A collection of rambling posts about gaming, running, and politics. (and, in 2009, photography.)

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Gaming

I've recently gone through and read BlackHat Matt's run down of his werewolf game. It looks like alot of fun and makes me itch to get a werewolf game running again. Also, the new Shadowrun stuff is sortof out. I preordered a copy of the Limited Edition book and supposedly it will be here... some day. Apparently at gencon they were having to drive copies of the book down from the publisher in chicago, and sold out every day in about 10 minutes. Jason had someone bring him a copy back from Gencon though, and it looks really good.
Also, I've been playing in Mike's Warhammer RPG, and its fun, with a gritty feel to it.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

a dog

So I've long been a fan of large dogs, having grown up with large sized dogs. Being in a house, we took the plunge and decided to look for a puppy, angling for a laborador. We started by looking online in classifieds locally, and found a number of ads for cute puppies, chocolate labs, black labs, etc. We found a chocolate lab named Miranda. She was with a foster family down in Batesville. We contacted them and let them know that we were interested. Meanwhile, we kept looking and also found Wolf-hybrid pups for sale, which was really appealing, but I figured we didnt need a part wolf dog right yet. We also found an ad for a black lab mix named Lexie at the animal shelter in Olive Branch. So Friday of last week rolled around and I decided it was time to move. We called the folks who cared for Miranda, and asked them if we could come have a look at her. They said sure, and better yet, they were headed up to Southaven saturday, and could meet us at Petco and let us have a look at her. So we were set! We figured we'd have a look and try to resist adopting her on the spot and then go look at other puppies.
Saturday morning rolls around and 15 minutes before we were to meet Miranda, her keeper called and told us that she just didnt think Miranda was ready to go to another home, that she was just so shy and timid and so forth. Krissi gave a knowing look and said that she had the impression that the keeper might be too attached and want to keep her. So we crossed Miranda off of our list. We headed out though, undaunted on our quest. We drove past the Horn Lake animal shelter, not far from our house, but saw that it was closed on saturdays. We had the address of the Olive Branch shelter with us, and wanted to go see Lexie. So we headed off in that direction. Upon our arrival we noticed that there was a vehicle in the parking lot, and a note on the door of the building that indicated that they had left to go to the vet at 9:15 and would return when finished. It was about 10:30 when we arrived, so we decided to wait, now being determined to see a dog. We waited. And then waited. And waited a bit more. Finally someone comes rolling up in an animal control vehicle at about 11:30 and tells us that they had a parvo outbreak, and weren't doing any adoptions. That was terrible news, but the fellow was less than polite or nice or friendly. And I was now sunburned. And there was someone in the place the whole time who just ignored our ringing of the doorbell and waiting out in the parking lot. Suck.
So, still somewhat undaunted, we went to drive to the Memphis Animal Shelter, just up the street from where we were. We arrived and took a look at the puppies (and the kittens too). After a few minutes of thinking about it, we selected a black lab mix puppy, seemingly about 6 to 8 weeks old, so still quite small. We played with her for a few, and then filled out some paperwork. We were then a little suprised to learn that they had to keep her to spay her, and that we could pick her up early the following week. So now successful in our endeavour, but having to leave our prize puppy behind, we went back home. We went that evening and watched UFC with John and Maddie and had a great time. But meanwhile, the puppy story continues.
Being impatient, I called the shelter on monday and asked when we could come and pick up the puppy. I was told that they needed to speak with me about the puppy, and that she seemed to have an upper-respiratory infection, that could either be kennel-cough, or distemper (!!!!). We were given the option of taking the puppy home, quarantining it, and treating its symptoms so that it would either eventually hopefully be cured of kennel cough, or would die of distemper, or we could find another puppy. Greatly distraught, we decided to find another puppy.
So Tuesday rolls around and I had a break in the day, and so picked up Maddie and we went to the Memphis Humane Society. There we looked at two black lab mix puppies. Baby Girl was an adorable little one, probably 10 weeks old, who seemed sweet but super shy. She pee'd three times in a two minute span, and had to be dragged away from the door for us to play with her outside. Then we looked a puppy they called Noodles. She was bigger than I had expected, and smelled terrible, but was playful and excited. We played with her for a couple of minutes and then took her back inside. I called Krissi and told her she needed to take lunch so we could come pick her up and let her see these dogs. She did- we all came back to the shelter and took another look at Baby Girl, who again managed to urinate frequently, and again was too shy to play outside, but was very sweet and a very good looking dog. Then we brought out Noodles again, and took her outside and played with her a little. Well, we made a decision. We filled out paperwork and took the dog-formerly-known-as-noodles home with us. Actually we took her and left her at Maddie's place, as I had to go back to work. Five minutes after leaving the dog though, I got a call to come back. The dog was just too much for the Williams' apartment, and needed to be taken to Horn Lake. Introductions to Maddie and John's dogs had gone relatively well. But the puppy wanted to swim in the water dish, and was chasing everyone around the apartment, super excited about all of these playmates! So we calmed her down a little, gave her a bath, and Maddie took them down to Horn Lake. The new puppy's name is Yazhi, which is a Navajo word for "Little One", which is a silly name, since she's 29 pounds currently.

