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October 31, 1999
News
Information about Ty Davison straight from the horse's mouth.
News Archives
Years worth of mind-numbing details, ponderings, and events.
News Links
External URLs that have cropped up in the course of the News history.
October 31, 1999—Halloween
Many thanks to Liz for her efforts in making our new house a home. While I was busy with web design and Erin was busy with school work, Liz bopped about the place fixing this, moving that, and generally making everything better than it was before. I hate to think how long some of those project would've been put off if not for her intervention.Thanks also to Erin's relatives, George and Irene Starr, for hosting a Halloween dinner. Yummy eats and great conversation as always.
October 29, 1999
Hopped up to Portland to help my friend Garr buy a Power Mac G4/450 from the Apple Store. Hard not to get overly excited about that. Since he's upgrading from a Quadra 840/AV, the performance difference will be huge. And given Garr's outstanding talent in programs like Adobe Photoshop, I'm really eager to see what kind of stuff he'll be able to create.Erin and I also welcomed my mother-in-law Liz to Oregon. She came up to see us and look around our new house. After a quick peek, we headed off to the Sprague v. Crescent Valley football. 42-0 Sprague when we left mid-way through the 4th. Watched the Sprague band perform at halftime. Wow. They are incredible. Probably the best high school marching band I've ever seen. (Not like I've seen millions, but still....)
October 27, 1999
It looks like autumn is finally here. The weather which was mid-70s last week is now mid-60s at best and the rains have begun. Really beautiful to watch the multicolored leaves fall like snowflakes.This being the first good rain we've had here at the house, it's also been our first chance to get a look at how the water puddles in the driveway. A lot of the problems with the cement cracking that I anticipated turn out to be no problem at all; the water doesn't even reach them. Of course, that doesn't mean we're home free. A lot of the cracks in the driveway will definitely need to be repaired next chance we get—although that might mean next spring.
I finished The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield yesterday. Those interested can read my opinion piece, "The Mayans Did What?!?" which will be online shortly.
October 23, 1999
Erin and I did a variety of around-the-house projects before being joined by Dave, who helped us rearrange the fridge doors. That task sounds a lot easier than it is. Fortunately, luck was on our side, and now the "work triangle" in the kitchen is actually a triangle and not a trapezoid.After that project was completed, Dave and I rummaged through some of the boxes down in my office, put up some bookshelves, and generally just got things ready to go for the cable modem installation. Moving the big desk (aka "dfh") was a chore, but buff fellas that we are, it only cost three crushed vertebrae.
October 22, 1999
So we had a little squirrel fricassee this evening with Rocky the Flying Rodent chewing on some power cables and taking a 30 foot header to the driveway. While this was a notably worse deal for him, it also knocked out power to our area for a few hours.By the way, despite what they tell you, squirrel meat does not taste like chicken.
October 21, 1999
And now it's time for the car to act up again. This time it's the alternator, which is at least a part we haven't had replaced yet. It's another blow to the ever-dwindling bank account, and as such fairly annoying, but at least it biffed out at a good time. I'd already dropped Erin at school so I drove straight to our mechanic and read the newspaper until he showed up. For what it's worth, the Mazda is showing an amazing knack for conking out at very opportune times.As for the house, I took advantage of the sunny, 75 degree weather to begin patching some of the cracks in the driveway. I don't want to do too much until I see how the concrete-in-bottle stuff I'm using works out, but my initial impression is that it looks to be all right.
Al and Mike from Al's Chimney Service came out today to give me an estimate on all the chimney repair and maintenance work. Looks like about $400 to get the upstairs fireplace functional and up to another $300 for the downstairs one. Some of that first $400 is actually chimney cap/crown work, so technically it's part of the downstairs fireplace, too. We'll probably spend the money, since spending money on the structure of the house seems like a good investment.
I've been really amazed at the speed with which the days have rolled by. Perhaps I'm just unaccustomed to having things to do every time I turn around. I don't know. It just feels like the days have sped up, and that I'm getting less done in a day than I did previous to owning a home. I hear this sensation gets even worse once you have kids, something that seems pretty hard to believe. Maybe the feeling will go away after we get the house in shape. We'll see.
