Inching Ever Closer

Another milestone... Kyle and I signed (about eleventy-million) loan and homeowner documents at the title company today. Eeeee! Man, they make you sign for EVERYTHING. We even had to sign a piece of paper that said, in the event of a clerical error, we promise to come back in and RE-SIGN everything. Ugh. And they took fingerprints. And made photo copies of our drivers licences. It was intense and took almost a whole hour. A WHOLE HOUR of signing my name over and over and over again. And I couldn't just do my normal signature that consists of my first initial and a few letters of my last name. No, no. I had to write out Courtney A. NewLastName. 9 million times. My hand was cramping by the end of it. But we got through it!

Now all we need is for the seller to sign the 2 inch stack of papers and to find some freakin homeowners insurance (which, p.s. is turning out to be another nightmare in and of itself because in addition to finding coverage for our unit, we also have to find coverage for the entire building and the HOA. Since this place JUST became a condo there never was an HOA before so there was never an HOA to insure. They just had one policy covering the entire 3 unit building. Now we need insurance for each unit AND insurance for the building/HOA. Ugh. And of course our credit union won't even consider funding our loan until we have all the insurance policies in place. Booooo.)

Close of escrow has officially been set for July 17. Fingers crossed that we make it.

In other, less frustrating, news check out how cute we are at the escrow office signing our house papers:
(thank goodness our escrow lady was awesome enough to take our picture... I can't imagine not having this moment on film SD Memory Card.... hmmm, doesn't have quite the same ring to it, huh? Oh well)

:)

Oh, and that beard that Kyle's sporting in the picture (his "Christmas Beard" that he likes grow every December...) is now gone. Gone! I came home from work this afternoon to find a naked faced man standing in my bathroom wearing nothing but socks and boxer shorts (b/c apparently hair was getting everywhere! Oh dear! I didn't ask for too many details...) holding a razor and inspecting his neck for stragglers. It caught me quite off guard. I love Kyle with a beard, but I'll admit I've missed snuggling up to his freshly shaved cheek. I was starting to worry that he was getting an early start on next Christmas! So yeah. He's all baby faced again. I'm enjoying it immensely.

Just My Luck

The rates came down AGAIN today. Ugh. I knew they would. I am so bad at this game. Oh well.

Woo-Hoo! More House Updates

Saga with the house buying continues...

Today is day 44 of escrow. Wow. To write it out doesn't seem like that much time, but to actually live it feels like a lifetime.

We FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY got the place converted to condo. (Hallelujah!) And then stuff really started happening. Suddenly our credit union was willing to give us the time of day. As well as a list of demands before they'd give us a loan.

• Borrower to schedule an Appraisal. Check.
• Property to appraise for purchase price. Check. (Whew!!!)
• Borrower to forward copy of new preliminary title report. Check
  
• Borrowers to provide a most recent paystub for each within 30 days prior to close of escrow. Check
• Borrower to request the title company provide us with their escrow and title fees or a preliminary HUD for the loan amount. Check
  
• Borrowers to provide title vesting prior to loan documents. (This one was basically Greek to me - but the kind folks at the escrow office seem have worked everything out...) Check. (I think?)
• Borrower to provide evidence of homeowners insurance coverage for the subject property. We're working on it...
• Title company to provide a 100.00 Endorsement on the Lender's Policy to cover the Credit Union for encroachments indicated on Items 9 and 10 of the preliminary title report dated 6/18/2009. (Huh??? I have no idea what this means.... but I THINK the title company is taking care of it??
• Co-Borrower/Spouse to sign all loan documents as "COURTNEY A. KYLESLASTNAME" (Thank goodness I changed my name before going through all this - apparently if I hadn't done it, it would have been a problem, and I would have had to use my maiden name and then I would have had to to change it later and blah more paperwork!)
• Borrowers to provide Section 1 Termite Clearance based on Termite Report dated 6/9/09. Ugh.... this one was the wrench.

See - we had a termite inspection done about a month ago. Told our bank it was all done. They said cool and then never mentioned it again. Fast forward a few weeks, and suddenly it's not enough to just have the inspection done... no no... now we have to get all the stuff that the inspector found FIXED. GAH! Why didn't someone mention this earlier??? There were a few days of absolute panic while we tried to schedule the work to get done and figure out who was supposed to pay for it (technically, the Seller is supposed to pay for it - but SF is usually such a hot market that Buyers buy places "as is" - which means that the Buyer pays to fix this sort of thing. It was only $2500 worth of damage - which, in the grand scheme of things, really isn't much - but for a few days it looked like the whole deal might fall though because of it. The sellers had already agreed to credit us 1/3 of the cost (b/c it's a 3 unit building and the termite report was for the whole building) ... and we were HAPPY to apply our third to get the repairs done. So it was just a matter of the sellers coming up with the remaining 2/3. (Roughly $1600.) Unfortunately, money is super tight on their end so it was looking like Kyle and I might have to LOAN them the $1600, and then they'd pay us back after escrow closed - which would have worked, but probably would have been a huge hassle. Luckily, they were able to scrape the cash together and we were able to schedule the contractor to come out right away and we got the whole mess taken care of. But it was a very stressful week. Sheesh. Work finished up yesterday afternoon and we received a clean bill of health from the inspector this morning. Whew. Glad that's over.

