Fun times at Interbike in Vegas a couple weeks ago! Check out the vid from the 2:00 - 2:15 mark...

okay, so the country's economy is in a total tailspin right now, so back in august we decided to party like it's 1929. that's right, zoot suits, flapper dresses, the whole bit. kate was turning 29 and wanted to blow it out in vegas. joy was turning 30 and just wanted to woot woot woot.

mom hooked me up with the sweetest custom pinstripe zoot suit ever made. silk dragonfly lining with a contrasting bamboo tie, spats, and pocket square. absolute appointedness. here's a preview - the rest is at the above link.

tree be gone!

i'm so over this fence...

yeh! yeh! yeh!

new pix!

completion of wall removal...

gettin' the drywall out!

moving in to the adventure shak in the near future, then removing giant pine tree, chimney, etc... fun times!

pix from the birthday demolition! it was appointed, to say the least. pretty funny, the day started with the intent of just taking out the kitchen cabinet island. but then the foyer wood chest had to go - it just made sense. but then a turn was taken while i was looking at the kitchen again. i got a wild hare and took a stab at the bedroom wall. well, maybe more of a sledge than a stab... [check the pix!]

the house isn't quite mine yet, but we're totally blowing that place out. i signed some docs with a notary last night, kind of expecting the whole thing to be over, but then the closing costs weren't finalized and whatever. it's a foreclosure. it's complicated. maybe in the next couple of days...

but we're taking that place to the next level. mom is here right now and we're on search and destroy. check it out.

So I’m walking down Bacon St to meet some friends at Blue Parrot for margaritas and Mexican food.  Get to the alley between Newport and Niagara and there’s a car trying to cross Bacon St.  I wait for a second to give them the moment to cross – it’s a Sebring convertible with a dude and his chick just trying to find some parking.   The car crosses, and they pass me – give a quick head nod – then brakes.  They bust out in full applause.  I give a Mona Lisa smile and carry on.

Did I mention I was wearing these?

bye bye hi

from sunday morning

------------------------------

"Every breath you take… Every move you make…" But in muzak.
"Welcome to the Los Angeles airport." Welcome to a musical travesty.

It's 5:40 AM and I'm returning from possibly my last trip to Hawaii
for a while. I've trained the Communication Station's staff and my
role as project manager is officially complete. In the past year I've
spent 54 days on O'ahu for work. Good times and bad times… I got to
surf Waikiki and the North Shore several times. I developed a closer
relationship with my cousin Kari and Matt, her husband. The work was
extremely stressful at times, but it's this work and the products from
it that netted me my promotion. The promotion is kind of a mixed bag
as well, though. Gone are the days of anonymity at work – now I'm a
lightning rod for engineering in the program office. All nice and
good – I like challenging work and being a leader – but the days of
Wednesday morning bike rides are gone, daddy, gone… Sometimes I'm
okay with that – I'm buying a plot of land by the beach and I'm
planning to renovate/demolish/build. I love to build and create. But
what happened to that carefree guy that came back from France with an
appreciation for working less and living more? What happened to the
bike messenger and racer? Now I feel like I'm racing up the corporate/
government ladder, but to what end? I love my life and what I've done
with it, but I occasionally wonder. Just because. It's my nature to
wonder and contemplate and dwell and think and do. Is this growing
up? Have I always been this serious? Am I still the Elf? The
pendulum is currently swinging in the direction of work and at times I
feel like the epitomy of a corporate douche bag (CDB), but I wonder
when will the pendulum swing back in the other direction? Will I race
bikes again? I enjoy riding, but the millstone of training was at
times too much for me. Will I race snowboards again? There was that
first season of about 50 days on the snow in 2006/2007, but since then
I've only done about 10 days a year. Will I continue with beach
volleyball and start to enter tournaments? Why is it always a race or
a competition for me? Or is racing and competition my form of
relaxation? Am I trying to prove something? Why is there always some
golden fleece that I'm searching for? What's next? When will I make
the next right turn and try something completely different?

"Hello… Is it me you're looking for?" But in muzak. "Welcome to the
Los Angeles airport."

Escrow in hyper drive!

Got an email this morning from my mortgage broker - he's from Countrywide [sic].

""
Jeremy,

Congrats!! Your offer just got approved and we need to close in two weeks.
Please call my assistant Brian to order appraisal. Call him at ........

Regards,
Christopher
""

2 weeks! Move in by April 1? WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!