Anyway, we already got a crate and a bunch of stuff for her. We're trying to train her, which seems to be going well. She already was okay at "sit", and we're improving on that, while still learning the new name. I'm feeling ambitious and thus have also started teaching her "rest" to lie down, and she is starting to pick up on it.

Tons of fun. Here are two pics:
http://slithytoves.sytes.net/~krissi/pics/Yazhi1.jpg
http://slithytoves.sytes.net/~krissi/pics/Yazhi2.jpg

Sunday, August 21, 2005

gaming

You scored as Horror Gamer. You like a game that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Your character might get killed, but that doesn't matter as long as the game is run well.
You'll probably like: Call of Cthulu, , Kult World of Darkness, Chill or even Pie Shop

Horror Gamer

75%

Cyberpunk Gamer

70%

Comedy Gamer

45%

Fantasy Gamer

25%

Beer & Prezels Gamer

20%

What sort of Gamer are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

When my heart breaks

I feel so incredibly helpless when someone dear to me loses a loved one. As helpless as I feel, I cannot imagine their own hurt and loss. My brain scrambles for something to say or to do that might somehow help, but even as I try to be comforting, I know that nothing that I can say or do can help to make it right again. Everything I could say or do seems trivial. I have a "fix-it" complex. Forever trying to mend things with words or actions, and this is something that cannot be mended. But my heart weeps. I can only try to be the best friend I know how to be. I can be a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to listen. But I wish I could do more. I feel their pain and it breaks my heart. I can’t fully comprehend their pain, and their loss, but I can mourn with them.

To people who have lost someone that they love:
I'm so, so, so sorry. I know its ridiculous, but I desperately wish I could fix it, somehow undo the terrible terrible thing that happened and make the world right again.

Monday, August 8, 2005

More stuff

Another week passes!

Let's see... my brother James' birthday was August 2. Happy Birthday James!

The Williams-Younger gang went to St. Louis and Six Flags over the weekend of July 31/August 1. We had a grand time, and rode lots of rides and had a great time at the water park. It was absolutely great weather, and by the evening we were tired, tired, tired. We still managed to go see Kurt and Anna briefly late in the evening and Kurt was kind enough to throw some steaks on the grill for us.

Otherwise we've been staying busy goofing off mostly. We got mounts for our undead characters on World of Warcraft, which is very cool. We've kindof reached a point where we are procrastinating a little on some of the remaining home work. Books are still in boxes, and we are no closer to having shelves to put them on, however I now have a plan and will be working to make it happen. There are also still a few minor things around the place that need doing.

Short update, but there's not much more to report!

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

humor








the Wit

(56% dark, 39% spontaneous, 22% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK


You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean you're pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais







My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
















free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 52% on dark





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 58% on spontaneous





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 23% on vulgar
Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Random house stuff

Well there have been no updates here lately because there has been nothing particularly pressing to report, though that doesn’t mean there is nothing new or exciting. I am currently standing in the kitchen, laptop on the counter, stove cooking happily away behind me, cruising on the wireless network.

I have been planning to do this update as a list of lists. Like my friend Anna, I am a fan of lists. Today I want to throw together a list of things we have done/changed/fixed/bought on the house. Actually let me make this two lists, things we’ve bought for the house, and things we’ve done/changed.