So now we're just waiting to get ourselves some homeowners insurance and I THINK we'll be all set. (Fingers Crossed!!!)

Oh AND!!! the interest rate came back down today to 5.25%!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more gambling. Kyle and I paid our $250 and locked in IMMEDIATELY. It'll probably drop down to like 3% tomorrow - because that's just how my stupid luck works - but I don't even care. I have been KICKING myself everyday for not locking in last time the rate hit 5.25% so I am SO RELIEVED that I got a second chance. :) I'll gladly take my bird in the hand and forgo the two in the bush, thankyouverymuch.

So yeah - that's where we stand with the house. It looks like escrow might close Thursday or Friday of next week. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Drat

Rates are back up. :( Oh well.

This is why I don't like Vegas...

Decisions Decision

Gah - Who knew that being a homeowner involved SO MANY decisions?

When Kyle and I started house shopping we also started watching the interest rate at our credit union. Man - that thing is a roller coaster ride, if ever I saw one!

At one point the rate for a no points, 30-year fixed loan got down to 4.875%. Oh how I wish we had locked in back then...

By the time Kyle and I found our place the rate had risen to 5%... and then to 5.1%... and then 5.25%... and by the time we actually got all of our paperwork together and locked in, the rate was up to 5.375%. I was SO SAD. The difference in our monthly mortgage payment with a 5.375% loan vs. a 5% loan is like $125/month. It's a pretty big deal. I cried a lot about it (in fact I may have actually bawled in the bathroom at work, b/c I'm a bit over dramatic like that) - but eventually I accepted that there was nothing I could do about it.

In the following weeks, the interest rate continued to rise. At one point it got as high as 5.9%!!! Sheesh! Suddenly 5.375% was looking pretty good. Over the weekend, however, the rates started coming back down. On Monday they were 5.5%. And then, today, we got news that the rate dropped to 5.25%. Woah.

Our credit union has a policy that, for a fee of $250, you can do a one time "re-lock". Which means that for $250, we could lock in, today, at 5.25%. Which would save us $44/month. Not HUGE money, but you know, it would cover my monthly cell phone bill. But we can only do it once...

So the big question is: do we re-lock today and save $44/month... or do we save our one-time re-lock and wait to see if the rate drops again for potentially more savings?? Locking today means a guaranteed $44 in my pocket every month... locking tomorrow or the next day or even next week could mean $0 but it could also mean $50 or $60 or $100 per month!

What to do??? What to do???

Toast

My beautiful baby sister got married this past weekend.... details and photos to follow. For now, I want to share the toast I gave at the reception - you know, just because I wasn't POSTING this weekend doesn't mean I wasn't letting my creative juices flow.

This photo, snapped by Kyle as Caitlin walked down the aisle, captures my emotion pretty well... so you can imagine what a tough time I had reading the toast. But I actually managed to hold it together pretty well through the whole thing. Although when they had their first dance (to dixieland delight) I totally lost it.



Anyway, enjoy.


"Hello and Good Evening! For those of you who don't know me, I’m Courtney, the very proud big sister of our glamorous Bride. I want to start out tonight by congratulating Caitlin and Drew on their amazing wedding. The perfect day and the perfect venue for an absolutely perfect couple, it is truly an honor to be part of such a special occasion.

I’d also like to thank all of you, Caitlin and Drew’s friends and family, for coming here today, to celebrate with us. I know it means the world to our bride and groom to have each and every one of you here.

Caitlin – I just have say – you look STUNNING today. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Drew is a lucky man. It seems like just yesterday that we’re were running a line of duct tape down the middle of our shared room to separate “My” side from “Yours”. It seems like yesterday that I’d be tickling you till you cried, and of course then you tell on me to mom and I’d get in trouble, because I’m older and apparently I should KNOW BETTER than to tickle a person to point of tears. When we were little and we’d fight our mom used say, “Oh you two, how can you fight??? It breaks my heart. Don’t you know how lucky your are to have a SISTER???” And while our mom does have a flair for the dramatic, she was right. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have Caitlin as a sister. For 26 years, she has been my sidekick, my sounding board, my shopping buddy, my favorite dance partner, my confidant, and my very best friend.

