Something Random

[Howell]

Sweet! A scientific basis for my own home remedy.

 

[sechs]

Home remedy? What do you think those throat lozenges do?

They make you salivate and add denaturing agents. (They also often have anesthetics and cough supressants to aid things a bit, as well.)

A low-pulp orange juice might be a better choice, but if you drink too much, you'll just get a belly-ache.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm whipped.

It's 11:30PM, and I'm about to drive an hour to see my GF...when I have a meeting tomorrow morning down here at 8AM tomorrow.

She has no plans for tomorrow, and it's her turn to make the drive, but she's "feeling tired".

Grr.

 

[time]

You have a serious problem with your relationship.

Sucker ... :bow:

 

[Mercutio]

At least he has one.

 

[Howell]

Home remedy? What do you think those throat lozenges do?

They make you salivate and add denaturing agents. (They also often have anesthetics and cough supressants to aid things a bit, as well.)

A low-pulp orange juice might be a better choice, but if you drink too much, you'll just get a belly-ache.

Dunno, don't use them. I like to know what I'm ingesting. Hey if I came up with it I can call it a home remedy even if the rest of the world already knows. Lemon juice works better for me than OJ. OJ causes too much mucus production.

 

[Howell]

David is fine. There are worse things than not being in a relationship or having to work to maintain one.

David, I admire your desire to do what it takes to maintain the relationship but you've got to be smart about it. It's not going to do you or her (fiance correct?) any good long term for you to not be at your brightest and bushyest for your clients.

It won't kill you guys to miss one date and it should influence her to prepare better. Sometimes these things happen.

 

[Mercutio]

There are worse things than not being in a relationship or having to work to maintain one.

No, there aren't.

 

[sechs]

Merc, you are officially bitch-slapped.

If someone has a glass of water, splash it on his face.

 

[Mercutio]

Harumpf.
Relationships make life worth living.


Or, at least, nothing else seems to.

 

[ddrueding]

Harumpf.
Relationships make life worth living.


Or, at least, nothing else seems to.

I'll second this. For those of us who lack any intenal self-esteem, and draw our self worth from those around us, being in a realtionship (even a dysfunctional one) is as important as oxygen.

 

[sechs]

Considered working on your self-esteme rather than your dysfunctional relationships?

 

[Mercutio]

There are whole threads about that. They're quite long, and I don't know if you've read them, but they are there.

Besides, I have no relationships.

 

[Mercutio]

Self esteem is for everybody
Self-esteem is for everyone.
You can dream and be anybody
Self-esteem is how you get it done.

-- Angel, season 4 episode 14, "Smile Time"

 

[Handruin]

One more post for Mercutio and he becomes a ...

 

[sechs]

Monkey?

 

[ddrueding]

Jinx! Now Merc can't make another post until I release him

 

[timwhit]

Congrats Merc. Maybe in about 3 or 4 years I will have that many posts as well. And by that time you will be hitting 10-15000.

 

[ddrueding]

Sitting at home in a $1.2M house, drinking very nice wine, from very nice crystal....ALONE.

Some things in life are highly overrated, some are highly underrated.

Currently, life sucks.

 

[Pradeep]

Buffy Season 7 on DVD April 5th (Region 2 from UK). Life is good.

 

[Mercutio]

Sitting at home in a $1.2M house, drinking very nice wine, from very nice crystal....ALONE.

Some things in life are highly overrated, some are highly underrated.

Currently, life sucks.

I'd drink to that.

Er, if I drank, that is.

'deep, let me know if the rumors about mutliple discs of extras in the season 7 set are true.

 

[The JoJo]

Sitting at home in a $1.2M house, drinking very nice wine, from very nice crystal....ALONE.

Some things in life are highly overrated, some are highly underrated.

Currently, life sucks.

Being alone is not fun.

1.2M $ ? Wow....

 

[Mercutio]

Real estate in the US is highly overvalued. Real Estate in California is even more overvalued than most of the rest of the US. It's not that big a deal, although I'm sure it's a nice place.

 

[ddrueding]

It's an alright place. 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2.5 floors, ~3200 sq/ft. "New" at less than 10 years old. (I don't really consider something new unless I'm the first to use it).

It's just a track home in suburban hell....

 

[Fushigi]

So, what's the lot size? The home itself doesn't sound too different from the size of mine: 4BR, 2.5 bath, 2 floor + unfinished basement, 3141 sq ft (about 4000 if the basement ever gets finished). Colonial, suburban subdivision, 0.28 acre, 2 car garage, good schools, no special view or anything. Bought for under $260K, which we considered a good price.

 

[ddrueding]

The lot size is a little larger than that, I'm on the corner.

 

[ddrueding]

Bought for under $260K, which we considered a good price.

But you're in Illinois (sp?), so the price difference is kind understandable.

 

[Fushigi]

Bought for under $260K, which we considered a good price.

But you're in Illinois (sp?), so the price difference is kind understandable.