October 20, 1999
It took an extra couple of days, but we've now got both the downstairs shower fixed and the clothes dryer vented to the outside. That might not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it's huge.Because Erin and I are both "shower people" and because the upstairs bathroom only has a bath, the shower fix was crucial. Occasional baths are okay, but they really don't work on a daily basis. I don't know how those people in the old west did it. (Actually, that's not true. I do know: They didn't.)
As for the laundry room, another hearty round of applause for our friends Mike and Joy who donated their old washer and dryer to the cause. The continuing thought of never having to visit another laundry mat thrills me beyond coherent thought. Ahdfsakl;ewuidfd.
October 17, 1999
I've moved my office temporarily back upstairs into the dining area until I get the cable Internet thing running on November 1. Having my hoss 19" monitor connected to Zeke again has been a relief. I have no idea how I survived on Henry's 13" monitor for more than 3 years. At this point, I think at least a 15" monitor is the minimum I could get by on—though perhaps a good 14.1" active matrix PowerBook screen could change my mind.Erin's at the end of the grading period, so we've been bubbling in ScanTron sheets and entering grades and adding scores most of the day. Dad even came over to help, which was darn nice of him. (Thanks, Dad!)
We've come up with a nice ant infestation in the kitchen. Thankfully they're just sugar ants, but as one might expect, they're annoying little creatures. I'll get some caulking tomorrow and see if we can seal their entry ways. We've got some ant killer spray, but I hesitate to spray poison willy-nilly in the food preparation areas. Not sure that it would solve the problem long-term anyway. Suggestions welcomed.
Downstairs shower still isn't 100 percent, though it's a lot better than it was. I'm afraid that probably means that the leak is in the wall, which is a going to require a more expensive fix. Oh well. Gotta have it.
In addition, this week we'll be looking to add a dryer vent, fix the front down spout, attach leaf guards to the gutters, have the chimneys repaired, and get a cordless phone. Oh yeah, I need to put GFIs in the kitchen, too. Another long exhausting week ahead? Yeah, I think so.
October 16, 1999
A gang of us—Erin, me, Joe, Carol, Dennis—got together at Matt and Ginger's place for a yummy potluck and few rounds of Pictionary and Beyond Balderdash. I now know what the word "flart" means, and, no, it's not what you think.Jasmine, the previous owners' cat who has been alternately stalking and sulking around our grounds, was delivered by yours truly to the cat's new owners, aka the neighbors. It looks like they'll try to keep him inside for awhile, which is a good idea if they hope to have him stick around. Otherwise he'll just be over here again, meowing up a storm. I don't mind him poking around our garage, and I could probably even deal with him leaving downstairs, but with everything we've got going on right now, we're not really set up to be pet owners just yet. (And I think I'd prefer a couple of border collies anyway.)
October 15, 1999
It looks as if my plans for world domination will have to be put on hold for awhile longer. US West's customer service department tells me that, contrary to what their web site says, DSL is not available where I live. Called TCI/AtHome/AT&T and requested their cable modem service (at $39.95/mo). They were only too happy to sign me up. Downside? Installers are booked until November. I might move my office upstairs for the next couple of weeks. That's too much down time otherwise.The current top-of-the-list repair issue is the gutters, one of which has a down spout which vents all over our front driveway. This ties directly into the next time item on the list, which is cement repair for the driveway. The aforementioned down spout is essentially dumping water down into an area around the foundation, and ultimately, against a basement wall. That, as I've grown somewhat fond of saying, can't be a good thing. Gutters also need leaf guards, but at this point, those are of secondary import.
October 13, 1999
Installed the new water heater with help of Dave Bass, a local area handy man. Also had him solve the downstairs bathroom shower issue, though I think we'll need to do some testing before we're fully confident that the fix worked. We'd like to get the upstairs bathroom remodeled so that we could put in a shower, but given all the other fix-it projects (and the $2200 surprise at closing), we'll probably have to defer that until at least the spring.Mazda into the shop today for a little bit of work plus a fixed security alarm. Old one worked only intermittently, and that hardly leaves one confident. (Though who in their right mind would break into an 1986 Mazda 626 anyway? All we have in there is a putzy little tape deck.)
