I’m leaving for Dragon*Con tomorrow!

I’m soo excited. I think I’ve been rambling on about it to anyone who would listen for the past week (okay, so maybe the past year…). My goals for the weekend are:
* to get a picture with Kari, Grant, and Tori from the Mythbusters build team
* to get an autographed copy of “The Last Unicorn”
* to meet Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca)
* to see Episode IV in Mystery Science Theatre 3K style
* to watch Ben win a Heroscape tournament
* to take a ton of pictures
* to have A LOT OF FUN!!

I will be available by cell phone most of the time and possibly by email if the Hilton really does have free wireless as they claim. If they do, I will try to put pictures up periodically.

Top 5 Myths About Girls, Math and Science

The days of sexist science teachers and Barbies chirping that “math class is tough!” are over, according to pop culture, but a government program aimed at bringing more women and girls into science, technology, engineering and math fields suggests otherwise.

Below are five myths about girls and science that still endure, according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program:

http://www.livescience.com/health/070827_girls_math.html

Finally…..step 1 is complete.

I put an offer on a fifth house last night, and they countered it this morning, not wanting to pay closing costs. So we raised the mortgage price a bit to include the closing cost amount, and they accepted it! (Well, verbally…still waiting on the paperwork.) I want the extra money to replace the hideous pink carpets that unfortunately cover every floor surface that isn’t vinyl.

So now on to step 2: the house inspection.

I guess I should post an update.

I didn’t get the house from my last post. It need a lot of work, and they were not willing to do it, and the loan I’m getting requires the property to be in good shape.

So I put an offer on another one, a little further out. However, my realtor told me on Monday that they were waiting to see if some other person was going to buy it before they would consider other offers. We were supposed to know something by yesterday, but I haven’t heard anything yet.

If I don’t get this one, I have another potential one in mind to put an offer on.

Thanks to everyone who is posting and calling with words of support. This is an incredibly frustrating process, and I really appreciate it.

Taking a break at work to say: Waiting is not fun.

I put another offer on another house on Monday, and I was supposed to hear back by noon today, but so far NOTHING. I guess I will call my realtor when I get off work. This is incredibly frustrating.

In other news, I am apparently going to Six Flags this weekend to roast in the hot sun of Atlanta. Luckily, the line for Batman: The Ride is mostly indoors, and that’s all that matters. But Ben, Wayne, Wayne’s brother, Chance, Kelley, Jon, Faithe, Matt, Karen, Sam, Brent, Chad, and maybe a couple other people are all going as well, so it should be pretty fun. Haven’t been since Fright Fest ‘05.

Then in two weeks it’s back down to Atlanta for Dragon*Con! Yay! I never did work on any new costumes though….

No luck on the houses yet.

I put in an offer on the one with the blue countertops, but I don’t think they are going to budge either, according to their realtor. But nothing official from them yet.

I’m also considering putting an offer on another one that I saw last weekend. While not as perfect as these others, it still is quite nice. It has an nice open layout and a fireplace. The backyard would need to be fenced in and there’s no deck, just a patio out back. Also, the master bedroom is on the main floor and the laundry room is on the second floor, so I can see that getting kind of annoying. It’s also a little further drive. Hmm..

Anyway, for your amusement…this is what we did at work this week, lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0WhilimmKg

I didn’t get the house.

They came back with a counter-offer and wanted full price, which I can’t afford, and I had already offered my max amount (since there was supposedly someone else making an offer as well), so I didn’t really have any more negotiating room. So I had to let it go.

Hopefully I can find something in the same neighborhood that I like just as well. I know a few of the houses have similar floorplans. However, from looking at the pictures, all of the other ones have something that’s slightly annoying about them. There is one that looks to be exactly the same, but it has bright blue countertops in the kitchen. That would definitely have to go.

Cross your fingers, I’m making an offer on a house.

After this weekend’s house hunting excursion, I found a house to make an offer on. It is in the epitome of suburbia, so the neighborhood is good, albeit way further from work than I was originally looking. But if it gets too annoying, I can take the train, since it’s in Hermitage.

Anyway, it’s about 1400 sq ft with three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The living room has 20 foot ceilings and a fireplace and is connected to the dining area and open to the kitchen. The kitchen is also open to the den, which has doors leading out to the deck and fenced-in back yard. The main floor also holds the laundry room, a half bath, and (yay!) a two car garage. Upstairs, on one side are two small bedrooms and a bath, and the other half is the master suite, with two closets (one walk-in), a cut-out looking over the living room, and a nice bath with a garden tub. The whole house has lots of large windows to let in natural light.

The only work it needs, as far as I can see, is there’s some rooms where wallpaper needs to be taken down, and it needs to be painted (of course), and the fence has one little area that needs a repair.

So wish me luck!

House hunting: Day 3

Okay, now if the first stressful thing about buying a house is finding one, then the second stressful thing is once you find one, you’ll actually find two, and then have to decide which one to put an offer on first.

So, I saw another 8-9 houses today, and won’t bore you with the details on most of them, except for the two that I like.

House #1: close to work, has a garage (!!!), washer/dryer connections in garage, high ceilings, a skylight, fireplace, open floor plan, 850 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, walk-in closets, small backyard with a patio on the side and privacy fence (yard needs a little fixing up in back, nothing major), carpet needs to be replaced, neighborhood is okay (could be better, but not bad), crime website shows nothing happening in past month, easily affordable

House #2: further from work, no garage, cute front porch with swing, fireplace, smooth top stove, washer/dryer in hallway, hardwood floors, deck, cute backyard with picket fence, 960 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, standard closets, storage shed, neighborhood looks nicer, crime website shows a couple larcenies have happened in the area in the past month, would have to negotiate on price a little to be affordable

So basically, do I go with the already affordable cute contemporary house with the garage in the closer but not-as-nice-looking neighborhood, or do I go with the hopefully negotiable cute traditional house with the deck in the further but nicer looking neighborhood?

I need to make an offer on one tomorrow. Eeek!!!