Posted on by mwhybark

Kona

After tearassing around North Seattle before confirming that house #4 is one we want to bid on, Viv and I, starving, skidded to a stop in front of the oft-passed, always curiously eyed Kona Kitchen at 85th. I’d read good things about the place, and as we walked in, I was a bit surprised to hear the somewhat loud, live slack-key music played by a motley assortment and fronted by a striking, fiftyish soprano. The place was filled with obvious family groups, and a clear majority of the men were, in fact, wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Viv and I were a bit overwhelmed by the volume at first (which really wasn’t that loud, we were just tired and hungry) but I ordered fish and chips and a Kalua pig and cabbage. Watching the musicians, it was clear that we’d walked into a gathering of people who all seemed to know one another and the songs being performed. We had a beer and settled in to watch and listen.

As it happened, the night’s performance was led by one Stephen Inglis, and he was assisted by a semi-rotating cast of musicians, three of whom appeared to be guesting. One of these folks wandered over to our table and asked Viv if she was from Hawaii, and we chatted with him for a bit. He, the woman who had been singing when we walked in, and a bassist all appeared to have played together for many years, and although I enjoyed Inglis’ performance, I was intrigued by the relaxed interplay of the older players. Unfortunately, I did not catch the name of the guy who wandered over to chat with us before working his way around the room – he clearly knew the majority of people there.

At any rate, the food was delicious, the music was relaxing, and watching the room was a hoot. I had the presence of mind to record five of the performances on the phone – theoretically in stereo – so bend an ear. I haven’t proofed or remastered these tracks, so expect warts.

Posted on by mwhybark

Alarmist

Treonauts: Alarming your Treo points to a couple alarm apps for the Treo.

I got here by beginning a hunt for a timer-based audio on/off program for the phone. I keep forgetting to turn the phone ringer off when I get into the car and then forgetting to turn it on when I get out of the car.

A few more links:

KeyGuardTime+ and ClockPop 5 each drop a clock in that appears when you press a button on the phone to wake the screen up (if I understand correctly).

RingerSwitch Basic 1.2 and RingerSwitch Pro 1.2 appear to be designed to help remind you that you’ve turned the ringer off manually, not quite what I am after.

UPDATE: A poster at TreoCentral suggests ScheduleCare or ProfileCare.

Utterly off topic, but HOLY COW! Google Maps for the Treo: Kmaps. Requires a Java engine on the handset, which must be installed by the user, so I haven’t yet done this (my twiddling and dinking time is even more limited than my blogging time).

Posted on by mwhybark

Where does it go?

Between househunting and work, I’m amazed I’ve been able to post at all. I have an ongoing convoluted personal discussion with myself about househunting – nearly all of it bitter – which under other circumstances would have ended up here.

I have been engaged, as well, in interesting email exchanges with various friends, which presumably has also sopped up some blogtime.

We put an offer on house number three earlier this week, but lost on a higher offer. I’m completely unconcerned about this; the house was beautiful, but as noted earlier, small and in the wrong location. I suspect our agent is having a hard time understanding my buyer’s psychology, because I am pretty unstressed about the whole process, other than the amount of time it takes.

I estimate that to date we have seen about 120 to 125 houses. We are putting in an average 10 to 15 hours a week on the hunt. Housework has suffered.

Driving remains the most loathesome activity ever misconceived by the mind of man, but I at least I don’t feel like one ton of auto plus my total inability to perform physical tasks with any competence creates the roadbound equivalent of a safetyless machine gun any more. I mean, it’s still literally true that I am a dangerous, incompetent driver and will remain that way. I can’t tell my right from my left and physical activity is unpleasant, because I cannot control the motions of my body as easily as most people. It’s not as though I have a disease or disability, though. I just fall on the less-abled side of the bell curve with respect to performing multivalent-input-required physical tasks. I understand that most people find physical activity and stimulation pleasant. I find it excruciating, because I cannot manage the sensory input I receive. This makes me feel as though I am always out of control of my own body and its’ reactions to the world.

Wait, let me rephrase that: I am always on the verge of losing control of my body. As I become acclimated to a physical activity, I rely less and less on actual external sensory input, and more and more on learned patterns of action and mind. As I become less interactive with the physical world, I exhibit a greater degree of competence in physical tasks.

You can see how I note my increasing sense of control of the car with some unease.

Posted on by mwhybark

Unsettling

As I was seeing Viv off just now, a glint caught my eye within the sand and debris in the gutter.

It turned out to be the first of five unfired bullets, each stamped “Rem” on the butt.

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Bubbles

Paul Frankenstein, with whom I’ve had an ongoing discussion concerning the real estate bubble, passes on this thoughtful link. Looks like San Diego might be cooling off, although the specific pricing described in the story is not, to my eyes, a bubble popping so much as slower growth replacing inflationary growth, the most desirable outcome (unless you are a speculator, I mean).

Let’s hope we just that here, and sooner rather than later. I’m not buying with the expectation of making money; I’m buying a place to live.

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YA into the field

Yesterday we looked at our usual twenty or so houses all over the city. out of them, about five fit our needs, and one was quite appealing indeed. Unfortunately, it’s located away from the optimal areas we’d prefer. This is no particular obstacle, however.

Of greater cause for deliberation are three factors, all turning on size. The lot size is quite small in comparison to some of the other homes we looked at, and the house itself is only a few square feet larger than our current apartment. There is also, disappointingly, no basement.

Despite these issues, we’ve decided to bid on the house after discussing another candidate that offerred a better regional location with large outbuildings on a big lot, but also no basement.

This will be our third offer.

I think, now that we have been doing this for a couple of months, we are getting close. Each time we go out we have seen several houses that are really quite amenable.

Posted on by mwhybark

Back behind that mule

Pict2251

We considered making an offer on this house, but concluded it was too large to suit our needs.

Pict2308

You know, it’s hard get back to work what with the plowing and planting ad weeding and feeding when you’ve spent a week at the beach and felt the biting sting of sand on the Oregon wind at midsummer.

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Act Now!

BoingBoing passes along a link to what will undoubtedly be a short-lived instance of a publicly-posted copy of the legendary Disney remix comic Air Pirates, which spawned all sorts of legal shenanigans back in the heyday of underground comix. I’ve never read this rare beast, and you bet I’m going to.