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December 29th, 2006 8:41
Bah. Our building inspection is actually next week, not yesterday morning. It is absolutely impossible to find tradespeople this week between Christmas and New Year’s…
So, we are cutting things awfully close. Our building inspection is next Thursday morning, and while they will give us the full report by end of day, we will have to decide instantaneously whether whatever problems they come up with (and there are guaranteed to be problems: it’s a 30 year old house) are okay with us or not, because we need to put down a significant deposit and give our okay by Friday 5PM! That won’t leave much time to research how much it costs to fix whatever problems there are and renegotiate the selling price if necessary.
The finances are another slightly dodgy issue simply because of the timing. We’ve found a lender with a good product and gotten conditional approval from them – the approval is conditional on their getting a valuation of the property, and that probabably won’t be finished also till Thursday! Of course, we don’t anticipate there being any issues with the valuation as they should find that the price we offered is very much in the ballpark of what the valuation tells them, but still, it’s jsut another thing that takes a few days to settle. Our broker didn’t seem to think that the time would be a serious issue though – he said things would be tight, but shouldn’t really be a problem. So, we will just have to trust his experienced judgement!
Ugh. Holiday period = bad for house buying. Especially when you are in Australia and have to deal with Boxing Day too!
Anyway, today is the first nice day this week, so we are going to take the dogs to the beach. We found an awesome dog and people beach at the top of the Gold Coast.
Actually, first I have a doctor’s appt in an hour so until then I am sitting here drinking mead even though it is only 8:30 in the morning. Mead is yummy. Didn’t the ancient whoevers use it as a breakfast beverage?
December 27th, 2006 10:03
Want to see something really cute??
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Christmas here was lovely. We went to a Carols service at church on Christmas eve (Zaubi played with a bunch of other members in a little brass band for a couple of the carols and I did the lights), and afterwards, we got together all our instruments – violin, sax, and trombone – and went over to a friends’ where we all played and sang more carols until 1AM. A little girl from down the street came along and brought her violin – she was very good for 9 y.o. and we played some good duets!
Christmas morning we went for breakfast at the home of Zaubi’s friend – it was a delicious: eggs, bacon, fresh mango, eggnog, croissants, and these terrific little marzipan biscuits that his mother gave me the recipe for – she had gotten it from a little old Italian lady.
Then we went over to C & B’s place for an Aussie Christmas lunch, that is, lots and lots of different kinds of salads! It wasn’t very hot but usually it’s broiling this time of year. Nevertheless, the sun was out so we ate and chatted and exchanged gifts and swam in the pool and it was altogether lovely. Their siblings and some extended family was there so it was a really friendly jolly time.
I thought I’d mind more about Christmas not being chill and snowy but I really didn’t. Maybe I can get used to this…
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Our building & pest inspection is at 8:30AM tomorrow morning! We’re a bit nervous about it: hopefully nothing really awful will show up. We haven’t managed to find a solicitor yet since they all seem to be on vacation – this isn’t the greatest time to buy a house! I can’t believe how much all these technical details cost. Once you pay for building & pest inspections, conveyancing, stamp duty, registration fees, and so forth, you are about 6K down! It’s nuts.
December 23rd, 2006 21:45
We put an offer on a house and it was accepted!!!
December 23rd, 2006 13:06
December 21st, 2006 9:11
Teehee! Excerpts from the “Brutally Honest Personality Test” for my Myers-Briggs type – INTP.
‘…You value knowledge above ALL else. You love new ideas, and become very excited over abstractions and theories. The fact that nobody else cares still hasn’t become apparent to you…
Nerd’s a great word to describe you, and I seriously couldn’t care less about the different definitions of the word and why you’re actually more of a geek than a nerd. Don’t pretend you weren’t thinking that. You want every single miniscule fact and theory to be presented correctly…’
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Anyway, yesterday I went to a chiropractor. Never been to one before. Wouldn’t have bothered going, except a week and a half ago we were at the beach jumping around in the most massive waves believable, and I managed to get thrown on my head a few times, wrenching my neck. I kep trying to ignore it but it kept not going away, so I apprehensively went to a chiropractor yesterday. It was interesting. My Xrays were kind of freaky as they demonstrated not only that my neck vertabrae are not straight and aligned, but also that curve that your neck is supposed to have is practically nonexistant in me, and what’s more, my lower back is too curved due to my pelvis tilt being off kilter. Whoopee. Anyway, my back is feeling a bit better that it was – I definitely feel more ‘upward’ (don’t know how else I can describe it) than I did before the appointment, but I’m supposed to go back for another thingie tomorrow.
