So our thanksgiving dinner went well. We had 8 other people over including my parents, my brother and his wife, the scientist’s parents and grandmother, and our friend Grue. My cousins and aunt from the socialist state could not come not make it over as postmen and nurses do not get a 5 day weekend like some of us. I was looking forward to getting to see them… maybe next month.
Things have been pretty relaxed since everyone left. We’ve pretty much just hung out doing not much of anything (only a little bit of house work and some shopping). I can’t remember the last time I had this much time off in one go. It is amazing how much more motivated one is to do non-sitting-on-one’s-ass things, when one has been sitting on one’s ass for a couple of days. With that focus, I will do some looking around for employment opportunities (not sure what I am looking for…) and maybe plan the built in bookshelves/cabinet/drawers for our loft. The scientist is planning on using the space for an office where she can do work and have space for the baby, which means I need to try and get it done by May (though I’m hoping to get it done in by the end of January). I’ll probably need to recruit some help as I’ve never done any framing… I’ll post the plans when I have them done. What I’d give to have a drafting table. Anyone know of a good open source drafting program?
My appointment with the Comcast installation guy was to be between 9 and 11. I have just got the internet setup (at a quarter to two). I wasn’t planning on taking today off but what can you do. Sigh. As I’ve never actually had a cable appointment that happened when it was supposed is a sign that Comcast should hire more install techs. They just seem over worked.
On a side note, I read the Communist Manefesto last yesterday (being Labor day and all). Perhaps, I write something about it. Perhaps not.
Anyway, I, and most likely the Scientist, will be posting more often now.
So we went to the Home Depot last night to pick up some supplies. One of our main goals for was to replace a bunch of the lighting in our home with Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs. Our new condo has several recessed lighting fixtures all of which were loaded with 100W Halogen Bulbs; these we replaced with 13W CFL. So if the current rate for power from PSNH is 7.34 cents/kilowatt-hour and if the average life of a CFL is 8000hrs (6 years) then…
(100W * 8000hrs) * ($.0734/1000WHrs) = $58.72
(13W * 8000hrs) * ($.0734/1000WHrs) = $7.63
Those numbers are cost over 8000 hours (which they say is 6 years of use) and since we replaced 6 of the 100W halogen bulbs we will save $51.09 dollars per year in energy costs. Of course we had to pay for the new bulbs. These were $7.99 for a 4 pack* (plus a $1 dollar instant coupon from PSNH) which makes for $1.75 a bulb. So $51.09 - (6 * $1.75) is $40.59 our first year!
Incandescent, Halogen and Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
In case you are wondering these numbers are ridiculously inflated. I doubt that we’ll have each of these lights on for 1300 hours per year, but in any case they say that it only takes 500 hours of use to pay off a CFL and after that it is pure savings! Of course, there are other benefits to using less energy than just saving money but after you buy something as expensive as a condo you want to pinch pennies as much as possible (especially if those pennies can go towards video games, beer, or TV.) I’m not going to talk about whether the manufacturing process for CFL are better than normal light bulbs because I honestly don’t know but it would be interesting to find out.
Oh, and we also replaced 4 60W bulbs in our upstairs bathroom for an extra $18.40 in savings.
*We bought a different brand of bulbs from Home Depot.
We have been pretty much working day and night for the last two weeks (jobs and packing) and it is starting to catch up to us. Neither of us really wanted to get out of bed this morning and I am still exhausted but tonight we are cleaning up a little bit more at the old apartment and hitting up the hardware store (energy efficient light bulbs, stain and so misc. crap). I did actually go and take some more photos last night. Check them out.
 
 
We are moved in. A special thanks to my folks, my brother and nikkiana, Maletas and Dave. The move went very smoothly (it helped a lot that Maletas used to work for a moving company, the apartment was right next to an exit and everyone was not afraid to just grab the heavy stuff) and took very little time! Now comes the hard part for us. We need to unpack, paint and stain. But first things first. I need to get internet! Not that I’ve had time to actually post anything but what if I did?! And what if I actually had something to write about?! Then you’d be sorry.