Now, I never knew Drew before he dated Caitlin, so I can't tell you a whole bunch of stories about him, but I can tell you that I think he is perfect for my sister. I remember, four years ago, Caitlin telling me about this boy she met at party, how cute he was, and how they instantly connected and chatted the night away as if they were the only two people in the room. I remember thinking that this boy was toast – he never stood a chance. He was “The One” for my little sister. Drew – you are such a great guy. Funny, smart, charming, an excellent beer pong player. I have never questioned for one moment your love for Caitlin. She is truly blessed to have found you. And I can honestly say that I feel blessed to now call you family.

Caitlin, Drew, you guys are soul mates. I wish you all the best that life has to offer.

Everyone, please raise your glasses while I toast my little sister and her new husband:

Here’s to soul mates. Here’s to the crazy roller coaster called life, and to finding that special someone to share the ride with. Here’s to love, laughter, and happily ever after.

Cheers!"

:)

House!!

I must admit I am hesitant to write about the house before escrow actually closes (that whole chickens before they hatch thing...) but I suppose I can throw just a bit of caution to wind as we received good news today on the paperwork front with respect the arduous escrow process. (Long story short, the unit we are buying is in the process of becoming a condo... And oh what a process it is! It is currently one third of a three unit building... which is NOT the same as being a one CONDO in a three unit building (as far as the city is concerned)... even though it has it's own front door and walls and address and gas meter and everything... it looks, and smells, and acts like a condo... but make no mistake, it is not a condo... yet. First we must jump through many many many paperwork hoops, and then must we smile really big, and ask the city REALLY REALLY nicely, and even go as far as to pay all of NEXT YEAR'S property taxes up front... and THEN, if we're lucky, the city of San Francisco will graciously bestow upon our unit the miraculous name of condo. At which point in time we can FINALLY get a mortgage loan. Ugh. And don't even get me started on the fact that, long before Kyle and I made an offer on this place, the current owners had to win a lottery just for the mere pleasure of applying and paying for the necessary permits in order to ATTEMPT to become a condo. Gahhhhh!)

Little know fact: The condo conversion process, in total, takes about 2 years... that is after you've won the condo-lottery, which can easily take 7 - 10 years... in those 2 years most people age about 15. It's true.

So anyway... we heard good news today that the Mr. Head Honcho at the title company was "issuing the Title Company Guarantee of the Condo Map today"... which is really just confusing jargon to me... but my real estate lawyer tells me it's good news and we are now mere days away from being a condo. (I think) Hooray! So escrow might actually close in my lifetime.

So anyway - that's the ugly back story. Now for the fun part. House details!!!!!

Assuming all continues to go well, Kyle and I will (eventually) be the proud owners of a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom middle floor condo in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood of San Francisco. (Eeeeee!) The building was built in 1906 - which means it's dripping with, ummm, we'll call it character. It even has the original (made in 1904 - stamped right on the bottom!) claw foot bathtub... which p.s. we will NOT be keeping, b/c I hate claw foot tubs. Sorry. (Although it does weigh 400 pounds, so I understand the previous owners' lack of enthusiasm for moving it.) The place is about 1220 sq. ft - which sounds big (to me) but really isn't once you start trying to find room for all your crap (for instance, the piano from my dad's house - ugh, where on earth am I gonna put that thing - I REALLY wish I had just played the flute as a child.) But anyway... there's a WONDERFUL yard (I think this was the biggest selling point for us) out back with some grass, and a plum tree, and a lemon tree, and a whole garden growing everything from herbs, to strawberries, to corn, to tomatoes, to peppers. I swear, Kyle is chomping at the bit to just get out there and get his hands dirty. It's so cute. :) So yeah, the yard rules and sorta makes up for the fact that the building doesn't have a garage (although it DOES have quite a bit of storage in the basement - which was a big requirement for me... because, well, have I mentioned all my CRAP??) The place also needs a new roof, which is annoying, but at least we get to split the cost between all three owners. And the unit itself desperately needs a good scrubbing and an interior paint job and we'll definitely be ripping up the hideous blue carpet that is currently covering up the original hardwood floors. (Hardwood floors - eeeee!!!)

So yeah - it'll be a bit of project house, but the projects seem manageable (I hope!) and the neighborhood is AMAZING and it was in our price range. We're pretty excited.

See the two windows in the middle here? Those will be ours. :)


And now some Q and A's, because I know you want to know.

1. How long have we been looking for a house?
Seriously looking? Since January. And by seriously looking I mean that during the past 5+ months, we've maybe missed 3 open house Sundays. We even saw places on Easter. EVERY Sunday morning we'd get up and pull together all the open house addresses we found during the week and we'd then diligently map out our route (some weekends we had as many as 10 places to see in 3 hours! Proper route planning was key.) Then we'd eat breakfast, get coffee, and be on our way for the rest of the afternoon to check the prospective places out.

2. Did we work with a real estate agent to find places we liked?
No. 99.9% of all real estate agents bug me. And between redfin.com and craigslist.com and my constant vigilance in watching for new For Sale signs in neighborhoods I liked, there really wasn't much information that a realtor could provide me that I couldn't get on my own. Plus they bug me. (Did I mention that?)

