Year: 2006

Realtors Are Mad

A co-worker came up to me the other day and said, “Check this site out, Realtors are mad because they have to pay for this, and it’s out there free now.” Riiight. Check it out for funzies.

Zillow.com Your edge in real estate.

I typed in my address and it said my house was worth $126k. It says that a year ago it was worth $99k. It also says I have 3 bathrooms and 1887 sq. ft., when we only have 2 baths and about 400 square feet less. Plus they show my house about a 1/4 mile away from its actual location.

But at least that explains the $239k starting price on a house about 6 further down the road. They must have checked Zillow.com, which says $193k or a similar service and then jacked up the price to allow for negotiating. I hear that after the open house and a month on the market it is down to listing for $199k.

Started down, went up, went down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 74

I Like The Way This Guy Thinks

Last Friday Donna and I went to the American Association of University Women?s Annual Books N? Things Fair. We picked up several books each for a song. I snagged a couple hardcovers by authors know, one from someone I hadn’t heard of before and a movie review compilation, Never Coming To A Theater Near You. It is a reprinting of the columns of the movie critic from the LA Times, Kenneth Turan. It is broken down into 4 sections, English, Foreign, Documentary & Classic. This book is subtitled, “A Celebration Of A Certain Kind Of Movie” and it is about the non-blockbuster movie, the one that opens and then closes before you can block out the time to see it. Or in my case, here in tiny town USA, maybe never plays at the local 6-screen shoebox down by the mall.

Of the 71 English language movies included in the book I have seen 15 or so and of that total there are only two that I didn’t watch all the way through. Looks like my rental queue for Netflix is about to grow…

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 70

History Deficiency

History DeficiencyShows how much we don’t know about American Revolutionary history, when an extremely critical battle that turned the tide the colonist’s way was fought right here in SC at Kings Mountain. Donna and I stumbled on it while searching for a place to turn off the Interstate in our quest for a newer North Carolina state map. This monument was erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution, a larger one is just a couple hundred feet away and was constructed by the US Government in 1930 when the site became a National Park.

Over these last two days we have driven around 500 miles and at least half of that was with the top down. Good thing it isn’t later in the year or Donna and I would be a lot more sunburned than we are right now. We are also a little wind burned too, plus my lips are way chapped. But we had a great time.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 68

You Lookin’ At Me?

You Lookin' At Me?We planned this impromptu getaway a couple weeks ago, but nearly backed out a couple days ago because it wasn’t going to be as warm as we wanted. This morning we got up Packed an overnight bag and hit the road. The trip had two real objectives, the North Carolina Zoological Park and Razzoo’s. Either one was expendable, but we had to make at least one.

We ended up doing both and we are pretty beat. The zoo is awesome and will require at least one more (we are thinking fall as the park is covered in hardwoods) and possibly several visits. We spent from around 1 o’clock until 3:30 meandering most of the exhibits along it’s 5 mile length.

From there we headed southwest to Razzoo’s in Concord for dinner. We almost didn’t get there, I think everyone in the central part of NC was visiting the area, so traffic was bumper to bumper for the last 3/4 mile to get into the Concord Mills Mall. Mark, remember how empty the mall parking lot was when we visited? It was virtually full this afternoon! Donna and I have notoriously short fuses when it comes to creeping in a line of traffic for a luxury item, but we persisted because the Cajun call of spicy hot food was siren-like in it’s pull. As expected, Razzoo’s did not disappoint.

We briefly considered driving home, it is a 3-1/2 hour trip and it was only 6:30, but decided to treat ourselves to a hotel room for the night. There is some sort of basketball tournament in town and rooms are scarce, but we managed to get the 3rd to last one available at the Wingate Inn just the other side of I-85 from the mall. We’ll get up tomorrow at our leisure and take the back roads home.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, back up for the night.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 67

My What Big Pupils You Have

Today was Donna and my annual eye exams. We get the works, puff of air, reading the charts, looking through the dial-o-matic, follow my finger. Then you get a series of drops to dilate your pupils. While you are waiting for them to take effect you pick out some new frames. It is easy for me because I can actually see what they look like, but poor Donna who’s eyesight is so bad she has to rely on the opinions of the helpful staff and me. So far we haven’t led her astray.

Once your pupils are the size of pie plates you get the extra special treat of having and aircraft landing light aimed into each eye several times, so the doc can check for internal abnormalities. None found for either of us. After paying the bill we were sent outside into the very bright sunshine. Even though we both had sun glasses on we still put the top up on the car for the trip home. The rest of the evening was spent in reduced light.

It has been about five hours since getting the drops and my pupils are still twice normal size…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 63

Born Again

Today was our semi-annual (bi-annual?) dental teeth cleaning appointment. My two upper front teeth are capped (kid thing, threw something against the wall which bounced back and busted teeth and split my lip) and for the past decade or so my gums surrounding the caps have always been slightly inflamed. At first we thought it was a reaction to whatever metal the caps were made of. But that turned out to be a fairly costly failure as the new gold caps didn’t fix the issue.

Last appointment my dentist talked me into seeing a gum guy. The results of that were I should increase my brushing from once a day to twice and bump the flossing from once a week to daily. Well I didn’t get the twice daily brushing thing going, but I did make it a habit to floss every night.

Today, both the hygienist and the dentist remarked how much better the gums looked around those caps. When they asked what I was doing differently, I told them I was flossing daily now. The dentist mmm’d his approval, but the hygienist positively squealed in delight. She said, “We just love born again flossers around here.”

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 62

Do You Think I’ll Live To Be 80?

I recently picked a new primary care physician. After two visits and exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing “fairly well” for my age.

A little concerned about that comment, I couldn’t resist asking him, “Do you think I’ll live to be 80?”

He asked, “Do you smoke tobacco or drink alcoholic beverages?”

“Oh no,” I replied. “I’m not doing drugs, either.”

Then he asked, “Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?”

I said, “No, my other doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!”

“Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?”

No, I don’t,” I said.

He asked, “Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t do any of those things.”

He looked at me and said, “Then why do you give a shit?”