Freaky

Just saw one of our janitors here in the tower, and for a second, I thought it was Erik Wujcik. (spelling?) It wasn't, but still really weird. Did you ever notice his wild hair. This guy had the SAME EXACT hair.

How Odd Is That

I got a comment today on my post from a week ago. Asking me to write more! I have never been accused of being a good writer. As a matter of fact, I have often been accused of not being a good writer, so I thought that was a bit odd. But, here I am, bowing to the public will. *laugh*

Actually, there is not much going on as of late. Life has been blissfully quiet for a week or so. We both have needed that. Tonight, we leave on vacation. Which is a good thing. I guess the only other thing of note was the fact that I "ran into" an old roommate on www.gay.com yesterday. Adam Lamerton. Australian roommate of Matthew and I when we had the apartment at Briarcove. We actually had a very nice conversation, and he invited Patrick and I to stay with him and his boyfriend of 1.5 years if we ever go out to Australia. Which, I thought was very kind, since he and I never got along in the apartment. I, of course, returned the favor, and invited him to stay with us if he ever was up in our area. All in all, it was a very pleasant conversation.

House

No news really. No changes on either one.

House News - Good for a change

Current House - We have finally agreed on a contingency removal for the contractor's inspection. I will pay the buyers $500.00 at closing. They will not have me repair or replace anything. This was nearly the best possible scenario for me. It means that there are just 2 more contingencies to remove and then closing. Those contingencies are the buyers acquiring a mortgage and selling their house. Anyone want to live in Westland?

New House - We had our "pre-drywall walk-through" yesterday. Everything looks good. We have a basement floor and a garage floor now too. Wiring is nearly complete as is the plumbing. Everything is looking good. They should begin drywalling this week and be finished next week. Then the siding goes on. So, all in all things are going well.


Memorial Day

I am getting antsy. We leave Thursday of next week for "The Cabin". My family goes up together every Memorial Day. This year, my folks, us, my brother and his wife and kids, and my grandma's boyfriend of 25 years will all be there. He was always like a grandfather to us, so it will be nice to see him. After Memorial Day, mom and I will stay and do some genealogy research. Not as much as I would like, but more than she really wants to do I think. So, we have settled on it, and will come back to Michigan on Friday after Memorial Day. I am sad that I won't see the boyfriend on his birthday though. I will have to make it up to him.

Florimel, also known as "Flora", is beautiful and usually passive. Quick to fall for a handsome face, but as fickle as they come. She means well, but a girl has to look out for herself. In Roger Zelazny's "Nine Princes in Amber", Corwin describes her as having red haired with eyes that "were as blue as Lake Erie at three o'clock on a cloudless summer afternoon", she kept watch over Corwin during his exile on Earth and kept Eric updated on his whereabouts.

Which Amberite are you?
this quiz was made by Mysti

The House Saga Continues

The buyers of our existing house had their home inspection yesterday. Everything turned out pretty well. Only 2 REAL concerns really. 1. The humidifier on the furnace is broken. It needs to be replaced. I was going to offer to pay for that. 2. The Laundry Tub and Washer drain into the Sump Pump, which then pumps into the sewer. The rest of the concerns were not legitimate in my opinion. They were concerned that one of the heating elements was turned off on our Water Heater. It has been of since I bought the house. I was advised to leave it off to save money, as we have an electric water heater. They think it 'must be broken, if its off'. I explained it wasn't. They are also concerned that the furnace and water heater are "older". The furnace is somewhere around 16 years old, and the water heater around 13. They think that "they are likely to break down and need replacing soon". So, all in all, they asked for $2,600 back at closing. My response was: "The sump pump has been that way for over 60 years, and we are grandfathered in, and the heating element is off to save money. As far as the water heater and furnace being old, I agree that it is a slight concern, and I offered to pay for a 1 year home warranty. I was about to offer to fix the humidifier and said..."About the humidifier", and their realtor interrupted me. She said they weren't worried about that. I can only now conclude that they are looking for cash, not repairs. So, I made another offer. I said if they would bump their offer by $1,500, I would give them back $2,000 at closing. She said she would talk to the home owners. We shall see. I refuse to pay for a new furnace when the existing one works fine.

New House

I talked to the building manager, and the access panel in the middle of the spare room's ceiling is now being removed. They will use an alternative idea I suggested for access to the attic. Yay!

Gaming

Lots of my fellow Bloggers are talking about why they Role-play and what they like about it. Over the weekend, one of my role-playing games met, and I was reminded why I sometimes don't like role-playing. So, I thought that might be an interesting Blogger thing. Generally, I enjoy gaming. It is fun. It is makebelieve. It is an escape from everyday life, and offers a chance to socialize with friends. What I don't like. Misunderstandings that take place out of character, or when they bleed through to an out of character context. That happened over the weekend. Myself, and another player had a conversation without the GM present. Things were said by both players while in character that were misconstrued from what was meant. It lead to an uneasy argument after the game about the characters involved. While it was all resolved eventually, it lead me to think about it a lot over this week. What caused it? How does one avoid it? Was it really important enough to have a face to face argument over? The answer to the last one was simple. "No". It's just a game. The other 2 have been more perplexing. What caused it? I think a few things. Not having the GM present to help smooth over interpretations. We met without him present. I think having preconceived expectations of how each other's characters would react also contributed to it. I am going to try and not have preconceived expectations about other people's characters going forward. I think that not everyone is on the same page with the plot right now. I know I don't feel like the current plotline has been proved as necessary or right to my character's satisfaction. I also think the players have yet to 'gel' as a group. In a previous campaign I was in, the players had advanced their characters with each other so that most of us had a common goal or at least understood each other's goals. Right now, some of us have a larger goal, and some do not, but given time, I think this will work itself out. Now, how does one avoid it? Involve the GM in conversations. Don't make assumptions. Roll with the punches and don't take it personally. These will be what I try to do going forward. Hopefully, it will work.

House

The buyers are having their house inspection today. I am nervous. I know it should be fine. I know of no major issues, but I am still nervous. I did remember this morning at 6:30 to crawl into the eaves of the house to retrieve towels we had placed there three years ago before we had the roof replaced.... *sigh* That should have been handled YEARS ago. It was the last thing I wanted to do at 6:30 this morning.

Tonight

So, tonight Patrick and I are attending the FinOps' 31st Annual Bowling Night. A night of accountants getting drunk, bowling, and often performing karaoke. So, all in all, a very scary/fun time. It should be interesting, as always.