3. Is this the only offer we put in?
No. This house was the fourth place we liked enough to consider putting in an offer on. The first place was an amazing (and HUGE!!!) 2 unit building that we wanted to buy with another couple. I loved that place... but it really wasn't in our price range, and the building hadn't been split into condos yet - so financing would have been a pain in the butt. We (us and the other couple) put in an offer but we were out bid by a whopping $200,000. (Yes we were outbid by the cost of a WHOLE HOUSE in most parts of the country.) Defeat. The second place was a upper unit in a two unit building (also not yet a condo, but more reasonably priced.) The neighborhood was great but the floorplan was pretty disfunctional. We decided that we could knock down some walls and make it work and we actually had our offer accepted! Wheee!! But then we tried to get financing and the downstairs owners didn't have enough equity to convince the bank to refinance the loan (see - this is the problem when a place isn't a condo - you can't get individual loans for each unit. Instead you have to get a loan for the WHOLE building - which can sometimes be impossible.) So then we found place number three... place number three will live on forever in my heart as the one that got away. I LOVE LOVE LOVED place number three. HUGE (1600 sq ft), a CONDO!, AMAZING floorplan, garage, storage, yard, huge kitchen, beautiful hardwood floors and gorgeous wood trim throughout. I was instantly in love. Unfortunately so were 7 other people. We offered $21K ABOVE asking and were still outbid. (Probably by quite a bit.) Ugh. And then we found place number four and here we are. :)

4. Did we put offers in on places without a real estate agent???
We tried all sorts of different stuff. For place #1, we found an agent (after we found the place), and wrote an offer the old fashioned way. What's crazy is that she would have gotten the entire Buyer's agent commission for about a day and a half of work. (I am in the WRONG business!) For place #2, we decided to try using the listing agent on the condition that he kick back $5000 to us to help cover closing costs (which seemed fair since he'd be making double commision because he was acting as both the selling and listing agent.) For place #3, we used a redfin agent - which has the huge advantages of a.) the agents don't pester you by trying to find you a place to live and b.) to compensate for not pestering you, they give you HALF of their commision when the deal closes. AWESOME!!! For place #4, we decided to go it alone - I wrote the whole offer contract myself (it's NOT rocket science, in fact it's mostly just fill in the blanks!) We decided not to use an agent (not use even a redfin agent, even though we love them!) because we knew that there were other offers on the table for the place we wanted. And if we didn't have an agent, then the sellers wouldn't have to pay our agent - which meant they got to keep more money for themselves, which made our offer stronger without us having to actually offer more money. Plus, did I mention that it is NOT rocket science??

5. When will escrow close?
I have no freakin clue. Maybe 4 weeks? 6 weeks?? It all hangs on the place officially converting to a condo and then us getting financing for said condo. Booo.

House Details...

... will have to wait. Because first I need to laugh at myself.

Last night I went to happy hour after work and played wing-woman for a girlfriend of mine. We sat at the bar sipping Pinot Nior chatting about men and commenting on the handsome bar tender's cute butt. And then it hit me. "Huh" I thought to myself. "When did I start finding old men handsome?" I'm not just talking about older men here... but like actual, objectively OLD men. This bar tender was cute, but you know, he was old. (Sorta like George Clooney) He had the salt and pepper hair, the worn in "man-hands", and an air about him that said I may be old, but I'm sitll dashing, no?. And he was dashing, but that's beside the point. He was OLD! And I thought he was cute! Weird.

Well, fast forward to the end of the night and it turns out that I accidentally left my wallet at the bar. (If my head weren't firmly attached to my body, I swear...) So I called, and spoke to some kind soul, and was SUPER relieved to find out that they had in fact found my wallet and were keeping it safely behind the bar. Whew! (Insert "kindness of strangers remark" here.) The kind soul then pointed out that he, having seen the birth date on my driver's liscense, was exactly 1 day older than me. Neat!

So I head back to the bar and, upon entering, get the attention of Mr. Salt-and-Pepper OldieVonCute himself and inform him that I just called and spoke with someone who found my wallet and could he please retreive it for me from behind the bar. "Hey!" he smiles "It's the girl who is exactly one day younger than me!!" And then he said some other stuff while handing me my wallet that I didn't really pay any attention to because all I could think was:

WHAT!!!????? I am the SAME AGE as Mr. OldieVonCute????? GAH!

D'oh.

