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October 30, 2006

house update and other stuff

You know it's been too long since you've blogged when you catch hell from your brother. There has been a lot of stuff going on lately, and I think I've been a little overwhelmed. As longtime readers know, I tend to get very isolationist when things get crazy. But it's been a very good, productive sort of crazy. So here goes.

First off, we have our mortgage agreement in place. The last two things we have to do are get the house appraised by the mortgage company, and lock in an interest rate. The company does the first thing. We have to do the second. As expected, the Fed kept the prime rate steady. Not as expected, it turns out that mortgage rates and the prime rate are less interwoven than I expected. I'm essentially looking for another eighth of a point drop, but we'll see if we get it.

We are on-target for a November 21st closing, which is extremely exciting. We have essentially agreed on colors for the various rooms, with possible additional discussion on the living room/hallway color. That was going to be a beige-ish color called Castle Stone, but during our purchase of furniture (more on that later), Kara wasn't sure if she was 100% into that color. Things we are solid on are a light lilac color for the bedroom, sage green for the office, light blue for the bathroom, and a really fun, deep red for the kitchen. Molding will continue to be some variant of white.

Quick aside: everybody planning to get married should decide on paint and furniture with their potential future mate. In fact, I think everybody planning to get married should buy property with same.

Here's why: when you're dating, there's a lot of "Oh, sure honey, whatever you like." This is because you don't have to necessarily live with the fruits of your decisions 24/7. You can say "Sure, I don't mind walking up three flights of stairs" or "The living room is set up just fine" or whatever because then you go home and do your thing your way. (note: I'm not necessarily complaining about those things, just using them as an example)

But when you're talking about, say, buying a new couch, you have to decide whether or not you really like it, because if you don't but she does, that's going to cause problems at some point. You're going to be sitting on this couch. If you don't like the color or the way the pillows are or whatever, best speak up. Same with the house, or the paint color, or what goes on the walls. It's not just "Hey honey do whatever you want here, because then I can leave and go do things the way I want in my own place." It's "Ok, we need to come up with something we can both live with, because we are both going to be living with it." I have learned more about give and take in the last few months than in the first years of our relationship.

The key seems to be that you have to be ready to compromise. I'm fine with having a lilac bedroom with sort of a more feminine purpleish theme, because I get to play a little more with the office. I'm going to put the surround sound speakers on the wall. I am not, however, allowed to put the shot glass collection up there. Hey, you choose your battles.

So, we have the paint down, more or less. Ok, next thing: furniture. We went on a furniture spree this Friday and Saturday. We bought:

The current plan is, we'll do some cleaning and probably start priming the walls for paint right after we close, and on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we'll actually get a truck and move most of Kara's stuff down from Rockport, and all my stuff over from Brookline. That way, I can be moved out, and my old apartment can start to be rented out beginning December 1st.

Basically, everything is going to be stacked in the middle of the living room and covered in plastic, and we'll paint over the course of the few weeks after that. As painting gets finished, we'll move stuff into the appropriate rooms. Furniture delivery is going to happen in early December, hopefully after we have most of the painting done. My personal goal is to have all the painting and general setup done by December 15th, and we can finish the gradual process of unpacking after that.

I'm really excited, for a number of reasons. First, it means I get to have Kara around all the time, which I really enjoy, and which I'm really looking forward to. Second, this is my first real place that I'm going to own. Third, I don't have to do any moving again for at least a few years...you'd never know how much I am sick of moving, based on how many places I've called home over the last 10 years or so. I really want to hang out here for awhile.

Also, I finally fixed my motorcycle's front brake. The registration sticker on it is currently expired, and my left blinker is non-functional, but at least the braking is working properly. I am probably just going to ride it once more this year, from my apartment to the new condo's parking lot, and I'll worry about a new inspection and any further work in the spring. It did feel really good to just ride up and down the back driveway last night, though. I'm going to try to be better about running it every few weeks to keep the engine in good shape this winter, so the bike will be spending the cold months in the backyard, not in Rockport.

So that's it. I'm knee-deep in boxes, work is going great, grad school is going great, everything is more or less just fine.

Posted by Mark at 01:36 PM | Comments (1)

October 11, 2006

words of wisdom

I was in Syracuse this weekend for Homecoming. Good times, although Pitt thrashed us in the Dome, 21-3 or somesuch.

That's not what this update is about.

We signed the Purchase and Sale Agreement, commonly known as the P&S, on Friday, thus essentially locking us into this condo offer.

That's also not what this update is about.

I know that actors are just people like us. Hey, I was voted "Most Dramatic" of the MHS class of '96. But that doesn't change the fact that the people who portray important and interesting roles on TV or in the movies can have a certain impact on our own lives.

I wrote to Terry O'Quinn, actor behind John Locke, balding former invalid on ABC's hit series LOST, in his forum on The Fuselage.com.

Now, The Fuselage is one of many LOST fansites, but it is sorta semi-official, and it has some actors' forums where the men and women who play our favorite LOSTies are encouraged to post. Most do not. Two who do are Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley, and Terry O'Quinn, who plays Locke.

So I wrote little notes to both last week. Nothing big. Now, I didn't say "OMG I love you just write to me 'cause you're famous!" Rather, I wrote on the wavelength of "I enjoy your work and thank you. Can you shed some light on this question I'm about to pose to you?"

i haven't heard back from Jorge yet, but I expect to. He's quite good at keeping in touch with fans. I was pleasantly surprised to hear back from Terry, which, I have to say, is a real thrill. I mean, look: actors put their pants on one leg at a time, same as the rest of us (except for me; I put both on at the same time, thanks to the technique of laying back on my bed while I do it). But it's great for somebody in a popular show to acknowledge some other relative nobody with a simple reply, and I am quite inspired and glad for Mr. O'Quinn's reply.

So, thanks Terry, and I wish you and John Locke the best in the coming season and beyond.

Here is my post to him, and his reply:

Hi Terry!

First, goes without saying, love your work. What a great portrayal you do...love the character and everything you bring to it. And quite excited to see you back again...I hope?!? What did Desmond and his key do to poor John Locke?

Seeing as how it's generally believed that your character has somehow survived, I wondered what this season brings. I think one of the many things I enjoy about the show is how well-developed the characters are...in a given span of a few weeks, popular opinion of a given character may go from positive to negative to neutral and everywhere in-between. It's impressive that even "hero" characters have their dark sides, and even flawed characters have redeeming qualities.

Without spoiling anything (unless you want to, of course), what does the character development look like for John this season? Are there any interesting pivotal moments? Is John the Believer back?

---

John the Questor is back.......the watcher.......the walker.............the hunter........the seeker.............the loser................yeah, all back.

(teh evil?)

Terry

Posted by Mark at 12:16 AM | Comments (1)

October 04, 2006

found!

LOST!

Oh, how, I missed you...you wonderful hour of Wednesday night must-see TV.

Where are they? What is happening? Why is there a retirement community on the other side of the island??? Craziness!

Posted by Mark at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)