We have fixed the squeegee/guard thing on the bottom of the door to our stand up shower (but it looks like it will need fixing again).
We have installed a new ceiling fan in the computer room.
We have NOT bought gutter splash guards yet.
We have bought and mounted a towel hanger between the shower and tub in the master bath.
We bought a clothes washer and were given a dryer. (THANKS DAD)
We were given a bed for our guest bedroom and a kitchen table and chairs (THANKS MOM)
We replaced a broken toilet flusher thing in the extra bathroom.
We changed the orientation of the fridge, basically just making the doors open from with the handles on the right and the hinge on the left, instead of the way it was when we moved in, where the hinge was on the right.
We are going to have to fix the garbage disposal, as a piece of it busted.. just one of the blades.

We bought a number of things that new homeowners would need, including garden hose,, hose nozzle, hose storage/roller thing, charcoal tub to keep it dry, carpet steam cleaner, some art and decorations for the interior, a bird feeder (which is not yet hung), some wine glass hangers (which are not yet hung), an Orka hot-glove, wireless xbox controllers, new wireless access point (the old one was dead), a single serve coffee maker which I discussed elsewhere, a black & decker hanging can opener thing, new measuring spoons and cups, COUCHES which I mentioned earlier, cute floor mats for the kitchen and just inside the exterior doors.

My lists sortof happened free-form, so you’ll have to forgive their awkward formatting.

Also, it seems to have rained a lot in Memphis/North MS. Like A LOT!

And we are still trying to get some of the last stuff out of the garage, and waiting to start really unpacking books and stuff....

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

A political rant

I feel the need to vent.

I am not hugely politically active. In fact, the first time I have EVER voted in an election of any kind was the most recent, and incredibly disappointing presidential election. I typically avoid political discussions with people the same way I avoid religious discussions, because the way I see it, you and I arguing over our different perspectives/ideas/opinions on our government will only make us both want to hit the other with a stick. Well, I feel that way, anyhow.

Anyway, more to the point, I feel VERY strongly about the current administration, and I wont even get into that right now. I don't know if its a symptom of the administration, or just a part of its whole, or what, but Karl Rove makes me want to vomit. Alot. Then vomit again. I jest, but I think there are insects that I have much higher regard for than Rove. So, still coming around to my point, The Rove/Novak thing has me frothing at the mouth. I won't explain the whole story here, as there are tons of news stories, and articles and opinions about it already, but I'm offering my opinion to boot. I just cannot believe that someone who is an acting part of our government would intentionally leak the name of an active, undercover CIA agent in retaliation for her husband's criticism of the bush administration. Actually, I guess I can believe it. That's what is so horrifying about it. And to make it all that much more ridiculous, the administration has changed its story about the leak, and what will happen to anyone who was responsible for the leak. Furthermore, Novak, the guy who actually printed the name is running around scott free, no criminal charges or anything! I could go on and on and on, but I would just get worked up, and again, I'm not the only person who is appalled by this.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Busy busy, and lazy

ah, I have to apologize, at least to myself, for not updating in two weeks. I need to try to get into the habit of updating at least weekly. There has been stuff going on, I just have been lazy and/or haven’t had the time to post. Let me see if I can recap.

As I mentioned already, we moved into the new house, and it is fantastic. We spent much of the week following the move in doing some unpacking and settling in, in addition to our normal load of work and so forth. Travis and Tom got going back to Virginia early in the week. We certainly appreciated their company and help during the move. On Friday, the weekend of the 4th, Krissi's folks came in. We had a great time hanging out all weekend with them. Maddie and John were out of town at the Peachtree run in Atlanta, so we were keeping their dogs, who were models of good puppy dog behavior. Saturday and Sunday preceding the 4th we stayed "busy" visiting with Gregg and Candy, watching "Shawn of the Dead", taking naps, and generally goofing off. We did make it out for a Geocache run. I'm embarrassed to say both that we had not been out caching since the latter part of last year, and also when we did last go caching, we picked up a Geocoin that was bound for Alaska. Well, we were terrible Cachers and it sat in a drawer for like 9 months. Anyway, we went and released it into the wild, and had a good time caching. It was lovely weather, and Horn Lake has a lovely park that we will definitely be returning to. Also Krissi's folks were incredibly generous and replaced the poor, tired old brown couches that have been in my family since before I was born.