In An Effort to Sleep Better

So I haven't been sleeping especially well lately... Even though I go to bed at a reasonable hour, I wake up at least twice a night and feel completely unrefreshed in the morning. And then on weekends, I stay up late and wake up early and can't fall back asleep. I'm becoming zombie and it's getting to be quite annoying! Google tells me that sleeplessness is sign of, among other things, stress and recommends a whole plethora of stress-relieving activities... including exercising - which, p.s., I did for a WHOLE month and really just detested every minute of it, blech! - and eating well - which I do, thankyouverymuch - and keeping a journal. And then it occurred to me... I haven't been blogging especially well lately. Hmmmm. Could my lack of blogging be keeping me up at night??? I guess I had sort of taken for granted the splendid catharsis that is pouring my heart out to the interwebs... sigh.

What the heck - reason #452 that blogging rules... it might cure my sleeplessness. (Fingers crossed!)

On the upside I have TONS to blog about....

1. Workout April was a smashing success... I worked out every single day for 30 days straight... I even did situps and pushups while hung-over in my underwear on the kitchen floor of my BFF Kim's apartment in NYC. (I was out there for her bachelorette party - which by the way, was SOMUCHFUN!) But boy, May 1st could not get here soon enough. Ugh. I HATE working out. Hate hate hate. Actually - it's not so much the working out part I hate... it's the motivating myself to just get up and go do it part that kills me. I really should consider joining a group class of some sort so I'm FORCED to stick to the workout... of course signing up for the class falls into the whole motivation thing...

2. My sister is getting married in TEN DAYS! TEN DAYS!!!!!!! I'm so excited for the wedding. It's going to be amazing! My cousin is making the cake, my mom is making the food, the bridesmaids are doing the flowers... it's going to be a total group effort, and I couldn't be more excited about it. (Which is strange, b/c it's basically the EXACT OPPOSITE of how I did my own wedding... I really really really didn't want to "burden" anyone so I just did everything myself or hired strangers to do it for me. Weird that what I considered to be a "burden" for people for my wedding I'm totally excited about doing for someone else's wedding... hmmm... or maybe I just feared that friends and family somehow wouldn't do things as "perfect" as a hired professional might... although that's obviously crazy b/c I wasn't all that happy with my professional flowers... I ended up letting Kim's sister do most of my make-up... and my friend AJ took a whole slew of pictures that EASILY rival the "professional" ones that we paid for... so yeah - I'm crazy.)

3. Kyle and I are in escrow for a HOUSE!!!!! A HOUSE!!! Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I've run the whole gamut of emotions on this one... and I will definitely definitely DEFINITELY write all about them... tomorrow. (Gotta ease back into this whole blogging thing, you know?) Stay tuned. A HOUSE!!! You know want the details! :)

Workout April

So, had I been a good blogger, you all would have known about "No-Elevator January" - where I refused to use the elevator in my office building, and instead chose to take the stairs up and down every single day. P.s. I work on the 5th floor - so this is no small task. It was so refreshing that I'm actually still doing it! Tomorrow marks 3 full months of not stepping foot inside my office elevator - Not even to go down! I'm quite proud of myself. (And my co-workers think I'm quite nuts and have taken to locking me in the stairwell after lunch because that's just the kind of guys I work with now.) So anyway - "No-Elevator January" was a big success.

And then there was "Cookie-Free February". See, my new office sits on top of an amazing bakery. And this amazing bakery makes A.MAZ.ING cookies. And they're only 80 cents a piece. 80 cents for a big, delicious, fresh out of the oven chocolate-chip, or peanut-butter, or snickerdoodle, or chocolate-white-chocolate-chip-with-macadamian-nuts piece of heaven. Heaven I tell you. Heaven for less than a dollar. I was HOOKED. It got to the point that I was having a cookie EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even when I had to climb down and then back up 5 flights of stairs - I still could not go a single day with my cookie fix. It was getting silly. So I cut myself off. For an entire month. (You'll note I picked the shortest month - because, darn it, I'm only human.) So yeah - that was February. It was tough, but I survived. (And I've since broken my cookie habit and can now go a whole week without one! Go me. Although on Friday afternoons they cut the price to 40 cents - and then... well... I'm not made of stone!)

March, ummm, was, ummm...."Plutonium-free-March"? "Don't-go-bungee-jumping-March"?? "Think-my-cats-are-adorable-March"??? Ok, so I didn't actually have a goal for March. It was more like "Keep-living-your-life-exactly-as-you've-always-done-and-don't-change-or-give-up-anything-March." I was VERY successful.

And now we're at April. And although "Give-up-nothing-March" was an unabashed success - I think it's time for another challenge. So I've decided on "Workout-April" (!!!) I plan to work out, for a minimum of 30 minuts EVERY SINGLE DAY for an entire month. Now, I realize that there are folks out there who exercise 5-6 times a week already and are thinking, pa-shaw, what's another day or two per week for a month?! But it should be noted that I am not one of these (as I lovingly like to call them) exercise freaks. I do not currently exercise. At all. Taking the stairs up to my office everyday has been a BIG deal for me. I'm not an exerciser. I never have been. And to be honest - it's starting to make me feel like sort of an outsider. An outsider with a flabby backside. So what the heck. I need SOME SORT of goal for next month. And with bathing suit season quickly approaching, my other option was "1200-Calories-A-Day-April." And you do NOT want to see how unpleasant I become when I'm hungry. So "Workout-April" it is.

