And rolling. . .

Tonight Beth and I are off to North Carolina to begin the adventure of job and house hunting. I am glad only one of us has to look for a job there... it would be a real pain in the ass to look for two. And fortunately, moving to Raleigh puts me a lot closer to my base, New York. We are very much looking forward to what the week has in store for us. I am sure we both will be writing what we find, see, like and don't like while on the road so stay tuned while we wing our way east.

The Ball Starts Rolling

Things are beginning to ramp up for our intended move to North Caroline this summer. We have met, either by phone or email with realators in both Las Vegas and Raleigh to begin the process of selling our house and buying a new one in North Carolina. The process is mildly overwhelming, but we are confident we have good people on our side to see us through this transition. We will be travelling to North Carolina next week to meet with the realator there and check out the various towns and neighborhoods that make up the Triangle Area. We are very much looking forward to that. Beth and I both check out Craig's List a few times a week to look at the new listings there and are excited about some of the things we've seen.

We hope to have our house on the market by the middle of March. That should give us 90 to 120 days to sell the house and complete the closing prior to moving to NC. In some of the comps our realator here in Vegas pulled, homes have gone from listing to closing in as little as 28 days to as long as 127 days. There is quite a range here and the Vegas market is softening, but stablizing. It looks like we're going to have to settle on the lower end of the price range we were looking at, but even still that amount is double what we paid four years ago for the house. I can't really complain about that. But, then again, more money is always a good thing!

The entire process seems overwhelming. Buying a house the first time was stressful, but much easier than we had anticipated. Buying a new house in NC is not so stressful, but the combination of Beth looking for a job, selling our house, buying a new one and moving cross country will definately be a chore.

Cheney's Got A Gun

Classic remake of Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun."
Was it any surprise that Dick chose GOP-TV for his exclusive interview about what happened? I sure wasn't. But it's disapointing that he chose to sit down with one interviewer from one network as opposed to a press conference open to all US media outlets. Fox News consistently backs the Administration and their failed policies without asking the critical questions it is their job to ask. In a country where free speech and freedom of the press go right down to our core values, Cheney's move to "reward" FOX News with an exclusive interview only goes to prove even more that FOX "News" really is GOP-TV.

Blizzard of '06

And this is where I rode it out. Not bad. I was originally on a four day trip that had me flying between the Caribbean and New York daily, with short, ten hour layovers in Santiago, Santo Domingo and San Juan. It's just that the San Juan layover ended up somewhere around 41 hours! Due to the intense snow storm in the Northeast, our regularly scheduled flight was canceled and two replacement flights thereafter were cancelled, too. So, we stayed in paradise at a kick-ass resort, the Intercontinental San Juan, for two days and two nights. Twist my arm!

The above picture just happens to be from my balcony, looking over the pool area and beyond at the Caribbean Sea. It was rough to spend an entire day sweating by the pool, but given I could have been wading through over two feet of snow in New York, I didn't think it such a bad trade-off. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!

The Flight

A Baptist minister was seated next to a Marine on a flight to
Memphis, TN.
After the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken.
The Marine asked for a scotch and soda, which was brought and
placed before him.
The flight attendant then asked the minister if he would like a
drink.
He replied in disgust, "I'd rather be savagely raped by brazen
whores than let liquor touch my lips."
The Marine then handed his drink back to the attendant and said,
"Me too. I didn't know we had a choice."

Numbers

3,162. The number of dollars it is estimated to cost to fix my baby.



I had the appraisal done yesterday. The body shop has ordered the parts, which they say will take about a week to get in. Once they all arrive they'll schedule and appointment. Once my car is in the shop, it should take about six days to complete the work! Ick... it sounds like this will take a while... not to mention the hell I may endure with the other insurance company. I spoke with my agent today and I've come to the conclusion the whole insurance industry is way too beaurocratic to accomplish any good.

Can you believe if I don't want it to take a month for my insurance agency to get a copy of the accident report I have to go the police department, BUY one myself and fax it to them? That's crazy. And, if I want the other insurance company to pay my deductible, I have to contact them directly. My insurance company is barred, by law, from advocating on my behalf until they pay out on the claim. Blah, blah, blah. As Bethany would say, FUCKWITS.

Crash! Bang! Smash!

And this is what happens when you have crash! bang! smash! Today I was involved in an auto accident while minding my own business sitting at a red light. A Saturn turned in front of oncoming traffic (the white truck) and was plowed into. The truck, in turn, bounced off the Saturn and came straight for me. There was no time to react, and even still, no room for me to do anything as there were cars behind me and to my left.

I am pretty sure the Saturn and that truck will be totaled but I was able to drive away in my car. The damage is cosmetic, with injuries to the hood, bumper and headlight. Nothing internal seems to be damaged. I am doing fine, and it seems everyone else involved is too. There were three passengers in the Saturn and they were all uninjured. We were all just shaken up a bit, I know I was.

My car goes in tomorrow for an appraisal of the damage... fortunately the insurance company is willing to go on the fast track to get my car fixed. I am leaving town Wednesday for a week... perfect time for repairs to be made to my car. Whew... still a little shaken but ok.

Big Ben's turning white!

It's snowing in London! Although not unheard of, it isn't real common either. We just arrived in London from New York to light snow showers and very, very cold temps. Just the same, I plan on having a good time while here.