the holy garment
i had a dream last night
the vivid kind that wasn't quite right
i was shopping in a store
for a winter coat, and maybe more
i was alone, enjoying it
trying on jackets but nothing fit
discouragement was growing
my forehead wrinkles starting showing
then a scruffy-looking man
a cup of coffee in his hand
spoke unexpectedly
through his black and yellow teeth
"hey, try that one," he said
his bony finger pointing ahead
to a white coat made of fur
"it's just like the one Jesus wore"
11.25.2009
11.20.2009
The Power of Social Media (clearly not an innovative topic, but I'm completely obsessed and must write about it)
I'm so used to doing short updates now (because of Twitter and Facebook) that I'm not quite sure how to write a full blog post. It's been too long. In fact, I'm not even sure this blog gets any traffic any more.
If I were a real blogger -- a with-it blogger -- I'd be tracking stats and I'd know exactly what state all my readers were from, but I just don't care that much I guess.
What I do care about (thank you for asking), in terms of internet-related-stuff, is social media and how it relates to business and marketing.
I actually just discovered this week that I don't have nearly the interest in graphic design that I used to. Fonts and illustrations and altered photographs just don't do it for me like they used to. It seems my interest has shifted from the seen to the unseen, from palpable designs and layouts to the abstract world of ideas and concepts, progress and sociology, emotional intelligence, listening, reality, etc. And beyond that, what people are experiencing -- their honest thoughts and reactions and feelings, in relation to... just about anything.
My current passion involves how people are responding to business entities, so I'll focus on that. I'll make up an example, because making stuff up is just fun.
Say we're focusing on a company called PetStuff, a nationwide pet supply retailer. If I were the owner, I'd have a board or some office building full of staff who'd run the place, I suppose. Below them on the organizational chart would be managers at each store location, and then a handful of employees.
My area of interest lies with the customer experience, so let's look at a situation where a customer has a bad experience. Not bad like "there's a finger in my Big Mac" bad, but something less, uh, media-worthy. Something that we've all experienced -- a frustration with a lame store policy, for example.
A customer could report a complaint to an employee -- a manager, even -- who could then work the comment up the ladder to the higher-ups. By then, it's been through a couple sets of ears and mouths, and has been filtered in a way. I'm not, as the owner, likely getting the full/true story. My thoughts aren't quite coming together on this yet, so hear me out. I'll get there.
I realize there are other ways for a customer to communicate with management -- writing letters, e-mails, calling. Those methods are much more likely to transfer the message, unaltered, from the customer to the "powers that be," as they say, but they are still just that -- messages INTENDED to be received by management, boards, presidents, etc. They are written in a certain way, with that certain "to whom it may concern" language and formality that makes everything seem so detached.
This is where it gets interesting for me. The thing I'm so fascinated with right now is the power of social media. Not just the incredible speed at which information is spread, but the sheer honesty of what's being said, which, I think, is a result of having such a huge potential audience: the entire connected population of the world.
Consider these two versions of a story:
VERSION #1
Customer goes into PetStuff, buys a fish, takes the fish home. Two days later, said fish dies. Customer returns to store, says to sales clerk, "I bought this fish and it died, can you please refund my money?"
-- Sidebar: I haven't even gotten halfway through this story and already my mind is saying things like, "What if this is happening to a hundred other people who have recently bought fish at PetStuff? What if there's a problem with the fish, but there's no way for the public to know about all these inter-related fish deaths and if they knew they'd maybe purchase a different breed of fish?" And things like, "What if there's a backstory here that the sales clerk will never know, like how the customer bought the fish for their child who is terminally ill and in the hospital and the fish was supposed to bring an element of life and cheer to the room, but then it DIES. How sad and messed up is that?" End sidebar/ADHD. --
Sales clerk says to customer, "I'm sorry, but we have a 24-hour refund/return policy and your receipt is from two days ago."
Customer then lets Sales Clerk have it. It's not Sales Clerk's fault, per se, but Customer is pissed, and maybe rightly so (granted, there are better ways of handling such frustration).
Customer leaves, irate. Sales Clerk complains to Manager that Customer was a bit unruly and, really, we should extend the policy to 72 hours or at least something more reasonable than 24.
