Out of Alaska

This says it all.

Minnahsotah

I am in a hotel by the Mall of America and the airport. After huge delays in LGA yesterday, we missed our flight to Anchorage last night by 10 minutes! What a bummer!
I could not blog about our trip since it was a surprise to KC. We are going to meet A+KC out there. I am sure he will not check this now since he leaving today. I could not breathe a word on this forum since KC is a dedicated reader. So wish us luck to get to Alaska today.

Mr. W's dream house

A Low Impact Woodland Home
If Mr. W saw this home in a reasonable commute to NYC, we would be moving.

Unproductive and sleepy

I wish I could say I have been taking full advantage of my few days off before things get busy, but it is amazing how lazy I can get. The weather turned on Monday to 55-60 and rain, and I have crawled into my cocoon so to speak. My energy level really rides with the sun. Thankfully there are more sunny days out here than when I lived in Michigan. My only complaint is that it gets dark so darn early out here. It gets light earlier, but that does not do me any good since my cohort likes to sleep the morning away. That is time I get to myself (early to the farm market and stores before the rest of the new yawkers wake up). Things get swingin' around noon (not like the midwest), so I like to do things before then to keep my sanity. I have been catching up on some paperwork, filing, cleaning, and vacation planning.

I have been considering taking an intro German class to prepare for Christmas. Maybe it would be better to get some tapes. I guess I could just have Mike translate since it will only be a few days (I will need translation anyways). I think I am going to swim inside today. I hate swimming indoors, but it has been cold and rainy. It is really my last week for outdoor swimming. At least I can use my fins and other accessories!

Otherwise, nothing is new. Just constant discussions about the housing market, mortgages, interest rates, and what towns are good. The scale tipped towards Armonk last night, but I still would not count Greenwich and Rye out at this point.

Glen Hansard

Oh yeah, I dig the intensity. It is a good song to sing loudly in the privacy of your car (even if you look insane!)

Letdown

The headline of the class grabbed me, and I wanted to know more. Needless to say, the description ended up being a letdown. I was suprised to see the heading, because I have met people from around here who have gone to classes to get rid of their accents. I guess I am going to have to learn to talk like a New Yorker on my own.

Fish Tale

Cousin of flesh-eating piranha is snared in Lake St. Clair

Superweekend

We kept busy this weekend, but half of it was low key. We went to Superbad, and we were the oldest people in the theater. Good thing it was dark! I give Superbad a thumbs up. I have been excited to see it for a couple of months.

Yesterday we raced at West Point. The race weather was good (unseasonably cold and about 55-60 degrees at race time). This is one of my favorite races. It is run in the training area for the military academy. You pass by the obstacle course, foxholes, and my favorite, the bayonet course. The race always has cadets on the triathlon team, West point alumni of all ages, and military racing. The bike course is really nice, but a tad hilly. The run is pretty hard with many steep hills. It is one of the races with the most uberfit looking people. The cadets definately seemed pressed out of the same mold (symmetrical faces, square jaws, 6-packs). The best complement I got was when a spectator asked me if I was on the USMA team. It was like being carded! I was happy with my race, but the swim course was considerably shorter (I was 3 minutes faster than usual, and W was 5-6 minutes faster). W said he thought the buoy was being pushed in closer. I was close to placing, and a short swim makes a huge difference for people who are not swimmers (like my friend W!). So much for the military precision! I have done this race 4 times now, and the swim has always been really consistent. They should have taken a 1/4 mile off of the run for me to make it even! Mike took the race yesterday by about 40 seconds, so he is the season leader (1/1). We were joking that that should be the last race for the summer! We figured out time adjustments for the short swim, and we still had our best times on the course. That is pretty good after a monumental birthday for some.

Happy B-day W!

We are laying low today since we are racing at West Point tommorrow. We were the oldest people seeing Superbad last night, so I guess age is just a number!

For Mario Batali, It’s Molto Michigan - New York Times

For Mario Batali, It’s Molto Michigan - New York Times
Sounds like you should make friends and become dinner guests (A+K!)

The little plant that could

I love to grow tomatoes, but I do not have any ground to plant them. I try to see what I can get out of containers with varied success every year. This year's crop took a serious beating. They were moved at least 4 times, and contractors took over our backyard. I just love this little pathetic plant and how it used up all of its energy to produce a fruit. It is the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of the tomato world.

Hey doggie

All I have to say, is this the best they could do? This is the dog they chose to highlight adoption from the pound?

The Swell Season Live - Lies

I just downloaded the chords, so wish me luck. I need to look up A#. The visual here is not good, but the sound is good nonetheless.

Mysterious Congressman Challenges Leading Candidates To Debate At Dawn

What is the status A+K?

Water Levels in 3 Great Lakes Dip Far Below Normal - New York Times

World’s Best Medical Care? - New York Times

World’s Best Medical Care? - New York Times

Housing crisis

We spent much of Sunday going to open houses. It instilled more hope in me since the houses were all nice (not like the million dollar dumps in Greenwich we saw a few weeks back). We looked at a fixer in Rye that was 1.3, but that was just to poke our heads in since we were nearby. The market here is slowing down and moving in our favor, but it is still a daunting idea to buy here. There are many factors we are considering, but the main one is to be a reasonable commute to NYC (in case Mike has to work there in the future). Here is the synopsis:

One of the houses was on a beautiful property, house was in great shape and updated, but the ground floor plan was not very open. We would knock a wall down where we could do it in that house. The commute was good for being further north from where we live now.

The next house I did not want to look at, but Mike convinced me. The house was in good shape, but needed to be updated. The price was good (for the area, none of the prices here are really actually "good") and it was really unique. They had 5,000 feet of decking instead of a lawn and the house was in the woods. It was like living in a nature preserve. The commute was not so good there.

The next place was in Greenwich on the border with NY. It was a more typical .2 acre lot with a colonial, but they had made some great updates inside. It had a pool, but I really do not want one (unless it is 25 yards!). The price was good, taxes were really low (taxes are 5,000 in Greenwich, but in Westchester they begin at 10,000 and go up to more that 20,000 in some towns). Good commute to city and access to highways, and we get to go to the beach in Greenwich!

We headed to Rye where there was a newly built house. The house was great, but it was on a street that was not pretty. They just reduced the price 100,000 on it!

It was funny that we were almost the only ones showing for many of the open houses. It is a slow time of year. Anyways, the realtor at the fixer for 1.3 ended up following us around. It was weird since we had really no interest in the house, and it was crawling with people. Maybe she smelled that we were looking in general on us. It was weird though. We went outside, and she popped beside us 2 separate times and chatted us up. She was not annoying though and talked a lot about the town in general too.

Glen Hansard Live at Sundance!

This is a song from the movie we saw this weekend. I need to get the soundtrack now. What a complete sound standing there in Park City with a guitar.

Good Musical

Once the Movie - A Film by John Carney