The Fourth itself was excellent also, Krissi and I and her folks made it out to see Batman Begins, which was a great deal of fun. We cooked some food and hung out, and that evening Beth and Riley came down, and Maddie and John made it back to town, so everyone came and watched/launched fireworks and enjoyed each others company.

Meanwhile, we marked the second week in the house. More work as usual, and more slowly unpacking and settling in. We were able to pretty quickly get essentials, and even semi-essentials unpacked. Actually as of right now, the only things still in boxes are books and some game stuff, and some of the garbage we couldn’t bring ourselves to throw away. Some of that will not be unpacked, I figure, and we'll just store it. Other stuff, like the books in particular, will come out of boxes when I have somewhere to put them.

This past weekend was grand. The Williams/Williams gang went and hung out with Beth at her pad, and we watched some Firefly, which was quite fun. Saturday morning the new couches were delivered, and the gang convened for some World of Warcraft. We broke to go see Fantastic Four, which was terrible. I went in expecting X-Men or Spiderman. Well, it was neither of those. Not even in the same ballpark as those. Heck, I'm not even sure it was the same sport. We got some more WoW in, then had Beth and Riley join us for some hanging out and Firefly watching. I also picked up Battlefield 2 and have been having a good time playing it, and in fact have gotten my friend Jason into it.

We spent Sunday goofing around and playing more WoW. Our band of undead have reached level 39, and are madly trying to gather gold to purchase mounts. Also I am on a personal quest to find a nice one handed sword. You see, the four of us play undead, Krissi plays a Warlock, John plays a Priest, Maddie plays an offensively programmed Warrior and I play a defensively programmed Warrior. We finished a quest last night that gave us warriors awesome two handed weapons, an axe for Maddie and a sword for me. Its a two handed sword though, and I want to be able to continue to use my shield. It is an awesome weapon though, so I'm giving it a try, and will keep my eyes peeled for a comparable main-hand sword.

Weather is terrible this morning, and looks like it will be this way all week.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

MOVED!

Well well well.

We have moved!

Krissi and I tossed and turned all Friday night, anxious about the move. I had to get up early saturday morning to go install some network equipment for a project, but was back home by 8:30 or so. Krissi and I ran down to Horn Lake to get the huge uhaul truck. It's the big big truck. We drove it back to the apartment, and set about putting furniture and boxes on the truck. Travis and Tom of course were on hand to help out, and before long Jason, Maddie, John, Beth, Riley and my Dad showed up to help out.

We noticed during the packing process, while moving the truck a bit that it was leaking coolant. Like pretty badly. So I called the place we got it from, as I'm not interested in the thing breaking down, or in owning this truck. I was referred to call the shop, which I did, and within an hour or so a fellow was out poking around at the engine. Apparently we lost all the belts on the engine somehow. Thankfully he was able to make repairs on the spot and have it back in running shape. Then we lost the key. Well, he asked me for the key after fixing the engine, to which I responded that I'd given him the key. He looked perplexed, and I asked him to look again while I ran into the (already packed up) apartment in a near panic to search for the key, which I was (pretty) sure I'd given to him. Again, thankfully, he located the key, which I had indeed given to him.

