Oh Appliances...

30 11 09 - 08:36. Category:

When we moved into our new place we discovered that our toilet leaked about half a cup of water every time you flushed it. That has been fixed.

Now, Wednesday the dishwasher backed up into the sink. The dishwasher discharges into the garbage disposal (who knew?). Well the garbage disposal isn't working, and now the sink isn't draining. Yesterday I had to wash a few dishes, and I figured the sink would slowly drain out.

Turns out the sink did slowly drained... back into the dishwasher. This then leaked over the kitchen floor. I decided to stick my hand in the sink drain and see what I could find. I pulled out what I think was dried/soggy paint. It was white and rubbery, like dried but damp paint gets. That'd explain the non-functionality. Painted gummed up in the garbage disposal... fantastic!

We've had the place technically since early November, but we've only lived in it for a week. The Thanksgiving holiday pushed reporting the latest problem out even further, I don't want them to think we broke this stuff!

The nice thing about renting is the repairs though. All I have to do is make a phone call and someone comes and fixes it, at no cost and no hastle to me. I'm gonna miss that when I get a house.

Final CPA Exam, REG: FAILED

27 11 09 - 13:50. Category:

I was expecting it. I'd gotten so sick and tired of studying and the CPA exam and trick questions that I conceded defeat long before I ever took the exam.

That didn't stop the "FAILED" on my test score from stinging about a bit though. Even worse, I got a 74. It takes 75 to pass, I failed by one point.

There is good in this though. If I can slack off and not care as much as I did the first time and get a 74, there is no question that I will pass it when I take it again in May.

Would You Like a Tour?

25 11 09 - 21:24. Category:

We have the Internets! Now that we have them, I can upload pictures of the new place. I warn you though, they exist in a state of extreme chaos.

The living room, that's the front door there. Things are a mess, don't judge.

The dining room I was standing in for the previous shot. It's nice to have a spot that a full table can actually fit in!

A look in the kitchen.

Down the hall. If your'e looking for the bathroom it's the first door on your right.

Our awesomely green bathroom. But wait there's more!

Our even MORE awesome new shower curtain!

Bedroom.

The chairs, near and dear friends of the butts.

The precarious stairs into the basement.

The basement! Notice the lack of washer and dryer... I shudder and get excited thinking of organizing all of this.

No pictures of the outside yet, which isn't as exciting anyway. I never remember to do that when it's light out.

Move In Quickies

25 11 09 - 07:44. Category:

I was gonna try and somehow make "moving in" and "quikies" dirtier in that subject, but I just couldn't come up with anything good.

• We're continuing to unpack, the place is actually looking pretty good. There's still a fair bit to go through and the basement is the mess but we've made a ton of progress.

• We ordered a new washer/dryer. The only problem is it's not available for delivery until December 21. We'll be visiting either David's parents or our old place to do laundry for the next four weekends.

• Last night a mouse showed up in our kitchen. Hopefully this isn't a persistant problem.

• There are some pictures of the chaos. If I'd planned ahead I could have uploaded from work right now. Unfortunately they are just going to have to wait until we have internet at the new place, which will be today!

Moved!

23 11 09 - 07:38. Category:

All the stuff is in the new place and all the furniture now as "footies" to protect the hardwoods. The place is amazing, it's so big and open compared to our last cramped apartment. I know, I know, I need to take pictures.

We were able to get everything moved yesterday, but it did take two trips. Thanks to the much-appreciated help of both sets of parents and several friends it went pretty quick.

Supposedly we've only gained 100 square feet of living space, but I think part of the square footage of our apartment was the deck and storage closet.  

The rooms are all set up for the most part, now we just have to empty boxes. My mother was kind (read: OCD) enough to set up and unpack the entire kitchen for us.

I'll get pictures up tonight, I promise!

We Move Tomorrow

21 11 09 - 23:18. Category:

I think i'm going to like our new neighbors. They're in their early 30s, have kids, and seem like nice people. Last night David and I swung by real quick and they were all outside socializing. One person said "when are you guys gonna actually move in so we can hang out?" It made me happy.

Moving tomorrow!

I Already Hate Comcast

20 11 09 - 11:07. Category:

We're just trying to get them to install and set up the internet and cable for our new place and they are already one of the least customer friendly businesses I have encountered.

