Iron Man – May 16th

Iron ManIn the midst of all this nonsense I’ve got going on, George and I went to go see Iron Man. We also had a few beers that night, which I desperately needed after the past week.

To be perfectly honest, I can’t seem to generate much to complain about this movie. Could be the fact that I just can’t muster the energy to analyze this thing at the moment. Perhaps it’s just that the movie was good and it’s always easier to write negative reviews. Actually, I’m sure its due my current lack of writing mojo.

But, since I’m trying to write something about every movie I see in a theater this year, I gotta get at least a little something down. As always, there may be a few spoilers involved here, so be aware. If you wanna go into the movie “clean” don’t read further. (Maybe that’s just something I do, I’m not sure).

Continue reading “Iron Man – May 16th”

Creeping Civilization

Slowly but surely, everything is starting to come together… and don’t call me Shirley.

In the past week, we’ve had the new refrigerator delivered as well as the washer/dryer.  More importantly, we also got internet access set up.  That all happened last Monday.

We spent the rest of the week, unpacking some boxes, moving still more random crap from the old house, and fighting off exhaustion.  We had to spend the entire week without TV because the builder was going to run more coax cable for our DVR’s for free.  If DirecTV did it, they would charge $75 an hour.  So, that was a no-brainer.  But, with the way schedules worked out, DTV couldn’t come until this past Saturday.

I spent the entire morning hanging around the house while the guy did his thing.  From 9am to 1pm.  But, he finally finished and we were back with TV again.  Hallelujah!

Jess equated living without satellite/cable to living in those days before remote control. We were able to watch DVD’s but that was like having only a single channel.  And, if  ayou wanted something else, you had to physically get up, make a decision as to which DVD to throw in, then make that happen.  Lots of work when all you want to do is  shut down the engines and veg out.

Speaking of TV, supposedly the builder’s cabinet guy is coming out today to install the net A/V cabinet in the living room and finally fill in that ugly hole.  However, nether Jess nor I are all that confident that he’ll show.  We have not hear word one from anyone concerning this.  Even so, old Goldy girl is locked into the bedroom just in case.  I’ll let you know if it actually happens or not.

This past holiday weekend, we FINALLY got the rest of the stuff out of the old house.  It is completely empty.  It was cleaned last Thursday and we’ve got the carpet cleaners coming this Thursday.  Should be all ready for the renter to move in June 1.

Of course, we still have the storage unit to deal with, and not to mention the garage FULL of boxes.  *sigh*

One other thing we crossed off this past week is we got Jess her new lawn mower.  She was quite excited, so while I cooked up steaks and mashers, she was mowing the lawn with her new “personal pace” Toro mower.

On the wedding front, we have made progress there.  We have gotten the invites all bought and everything.  A friend of Jess’ is going to address them since apparently she has good handwriting.  Fine by me, means I don’t have to do it.

We also got registered yesterday.  We’re not totally done, but we spent about 5 hours at Macy’s and Bed, Bath & Beyond.  Macy’s wasn’t that much fun, because we spent the time trying to figure out what the hell we wanted… specifically in terms of design type stuff.  Towels and sheets and that sorta thing.  That was NOT fun.  Making all those decisions was tough.  But, I suppose we can always return stuff, right?  Not to mention that all that crap is wicked expensive.  We both felt way guilty scanning some of that stuff.  But, as Jess said, nobody says they gotta buy it, right?

Bed, Bath & Beyond was a lot more fun.  That was picking out all of the cooking stuff I want.  That was the stuff I really care about.  Spoons and spatulas and pans and whatnot.  Good times.

We still have to register for more stuff… I don’t think we have enough on there to give our guests the variety to choose from.   The paperwork we got from Macy’s told us that for the number of people we’re inviting, we should have upwards of 250 items at various price points on our register.  Gaaa!  When we left Macy’s we 48 items.  Needless to say, we have some work left.

