Ok, so here's the updates:
Andrea's trip to Chicago - A+
Turns out that after all her missed flights and whatnots, she arrived in Chitown around 2:50pm and had a great afternoon meeting with the people at the studio. They really liked her, she really liked them, and they said the would need to know if she will take the job shortly after she comes back from her interviews in new York (which she leaves for tonight). If she will commit to the position, they can wait until September for her to relocate. So, that's basically a sure thing if the offer is accepted in time. And at the end of her time there, she felt like she had spent just the right amount of time, not too little and not too much. So the whole airport drama was sort of not a complete loss (though wasting half a day at the Humphrey terminal is a special sort of hell, I know). At the very worst, it did not affect her chances at this job. So...basically we're almost guaranteed to be relocating to Chicago (or she is at least and me to follow as soon as possible...and who the hell knows what happens to Felix...ugh!) by September unless she actually gets an offer from the place in New York. And that's a whole other ball of sticky wax, because who knows what that offer will be or if it will even be as good (in timing, salary, etc.) as the Chicago offer. So, Chicago stuff all worked out well, so far.
Father's Day/Weekend - B+/A-
Well, despite my comments on being somewhat ambivalent about Father's day and my prediction that the airport fiasco would invalidate any honoring of thine babydaddy, we actually had a weekend packed chock full-o-father's day stuff.
Saturday was a hodge-podge if (ina/a)ctivity. We were all feeling wasted, warped, hung-up, and hungover from Friday's emotional rollercoaster. Felix was all crank-a-tank early in the morning (5:30am). We all took naps from about 9:45am to 1:30pm, which is a a LONG nap for Felix. After we all eventually woke up we gathered some supplies and went to the beach! It took us a while to get there since we were trying to stay off the highway. At about 4:45pm we got to the beach and Felix conquered the sand and surf. It was fun. The only part that was not so fun was that 15 minutes after we got there they had their "safety check" where everyone gets out of the water. This takes about 15 minutes to complete, I guess...15 minutes spent trying to keep Felix from going back into the water or dumping as much sand as he can onto the blanket. We had a great time, though Felix started getting cranky again as we were leaving, probably because he was hungry.
As a nod to father's day, Andrea went and got us dinner at Chatter box, so I was not required to make dinner. Felix went down at what seemed like a mostly normal bed t-
LATE BREAKING NEWS FLASH!!!!!
Hard decisions just made even harder!
So, despite all of Andrea's naysaying, what I had predicted has come to pass. In New York, EVERYONE wants to hire her. Both places she interviewed at today said, "Yes, please, come work for us, PLEASE!" And to make matters even worse, the studio she specifically went to NY to interview at even said, "Hey, no hurry, we won't need you to start until fall..." which, until we see some numbers, basically makes it a tie with the Chicago offer. Well, not REALLY, but it makes choosing between the two that much harder. In a way, Andrea was sort of hoping that her NY trip would be fruitless because that would make the decision for her. Oh no. That would be toooooo easy. Not one, but two studios in NY want her. She's 100% on her interviews-to-offers percentage. That's damn good.
That also says something, again, pretty clearly about Minneapolis. Here, she can barely get a call back. She was called an anachronism during an informational. She was told by one local studio during an informational, that design isn't even about design in Minneapolis, that it isn't even about advertising either.
It points the way pretty clearly: For Andrea to get the chance to do the work she wants to do and get the recognition it deserves, she's gotta leave this area. No joke. When internationally known, award winning design firms and studios in chicago and new york spend their time trying to sell HER on their projects and telling her "Please, if you are serious, let us know and we would totally hire you like yesterday." She's being wooed by studios in two different cities! Minneapolis can only be bothered to fart in her face and steal her lunch money.
SO, from this point on it only gets tougher.
I ave started hsopping my resume online and submitting to positions in both areas. I've also started getting calls from recruiters. Unfortunately none of them have been for jobs in the areas I'm interested in. But it is nice to know that my resume is coming up when people say "I need someone who is X". I'm feeling more marketable already!
