State College

A few weekends ago we headed out to State College, home of Penn State (My friend Kristen's Alma Mater), to visit our friends Byran and Jen and their adorable daughter Alexa. We visited the Nittany Mountain Winery, yes there are wineries in the Midwest, played a game called the Settlers of Catan, highly recommended, and generally hung out and took it easy. It was nice to see old friends from college and get a break from the buzz of house hunting and home improvement shopping. State College is a beautiful town, higher in the mountains than I would have expected. It had your usual laid back college feel to it, liberal, chill, and young.

Bryan and Jen own this cute Nordic style house, complete with the ceiling to ground roof on one side. They had done some great wok on it, added a 2nd floor deck, cut out new windows, added wood floors, which Bryan hand milled himself, with more to come. Bryan had a wood working shop to die for, I was quite jealous.

Below are pictures of me standing next to the statue of Joe Pa, they have a statue to him before he has even retired.

Devil is in the details

So the good news is we got a digital camera. One of Jodi's co-workers accidentally bought a digital camera, I guess he didn't mean to hit the button and type in his credit card number (who knows).

So I headed over to our soon to be house to snap off a few pictures. Once I got 7 pictures taken the camera informed me I had no more memory. "That can't be", I thought. Ah wait right there on the side of the box under "optional accessories": xD-Picture Card (it doesn't have a memory card). No wonder it was so cheap!

Anyway here are a couple of pictures of the inside of the house. More to come when we buy a memory card.

Taking Advice

One thing about buying a home that I have learned a lot about is seeking advice. I learned as much form my own research as I did from those close to me. Not to say I could have gotten as far as I have without the one who are supporting me.

I have noticed that those closest to me have no ability to remove themselves from their feelings for me in their advice giving. I'm not sure if it is the fact that they have not seen me work or they are projecting but no one seems to have any faith that Jodi and I can take on a large project, such as our house.

Here's my advice you my readers. When someone asks your opinion give it to them, but stick to the topic at hand. Don't offer you big picture advice, that comes with all of your lifetime assumptions. Your assumptions, motivation and experiences are likely to be different than those of the one you are talking to.

Welcome Home (posted by Jim)

In the past 3 days I have received no less than 5 phone calls from people asking me if I regretted moving home. The reason being is the 5 inches of snow followed by 1/2 inch of solid ice that has decorated the lawns and vehicles of Columbus residents over that last 24 hours. It's not as bad as the local news makes it seem, you'd think Kennedy was shot again, and having grown up here the instincts kick in when it come to driving in this stuff.

That said after spending an hour cleaning the ice off of Jodi's car this morning, using a hammer, chisel, ice scraper and some sort of chemical de-icer, I did fondly remember what I was doing last winter about this time. Last winter I was surfing Rincon Point and other local breaks in Southern California. In fact, if I remember right I got a sun burn. It is sure a change of pace living here.

P.S. everything is still on pace for the house. Anyone know anything about building staircases? We need a new one in the house.

Another one bites the dust

Yet another friend is leaving Santa Barbara over the cost of living. Apparently, rents have skyrocketed over the past couple of months. Our friend thinks he can get $3000 per month for his 3 bed-2 bath home which is sliding down the mountain. It was worth about $1800 just a couple of months ago. Hopefully our landlord wouldn't have jacked our rent, but you never know.

On the flip side, we are scheduled to close on our house on 2/26. We just need to get it appraised, finalize our mortgage (lender is waiting on the appraisal), and buy home owner's insurance. Then we are the proud homeowners of a fixer needing a bathroom and kitchen.