Scoreboard time…  Old house empty.  Storage unit still full.  Kitchen stuff mostly unpacked at new house.  Most everything else still partially or mostly in boxes.  We officially have TOO MUCH CRAP.  Hopefully cabinets done today.  Re-grouting still needs to happen on the master shower.  Some other various little fixes need to happen too.  We still haven’t met the “community director” lady to get our pool keys and whatnot.  We also got to buy a bunch of stuff for the house, area rugs and runners, water softener, shelving for the garage, a garage fridge/freezer, decorations for walls, blah blah blah blah.  It is never ending.  Wedding wise, locale and time is set. Menu is finalized.  Photographer is locked in.  Invites are done and ready to be sent. Dresses and Tuxes are done.  Honeymoon is all squared away. Registering is well on its way.  Flower meeting this week. Cake decisions still gotta happen.  We still need an officiant (yikes).  Working on decoration stuff now.  Excuse me, I need a nap…

We just keep plugging away.  Maybe someday we can actually get the place whipped into some sort of shape and put together a decent wedding…

Stay tuned.

Luxury Camping

That is the best way I could describe this past weekend in the new house.  Luxury camping.  Lemme explain…

We spent Saturday morning until about 12 moving with the movers.  Sure, they did the lion’s share of the heavy lifting, but there was still more than enough to go around.  Once we got to the new house, it was time to at least make an attempt to unpack some boxes.   That was pleasantly interrupted by various friends and family who stopped by to check out the new digs.  We gave numerous guided tours of the place and even got some beers and flowers delivered to us, both of which were greatly appreciated.

But once everyone had come and gone, the house was pretty quiet.  We had the iPod playing but we soon realized there wasn’t much else to do.  We were both physically and mentally shot.  Total exhaustion.  But, we couldn’t flip on the tube and veg out.  (No cable/satellite)   We couldn’t jump online and read email. (No internet) We couldn’t cook any dinner since we hadn’t unpacked any of the kitchen yet.  We couldn’t even have any cold drinks since we didn’t have a refrigerator either.   Seriously, it was just like camping, except we were in a beautiful house and both completely exhausted.

So, our Realtor Sharon (bless her heart) bought us pizzas for Saturday night, so I went to pick them up, and fill the cooler with some beers and ice.  When I got home, I dug out a DVD player and connected it to the TV, if only to provide a little distraction.   It wasn’t long before we both got a little droopy eyed and we decided we wanted to watch TV in bed.  So, we lugged the 42″ tv into the bedroom (the other TV is still back at the house mounted on the wall) and watched another movie in bed.

Sunday morning was very quiet.  Since the TV was still in the bedroom, when I got up I went  out to get the paper and read it in silence in the living room (I didn’t want to wake Jess).  I enjoyed a piece of pizza and a pepsi  (breakfast of champions).  Jess got up shortly there after, and we both just kinda lounged around unable to actually generate any energy to do anything.  But, since the day wasn’t getting any longer, we decided we’d better hit it.  One trip up to the Boise house to load up her car with a bunch of crap the movers didn’t take… ie. stuff not in boxes (which there was a lot of).  We also ran a few errands to pick up a few essentials here and there, including another trip to the house to load up.

We went to The Ram for dinner and it was nice to have a decent meal and to sit and relax.  Not only that, we were able to watch a little TV, which was nice.

Goldy has held up like a champ.  She spent Friday night at Jess’ parents house, but they brought her over on Saturday.  She spent a lot of  time wandering around exploring the new house, but she seems very happy.  I think having no stairs to deal with is huge.

Jess is staying home from work today to get stuff done on the house.  There are tons of workmen coming by today, running cabling, setting up the internet, setting up the telephone service, delivering appliances (WE’LL FINALLY HAVE A FRIDGE!) so on and so forth.  I feel guilty not being there to help, but I have limited time off and gotta save it up for the honeymoon.

From here on in, we still have a lot to do.  There is still stuff at the old house that’s gotta be moved.  My storage unit, couch, dining room table and chairs, queen bed, etc, still needs to be emptied.  Then its on to boxes.  Endless piles of boxes.

Anyway, I’d better wrap this up.  I’ll undoubtedly write more on the house later.  We’re DEFINITELY going to be there a while.

Movin’ On Up

It’s moving day.  Movers shall be here in 2 hours.  This is my last post until the circus is over.  It still feels like we have TONS to do before they get here.  So, I’m keeping this short.

When you next hear from me, it will be from the cozy confines of our fancy new place.

Until then, Stay Classy San Diego.

Signing Day – Conclusion

Final Signature Here ya go. A look into the world of two fools dropping veritable dump-truck loads of cash into a place simply to store their shit.

One piece of advice for those buying a house, ever. If they point out the grand total pay off figure at the end of the 30 years, DO NOT LOOK AT IT. Seriously. It can instantly give you a coronary and watery bowels all at the exact same time.

Funnily enough, we were able to mask the sheer horror of the moment.

