I'm not even gonna bother with the lame excuses for why it's been so long since I've updated.
So, last week I had my first home maintenance snafu. Since our living room lights tend to output roughly the amount of light needed in your average prison break spotlights I decided to install some dimmer switches in the living room. Everything was going according to plan until I couldn't get one of the switches to work when the other was turned off (i.e. if switch 1 was "on" then switch 2 would turn the lights on and off but if switch 1 was off switch 2 did nothing). Apparently that is just how dimmer switches work and is also why no one installs 2 dimmers to the same set of lights. Well, not knowing this I thought there was a "problem" and thought I could "fix" it. I made the "corrections" and upon flipping the circuit breaker was treated to a very loud and deeply unsettling popping noise followed by continued darkness. I then went back and hooked up the dimmers how I originally had them and now could not get the lights to turn on. Firmly convinced that I had in one fell swoop completely destroyed our new condo's wiring I proceeded to haul out a plug-in lamp and sat in semi-darkness in front of the tv, firmly demoralized. So the next day I decided to put back on the original light switches and Eureka! we had light again. I assumed (whether correct or not) that the reason they had stopped working was that I had blown out my dimmer switches when I wired one of the things wrong. I therefore decided to get some new switches and I am proud to say that we are now fully capable of multiple lumen outputs in our living room and front hall!
Somewhat bolstered by my eventual success, I decided to tackle another daunting task: mounting our flat screen tv on the wall. We recently bought a 37-inch LCD to replace our mammoth 53-inch projection monstrosity since it just took up way too much space in the bedroom. LCDs are quite a bit lighter than plasmas and I felt like a 50lb structure was something I could handle. So I got my first experience using a stud finder. I always wondered how the hell those worked. Apparently, it's just a magnetic sensor that detects the nails that are used to attach the drywall to the studs. Anyway, I am happy to say that as of now (8 days after mounting), our tv remains firmly affixed to our wall. Overall, there's really nothing to it. But let me just tell you how unnerving it is when you first hang the tv up! There are only 4 little screws that only go in about a quarter inch holding the bracket to the tv. Then there are only two giant screws that hold the frame to the wall. That means that all that stands between you and disaster are 6 screws. Considering that works out to only about 8 pounds per screw, though, I guess it's not so bad.
In other condo updates, we craigslisted our leather couch and sold it on Monday. In an amazing coincidence, the people that bought it live next door. That was a pretty amusing chain of e-mails:
Where are you located?
In Evanston
Great, me too. Where at?
Basically Noyes and Ridge
Wow, that's exactly where I'm at. What address?
2151
No way! I am at 2153
We bought the couch about 2 years ago (also off of craigslist) for $100. We listed it for $150, figuring that we would get negotiated down to about $100, but god bless the naive Northwestern student who didn't bother even trying to negotiate. So we made $50 on the deal. Not bad. The new couch is getting delivered tomorrow, so we have been sans couch since Monday. I'll tell you something; I never realized how therapeutic it was to come home and sit or lay on the couch until I didn't have that option anymore. Sitting in a chair just doesn't do it.
In other news, I am taking the first part of the CPA exam on Monday, so most of my free time that hasn't been dedicated to the condo has been spent studying for that. I feel decently prepared, but I still have a loooooong weekend's worth of studying to do before I'll truly feel ready (and I probably still won't even then). And once I'm done on Monday, the countdown begins anew with 28 days till the next one. Anyway, wish me luck!
By the way, you have no idea how old it makes me feel to have just written a very lengthy post about home improvement and couch transactions.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Friday, January 04, 2008
We Are Officially Owners of Our Own Personal Fortress of Solitude
Earlier this year I uttered the absurdly unprophetic statement that "it will be so nice to have Christmas week off because it will be the first time since I was laid off at Kemper that I've had a week off that wasn't specifically to go anywhere or do anything. It will be really relaxing." Then we decided to move. Whoops. Anyway, I don't think I've ever come back from a "vacation" more exhausted. It seems like every day we make only very marginal headway and half the time once we get done with a particular project it gets ripped down or we decide we need to replace it; so we know it will get ripped down.
