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depressing

Bleak, depressing, rainy…

Little or no progress on the relocation front today. I have been underwhelmed by the responsiveness of the Craigslisters. Which makes one wonder how responsive they will be when the refrigerator breaks.

My current plan is to see what the upcoming rainy weekend brings. Then on Monday to get my butt to see some of the “OK” rental buildings and to fire up a realtor to round up some condo rental prospects.

My secret plan is to have us moved out of here by June 1 – latest. Problem is that I like everything about where we are now. I wish we had noisy neighbors. Or construction next door. Or even grease-stink from the Big Buns Hamburger shop like the folk on the other side of the building are subjected to.

So, since I like everything – except that I have to keep repairing the toilets with dental floss – any move is going to be a step down in pleasure and a step up in price.

Attachment. That is what I am suffering from. Need to work on my Buddhist philosophy.

Enough already. I will spend the rest of the evening thinking about all things Japanese.

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taxes

Worked on my taxes and finished Carlton’s taxes. When did I become a CPA?

On the moving front:

  • Talked to a guy who is renting a unit just like ours for way too much. He will not come down – if he can not get way too much he will sell his unit. So – scratch one possibility.
  • Emailed another Craigslist-ing
  • Connected with a guy who has a possible unit here in the building.
  • Went on a little neighborhood walkabout to look at buildings.
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We need a vacation!

Sunset in the city

We need a photo too. Photos are easy.

Started on my taxes today. I worked on them until my eyes glazed over.

Actions on the moving front:

  • Emailed 4 Craigslist listings.
  • Made 2 appointments.

About Jihad Jane – Google knows that I just responded to an email from my dentist and 3 or 4 web sites later Google pops up with an ad for another dentist in my neighborhood. Google seems to be better at intelligence than our government. I guess this is good.

If I survive this move business – I’ll need a reward. What shall it be? Maybe a “new improved” main computer. Current “main” computer is the Smithsonian-Ready big gray Dell. With various junk accessories. Maybe a Mac Mini that will run Windows as well? Anything to distract me from the task at hand. Retail therapy.

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Bad News

A note for the real bulletin board

Just found out that we are being evicted. We might have until the end of August – but, I want to be out of here before they start sending rental agents and prospective buyers in and out.

The price of being a renter is you can be evicted.

Carlton is dealing with the problem by taking a nap. Before that – he was sputtering “they can not do this”… But, they can. And, they are.

And we still have our colds. But, the specter of homelessness does focus the mind. First a get a little more over the cold, then I do my taxes, then I spring into action big time re the pending housing crisis. Gee and less than 8 hours ago my biggest problem was what camera to take to Japan and which plane routing to use.

There are worse things in life than being bored.

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Sick Call

We still have our colds. But, I was well enough to talk to the grocery this morning. Now, when I got there… I couldn’t figure out what to buy.

I got reservations at a hotel over the Kyoto Train Station for mid-July. There are lots of interesting lodging options in Kyoto. We are going to be in Kyoto during a major festival – I figured that would be interesting enough – lodging will be upmarket generic. And, located in a favorite travel hotel location – at the RR station.

Seems that some where along the way I lot my photographs from Hawaii for 2007 and 2008. I guess I had them on DVDs or CDs and accidentally pitched them. It is no big loss. But makes me feel pretty silly.

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Returning to the living…

I am returning to life.

  • Opened all 4 months of mail. Well, any that deserved opening. And sorted it into piles. That is a start.
  • I considered going outside. Didn’t go – but I thought about it.
  • Downloading the October release of Ubuntu at this instant. Most likely I’ll just wait until 10.4 comes out in a couple of months.
  • Did some thinking about the proposed month in Japan adventure.

While I was madly cataloging images  in Hawaii – I noticed that parts of 2007-2008 seem to be missing. These images would have been on the HP Vista Whore machine. Will have to look thru the backup DVDs. I think I have already tossed some of them. Oh well, I have enough images. Organized images.