Manager goes to quarterly meeting, discusses more important things than fish death rates, and either A) never mentions the fish policy or B) mentions that staff have suggested increasing the return policy on dead fish, much to the amusement of other managers and upper-level staff. Suffice it to say the fish fatalities probably don't make it into the meeting minutes, let alone the highlight reel the owner will watch during his flight to the Bahamas for his sixth vacation this year.
Wow, I think I got a LITTLE too into that story. The whole point is that there's a serious disconnect between management and customer and simple things that could have been addressed to impact customer satisfaction are never even noticed by management because all the "important" things came first.
VERSION #2
It starts with Twitter. Same customer leaves PetStuff, not even getting through the exit before pulling out his phone to tweet, "#FAIL the #PETStuff 24 hr fish return policy & crappy service means i'm going to #PetsRUs from now on!"
I would like to point out that nowhere in the story is poor service mentioned. Whether there was or wasn't poor service is basically irrelevant. What is relevant is that Customer's 300 followers, and anyone looking at #FAIL and #PETStuff and #PetsRUs hashtags will see what was posted and may even identify with Customer's bad experience.
However, the enormous benefit here is that @Owner (of PetStuff) likes to check his twitter on his flight to the Bahamas (since's there's WiFi on planes now). He checks what's being said about his company and @Customer's comment comes up on his screen. He sends an email to his finanace people to find out what kind of impact it would make if they extended the deadline to 72 hours. The quick response is, "Impact? These fish cost us a total of .03 cents each. It certainly won't cost more than a quarter a day, which is less than what we spend on coffee stirrers in our breakroom."
So @Owner sends an email to get the ball rolling: extend fish return policy to 72 hours. Next, he replies to @Customer's tweet, saying, "Sorry about your fish troubles. We're changing our return policy to 72 hrs thanks to you. I'd like to send you a PetStuff gift card for your troubles."
Customer is A) Impressed to hear directly from the owner (wow!), B) Proud he help effect change in a major corporation, and C) Really stoked he's getting free pet stuff. Customer's attitude is changed. Customer tweets, "#PETStuff isn't so bad after all. Changed their policy AND sent me a gift card. Heading there now for some Snausages."
HOLY COW THAT WAS FOREVER LONG. Are you still there? Still reading? You might want to give your eyes a break. Seriously, get up a take a little walk to the fridge and back.
It's sort of sad that I love social media enough to spend an hour on a Friday night making up a scenario about the power it has to connect customers and decision-makers. But it's SO TRUE. There are actual stories out there (i was too lazy to find any of them) about how Twitter has motivated some companies to step up their customer service efforts. And the result is positive branding for their company through social networking and people who are just happy to talk about companies they're proud to support. It's a crazy circle, and one that I can't WAIT to dive into.
All of that is to say that I'm revamping my business, Carbonated Creative, to focus on social media marketing. No longer will I be helping businesses connect TO their customers, but connect WITH them. To engage customers, and potential customers, in a conversation. To peel back the layers of formality and to-whom-it-mays and make real connections, hear real thoughts, get honest feedback, and then work to respond to what we learn. I wish every business would create a new position and label it "Director of Stuff That Isn't as Important as All That Other Stuff but Can't Be Ignored Any Longer"
And now I'm going to bed.
If I were a real blogger -- a with-it blogger -- I'd be tracking stats and I'd know exactly what state all my readers were from, but I just don't care that much I guess.
What I do care about (thank you for asking), in terms of internet-related-stuff, is social media and how it relates to business and marketing.
I actually just discovered this week that I don't have nearly the interest in graphic design that I used to. Fonts and illustrations and altered photographs just don't do it for me like they used to. It seems my interest has shifted from the seen to the unseen, from palpable designs and layouts to the abstract world of ideas and concepts, progress and sociology, emotional intelligence, listening, reality, etc. And beyond that, what people are experiencing -- their honest thoughts and reactions and feelings, in relation to... just about anything.
My current passion involves how people are responding to business entities, so I'll focus on that. I'll make up an example, because making stuff up is just fun.
Say we're focusing on a company called PetStuff, a nationwide pet supply retailer. If I were the owner, I'd have a board or some office building full of staff who'd run the place, I suppose. Below them on the organizational chart would be managers at each store location, and then a handful of employees.
My area of interest lies with the customer experience, so let's look at a situation where a customer has a bad experience. Not bad like "there's a finger in my Big Mac" bad, but something less, uh, media-worthy. Something that we've all experienced -- a frustration with a lame store policy, for example.
