Analog Coast of the Digital World
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After nearly seven years of space travel, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will arrive at Saturn on June 30. In a maneuver called orbit insertion, Cassini will slow itself down to enter into orbit around the ringed planet. NASA TV will cover JPL mission control as it communicates with the spacecraft during this critical phase of the mission.
Disappointed by the events of day one, me spirits were not up.
Not at all…
But the day two turned out to be much better than I hoped for.I ended up seeing eight properties yesterday. Some were outdated, some were neglected some were impressive.
But I’ll give you a rundown appartment by appartment.
I never thought this could happen (well I did see it on TV but never with my eyes) It was a complete time warp to 1960’s. Carpet, green and orange furniture, stove and fridge to match. Carpet was from the 70’s. I got timewarped and promptly decided that it wasn’t for me. It was dark and felt dingy. and it cost $180K
We walked into this appartment and there was no furniture in the place. *NONE* Just a TV and couple of blankets (on which the family was sleeping on). Balcony was covered with worn out blue astroturf overtop of a rickety wooden contraption (a poor attempt at having a wooden deck)
This apartment was given a fresh coat of paint. Nice sized rooms, old appliances and decent sized rooms. But it didn’t grab my attention - I don’t know why
Same building, different floor. This was a good apparment. It had oddly shaped living room with a mirror wall, hunter green carpet in one room and new washer and dryer. It also had a countertop that was painted with oil paint. *OIL PAINT*!! I would have to replace that for sure.
Oh yeah, we got dissed just as we were getting there. They didn’t buzz the door for us. After we got in, the appartment was dirty and not pleasant. We moved on quickly
We used the lockbox to get into the appartment, just to startle the owner sleeping on the sofa and watching TV. His wife wasn’t feeling well and was sleeping in the badroom so it was mostly just catching quick peaks of the condition of the appartment. I would have taken photos, but it just felt wrong to use flash when someone is in bed with a headache.
Owner gave praise to the building and the staff, but I notices water damage below the windows. They must leak when it rains. Why mini-Croatia? There was at least a flag or a crest in each and every room. At least once. Or twice.
I had hard time of finding something wrong with it. It needed a new coat of paint and a good carpet cleaning, but other than that, it was VERY good. I just need to check my finances and that I’ll be able to cover the mortgage and condo fees.
We walked into this place with calypso music blaring from the adjacent parkinglot. The hallways were covered in flower print wallpaper. People were nice and friendly.
We walked into the apartment that was overflowing with furniture. It was supposed to be over 110 sq ft, but it felt like only 700. They had way too much stuff for such a small appartment.
I was tired by the end of the day. After that, I did another couple of hours of searching on the MLS for possible candidates.
In the evening I had a good conversation with Paulina about marriage and bringing up kids, since their daughter is going through the rebelios phase.
And then I slept.
Well this past weekend was pretty busy. Well mostly Saturday. We laid almost all of the flooring. We just have the back stairs (3 of them) and the back door to do. I’ll get that done tonight, won’t be to much of a big deal. Some of the baseboards got done as well but nothing on the hardwood yet. I’m really excited to see the baseboards up against the wood flooring.
We also have the tile to do in the basement and I feel that will be an all day job on Thursday maybe.
What do you do when you’re moving to a brand new city for the same job? You look for a place to live. You know, a nice little place where you can feel at peace - relatively close to work, of course
This is the ongoing saga of my move to Toronto with all the good and bad recorded. Unofurtunately for you - in great detail ;)At the Edmonton airport, Air Canada counter didn’t have any plastic bags for me to place my backpack into. My backpack looks like an octopus because of all the straps ahnging off of it. I was quite weary when he assured me that it will survive the conveyor belts and other things that munch airline luggage hidden in the bowels of an airport.
Flight to Toronto was quite uneventfull. I got some good pictures of the clouds and got poked in the ribs by some “businessman” that complained about the small meal that we were served and the size of the seats. If you’re such a hotshot, why didn’t you buy yourself executive class ticket. Movie was “The Triplets of Belleville” (I didn’t get into it) and the plane got awfuly hot.
At the baggage claim, I almost got run over by a chinese lady who had her cart loaded up sooo much that she couldn’t see in front of her. Thankfully, my backpack made it safely without any damage to it.
In the “morning” (when you wake up at 9am mountain time, it’s 11am eastern time) I called the real estate agent and got myself ready for the day ahead. He made appointments and we were off to ferret out the place of my dreams.
First place we walked in was in total disrepair. Freshly patched holes in the walls, awful kitchen, even worse appliances. My rough estimate was at least $15,000 on top of the asking price to fix it up to something livable. I felt sorry for the people in there. Strong curry smell was everywhere. Maybe a place for someone else, but not me. Oh, and this place was advertised as “Perfect starter home. Perfect for first time owner” I guess they were hoping that you were a sucker that didn’t know a bad deal when he saw one
I saw three more appartments that were in various stages of disrepair. Made me feel that the whole building wasn’t worth living in since the apartments I did see were left to fend for themselves without maintenance.
Then we went and took a look at the first place I wasn’t turned off within 30 seconds. Huge windows(+), open floor concept(+), water damage (-), decent kitchen (+), guardhouse (?) — all that for a mear $165,000.
And since then, I’ve done around 4 hour of reading and memorizing maps and distances while looking at MLS reports. Hopefully tomorrow we can get another 9 or so viewings.
Well some work has been done on the house in the last week and a half. We have painted the whole upstairs. All that is left is the master bedroom bathroom and the trim on all the windows and doors. We did run into a small problem with some paint. When I go into get paint I don’t ever grab the paint and tell them to mix it for me. I just tell them the colors and they go and grab the right paint. There are three different bases and usually they just grab it. Well I got this color called Swiss Coffee (creamy white). Well we get the paint just one can and paint the whole kitchen. Well we ran out and needed more so I go back and get two more cans and i start putting the second coat on and it’s the wrong color. Turns out they mixed the right color but the wrong base which made the first coat look like a light taupe. Anyway I go to Home Depot and talked to two managers cause I was a little upset. I wasted time and a can of paint on a color they screwed up on. So they said all they can do is give me a free can to replace it. No refund no nothing that’s their policy. I said you guys mixed it wrong not me, i’ve just wasted time on painting. They said that was their policy. Fucking American Company. Whatever. So yeah now that is all over with.
I put about 300 screws into the old kitchen floor and hallway because it was old and squeeked. Well not anymore. After 300 screws into all the joists 5 inches appart it’s all good I’m going climbing at Virg on Tuesday June 22nd at 6pm, Hope to see some of you there. Also I’m going for a good long bike ride tomorrow (saturday) morning in the river valley. Anyone who wants to go should be at my place at 10 am. 9660 - 86 Ave.
Here is a joke I made up after Calgary Lost in the finals.