Procrastination Central

Round and round we go....

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:42:56 -0400

Every day brings another fight with the developer. It's extremely draining and Adam and I have said many times that we wish we could just walk away. Yesterday, we FINALLY got a copy of the floorplan and the appliance information we requested. But of course, the model numbers weren't all accurate and we aren't sure if the developer is giving us the upgraded package or not - even when we think something is resolved, it isn't. The developer continues to screw-up and misprice/mis-quote things and then thinks he is doing us a FAVOR by honoring his committment. For example, he told us that the granite in the model unit kitchen was the standard. We said "great, we love it" and got it installed. He later learned that it wasn't the standard and actually cost more, so he tries to play it off like he gave it to us a freebie/bonus. No, you just screwed up!!!

So, the drama continues with the appliances. Now suddenly, the washer/dryer is one of those apartment-like units that saves space with them one on top of another. Of course, this costs less and is not what he showed me when we were in the appliance store together a few weeks ago. He makes the change, to somethign cheaper, without telling us.... grr... our realtor theorized that it was because there wasn't enough space in the laundry room, but this sounds like a load of crap because we saw the side-by-side units in the model unit and side-by-sides are in the original specifications.... if they really won't fit, there's not much we can do about it.

Our realtor "claims" that we are going to get the undermounts taken care of free of charge, in exchange for us doing the closets, but still no definite answer on that.

We are supposed to close on April 13th -- no idea how this will actually happen. Adam and I are extremely drained from all of this. This is zapping all of the energy out of us - Every day its something else. This developer keeps saying that he's doign us favors and he isn't doing this for any of the other buyers, but he hasn't even sold anything yet!!! We feel like guinea pigs because so many screw-ups keep popping up.... Looks like we have to deal with this for the next three weeks. I'll be happy when we finally close and this guy sells some more of the units.

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House Update... I mean Nightmare...

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:53:22 -0400

So, three weeks have gone by and we are STILL waiting for our developer to get us a copy of the floorplan and a list of the standard and upgraded appliances. This should not be this difficult!!! Both our realtor and the selling agent have trouble figuring this guy out because he talks himself in circles. It is absolutely maddening!!! We are supposed to do the pre-closing walk-through a week from Friday (and we close the following week). I have no idea how he is going to get everything done in time, and that worries me. First, it throws off things like our move out date here and our reservation with the moving company, but also, and more importantly, I don't even want to think of the hasty, rush-job they do to get done in time... I shudder at the thought.

You would not believe the trivial issue we are debating about with this guy that should have been resolved ages ago. On March 6th, I went with Bill to pick out the granite (the day I learned about the two sons both named Bill! - that story still cracks me up!). We also walked through the model unit. I wasn't a big fan of the crappy closets he had installed. I told him we would be interested in handling the closets ourselves in exchange for something. He told me that he wouldn't charge us the roughly $900 for the undermounts (a nicer way to install the sinks/granite) in exchange for us doing the closet. Fine, nice and easy.... since then, he has changed the arrangemtn, and the credit we would receive, numerous times.... suddenly, we were responsible for our shower doors too.... then we would receive a credit for one shower door we didn't want, which was worth more than the closet exchange??? Nothing made sense. He didn't know himself what he had said from one day to the next. Even trying to undo the whole thing (by us just telling them to do the installations as originally planned) turned out to be complicated.

We've reached our limit on all of this. We have threathened that we will not pay the next installment to the developer until some of this stuff gets straightened out... sounds like things are still a mess. We learned from our realtor this evening that the selling agent was calling the appliance store herself to get us the info.

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Long Overdue to Write

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:47:16 -0400

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written, and I have so many stories to share!!! Between Adam and I both getting sick, incredibly busy days at work, lots of packing, and stupid dealings with our developer/realtor, I just haven't gotten around to posting.... and I've got lots to share.

Let's see if I can get us caught up tonight.... stay tuned!

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Adam had a great idea

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:59:43 -0400

Without furniture throughout much of our to-be house, and my propensity to purge old crappy furniture that is in sore need of upgrading, we will likely have some empty rooms between the time we move in and my August bonus hits. As it stands now, our living/dining room, will pretty much be an empty space for the first six months, as will our guest room.

Adam mentioned that we should focus on furnishing the office first (after the kitchen table, which we have decided will be our first purchase). The office is on the second floor, kind of in the middle of the house, and will be a good place to be if we don't want to be in the bedroom or in the basement. I want to make the office feel cozy so I feel comfortable working from home and we both like the idea of buying a 1.5chair for the office - it will be good for reading.

