Thursday, September 1, 2011

Entry 81: Back in the US


Well, we're back. Frankly, it feels like we were never gone, to me at least. With a few exceptions, DC looks basically the same -- same streets, same buildings, same friends. It's nice to be back.

We're living in the condo S bought before we were married. It's nice and in a cool part of town, but it's too small for two people. That is, it's too small for two married people, who are planning on staying married. We're putting it on the market. As you are probably aware of, it's not a great time to put something on the market, but the housing crisis didn't hit DC quite as hard as other places, and S didn't buy it at a ridiculous price in the first place, so we'll be OK. We probably aren't going to seriously cash in, but we aren't going to be under water either.

I like the realtor we're working with. He seems good. Part of this is a bias because he's gay, and realtor seems like a good job for a gay man -- good eye for interior decorating, lots of energy, big network, ruthlessness towards the competition, these are all good qualities in a realtor. The problem with this guy is that he's expensive. He wants us to "stage" our place, which means painting it and renting cool-looking furniture. All told, it's going to cost a pretty penny (like several grand pretty). We thought about not doing it, but our realtor seems confident that if we do it, then he can sell the place in a few months, and if we sell in a few months then it's totally worth it. If we don't sell, well, then we'll just go to Plan B. Unfortunately for S and I, though, Plan B currently doesn't exist.

In other news, I took a job, and so far I really like it. The commute sucks, but hey, I can listen to podcasts on my new iPhone on the way (between the two of us, S and I now have four iPods, two iPhones, a MacBook, and an iPad, that's embarrassment of Apple riches, literally, I'm embarrassed telling you this right now). Other than the commute, my job is great. The work is very interesting, the office is chill and my coworkers are all cool. I can more or less arrive and leave when I want. It's almost a ROWE (a concept my brother-in-law turned me on to), which is the way I like it.



Anyway, I'm going to have to cut this entry short. It's getting late, but I wanted to put up a post since I'm going to NYC for the long weekend and might not have a chance to post in the next few days. I meant to write something earlier in the week, but I had some computer issues. I got a virus pretending to be a security warning, telling me I had a different virus, and imploring me to click a button to get rid of it. I knew what was up, so I didn't click it, but still I had a very hard time getting rid of it (it wouldn't let me open any programs), and I'm not even sure it's gone, to be honest. The only thing I feel completely safe with now is reinstalling windows, which is a bitch. I think what I'll do instead is just use this computer for now, cautiously and sparingly, and then get a new laptop in six months or so. This computer has some other problems as well -- a battery that needs to be replaced and two busted USB jacks -- so it seems better to me to just upgrade than to put a bunch of time and effort into fixing it up. Plus, who knows, maybe I can get a Mac, we could use another one.


[The famous Apple commercial]

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