It seems like all the upfront, exciting stuff about looking for a house easily falls to the side when financing comes in. For me, it should have come in earlier. I have approached this whole process with the cavalier attitude of: "I have some money set aside and will use that for a deposit, fees, moving costs, etc. I'm sure it will be enough when I get good terms on a mortgage. I have healthy earning potential and good credit. It will be fine." Turns out that it may be fine -- but I have to put pencil to paper and write everything down. And I have to find the time to do that. I suppose the expectation that I'll find something in a couple of days at the same time that I get my financial assumptions in order is not so true. Saga continues.
This Sunday was biathlon Number 2 in Central Park. Very crappy conditions -- I don't think it hit 40 degrees until several hours after the race -- and it was rainy. My time was slightly behind last October (1:15:54 vs 1:14:29) but I improved relative to competition. Overall I came in 81st (top 25%). Last fall I was 127. Only 9 women beat me -- i don't know if this is good or bad. Unfortunately the next age group is bigger and more competitive. I think a 1:10 is not out of the question this summer! Overall though, not bad considering I'd ridden outside once since November...
Gotta ride! NATHAN
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Monday, March 14, 2005
Seventh posting - more house
Although I have yet to look at a single new condo/apartment, I already have dreams (fantasies?) about how cool my new place will be.
Picture the warehouse district in Stamford (no, not the grungy, sketchy area that is really the warehouse district, but the quickly gentrifying, buy-a-place-before-the-real-estate-is-smokin'-hot district) and a top floor loft in an already zoned and utility-ready building. Awesome? Right on! It's got super high floor to ceiling windows and views of the Long Island Sound (magically, the view doesn't include the sub-urban blight of current reality). Wood floors, exposed pipes, and one wall has exposed red brick (the building was once a brewery, and I'll convert the remaining vat into a sauna). It's all one giant room, so with the money I'm saving (yes, it's my fantasy), I'll put up a low-key divider between the bedroom and the rest of the place. New furniture can wait...although I have to buy a wardrobe (only one closet).
The kitchen will be an island near the middle of the main room. No fancy appliances yet -- and no dishwasher or microwave. Haven't had them since grad school and am fine living the life of a Luddite. Kitchen table not necessary as island has a peninsula with seating for 8. The elevator I'll have to take to get to my new place is rusty, creaky and of questionable safety, but it'll easily hold 4 people and 4 bikes. (Martha won't be able to drive her car into it, though...)
This will keep me going for awhile until I get a rude slap of reality next weekend, when my first pavement pounding for a new pad begins.
That's all, NATHAN
Picture the warehouse district in Stamford (no, not the grungy, sketchy area that is really the warehouse district, but the quickly gentrifying, buy-a-place-before-the-real-estate-is-smokin'-hot district) and a top floor loft in an already zoned and utility-ready building. Awesome? Right on! It's got super high floor to ceiling windows and views of the Long Island Sound (magically, the view doesn't include the sub-urban blight of current reality). Wood floors, exposed pipes, and one wall has exposed red brick (the building was once a brewery, and I'll convert the remaining vat into a sauna). It's all one giant room, so with the money I'm saving (yes, it's my fantasy), I'll put up a low-key divider between the bedroom and the rest of the place. New furniture can wait...although I have to buy a wardrobe (only one closet).
The kitchen will be an island near the middle of the main room. No fancy appliances yet -- and no dishwasher or microwave. Haven't had them since grad school and am fine living the life of a Luddite. Kitchen table not necessary as island has a peninsula with seating for 8. The elevator I'll have to take to get to my new place is rusty, creaky and of questionable safety, but it'll easily hold 4 people and 4 bikes. (Martha won't be able to drive her car into it, though...)
This will keep me going for awhile until I get a rude slap of reality next weekend, when my first pavement pounding for a new pad begins.
That's all, NATHAN
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Sixth posting - house
I have to move. My landlord made a decision that requires me to vacate my 'hood. I really like my apartment, and I couldn't have asked for better neighbors (think Melrose without the intrigue and much better food), and I'll be sorry to leave. BUT -- because there's always a BUT -- this has forced me to think about buying a place (or as my sister likes to call it, growing up). I hate it when external factors force me to make decisions like these, although things could be far worse...
On the plus side, I will finally get to join the ranks of people who own their own abodes. I actually look forward to finding a place that needs a little work -- the creative part of my life before graduate school has been lying in wait for the chance to emerge. Painting and fixing things should do the trick. As long as it's not electrical and plumbing related.
On the minus side, I was about to buy kick-ass bedroom furniture from a place called Room & Board http://www.roomandboard.com but now I need to be more financially fluid, as they say. Order cancelled. Nicest woman on the phone, though. Sounded like Betty White's grandmother. Her name was Vera and I felt doubly bad for cancelling the order.
That's it for now. NATHAN
On the plus side, I will finally get to join the ranks of people who own their own abodes. I actually look forward to finding a place that needs a little work -- the creative part of my life before graduate school has been lying in wait for the chance to emerge. Painting and fixing things should do the trick. As long as it's not electrical and plumbing related.
On the minus side, I was about to buy kick-ass bedroom furniture from a place called Room & Board http://www.roomandboard.com but now I need to be more financially fluid, as they say. Order cancelled. Nicest woman on the phone, though. Sounded like Betty White's grandmother. Her name was Vera and I felt doubly bad for cancelling the order.
That's it for now. NATHAN
Friday, March 04, 2005
Fifth posting - radio/sound
Driving in to the office this morning, I was thinking about a couple of things. First, do I have the ability to make myself deaf? In other words, can I scream loud enough to actually damage my own ability to hear? It seems unlikely that biologically we are capable of doing so, just as we are physically unable to choke ourselves to death. (I could be wrong on choking, but I'm guessing that's true.)
