Thursday, July 26, 2007

Updates: HAL and The House

Hello Everyone! I got HAL backed 100% repaired this week - he looks like new. See pictures attached. Of course, on the way home from doing some laundry at the local coin laundry joint today, I ran over a nail attached to a piece of particle board. FRICK! Fortunately for me and HAL both, a tire store appeared right around the corner from the first thumping noise made from the implanted board in HALs passenger front tire. $20 and 30 minutes later, the nail was removed and the tire repaired. Phew...can HAL and I catch a break? We'll see....I certainly hope so.

On the house front - the inspection was Monday and as I've been telling some folks, there are not any dealbreakers - but as with every house, there are some repairs that I requested be made before I take ownership of the house. I should know by Friday afternoon what the status of everything is, so I'll keep everyone posted on any progress.

On a side note - I'd be willing to have a Billings NWS reunion at the Carp residence during Frontier Days next year....who's with me?

Enjoy HAL looking brand new - I know I am...

Until next time....enjoy the pics of HAL



Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Tagged?

In the wonderful world of blogging, I've been tagged. I guess its the equivalent of getting one of those 'if you don't pass this on you'll be doomed' chain emails that we all so fequently delete from our email inbox (huh-huh). Maybe soon I'll get a notice about my opportunity to share in $300 million that the Bank of Western Kenyamibia. That's the one I cannot wait for cuz I'm getting ready to buy a house and could really use some of that $300 million to help out.

Still - I've had such an up and down time of late - I better fill this out and pass it on to at least one person (not 8, sorry), so I can not be the absolute end of the link. This hopefully will be enough to keep at least a little bit of the bad luck that is supposed to come your way if you break chains like these.

So here goes...
-Players write a post with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
-At the end of that post, they "tag" eight (or in my case one, cuz the Zelt's tagged all the blogs of everyone I know) bloggers to write similar posts, including the rules.
-The players then leave a comment to tell the "tag-gees". (At least I only have to comment one person.

1. I carry around three coins in my pocket at all times. These serve as a daily reminder of my Grandmother and Grandfather (mom's parents) who were/are really big influences in my life. Here they are..

Casino Niagara Token: My Grandmother's favorite place to spend the quarters she saved up for the annual excursion to play the slot machines)

Sacagawea Dollar Coin: Given to me by my Grandfather. Was in my Grandmothers change purse when she passed away

Silver Penny: Belonged to my Grandfather. I was permitted to keep it after he passed away

Many Thanks to my Dear Friend Mari for finding and mailing me back the coin that fell out of my pocket onto her couch during my visit to FLA for her wedding this April. So far this has been the only time I have been separated from one of these coins since my collection became complete on Dec 28th, 2004.

2. My favorite movie of all-time is The Towering Inferno.

3. I have only thankfully seen one tornado in my life. Devils Tower, June 21, 2003 with Kimmie in my first road trip with HAL. I had received a weather briefing in the morning from a friend of mine at the NWS telling me the weather was going to be great. After I saw the tornado, I received a voice mail from that same friend telling me a tornadic storm was heading my way. :)

4. In my first 35 days in a hotel in Louisville, I managed to watch all 11 Seasons of M*A*S*H on DVD (251 episodes total). Yes, the cable in the hotels is bad as frick and I haven't been sleeping well. In the subsequent days I've started watching Scrubs from the beginning...Seasons 2-5 here I come.

5. I saw all three movies of the Original Star Wars Trilogy in the theater in the same day on two different occasions (1997 Special Editions).

6. I finished Harry Potter 7 in under 7 hrs this weekend and am currently in the middle of the following books: Obama's Dreams from My Father, Pride and Prejudice, Now Discover Your Strengths and The Reagan Diaries.

7. Cars I have considered 'mine' in some form since I started driving. 1979 Silver Ponitac Bonneville (grandparents/parents), 1989 Maroon Pontiac Grand Prix (parents), 1997 Black Pontiac Grand Prix SE (Black Magic, Big Black Unit, P.O.S.), 2003 Beige Honda Accord LX V6 (HAL - the only car I've every fully owned on my own. Get how he was named? besides the obvious 2001 reference)

8. One of my dreams is to attend an America's Cup Yacht Race in New Zealand someday. Unfortunately, for that to happen, New Zealand must win the cup again - so I may have to settle for seeing a race in some other country some day.

Tagging:
The Loy's

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

HAL / House Update

Dropped HAL off at the body shop this morning - so in 3 or 4 days, he should be good as new. Unfortunately, there isn't a single Rental Car available afrom Enterprise in the entire county this morning (allegedly) - so I'm trapped without wheels until tomorrow morning. How nice. Fortunately for me - there's a Ruby Tuesdays across the street where I'm certain to spend a large chunk of my day off today.

Inspection is scheduled for Monday on the house - other than that, no updates on that front.

