So this weekend the furniture was moved in and our new home is really starting to feel like... well, like home. The kitchen and living room are basically done, other than putting some wall decorations, the master bedroom and guest room are also essentially done. We've got some work to do in our den but overall things are going well.
The next project is finding the best route to commute to and from work. Tonight it took over an hour to get home, but something tells me it would have been worse had I attempted to drive home on the parking lot known as I-88. The drive TO work isn't so bad, about an hour to an hour and five minutes. Not great but certainly bearable and doable. But I'm certainly not looking forward to the winter weather commutes.
Showing posts with label relocation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relocation. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Exile at the Library
It seems AT&T has deemed it necessary to turn off our phone signal a bit prematurely and thus my DSL is also down (at least until Saturday when it gets turned on at the new pad) so I find myself accessing the Internet at the local library.
Enough about that though...
I recently finished reading J. Maarten Troost's Getting Stoned With Savages which made me re-evaluate that gnawing wanderlust to chuck it all and relocate to some remote South Pacific island (come on, haven't we ALL had that fantasy at some point or another, the Chicago winters are excellent fuel for that fantasy!).
It also got me to thinking about the whole wanderlust thing and comparing it to sex appeal and why some people cheat-- it's that whole "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" mentality. Or as John Cusack so ineloquently put it, it's about the fancy underwear... When you're with someone new they're dressed to impress, generally the lasses wear their best panties, that doesn't mean they don't have the god-awful granny panties, those come later after a certain level of comfort is reached. But that whole desire for somewhere else or someone else comes from the fantasy of the newness, of the "fancy panties" if you will. But we get so caught up in that fantasy that we often forget, in that same dark drawer where the fancy panties came from also lie the granny panties and eventually she's going to wear those granny panties when she's with you.
I think for many of us straight lads, that's when the "commitment switch" kicks in... when we realize that for all those pretty girls we aren't with... as pretty as they may be on the surface, they come with a whole set of baggage that we don't know about just from givin' them a fair glance, whereas the lasses at home already know our favorite foods, our pet peeves, all the shit you'd have to teach the new lass were you to get to know her... and who knows, her dirty laundry may be even dirtier than the laundry your current lass has that you already know about and have come to accept. We get to that point and realize that no matter what else is out there, no matter how nice it might look on the surface, it can't compare to the person we already have or the place where we already live.
And to think I got all that from reading a travel memoir of a guy who spent some time in Vanuatu and Fiji... The mind works in mysterious ways.
Enough about that though...
I recently finished reading J. Maarten Troost's Getting Stoned With Savages which made me re-evaluate that gnawing wanderlust to chuck it all and relocate to some remote South Pacific island (come on, haven't we ALL had that fantasy at some point or another, the Chicago winters are excellent fuel for that fantasy!).
It also got me to thinking about the whole wanderlust thing and comparing it to sex appeal and why some people cheat-- it's that whole "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" mentality. Or as John Cusack so ineloquently put it, it's about the fancy underwear... When you're with someone new they're dressed to impress, generally the lasses wear their best panties, that doesn't mean they don't have the god-awful granny panties, those come later after a certain level of comfort is reached. But that whole desire for somewhere else or someone else comes from the fantasy of the newness, of the "fancy panties" if you will. But we get so caught up in that fantasy that we often forget, in that same dark drawer where the fancy panties came from also lie the granny panties and eventually she's going to wear those granny panties when she's with you.
I think for many of us straight lads, that's when the "commitment switch" kicks in... when we realize that for all those pretty girls we aren't with... as pretty as they may be on the surface, they come with a whole set of baggage that we don't know about just from givin' them a fair glance, whereas the lasses at home already know our favorite foods, our pet peeves, all the shit you'd have to teach the new lass were you to get to know her... and who knows, her dirty laundry may be even dirtier than the laundry your current lass has that you already know about and have come to accept. We get to that point and realize that no matter what else is out there, no matter how nice it might look on the surface, it can't compare to the person we already have or the place where we already live.
And to think I got all that from reading a travel memoir of a guy who spent some time in Vanuatu and Fiji... The mind works in mysterious ways.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Yay
So, here I am in Austin, TX helping to set up one of my company's new stores so it can open on time. And after working several hours to get the store set up, my two fellow co-workers from the home office and I went out for some good Texan food. I had a rack of some of the most delicious ribs I've ever had, a tall glass of delicious dark beer, and a phone call from wifey saying the realtor had called and that we're good to go for the closing on our townhome next Friday! YAY! We have the final walkthrough at 10:15 am, the closing at 11 and our realtor wants to take us out for lunch afterwards to celebrate.
Well 1 1/2 more days in Austin, then back home to Chicago. But it's late and I best be getting to bed, I've been up since 5:45 am and now it's 1:30 am... the next morning.
Current Music: Joseph Williams - Your Song (I love this dude's voice, he could sing the NY Metro White pages and I'd buy it in a heartbeat)
Well 1 1/2 more days in Austin, then back home to Chicago. But it's late and I best be getting to bed, I've been up since 5:45 am and now it's 1:30 am... the next morning.