A customer could report a complaint to an employee -- a manager, even -- who could then work the comment up the ladder to the higher-ups. By then, it's been through a couple sets of ears and mouths, and has been filtered in a way. I'm not, as the owner, likely getting the full/true story. My thoughts aren't quite coming together on this yet, so hear me out. I'll get there.
I realize there are other ways for a customer to communicate with management -- writing letters, e-mails, calling. Those methods are much more likely to transfer the message, unaltered, from the customer to the "powers that be," as they say, but they are still just that -- messages INTENDED to be received by management, boards, presidents, etc. They are written in a certain way, with that certain "to whom it may concern" language and formality that makes everything seem so detached.
This is where it gets interesting for me. The thing I'm so fascinated with right now is the power of social media. Not just the incredible speed at which information is spread, but the sheer honesty of what's being said, which, I think, is a result of having such a huge potential audience: the entire connected population of the world.
Consider these two versions of a story:
VERSION #1
Customer goes into PetStuff, buys a fish, takes the fish home. Two days later, said fish dies. Customer returns to store, says to sales clerk, "I bought this fish and it died, can you please refund my money?"
-- Sidebar: I haven't even gotten halfway through this story and already my mind is saying things like, "What if this is happening to a hundred other people who have recently bought fish at PetStuff? What if there's a problem with the fish, but there's no way for the public to know about all these inter-related fish deaths and if they knew they'd maybe purchase a different breed of fish?" And things like, "What if there's a backstory here that the sales clerk will never know, like how the customer bought the fish for their child who is terminally ill and in the hospital and the fish was supposed to bring an element of life and cheer to the room, but then it DIES. How sad and messed up is that?" End sidebar/ADHD. --
Sales clerk says to customer, "I'm sorry, but we have a 24-hour refund/return policy and your receipt is from two days ago."
Customer then lets Sales Clerk have it. It's not Sales Clerk's fault, per se, but Customer is pissed, and maybe rightly so (granted, there are better ways of handling such frustration).
Customer leaves, irate. Sales Clerk complains to Manager that Customer was a bit unruly and, really, we should extend the policy to 72 hours or at least something more reasonable than 24.
Manager goes to quarterly meeting, discusses more important things than fish death rates, and either A) never mentions the fish policy or B) mentions that staff have suggested increasing the return policy on dead fish, much to the amusement of other managers and upper-level staff. Suffice it to say the fish fatalities probably don't make it into the meeting minutes, let alone the highlight reel the owner will watch during his flight to the Bahamas for his sixth vacation this year.
Wow, I think I got a LITTLE too into that story. The whole point is that there's a serious disconnect between management and customer and simple things that could have been addressed to impact customer satisfaction are never even noticed by management because all the "important" things came first.
VERSION #2
It starts with Twitter. Same customer leaves PetStuff, not even getting through the exit before pulling out his phone to tweet, "#FAIL the #PETStuff 24 hr fish return policy & crappy service means i'm going to #PetsRUs from now on!"
I would like to point out that nowhere in the story is poor service mentioned. Whether there was or wasn't poor service is basically irrelevant. What is relevant is that Customer's 300 followers, and anyone looking at #FAIL and #PETStuff and #PetsRUs hashtags will see what was posted and may even identify with Customer's bad experience.
However, the enormous benefit here is that @Owner (of PetStuff) likes to check his twitter on his flight to the Bahamas (since's there's WiFi on planes now). He checks what's being said about his company and @Customer's comment comes up on his screen. He sends an email to his finanace people to find out what kind of impact it would make if they extended the deadline to 72 hours. The quick response is, "Impact? These fish cost us a total of .03 cents each. It certainly won't cost more than a quarter a day, which is less than what we spend on coffee stirrers in our breakroom."
So @Owner sends an email to get the ball rolling: extend fish return policy to 72 hours. Next, he replies to @Customer's tweet, saying, "Sorry about your fish troubles. We're changing our return policy to 72 hrs thanks to you. I'd like to send you a PetStuff gift card for your troubles."
Customer is A) Impressed to hear directly from the owner (wow!), B) Proud he help effect change in a major corporation, and C) Really stoked he's getting free pet stuff. Customer's attitude is changed. Customer tweets, "#PETStuff isn't so bad after all. Changed their policy AND sent me a gift card. Heading there now for some Snausages."
