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Sunday, April 29, 2007
more nerves
we have a house!
ten minutes before bidding, the other bidder dropped out.
whew.
we revised our offer (downwards). at the end of the day, we got just about everything we wanted and ended up meeting them at asking price.
we could have done better, but i kind of lost my composure at the end of the negotiation. my agent didn't really help. she was leaving for her daughter's wedding shower and really wanted me to get the deal ratified that day. when i asked her what her advice on a negotiating position or strategy should be, all she offered was, "i think you should take it."
nice.
meanwhile, i'm trying to:
keep dr. wintermute updated
fend off my dad, who has lots of advice, but very little tact (comments included, "i'm disappointed," "i thought someone with a harvard degree would be better in negotiations," and my favorite, "tell them they can have it.").
run in and out of meetings
deal with the fact that one of my co-workers is an idiot
unsurprisingly, i'm rattled. not like i lose my cool externally or anything, but i simply forget to ask for a time out and think and plot out my options. i should have simply offered to meet their price in return for an extra 30 days delay until closing or having the seller pay my closing costs.
you would think i'd feel better now that i have a gotten through most of the buying process.
nope.
i have a serious case of my buyer's remorse and my dad is riding my case hard. this includes 11 pm emails on his own tips.
i should be feeling good, but instead i'm really, really stressed. i rarely get this way, but when i do, i'm a wreck.
what a day. last night, our agent tells us at 9:00 that there is another bidder on the house we love.
fukstix.
so we spend today scrambling to get the offer contract. the fact that i'm flying from soflo to atl and katie is driving up to tampa (for a dr. scientist conference) makes it fun. 47 pages of contract that need to be signed on every page, plus customized addendums. thankfully, we can scan and send pdfs to each other. faxing would have been a nightmare.
we get the offer in. we're good. i'm nervous about the offer price. our agent talks me off the ledge three times today. i'm nervous about the cash flow, too. the numbers say we can swing it, but house-owning is always more expensive than expected. and this place comes with a yard. that means a mower, on top of furniture. or we could live in an unfurnished house. at least they can't take the grill (it's built into the patio). hmm. maybe they would sell us their furniture....
at 10 tonight, i realize (ok, my dad points out) that we can't be totally flexible on the close date. the deal on this place is that a couple bought it a month ago and then called off their wedding. he's already moved out and she is living there, but presumably wants out quick. well, we don't move until august, and katie's new gig (read: new paycheck) doesn't start until september.
shitballz.
we can't possibly pay a mortgage all summer while we're paying rent in soflo AND rent in atl.
uggg. we might lose this deal over the close date.
i'm trying to wintermute my way through this one.
there are some creative options, including closing early but having the seller stay and pay us rent.
check out a great collection of them here, thanks to fox.
so, here's the deal. land in soflo around 10 after flying back all day from vegas. grab my car (thanks to moe for mailing me my spare key from atl) and get to miami beach. the boys are waiting for me at lincoln park at a hookah bar. a shot of korean vodka (which is disgusting) and a cold beer await. they're done in a minute. haven't seen the bachelor since my wedding. turns out master schmaster is newly single. ballslapper (ok cockchaser, as he was known around the house in college), fox, and the player are there, as well has two of the bachelor's fiance's friends.
from there we are off the clevelandar, a hotel + outdoor bar in the heart of south beach. the boys find some chicks. meanwhile, cockchaser earns himself a new nickname: ballslapper. it's a seemingly gentle taps to the crotch, but it hurts like a bitch. everyone is tagged. i'm on ball watch the rest of the weekend.
from the clevelandar to wet willies for some call-a-cabs (grain plus some slushee stuff). late night pizza. while there, we dial some of the other boys and leave messages. yes, drunk dialing is still fun. at 4:00 am, i am cooked. a few hold outs hit a club. turns out to make atlanta's clermont lounge (here's all you need to know from wiki: "The Clermont is perhaps best-known for featuring dancers who do not meet the traditional physical standards for strippers, the most famous of which is Blondie, notable for her ability to completely flatten empty beer cans between her breasts.") look classy by comparison. glad that i opted out of it.
crash till noon the next day, crawl to jerry's deli for $14 mile high reubens.
make our way to south beach and work off the hangovers. the scenery is, uhh, scenic.
top optional beach. the player, the bachelor and the ballslapper opt to go topless.