Current Music: Joseph Williams - Your Song (I love this dude's voice, he could sing the NY Metro White pages and I'd buy it in a heartbeat)
Monday, August 07, 2006
The weekend
Random non sequitir photo du jourThis weekend was spent moving-- not the wifey & I (we don't close on the new pad for another few weeks), my sister-in-law moving from her parents house in Naperville to a basement apartment in a Wrigleyville brownstone. And by Wrigleyville, it's close enough to Wrigley Field that as we were moving I could hear the crowd singing along to Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch. The cheering crowds were also quite audible, which reminded me of a joke I once heard on MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour (remember that show? apparently, I do if I'm remembering such a random and only mildly humorous joke from it):
"I used to have an apartment near Wrigley Field. It was great, every time I'd have sex to hear a crowd cheering in the background."
Current Music: Franz Liszt - Leibestram No. 3 (listening to this I can't help but think Scott Joplin was heavily influenced by Liszt. I hear the foundations for what would later be considered ragtime music in this piece. But I defer to those more knowledgeable in music history than myself for confirmation)
Thursday, July 27, 2006
WooHoo Yay!
So my wife & I have been house-hunting. Last night we made an offer on a townhome in a nearby suburb and today the seller counter-offered and we accepted their counter-offer. We close on September 1st!
It will be so nice to know my monthly payments are going towards a mortgage, a home-- an investment instead of into the bank account of the ownership group that owns my apartment complex and pads the coffers of people who probably have multi-million dollar mansions in Oak Brook or Hinsdale and vacation homes in Arizona and/or Florida.
The new home:
3 bedroom
1.5 bath
2 car garage
All appliances (oven, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, washer, and dryer) stay
The laundry machines are on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms which is bonus! No lugging laundry up and down stairs. No having to scrounge for quarters any more. We are stoked!
Current Music: Bill Champlin - One Way Ticket
It will be so nice to know my monthly payments are going towards a mortgage, a home-- an investment instead of into the bank account of the ownership group that owns my apartment complex and pads the coffers of people who probably have multi-million dollar mansions in Oak Brook or Hinsdale and vacation homes in Arizona and/or Florida.
The new home:
3 bedroom
1.5 bath
2 car garage
All appliances (oven, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, washer, and dryer) stay
The laundry machines are on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms which is bonus! No lugging laundry up and down stairs. No having to scrounge for quarters any more. We are stoked!
Current Music: Bill Champlin - One Way Ticket
Saturday, July 22, 2006
On Writing
This evening as my wife & I were driving to her boss's home for a company picnic, it really sunk in that I finally feel some sense of "home" here. It took a bit longer for that to happen here than it took to happen when I lived in Ohio. But I felt generally comfortable in my skin, moreso than I've felt before. Something about the experience felt "right"-- not necesarily like we "belong here" but more that we've developed some sense of home.
I found out a friend of mine with whom I'd lost touch finally left the retail store where we'd both worked back in Ohio. I'm happy for him. I know I felt like my life was in a rut when I was working there, and shortly after I'd moved out here when he and I were still in touch he told me, "you needed a change of zip code." At the time I knew he was right and I really took to heart what he'd said.
I mean one can only "bounce around" the midwest for so long before it comes time to settle down and working retail with a college degree wasn't exactly me living up to my potential.
When I first moved out here, I was still writing quite a bit-- I don't mean blogging (although I was doing that too), I mean pen to paper. It wasn't really my innermost thoughts or anything deep like that. It was rants of things that annoyed me and general observations. Sometimes I'd end up posting my ramblings, but a lot of those writings have remained in one of 2 or 3 journals I was keeping at the time. I even had this fountain pen, still have it, that was like a security blanket to me. I loved that pen even more than my binkie when I was four. I didn't feel complete without it. And even if I didn't happen to have one of my journals, I found paper, napkins, post-it notes, legal pads, my random thoughts were spread over a myriad of different forms of paper.
For awhile I think I "lost my way" when it came to writing, so now as I'm working on these various short stories, I feel alive again. For the first time in a long time, and it feels really good. I don't know where these stories are going, plot has never been my strong point. I've always let the characters and the dialogue drive the plot. It's almost a Kerouac-esque stream of conciousness style-- but in the second person. And, admittedly, I'm no Jack Kerouac, but the more I write the more I do notice that On the Road has had some level of influence on me.
Well, at any rate, I've got a short story with 2 characters sitting in a car, and they need me to continue writing so they can reach their destination. But much like with life, I don't know where their journey will take them. The ignition has been turned, now it's time to put the car in gear and go. And something tells me that my characters are just as excited as I am to find out where they'll end up.
I found out a friend of mine with whom I'd lost touch finally left the retail store where we'd both worked back in Ohio. I'm happy for him. I know I felt like my life was in a rut when I was working there, and shortly after I'd moved out here when he and I were still in touch he told me, "you needed a change of zip code." At the time I knew he was right and I really took to heart what he'd said.
I mean one can only "bounce around" the midwest for so long before it comes time to settle down and working retail with a college degree wasn't exactly me living up to my potential.