We both plan on taking the dreaded CFA exam in December and are going to need a good place to study in July, when the grueling process begins. Now if I can just get him on board with the paint colors I like for that room!

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Yuck - Busy time at work....

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:54:37 -0400

Ugh. I got home from work today at 8:30pm - on a Friday... no happy hour! Luckily, Adam came and picked me up after he had dinner with his folks. I realize that we only live a block away, so this may sound ridiculous, but I seriously would not have made it back to the apartment without falling on my face - there's at least 4inches of unplowed snow on the ground and I was wearing very cute, very high heels today.

It's been a long week. We had the conference on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was the calm before the storm and the last two days have been a zoo. Yesterday, I worked until 7pm, came home, dealt with house crap, and then worked until 11:30pm. I got up this morning and was in the office before 7am, and I didn't get home until after 8pm! Ugh.

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Our Developer&Realtor SUCK!

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:40:24 -0400

Can you tell that Ad & I are annoyed?? I was with the developer a week ago Tuesday, (so 9 days ago) and we are STILL waiting for him to get us a floorplan, which he said was easy to run off a copy.... we are also still waiting to hear what the costs of the appliance upgrades will be and what the heck he thinks he is trading us for doing to closets ourselves. This guy talks himself in circles, and in the span of one conversation changed the arrangement/contradicted himself three times! When I got off the phone with him I called our realtor and said that I wanted everything in writing and signed, because this guy is so inconsistent with what he says.

We asked our realtor to step in after a couple of days of not hearing back from the Developer and all we got is a "I'll get back to you", and then nothing..... COME ON PEOPLE!

I get the feeling that this April 13th closing isn't as firm as we think. If he hasn't given us the appliance info yet, we can't make a choice, which means he can't order them, get them delivered, installed, etc... that crap takes time.

AND, I have this fear that they are going to call and expect the paint colors on the spot - which I wouldn't put past them.... it would be completely unfair to make us wait over a week for relatively simply requests and then expect us to have our part done with little warning. When I met with the guy last Tuesday, he said he would need the paint colors we decide in a week or two, which means, NOW.

I can't give our 30days notice on our current apartment or hire movers until we know this closing date is still on. ARGH! Just had to vent.

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Closing only one month away....

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:15:19 -0400

I can't believe it - we close exactly one month from today. It will be here before you know it and we still have lots to do in the meantime, and plenty to plan for afterwards.... it would be nice if we would actually hear back from the developer or our sucky realtor when we had questions, etc... what a royal pain in the ass this whole process is.

Packing is a lot of work! I would rather do a couple of boxes a day rather than have to pack up everything at once. Especially since I only come home from work with a couple of boxes each day, where the heck would we put all the boxes as I slowly accumulate packing materials? Even though I am exhausted from the last two days of work, I can't keep myself from packing. What the heck is wrong with me? I barely have energy to get off the couch to come to the computer, yet I can get motivated to pack a box of office items. I feel like I am posessed or something! Adam thought it was funny at first, now he just thinks I'm strange.

This weekend we plan on hitting up some furniture stores and are going to try and get the selling agent to let us in to our unit (we figure if she is hosting another open house in the model unit next door, it shouldn't be a burden on her to let us in to our unit). Man, I hope they sell a unit soon!

I was joking with Adam that he must sound like Frank from Old School when he talks to people at work:

College Student: A big day? Doing what?

Frank: Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

Our latest house project is picking up paint colors. This is especially tough to do when we aren't in the place AND we don't know what furniture, rugs, etc. we have to design around. It would be handy to have my mom close by these days as well - she LIVES for proejcts like this. Actually, she's really tried to be involved, which is cute. Last week seh sent us a suggested color palette for our bedroom. I was at my friend's place on Saturday and loved the complementary (but not matching) colors she selected in her very open house. It helped me know how to think about paint colors flowing from one room to the next. This will be especially important in the family room/kitchen since it is so open.

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Conference Review: I give myself a B+

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:03:53 -0400

Yesterday was our big conference in NYC. I think things went pretty well. Unfortunately, I missed last year's conference, it was during my "hiatus" when I was working at that NYC firm. It was a little hard for me not having been to one previously, when everyone else at the firm had participated last year. To explain how it felt being there, I have been comparing it to how I felt the day of my wedding.... I was busy running around all day, barely had time to get some food in me, I was nervous all morning (because of my looming public speaking debute) and since everyone wanted to talk to me, I was sick of talking by the end of the day and my feet hurt.... But, just like my wedding, I really enjoyed myself as well. Going forward, the conference is definitely something I will look forward to.

