Home Inspection!

Six hours and $600 later, I have a much deeper understanding of 45 Hough St (the place I may buy). Built in 1890, it has an old barn that was converted into two 2BR apartments. The barn and the house are connected by an added on section. Here's what I learned today:

• Powder post beetles can live for up to 300 years in wood. In the old days none of the wood was kiln dried, meaning the beetles lived on after the boards were cut. Nowadays that's not an issue. In this house it is a bit of an issue, especially under the barn/connector parts.
• Old construciton is OLD. They wood they used is also old now, as are the bricks, blocks, and other things that make up the house. When things get old they sag, crumble, split, crack, and otherwise deteriorate. I've got one non-loadbearing wall that's crumbled (block foundation in the connector) and one non-loadbearing sill that actually rolled out from under the gabled end wall and off the foundation (and also happens to be full of above beetles). The barn roof is also in need of some repair, although in the whole place we only found evidence of one leak. All the chimneys are essentially reverting back to the original clay the bricks were made from. Problem? Maybe someday, but it'll be ok for another decade at least (I hope).
• One furnace is great, the other three could go at any time. Three water heaters are great, one could go at any time.
  
• Moist dirt floor basements make me sneeze.
• One electrical panel needs to be updated from fuses to breakers.
  
• If I ever need to climb up the fire escape onto the roof again, there had better be a raging fire. That thing was terrifying.
• Most of the tennants didn't know there was a coin-op laundry in the builidng (two came home with laundry from the laundermat while I was there for the inspection.
• The attic wasn't originally designed for living space, but now contains three bedrooms. Electric heat was added at some point (the rest of the house is FHW) in the rooms up there. The joists are also undersized, and the floors are spongey/springy/droopy. That should be fixed.
• If you need a home inspection, call Guardian Inspection Services (in Manchester, NH). Steve was great - he was crawling around in racoon shit for chrisake. And he knows his stuff.

So there's lots to think about now. I might try to get some money off, or I might say f* it and pass on the place. I suppose it's not as bad as I think it is. I'll get some more opinions, the furnaces inspected by a furnace guy, and think about it.

What I really need to remember is that this house is not "my dream home". It's a means to an end. It's a way to get other people to help me out with my equity, reduce my immediate cost of living, and be able to get the 'place of my dreams' sooner than I would by just putting cheddar in the bank. Sometimes it's bad to expect everything to be done right, I guess. After all I don't live in the basement, nor am I going to live in this place forever.

Decisions, decisions....

May compassion be always in your heart, and peace be always on your tongue.

- J

An update on the house

Well, they accepted my offer on the house. Frikkin A! I am both excited and scared shitless at the same time. Financing is pending, and my home inspection is tomorrow morning. I'll keep ya posted!

May compassion be always in your heart, and peace be always on your tongue.

- J

Buying a what????

So I might be buying a house. A multi-family, actually. Hope to put an offer in on it in the AM. The place is freakin' beautiful! I hope we get it. Finances will be tight, but it's worth it in my book. Now, I just need to be able to pay for it. Wish me luck!

May compassion be always in your heart, and peace be always on your tongue.

- J

Simple, Green, Beautiful.

AOF...

The gear gods hate me!

What a weekend for riding! Saturday brought cold temperatures and even colder winds, but with the predictions calling for a return to warm weather I figured I had better get out and enjoy the bike(s) before the trails entered their yearly spring unrideable-ness. Z and I decided to hit FOMBA, then head over to Nault's. I love riding with Z because he's without a doubt the best rider I know. Every time I ride with him, I get amazingly challenged. Saturday was no exception. By the end of the ride, I was cramping in 50% of my major leg muscles. And I loved every minute of it! Except the minute where I hit that tree on Moose Tracks, went OTB, dragged my shin across the bars, and landed 5 feet down trail only to find a shoe still clipped into my pedal and no longer on my foot (I guess it's a good thing my foot wasn't still in the shoe. Although with the foot warmer still on, it looked like a complete foot and ankle...). After putting the shoe back on, straightening my stem, and reattaching my camelbak hose to the bladder, off we went. Not ten minutes later, I managed to somehow kick up a rock the size of softball (except without any round edges). Where did it hit me? In the exact spot on the top of my shin that I had nailed in previous encounter with that tree. What was even weirder was the type of pain that ensued. Not so much point acute pain, but more of a throbbing ache - almost as if all of my bones in that leg had split in half lengthwise. Very strange, and not so pleasant. Oh well, that's biking. I'll take that over a cubicle any day. Moral of the story: I rode with Z and was physically destroyed.