Wish me luck.

6 months

Just a short post - because it's late... and it's a Friday night... and what the heck am I doing online anyway... but guess whose 6-month anniversary it s today? MINE AND KYLE'S!!! :D We've been husband and wife for 6 whole months! Woah.

And to celebrate, we went out to dinner. And while walking around on what turned out to be a GORGEOUS San Francisco evening, we happened to stumble into the restaurant where we had our very first date. (Except, of course, back then neither of us really thought it was a date. What did we know?) It was delightful.

Being married is the best. :)

Preparing For A Lifetime Of Correcting People

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello?

Helloooooooooooooooooooooo!?

Hmmmm - sure is dusty in here.

Sigh.

Well I'd better get to work sprucing the place up...

**************

I don't know why I picked today of all days - but for whatever reason today just felt RIGHT. I grabbed my passport, my social security card and my marriage license and I trotted down to the Social Security Administration building. They opened at 9am, and by the time I walked in the door at 9:08 the place was PACKED. I took a number and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Drat. I should have brought a book. Or made an appointment.

At 10:37 they called my name. My maiden name. Hmmm - that'll probably be one of the last times that happens. Weird. But anyway, they called my name, and I walked up to the window and handed over the documentation that proved that I was currently Courtney K, and I was married to Kyle H last September. The lady at the window asked, completely nonchalantly, if I was just dropping my maiden name and replacing it with my married name. JUST DROPPING my maiden name??? Listen lady - I am HARDLY just dropping the name I've carried around proudly for 28 and a half years. This is not a WHIM. This is not some tiny decision. This is not like "just dropping off some clothes at goodwill." Just Dropping. Sheesh! I am making the VERY HUGE decision to give up a part of myself. I am deciding that I love my husband and his family so much that I want to carry on his name and pass it on to our children. I want to declare to the whole world that he and I are now a family. Husband and Wife. One unit. With ONE last name. HIS last name. Because I love him. Because it's important to me that we have the same last name. And because it's important to me that that last name have a history attached to it - that it not be some made up, "new" last name. I don't think it's sexist. Or terrible archaic. I just think it's, well... nice. And I know it doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me and Kyle. Marriage is about compromise. I agree to change my name and Kyle agrees to catch and release any and all spiders we find in the house (because while I can't stand spiders, I also can't stand the thought of squashing them.) It works for us. And although it may have taken me almost 6 months to really feel comfortable with actually doing it (and actually spending the requisite hour and a half in a place that makes the DMV look fabulous and fun) it's done now. And it really is the best feeling and I couldn't be happier. Besides my sister-in-law took my brother's (and my) last name when they got married so I know that my family name will go on.

Lady at the Social Security office better recognize!

So yeah. I got a new last name today. Wow. And the first time someone pronounced it (the lady at the social security thanked me as Mrs. H as I gathered up my stuff to leave) - she got it wrong. Sigh. Kyle tells me I should get used to it. Apparently it's a hard name to pronounce. Oh well. At least it's MY hard name to pronounce now.

:)

************************

p.s. it's great to be back - sorry I was gone for so long.

My Last "Off-Friday"

I need to amend my list of things I'll miss about my current job... in addition to my great co-workers (who p.s. took me out for a lovely lunch today and made me give a farewell speech (eep! I hate public speaking!!!)) and of course the free feminine products, I'll miss having every other Friday off.

Yep - in exchange for working 9 hours per day (as opposed to 8), we get every other Friday off here at Big & Evil Inc. It's quite nice. Totally worth it to stay an extra hour every day if it means you get a 3 day weekend at least twice a month.

Last Friday was my last "off-Friday". Kyle and I made sure to make good use of the day*. And what a glorious day it was - mostly sunny with a high of 77 F. Yeah November in California!!

First we slept in. Mmmmmmmmm... sleeping in. Then we met up with Kyle's brother, Kelsey, and headed to one of my favorite restaurant's in Cole Valley (a neighborhood in SF) for a leisurely outdoor brunch. Mmmmmmmmm... leisurely outdoor brunch. Then we went to Golden Gate Park to visit the new California Academy of Sciences. Mmmmmmmmm... Sciences. It was AWESOME. As the advertisement goes, It's an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a 4-story rainforest... all under one living roof! And indeed it was! The aquarium was much bigger than I thought it would be, and they managed to integrate it with the rest of the building VERY well... it just sort of meandered though the other exhibits, so pretty much wherever you were, part of the aquarium was there too. Very cool. We saw a 3-D movie about bugs, took a ride through outer space in the planetarium, touched star fish and abalones, starred at the rather creepy looking albino alligator, and marveled at the truly awesome living roof. (It's covered in native California plants and wildflowers - quite stunning and functional!)