1) We have to go pick up the DVR ourselves. They can't add it over the phone or anything to the bundled package we ordered. It can't be part of our installation. Seriously? We're telling you to add a service (a.k.a MORE money) to our purchase. Why the hell would you ever have a policy saying "sorry no" in any way, shape, or form? The only way to get it would be to scrap the package deal they offered.

2) The internet install has to be done by them. Self install is not an option unless you are an existing Comcast customer. What is the install? Running a CD executable file on the computer to link the modem to the account.

3) Installation of cable and internet costs $80 to flip some switches, but if we want an additional cable jack put in they bring in a general contractor at an additional $99 per hour. The other option is to go full wireless with our desktops, which means forking out $100+ for new hardware.

They just don't even try, from step one, to give a customer what they need. David says the people are friendly, and it's just company policies that prevent anything from being done. Well screw Comcast, a company is its policies.

Verizon was so much better. Setup was no problem, they've replaced our DVR once and our router once just because we reported them not functioning. In over two years I've never had a problem, they've upgraded our internet for free (which is godly), and I've been happy. Now I have potentiall HAVE to go with Comcast given our new place and the option includes paying more for less. The company is a load of crap.

Lets not for get, mind you, that Comcast is all about caping download quantities and against net neutrality.

The only way we can get internet+cable is probably through Comcast, but I'm calling the other option anyway. I'm tempted to just get internet, live w/ downloading TV and Hulu (which is gonna start charging) and letting Comcast go screw itself.

End rant. My apologies.

Remember the Milk Reminds Me About Remember the Milk

19 11 09 - 17:13. Category:

David and I set ourselves up with Remember the Milk today. It's handy to do list web-based application that functions a lot like Google Calendar and integrates into the calendar too. It allows us to create lists, set dates, and assures my OCD mind that everything that needs to be done is done when it needs to be.

It has a lot more useability than Google's tasks feature, and I'm growing more and more weary of putting all my life-managing reliance on Google. Yes they are a good company, yes it is unwarrentedy worry, but it's still kind of disturbing.

Of course, the last thing I needed was for my Calendar to get MORE crowded with a task list on the side.

But it did remind me to make this blog post tonight, can't hate against that.

Boxes and Boxes

17 11 09 - 20:28. Category:

It's amazing how just taking posters off the walls makes a place feel empty. Our living room was ringed in movie posters, and now the vaulted ceiling really does feel gaping and vaulted.

I packed the "junk lying around I haven't found a box for yet" box this evening. The only thing left is the remainder of the kitchen, my closet (oh dear god) and my desk. 

As David has been saying but I've been avoiding, I fear we may run out of boxes. I brought through more home from work today and there's only one left.

It's exciting packing though, in less than a week we'll be settling down in a new place in a MUCH better location. So much to get done before that though!

Now, what to pack next...

Home Again

16 11 09 - 11:18. Category:

Vacation is over, now for rehab and laundry. Ate too much, drank too much, but definitely didn't have too much fun. It was fantastic seeing friends as always. We drove from 10:40am to about 2:00am yesterday to make it back home. 

Miracle Berries are a rather odd experience. Beer was completely vile, but the lime was super tasty. 

Next thing on the docket: we move in less than a week! We have packing and cleaning to do. Today though, I'll be lucky to get all my laundry done.

Roadtrip w/out the Driving

14 11 09 - 14:17. Category:

We are now sitting pretty at our friend Kathleen and Andrew's. Last night mostly involved drinking and video games, which was a lot of fun. Beaches are fun to walk along unsober.

Today we went to the Long Beach Humane Society. So many cute things! They have a really nice set up too. Mostly it's just a nice relaxing time hanging out.

No pictures from yesterday, but we should have some tonight. There's margaritas on the docket.

Lastly, having not shaved since Monday has me now feeling like something is stuck on my lip.

Raodtrip Part III

13 11 09 - 09:36. Category:

Sadly this is not an official 12 of 12 today. Mostly I just took a ridiculous amount of pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday, then we did a lot of driving. In total it took us 1,218.5 miles to get to Long Beach, 455 of that was driven yesterday. Our total drive time was 23 hours and 33 minutes.

Our gas milage peaked on our way to Long Beach at 42.23 mpg, the low point was on the curvier part of 101 on the Oregon coast, where we only got 36.85 mpg. We've averaged 37.75 mpg. Either way, it's a decent amount above the 32 highway my little Rio is rated at.

Last night we had some VERY fullfilling pizza and beer.