The New House - A First Look

So I'm in to escrow!  The foreclosure bank took their 15 days - and then some...  I called on Tuesday and the Auction House said huh?  I called on Wednesday and the Auction House said huh?  I didn't bother calling on Thursday.  I called on Friday and the Auction House said BINGO!  Not just bingo, but that the offer was supposedly accepted on Wednesday - March 4.  Anyway, I guess we're in to escrow now...

 45 day period.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69369&id=687120072&l=8ff48

That's a link to the first photos of the place.  Check out the insanity.  Master plans and scheming to follow later...

Sign of the Apocalypse

Surely this is a sign of the apocalypse.

I purchased a Mac tonight.

Yep, it's pretty unbelievable, but I finally took the plunge. For the
longest time, I actually thought Macs were just dumb. Well, not
really dumb - just impractical. I was brought up on a Commodore 64,
then an Amiga 500, then PC "clones"... The DOS days were fine, but
then came Windows and I mastered that and I was fine. I was an expert
and Microsoft was annoying, but I guess it was comfortable and that
was that. I could do anything I wanted in Windows and frankly - back
in those days - it looked like Apple would just go belly up anyway.
Of course, Apple eventually regained its footing and Microsoft got
steadily more annoying and I got to thinking... Maybe a Mac could be
cool and useful? It must have been their marketing. Not the Mac-PC
ads - none of that. But maybe their steady cultural marketing over
the years? Was it when I got my first Ipod that I thought I should
maybe try out a Mac? Dunno - I think it might have been right around
that time - back in 2004 or so?

Anyway - here I am. I'm having to learn all new keystrokes, all new
software and an all new operating system. And you now what? It's
exciting! I love challenges, and I'm a geek so there you go. Of
course - I'm taking this on just like anything else I do - full on
immersion. My "old" PC laptop was actually my work computer in my old
job (dual duty for work and home). Well, since I got promoted I have
to return it to my old department and I simply won't be getting a new
computer in my new department that I can take home for play. That's
not how they operate. So, it was decision time. I had to have some
sort of computer, so why not go and make the jump? Voila. Macbook
here we come.

OK - enough with the geeking.

On a different note - the HOUSE. I heard though the unofficial
grapevine of the Auction House that the seller "accepted" my bid.
Awesome! However, this is still "unofficial" and is not yet reported
as an "official" acceptance. Basically, the lady I've been in contact
with at the auction house got an email from the closing agent that my
bid was accepted, but that acceptance hasn't shown up in the official
computer records yet. Therefore............... it's not a done deal
and we haven't entered escrow yet, etc. BUT! there's good indication
that it will go through... :-)

March 1 and today was a total beach day. 79 degrees and blue skies – it pretty much doesn’t get any better than that out here… Went for a nice bike ride today and actually got a little sunburned. Pretty surreal since a whole lot of the rest of the country is under snow or just generally crappy weather.

Anyway, I bought a house.

But I haven’t really bought it yet.

It’s a bit complicated – kind of like pretty much everything I do… So I went to a foreclosure auction on 11 Feb down at the Marriott by the Harbor. There was this one house in OB that came up for auction at the last minute, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I honestly thought I’d be completely outbid, since I had a personal limit on what I was willing to “spend”, but in the end I came out the winner and even within budget! I totally had the “Oh, man, I just bought a house – what am I thinking?” moment when I won the auction, too. Following the win, I spent a couple of hours filling out paperwork to formalize the auction, etc. It was really weird – I later went out to celebrate.

But I haven’t really bought it yet. That’s why I haven’t really written anything about the house or posted pix, etc…

The property was “subject to seller approval”. That means that no matter what the property auctions for, the seller has 15 business days to either accept or reject that auction price. Now, the seller in this case is the bank (since it’s foreclosed) and I think their best interest would be to get the property off of their books, pretty much regardless of the cost – especially in the current economic environment – but you never know. I briefly thought that the seller had accepted the offer when I received escrow papers from the independent escrow company, but that was totally a false alarm. Bummer.

Anyway, there’s still no word from the seller. I called up the auction house for a status update on whether the selling bank was serious or not and the auction house said, “oh yeah, that particular agent has been extremely busy the past week. I’m sure they’ll get to you in the next couple of days…” Hmmmmmmmm. Well, depending on whether you count President’s Day or not, 15 days are up either this Wednesday or Thursday, so I guess it’s all about to go down. By the way, if the seller doesn’t respond in the 15 day window, then the default answer is NO. That would be a big time bummer as I’d have to restart the whole looking for a home process. Fingers crossed for it to go thru – then I’ll post some sweet pix and begin to formulate the MASTER PLAN!