I've submitted for a couple positions that actually sound like they would flow really well from what I'm doing now. Mostly change management/SCM type stuff, but a couple software deployment and a release engineer position. So, I'm starting to feel pretty good. I think, really, the only anchor around our necks is going to be this house. I'm wondering if we might just let it burn down. I know it sounds horrible, but I'd welcome a natural disaster right now, provided my family and important stuff is safe and secure when it happens.
Seriously. If the roof blew off and the walls fell down and the car got pelted with hail damage...that would be effing perfect.
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
antics
OK, let me get some things straight out there. I have very little issue with insects in their proper context. Take proper context to mean: not in my home, not in large volumes, not in any way which I could perceive as threatening to myself or my family.
I can look at a giant mound of an anthill teaming with millions of ants without even flinching, so long as this is happening, say, in a desert or some other remote location. But when I see ants in my house in numbers greater than, oh, five, and for periods of longer than, oh, as long as it takes to smash them all, then yes, I tend to develop an "issue" with said insects. The same goes for any type on insect (except for roaches...there is no acceptable quantity or duration for roaches). One spider is no problem. Fifty spiders, yes, i think I'd have a problem with that. One ant, no problem. Fifty ants of all different sizes, especially in a localized area, yeah, I have a problem with that.
My weekend was all but ruined by the ant invasion which started early last week. Why was it not until the weekend that I got really out of sorts? Well, that's when I did a little research and found out that we most likely are being visited by carpenter ants who are most likely interested in living in the walls of our house, if they are not already doing so (which I think they are). So, I develop what my wife considers irrational obsessive behavior regarding our uninvited guests.
"Why don't you get this worked up about any of our several OTHER more pressing issues, like getting the car an oil change or finding a nanny, instead of worrying about some stupid ants?"
I tried to explain it, but I think I failed. She got that it had a lot to do with control and unknowns. Mainly i got super panicked because I did some research and found out that carpenter ants like to move right in and set up shop and that to really effectively deal with them, you should probably hire professionals.
Here's where the big fear comes in for me:
A - This will require money. Possibly MONEY. It's difficult to find anything on the web about how much it costs to really deal with this problem.
B - This is something that will only get worse over time if not dealt with correctly.
C - From what I observe, there is quite a lot of room for ambiguity (are they already living in the walls? How much damage have they caused? How bad could it possibly be at this rate? Is this going to be an ongoing battle against nature? Is this going to make it harder to sell the house? How big of a mistake was it to buy this house in the first place? Did we get a sub-prime mortgage? Do we need to disclose that we had the house treated for carpenter ants when we try to sell the place? Did we get screwed by the people who sold us this house? Is this ant problem just and indicator of a larger issue with the house, like leaky pipes pipes somewhere that will slowly cause more and more water damage until one day the kitchen ceiling caves in and leaves us with thousands of dollars of repair work to do before we can even think of selling? Does my homeowners insurance cover ANY of this? etc...) and not too many places to turn to get those ambiguities resolved.
So I called Orkin to get a "free inspection/estimate" but I was able to get their customer service person to fess up to their standard treatment plan, which is a 1 year deal that comes with visits costing $275(first treatment), $80(30 days), $80(60 days), $80(90 days), $80(180 days). Well, I don't like the sound of that, but at least its something tangible.
Then I came across the website for a local pest control place that said, "Don't panic! Carpenter ants are a pest and they can cause damage but most likely they will not compromise your home's structural integrity if dealt with. Do NOT feel pressured to sign up for an annual treatment plan that costs you hundreds of dollars. We can provide you with treatment options that are much more affordable for homeowners." Basically, this is what I needed to see. A website that stated, in so many words, "Don't worry, you're going to be OK. Here's why..."
