Friday, June 12, 2009

Housing Scarage

I'm building a house and would love to move into it. However, the problem is with the economy being what it is right now I'm worried that even though I'm pre-approved for a loan that during closing they will reject me. I've put down $1K in earnest money which is not something I want to lose but I've made up my mind that with the remaining $9K I've saved for the down payment that I'm going to Paris.

I live in a pretty great 2 bedroom apartment and I'm happy here except for the parking situation. I kind of have a curfew of 9 pm because if I get home any later than that I don't have a place to park. I really don't like having a million mexicans partying on the weekends and having to deal with walking through the condom minefield to my door because the teens are leaving the house and having quickies right out in God's house (AKA parking lot bushes).

I would love to have a garage and not worry about the weather to get to my car. I would love to be able to put my favorite designs into practice from my favorite DIY shows. However, I'm really nervous that this can not come to be. I'm hopeful but I've done some dumb things that could hurt me. #1 is co-signing on my sister's car as she has rarely paid the bill on time and now she's going to be over a month late for some BS reason.

Piece of advice to the planet. DO NOT CO-SIGN FOR ANYONE!!!!

Le sigh. Whatever. I've got Plan A and Plan B so I'm not worried but just getting anxious until I know things for sure.

Here's to hoping and wishing.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

No Chelios - Late for Class

I had a class last night in the middle of downtown Houston to have a CD Rom and a website explained to me. I'm taking AP II online and the teacher wanted to be sure everyone understood how to do everything.

Not a usual problem except I was 30 minutes late and was the last student to enter the room and figured out I needed to buy a stupid access code in order to do things properly. :-(

I can see the future a bit and in relation to college textbooks, the paper versions are going the way of the dinosaur and publishers are having more things online and what not. I would love that as doing CTRL+F in order to look up something is a grand sight better than hoping a word is in the index and flipping pages.

I like the track this is taking but being in the middle where I still have to drop a couple of hundred on textbooks AND $60 on an access code really blows.

NHL Playoffs Detroit vs Pittsburgh Penguins

I'm sure many people will wonder why a born and reared Texan would have a passion for hockey. I'm not married or dating a transport but rather I love the Olympic games. Winter Olympics 1980 was a major year.

The time was in the middle of the Cold War. Jimmy Carter was president, Americans hated/feared Russians and vice versa, and the US had never done well in hockey during the Olympics. If you look at the NHL roster you'll notice a propensity towards consonant letters and thick Eastern European accents. But in 1980 a near miracle occurred when the US beat Russia and eventually took gold against Finland. I remember watching that and thinking hockey was the coolest sport ever. I didn't have cable but as soon as I got it, I got hooked on ESPN and fell in love with hockey.

Advance a few years and I'm watching hockey and it's their mid-season joke around fest where the MVPs of everything come out and perform for the fans and there being interviewed is Chris Chelios.


He was so cute and playful like a child and I fell in love.

Before this hockey crush came the one I had with the greatest #2 ever - Jaromir Jagr.


His hair was A LOT longer and wilder when he played for the Pens but that's why I loved him. I used to have a pic of him as my screensaver and no one understood why I liked a wild mountain man. See how childish and innocent his smile is, that's what I like.

(But let's be honest, my crush on the Nelson twins was also based on their long wild hair.)

Strange what trades will do to you. When Lemieux and Jagr were ruling the roost, Pittsburgh was my favorite team but when Lemieux retired and Jagr cut his hair, my loyalty shifted to Chicago and Chelios with only occasional strays. Now, I'm fully committed to the Chelios cause as he gets less and less playing time and I have to strain and play to see him skate.

So this playoff season is a little wierd as I was not on the Ov bandwagon when Detroit was winning and I practically hated the Wings. Now, I'm nuts about them and hope they take home the cup.

In a sport where momentum means nothing, and home advantage means everything playing the final game in Detroit I'm sure they will.

Go Wings!!!!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Dark Night of the Scarecrow & Peanut Butter

I'm a TVholic and not ashamed to admit it. I go to the sleep watching Cartoon Network because it doesn't go to Paid Programming and I can always wake up in the middle night, watch TV, then go back to sleep. (Did I mention I wear glasses and I sleep in them to facilitate this action?)

I developed this habit as a child as our family life revolved around the TV. We usually ate our dinner in our laps watching TV unless it was learn to use silverware properly or from the parents' mistake night then we ate around the dinner table.

One night CBS had a TV movie on and it was some kind of special event. They promoted the heck out of that thing and as a child in second grade all of 6 years old I wanted to stay up late to see it. My bedtime in elementary school was 8:00 p.m. which was right before the made for TV movies came on. Plus, I had to take a bath and get ready for bed before that time. This movie however was on a Friday, a stay up night so I could see it all the way through.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow was a great movie - so super scary it made you jump and hide behind your hands as you saw the poor innocent man who helped the young girl get away from the vicious dog only to be murdered inside a scarecrow who later kills the posse members who hunted him down.

To celebrate the night my mother fixed homemade peanut butter cookies. This was a rariety in our house because my mother was allergic to peanut butter. It made that movie stick in my mind and when I came across a recipe for flourless PB cookies from Joy the Baker I had to try it. Will update with results later but here is the link

Adventures in Car Fixings

I have a pretty cool car - Toyota Camry 2007. It looks good, drives well, and feels great. I'm not ashamed to step out of it - unless it's dirty. I don't treat it all that well, however, and I do regret that. After all cars need more than gas and washes.

The fed govt does require some car maintenance and on this track I went to get my car inspected. Multiple time inspectee first time failee.

Totally bummed about failing, it makes me feel stupid. Not as much as failing kinesiology (college gym) twice but enough. I knew my tires were bad because of the light on the dashboard and the ever growing baldness of them, but in times past it was enough to pass. But not this time.

I'm building a house and am virtually there with the down payment the $600 for the tires was my refrigerator money and now I'm still steaming over that. Jeez, I wish I had total and complete control of my life. I just want to do things when I want them done the way I want them done and no sooner and no later with no changes, variations, or adjustments. Is that so much to ask?