First Train Home . . .

I am finally a homeowner!

Keeping my mouth shut on this blog for the 74 days I have been in escrow has been tough!

I really appreciate the select few people who were aware that I was in escrow and kept it on the down low per my request.

The reality is that I felt like the home buying process is similar to a woman in her first trimester of pregnancy, I just did not feel comfortable talking about the purchase until I felt it was a done deal.

Loyal Readers may remember that I have posted about my home search before.  This process has been several years in the making with one ill fated offer that was retracted before any paperwork was signed sealed or delivered.

After that experience I knew that this time I was going to make sure the deal was solid before I started talking about it.

It has been understandably stressful, and even more challenging when you are trying to do the whole process as a single person.  It is very hard to be in two places at the same time.

But after 74 days of waiting, document reading, signatures, faxes, notaries, emails, design appointments, video shoots (don't ask), wire transfers, walk throughs, phone calls, messages, mover quotes, packing, trips to Goodwill, no parking permits obtained; today I was told, "Congratulations your purchase has been recorded and you can pick up the keys to your new home!"

So Friday morning the movers are coming to take me HOME!

Just Jon will still be residing in the City by the Bay in a new one bedroom + den condo.  In fact I believe I am the first resident moving into the complex!

Shout out to my parents for emotional, physical and mental support!

The Song Of The Day - First Train Home by Imogen Heap

Somewhere In The Grey . . .

"Wooster Smoke"

"Moon Doggie"

"Canterbury Cathedral"

"Hammered Pewter"

These are the colors they are choosing from for my apartment complex.

It looks like the graffiti taggers have voted "Moon Doggie" 2 Dank! (Dank is slang for good.)

I personally am voting for "Wooster Smoke." I don't really like the color, but I think the name is funny. I want to be able to say, "I live in Wooster Smoke."

The Song Of The Day - Shades Of The Past by Debbie Gibson

Squeeze . . .

Like many San Franciscans, I live in a studio apartment that was built shortly after the birth of Christ. In fact Jesus' father Joseph may have done some of the carpentry work on the built in kitchen cabinets.

Translation - The place is old.

I think I have mentioned in the blog before, I don't even have a power outlet in my bathroom.

Seriously, how many people do you know who could live without a power outlet in their bathroom?

It's not easy.

All this information brings me to the point of this post.

About a month ago, I was laying on my couch watching TV when all of the sudden I felt something hit my head.

I sat up and looked down at my shirt and saw a chunk of ceiling plaster laying there.

It wasn't exactly the sky falling, but it was my ceiling dropping down on me.

I reported the issue to my landlord and they said they would send someone out to assess the situation and determine how they would make the repairs.

Three weeks later I was called by the repair man to tell me that he was coming on Thursday morning to fix the ceiling.

He left very specific instructions on my answering machine. He said to be sure to move all the furniture out of the way so that he would have access to the ceiling.

Really?

Where exactly do you expect me to move the furniture? It's a studio!

Based on my superior packing skills from my days as a distribution analyst where I was able to maximize full cartons of clothing; I have created the most optimal amount of open space for the repair man to complete his work.

This will be very entertaining!

The Song Of The Day - Squeeze Me by Kraak & Smaak

UPDATE - Pigeons . . .

Update - The Pigeons have been evicted!

When I got home from work on Thursday there was a package on my doormat.

There was a composting bucket to comply with the City's mandatory composting law that recently went into effect and a notice.

The notice said that the building owner had "netted" the top of the light wells between the apartment units to prevent the Pigeons from coming back.

Woo Hoo!

The Song Of The Day - Sally's Pigeons by Cyndi Lauper

Thunder . . .

Note to self:

Random lightning and thunder storm at 4 in the morning will scare the crap out of you if you went to bed with all the windows open.

This was the first time I have heard a thunder storm since moving to the City three years ago. The lightning was so bright I could see the flash with my eyes closed.

The Song Of The Day - Thunder by Prince

Pigeons . . .

I have new neighbors.

Sort of.

I don't like them.

Really.

They are noisy.

Not exaggerating.

Like most apartments in San Francisco, my building was designed where the bathroom windows open up to a central atrium. The atrium has an opening at the the roof level. See photo above.

After three years of living here, at some point during the last month several pigeons figured out how to get into the atrium from the roof.

The pigeons are my new neighbors, and we are not friends.

Look at the death stare he is giving me in the above photo for trying to shoo him away.

You may have won round one Pigeons; but the battle is just beginning.

The Song Of The Day - Sally's Pigeons by Cyndi Lauper

Return To Sender . . .

My entire life I have been obsessed with mail.  

I wait with anticipation and excitement to see if the letter carrier will bring me anything.