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Home

Got back home safely. I am very tired and suffering the ill effects of 14 hours of air travel with a cold/sinus issues.

There are big piles of gray snow everywhere.

Good news is that we got home about 2 hours early. We got on the 2:20 flight out of Atlanta vice the 4:20 flight. 2 hours early is a good thing and it is the travel goddess’s way of rewarding you for not checking any bags.

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Breaking Camp…

Breaking camp and heading back to Arlington at 9:30PM tonight. Guessing we’ll be freezing our buns off waiting for metro at about 7PM tomorrow. Why isn’t the DCA metro stop under ground?

Spam musubi for lunch today with bananas. Ham and cheese sandwich is on tap for dinner. And lots of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches have been made for trip food.

Carlton still has his cold. As do I.

At this instant Mr C is in acute “Did you mean to leave this?” mode.

And I am charging up the iPod and Airness. I don’t plan on using the Airness en-route. But, just in case…

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Getting ready…

And I just found out that we are going to be delayed getting home… DCA at 6PM was replaced by DCA at 8PM. And we won another 3 hours in LAX.

But wait – I went on line and got us rebooked and we still get to DCA at 6PM. We’ll see if it holds up.

Shark with old lemon and tangerine sauce and cone sushi for lunch. PB&J on tap for dinner.

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Blah…

Going back to Arlington on Tuesday, where it is still cold. And, I got Carlton’s cold. Shouldn’t complain, but I am going to complain any how.

The tsunami disrupted one part of my getting ready to go home routine. I need another “large” fixed rate shipping box. And the Post Office was closed by the time I could get out of the area. (Well, I would always get it – it would have been getting back in that would have been the problem.) So, I am not packing my fixed rate boxes tonight.

I spent today lounging, swimming, and sunning. Tomorrow is soon enough to spring into going home actions.

I notice that Tiger Woods is lost another sponser. And, Toyota seems to still be suffering. Maybe, Tiger and Toyota could get together.

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Tsunami Lite

The road closes
Danger
Safe
The Dumb Haole
The Kini Kini
The hotel was emptied out
The town was empty
Waiting for Godot?
Now where exactly is the tsunami?
There really was a tsunami
There really was a tsunami
The hotel was back to normal

[Show as slideshow]

We knew that a tsunami was possible at 8:30 PM yesterday. By midnight – it was pretty clear that something would happen. The local TV station went into 24 news mode. And we were told that the sirens would go off at 6AM. Civilized.

By morning,  they said 6-12 foot tsunami might happen. We are on about the 4th floor up from the ocean. So, we moved the car to higher ground and then decided to stay. It was OK with the hotel. So, they locked up our part of the building – we could get out but no one could come in – and we had most of the hotel to ourselves. We hung out by our private pool for a while. And when the appointed hour for the tsunami arrival we when and sat on the deck over looking the ocean. It was  an understated tsunami. It came at low tide. Then the ocean set up into having the tide come in and the tide go out on a ten minute cycle – not a normal 10 hour cycle. We measured it by the tires that are used as bumpers on the the pier. About a 2 foot swing – which a sort of our average hi/lo tide swing. All in all – a non-event.

The hotel sent everyone away at 8AM on buses to the evac center – they came back at about 3PM.  I am real glad we didn’t go.

And, we were not totally irresponsible. If it looked dangerous – we had already moved the car to safety and packed backpacks with essentials. Right out back of our hotel is a really steep hill – so, we had an exit strategy. Grab a pack and start running. And, we kept our shoes on. Which definitely facilitates running!

One problem, we had almost no food. Because we are leaving on Tuesday. But, for lunch – I made Mac and Cheese. Yakisoba Noodles, the end of the mayo, the end of the sour cream, the end of the cheese. And the last avocado.

Fortunately, the emergency was cancelled – so I made it up the hill to the grocery and got some fish and rice for dinner. And a apple for our veggie choice.