We managed to get everything packed up onto the truck and into cars by about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, but then we ran into a snag. We didnt know when the seller would be out of the house, and started packing with the assumption that we would get a call sometime telling us that it was cool to come on to the house. Well, by 2 o'clock we'd had no phone call. I was anxious but trying hard to be patient, but we also had an (empty) apartment full of hot sweaty tired people who'd just helped us move the truck, and now got to hang out in the empty living room staring at each other. We called Kay and inquired. She was busy, but said that she'd call the seller's agent and inquire. An hour ticked by with no news or phone call. Things started getting desperate, our movers growing bored and restless, while Krissi and I grew less patient and more frustrated with the lack of information. Around 3:30, right before the knives came out, we had decided to go catch a movie. Right before we packed up and went to the theater though, Kay called. She'd spoken with the sellers, and she said that we could meet them at 6PM. Just a hair under two hours away. This nixed the movie for Krissi and I at least, as we had to drop off a treadmill in south Memphis and then drive out to the house. Let me specifically mention how patient and good-natured our friends were. Everyone was hot, tired and bored with having to sit and wait for hours. No one even yelled us. So we hung out for another 45 minutes or so, at least now knowing what the plan was. Finally a few minutes before 5 o'clock we loaded the last of the things we wanted to be sure came with us right away, leaving in the apartment only things we didnt want, and the very few things that we figured could wait before coming with us. We all hopped in our vehicles and headed out, a merry caravan trailing along behind our huge uhaul truck. We managed to find the place where we were dropping off the treadmill with only a small amount of difficulty. I have to admit that by this time I was pretty tired from little sleep and weary from moving. In addition I was stressed from moving in general, and trying keep things moving along, and frustrated with the slow pace of things and the waiting and the difficulties in driving this huge flipping truck around town. We dropped the treadmill off and then continued our caravan through town, finally arriving at the new house just a couple minutes after 6. We got the keys and took possession of the house, then got to unloading. My dad and I went around the corner to pick up a clothes dryer that he was kind enough to donate to us, and meanwhile my brother and his wife showed up, and my mom as well. By the time my dad and I got back with the dryer, the truck was pretty much unloaded. I'll say again that our friends and family rock, and we're very very appreciative of them. Soon after my family made their exits, and we went on food and beverage runs. We kicked off the new house with a bang, spending alot of money on alcohol and food, and we managed to get the tv and dvd running, and found our dvds. Everyone sat back on our poor tired couches and chairs and was entertained first with Princess Bride, then with Casshern, and finally, laaaaate in the evening, with MI2 (You're welcome, John ;)). Some people went to sleep and were drawn on with magic marker, and finally we closed everything down around 3AM. Yay House!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Closing and Coffee

This afternoon we drove down to Southaven and met with our realtor, the seller of the house, and some other people, and signed about a million papers. But we now own a home! Took us about an hour and a half to sign all the papers, but we did it, and now we're just waiting till like saturday to get keys and get in. Right around the corner!

Also, I've been thinking about coffee lately and figure'd I'd share here.
For years and years I've been content with Folgers Instant coffee, which most other coffee drinkers view with a certain amount of disgust. Well my friend Maddie turned me on to Starbucks coffee a few months ago, which I'd always thought of as coffee for snobs. I still do, but it sure is good coffee. Anyway, I'm only a two-cup-a-day kind of guy, but like I said, turned on to starbucks a few months ago, and recently I've sorta ditched my instant stuff. Decided I wanted to get a single cup coffee maker. I always make a cup of coffee in the morning for the ride in to work. Normal coffee makers dont really do it for me, as they're built to make 12 cups or so. So I'd been drooling over some single serve coffee makers for a couple weeks now. Well, as a happy-house present, Krissi got me a single serve coffee maker with a travel mug! YAY! So of course I had to compliment it with a bag of ground starbucks coffee from the grocery store. Sumatra is the flavor!

As a quick side note, I'm doing a pretty good job of not biting my nails! Still trying to not chew the skin, but I'm getting there.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Back to Monday

Weekend was great, but it seemed super short. Maddie and John came back into town Saturday morning, and then Sunday was Father's Day.

So... we spent a goodly bit of the weekend working on the Scarlet Monastary in World of Warcraft. Some Vodka and Red Bull was consumed, and a good time was had.

This is our last week in the apartment it seems, so we've been packing stuff up. This evening after work we went and hit the pool, and are going to cook some grub up on the grill. We found out today that the closing has been delayed by a day, due to something that someone didnt send to someone else. Apparently the Leasing company failed to send something to the mortgage company in time, so instead of closing tuesday, we'll be closing wednesday. So it's still all good.

I'm still working on getting around to my coffee discussion.

Saturday, June 18, 2005

home wish list

Here are some of the things that we are having to go out and get for the house:

Garden hose
Bird feeder
Lawn Mower
Clothes Washing Machine
Sprinkler
various interior decoration items - wall hangings and stuff
replacement kitchen sink faucet (we just want a tall one)
Wireless Access Point
Glass storm door for the front door
Ladder

I'm sure there are a zillion other things. We'll be investing heavily in Home Depot and Bed Bath & Beyond soon, I think.

It's SATURDAY! Maddie and John got in early this morning so we all collected and played some riders (World of Warcraft), then we split for awhile to let them take a nap, since they hadnt slept much in two days or so. Krissi and I are both playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which is a blast.

