Brave Enough to Burn

So looks like by the end of the year, Memphis will be fully switched over to Comcast for it's Cable options. It's taken several months for Time Warner and Comcast to complete their deal, which involved carving up the territories of an older cable company and restructuring other areas..like Memphis.

I'm not overly impressed with Comcast; it's what my Dad has in Dothan. I find it difficult to navigate, and several of the channels I like to watch aren't part of their packages- unless I want to pay for Premium Channels we won't watch. Also, silly as it sounds, I don't want to have to relearn channel numbers. Their cable internet and phone also seem to be higer than Time Warner, though not by much. On top of everything, if you have a Road Runner e-mail, you either loose it with the switch, or have to pay Time Warner's non-subscriber rate.

I'm annoyed. I really wish I known about this when we moved. Instead of getting the TW package deal on TV, Internet and Phone, I'd have just gone back to Direct TV. The weather issue aside, I liked it better than cable.

So while it's not something monumental, it's just one more annoyance to have to deal with. When the switch is complete, we'll just have to see how things go.

It's evil, methinks. EVIL!

Yesterday, I take Yin, my big orange kitty, out for his daily walk....

yes, I have a cat who walks on a harness and lead at least once a day

...in the backyard. I knew we had some pretty energetic squirrels in the yard, because I can see them through the window in the craft room. However, I expected they would simply stay away from the dog-sized cat, and be as unobtrusive as possible.

NOT!

Yin sees Evil Squirrel&trade in tree, begins to vibrate with anticipation. Evil Squirrel&trade stares Yin down and then proceeds to cuss us both out. I mean, the squirrel was hardcore. I was seriously worried that we were going to get charged by him. Yin just sorta flattened out and growled back at the bristling, chattering mass that was Evil Squirrel&trade . Once Evil Squirrel&trade decided to advance, I tugged on the lead and convinced Yin that it was time to go inside.

We come to today. Yin is happily wandering the yard and munching grass. He spies Evil Squirrel&trade in the tree and takes off up the tree after him (well, as best he could w/ me holding on to the lead). Evil Squirrel&trade of course moves quickly out of reach and begins to laugh and point (I'm serious guys) at Yin stuck in the tree. Yin tries to go further up the tree, and I notice giant black ants swarming out of a hole in the trunk. Those giant cow ants that hurt like hell when they bite- eh, most of you know what I mean I think. I literally yank Yin out of the tree (he wasn't up high) before the ants can get on him, and boy is he pissed at me. After that he wouldn't budge; I had to pick and carry him inside, he was so mad.

And Evil Squirrel&trade? He was chattering (laughing) so hard he almost lost his balance and fell.

Meh, it's been a hell of a week/end. Not gonna post too long, too busy, too tired.

M:TG Regionals was not so good for us. Nothing like losing 2K in one day because WOTC's scheduling SUCKS! Ah well, the event ran well, at least. But then, we ALWAYS put on a good event. That's about all I can say or the WOTC legal monkey's will come down on my head.

House is coming along, and we should be sleeping there by the weekend. Yeah!!

Bought a Dyson Animal&trade, a vac I've had my eye on for awhile now. With 4 cats, ya need a good vaccum. Also picked up my new office chair (finally!!) and desk. Now that I have a chair w/ good back support and a desk that's the proper height, spending 8-10 hours a day doing the ebay thing will (hopefully) not end in a Flexeril/Lortab combo quite as often.

We pulled up the carpet in the downstairs "bedroom" because that will be the official "home office" for the business. I have a tendancy to organize things so that I can just roll my chair from place to place, which means carpet=bad. Gonna go with painted concrete for now. Later, we'll probably go for hardwood. I have a great idea for a really mod, geometric theme, in blacks and grays, a deep red accent...

Anyways, so we pull up the carpet and we can smell a little mildew. Eh, not suprising. A few years back Pamela had trouble w/ the front porch flooding. Pull back the pad and Voila! The concrete is COVERED in dry mold, what looks like the nasty, Black Mold of Death&trade . You would never have guessed this from the carpet condition, and until we peeled back the carpet, we couldn't smell anything.

Oh, and it's almost 10pm when we find this crap.

So we used the "Super-Vac" to get up the "dust", while holding cloths over our face of course; we were afraid to leave it overnight for fear too much would get sucked up into the vents, get moist, and spore again. draconisferret poured bleach on the floor and we let it set overnight.

So I spent today wearing one of those hot, uncomfortable masks, re-bleaching the floor (KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!!!!), and prying up carpet strips that were practically rotten. Sooooooo much fun.

The plus is that neither the sheetrock nor the insulation around the vents appears to have mold in it. We're probably gonna take down a small sheetrock panel under the windows (where the water came in) and give it a better check. Of course, we also have to patch the concrete, because pulling up the carpet nails left some bad holes.

And tomorrow, I get to go scrape popcorn off the ceiling! Joy!

I know, I know...welcome to the joys of homeownership. I'm still happy, really I am. Just tired.

Now I think I'll do what the Good Doctor said and go to my room. 'night y'all.

We signed the contracts tonight. Closing is planned for May 12th.

Lynson and I are buying a house.

I'm still a bit shell-shocked; everything has moved so quickly. However, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. It's not every day you get a chance at a 5-bedroom 3-bath two-story in a good neighborhood, hardwood floors, big backyard, etc, for right at $150K, AND have homeowners who are willing to do whatever they need to to help you get into the house.

Of course, it helps that we've know the owners for 7 years or so and are good friends;).

There's an apartment over the garage which has it's own entrance and such that we've already offered to rent to a friend looking to better her situation. We CAN afford the house without her renting, but the first year would be a bit tight, budget-wise, at least till Sept and Lynson got his yearly raise. It also helps that the plumbing company is going into the busy season which means 50-60 hour work weeks for him.

So, provided nothing falls through before closing (EVERYONE cross your fingers and knock on wood), we're looking at moving in starying the 21st of May. Maybe earlier, depending on if we can close earlier or not.