Me and Kyle checking out the Living Roof at the Cal Academy. The bumpy shape helps cool air flow down into the center of the building - keeping AC costs to a minimum.

Once the science museum closed, we wandered over to the de Young Museum for their Friday night happy hour and live band - highly recommended if you're ever in the park on a Friday evening. We sipped pomegranate cocktails and people watched in the outdoor covered patio while the sun disappear behind the trees.

After happy hour, we headed home to re-heat some leftovers for dinner. For the record, I've never really been a fan of leftovers... but Kyle is showing me the error of my ways. :) And you know what - they're not half bad... as long as I don't have to eat the same thing two days in a row. Variety is the spice of life! No?

With our bellies full, we changed into some fancier threads, hopped on BART and headed downtown to meet up with some friends at the Opera House, where we saw The Elixir of Love which is a sweet and, at times, quite silly opera. Yes yes, TWO museums AND an Opera all in one day - am I cultured or what!? :)

After the Opera, we walked to a snazzy bar in Hayes Valley where we chatted over wine and stinky cheese. A perfect end to our day.

So that's it, I guess. Now I'll have to work on Fridays. Ugh. The next time I want to go to the museum, I'll have to fight the weekend crowds, just like everyone else. No more Fridays filled with running errands or lazily lying around the apartment. No more heading up to Tahoe on a Thursday evening - totally avoiding the Friday rush. Sad. I reeeeeeally hope my new job is awesome enough to make up for it...

___
*Note: Kyle and I both work for same Big and Evil Corporation... so we both get every other Friday off... well... at least we USED TO both get every other Friday off... with my new job, I'll have to roll out of bed all my by lonesome while he slumbers away once every other week. Yuck. Those days are gonna suck.

Proof

Sweet! I've got proof that I made the right decision when I chose to leave my current job. This is an email I sent to a some co-workers a few days ago, in which I express my outrage at the latest law flowed down from our evil overlords. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that these rules and regulations are designed to maximize futility and minimize employee morale. Enjoy.

From: me
To: my co-workers
Sent: Friday, November 7, 2008 5:48:04 PM
Subject: I'll miss this place

Just in case there was any doubt in my mind that I made the right decision when I chose to leave [Big&Evil Inc.], today I received indisputable proof: I got reprimanded for using scissors. Apparently there is a new [B&E Law] out that scissors are no longer allowed – because they’re sharp, and people can cut themselves.

I kid you not.

Forget that kindergarteners use scissors all the time, [Big & Evil] employees apparently can’t be trusted to use them properly.

Reprimander: I’m sorry, sharps aren’t allowed anymore.
Me: Oh, these are just scissors. Safety scissors, no less. They barely cut paper.
Reprimader: Sorry, [B&E law] states that scissors are no longer allowed.
Me: But I have to cut this.
Reprimander: You’ll have to find another way.
Me: Another way to cut something? But that’s what scissors are for!
Reprimander: Sorry, we’ve had a lot of injuries with scissors. People cut themselves.
Me: Well maybe you should hire smarter people.

When I pressed him on how exactly he plans BUILD HARDWARE without ever using a sharp tool, he finally conceded that, ON OCCASION a sharp tool may be necessary, and if that was the case a detailed procedure would have to be written – complete with appropriate caution statements and warnings – stating exactly how the tool should be used. (“Insert thumb and middle finger into the loops on the base of the scissors; gently move thumb away from middle finger thus causing the blades of the scissors to become exposed. WARNING SCISSOR BLADES MAY BE SHARP!!!!!” ???)

Just kill me.

I expect pens to be outlawed next (you could stab your eye out!) Then we won’t be allowed to leave our cubicles (lest someone trip and fall while walking!) And don’t get me started on push-pins!!

In fact, if it wasn’t for this company’s LOVE AFFAIR with paper, I could definitely see them pulling the plug on that too (can you imagine the number of paper cuts people must get every year? Yikes!)

I’m a bit tempted to demand that we all be able to work from home everyday, as I’m sure just getting out of bed greatly increases your chance of injuring yourself, but instead I think I’ll just walk away from this madness. Slowly. Looking both ways before I cross the street, of course.

-Courtney

It's nice when life makes the decision easy for you, no?

Things I'll Miss

There are several things I'll miss about my current job:

• My co-workers, many of whom have become dear friends. I have been blessed to work with some amazingly brilliant people.


• The security of my job. The chances of my current company going under, even in this crummy economy, are about as slim as they get. At my new job, I think it's entirely possible that I'll show up to work one day and the front door will be locked and all of the desks and computers will have been hauled away by some repo company. This scares the crap out of me.
  