I didn't end up finding a ballgown to wear at the dinner on Monday evening. I was really happy with what I ended up, and the fact that it came out of my closet and didn't require any last minute purchases.... I wore a nice bright-blue blouse that really stood out from all of the mens's suits and a black skirt with just a hint of frill at my knees. Professional yet feminine, I thought I struck the perfect balance. My boss was wearing a red/orange blazer with a very colorful long dress. She looked great in it, but I could never pull off an outfit like that. I look forward to dressing up a bit more than normal next year, but I don't expect myself to ever reach her "ball-gown" level.

I was moderating a panel and in addition to my responsiblities of introducing my panel (3 CEOs) and handling the Q&A, I was tasked with spending 10minutes talking about the industry, so the panel doesn't waste their limited time explaining the greater industry themes that have impacted them. Typically, company presentations will run be individually done and run anywhere from 25-40min. Our conference, which focuses more on industry themes puts 3-5 industry execs on the same panel by theme. Each compay quickly talks about their specific company and then we open it up to Q&A. Investors are big fans of our format, since none of our competitors provide the opportunity to have questions answered in this matter.

So, my panel was supposed to be an hour long. I was supposed to talk for 5-10mins, each of the three execs speaks for 10-12, and then we leave the extra time for Q&A. Well, I spent 10min, my first CEO spent 18min, the next one, who I was most worried about was done in 15, and the last guy went on for 20 min.... if you do the math, you will see that we had ZERO time for Q&A. So, that was frustrating. I had tons of great questions prepared in case the crowd got quiet, and there seemed to lots of audience interest in discussing further as wel.... we were the panel before lunch, so, you can't really drag on -- everyone is hungry and the food is sitting out already....

Things that I wish had gone better:
1) I think I was talking too fast... I always do this, especially when I'm nervous. 2) I gave my panel too hard of a time about staying on time, to the point that I had them overly worried. This wouldn't have been as bad, BUT 3) My 3 CEOs/Panelist each went over their time allotment, by quite a lot, and I should have found a way to either speed them up or give them a clue that they were over. 4) I need to remember that 5 years of covering these stocks means that I Know What I Am Talking About -- I need to carry myself that way. I should have been more visible with clients. This is unusual, because I'm not normally lacking in self-confidence. 5) I didn't find a good balance between helping the Admin with the administrative stuff and remembering that I am "above" worrying about that (I swear, I don't mean that in a snobby way). I should have been listening to more of the panel discussion, and worrying less about the coordinating stuff.

Things that I'm pleased with: 1) I did a good job of referencing back to my former boss in my comments, keeping his spirit alive (He was in the sector for 20+years, everyone knew him!) without dwelling on it too much. 2) I was pretty thorough in my comments without rambling on forever. My panel was able to reference back to comments I made, without getting bogged down in explaining larger industry trends. 3) I didn't fall on my face or do anything too clutzy or embarassing (well, until the very end when I nearly walked into a microphone, but by then most people had already left). 4) This may sound stupid, but I'm glad that I was able to monitor my alcohol intake during the evening dinner.... its easy to drink too much at those things when you have an hour cocktail hour, a sitdown dinner, with waiters constantly refilling your glass, and then the event continues at the bar for another couple of hours.

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Today's Act of Randomness

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:59:03 -0400

As I was getting out of the cab and dragging myself through the door of my building (after a long two days at the conference), an older man who lives in my building asked me my ethnicity - not normally a question I get very often since I don't have a very unique heritage. When I replied "What?" (translation: are you kidding me?). He asked if I was Turkish. Extermely random! When I replied, my back already to him, that I was German, he switched to speaking to me in German, An odd way to end a very long day...

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Can't Wait for this Conference to be Over

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 09:02:54 -0500

I had a bad dream last night that I forgot to introduce some of our Water Industry Speakers and I screwed up the whole conference. That's not even my role in the conference! I can't wait until this is is over. Next week is going to be hell. Not only do we have the conference, but it is also our busy season, so we will swamped with earnings and post-conference items as well. Ugh.

I am a moderator for a panel, which is pretty cool. Really a chance for me to get visible in the space and make a name for me with some of our clients... big stepping stone - NO PRESSURE!

Yesterday, my boss informed me that she is wearing a ballgown to the dinner we are hosting (for 130 guests) on Monday night. She figures it is her/our conference, and she's going to strut her stuff - she is encouraging me to do the same. Apparently, last year, she wore a long black velvet gown. So, looks like I need to go shopping this weekend. I was just planning on wearing a pencil skirt and a blouse. I don't have anything in my closet that fits the bill (nothing that even comes close!) Would have been nice to know this earlier... oh well.

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