It is a BEAUTIFUL day outside. I'm a little glum at being cooped up inside, but that's outweighed by computer/xbox gaming and doing some packing/cleaning. Speaking of packing/cleaning, the saga continues. We've packed up some more stuff, computer stuff and miscellanous junk that we are still attached to. I'm not sure if I've already mentioned it here or not, but packing is sortof difficult for us, aside from the normal "packing is a chore" line. We are trying really hard not to just pack all of our junk and take it with us. Each item gets a hard look, at whether or not we want to hang onto it or not. Alot of stuff isnt making it. We're trying to throw out alot of the stuff we've had hanging around since childhood and/or college days. Things that would look fine in a dorm (or apartment), but that we figure we may as well start to shed. Krissi and I are both clutter/pack-rat people, so we accumulate alot of stuff. We threw away (no lie) like six or seven computers. These were 486's, some Pentium 90 type machines, and some empty cases. Two or three non-working monitors made it into the trash. I've had a really hard time with alot of game related stuff, both computer and book-type. I am a huge packrat of computer game stuff, so I've got manuals from games like Harpoon, which was a great game... in 1993. Anyway, I just cant bring myself to throw away game manuals, game disks, and hell, even the game boxes, which I've broken down for storage. Other stuff that's kinda hard is things with some sentimental value attached. Just random stuff from childhood and college. Stuffed animals, postcards, notebooks with random stuff in them, etc. I'm keeping some stuff and pitching other stuff. Perfect example: I have had, since like junior high school, a corkboard that I kept notes, cards, stickers, buttons, and other random things collected from friends and family. Alot of it I just picked. Some I threw in a box so it can sit on a shelf for another five years. We've had to do the same with offerings for stuff. Our families are great, and are quick to offer us furniture and things for the house. We are of course grateful, but must decline some offers, as we are interested in trying to get stuff for our house. Hand-me-downs have been the by-word for apartment life, but now about to be in a house, I dont want an old couch, or just some old table. I want one that will look fly in our place. And I dont think I'm being unreasonable, I'm not going to rush out and buy a supah-expensive leather, reclining, vibrating, warming couch. I just want some nice stuff.

Topic for another day:
Coffee

Friday, June 17, 2005

Cool things

I have to mention three cool things.

I grabbed a 512 Meg iPod Shuffle the other day and have been proudly wearing it around at snobby coffee bars and at customer sites ever since. Its also excellent apparel on the treadmill at the gym. An excellent purchase.

We picked up the new Black Eyed Peas album, Monkeybusiness, and it rocks alot. We're not sure if it rocks as much as the previous album, Elephunk, but some of the songs on the new one are GREAT, and the rest of it at least good too.

We also got the new Nine Inch Nails album, With Teeth. I have to say that I love it. Its lived in the car cd player since I got it. Love the sound. I loved Pretty Hate Machine when it came out ages ago, but wasnt into Downward Spiral and the others he came out with after. Recently though I've had renewed interest in all things NIN. Great tunes.

utility services

So I am on the phone with Time Warner right now, holding for a tech so I can see about moving cable and internet service, and getting hooked up on digital phone service.

Just got finished making what seemed like a dozen phone calls, but in truth was only 3 or 4 to various utility companies in order to get power, water, sanitation, gas(?), etc turned on. Closing is now 4 days away :)

Transferring utilities is actually not that bad, so far, it seems. Couple of phone calls, but mostly painless. No *huge* deposits, though electrical kinda waved/waived a $200-something dollar deposit or setup fee at me. Water will cost us $100 though. We'll see what Time Warner says. I guess it just seems.. panicked because I havent done this before, and I know if I dont do it, or dont do it right, we get to have a dark house with no water or trash pickup. And *GASP* no internet.

K, so there is no Digital Phone service through time warner in Horn Lake yet. So looks like we get to call Bellsouth as well. Also I cant get my cable and roadrunner moved into the home until the current owners have their TW services disconnected, which happens on Thursday the 23rd, so I get to call TW back Thursday and setup an install for Saturday. Whew.

Next up: Bellsouth and 662 area code.

ps - this snipped of Instant Message conversation between the wife and I.
"jerm says:
just need power and internet anyway. If water and trash isnt on right away we'll live. That's what the back yard is for."

