Procrastination Central

New Tea

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:19:09 -0400

Ran out of three different types of tea during the last two days - a near crisis! So, I went tea shopping today. Came home with an old favorite (black w/ cranberry & orange) and two new ones: Black w/ peaches, and black w/ strawberry & Papaya.

Clearly, I am fond of black/fruit blends. Brewing a cup of the black peach now. Smells yummy!

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QotD: Step into My Closet

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:17:04 -0400

How many pair of shoes do you have? Out of those pairs, how many do you wear more than a few times a year?
Submitted by fightinggale.

Fun question!!! I don't know how many pairs of shoes I own, but I think its probably below average for my gender/age. And since the majority of my shoes are pseudo-boring work shoes (mainly black, brown, & blue in varying heights), most of my shoes are worn pretty regularly. I've got two pairs of casual sneakers and two pairs of workout/tennis sneakers. 3 pairs of flip flops, probably 3 pairs of strappy summer sandals (definitely need more), and three pairs of special occasion shoes (black, brown, and cream). I need a silver pair to go with a dress I just bought.

I am trying to throw away a pair of old, worn out shoes every time I buy a new pair. I am missing "fun" shoes that I could wear with jeans and a nice top out on weekends. I was sorely disappointed with Nordstrom's last time I was there. My shoe collection is pretty boring - mostly NineWest

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Can we make this work? Haverford Ave House Revisited....

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:16:38 -0400

Ever since we saw this house (#4) I feel more and more like we can overcome the things we didn't like and really make it our home. My initial concerns were the small master bedroom, tiny master bedroom closets, and needing-an-update master bath. At first, my solution was to gut the shower and create my own makeshift closet/ironing station in the attic.... nothing too involved or too costly.

After some thought, I have an even better (scary, is the word Adam would use) alternative. The guest bedroom is 18' x 11' - a good sized room. It shares a wall with the master bedroom - the man's closet and guest bedroom closet are on this wall. I was thinking that we take about 2-3 feet from the guest bedroom, since it is so big, and expand that closet to a walk-in. My woman's-closet shares a wall with the master bathroom. Why not knock out the closet and expand the bathroom? Genius, pure genius..... You can see why this remodel would frighten Adam. In my defense, a larger, redone master bathroom and a walk-in closet would certainly add to the value of the house......

Our other concern was that the house is located on a busy-ish street. However, both the master bedroom and large guest bedroom are out the (quiet) back of the house -- so, less of an issue, maybe....

Adam is going to see 3-4 places without me, while I slog through earnings season. If he doesn't see anything that jumps out at him, we will revist the Haverford Ave house and see if my plan is logical.....

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A Smile on a Stressful Day

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:01:20 -0400

My boss is off at a conference she (admittedly) should not have agreed to attend. This is leaving me and our associate running around to handle earnings - our busy season. Luckily, we only had two so far, but one is the biggest stock in our sector - and the stock was down 6%+ today on the news - which is a big deal. The other is an "unloved" stock that I can finally upgrade because results were good... So, both notes are really important and have to get published ASAP. I'm sitting here at 10pm with at least an hour of work ahead of me. AND, I have to get up at 5am because my boss is only available until 5:30am, because that's when she leaves for the airport.

ANYWAY, in the course of our IM conversation today, she mentioned that she had gotten positive feedback from industry folks that had attended my speech in FL a few weeks ago. (editted, obviously, IM below). YEAH ME!!!!

BOSS (6:35:33 PM): I meant to tell you that and to tell you that XXX and XXX said you did a GREAT job at the Florida forum
BOSS (6:35:47 PM): so now you can leave with a smile
XXXHeike (6:35:54 PM): oh good - i didn't hear a peep from anyone after my panel.
XXXHeike (6:36:00 PM): yes indeed - :-)
BOSS (6:36:13 PM): XXX really raved about how well you did

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This is why Extreme Make-over is Stupid

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:05:36 -0400

I have been annoyed at the premise of this show and it one of very few reality shows that I completely ignore (the others are Survivor, Big Brother, & American Idol - in case you care).

I think its great for a show to centera around helping families in need, but this exibition of excess brings with it even more problems. Here's a local example. People who can't afford a large house to begin with, aren't going to be able to afford their now larger utility expenses, maintenance, or reassessed taxes.

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Let the Count Begin....

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:03:20 -0400

Realtor #3: Houses 1-4

#1 - Tudor House: Very cool looking stone tudor on a very small lot (0.14 acre) with the neighboring house practically on top of you. It was also on the corner of a very busy intersection. We knew before we even walked in that this house wasn't for us. It had an in-law suite, which I thought was interesting - I thought it might work for an au-pair. Apparently, they converted what was once a doctor's office into a mini-apartment. The inside needed lots of work - the dated wallpapering (which was on the ceilings too) was frightening. We would have need an extra 100K to spruce that thing up. No getting around the location or the lot size, no matter how much money we had to give it a much-needed face lift.