I guess. But there really aren't so many differences. I'm just an hour from a beach, for instance. The major difference is probably the weather. NoCal has none; here we have seasons. (I say that as a friend from here went to San Jose to do consulting work a few years ago. He came back, taking a $20K+ pay cut to return to the midwest, because he couldn't stand the weather never changing.)

Of course, it's a bit of a different critter, but I've also compared housing costs between Chicagoland & some SoCal areas like Irvine. Similar housing is typically only 20 or so % more expensive than in my area.

And of course there is my relative location in the Chicagoland area. It's not one of the elite areas by any stretch. Just average middleclass suburbia. My size home in an upper crust area would easily be more than $100K more expensive.

 

[sechs]

At least you guys own houses. I've just been trying to get into a condo so that $1.7k a month is going somewhere....

 

[Pradeep]

Class A motorhome with dual slideouts?

 

[sechs]

I'd have to have at least a double-wide. Don't think that there are any triple-wide spots in the parks around here....

 

[Mercutio]

I only live about 50 miles away from Fushigi, in a solidly middle-class subdivision that's all newly constructed.
The two sides of my duplex are ~3200 feet when put together, I think. 3BR, 1.5bath each side. I put down an exceptionally large down payment, but the all-told total for my essentially new house (one side had been occupied by a couple who defaulted on their loan a couple months after they moved in) was under $150,000.
It wouldn't surprise me if the home I live in cost 40% more if it were in Fushigi's home town.

 

[Howell]

I own three lots right next to each other in an older neighborhood on top of one of the ridges that surrounds the city. I do not have a direct view but I can see plenty if I drive a quarter mile. My commute is nice.

The three lots together are not rectangular but total up to about .78 acres. There are two structures: one duplex with 1100sq-ft per side + basement area built in the 70s, 2BR, 1.5B; one house currently being used as 4BR, 2B 1800sq-ft built in the 20-30s remodeled in the 70s. I live one side of the duplex and rent the rest out.

Although most of my neighbors are in their 70s and have lived here all their lives, the area is regentrifying. In total I paid about $165K.

 

[SteveC]

The owner of the house across the street from where I grew up took what was a one floor ranch, and expanded it to a 2 1/2 story ~3000 sq. ft. house. When they sold it, they were asking for $800,000, but got $1.1 million - and it has a very small lot. Our old house was smaller (~2400 sq. ft.), but had a half acre lot (big for around here), and in-ground pool. It would probably go for about $1 million now, but my parents sold it for much, much less than that five years ago. That's how much housing prices have gotten out of hand around here. And this is in a middle class town.

 

[Fushigi]

It wouldn't surprise me if the home I live in cost 40% more if it were in Fushigi's home town.

My home town would be Indy, where housing costs are probably a little more than Merc's but a fair bit less than mine.

OK, length of ownership was mentioned. I should add that I bought my mortgage, er, house, 2 years ago and since then it has appreciated around 8 or 9 percent. The only 'improvement' we've done is a little painting and I replaced the kitchen light fixture.

 

[Howell]

...since then it has appreciated around 8 or 9 percent.

How do you know how much it has appreciated? Where do you get this information?

 

[Fushigi]

How do you know how much it has appreciated? Where do you get this information?

Nothing exact. It's an estimate based on a few things:

1. Sales of other homes in the subdivision (one went in December for 20% more than my estimated increase, although it was a slightly larger house with a couple of amenities our place lacks)
2. Increased assessed value (in theory unrelated but it's got to be based on something)
3. Increased appraised value when we refinianced a year ago (the most important measure)
4. Increased coverage on the homeowner's insurance policy -- the coverage went up without our specifying anything
5. A feel for what homes in our subdivision and comparable surrounding subds are going for
6. This fall, a $150 million all-new high school will open only a mile away. That's boosted property values some.

For a closer approximation, I'd have to talk to an appraiser or have a realtor do their estimation process. But I won't feel the urge to do that for a year or two.

 

[ddrueding]

Of note: I'm not yet worthy of the title "homeowner" as I'm currently renting. Though I am is negotiations with the owner to buy within the year.

The reason she is holding out is that the house has increased in value ~30% in the last 10 years.This is the same reason I'm trying to buy now (even though I'm relatively young). Housing prices around here are going like crazy, and it will only get worse as the new commuter lines to the silicon valley are completed.

 

[ddrueding]

For quite some time I've been a big fan of Australian wines, in particular the Yellowtail, then the Alice White chardonnays but now I have found the Nobilo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and it is absolutely awesome. Very soft and slightly sweet, perfect for those evenings where you just need to have a few bottles. I can highly reccomend it.

PUI

 

[Fushigi]

We generally buy from PRP Wine as they hold local tastings and warehouse sales. Excellent customer service. As my wife & I both tend to like sweeter wines, we favor Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese or even a Beerenauslese. For reds we almost always go with Travicello. Since these are fairly difficult to find when eating out, we usually settle for a Reisling.