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In other news, we’ve been looking at houses and have a few more to look at today. We found the worst house in the best neighborhood last week, but someone else bought it, tough luck! Yesterday we saw another worst house in the bet neighborhood – a 350K in a neighborhood of 500-800ks – and while it certainly is tempting, we’re not sure if doing minor renovations would really make the house’s price go up that much, and thinking of doing major renovations (that is, lifting the house and building a new bottom floor) is just scary although it would terrifically up the value. The suburb, while one of the nicest in Brisbane, is also for our purposes not ideally located.
Of course, we still have to get pre-approved for a loan – while I’ve found a good loan place, I haven’t talked to them yet as a friend of ours who used to be in the finance business wants us to get some free advice from one of his contacts before we do anything, and that probably won’t happen till after the new year. Ah, well. It’s best not to rush these things.
December 17th, 2006 7:40
So, here’s the story. Last night we were setting out to a German Christmas party a friend is having, and we were about to shut up the dogs, and right then Kettricken chased after a cane toad and licked it, or grabbed it, or something. So we grabbed her and hosed out her mouth (a very traumatic experience I may add since she didn’t take kindly to being hosed at all) and then we sat with her for 20 minutes to make sure that she hadn’t been poisoned. Then Zaubi went and found the cane toad and stuck it in the fridge.
You are supposed to fridge them overnight until they go into a coma, and then freeze them till they are frozen solid, which kills them. The gov’t site further recommends incinerating the frozen toads thereafter but I am seriously drawing the line at having a frozen toad bonfire in the yard.
I’m completely traumatized by this. I disagree completely with killing any creature.
Anyway, on a more cheerful note, the frangipani of the long-ago ridiculous forum posts has not only gained abundant leaves, it has bloomed! I bought some more pretty flowers and the little rose bush is flourishing as well…!
December 17th, 2006 0:31
There is a cane toad in our fridge right now being ‘humanely’ (according to the Australian government) put to death.
I am really, really, really not happy about this.
December 16th, 2006 8:45
Last night we went to Brisbane’s Carols in the City, a really massive outdoor concert (for Brisbane, that is, meaning about 10,000 people) where a lot of artists and groups come to sing carols to celebrate Christmas.
The rain started as we were on the bus into the CBD. By the time we found our friends in the huge crowd and had settled down, it was coming down at a good clip. Everyone had brought umbrellas and the site from the top of the hill was pretty funny: 10,000 sodden Australians sitting on the hard lumpt wet grass clutching umbrellas and hamburgers.
At times the rain went away for a bit only to return in thorough downpour. Nevertheless, about half of the 10,000, including us, stayed until the end of the concert. They actually had some pretty quality artists there, which fact slightly debunked my thoughts of Australia’s being a complete cultural backwater.
Anyway, most of the carols were good, old-fashioned Christian carols as it should be (thank GOODNESS no “Santa Claus is coming to town or the like!”)
and even the visiting Santa took time to talk about the true meaning of Christmas instead of concentrating on all the crappy materialism.
There was one carol, though, that I’ve now heard a bunch of times and which I found very amusing: Aussie Jingle Bells.
Aussie Jingle Bells
Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden Ute,
Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It’s Summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.
Engine’s getting hot; we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too.
All the family’s there, sitting by the pool,
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue.
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.
Come the afternoon, Grandpa has a doze,
The kids and Uncle Bruce, are swimming in their clothes.
The time comes ’round to go, we take the family snap,
Pack the car and all shoot through, before the washing up.
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.
December 11th, 2006 20:35
I can’t believe it, I found my freakin’ keychain.
It was in the ONE pocket of the ONE sweatshirt I had not looked in, because it was in a spot I hadn’t remembered.
And after all that!! Agh!!
Well, at least I don’t need to buy a new bike lock 
December 11th, 2006 8:49
HAH.
We have conquered the KryptoLok! It took a hammer and a lot of wiggling but we finally did it…
1) Obtain bic round stic pen
2) Remove endcap and point of pen (a good tug should do it)
3) Position pen over lock: it will probably not quite fit. Wiggle pen until it stretches out a teeny bit over lock
4) Hammer that sucker down a good centimeter. It’s kinda hard to hold the pen straight and hammer at once, but you need a lot of force to stretch out the pen to the point where it goes over the lock all the way to the lowest point.
5) Turn pen, and hey presto!
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