The Browser Auto-Complete Game

I saw that Scalzi did this and it seemed intriguing so I decided to try it myself.  I am going to type each letter of the alphabet into my browser's address bar and see what website it tries to auto-complete to.

A:  Arcane Wordsmith, one of my favorite WoW blogs.

B: The Border House, for damn good reason. Because I'm the Lead Editor and Co-founder and it's basically the best website on the internet. ;)

C: Craigslist.  I scour Craigslist pretty regularly for Farm/Garden stuff and also for checking out furniture, art, and free stuff.

D: Apple Developer Site.  The URL is developer.apple.com, and it's where I go when I'm doing work and need to do some admin stuff for our devs.

E: Ebay.  I don't actually shop on Ebay often, but over the last few months I was looking to purchase a saddle and was checking ebay multiple times a day.

F: Facebook.  This is a no-brainer.

G: Google, naturally.

H: Huffington Post.  I do check the news there quite a bit, especially since it's liberal slanted.

I: iTunes Connect.  Another work related administrative site.

J: Jezebel.  Happy to see that me and Scalzi have this one in common ;)

K: Kotaku.  I read it frequently because I have friends who write there and I think it's made a turn for the better this year.

L: LinkedIn.  I check my messages there all the time to see if someone is trying to hire me.  They usually are, but not for anything remotely interesting or local.

M: Company Email.  It starts with mail.companyname.com, so that's naturally where it resolves.

N: Noxxic.  A quick 'cheat sheet' website for WoW strategies.  My nerd is showing.

O: Openraid.  It's a WoW website where people can connect and raid together, pretty neat concept.

P: Pivotal Tracker.  It's our project management software at work and it's highly recommended.

Q: Nothing except wow.joystiq.com.

R: Reddit, duh.

S: Steampowered.com.  I shop too much for games on Steam (and don't play many of them, whoops!)

T: Twitter.com.  I've been tweeting nonstop since 2007.

U: San Diego Union Tribune.  Local news, though they've recently been purchased and they suck now.

V: Virgin America, my airline of choice.

W: Wells Fargo, my bank.

X: Nothing.

Y: Yelp. I thought it would be YouTube, but I guess not.

Z: Zillow, because we've been house searching.

Kind of a fun little experiment. :)

Eight Characteristics of Boxers

In our household, the dogs pretty much run the show.  We have two Boxers: A 2 year old female and a 1 year old male, both altered.  Every day it's something new with these rascals -- they always keep life interesting and they're a lot of fun.  They're also a total pain in the ass every damn day.  When anyone asks when I'm going to have a kid my default response is "I have dogs".  If they've ever spent time with a Boxer, they understand what I'm talking about.

1. The Farting

Like any other dog with a squished face, there is no getting around a lot of farting.  And not just silent-but-deadlys, but farts that make real sounds that are all too reminiscent of human farts.  We've gone through over 5 different brands of food trying to find the one miracle remedy that will cure it all.  Alas, we gave up.  It's a pretty common occurrence to have the sound of a gassy Boxer interrupting a TV show or waking us up while we're trying to sleep.  Sometimes it's funny.  Usually it's just disgusting.

2. The Routine

Boxers are the epitome of a "routine dog".  Once they get used to eating at a certain time, they will move mountains to make sure they eat at that time every day. Give up any hopes of sleeping in, because they're up in the morning at the same time every day waiting to get breakfast.  And when they're ready to go to bed, they'll whine at you.  Or if the bedroom door is open, they'll just climb into bed and call it a night with or without you.

Oh hey, did you want to lay here?

3. The Personal Space

Don't expect to have any.  Boxers do this thing that Luke and I refer to as "lumping", where they become sacks of potatoes that are unmovable objects.  Krogan leans into you so hard that you fall over.  Echo drapes herself over my shoulders while I'm sitting on the couch, and she's 50 pounds.  Both of them lay on top of me while I'm trying to sleep.  There is no such thing as "too close" with Boxers.

4. The Snuggling

If you have more than one Boxer, be prepared for them to snuggle together in hopelessly adorable ways.  However, don't forget that more than one Boxer means double the farts. (See #1)  This is how they sucker you into obtaining as many Boxers as possible.  It's part of their scheme.

5. The Playing

Boxers have a unique style of playing.  Whether it's with another dog or with a carrot on the floor, Boxers pounce at everything.  They play like they've never played before.  They can't stop playing.  They sound like they're killing each other when they play by making the most horrific sounds.  This is another reason people get two -- because if they play with each other they might leave you the eff alone for a second.  It doesn't really work...two Boxers will just drive you nuts.  And pounce on your face.

6. The Snoring

Boxers sleep harder than any breed I've known.  When they're out, they're passed out for the long haul.  They play at 100 miles per hour and then crash extremely hard.  This is the only peaceful time you will ever have.

7. The Begging

The only thing in life that Boxers like more than sleeping and playing is eating.  They could eat 10 meals a day and then want dessert.  When a Boxer has it's eye on something you have, it is convinced that it can will it into its mouth simply by staring intently.  Expect the Boxer to sneak in the least stealthy way possible and get as close as can be to your food.  Resist the urge to give in, no matter how cute.

8. The Destruction

Don't leave anything unattended.   Boxers insist that every inanimate object is out to get them, from TV remotes to W-2s and even a Skyrim Prima guide.  If anything is important to you, it threatens the exclusivity of your love available for the Boxer.  A Boxer needs to make sure that it's the only thing that matters to you in the house. Therefore, anything you love must die.

Goodbye Skyrim guide, it was nice knowin' ya.

