It is done.

Well, mostly.
We have all of the boxes and junk in our house.
Now begins the long slow uphill struggle to find each of our pieces of junk a place in the new house.

Additionally, it has been a remarkably busy week at work. I may be getting a promotion to be the manager of the store I work at. Certainly, Chris, the current manager is leaving. He put in his two weeks notice on Monday, but has apparently been told to go by this Friday. Woah! Alarming.


Troubles seem to come in packs. Not that these things are necessarily troubles, but they are certainly big stuff.

It's official.

Anne and I are homeowners.
We closed this morning, then we both had to rush off to work.
Grrr. I want to go over to my new house.

My faith in humanity died a little today.

How can so many people act so dumb? Are they drunk? Are they really as stupid as they act?

If that is the case, how did they manage to live so long?

They seem to not hear you unless you tell them what they want to hear. I got a phone phone call from a customer at the bike shop today.

Him: Uh... Yeah, do you guys uhhh fix uhhh hand brakes?

Me: yes, we do.

Him: how much would uhhh, it uhhh, be to uhhh, fix my hand brakes? Like it uhhh, doesn't work. (at this point, I've edited out the stammering, but it continues)

Me: Well, I can't really say for certain without seeing it. There are a wide variety of things that could be wrong. The best thing to do would be to bring it in, so I could have a look at it. Estimates are always free.

Him: well, like, how much would it be to fix?

Me: It's hard to say. I'd really have to have a look to say for certain. It would be about $10 to adjust them, or about $15 if you need to replace the cable and housing. That is a fairly common problem.

Him: well, like, the if you squeeze the lever it doesn't stop. How much to replace the cable and the back part?

Me: Well, the cable and adjustment would be around $15, and new calipers (the "back part") are around $20, though that depends some on the style.

Him: Uhh, I dont' think it's, like, the caliper. Like, when you squeeze the handle, it doesn't stop.

Me: Well, I really should have a look at it. If the caliper is not moving, it could be that your cable is seized up, and you would need to replace the cable and housing. Though I can't say for certain without actually looking at your bike.

Him: But like, how much would that cost?

Me: the cable and housing? That would cost right about $15.

Him: $15? thanks.

I mean WTF? Do people call car mechanics and say things like “so , my car doesn't run, what would it cost to fix?” ...Well, come to think of it, they probably do.

If provided with some actual information, I can make an educated guess as to what's wrong with a bike. Given a description of symptoms which are vague and possibly contradictory, there's not much I can do.

Why are people so dumb?

my fantasy conversation:

"uhh, what's it cost to fix my bike, so like when you push the thing the other thing goes "click" then it like goes thump and stops"

Me: Oh, that's the very common "thing, click, thump, stop" That's twenty billion dollars. then there's a lubrication surcharge of $1.50.

House buying joy!

We went on the final walk through yesterday morning, and we have the closing on the house tomorrow morning. Wargh! or something.

It's extremely awesome! Very small. The upstairs is actually somewhat smaller than our apartment. The full basement makes up for that, but we're apparently getting a ping-pong table. (!)
There are more pictures on my flickr account. (see side bar)