So Sunday I ride with AOF over at Ft. Rock. I figure I'll take the gearie out because I'm tired, and those nice, easy gears will help out. I spent a bunch of time swapping tires, brakes, and wheels over to the Gunnar to prep it for a good ride in soft sloggy snow. And it was a good thing I did, because soft, sloggy snow was the soup de jour on Sunday. About 3 seconds into the ride, I realize that the only gearing that would really help my tired ass is 4:11's in a Jeep. Not only that, but the Gunnar fits me like a woman's size 8; it looks about right but just feels awkward, and I can't get comfortable on it. We ride with Phresh (thanks for all the VW info!) and AOF's bud R and get in two hours of laid back weather-enjoying good stuff.

Here's where the bicycle gods come in.You'll notice that the bike god has no shifter-thingy hanging down in back. I've known this for a while now, but still chose to break out the gears on Sunday. How do they repay me?
By mangling my rear derailleur with a stick, of course. Shame on me for succumbing to the shifter-thingies!!! Now I'm out 45 bucks, which sux.

Fortunately, I listen when the bike gods speak. (except when they tell me to buy a new custom frame each morning) I see their dislike of the complexity of gears and associated shifter thingies. And, I agree. So instead of buying another easily mangled shifter-thingy for $45, why not get this for $120?



Isn't it sexy? And in that nice polished aluminum, it'll look great with my pretty silver Gunnar. Especially without gears!




View pics from Sunday's ride here. And get out and enjoy the nice weather!!!!

May compassion be always in your heart, and peace be always on your tongue.

- J

A day off...

After a nice therapy session at the gym last night, working things out with cold hard steel to the sounds of D4 and Propagandhi, man am I sore this morning. But hey, it's a good sore. At least my brain is working (as much as it ever does) again. Yesterday when trying to get work done on my thesis the screen started doing weird swirly things. I could see the page, but had no idea what it said. Shiza, if you ask me. So today I'm taking the day off. Of course that costs me about $250, when you figure I'm not working and I'll need to take another day off to work on my thesis, but mental health has to count for something. I think I'm going to take my pup to Vaughn Woods for a run/walk/stumble (depending on the ground conditions). She looks as bored as I am with my life right now.

On the bright side: I go see Bob Saget tonight. You know, the dad from Full House? I hear he's hi-farking-larious. A humorous end to a not so inspiring week.

May compassion be always in your heart, and peace be always on your tongue.

- J

Just when you get things almost figured out...

...a dozen more wrenches get thrown in the works. I went to the 'career fair' last year with high hopes. I was going to find my dream job in green building, and everything was going to work out great. What did I find? Shiza. Not a thing. "Green what?" So for the past year I've basically been planning my life under the assumption that I needed to approach sustainable devolpment from the building side of things rather than the engineering side of things.

Then yesterday happens.

I wasn't even going to go to the career fair. After all, I saw all I needed last year, right? For some reason I went anyway, armed to the teeth with resumes and professional dress. I walk in thinking I'm just going to look around, and walk out two hours later with essentially 5 job offers. Not a big deal, really, since I got a bunch of offers last year to do things I don't want to do. But this year, three sounded very interesting.

That's where the problem comes in. I was all set to start building houses. Heck, I'm almost ready to buy one in the coming month or so. Now this. I've got too many options, and I can't narrow them down. Don't get me wrong, it's good to have options. But I've got so many damn options floating around that empty space above my shoulders it feels like an arena football game inside there. All sorts of action. And all I'm getting out of it is brain overload.

So here's a Poll. Partly to get some opinions, partly to see if anyone reads this stuff.

Should I:

A) Suck it up and do some engineering. After all, you did go to school for 12 years for it.

B) Suck it up and do some engineering. The pay will be much better in the long run.

C) Stay working for my father's excavation business. You like being outside better anyway, and the pay is about what you'd start at in engineering.

D) Start building houses. It's the only way you'll ever get to control your 'sustainable development future'.

E) STFU. I'm sick of your whining. You should just move to Nepal and become a monk. That way no one will have to listen to you talk ever again thanks to your vow of silence.

F) Does it really matter? You won't be happy no matter what you do. Work sucks. Accept this now, and find stuff outside of work to meet your happiness quota.

E) Other. Please explain.

So that's my poll. Please respond, feel free to haze me. It's good for me.

May compassion be always in your heart, and peace be always on your tongue.

- J