At least I have tomorrow off too...Enjoy your week everyone. HAL updates as they come in. :)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Offer Accepted

Yup...I have a signed accepted offer for a house. Thought I'd insert a picture for your enjoyment...

Of course, everything is contingent on inspection, etc. But hopefully by the end of August I will have a place to call home.

HAL goes in for repairs Tues - 4 days worth. Keep your fingers crossed that he comes out good as new. I'm confident that he will...

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Car / House Update

Just a quick update today to let everyone know how things are going...

On the HAL front...

Turns out HAL's trunk was knocked a little off kilter in addition to the damage shown in the pics on the previous post. Got an estimate for repairs of around $1500, and for four days next week HAL will be getting his bumps and bruises repaired. So far, no complications with the insurance process...let's hope that continues until HAL is better and his repairs are paid for.

On the house front...

Went out Monday and found lots of crappy places. Tuesday and today were spent dealing with HAL. Tonight I start mids and hope to have some more places lined up for Friday afternoon. Am really considering putting an offer on the one house I've shown a few folks...and if I don't find anything Friday, I'm betting I will. We'll see.

Also...in attempting to relax a little, I went golfing yesterday morning. Went out in 42 and was 35 shots through 8 holes on the back-9 before lightning finished my round off before I could tee off on 18. I had 9 one-putts and three birdies. Shame I couldn't finish...but I've seen Caddyshack and know its better to quit when there's weather and you're having the round of your life.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

HAL's First (and hopefully only) Wreck....

Yup - I was a participant in a little accident today on the way home from work. I was the first car stopped at a red light when a young lady in a Hyundai SUV decided not to stop at the light. A big jolt ensued...

HAL took some physical body damage - as seen in the pictures below. As far as internal or structural damage in the rear part of the car - that will have to wait until I get him looked at after the insurance process is underway. I did notice that both of my back doors squeak when you open and shut them now...whereas this morning, they did not do that.

As for me, I am a bit shaken up physically and mentally - so we'll see how I feel when I wake up tomorrow.

Here are some pics of HAL - and for all those that know me well, you know how this rips me to shreds to see HAL take a few dings. Yeah...it sucks.

At least I'm looking at houses tomorrow to try and take my mind off of what happened this evening.

Ugh....





Saturday, July 7, 2007

New Zealand 2013-15??

Unfortunately, Emirates Team New Zealand lost the America's Cup this week to Alinghi which mean my trip to New Zealand to see the Cup race is delayed until at least 2013. How disappointing. The next cup is scheduled to take place somewhere in Europe (probably Valencia, Spain) between 2009 and 2011, so maybe I'll get to go there. We'll see.

The upper 90s are coming for Sunday and Monday - with dew points in the upper 50s to mid 60s. This can mean only one thing....that someone will have to drive by my hotel and peel me off the parking lot because I won't physically be able to survive the walk to the car without passing out from humidity sickness.

On the house front...the search goes on. One really nice place so far - but there's a lot more to look at. Gotta find one with that microwave hood thingie already installed....

Enjoy your weekend all...I'll be spending the whole thing inside on day shifts.

Monday, July 2, 2007

A Day of Round 1's

Round 1: My First Lead Meeting

This went really well - though when I brought up a hint of something that I might want to investigate to see if perhaps we could someday for just a moment consider doing something a little differently - I made a co-lead or two a little bit nervous.

Yeah...change is bad - that's why I decided to move 1600 miles outside of my comfort zone. :-)

Round 1: Take Thirteen

Today it was 82 degrees with 40 degree dewpoints - which is basically as perfect a day outside as it can get in early July in HumidityLand, Kentucky.

And since my realtor was busy I decided to enjoy being outside by seeing my first movie in my new town. You guessed it - Ocean's Thirteen. Great flick...

Movie #2 coming soon - probably Harry Potter on the IMAX. Yeah...IMAX

Round 1: Indian Springs

Of course I didn't waste the entire day indoors...between the lead meeting and the movie, I played my first round of golf since moving to Kentucky with the Science and Operations Officer from the office and his son. First hole - PAR, second hole - BOGEY, third hole - NINE. Ended up shooting 49-44-93 with a birdie and a couple of pars on the back nine.

Anyways...one picture from the course. Not a great photo - just one to show you how much I'm going to enjoy golfing here. Specifically notice all the new friends I'm going to make while golfing here (hint: the tall folks with the brown clothes and the green hair).

Enjoy...house hunt resumes tomorrow with a full day. Wish me luck...

Sunday, July 1, 2007

My Karma Strikes Again...

So Laura happens to have the Versus Network - which is covering the America's Cup. I wake up to watch the race this morning and guess what...

NO WIND = NO RACE. AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Guess I'm destined to not see an America's Cup Race until 2010 or 2011.

Oh well - back to enjoying my weekend with Laura...

Hope everyone is doing well and having a better-than-Jazzy karma Sunday.