When I first moved out here, I was still writing quite a bit-- I don't mean blogging (although I was doing that too), I mean pen to paper. It wasn't really my innermost thoughts or anything deep like that. It was rants of things that annoyed me and general observations. Sometimes I'd end up posting my ramblings, but a lot of those writings have remained in one of 2 or 3 journals I was keeping at the time. I even had this fountain pen, still have it, that was like a security blanket to me. I loved that pen even more than my binkie when I was four. I didn't feel complete without it. And even if I didn't happen to have one of my journals, I found paper, napkins, post-it notes, legal pads, my random thoughts were spread over a myriad of different forms of paper.
For awhile I think I "lost my way" when it came to writing, so now as I'm working on these various short stories, I feel alive again. For the first time in a long time, and it feels really good. I don't know where these stories are going, plot has never been my strong point. I've always let the characters and the dialogue drive the plot. It's almost a Kerouac-esque stream of conciousness style-- but in the second person. And, admittedly, I'm no Jack Kerouac, but the more I write the more I do notice that On the Road has had some level of influence on me.
Well, at any rate, I've got a short story with 2 characters sitting in a car, and they need me to continue writing so they can reach their destination. But much like with life, I don't know where their journey will take them. The ignition has been turned, now it's time to put the car in gear and go. And something tells me that my characters are just as excited as I am to find out where they'll end up.
Monday, July 10, 2006
An interesting weekend..
In a nutshell:
Friday: I didn't get out of the office until after 5:30. Blech! Wifey had called earlier in the day to let me know she was going out for drinks with coworkers at Anyways (a bar that's conveniently located about equidistant from our respective offices). I was going to go straight home and start the laundry but the thought of a nice thick malty Guinness was too much of a temptation for me to resist. So, anyways I met wifey and her coworkers at Anyways. One of her coworkers, Julie, is Australian and she had her 25 year old son, Brendan, with her. So I was relishing the delightful Australianess of the evening. :-) One of the things I love about the Aussies is that they lay all of their cards on the table. They don't mince words and they get right to the point. It's quite refreshing.
Saturday: Wifey and I went househunting with our realtor. After seeing some rather sketchy townhomes in some rather scary neighborhoods we finally saw a place we liked. The trouble was, after some of the dives we'd seen, a heated outhouse might have been appealing by comparison. We let our enthusiasm and our realtor's pressure get the better of us and we put an offer in.
Sunday: We went over to our friend's home to watch the World Cup Final. Our in-laws drove by the home we put the offer in on and told us we should pull out of the deal if at all possible. Considering how many times they've moved I trust their advice implicitly. There are certain matters I feel more comfortable listening to my parents on-- but when it comes to real estate, I'm much more apt to listen to my in-laws. So we pulled out of said deal. Just over 24 hours had passed so we're able to get our money back.
We're thinking of changing realtors and have even contacted another realtor with whom wifey has been in touch with in the past. If our realtor from this past weekend comes to the table with some more attractive options for us and backs off a bit on his pushiness then we might end up sticking with him. But we're going to give this other realtor a try first.
At any rate, to get more bang for our buck we're going to have to move further west. It will mean longer commutes but given the suburban sprawl of Chicago, even if we do move further west, within 5 years I anticipate whatever area we move to will be quite fully developed (unless of course we move out clear to the Iowa border, but I don't forsee that happening).
Friday: I didn't get out of the office until after 5:30. Blech! Wifey had called earlier in the day to let me know she was going out for drinks with coworkers at Anyways (a bar that's conveniently located about equidistant from our respective offices). I was going to go straight home and start the laundry but the thought of a nice thick malty Guinness was too much of a temptation for me to resist. So, anyways I met wifey and her coworkers at Anyways. One of her coworkers, Julie, is Australian and she had her 25 year old son, Brendan, with her. So I was relishing the delightful Australianess of the evening. :-) One of the things I love about the Aussies is that they lay all of their cards on the table. They don't mince words and they get right to the point. It's quite refreshing.
Saturday: Wifey and I went househunting with our realtor. After seeing some rather sketchy townhomes in some rather scary neighborhoods we finally saw a place we liked. The trouble was, after some of the dives we'd seen, a heated outhouse might have been appealing by comparison. We let our enthusiasm and our realtor's pressure get the better of us and we put an offer in.
Sunday: We went over to our friend's home to watch the World Cup Final. Our in-laws drove by the home we put the offer in on and told us we should pull out of the deal if at all possible. Considering how many times they've moved I trust their advice implicitly. There are certain matters I feel more comfortable listening to my parents on-- but when it comes to real estate, I'm much more apt to listen to my in-laws. So we pulled out of said deal. Just over 24 hours had passed so we're able to get our money back.
We're thinking of changing realtors and have even contacted another realtor with whom wifey has been in touch with in the past. If our realtor from this past weekend comes to the table with some more attractive options for us and backs off a bit on his pushiness then we might end up sticking with him. But we're going to give this other realtor a try first.
At any rate, to get more bang for our buck we're going to have to move further west. It will mean longer commutes but given the suburban sprawl of Chicago, even if we do move further west, within 5 years I anticipate whatever area we move to will be quite fully developed (unless of course we move out clear to the Iowa border, but I don't forsee that happening).
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