With the invention of "e-mail" a whole new level of instant gratification through mail was achieved.

When I was older and began subscribing to magazines I had specific days of the week I could look forward to because I knew the latest issue of that magazine would be in my mail box.

All this brings me to the events of this last week.

Last Thursday I didn't receive any mail!  Nothing!  No bills, no advertisements, no magazines, nothing!

It happens.  Very rarely.  But it does happen.

Then I didn't receive any mail on Friday.  Hmmmmm.   I began to get concerned because, this meant there was a slight possibility that my Entertainment Weekly would be late.  If it didn't come on Saturday I would have to wait all the way till Tuesday because Monday was a National Holiday.  This was a big deal because I was not going to know what I should be watching on TV or what new music was being released on Tuesday.  I told myself not to panic just yet.

Saturday came and went with no mail again!  

I already knew Sunday and Monday were out so I would have to wait till Tuesday.

And then on Tuesday, no mail came.  

I began to rationalize that the Post Office had goofed up and put my mail on hold when it was clearly supposed to hold someone else.  Or worse, they have been putting my mail in another person's box and that person hasn't walked it over to my apartment.  Or maybe the Nation was still reeling from the historic event of inaugurating our first black president and the Post Office was taking a break.  So I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and wait for Wednesday.

Wednesday.  No mail!

That was it!  Thursday I called the Post Office.  I was pleasantly surprised to actually speak to a live person who worked in the hub that handles my mail.  

I explained to the postal worker my issue.  I asked her to check and see if my mail had accidentally been put on hold.  What I really wanted to say was, "Could you please check and make sure that my Entertainment Weekly is there, I almost missed the season premiere of Lost because I did not have it."

After a few minutes the postal worker came back on the line and said, "Your whole building is on mail hold because the carrier can't get through the security gate."

Oh.

So I said, "OK, do you know if the building owner has been notified so that we can get this fixed?"

The postal worker replied, "I told you, the carrier can't get into your building."

I said, "I know, I am just trying to find out if the building owner even knows that you can't get into the building.  Does it say if they have contacted the owner?"

Once again the postal worker said, "I told you they can't get in."

Realizing I was getting no where fast I said, "Thank you, I will take care of it."

I promptly sent an email to my apartment manager asking if she was aware of the problem.

I got a lengthy response back from my manager explaining how she has been working with the Post Office for a week on this issue with little resolve.  It seems our building was caught in a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape.  The Post Office can only use their government key to enter the building so the spare key the manager left for them was not allowed to be used.  The Post Office could not disclose why their key stopped working.  The Post Office refused to use the intercom system that was reprogrammed to the apartment manager's cell phone to gain access to the building.  And on and on and on the email went.

And then at the very end of the e-mail was some good news.  

The Postal Supervisor had finally revealed that the reason they couldn't get into the building was because our regular letter carrier had gone on vacation and apparently only her special government key works on our building.  She would be back on Friday and would bring the building a weeks worth of mail!

So pictured above are the stacks of mail that could not fit into our small mail boxes.  

And yes, my Entertainment Weekly was there.

The Song Of The Day - Am I Here Yet? (Return To Sender) by Billie Myers

Uh Ooh. . .

O M G it was H O T the past two days in the City!  

Swear to God it has been over 80 degrees for two days and this town is not prepared for that.  

Apartments don't have air conditioning and public transit is not a pleasant experience as the temperature rises.

Sure Friday was a "Spare The Air" day where all public transit is free.  But do we really want more riders crowding on the buses when everyone is all sweaty and gross?

Last night I thought I would try and cool down by opening all the windows in my apartment but the still air outside brought no relief for the misery.

Having grown up in the San Fernando Valley I have all but lost any ability to tolerate temps above 75.  Sad I know, but there was a reason I chose to live in a beach community for most of my adult life.

I don't like being hot.  I would rather be cold.  When you are cold you can at least put on a jacket.  When you are hot, there isn't much you can do.

So after a long day at work on Friday, an even longer ride home on the cramped hot bus, I was greeted by the note shown here in my apartment building's lobby. (Click On Image To Enlarge)

It says that the elevator was stuck on the 5th floor and that I would have to walk up the six flights of stairs to get to my apartment.  Not exactly how I wanted to be greeted as I arrived home.

Maybe this was a sign from God that tubby here needed a little bit of exercise!  

At least by Saturday evening the heat had broken and it was cooler in the City!

The Song Of The Day - When I Grow Up by The Pussycat Dolls

*At the suggestion of one of my blog readers I will be attempting to make "The Song Of The Day" a link to the iTunes Store.  That way you can hear clips of this music and also purchase the song if you so desire.