HOLY COW THAT WAS FOREVER LONG. Are you still there? Still reading? You might want to give your eyes a break. Seriously, get up a take a little walk to the fridge and back.
It's sort of sad that I love social media enough to spend an hour on a Friday night making up a scenario about the power it has to connect customers and decision-makers. But it's SO TRUE. There are actual stories out there (i was too lazy to find any of them) about how Twitter has motivated some companies to step up their customer service efforts. And the result is positive branding for their company through social networking and people who are just happy to talk about companies they're proud to support. It's a crazy circle, and one that I can't WAIT to dive into.
All of that is to say that I'm revamping my business, Carbonated Creative, to focus on social media marketing. No longer will I be helping businesses connect TO their customers, but connect WITH them. To engage customers, and potential customers, in a conversation. To peel back the layers of formality and to-whom-it-mays and make real connections, hear real thoughts, get honest feedback, and then work to respond to what we learn. I wish every business would create a new position and label it "Director of Stuff That Isn't as Important as All That Other Stuff but Can't Be Ignored Any Longer"
And now I'm going to bed.
9.01.2009
Fall hopes
It's September 1st, thank goodness. I'm so happy fall is on the way. It's not that I dislike summer--not at all--it's just that fall is my favorite season and I'm ready for fall-y things. So for the coming season, I hope to:
- walk through fallen leaves at the park near my house
- have a harvest party in the backyard, complete with pumpkin-carving, campfire, butternut squash soup, and mulled cider, even if it's just for Cheri, me and the dogs
- go camping at EL BIBO, also known as the Julian Price Park Campground, which is located at an elevation of 3130 (I once misread the sign that stated the elevation as being the name of the lake, hence "EL. 3130" = "EL BIBO")
- create something sort of useful out of wood, preferably with my pocketknife
- watch lots of football while eating buffalo wings and 7-layer mexican dip
- sit for the first time in front of the awkwardly-placed gas fireplace in my dining room
- begin construction on my recording studio
- take the dogs to the dog park at least a couple times a month so they can enjoy the fall too
- walk through fallen leaves at the park near my house
- have a harvest party in the backyard, complete with pumpkin-carving, campfire, butternut squash soup, and mulled cider, even if it's just for Cheri, me and the dogs
- go camping at EL BIBO, also known as the Julian Price Park Campground, which is located at an elevation of 3130 (I once misread the sign that stated the elevation as being the name of the lake, hence "EL. 3130" = "EL BIBO")
- create something sort of useful out of wood, preferably with my pocketknife
- watch lots of football while eating buffalo wings and 7-layer mexican dip
- sit for the first time in front of the awkwardly-placed gas fireplace in my dining room
- begin construction on my recording studio
- take the dogs to the dog park at least a couple times a month so they can enjoy the fall too
7.22.2009
Into the music
For a long time I've been meaning to integrate my music website with Facebook, MySpace, my music blog and all that other social media stuff.
I finally did it.
www.amyburritt.com
Now I just need gigs. Sigh.
I finally did it.
www.amyburritt.com
Now I just need gigs. Sigh.
7.10.2009
WIN / FAIL
Where did this seemingly new vernacular circulating on social media sites come from? I mean, I'm finally beginning to understand the use of the pound sign and the "at" symbol, but there's one thing I have a small beef with, and that's the use of the "win" and "fail" terms.
I guess people are using these words as a single-word summary of their level of success in a given situation. But my issue is that WIN and FAIL aren't antonyms. Shouldn't one be the opposite of the other?
Are the web geeks trying to equate success with winning ("you haven't succeeded unless you've won"), and, conversely, failing with not winning ("you didn't win, so you failed")? Maybe I'll just start using "TRIED" as my quiet rebellion against this line of thinking. Or maybe I should just stay off twitter and facebook.
And suddenly this post is starting to feel like it was written by someone two generations ahead of me.
Epic fail?
I guess people are using these words as a single-word summary of their level of success in a given situation. But my issue is that WIN and FAIL aren't antonyms. Shouldn't one be the opposite of the other?
Are the web geeks trying to equate success with winning ("you haven't succeeded unless you've won"), and, conversely, failing with not winning ("you didn't win, so you failed")? Maybe I'll just start using "TRIED" as my quiet rebellion against this line of thinking. Or maybe I should just stay off twitter and facebook.
