The Front Door

The Front Door
Originally uploaded by apete.

Well, I have moved in. There isn't much there but it is mine (via the bank.)

Now does anyone want a house in Ann Arbor?

47-21

That may have been the best complete game that I have seen Michigan play in a long time.

Next Monday

Today, I spent about an hour and 15 minutes signing papers to become a new, proud owner of a condo. Yup, I raised enough money to at least get the 5% in. The title doesn't go into effect until Monday after everybody is happy with everything so, I have to wait through the weekend before I move my carload of stuff up there.

Washington's process is a bit different than Michigan's. In Michigan, I got to sit across from the seller and sign all of the documents together and at the end of the session, it was all over. For my last house it was an interesting thing because the guy that I bought my house from was one of those high school teachers that you don't want your kids to have so it made it interesting to me to finally see him for once. Here in Washington, the signings at different times. Hopefully Monday at some point, I will be able to get the keys and start moving in.

I do get my final walkthrough tomorrow so hopefully, everything looks good.

Last Weekend's Crazy Luck

Sunrise at Goat Rocks Wilderness
Originally uploaded by apete.

Well, last weekend I went on my first outdoor adventure. My friend, GJG, and I met up half way between Portland and Seattle in the Goat Rocks National Wilderness. We took a trail that we used using the nifty Northwest Hiker site. We selected the Shoe Lake Trail because it looked fun, it had water, and it was on the Pacific Crest Trail.

It really didn't have much in the way of water except for a few springs at the beginning of the hike and a lake at the end...oh well. We all survived. Another interesting feature was trying to find flat camping ground along the trail to camp on. We weren't allowed to camp in the basin that the lake was in so we had to hike back and with a few scrambles down a few ridges with no luck, we finally found a place that worked just fine.

The coolest thing about the hike was that we inadvertently found a friend of GJG's, Dan, that was a thru-hiker on the PCT. GJG missed meeting him while he was traveling through Portland. He knew that he would be in Washington somewhere and that was about it. We asked the first few thru-hikers about him and after translating that Dan was really Sweatbox on the trail and that he was about 15 miles behind. Armed with the knowledge that Dan=Sweatbox, we asked the next groups of thru-hikers with names such as Nemo, Haiku, and Tree Hugger getting better info. Finally, about 3 miles away from the car as we were leisurely walking back to allow for Sweatbox to catch up, he did. Very cool and lucky. Anyway, he was hiking with Star and Token Civilian. Greg got to catch up and we heard some harrowing stories and then we drove them up to the store for provisions before we took off to watch the exciting end to the 9-6 Seahawks victory over the Lions.

Expansion, Sharpies, V8, Condo Update, and Walking

Today, I got to choose the new layout for my office. The two interns that I was sharing the office with have gone back two school and my office will only have one other person in it! That means I get a bigger desk...I could use a bookshelf too but one step at a time.

I also realized today that the only writing utensils that I had on my desk at one point today were 5 Sharpies...I don't think I've used a Sharpie since I've been here but there were no normal pens or pencils. I really have to start making sure, I come back with all of the writing utensils that I walk off with and not leaving them in other offices.

It is nice having all of the free drinks that I want while I am at work. It sucks having free Coke there all of the time though. I have been trying to wean myself from it though. I have been very successful in the morning. I have been forcing myself to drink a milk, a V8 and at least one other kind of juice. No Coke. It's been working too. I've even started liking V8. I just wish it didn't have so much salt in it. My next step is to start replacing those afternoon Cokes with Talking Rain water. I've been doing ok with that.

As for my condo, things are looking good for closing by the 18th. I get to inspect it on Monday! I am getting excited and nervous. I am looking forward to having a place to call my own. Right now, I am renting a room from a couple of people in my programming class that have a extra room in their apt. It's working out for both of us.

Finally, for you Fitster fans, a few of us, have been keeping track of each others steps on walkertracker.com. It is the best thing that I have seen on the internet and I have been using it for the last two weeks and uploading almost everyday which is saying something! I really like the graphing...which you can do with your 'comrades'. There is also a mapping feature which isn't quite as cool as Fitster would be but you can see where your fellow walkers are. So if you have a pedometer, get out there!