Erin and I continue to unpack, and man does it feel good to finally have the space to dump all junk out in the open where we can sort through it. We've created a curbside recycling mound of cardboard, newspapers, and other miscellaneous stuff, the size of which rivals the Astrodome. And that's the tip of the iceberg.
October 12, 1999
Met with the piano movers at the apartment. The guys from Harmon Piano Company were 45 minutes late (though to their credit they called), but I was very impressed with how they took great care of the piano during the move. And the swung it up in through the front door of the house without a hitch. I'd recommend these guys.The electrician, Kevin from Northside Electric, toured the house with me and offered various suggestions. He's pretty booked up, so it looks like the earliest we can have him out will be November. I'll probably call someone else to run the phone line to my downstairs office, because surely I need an Internet connection installed before sooner than that.
Met with Dave, a handyman, regarding our plumbing difficulties. Went and bought a water heater. It will be delivered tomorrow and the handyman will help with the install.
We seem to have acquired the previous owners' cat, Jasmine. They gave it to a neighborhood kid before they left, but Jasmine refuses to hang out anywhere but here. We're not feeding it or letting it into the house, but the cat does not appear easily persuaded that he should take up residence a few houses away from ours.
October 11, 1999
And now, time for a reality check: Water heater replacement crucial. Downstairs shower leaking. Refrigerator doors need to be flopped. (Previous owners were left-handed.) Electrical issues will be examined and bid on Tuesday. DSL/phone line as well. Need to call about chimney cap and fireplace repair. Piano movers come tomorrow. Is there too much humidity in the basement for card/comic storage? Cement walkway and garage need work. Storage area downstairs needs caulking. Etc, etc. etc.Today's house problems solved: Bought fire extinguisher, outdoor broom, and washer connection hoses. Connected washer. Looks like it works! Set up water/sewer service. Established garbage/recycling service. Emptied and broke down more boxes than I can count. Setup TV, receiver and speakers, and CD player.
This is going to be a long, exhausting week.
October 10, 1999
Our marvelous friends come through for us again. In addition to Erin and me, the crew this time around consisted of my dad, Dave, Melissa, their friend Heather, Joe, Carol, Garr, Terri, and Dennis. How lucky we are to know such superb people!Despite the snafu with U-Haul, everyone took it in stride, and we quickly crammed the little truck full of Davison goodies. (That's like Scooby-Snacks but with fewer calories.) After about a 10 minute drive to the house and the parking of various vehicles, we gave a general tour of the saw-dusty grounds out back (consensus on dead tree: tree not dead) and the pretty garden out front.
We then paraded the group through the house after reminding everyone to "wipe your feet on our first home improvement purchase" (aka a door mat). I have no idea what people really think about the house, but our friends are polite enough to realize that when someone spends their life savings on something, you better "ooh" and "ahh" appropriately. This they did with gusto, and for a person that professes not to care what other people think, all this exclaiming sure made me feel good. Thank you, my friends.
After unloading all the items from trip number one, we walked over to Izzy's so Erin and I could treat everybody to a well-earned lunch. Somehow this degenerated into my dad and Garr inexplicably singing me "Happy Birthday" as loudly as possible. I'm very thankful that no costumed Izzy's mascot happened upon us at that moment, or I would've thought for sure that I'd dropped acid.
Following the traditional "I ate way too much" meal at Izzy's, we headed to my parents' place where we picked up a washer and dryer set kindly donated to us by Mike and Joy. (Unfortunately, illness prevented them from joining us.)
Returning to the apartment, we scraped up the remnants to form one last haul to the house. In the end, we moved everything (including the beefy "evil desk") except the piano.
Did it feel good to sleep in our own house this night? Oh yeah. But it felt even better to know that we know such an outstanding group of people. Thank you one and all!
October 9, 1999
Homeowners at last! Erin described last night as being like Christmas Eve because a sense of anticipation sort of hung over everything as we waited to take possession of our new home. That pretty accurately captured my feelings as well. It's been a long time since I was so excited and eager. (And for what? Replacing a water heater? Sheet rocking a garage? Installing new electrical outlets? Yeah, maybe so.)Erin and I packed up a few breakables and drove over this morning, since the sellers called yesterday to tell us they would be vacating by 8 AM. Empty, the place seemed even bigger, and it didn't exactly seem small before.
