BUT IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE EVERYTHING YOU KNEW COULD CHANGE
Probably
no one out there is still reading given my long chunks of time absences,
but I will plow forward nonetheless. So it's Monday night, almost
8pm, my husband is out buying us hamburgers and french fries from
a place that we love that doesn't exist in Northern California,
so we're actively stuffing ourselves with it while we still can.
Frequently lately I say "We'd be so healthy if we ate like
the baby does," because for instance tonight the baby had yams,
plain organic chicken, and asparagus, but no, our insides are corroded
with Tommy chili burgers and fries. It's m-fing delicious, though.
Maybe I can spearhead franchising one up north. The one thing I
never understood about Tommy's though is how on their pictorial
menu above the ordering counter they have a picture of a chili burger,
chili fries, a drink, and a hardboiled egg. As far as I've been
able to tell they have nothing on offer that's at all egg-related,
but there's that picture of the egg always greeting us while we
order. Maybe I'll ask what's with the egg before we go. Maybe they
have a secret menu like In-N-Out does and all that's been holding
me back from the greatest meal in the world is asking what's with
the egg.
===
So
we've been up north. Gray was an interviewing fool last week while
I drove around looking for houses. And since I'm diametrically opposed
to spending $819,000 on a 3 bed 1 bath with no trees and no land
right next to the freeway and across from an auto parts store in
San Mateo, California, I'm not sure what we're going to do. I think
Gray is going to push hard for getting a job at a great company
that is near Redwood
City (I'm trying to provide a map for your visualizing convenience,
but apparently googlemaps and my Apple Safari browser are at war
because I'm pretty sure Chihuahua Mexico isn't in the middle of
the bay area peninsula as it's appearing on my screen right now)
and then we're going to go back to our old plan of living in Half
Moon Bay. There is this funny real estate phenomenon in NorCal,
which is that for lower to mid-range houses, places inland seems
to be more expensive than places at the beach. And we've discovered
that this is entirely due to weather. For instance, there's a place
called San Bruno, which is nice enough if a little blue collar,
below San Francisco, and you can get a regular house for $650,000.
This is dirt cheap in San Francisco. But it's cheap because it's
within this swath of geography that encompasses Daly City, South
San Francisco, and Pacifica that gets totally fogged out and windy
every day. And apparently people are willing to pay $200k more for
a house if they don't have to deal with the fog and can get a little
sunlight. I personally can deal with a little fog and would like
to have $200k in my pocket instead of in my house.
Mostly
the driving around looking at houses was very depressing. It's because
here in Burbank we bought the worst house on a good street and fixed
it up for four years, and now it's really nice, and we're going
to have to leave it and do it all over again up there. Except this
time the crappy house on the good street won't be at all cheap.
For
you people who don't live in Los Angeles or San Francisco, I wish
I could stress how expensive it is here and how little you get for
such a giant crapload of money. It is entirely, incredibly ridiculous.
And
Gray and I are still arguing every five minutes about whether or
not we should sell or rent our house, especially now that his job
is finished and he's home all day. So I'm going to reach out to
you -- if any of you have stories good or bad about renting to tenants,
I'd like to hear them. I'm trying to compile a case for renting
the house, and he's all for selling. But if I hear that it's horrible
I'll relent.
===
Pause
for pictures.
This
walking business is very fun.
Tubby
time in the sink. Knives nearby in case ninjas attack.
A
friend toured me around Mill Valley, which is across the bridge
from SF. This was parked in the lot outside Macy's. License plate
of special interest to eighties movie nerds.
He
hates swings. Has always hated swings. Will he learn to love swings?
Time will tell.
Sleeptime
is nice time.
===
Apparently
I'm the only one watching American Idol this season, and even Gray
is busy doing other things for the first time ever. I will predict
the top two: Carly and David Archuleta. And if Carly doesn't sing
an Alison Moyet song soon then she's dumb. Probably David will win,
though. My favorite is probably David Cook because his is the only
album I'd really want to buy, but there's something about him that's
a little creepy. Is it arrogance? His haircut? I could go on and
on about all of this, but again I fear that I'm alone in the crowd
with my Idol love.
And
I just went to the American Idol discussion forum so I am officially
out of control. And twelve.
