Novice Spiel Day 1

Draw time: 10:15pm
End time: 12:12am
Final score after 7.25 ends: 8-3
Result: We won!

Saturday Breakfast/Bloody Mary Bar: 10am
First draw Saturday: 11:15am
2nd draw Saturday: 9:45pm

Sunday...???

Lab

Testing... this is the view from my desk. Normally people sit at the tables on the other side of the room.

Check out that rockin' phone. It's older than I am and, I bet, older than anyone else who reads this blog.

The free pop machine that no-longer-gives-free-pop-due-to-budget-constraints.

One of many white boards.

The conference table which houses the pirate hat (if you screw up the network you have to wear the pirate hat).

Missing from the frame: Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott bobble-heads, the giant stack of manuals and paper, and my hoard of napkins.

Hump Day

Today I planned on finishing my PBC (Personal Business Commitment, or "How I'll contribute to the business's bottom line") and starting a new project at work. Unfortunately the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.


My realtor/aunt asking me to contact my lendor and find out if they have a title company they prefer I with whom to work. This was followed by an email asking me to send the PA to the bank and a request to hand the earnest money to the seller's realtor.

Keep in mind my aunt is two hours away in Fairmont, MN.

After talking with Eikie/Smelly and hitting up the Potato Bar at the Caf for lunch I headed to the bank. I walked out 20 minutes later having paid my origination fee and locking in my interest rate at... 4.625%. Rock. Lobster. I love 70 day lock-in.

I also came away with the final good faith estimate which took a huge load off my mind.

Whelp

Friday: Last episode of Battlestar Galactica. I could take it or leave it.


Saturday: Transferred orange-zest-infused hefeweizen into keg containing two quarts of blood orange juice for carbonation. Cleaned a dirty carboy. Bought and started a wine kit. Easiest. Brewday. Ever.

Made lemon-rosemary-thyme marinated chicken with port & onion reduction, with saffron & green onion rice, and steamed asparagus for dinner. In a word: awesome. Did you know some people lack the gene to smell what I'll lovingly call "asparagus pee?" I didn't.


Sunday: Curling season at Dakota Curling Club started! I drove up early to help setup and teach a "Learn to Curl" class. Following the class my team played and lost our first game of the season. It was rough playing with a new player who's a complete novice but he jumped right in, did his best, and had a few great shots.

Whelp Kiddos, as made evident by my last post the current owners countered my offer. After curling I learned the counter's details: Me paying closing and meet-in-the-middle selling price. I wasn't surprised by their counter but thought I could eek out a little bit more from them considering current market conditions. Current plan: counter the counter.


Monday: Called my aunt-the-realtor and said I want to counter with a reduced asking price. About an hour later she emailed me back saying the sellers won't budge on the price.

Decision time. Accept the counter or walk away?



I accepted and am closing April 30!

(Dawn, I changed my mind and decided moving into a house, moving out of an apartment, and cleaning said apartment over the course of three days would be a bit too stressful. Now I have an entire month to take down curtains, shelves, move, and clean.)


Tuesday: Came into work and talked with one of my coworkers. His brother was in town through Monday looking for a house. He told me March is a rough time to buy a house in Rochester as this is when Mayo Clinic doctors start their residency. He said his brother's list went from 40 houses to 30 in the course of a day due to sales closing. That explains the seller's behavior with respect to the counter-counter offer.

I just signed and submitted the acceptance. All the appliances are definitely staying and the electric fireplace might stay (I could care less).

Now I have an inspection, appraisal, walk through, loan application and major packing ahead of me before April 30.


Memorial day in Rochester? Maybe I'll roast a chicken. ;-)

Counter'd!

My realtor informed me that the sellers are countering my offer. I'm glad they want to do business with me! The seller and their realtor will discuss the counter tomorrow night. I'll know more Monday.

Here comes some more household lovin': the kitchen.

The offer's been made

Today was a stressful day. I woke up early and dropped the car off for an oil change and brake fluid flush. Come to find out the car needs about $1600 worth of work to fix everything that's wrong with it. I opted to fix as much as possible today and delay the rest until the next oil change. There goes my bonus for the year.

Also, since Monday I worked on putting an offer in on a house. Well the last contingency's been read, last line initialed, and the offer is at the seller's realator. Whew.

In celebration, here's another picture of the house. This is the hallway looking into the living room (on the right) the formal dining/third bedroom on the left. If you look through the bedroom you'll see the kitchen sink and cupboards. I really dig the hardwood floors and crown molding everywhere.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here goes nothing!

Well kiddies, the ball is rolling: I've made an offer on a house.

I'm having a hard time not falling in love with the house and liking it instead. It sounds counter-intuitive but it's the truth. I want to save my love for after closing just in case things don't work out.

As such I won't post pictures of the house until after closing. It will help keep me sane.

Ok, one picture. I swears it.

Woot!

When my D40 arrived in the mail I headed up to the Cities and masqueraded as a tourist for a day (with T and Ace). First stop: Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Botanical Gardens. The three of us took many pictures of Spoonbridge and Cherry and warmed up in the tropical gardens. A sample:

After the sculpture garden we headed to The Wienery for a quick lunch of, you guessed it, hot dogs. To clarify I had a polish sausage with sauerkraut, hot sauce, ketchup, and mustard. To top it off we shared an island of fries.

Post lunch we headed to St. Paul and visited The Cathedral of St. Paul.

What's missing from this picture? The bitterly cold wind whipping past the camera, freezing skin within minutes. Yikes.

Why am I posting this four months after the fact? One of my pictures made it into an online Twin Cities guide!

This picture of the Basillica of St. Mary in Minneapolis can be found in the Schmap.com Minneapolis guide to Churches & Cathedrals.

That brought some joy to my day :-)