My parents and my brother, Bret, visited the house during the day, and everyone was kind enough to express their approval. Given the age of the home, it's important to see the possibilities, I think, and viewed in that light, the place becomes pretty intriguing in a big hurry.
I moved a few more things over from the apartment while Erin graded papers and planned classes, then Bret, Dad, and I went to pick up the truck. Those of you who have heard my tales of truck rental woe regarding Budget and Ryder will undoubtedly laugh your heads off when I tell you that this time U-Haul messed up. Yes, I've now been hosed by just about every major truck rental company in the United States. (Rollins, a commercial trucking outfit that occasionally rents to individuals, is the only outfit I can currently recommend.)
The long and the short of it is that the 24-foot truck I reserved was recorded as an order for a 14-foot truck. Sure, they quoted me the price for a 24-foot truck when I was on the phone with them a few weeks ago, and for what it's worth (i.e., nothing) they gave me a confirmation number. During the call I even explained how I'd had horrid luck with truck rentals and I wanted to make sure this went perfectly. Ha ha ha, what a fool I am to believe.
I've been told that I shouldn't trust any of the truck rental companies—Budget, Ryder, or U-Haul—because their ranks are populated by individuals whose collective IQ does not exceed room temperature. Surely that's unfair to those employees who work competently and diligently (wherever they are—I can't find them) to provide excellent service to truck rental customers, but given my own recent moving experiences, I'd say that not only is the statement correct but also that it's a fairly cold room.
October 8, 1999
I had the good fortune to meet with the Sprague High video production teacher and spend most of the day playing with video equipment as part of a teacher inservice. It was all dated Super VHS stuff but in fairly decent for what it is. Give me a Power Mac G4 and a DV FireWire camera, and I'll put it to shame, but students can still learn important video production concepts using Sprague two editing suites and 3 or 4 portable cameras.The teacher has, admittedly, limited video experience, and she's an English teacher by trade, so she was more than happy to listen and take notes as I blathered on and on about various topics. I like to think most of them had direct application to what she's trying to do, but sometimes I get a-rambling and it's tough to make it coherent, let alone cogent. She thanked me nonetheless, so I guess I said something of value.
October 7, 1999
Erin and I finally got everything taken care of at the DMV, registering ourselves and our car for a fraction of what it cost in California. (Though Erin's sister Christine sends word that the California State smog tax on out of state cars has been ruled unconstitutional, and we may be in line for a rebate.) Service at the DMV was—believe it or not—fast, efficient, and fun (and that's a big difference from California's too).The test itself was a cakewalk except for a couple questions which they told me afterward they have complaints about themselves. For the record, I've now scored 100 percent on written driving tests in both California and Oregon. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't run for the hills if you see me driving a car in your general vicinity. Although I consider myself an above average driver, studies show that to be true for 85 percent of Americans.)
Added bonus: I wore my Apple MacOS 8.5 shirt today, so you can glimpse the 8.5 logo on my driver's license. Who cares if I'm 21 or not? Macs rule! =)
October 6, 1999
The house deal closed today, making us homeowners for the first time. All that's left at this stage is to pick up of the keys from the realtor's office and take possession on Saturday at noon.I plugged the loan and all its sundry details into Quicken last night. It was pretty funny to watch the assets and liabilities graphs rocket in different directions. Our mortgage is a 30-year fixed at 7.75 percent. We'll be prepaying of course, and after bouncing the numbers around, I think we'll be looking to pay on a 13.5 year schedule. That will require us to live rather frugally, but what's new?
On the plus side, either we'll be paying equity on the house or we'll be paying tax-deductible interest, both of which beat lining some landlord's pockets with a monthly rent payment. And the big bonus is that we'll never again get hit with a surprise 25 percent rent increase like we saw this February. On the minus side, we've got a lot of maintenance work ahead of us, and it's unlikely to be cheap.
It's a tradeoff we're very happy to be making.
October 5, 1999
So Erin and I signed our lives away last night at the title company, spending more money in less time than we ever have before and, hopefully, ever will again. In the long-term, of course, it's peanuts given our earning power, but it's still a little daunting to go from "cash rich and house-poor" to "house-rich and cash-poor." Hopefully, like our parents (and their parents), this investment will turn out to be the best we've made.We're still on-track for a closing date of October 6, meaning we will take possession on October 9, this coming Saturday at noon.