our drunk dialing pays off. turns out we called captain caveman the prior night. well, mrs. caveman is in miami beach on a bachelorette party, and the bachelorette is a friend of ours from college. she invites us to join them at taverna opa (here it is on google maps). we didn't really have a good plan, so this sounds good.
i'm the last one to arrive. as i walk up, i think i'm at the wrong place for dinner. loud music. making the earth shattering. bowel quaking. a line. a velvet rope. what?
opening shot at opa
the door guy lets me in when i point to my crew and they wave at me. i walk in and about a dozen chicks dancing on the table wave at me. i like this place.
the boys are in the back chowing on grub and drinking ouzo straight from the bottle. we hang with mrs. caveman and her ladies, but they have other plans for the night. shit. a sausage fest. 8 dudes by themselves is not that great at this place.
the bachelor steps to the plate. he spots 7 chicks outside waiting for a table. goes to talk to them. turns out they're a bachelorette party. he grabs them, brings them in, gets them food and drinks, and ask the manager for an extra table.
now, i have to give props to the staff at opa. they're only concern is making sure we have a good time. in fact, they're having a good time with us. the bus boys are dancing on the tables. the waiter is bring a bucket of beer every 15 minutes. people are throwing paper napkins in the air (yeah, doesn't sound that crazy, but you had to be there). the bass is pumping.
a good sign
fox would not be outdone.
the whole crew. the money shot is stage right. ballslapper is bending this chick over while smiling at the camera. meanwhile, the player looks on in admiration.
now here's where it gets better. master schmaster has brough lucho libre masks for everyone. the opa wait staff loves it. the manager comes out to take his picture with us.
surprisingly, the chicks thought this was weird.
wintermute and the dj. he thought the masks were sweet.
to their credit, the chicks call it a night while we're still having fun. always go out on top, i say.
we head to the sheldon for karaoke. we take over the stage. i love watching master schmaster rush the stage and rock baby got back.
it's done by 4:45. ballslapper heads straight to the airport to catch his 6:30 flight.
we sleep till noon. get lunch at lincoln park.
at 5 it's time to pick up dr. wintermute, who's been at a wedding. i've to kind of explain to her what i've been doing all weekend.
wild, wild throw-down weekend with the chi phi's in miami beach. have a lot to write, but it seems a bit out of place to write about given yesterday's tragedy at va tech.
well, a good week in vegas. apparently, not as many people have seen talladega nights as i thought. last night, everyone walked by and said to rusty (who had an authentic replica costume of ricky bobby from ebay), "hey, wonderbread!" then they looked at me and asked, "uhh, so are you like a perrier delivery guy or something?" responding in my best jean girard french accent did not really help.
i have to say that i really don't like vegas cover bands. i have tremendous respect for the musicians in those bands. however, everything is so over-produced, over-orchestrated, and over-choreographed that it's like listening to a cd. the beauty of live music is the personal touches that get added. the snare drum that's a little too high in the mix, the bass line that is a bit too loud, that's what makes it great. at last night's costume party we had the same house of blues hound band as last year. and they played not just virtually the same song list, note for note, but the singers did the EXACT same choreography. i mean, don't they get sick of it?
as always, five days in vegas is enough. i'm burnt out on traveling and a bit burnt out on my job, and it's only half way through the month. dr. wintermute is in dc this weekend for a friend's wedding and some house hunting. i wish she was going to be home when i get to soflo tonight.
turns out a bunch of my friends have been busy making munchkins.
first, nobf is pregnant. i've actually know about this one for awhile (since i saw her in boston several months ago). big up, nobf.
secondly, bloodninja is going to be a baby daddy! he and sin-thy-a kept this one a surprise from all of us. turns out that they did not waste any time and got busy on their honeymoon. they're blogging about it here at two little pink lines.
around the same time, etnobotania and her man were getting busy, and turns out donnie lee is going to have a little sister in september.
also, the beav is pregnant. now, i guessed this one way back before she was telling anyone. she and mr. beav having been planning this one for awhile. she's blogging about it here.
two weekends ago i caught up one of my good friends from college who i haven't seen since graduation. she's due in five weeks.
finally, we just got back from a baby shower for one of dr. wintermute's good friends from high school.