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

mmm endorphines

Yay! I made it to the gym this evening. The wife and I headed out straight after work. I did my 3 miles and then did a really quick upper-body. Back home for beer and mexican food, YAY!

Monday, June 13, 2005

Weekend and week

So it was a rather weird weekend.

Our friends Maddie and John were called away suddenly this past Friday to Maryland, Maddie's grandmother was very ill and they went to be with her in her last hours. We certainly miss them while they are away.

Also this weekend, our friend Jeremy Y was getting ready to head back to his unit in Kuwait. He'd been back for two weeks on leave, and we got to catch up with him a bit, and he and his family got to spend alot of time together. We didnt get to see him as much as we'd like to have, but he'll be back for good here in a few months, so its good stuff.

Work is ramping up for me. Two new employees in about three weeks time. I've been doing some training, but also working on a couple of telephone projects that are starting to kick into high gear.

So a rather weird weekend, but a good one overall. We got to catchup on some sleep that we dont usually get. And it'll be a long week, but we'll survive.

I actually managed to go hit the sidewalk this evening and run a bit. Didnt even manage three miles, but I'm happy I got out there.

Friday, June 10, 2005

friday friday

So we've been fighting off summer colds. First the John and Maddie Williams' had it, now the Jerm and Krissi Williams' have it. Its mostly gone now though.

Packing continues. We're stoked about the home and really ready to get into it.

Short post, as its now just about quittin' time for the day!

Monday, June 6, 2005

wet noodle

Ugh. Have not been to the gym in over a week I think. Wasted money, but more than that, I just wish I was there working out. Still want to run a full marathon the end of this year, and if I cant do some running, it aint gonna happen.

a home.

So I havent kept a diary or journal really since I was 16 or so. But I've had the urge lately to commit stuff to.. well, paper. Sortof.

Anyway,

Life seems to be moving at nine hundred miles per hour. We close on a home in Horn Lake on the 21st of this month it looks like. The process has been fairly painless actually. It all started when we noticed that our lease was up on our apartment the end of June. We've tried twice in the last two years to look into purchasing a house, and were not able to get anywhere, due to our poor credit. We began looking at rental homes, not wanting to continue to do the apartment thing, either in our apartment, or in another apartment. This apartment has been good to us, we've been in here for three years, but we're both extremely done with it. Ready to live in a place that has windows on all four sides of it.
In April though we got a financial windfall, and were able to pay off some old college era credit card debt. Krissi wisely suggested looking into buying a home again. I was a touch hesitant at first, not wanting to be told "no" again, but we checked it out and WOOT, we were told people would give us money.
Once that was done, we began timidly looking at homes, pretty much by checking realtor web sites and looking at photos and descriptions. We have become pretty attached to the area of Memphis we are in, which is east memphis, near St. Francis hospital, sortof sandwiched between memphis and the suburbs of cordova and germantown. We had long planned to look for homes in this area of town. There are a number of places right around here that seem to have some homes that we figured would be in our price range. Again it didnt occur to me until Krissi suggested it, that we look in North Mississippi as well.
We did hook up with a real estate agent named Kay Hodge, and we soon setup going and looking at a couple of homes in north MS, one of which we found online and loved. We went and looked at this home, as well as two others, and still loved the first home, which was the one we liked so much online. At this point already, we were trying to figure out how long to wait before deciding on a home we liked. We *really* liked the one we saw online and then went and looked at, but we desperately didnt want to impulsively buy the first home we looked at. We slept on it for a couple of days, and were still very excited about it. To be thorough, we looked at a couple of homes in memphis as well, but were still totally excited about the home in Horn Lake. So.. we called Kay back and setup another visit to the home. We went and looked again, and then filled out paperwork to make an offer to the seller.
So, that was two hurdles down: Finance, Home. All downhill from there. We had a home inspector come look at the home, and have gone by the place a couple of times to take friends and family to see it. We signed the final lending paperwork today, and so we are really really on the way.
We've been making plans for things that we'll have to buy when we get in there, like a water hose, a new wireless access point, a washing machine, etc.
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We spent all of this past weekend playing World of Warcraft with Maddie and John. We got our undead group to level 34! WOOWOO!