What I Haven't Been Up To

How on earth has it been so long since my last post? The lull of the Orange County lifestyle has slowed me down. Too many frozen yogurts and trips to the mall have left me unable to accomplish as much as I used to.

The biggest news is I did not buy a house this week. I was on the verge of making an offer on a beautiful apartment right where I want to live. San Francisco real estate is pretty crazy, in that it's the only one that hasn't truly slowed down. Even the recent Chronicle article about SF real estate finally slowing down admitted that in my price range in the 'desirable areas' (I like to think anywhere I'd live is desirable), the slow down has not happened. But I looked at a lot of places back when I was up there, and I found two that were quite nice. The one that I fell in love with had great views, a huge kitchen which opened into the living room, which had box beam ceilings and built ins. However, it was a 3-unit Tenancy in Common. San Francisco has really tight rules on condominium conversions, and has limited them so greatly that a lot of the apartments for sale are being sold as percentages of a building. Long story short, I would have had to go in on a mortgage with people I haven't met, and the financing story we kept getting from the seller was sketchy. So I backed off and decided to be homeless.

In all seriousness, this now means when I step off the plane from China at the end of July, I am immediately going house hunting again. I have six weeks between that day and the day I start work, which means that it's quite likely I will not have a place to live by then, given escrow and other delays. The thing that concerns me about this is Satchel. I would like to have a week with him in my new apartment to get him set up with a dog walker and get him used to his new surroundings. He's dealt with a lot of adjustments in his very short life thus far, but I think I'd be more comfortable if we had some time before I start leaving him for long periods of time. Full time work is going to be tough for both of us.

So that's my non-news. Fun stuff! The Dodgers won two in a row, and if you didn't see Kuo throw his bat after his first-ever MLB home run, you missed a hilarious sight. Vin Scully agreed.