Chipper?

We actually take possession today at 4:15. Your run of the mill key-to-the-city presentation/ribbon cutting.

Let’s make with the movers and get this show on the road.

Hopefully see some of you all there tomorrow!

Signing Day

Front of house Tis signing day today. The day we get to practice our autographs 97 times and sign up for 30 years of debt. Hooo boy…

I don’t care who you are, if that doesn’t make your bowels a bit loose, you should probably not be making major purchases. It means you haven’t fully realized the ramifications of what you’re about to do. Trust me… I’m MORE than aware of what we’re doing.

What a wild ride this has been. I’m exhausted. I got a wicked cardboard cut on my pinky. House is 85-90% packed, but what we have left is the straggler shit that just makes me crazy. Perhaps we should just chuck it all and start over. We really just wanna be done.

What I find amusing is that 8 months ago, I was in a 500 sq.ft. apartment. I moved into Jess’ 1000 sq.ft. house in September. Now, we’re moving into a 2373 sq.ft. house in exactly 48 hours. I guess this means we gotta figure out a way to buy a 5000 sq.ft. house next year just to keep the pattern going, right? Umm… maybe not…

As I have stated before, the movers are scheduled 9am Saturday. After loading time, we will probably be out to the house around 11ish to start the offloading process. After that, its all about boxes, boxes and more boxes.

We would like to extend an invite to anyone who is in the area and interested to come on by and check out the new digs . It will be the first chance for all of you to bask in the glory that is “Dream House”. Come see it before it’s covered in dog hair, outdated computer hardware and Jess’ shoes. Say hello. Explore the neighborhood. We won’t have any food or drink to offer you, but please come on by anyway. Maybe unload a box or two… c’mon, it’ll be fun…

How to find us: Google Maps. (best way to enter is off of Chinden)

So, wish us godspeed in our adventures today. Come 4:15 we sign our all our spare income away.

Onward and upward!

Seasons of Boise – Spring

Spring Panorama - Boise In the midst of everything, last week I was able to take some pictures to continue my year long series of the Seasons of Boise panoramas.  I really wanted to get trees just beginning to be green while still having some snow on the mountains.  I was also hoping for a slight tinge of green on the foothills as well.  I was also hoping that there would be some flowering trees in the park, but it doesn’t appear to be any.

Spring has sprung, and thus, #3 in my series.  View the whole series here: http://flickr.com/photos/jasonhaberman/sets/72157603859304411/

Can’t wait to get the summer shot and complete the thing.  Gonna look way cool on the wall.

Who knows, maybe I can make a buck or two off of these…

Weird Dream

dream_standard_1280x960.jpgLately, I’ve had some real doozy dreams, mainly about the house. But yesterday morning I had one of the strangest experiences of my life, and that is saying something because I’m a very vivid dreamer and often remember them. Sometimes I’ve even been able to control them.

First, the real life events. Jess and I were asleep early early morning. I don’t think it was even light out yet. We have been sleeping with the window open because it is already pretty warm upstairs without the AC on.

Anyway, we were both dead asleep when there is this large BOOM outside. I mean loud. I’m a deep sleeper and it was loud enough to wake me up. In that groggy way, we both kinda turn to each other and ask what the hell that was. I couldn’t come up with an answer. I still can’t. It wasn’t like a firecracker or gunshot, it was much deeper. It wasn’t a sonic boom because it sounded much closer and there were no reverberations. Just one crisp, loud, deep “boom”. It wasn’t preceded or followed by any other sounds. Very strange. I kept my eye on idahostatesman.com to see if something happened that was newsworthy. But no such luck.

So, in my dream, I only remember a very short snippet before I woke up. Maybe 7 or 8 seconds. But its the content that freaked me out. In my dream, Jess handed me a large party balloon tied to a ribbon. She then took one of those safety letter openers and slid it along the ribbon until it hit the balloon and popped it. AT THE EXACT SAME TIME AS THE BOOM OUTSIDE.

I just don’t know what to make of that. Is it purely coincidence? That seems unlikely to me. Is it that my brain distorted “dream time” to make it seem longer when in fact all of that action took place instantaneously upon hearing the boom? Kinda like deja vu or something? Something else? Brain tumor? I really don’t know.

You gotta admit, that is pretty strange.

House update: We’re meeting with the home inspector today. Perhaps I will get some more photos actually taken by me to post on here. Check back.