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 :-)

I think it's time...

...to buy a house!

Now that the economy is surely in the crapper and current interest rates hover around 5% I think the time is right. Looking at a few real estate sites I've found I can get a 4 bed/2 bath, 3 wood-burning fireplaces-laden-, porch w/spa-house for less than $155k.

Not too shabby.

Time to visit the loan officer and see what happens.

Montana

In Response to Sarah, Part II

Here's an update on my citrus from this post.

This is the Lemon Drop (aka Sunquat). As you can see it's produced nicely and the fruit are slowly ripening. They should be nice and sweet come March, 2009. I guess patience is a virtue.

The is my Satsuma Mandarin Orange. You can't really tell from the photo but there are small hints of orange on the fruit.

Peggy & Glinda, the Ruby Red Grapefruits (think about it). Lookin' good ladies! I just started these two in March, 2008. So far so good.

Mike the Meyer Lemon. He's not doing so hot. The grasshoppers got the best of him in August and the spider mites got the best of him in September. If he doesn't recover I have Mike II through XII to take his place.

That's the Familia de la fruta cítrica. They're currently battling a spider mite infection but I'm positive they'll pull through.

Perry the Peace Lilly, Nancy the Norfolk Pine, Vince the Venus Fly Trap, Nathaniel and Chris the November and Christmas cacti (respectively), Sid the Sundew, and Samantha the Spider Plant are all doing well. They're not quite as cool as citrus :-P.

The Pirate Spiel

Shmest Shmuy

I was just named Lab Advocate for a company whose name rhymes with the title of this post. I'll answer their questions and submit their requests for inclusion in our product.

Not to mention the potential monetary increases come March/June 2009 due to the increased responsibility.

Wheeee!

Omnivore's 100

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I'm back!

Yep. Been back for a few days now. From all the skin peeling off I look like I belong in a leper colony.

Here are the pictures from this year's trip.

Paddlin' the school canoe...

...that's a paddlin'.

I leave tonight for the midnight showing of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" at Rosedale AMC 14 with some friends. Tomorrow we'll get up, re-pack our bags, double-check our lists, and depart Steaming St. Paul for Evangelical Ely. Saturday will be an early morning of buying fishing, picking up bait, visiting the outfitter for our items (paddles, PFDs, and permit) and to watch the kick-ass BWCAW Bear video. Then we'll drive an hour to our entry point and start our canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Seven days in the wild. I'm giddy with excitement.

Here are pictures from last year's trip.

Mmm, Brewing

So I decide to chronicle my adventures in alcohol here: http://clausbrauerei.blogspot.com/

Keep up, post comments, etc. and you may find a homebrewed gift waiting at your front door someday!

Whoops

A few weeks ago I made some RyePA (India Pale Ale made with Rye). At the time I was extremely excited about this batch and could not wait to transfer it it secondary, dry hop, and keg.

I transferred and dry hopped two weeks ago.

For those non-brewers in the crowd two weeks is a long time in the life of an ale. I was sitting at my desk this morning and remembered this fantastic brew.

Tonight: the kegging.

In response to Sarah

Yes! Citrus can survive in the upper midwest!

I picked up these two fine specimens ($29.99 each) at Lowes here in the Roch. I could have picked up a Mexican Lime (aka Key Lime) but decided to wait until one of my seeds grows up.

Mandarin (Satsuma variety). This will produce some b-e-a-utiful Mandarin oranges. They will be ready for picking this fall.

Lemon Drop (aka Sunquat). This is a cross between a kumquat and a lemon tree. You eat the whole fruit, rind and all!

A baby mandarin orange. Yum

As you can see these plants live on the rocks outside my front door. They'll live out there until about mid-September, when I start weening them to the indoors. They'll require lots of light during the winter but it's OK: I have south-facing windows. Come April-May next year I'll reacquaint them with the great outdoors in preparation for more fruit.

Hooray for citrus!

When Life Hands You Lemons....

Grow a lemon tree! (or 27)

Yes, I have 27 Meyer lemon trees available. I also have 5 Ruby Red Grapefruit trees. I'm looking for some good homes for these trees. They'll provide the sweetest lemons (or grapefruits) you'll ever taste. Leave a comment, send me an email, or give me a call and I'll get you a tree.

Did I mention they're free?

I know, I know

When I logged-in to blogger I noticed the "Last Publish Date" was "March 18, 2008."

Yeah, I'm lame.

Even though Sarah says I'm cool, I'm still lame.

Let's see...what's happened since March 18...

I sucked at curling. Which is a surprise since I'm the team's skip/captain. After two weeks of practice I've improved dramatically. Time to finish the season strong and win the next two games.

Hmm, now there's the Hydukovich clan. That was six tons of fun. Met a lot of great people, had some awesome food. Maybe drank a wee-bit much. Maybe.

That led to a work trip to Vegas. Also six tons of fun. I highly recommend the Red Square at Mandalay Bay. It's a vodka bar. Guess what they serve.

After that I made hefeweizen (mmm, wheat). Then I passed the brewing torch to Eric & Xmas. I also sparked some interest in winter curling at the Owatonna curling club. Mwahahaha.

What else...oh. I have yet to pick up Mario Kart Wii. On May 11 it will be mine.

Why the lapse? Back to Vegas for work. I leave May 3, Saturday. Back to the land of frozen margaritas and Penn & Teller.

woot.

Oh, and this. Excitement.