#2 - Delaware Ave Remodel: Adam and I have seen enough shoddy contract work from our Graduate Hospital-search to know that we were not fans of this house. There were just too many things to overcome, including weird bonus space/rooms - one behind the fireplace (they must have closed in a porch) and wacky converted attic rooms that would only be appropriate for midgets., It also had a weird layout on the second floor and a small master bath and itty bitty closets,

#3 - Tulip House: I got a good vibe from this house before we walked in. Gorgeous plot of land, great landscaping, gorgeous tulips (on steroids) in the front, and a fabulous slate porch with trellus - I was also intrigued by the photo of the desk/window nock, which ended up being a part of master bedroom. This was a 75 year old house that had been remodelled. The basement had a low ceiling and icky, cheap flooring. Adam wasn't a fan of the kitchen. I was bummed about the two small bedrooms with small closet - no good place for an au-pair. The master bathroom was not remodeled and would have needed a lot of work. It was a disappointment because it had a great layout for entertaining and a phenomenal backyard in a great neighborhood.

#4 - Haverford House: The jouse was right on Haverford Ave, but had these large (and I mean BIG) shrubs in the front that completely hid the road - you can't tell in the first photo - it must have been taking standing in the scrubs. The entrance to the garage was actually in the back of the house and it had a nice patio. Garage didn't connect into the house though. On the first floor was a small living room, a nice dining room, the kitchen and a half bath. We were concerned at first that the living room was too small, but the basement was finished (bottom photo), making the small living room a non-issue - nice half bath in the basement as well. The 2 bedrooms on the second floor were a good size for an au-pair and the hall bath was in good shape as well. Master bedroom was small, with little closets and a hurting bathroom. The toilet & sink, and floor had been redone, but the tile and the shower were awful and would have needed to be our first remodel project. The closets were teeny. They converted the attic (slanted ceilings) into an office. I would have converted half of the attic into my closet/ironing area. Its location on Haverford Ave was the biggest drawback, then the master bath, and the non-connecting garage.... definitely a house to be keeping in mind though, as we continue our search.

Our Realtor was better in person than he's been over the phone, but he talks to much and was keeping us in places longer than we wanted to be. I don't need to talk everything to death for places that we aren't liking. We'll have to make more of an effort to keep the pace faster going forward. We had been debating finding someone else, but this guy seems to know what he is doing -- definitely more experienced than our nightmare of a realtor the first time around.

Adam will be taking the reigns from here. He's much more particular, so it makes sense for him to be doing the legwork. I'm swamped at work and have a harder time leaving at 5:15pm to go see places after work anyway. It's too bad that I'm not a better judge of what he would like, because I have more vacation days and could have easily taken a day or two (or some half days) off from work to go see a slew of houses all at once. I could have then had Adam circle back to the keepers.....

The search continues..... Adam will be going out again one day next week for Round 2.

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Parking Wars Spotting

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:59:16 -0400

Adam and I are big fans of the show. A couple of times now I have seen some of the PPA people that have been profiled on the show. Adam even got a parking ticket from one of them while he was double parked grabbing some booze at the liquor store on 19th & Chestnut.

Yesterday, I actually saw them filming outside of our apartment building. I realize the photo isn't the greatest, but it is proof nonetheless. I didn't want to be creepy-stalkeresque and get closer for a better shot.

Parking wars

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The Househunt Disappointment continues...

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:17:05 -0400

So, we got a referal from a friend for a PA 'burb realtor. I traded phone calls with him for about a week until I reached him (including a wacky call that Adam received at 9pm on Saturday night when I was in FL - who calls at that hour?). Finally, last Wednesday or Thursday, we spoke in person. Weird guy, but I can't really put my finger on it.

It took him until Sunday afternoon to get around to sending us some listings that met our criteria. He sent about 27 and there were 5 good ones and another handful of places that we could have an open mind about. I sent him an email at 9am this morning with our selections. It is now 7pm and I have yet to hear from him. What the heck? We told him we were available on Tues & Thurs evening this week to see places. Since I haven't heard from him yet, its probably safe to assume that seeing places tomorrow is out of the question.

We have dealt with two other realtors from our last house-search-stint. Both were extremely prompt in sending us listings (its not like it is a difficult task) and quickly responding once we communicated the places we were interested in seeing.

Not getting a good vibe from this guy. Zero reason for him not calling or responding to my email during the business day. Since we didn't get a good vibe from him to begin with, I think we are just going to bail and find ourselves another realtor.

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This Can't Be Happenening... AGAIN!

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:40:12 -0400

Got a phone call from the student we selected to be our summer intern. SHE'S BAILING ON US!

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING - It's freakin' deja-vu -- this is exactly what happened last year... After an insane amount of work to hire everyone interns, I end up with the strongest candidate, who then bails at the last minute and I am left with nothing. UNBELIEVABLE!

You are not going to believe this.... I just dug up the post from when my intern did this last year and it is dated on the EXACT SAME DATE - down right freaky!

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Intense... Me?

nobody@vox.com(Heike) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:38:46 -0400

I have lots to share today. Let's start here......

My current intern has been a nightmare - I have ZERO luck on this (more to come) - lately, she's been completely useless and "checked out" so I stopped giving her any *real* work. Today was her last day and she gave me a card thanking me for the experience. In the card, she said wished we had hit it off better (she's a little, shy chinese girl that we could barely get to talk) because I seemed really nice, if not intense..... the card was full of wacky grammar and word choice and I never really thought anything of it.

My Associate read the card after she left today and kind of snickered when he got to the part where she called me intense - I said I thought it was funny too and he asked, "you are being sarcastic, right?" To which I replied, "I'm not intense" and he said "Yes you are!" What! Me??? I don't think I'm intense.... he tried to backpedal his way out of it with an explanation that only pseudo-worked...

Adam thought the whole thing was comical.... he said he totally thought I was intense at work - not that it was a bad thing.... Am I?

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