And suddenly this post is starting to feel like it was written by someone two generations ahead of me.
Epic fail?
6.22.2009
I haven't posted in two months? Seriously?
Okay, but I have a really good excuse. Several, actually. You MAY want to consider reading this in two sittings. Or none. Your choice.
1) May 15. I bought a house. Everything was finalized when I signed about a hundred pieces of paper without reading 99% of them, quite literally. Shortly thereafter I was handed the keys and Cheri and I picked up sushi and cracked open a bottle of champagne at the house.
2) May 16. Moving Day! I rented a 24' U-haul and we packed up and cleaned the old place and were out of there by about 2pm. We couldn't WAIT to leave that dump. We unloaded some stuff once we arrived at the new house, but it started raining and we couldn't finish until Sunday.
3) Somewhere around May 23. We built a fence. It sounds a lot more difficult than it was, since we just used some of that green garden fencing and posts. We split the new yard into two sections -- one for dogs, one for people -- so we could have a "poop-free" zone. One of the best decisions ever.
4) May 29. Cheri and I flew to Chicago. We spent May 30 packing up our friend Erin's stuff and May 31 driving back to North Carolina -- three girls, a truck, a car, and a cat. It took almost 12 hours, but everything went smoothly. I only cried once in the whole 12 hours of driving the 14-foot Penske truck.
5) Ever since May 31. It's been a busy few weeks trying to find room in the house for everyone's stuff. My biggest problem right now is that there isn't a closet in the third bedroom -- my room. I bought a temporary solution for $60 at target -- something I can hang clothes in until I figure out what on earth I'm going to do -- but it started doing this funky leaning-forward business this weekend and I'm afraid it's going to be much more temporary than I had anticipated. Lame.
In between attempts to find places to put crap, we (Cheri, Erin and myself) have found time to do some fun stuff, like biking, tennis, hiking, and several outings to local restaurants.
6) June 14. Cheri, Erin and I started a garden. The real kicker is that we hand-tilled a 10' x 10' space, which involved the removal of what appeared to be an abandoned brick foundation about 4" beneath the surface. If we had known what we were getting into, we would have rented a tiller, but it was Sunday and everything was closed. Despite the blisters, sunburns, sore muscles and bug bites, I think we felt pretty good about getting it done, and now there are several plants coming up, not to mention the pre-started herbs and such we bought at a tailgate market. In a couple months we hope to have a garden full of tomatoes, zucchini, squash, watermelon, beans, peppers, corn, basil, chives, cilantro, oregano and probably another item or two I've forgotten. And yes, I did say a 10' x 10' space. We MAY have overplanted.
7) This past weekend. My Dad came to town Friday night. Well, not so much "night" as "afternoon", when I was still at work. He texted me and said he was in my driveway drinking beer and waiting for me to get home. That was at 3. At 4, I was allowed to go home and help him with the 12-pack. Saturday we explored an antique show that was taking place downtown and Dad bought a great little nightstand/end table for me as a housewarming gift. Afterwards, we (Dad, Cheri, Erin, and I) took a hike through Dupont State Forest, complete with a picnic lunch and swimming at the top of Triple Falls. Dad and I had coffee at Black Bear in Hendersonville, and breakfast on Father's Day at the Carolina Diner. It was good to have him in town for a few days, and he even came up with a great idea for solving my closet problem in my room with a built-in hanging/shelving thing. Now I just have to get him back here to build it for me.
8) Yesterday. After dad left on his 9-hour trek back to Orlando, I set up the nightstand in my room and did a little cleaning. I was feeling ambitious, so Cheri and I made a couple "repairs" on the lawnmower (meaning we took off the bag and mulching thing and replaced them with a cardboard, um, not sure what you call it... I've been calling it a "shooter thing" in my head... You know, the thing that makes the grass shoot off to the side). It's very hick-looking, but I'm hopeful it will work. I was going to mow yesterday and try out our fancy new contraption but the second we finished working on the mower, it started to rain. In lieu of mowing, I decided to re-caulk the shower in my/Erin's shared bathroom. Call me a nerd, but I'm really enjoying the challenges of homeownership. Probably because the projects I've undertaken so far (banging on the edge of the door to the garage so it doesn't stick anymore; putting up a fence; drilling out the slot where the deadbolt from the front door slides into the frame so it goes in easier; caulking the shower) have gone pretty smoothly.