got to vegas last night. all i could think of was sleep. i should have been excited to see manadalay bay (a step up from last year's monte carlo), but i just wanted some rest. have the rest of the week to throw down. this is the ultimate work hard play hard week. 12 hour days and then lots of fun stuff at night. culminates with a big costume party thursday night. by friday i'll be barely alive.
spent the weekend with dr. w's fam, which was great and very relaxing. celebrated my bday in the ville. good food and family time was nice. celebrated easter at church. that's right, i go to church. and my skin didn't start boiling.
nervous because the costumes that rusty and i bought have not arrived yet. we are doing Talladega Nights--he's ricky bobby and i'm jean girard. stay tuned for stories.
lots of good news to share--all my friends have been busy making babies. more info to come.
man, long week in california. la monday and tueday, then drove down to la jolla for wed, then drove up to anaheim, and was back in our la office in el segundo today. by noon today i was cooked. promised myself that i would get to bed early, considering i have a 6:30 am cross country flight tomorrow.
as i'm leaving the office, a couple of folks grab me.
"what are you doing tonight?
uhh, pay per view and email.
"no way. you should come to el coyote. it's our thursday night thing."
sorry. have an early morning flight cross country.
"so does so and so."
well, i don't have my rental car.
"that's ok, so and so doesn't either. in fact, she' s staying at your hotel, too, and i'm picking her up. we'll get you, too. see you in the lobby at 7."
shit.
well, i'm not out here that often. gotta have some fun. grab a 30 minute power nap and i'm good to go.
hang out my co-worker's very cool spanish-style duplex and then hit el coyote. the margaritas and i get along famously. the whole time, i'm eyeing one of my co-worker's friend. he looks so freaking familiar.
turns out to be norman korpi from the first season of the real world. yup. this norm. from the reality show that started it all. the only good season of the real world. turns out he lives in LA now and is an artist. very chill guy. i'm not impressed with celebrities, but he is pretty cool.
now i'm back. tired. long flight tomorrow to dr. w's hometown. hanging with the in-laws, celebrating my birthday, seeing one of dr. w's close friends for her baby shower, then turning back around and flying to vegas on sunday.
a month on the road and you'll be eating out of my hand
greetings from los angeles.
april is a long month. a fun month, but a long one. la for a week, then dr. w's hometown, then vegas for a week, then home to fll for a weekend, then atlanta, then dc for house hunting. and close in on the 3-0.
started april with an early birthday gift. went to tampa this past weekend to see spring training for the first time. dr. w originally got me red sox tix as a birthday gift. then we found out the sox were playing their last spring training game in philly. who plays spring training up north?!?!? we discovered this:
two days before the game
after we had bought the tickets
we only find out, in fact, because i'm talking to mpg on the phone on thursday, and he mentions how psyched he is for the sox game (he lives in philly). i mention that i am, too.
wait a minute. we can't BOTH be going to the game.
shitballz. ok, plan B: we get reds seats. but the since we're buying the seats thursday night, we need them overnighted. done.
the next morning, i get up at 5 to fly from atl to soflo. call the ticket broker. thankfully, i catch them before they sent it. turns out they 'didn't notice' that i had requested overnight delivery. important detail, don't you think? so they arrange for ovenight fedex and tell me to pick up the tickets at a fedex kinko's in tampa.
drive up to tampa friday night, stayed with some of dr. w's close friends from her hometown. then next morning, head to kinko's. they don't have the tickets. call the ticket broker. they forgot to send them. are you fucking kidding me?
the guy is really remorseful and tries to be helpful. he says it looks like some seats are left at the box office. and he refunds my money. i try to bargain him to pay for my air fare from atl and gas from soflo, but he's not THAT remorseful.
so we book it to the game. sure enough, there are TONS of great seats left. $17 walk up price, compared to $70 (after tax, service fee, and overnight delivery) from the ticket broker. it works out great. i even get a foul ball, and then wintermute my way to the reds' team bus. however, i have forgotten the mighty pen. dr. w thinks fast, and asks a nearby employee. turns out she's happy to loan me her marker since she has a ball she wants autographed, but as a park employee isn't allowed to ask for one. so everyone wins.
this morning caught the first flight to LA. have a week's worth of customer visits here and in la jolla. then fly to dr. w's hometown on friday. one of her good friends from home is having a baby shower. (almost) their whole crew is coming in for it. and i'll be celebrating my birthday.