So I called them up and spoke to a guy there and he was also very reassuring. He explained how the big name places will require monthly visits, which used to be necessary, but that current technology (for killing bugs, I assume) doesn't need that anymore. Now they use a material that the ants don't detect and so they walk through it and carry back to the nest. Then, as they groom each other they end up poisoning and killing the entire colony. Sounds great, right? Well, yes, they do recommend follow up visits, but basically just twice a year, one at the beginning of the season (spring) and one in late summer/early fall. the reason being that even though you kill the colony or the satellite colony (like the one they are trying to set up in my kitchen walls, I imagine) you still need to prevent ants from re-infesting, which they are want to do unless you are able to seal up all avenues of access AND replace any of the attractants that drew them in in the first place (previously water damaged wood). In our case i think that's sort of unrealistic since this is like a one thousand year old house. So, I was straight with the guy and told him I panicked and called Orkin first and then later found his website. He said, "No problem. Definitely get their inspection." I told him that unless they told me something drastically different after the inspection than what their customer service rep quoted me, I'd be calling him back to have his guys do the treatment. his quote was basically half the price of what Orkin said, and required far fewer visits. So, really when you consider Orkin was saying that it would be about...$600 for one year's worth of ant treatment and about $400 each additional year, and this guy was saying it would only cost $250 for the whole year and then only $200 for each year after that...well, seems like a no-brainer.
Which is why I have regained my sanity, for the most part.
So that begs the question A asked me earlier. Why is this ant thing totally bugging me out when there are other pressing issues like the possibility of the car breaking down or us needing a baby sitter or some other such "unknown"?
Well, see, those are already sort of known unknowns.
I *know* that when it comes right down to it, i can take time off to watch Felix if absolutely necessary.
I also know that, if the car does break down in some way, I'm not necessarily at the mercy of the "professionals" or their ridiculous pricing schemes. I've owned cars for like, ten years. In this past year I have done what I consider to be a relatively major repair on my own at greatly reduced cost. And if the car is our of commission for a few days, a week, well, I know we can get around that too.
But when it comes to the house...I know very little about home-owning so whenever something comes up that is of direct or indirect impact to the house, our ability to live in it or at least extract out of it what we put in, I get VERY VERY nervous. I don't know if ants are a nuisance or a major major deal, if they will cost me $100 or $1000 or $10,000 (when we try to sell). And more to the point, I don't feel comfortable trying to do it myself when its not necessarily something that can be done effectively by the individual home owner.
So, pretty much anything that happens involving the house gets top billing in the anxiety show unless it is one of the few things that I already know about, like restarting the boiler, installing a new dryer, etc...
Lets just hope that the seam in the kitchen ceiling is due to the house expanding and contracting from the changes in season. Hope against hope.
I can look at a giant mound of an anthill teaming with millions of ants without even flinching, so long as this is happening, say, in a desert or some other remote location. But when I see ants in my house in numbers greater than, oh, five, and for periods of longer than, oh, as long as it takes to smash them all, then yes, I tend to develop an "issue" with said insects. The same goes for any type on insect (except for roaches...there is no acceptable quantity or duration for roaches). One spider is no problem. Fifty spiders, yes, i think I'd have a problem with that. One ant, no problem. Fifty ants of all different sizes, especially in a localized area, yeah, I have a problem with that.
My weekend was all but ruined by the ant invasion which started early last week. Why was it not until the weekend that I got really out of sorts? Well, that's when I did a little research and found out that we most likely are being visited by carpenter ants who are most likely interested in living in the walls of our house, if they are not already doing so (which I think they are). So, I develop what my wife considers irrational obsessive behavior regarding our uninvited guests.
"Why don't you get this worked up about any of our several OTHER more pressing issues, like getting the car an oil change or finding a nanny, instead of worrying about some stupid ants?"
I tried to explain it, but I think I failed. She got that it had a lot to do with control and unknowns. Mainly i got super panicked because I did some research and found out that carpenter ants like to move right in and set up shop and that to really effectively deal with them, you should probably hire professionals.
Here's where the big fear comes in for me:
A - This will require money. Possibly MONEY. It's difficult to find anything on the web about how much it costs to really deal with this problem.
B - This is something that will only get worse over time if not dealt with correctly.