I’ll take some pictures of our new place before our hockey game (or have the scientist do it as I take shitty pictures) and post them tomorrow for those who haven’t seen the place and our interested. Which reminds me, Tizzom you need to play hockey tonight! Jefe is AWOL a guitar hero.
I’m getting tired of this home buying process. The condo we are buying appraised for about $7K less than we expected (yeah!) but that has held up the mortgage approval or restarted it (boo…). I thought we were already approved so why would we need to get re-approved for less money? So now it turns out we may not be able to close on Wednesday. If this is the case I’ll be rather annoyed. I want the process to be done with already! I want to start moving in! I want to be able to enjoy our new patio for a least part of the summer! Sigh.
So now it should not be a problem. Argh! I kind of wish I had some idea of what was going on. I feel like every time I ask ‘What do we have left to do?’, I’m told ‘Nothing. Everything is going fine.’ Then something comes up and I have to stress out for several hours before it resolves itself.
So I lost my notebook yesterday. That is where I write down shit I need to do… now what will I do today! Plus I am now required to go to the red light district to get a new notebook (which happens to be my car as I bought a three pack last time). Sigh.
One thing I did remember to do is to call up Verizon about transferring my account to our new condo. Here the deal (in a D14-esque complaining spiel). Yesterday I called up Verizon and went through their nice automated, voice recognizing menu system, and, finding no option that fit my need, decided to just hit buttons (say things) until I could talk to a human. The only problem was ‘please stay on the line while we direct your call to the next available operator’ was directly followed by ‘the number you are trying to contact is currently unavailable please call…’. WTF. I gave up, deciding to call again the next day.
Upon getting home, the scientist encouraged me to call again (much to my chagrin) and this time I was able to get through, but that department was closed (Indian call centers just aren’t what they used to be)! Blah.
So, I called again this morning and got through successfully… and here’s the deal. If you have a dry loop dsl plan (dsl with no phone) then you cannot transfer your account. You are required to cancel your account and, once the old account has been cancelled (note that this is several days after the date you tell them to cancel it) you can call them up and start a new account. Convenience at its best. Oh, and I also have to ship back our modem. On the plus side, as I said we were going to sign back up again they waived our early termination fee ($70. Though the email I was just sent told me that I am still subject to the fee. Sigh.)… hmm… this information could be used for evil. ‘Hello, Comcast?’
We will hopefully be moving into our new place the weekend of PAX, which means we will not be able to make it to Washington to sleep on Doomfaces floor, eat his food or teach his kid how to behave inappropriately. But for now check out some crappy pictures for our new place:
Like I said in the previous post we made an offer and it was accepted. The place we are going to buy is a condo/townhouse in a small but really nice development about 2 to 2.5 miles outside of downtown. It is not as close to downtown as I would have liked but it is still in walking distance to the disc golf course and it is closer to my work (which means I should bike in more often or take the bus).
The place is pretty darn big with a loft in the master bedroom and a small patio area out back. Plus, the previous (current?) owners put a lot of work into it and finished part of the basement, put in granite countertops and new appliances. I’ll put up pictures as soon as I take some.
We are hoping to move in by the end of this month (rush, rush, rush), which means we need to get the mortgage stuff done tonight, get the building inspected tomorrow, stain some furniture, de-wallpaper and paint some walls, and possibly replace some carpet and buy more furniture (it is significantly bigger than our current place).
On a side note, Jeff, Heidi and I will be making Jambalaya tonight while Jeff and I do some coding on side, moneymaking venture. This could be a chance to make some easy (much needed) cash and boost up the old resume.
After a long search (1 week) we found a place we like (it happened to be the second we looked at) and made an offer. It was accepted right away so maybe we should have offered less. Now comes the fun part…
Turkey Day, et al.
 