Roadtrip Part II

11 11 09 - 20:04. Category:

Including a little back and forth through the Redwood Forest, we drove about 381 miles today. Today entailed waking up early, visiting the redwoods, and arriving in San Francisco.

On the redwoods: You can never imagine a big tree until you encounter a "big" tree that is 1,500 years old and 22 feet in circumference.

On San Francisco: The bridge was amazing and worth the $6.00 toll. Downtown is crazy busy and the little diner we found was awesome. Thank the gods David drove, cause the traffic is NUTS. Apparently "bus only" lanes are really just suggestions...

Here's David looking up THE tree:

And here's what he's looking up at:

The "Cathedral":

Roadtrip Part I

10 11 09 - 19:31. Category:

We drove from Portland, OR to Crescent City, CA today. In total we traveled 382.5 miles. Here's a few photos from the leg of our trip down the coast From Newport to Crescent City on Highway 101.

I hadn't seen the beach in years, oddly enough.

Yay for even cheap hotels having internet now. Tomorrow we'll be checking out the Redwood National Forest and then driving our way down to San Francisco.

Google Calendar... Oh My...

10 11 09 - 12:45. Category:

It wasn't a few weeks ago that I blogged about the awesomeness that is Google Calendar. In what may be a forshadowing for the Google of the future, it now terrifies me a little bit:

There's just so much...

You probably can't tell but David and I are off for a vacation road trip as of Tuesday. I don't think I'll be able to post a 12 of 12 for the month. Don't worry though, there will be pictures when we return!

Packing

09 11 09 - 09:55. Category:

Good lord we have a lot of crap.

I've been bouncing from room to room packing what I can find to pack. Yesterday, I decided to pack all our extra blankets and towels. In the process I found two comforters, three pillows, and two wool blankets.

Slowly everything is getting boxed up and the place is turning into a mess in the process, but that's expected. We've moved a few things. I still think we should NOT have moved any of the heavy boxes of books and left them for all the friends we've suckered into helping us move in a few weeks.

Tomorrow David and I take off for California. We'll be stopping at the Redwood Forest and San Fransisco, then it's a weekend of fun down in Long Beach with some friends.

Malazan Book of the Fallen

05 11 09 - 12:19. Category:

I just finished the first of several books in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

Too often sci-fi and fantasy books try too hard in their opener. I like being immersed in another world, not drowned in it. Philip K. Dick's Ubik is a great example of this. PDK threw out so many made-up terms within the first two pages of his novel that the only reason I kept reading was because it was for a class.

Gardens of the Moon had a different problem. I spent the first third of the book being introduced to characters and given background. It was incredibly frustrating.

Probably 50% of the way through the novel it finally captured me. The characters became coherent enough that I was dedicated to their story. The author did an exceptional job tying all the characters together, especially for how many there were.

Erikson's world introduces a magic functionality I've never read before. One of the most interesting things about fantasy is the worlds authors create and how they're different. The Malazan series appears to have created a very epic world with a strong history (the guy has been working on it since the 80s). There are times some of the world history is a little incoherent though.

My only other grievance lies in the magnitude of magical power granted to characters. It seemed every character had an equal opportunity to be a total bad-ass, super-powerful mage in descise. The author keeps it together though.

Goodbye CPA Exam, For Now

02 11 09 - 13:49. Category:

Last Friday I took my fourth and hopefully final CPA exam. It was the section called Financial (FAR) because it is all about financial representations.

I struggled studying, after over five months I just didn't have it in me to care anymore. Actual learning lost a lot of ground to frustration. The content wasn't as irritating as it was the exam material itself. I got sick and tired of problems designed to trick me rather than to educate me and at my own mistakes too.

I don't think I passed. I went through the 90 multimple choice questions fast enough to prevent second guessing, and my two simulations were nothing like the 13 practice simulations I'd done. On the second simulation I left part of it blank. I didn't think anything should be done, and I couldn't figure out what they were asking for. However, I did the same thing on my second simulation when I took the regulation exam, and that one I managed to pass.

The only luck I might have (if my luck held out that started on Wednesday) is that the curve might work in my favor or a significant portion of my exam wasn't real exam. They test future questions by putting them in the current tests but not factoring them into the score. 

Regardless, I'm happy. No more lugging around my laptop and book, no more sacrificing part of my day after work, no more endless word problems and trickery causing me frustration. At the worst I'm free from the CPA exam until May, when I would have to retake FAR after tax season.

I'll find out the end result sometime in December or January.