That's all I can come up with right now. It feels like a pretty accurate summary of the last two months, and probably a good indicator of what the coming two months will be filled with. Well, that and lots and lots of TV -- we're having Dish Network installed today. You may not hear from me for another couple months/years.
1) May 15. I bought a house. Everything was finalized when I signed about a hundred pieces of paper without reading 99% of them, quite literally. Shortly thereafter I was handed the keys and Cheri and I picked up sushi and cracked open a bottle of champagne at the house.
2) May 16. Moving Day! I rented a 24' U-haul and we packed up and cleaned the old place and were out of there by about 2pm. We couldn't WAIT to leave that dump. We unloaded some stuff once we arrived at the new house, but it started raining and we couldn't finish until Sunday.
3) Somewhere around May 23. We built a fence. It sounds a lot more difficult than it was, since we just used some of that green garden fencing and posts. We split the new yard into two sections -- one for dogs, one for people -- so we could have a "poop-free" zone. One of the best decisions ever.
4) May 29. Cheri and I flew to Chicago. We spent May 30 packing up our friend Erin's stuff and May 31 driving back to North Carolina -- three girls, a truck, a car, and a cat. It took almost 12 hours, but everything went smoothly. I only cried once in the whole 12 hours of driving the 14-foot Penske truck.
5) Ever since May 31. It's been a busy few weeks trying to find room in the house for everyone's stuff. My biggest problem right now is that there isn't a closet in the third bedroom -- my room. I bought a temporary solution for $60 at target -- something I can hang clothes in until I figure out what on earth I'm going to do -- but it started doing this funky leaning-forward business this weekend and I'm afraid it's going to be much more temporary than I had anticipated. Lame.
In between attempts to find places to put crap, we (Cheri, Erin and myself) have found time to do some fun stuff, like biking, tennis, hiking, and several outings to local restaurants.
6) June 14. Cheri, Erin and I started a garden. The real kicker is that we hand-tilled a 10' x 10' space, which involved the removal of what appeared to be an abandoned brick foundation about 4" beneath the surface. If we had known what we were getting into, we would have rented a tiller, but it was Sunday and everything was closed. Despite the blisters, sunburns, sore muscles and bug bites, I think we felt pretty good about getting it done, and now there are several plants coming up, not to mention the pre-started herbs and such we bought at a tailgate market. In a couple months we hope to have a garden full of tomatoes, zucchini, squash, watermelon, beans, peppers, corn, basil, chives, cilantro, oregano and probably another item or two I've forgotten. And yes, I did say a 10' x 10' space. We MAY have overplanted.
7) This past weekend. My Dad came to town Friday night. Well, not so much "night" as "afternoon", when I was still at work. He texted me and said he was in my driveway drinking beer and waiting for me to get home. That was at 3. At 4, I was allowed to go home and help him with the 12-pack. Saturday we explored an antique show that was taking place downtown and Dad bought a great little nightstand/end table for me as a housewarming gift. Afterwards, we (Dad, Cheri, Erin, and I) took a hike through Dupont State Forest, complete with a picnic lunch and swimming at the top of Triple Falls. Dad and I had coffee at Black Bear in Hendersonville, and breakfast on Father's Day at the Carolina Diner. It was good to have him in town for a few days, and he even came up with a great idea for solving my closet problem in my room with a built-in hanging/shelving thing. Now I just have to get him back here to build it for me.
8) Yesterday. After dad left on his 9-hour trek back to Orlando, I set up the nightstand in my room and did a little cleaning. I was feeling ambitious, so Cheri and I made a couple "repairs" on the lawnmower (meaning we took off the bag and mulching thing and replaced them with a cardboard, um, not sure what you call it... I've been calling it a "shooter thing" in my head... You know, the thing that makes the grass shoot off to the side). It's very hick-looking, but I'm hopeful it will work. I was going to mow yesterday and try out our fancy new contraption but the second we finished working on the mower, it started to rain. In lieu of mowing, I decided to re-caulk the shower in my/Erin's shared bathroom. Call me a nerd, but I'm really enjoying the challenges of homeownership. Probably because the projects I've undertaken so far (banging on the edge of the door to the garage so it doesn't stick anymore; putting up a fence; drilling out the slot where the deadbolt from the front door slides into the frame so it goes in easier; caulking the shower) have gone pretty smoothly.
