Sorry. Been busy with house and work and school and band and garden and Wikipedia and Inauguration and California and and and and. You know the drill. Still around, though, and getting the blogging bug again. This’ll have to be a short post, though, as I have much to do yet tonight (like watch a storm roll in, woo-hoo!).

Shortly before our second closing date, we discovered that the sellers’ sewer cabling had caused the house’s sewer lateral to collapse. (It’s irrelevant whether the collapse was a direct or indirect result of the cabling, so we didn’t bother pursuing.) The sellers agreed to pay to remedy the problem and extend our rate lock, and the work started about a month later. We finally closed November 7 and moved that weekend. Since then, we’ve been unpacking; replacing locks, light bulbs, hydraulic screen door closers, and thermostats; fighting latent plumbing issues (leaky shower, leaky faucet, valves that break off in my hand, et al.); pulling up carpet to reveal hardwood in iffy condition; and generally trying to make sense of the new place.

Things are starting to come together. We’re planning to spend the long weekend making things somewhat presentable for a month-late birthday dinner – a little paint, a lot less carpet, and maybe even a clothes dryer that is hooked up and working. (The washer is awesome and all, but hang-drying everything can be a bit tedious.)

Now that we’re moved, though, I have lost one massive excuse for teh blogslack. dammit!

I know, two months. Sorry. I’ve never exactly been consistent here, though, so this particular hiatus was unexpected but not unprecedented.

We adopted Kooper and have been working on getting him fully adjusted to us, and us fully adjusted to him. He’s bigger than we had planned, and his size does make him a little intimidating to some people, but so far everyone who gets to know him falls in love with him. Now all we have to do is get him to realize that car rides are not punishment.

We’re also in the process of buying a house. The current housing market really isn’t bad if one can get credit, and as it turns out, we can, thanks to FHA loans (a New Deal program that the Republicans haven’t dismantled yet) and a nifty benefit from my employer that will be providing 5% towards our down payment.

The house itself is a story and a half, so the dog and cats can be on separate floors if they so desire. It’s in wonderful shape thanks to the conscientious efforts of its current owners; the house inspector only found a couple notable problems, and they’re relatively small fixes. We’ll be living in a well-managed inner-ring suburb that would have been part of the City except for the 1876 secession; the daily commute will be very short for me, and it’s very close to most of the stores we frequent. There’s also a backyard that’s big enough for both an energetic dog and a modest vegetable garden.

Closing is set for early October. Once we take possession of the house, we’ll be pulling up carpet, refinishing floors, and upgrading dual-prong electrical outlets to grounded outlets before moving. Later projects will include some work on the kitchen cabinets and upgrades to the air conditioner and water heater, and possibly even a photovoltaic system on the roof. In the meantime, though, Fred’s packing stuff and I’m hashing out details on the mortgage and insurance and down-payment program.

More on all that as things develop. Any questions?

Let’s get past that and on to the real content, shall we?

Since mid-March… hrm. Concert with Ann Hampton Callaway at the Roberts Orpheum fka the American Theatre. (I was giddier about the balcony on stage right where Eddie Vedder swung around in the video for [I think] “Alive”.) Managed to appear for roughly 3.2 seconds on NBC Nightly News; video and story are still online. (That one stupid sentence appeared in a Parade Magazine classroom-related bit too, apparently.) Somebody tried stealing Nigel, but failed miserably; we missed this year’s gay rodeo as a result, but the good news is that the insurance will handle all costs beyond the deductible (to include new driver’s side window and door handle and key lock, shroud for steering column, and some newly-surfaced dents on the door proper). Had appointments with our nurse practitioner (last week) and optometrist (today); everything is peachy keen on that front, though my eyeballs still hurt a bit (student optometrist + first day of clinicals with real patients = NERVOUS and a wee bit rough). Looking at houses with 4+ bedrooms, as ye olde clock is ticking. Been working out pretty well, doing squats et al. for legs and using the Perfect Pushup (as recommended by Jocko) for upper body; legs are progressing as normal but I am completely loving the P.P. bars even though (and perhaps because) they kick my ass. Got my mother hooked on Lush by giving her a gift assortment thingy for her bday.

Work… uh, well, I’m still employed, even though some days it is VERY TEMPTING to call somebody a vapid self-absorbed fuckwit. Still in the market for something else, if any of you know of anything.

Fred’s good. He keeps up with his classwork better than me (cough, cough), and is in the thick of clinicals. Sometime in June or July he’ll receive his provisional license for massage therapy, and can start seeing actual clients rather than those who swing by the school. (He already has a couple lined up…) However, he is a bigger blogslacker than I, hint hint.

My ten-year high school reunion fast approaches. Honestly, I don’t care. In the prepwork I found quite a few people on MySpace that I’d rather avoid, and only two that I’d actually want to see again (one of whom I’d only want to see because I had a notable crush on him in HS). Better to stick to electronic means as far as I’m concerned, because that way I can be much more selective.

That’s all I can think of. Please ask if you want to know anything further. (can’t guarantee that i’ll give you the answer you seek, but you are more than welcome to ask.)