October 4, 1999
Spoke with Dan from USAA/PHH's Mortgage Services department. He listened patiently to my tale of woe regarding the incorrect property tax estimate. Apparently with all the different municipalities across the US, national mortgage companies have a very difficult time of keeping track of how taxes are handled for each customer. I suggested a disclaimer on the Good Faith Estimate along the lines of
Since property taxes are handled differently by each municipality, actual property taxes at closing could be substantially higher than the estimate provided here. Check with your title company on how property taxes are handled in your area.
Dan seemed very receptive to this idea and indicated he would bring it to the senior staff meeting this week.
That will help others (and if you do a mortgage with USAA/PHH in the future and see that disclaimer, remember it was my idea!), but obviously it's a little late in our case. I've been trying to assess how much that matters.
On one hand, I do continue to feel like the loan we have is a good one. I might have structured it a little differently had I known about the real closing costs, but we'll do really well with what we got. There were no junk fees in the closing costs—stuff like $50 for FedEx-ing paperwork—hidden in the details of it. I do feel like people tried their best to serve our interests based on the information they had available at the time. Nobody there (at least so far as I can determine) set out with the malicious agenda of hosing the Davisons.
So would I recommend USAA's Mortgage Services? Wow, I don't know. I suppose I would, though it would come with the caveat that you should call your title company about property taxes as soon as you receive the Good Faith Estimate. That was the only thing wrong with our deal—all the other Good Faith Estimate numbers were substantively correct—and so long as a buyer takes care in that regard, he or she should be able to come away feeling pretty good about the home buying process.
For Erin and me, the process has been 90 percent terrific and 10 percent lousy. If we'd known about the property tax issue, it would've been 100 percent terrific.
So despite the foul-up, I'm not unwilling to recommend USAA's Mortgage Service. It just isn't unconditional.
October 2, 1999
Dave and I headed up to Portland where we helped Bret schlep his stuff from old apartment to new. Pretty easy work when it comes right down to it, but Bret even gave us neat new Duncan Yo-Yos for our efforts anyway. Believe it or not, I've been having a lot of fun with yo-yos lately (and I don't mean my mortgage lender!), so this was a very cool bonus.After we finished up, Dave and I headed to CompUSA and Fry's Electronics to check out the Mac stuff. CompUSA's "Apple Store-Within-A-Store" was packed with customers and staffers. Very nice to see (though one continues to wish that the space itself were larger). I even got the chance to provide a little customer service by answering questions that baffled the sales guys, a fun past-time which the clerks typically don't mind since I'm at least as pro-Mac as they are (if not more so).
October 1, 1999
Along with the always-affable Bob Van Deusen, our realtor, Erin and I did the final cursory walk-through of the house today. Yep, everything looks as good or better than we remembered. We'll sign the closing documents on Monday, have the official Close on Wednesday, and take formal possession next Saturday. Moving Day, our third (and final!) in the last five months, will be next Sunday.On the way out, we had a very nice conversation with the sellers regarding the history of the home. Apparently, the previous owner, the sellers, and the sellers' son all held their weddings at the house. Unfortunately, Erin and I are already married, so we won't be able to continue to the "owner of the house has to get married in it" theme. (Maybe we'll renew our vows. Wonder if that would count?)
Seriously restricted by the lack of funds available for remodeling or maintenance, Erin and I are thick in the list-making process. This is not nearly as easy as it sounds. For example, the water heater is shot and requires immediate replacement. Do we go with electric again or the slightly more expensive and lots more efficient natural gas? If natural gas—and that is our inclination—how do we set everything up so that we can easily pipe in a furnace, fireboxes, range, etc. later on? This advanced planning kind of stuff is really difficult without an over-all conception of how we want the house to be, and, heck, that's just the water heater we're talking about. The electrical system is also inadequate, the upstairs bathroom needs a shower, and so on. It's not, mind you, that we're not up to the challenge. We certainly are. It's just that thinking several moves in advance is tricky work, and it's been awhile since I played chess.