The other thought was about public radio. Generally I do not have an addictive personality (with the exception of coffee, and fresh air) -- but when I miss listening to at least a few minutes of NPR to and from the office, I feel like I've missed something big. This morning, even when I knew the only news would be Martha Stewart leaving prison at 2 in the morning (how is that "news" when we knew it was going to happen months ago?) and Bush trying hard to make himself sound intelligent somewhere, I felt obligated to listen to NPR.
Also a friend once pointed out that NPR rewards listeners who play close attention to the music. Today, for example, there was a story about the discovery of an unusually short human in Southeast Asia from 13,000 years ago who has been nicknamed Hobbitt. His brain was the size of a grapefruit -- evidently too small to do the things some scientists think he did, like sail and make and use tools -- so of course there is some controversy. The best part, however, was the snippet of music that followed the story, the theme from Lord of the Rings. I couldn't help but smile.
Have a great weekend. NATHAN
The other thought was about public radio. Generally I do not have an addictive personality (with the exception of coffee, and fresh air) -- but when I miss listening to at least a few minutes of NPR to and from the office, I feel like I've missed something big. This morning, even when I knew the only news would be Martha Stewart leaving prison at 2 in the morning (how is that "news" when we knew it was going to happen months ago?) and Bush trying hard to make himself sound intelligent somewhere, I felt obligated to listen to NPR.
Also a friend once pointed out that NPR rewards listeners who play close attention to the music. Today, for example, there was a story about the discovery of an unusually short human in Southeast Asia from 13,000 years ago who has been nicknamed Hobbitt. His brain was the size of a grapefruit -- evidently too small to do the things some scientists think he did, like sail and make and use tools -- so of course there is some controversy. The best part, however, was the snippet of music that followed the story, the theme from Lord of the Rings. I couldn't help but smile.
Have a great weekend. NATHAN
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Fourth posting - Idol
I've been thinking about music. At the office, I listen to BBC6 online, with DJs who remind me of intellectual and slightly edgier versions of the Spice Girls. Very cool. Kind of like when you travel abroad and watch MTV Europe, MTV Asia, etc., but without the ABBA and Roxette retrospectives. Plus, music from the UK is inherently more interesting than our stuff anyway...
So as I watched American Idol last night -- http://www.idolonfox.com -- I thought about something I heard on NPR a while ago. Supposedly, a group of musicologists/ technical experts have looked at a long list of songs that have been commercially successful and discovered key elements they shared. I don't remember what those elements were (not sure if they were reported), but wouldn't it be interesting to have a song created and sung by American Idol performers completely based on the top song analysis?
I am not ashamed to say I'm a fan of the show, and I think it's great that no one is pretending these people are the best musicians in the United States. The potential for commercial success is what's driving Idol's success (and the judges' biases), but I think it would be kind of an interesting experiment to see if a song created using scientific analysis would be an instantaneous hit. Just a thought...
NATHAN out.
So as I watched American Idol last night -- http://www.idolonfox.com -- I thought about something I heard on NPR a while ago. Supposedly, a group of musicologists/ technical experts have looked at a long list of songs that have been commercially successful and discovered key elements they shared. I don't remember what those elements were (not sure if they were reported), but wouldn't it be interesting to have a song created and sung by American Idol performers completely based on the top song analysis?
I am not ashamed to say I'm a fan of the show, and I think it's great that no one is pretending these people are the best musicians in the United States. The potential for commercial success is what's driving Idol's success (and the judges' biases), but I think it would be kind of an interesting experiment to see if a song created using scientific analysis would be an instantaneous hit. Just a thought...
NATHAN out.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Third posting - innovation
Today's subject is INNOVATION. Spent the afternoon with the R&D folks at my company, learning about and tasting benchtop ideas. Some of the most interesting ideas were related to temperature and flavors. Imagine a dessert with a cool temperature -- like pudding -- that also gives you a lingering "heat" in your mouth. Kind of like you've eaten a jalapeno pepper but can't taste the flavor of the pepper. And with flavors, imagine a beverage that tastes like milk (choc or strawberry) but is completely clear and colorless. Interesting stuff.
So last night I saw a band called Luna -- http://www.fuzzywuzzy.com/ -- at the Bowery Ballroom. It was their last night performance together EVER, and the bittersweet event was made ever cooler by the near blizzard outside. Great tunes, and the bass player is beautiful. Unfortunately the opening band Tarantula -- http://www.tarantulamusic.com/ -- sucked. There were some hints of interesting-ness (one of the guys is cellist) and a friend I went with thought it reminder her of French circus music, but overall, it was pretty bad (albeit innovative).
On a good note (and unrelated to innovation), my sister just told me she's running in the 23rd annual Armadillo Race in Florida. It's a day before my race, and I think we're both just hoping to finish with some semblance of respectability...
Later,
NATHAN
So last night I saw a band called Luna -- http://www.fuzzywuzzy.com/ -- at the Bowery Ballroom. It was their last night performance together EVER, and the bittersweet event was made ever cooler by the near blizzard outside. Great tunes, and the bass player is beautiful. Unfortunately the opening band Tarantula -- http://www.tarantulamusic.com/ -- sucked. There were some hints of interesting-ness (one of the guys is cellist) and a friend I went with thought it reminder her of French circus music, but overall, it was pretty bad (albeit innovative).
On a good note (and unrelated to innovation), my sister just told me she's running in the 23rd annual Armadillo Race in Florida. It's a day before my race, and I think we're both just hoping to finish with some semblance of respectability...
Later,
NATHAN
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