That's all I can come up with right now. It feels like a pretty accurate summary of the last two months, and probably a good indicator of what the coming two months will be filled with. Well, that and lots and lots of TV -- we're having Dish Network installed today. You may not hear from me for another couple months/years.
4.29.2009
Update on the house
I have only good news to report on the house-buying process.
1. The bank approved my end of the loan. Yay! I still think they're crazy for lending me more than a hundred thousand dollars, but whatever. It's not my problem they're nuts.
2. The house appraised for more than I'm paying for it. Fantastic.
3. Lawyer says the titlework looks good, nothing abnormal.
So everything is on track. Sweet.
I just called Budget to reserve my moving truck, and there is a pile of moving boxes in my office at this very moment. Sometime between now and May 16 -- moving day -- I'll have to take those boxes home and fill them, along with all the other boxes in my bedroom and storage shed, with whatever junk I haven't managed to get rid of yet.
I'm really excited about moving. Not just because I'm moving into my own house this time (and I won't have to move EVER if I don't want to... can't get over it), but because it's purge time. I love getting rid of stuff. It actually just occurred to me that I may not have this experience again for a very, very long time. Which, of course, means I need to make the most of it. I need to celebrate every packed box with a beer. I need to carefully pack each item, and faithfully label every box. I need to enjoy the process of packing, cleaning, moving, and unpacking fully, just in case this is the last time I do it for a few years... or even forever. It's nice to dream about anyway.
Moving week will probably go more like this:
Monday - I don't need to pack yet, I still have five days.
Tuesday - Um, American Idol is on, so I'm not leaving the couch.
Wendesday - Hmm. I feel like packing. Maybe I'll pack my winter clothes.
Thursday - Oh, it's Thursday? Oh! I have to PACK, pack! Tomorrow is closing day, and Saturday I'm getting the moving truck. Ah! -- At which point I cram as many things as I can into boxes, bags, suitcases and pillowcases and try not to sweat too much in the process.
Yeah, I can't wait.
I was really looking forward to spending Friday night in the new house, since that's closing day, but I have to work at 6:30 the following morning for a special event, and I just don't think my brain can handle fumbling around a new place, in a new shower and new kitchen, at that hour. So I think I'll save the excitement for Saturday night.
I love first nights in new places.
1. The bank approved my end of the loan. Yay! I still think they're crazy for lending me more than a hundred thousand dollars, but whatever. It's not my problem they're nuts.
2. The house appraised for more than I'm paying for it. Fantastic.
3. Lawyer says the titlework looks good, nothing abnormal.
So everything is on track. Sweet.
I just called Budget to reserve my moving truck, and there is a pile of moving boxes in my office at this very moment. Sometime between now and May 16 -- moving day -- I'll have to take those boxes home and fill them, along with all the other boxes in my bedroom and storage shed, with whatever junk I haven't managed to get rid of yet.
I'm really excited about moving. Not just because I'm moving into my own house this time (and I won't have to move EVER if I don't want to... can't get over it), but because it's purge time. I love getting rid of stuff. It actually just occurred to me that I may not have this experience again for a very, very long time. Which, of course, means I need to make the most of it. I need to celebrate every packed box with a beer. I need to carefully pack each item, and faithfully label every box. I need to enjoy the process of packing, cleaning, moving, and unpacking fully, just in case this is the last time I do it for a few years... or even forever. It's nice to dream about anyway.
Moving week will probably go more like this:
Monday - I don't need to pack yet, I still have five days.
Tuesday - Um, American Idol is on, so I'm not leaving the couch.
Wendesday - Hmm. I feel like packing. Maybe I'll pack my winter clothes.
Thursday - Oh, it's Thursday? Oh! I have to PACK, pack! Tomorrow is closing day, and Saturday I'm getting the moving truck. Ah! -- At which point I cram as many things as I can into boxes, bags, suitcases and pillowcases and try not to sweat too much in the process.
Yeah, I can't wait.
I was really looking forward to spending Friday night in the new house, since that's closing day, but I have to work at 6:30 the following morning for a special event, and I just don't think my brain can handle fumbling around a new place, in a new shower and new kitchen, at that hour. So I think I'll save the excitement for Saturday night.
I love first nights in new places.
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