Anyway; enough complaining for now. The bottom line is that yes we are in fact officially homeowners (actually condo owners). All in all the closing and moving process went well, although there were a few snags (aren't there always?). The most major of which was the sellers trying to assign us not once but twice a parking space that has a pole directly in the middle of it. Fortunately I had scoped out the spaces the night before during the inspection and we didn't fall for it. I guess it's true that they really will try anything when you get around the closing table. The other annoyance was that we didn't get a final settlement statement until we showed up at the closing, but that turned out to be a pleasant surprise because we ended up owing a lot less than we thought we would. As for the actual move, we pretty much could not have picked a worse day for it: cold and snowing. I guess the positive way to look at it is that it made the decision to hire movers seem a lot wiser. To anyone who has never hired movers before, I know it's hard to believe but it is almost more tiring than moving it all yourself, albeit a different kind of tired. When you do it yourself, I think you're so focused on bringing the next box in and so exhausted after a while that you don't have time to worry about it all. But when you have movers all you do is observe them taking every piece out and it just makes you constantly stressed and mentally exhausted. But apart from a couple scrapes on the wall, a chunk off the corner of the TV cabinet, a broken vase, and some irreparable damage to my limited edition Luke Skywalker Return of the Jedi Remastered Opening Day action figure we appear to be no worse for the wear.
Yesterday and today I got my first experience of the long morning el commute and so far it's not too bad. I can tell that I'm gonna get through books pretty damn fast: in the 3 rides thus far I've read about 150 pages. In theory I could use that time to study for the CPA, but I'm not really mentally prepared to do that first thing in the morning so I'll just make it my goal to do that during the commute home.
Tonight Christy and I will be taking a much deserved break from the world of boxes and assembling furniture to go out to dinner and a movie. I think we're going to try a BBQ place in downtown Evanston that is supposed to be good and then we're going to see Juno, which I'm really looking forward to.
Lastly, let me just take a moment to applaud Obama's victory in Iowa last night. Nothing to get too excited about yet, but practically speaking had he not won it pretty much would have been the end of his campaign. I'm also glad Huckabee won, not because I like him but because it's good for McCain. Hopefully in 5 days New Hampshire will produce Obama and McCain as winners and then I'll be very happy. If somehow we end up with those two fighting it out in the general election I will be happy no matter who wins. On the other hand, if we end up with Giuliani vs. Hillary . . . um, let's just say I'll be less than thrilled with my choices. Who's the Libertarian candidate again?
Anyway; enough complaining for now. The bottom line is that yes we are in fact officially homeowners (actually condo owners). All in all the closing and moving process went well, although there were a few snags (aren't there always?). The most major of which was the sellers trying to assign us not once but twice a parking space that has a pole directly in the middle of it. Fortunately I had scoped out the spaces the night before during the inspection and we didn't fall for it. I guess it's true that they really will try anything when you get around the closing table. The other annoyance was that we didn't get a final settlement statement until we showed up at the closing, but that turned out to be a pleasant surprise because we ended up owing a lot less than we thought we would. As for the actual move, we pretty much could not have picked a worse day for it: cold and snowing. I guess the positive way to look at it is that it made the decision to hire movers seem a lot wiser. To anyone who has never hired movers before, I know it's hard to believe but it is almost more tiring than moving it all yourself, albeit a different kind of tired. When you do it yourself, I think you're so focused on bringing the next box in and so exhausted after a while that you don't have time to worry about it all. But when you have movers all you do is observe them taking every piece out and it just makes you constantly stressed and mentally exhausted. But apart from a couple scrapes on the wall, a chunk off the corner of the TV cabinet, a broken vase, and some irreparable damage to my limited edition Luke Skywalker Return of the Jedi Remastered Opening Day action figure we appear to be no worse for the wear.
Yesterday and today I got my first experience of the long morning el commute and so far it's not too bad. I can tell that I'm gonna get through books pretty damn fast: in the 3 rides thus far I've read about 150 pages. In theory I could use that time to study for the CPA, but I'm not really mentally prepared to do that first thing in the morning so I'll just make it my goal to do that during the commute home.
Tonight Christy and I will be taking a much deserved break from the world of boxes and assembling furniture to go out to dinner and a movie. I think we're going to try a BBQ place in downtown Evanston that is supposed to be good and then we're going to see Juno, which I'm really looking forward to.
Lastly, let me just take a moment to applaud Obama's victory in Iowa last night. Nothing to get too excited about yet, but practically speaking had he not won it pretty much would have been the end of his campaign. I'm also glad Huckabee won, not because I like him but because it's good for McCain. Hopefully in 5 days New Hampshire will produce Obama and McCain as winners and then I'll be very happy. If somehow we end up with those two fighting it out in the general election I will be happy no matter who wins. On the other hand, if we end up with Giuliani vs. Hillary . . . um, let's just say I'll be less than thrilled with my choices. Who's the Libertarian candidate again?
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