• The parking lot. I know this seems REALLY weird, but my current company does a really nice job with their landscaping. When I walk out to my car at the end of the day, I'm greeted by mature trees and fresh cut grass. It almost always smells nice. Often times there's a large V of geese or a solitary hawk flying over head. And, on most nights, I run into a familiar face on my way out and we exchange pleasantries, each wishing the other safe drive home or a nice weekend. It's a really nice way to end the day.
  
• The tampons. Also weird, I know, but my company provides FREE TAMPONS in all of the bathrooms. It's really nice to know that I never have to remember to bring my own. (Note: if free feminine products ever make it into YOUR list of the things you'll miss most about your job... it's time to find a new job.)
  
• The company-matched 401K. My new company promises to give me zillions of stock options, but they don't have a 401K plan set up. Booo. Even when the market is crummy, and my 401K bleeds like it's had a limb cut off, I still like having it. I realize it's a long term investment and ups and downs are to be expected. Over the long term, it's VERY likely that I'll make slow and (mostly) steady growth. Plus, company-match = FREE MONEY! (If anyone out there isn't taking advantage of a company-matched 401K plan remind me to slap you silly the next time I see you.) With stock options... well, let's just say the odds are much scarier. The potentially very big upside comes with a potentially very big downside.
  
• Telling people what I do and then having them ask, all starry-eyed, if I'm a rocket scientist. (I'm not, by the way, but I do work in the aerospace industry, which apparently means I'm a rocket scientist in countless people's eyes. Psssssst - I'll let you all in on a little secret: Putting functional things into space requires a lot more than just a rocket.)

Anyway, it's nice. It's safe. It's easy. And it has some decent curb appeal.

There are, however, things I won't miss:

• The commute. Driving 86 miles a day, in bumper to bumper traffic, will not be missed. Even if it does afford me 2 - 3 hours of prime NPR listening time (I LUVS me some Kai Ryssdal on the drive home!), I simply cannot wait to not have spend so much of my life in my car. Not to mention the sheer (ridiculous) volume of gas I go through (Approx. 860 gallons per year JUST driving to and from work!!) It makes me ill to consider both my impact on the planet and my wallet. Yuck.
  
• My cubicle. When I first started, my cubicle was like my own little office. I loved it. I set it up just so, with all my little pictures and trinkets in their place, and my drawers stocked with fresh office supplies. My books on their shelves and my papers filed neatly away. But it didn't last. Over the years they moved us into smaller and smaller cubicles. They took away our book shelves. Encouraged us not to display so many trinkets. Papers mounted and I lost track of what should be filed and what should be thrown away. I stopped unpacking my boxes in between moves, stopped painstakingly routing all my cords after each computer upgrade. My cube is now a sad, cluttered, dingy little space. I just sort of stopped caring about it. It is an uninspiring atmosphere in which to work at best. I can't wait to work someplace where I'll have windows instead of padded walls.
• The bureaucracy. In my opinion , we have far too many people doing far too little actual work at this company. Everyday, it seems, we're tossed new hoops to jump through, new forms to fill out, a new online system (guaranteed to improved productivity!) to weigh us down. It's as if the people writing the rules and the people forced to follow them live on two entirely different planets. I see the wheels of progress grind schreechingly to a halt over and over again as employees are saddled with ever more ridiculous rules and regulations that do little more than break their spirits and cost the company money. It's enough to make me scream on a regular basis. (On the upside, it does make Dilbert a whole lot funnier... b/c I TOTALLY relate to almost every single strip.)
  
• The speed. Or shall I say, the lack there of. Do you have ANY idea how long it takes a giant, bureaucracy laden corporation to put something into space? It takes roughly forever. (Give or take a decade.) I have been working on the same design project for 6 years now. SIX YEARS to come up with a design, refine it, get it approved, build it, test it, document the results, and deliver it. It will be about 6-million more years before they integrate it onto the satellite and test it again. And then another 3 eternities before they finally launch the thing into space. Do you have any idea how boring it is to stare at the same project for 6 years? And how sucky it is to know that by the time the thing ACTUALLY gets used it will be so out of date that people will laugh at it? At my new company, things get designed and built in about 6 months.
  
• Feeling like a tiny tiny cog in a giant GIANT machine. On the one hand, it's easy to blend in, to not have to work that hard, to "coast", if you will. If you and 100,000 other people are pushing the same giant block forward, does it REALLY matter if you push with all your might or if you just sort of go through the motions? Not really. The block slowly moves forward, pretty much with or without you. On the other hand, it's bit depressing, don't you think? I don't feel like I can have much impact here. No matter how hard I work, my salary probably won't change much (sure, I might get a 2.6% raise instead of a 2.4% raise - woo-hoo!), my department probably won't win any new business, my company as a whole probably won't be any more profitable, and I probably won't change the world. Maybe it's a blessing to not have the fate of your company (and the world!?) resting on your shoulders - but, at least once in my life, I'd like to know what it feels like to at least have the potential to make a real impact.