C - From what I observe, there is quite a lot of room for ambiguity (are they already living in the walls? How much damage have they caused? How bad could it possibly be at this rate? Is this going to be an ongoing battle against nature? Is this going to make it harder to sell the house? How big of a mistake was it to buy this house in the first place? Did we get a sub-prime mortgage? Do we need to disclose that we had the house treated for carpenter ants when we try to sell the place? Did we get screwed by the people who sold us this house? Is this ant problem just and indicator of a larger issue with the house, like leaky pipes pipes somewhere that will slowly cause more and more water damage until one day the kitchen ceiling caves in and leaves us with thousands of dollars of repair work to do before we can even think of selling? Does my homeowners insurance cover ANY of this? etc...) and not too many places to turn to get those ambiguities resolved.
So I called Orkin to get a "free inspection/estimate" but I was able to get their customer service person to fess up to their standard treatment plan, which is a 1 year deal that comes with visits costing $275(first treatment), $80(30 days), $80(60 days), $80(90 days), $80(180 days). Well, I don't like the sound of that, but at least its something tangible.
Then I came across the website for a local pest control place that said, "Don't panic! Carpenter ants are a pest and they can cause damage but most likely they will not compromise your home's structural integrity if dealt with. Do NOT feel pressured to sign up for an annual treatment plan that costs you hundreds of dollars. We can provide you with treatment options that are much more affordable for homeowners." Basically, this is what I needed to see. A website that stated, in so many words, "Don't worry, you're going to be OK. Here's why..."
So I called them up and spoke to a guy there and he was also very reassuring. He explained how the big name places will require monthly visits, which used to be necessary, but that current technology (for killing bugs, I assume) doesn't need that anymore. Now they use a material that the ants don't detect and so they walk through it and carry back to the nest. Then, as they groom each other they end up poisoning and killing the entire colony. Sounds great, right? Well, yes, they do recommend follow up visits, but basically just twice a year, one at the beginning of the season (spring) and one in late summer/early fall. the reason being that even though you kill the colony or the satellite colony (like the one they are trying to set up in my kitchen walls, I imagine) you still need to prevent ants from re-infesting, which they are want to do unless you are able to seal up all avenues of access AND replace any of the attractants that drew them in in the first place (previously water damaged wood). In our case i think that's sort of unrealistic since this is like a one thousand year old house. So, I was straight with the guy and told him I panicked and called Orkin first and then later found his website. He said, "No problem. Definitely get their inspection." I told him that unless they told me something drastically different after the inspection than what their customer service rep quoted me, I'd be calling him back to have his guys do the treatment. his quote was basically half the price of what Orkin said, and required far fewer visits. So, really when you consider Orkin was saying that it would be about...$600 for one year's worth of ant treatment and about $400 each additional year, and this guy was saying it would only cost $250 for the whole year and then only $200 for each year after that...well, seems like a no-brainer.
Which is why I have regained my sanity, for the most part.
So that begs the question A asked me earlier. Why is this ant thing totally bugging me out when there are other pressing issues like the possibility of the car breaking down or us needing a baby sitter or some other such "unknown"?
Well, see, those are already sort of known unknowns.
I *know* that when it comes right down to it, i can take time off to watch Felix if absolutely necessary.
I also know that, if the car does break down in some way, I'm not necessarily at the mercy of the "professionals" or their ridiculous pricing schemes. I've owned cars for like, ten years. In this past year I have done what I consider to be a relatively major repair on my own at greatly reduced cost. And if the car is our of commission for a few days, a week, well, I know we can get around that too.
But when it comes to the house...I know very little about home-owning so whenever something comes up that is of direct or indirect impact to the house, our ability to live in it or at least extract out of it what we put in, I get VERY VERY nervous. I don't know if ants are a nuisance or a major major deal, if they will cost me $100 or $1000 or $10,000 (when we try to sell). And more to the point, I don't feel comfortable trying to do it myself when its not necessarily something that can be done effectively by the individual home owner.
So, pretty much anything that happens involving the house gets top billing in the anxiety show unless it is one of the few things that I already know about, like restarting the boiler, installing a new dryer, etc...
Lets just hope that the seam in the kitchen ceiling is due to the house expanding and contracting from the changes in season. Hope against hope.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
weekend shmeekend
Actually, all things considered, it wasn't a half bad weekend. ACTUALLY, all things considered, it was a pretty good weekend.
Last Saturday I called in to our home warranty company because our dryer, which as been on its last leg since we bought the house (and has been steadily losing its toes), finally kinda kicked the bucket. The belt or drive wheel no longer gets enough traction to spin the drum if anything heavier than a wet sock is in it. So I called them up last Saturday and they said someone would call me within 24 hours.
Sunday comes and goes.
Monday comes and in the afternoon I call back to say, "Nobody called me."
"Oh," they say, "It says the contractor said they don't go all the way out there." Out there? out where? We live smack dab in the middle of the damn city. "I'll put you on the redispatch list."
"Uh, yeah, its been two days now, can you give it some sort of priority or something?"
"Yes, I'll do that."
Tuesday.
Wednesday.
"Hey, nobody has contacted me yet."
"What? Oh, it looks like the contractor doesn't..."
"Yeah yeah, Jon's Appliance...I had this conversation two days ago. We were supposed to be redispatched, with priority..."
"Um...whoever said that must have forgotten. I'll redispatch..."
"Yeah, look, we're on day 5 with no dryer and I have a 5 month old baby. I've had the same conversation twice now..."
"Here, let me transfer you to a service agent and they will handle this for you directly."
"Uh, thanks I guess."
Muzak.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"I called in on Saturday..." story continues.
"Ok, I'll find a contractor right now, can you hold?"
Muzak.
"Ok, um, the only contractor I was able to get in touch with was...SEARS, and they can't get out there until Monday. Is that Ok?"
"Monday? No, of course that's not ok, but what the hell am I going to do? If that's the best you can do, I guess I'm stuck with it. Can't you keep trying other contractors and hope someone can get here sooner? I NEED a dryer. I'm drying diapers on my freakin' radiators."
...
UPDATE: So we're getting a new dryer. Will only be a week or so before it arrives... gah!
Last Saturday I called in to our home warranty company because our dryer, which as been on its last leg since we bought the house (and has been steadily losing its toes), finally kinda kicked the bucket. The belt or drive wheel no longer gets enough traction to spin the drum if anything heavier than a wet sock is in it. So I called them up last Saturday and they said someone would call me within 24 hours.
Sunday comes and goes.
Monday comes and in the afternoon I call back to say, "Nobody called me."
"Oh," they say, "It says the contractor said they don't go all the way out there." Out there? out where? We live smack dab in the middle of the damn city. "I'll put you on the redispatch list."
"Uh, yeah, its been two days now, can you give it some sort of priority or something?"
"Yes, I'll do that."
Tuesday.
Wednesday.
"Hey, nobody has contacted me yet."
"What? Oh, it looks like the contractor doesn't..."
"Yeah yeah, Jon's Appliance...I had this conversation two days ago. We were supposed to be redispatched, with priority..."
"Um...whoever said that must have forgotten. I'll redispatch..."
"Yeah, look, we're on day 5 with no dryer and I have a 5 month old baby. I've had the same conversation twice now..."
"Here, let me transfer you to a service agent and they will handle this for you directly."
"Uh, thanks I guess."
Muzak.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"I called in on Saturday..." story continues.
"Ok, I'll find a contractor right now, can you hold?"
Muzak.
"Ok, um, the only contractor I was able to get in touch with was...SEARS, and they can't get out there until Monday. Is that Ok?"
"Monday? No, of course that's not ok, but what the hell am I going to do? If that's the best you can do, I guess I'm stuck with it. Can't you keep trying other contractors and hope someone can get here sooner? I NEED a dryer. I'm drying diapers on my freakin' radiators."
...
UPDATE: So we're getting a new dryer. Will only be a week or so before it arrives... gah!
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