At the end of the day, Boxers will test you in every way imaginable.  They can be destructive, naughty in every way, loud, hot, obnoxious, frustrating.  But they're also the most awesome breed of dog because every day you will laugh.  They will snuggle and warm your heart when it needs warming.  They'll ruin your things and piss you off but then rest their head on your lap and give you nothing but love.  Boxers are the best. <3

Yet another offer accepted

After doing the home inspection on Appleton, we decided to pass on that house.  While we'll be sad about not having a pool, we decided that living in Normal Heights is way more our speed.  Luke agreed with me that we have the rest of our lives to live in a quiet suburban neighborhood, and that we should take advantage of living in a hopping urban area while we can.  Although, it's not the house on Felton that I linked earlier.  It's a new one, on 36th!  It's beautiful and cozy and cute all at the same time.  I never thought we'd own a house like this.



It was over our price range, but they came down halfway and we are getting what I think is a pretty good deal on it.  It's a little over a block from Adams Avenue, the street in Normal Heights with all of the cute little shops, antique stores, art studios, restaurants, coffee shops, even a comic store and a board games store!  I'm so excited about this place.  It might be at the top of our budget, but it needs literally no work for us to move in.  At least, as far as we know.  The home inspection could say something different, but it has a new roof and water heater.  And -- it as a full studio in the backyard with a full bathroom and kitchen!  It would be great to rent it to a friend so we could save a bit of money on our mortgage.

Today we went down and looked at it again just to make sure we were really happy with it before paying $500 for yet another home inspection.  This weekend is also the Adams Avenue Street Fair, and we spent a couple hours walking up and down looking at things.  I bought a comic book, a Hawaiian shaved ice drink, and we both got a t-shirt from a booth run by Luke's former coworker.  All in all, it was a fun day.

Pros and Cons

Do pros and cons lists every really end up working out to help anyone make a decision?  Let's see here.  Trying to decide between two houses.... I underlined the things I think are the most crucial.

Pros on Appleton:

- Pool in the backyard
- Large house (1500+ square feet)
- Rad bonus room/library thing
- Two car garage
- All new windows
- Closer to Luke's work

Cons on Appleton:

- No real driveway to park in
- Not a lot of grass for the dogs
- Price is high
- Needs a LOT of work (kitchen, both bathrooms, new flooring in some rooms, painting)
- In Clairemont, a neighborhood we don't love.
- Requires the 52 to quickly get to any freeways, not convenient to the 805 or the 5.

~*~*~*~*~

Pros on Felton:

- Charming house
- In the neighborhood we love, walkable to stuff
- House is already refinished, needs no work to move in.
- At the high list price, is $36,000 cheaper than Appleton.  At the low list price, is $66,000 cheaper than Appleton.
- We know the rental market in the area, and a $2200/month rent would be absolutely doable there.
- More yard space for the dogs
- Few blocks from the 805

Cons on Felton:

- Neighbor's house is run down, badly.
- House is small
- Old house built in 1929, potential problems?
- No furnace, uses space heaters.
- Further from Luke's work
- One bathroom

Funky funk.

Today is one of those days that I'm feeling in some kind of heavy funk for absolutely no reason whatsoever.  I'm not sure what it is, but I just have little motivation to do anything and I feel discouraged about everything. That probably means that I need more Lexapro or something.  My taking of it once every 4-5 days is probably not being very effective.

Still waiting to sign our contract for the house on Appleton; apparently it's held up at the seller who can't figure out how to do an online contract.  Technology is difficult and sometimes slower than doing things the traditional paper way.  Of course, while waiting, I find a house in the uptown neighborhood of SD (my favorite) that is cheap and looks adorable.  I'm kind of annoyed at how I can't fucking make up my mind about what my priorities are on buying a house.  I think the problem is that I don't really care for any areas in San Diego that aren't in the uptown neighborhoods (Hillcrest, University Heights, Mission Hills, North Park, Normal Heights, Kensington, South Park).  So I feel like this decision is so very 'final' and that scares the shit out of me.  What if we're miserable?  Luke seems to think all will be well as long as we have a pool in the backyard, but I'm not as convinced.  Don't get me wrong, I like the house on Appleton a lot...I just wish it wasn't in such a boring neighborhood.  I don't know whether I'd rather be in a rad walkable neighborhood with little space to call our own yet things to do surrounding me, or in a large house with less charm in a generic neighborhood.  These are decisions I didn't anticipate having to make any time soon, because we'd always just rent a house in the neighborhood we want to live in.

Offer Accepted!

Pardon the terrible picture, there weren't any good ones to choose from!

We offered just under asking price on this house last weekend on the first day it had been up on the market. The listing agent replied back and said that he already had 5 offers, and we were the lowest.  We increased our offer by $30,000 so that we could compete.  By that time, there were already 15+ offers on the place and we assumed we wouldn't get it.  On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the sellers were arguing back and forth and deciding between us and another buyer.  The other buyer had way more money for a down payment, so they ended up choosing them.  We were pretty sad and disheartened about it.

We were asked if we wanted to be the backup offer, and Luke said that he has a good feeling about the place because I always end up getting what I want.  Whenever I have my heart set on something, I end up getting it.  By a stroke of luck, our realtor called me this morning and said that the other buyer got laid off from work today and as a result, we're the next on the list.  I don't want to make light of anyone else's misfortunes, because what an awful scenario, but I am so thrilled that we get the chance to own this home.

Of course, we have been this far once already and we turned down that other house after the inspection.  Anything could still happen at this point.  But I'm feeling really optimistic about this place.

• The house is older (1957) but has been maintained really well.  There are many upgrades to be made (like the kitchen, yuck!) but it's a really nice blank slate to start with.
• There is this amazing addition of a back room with wood paneling on the walls that is the most perfect office ever.  It's basically screaming for floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and it looks out to the pool.
• The pool.  OH GOD THE POOL.  Really big in-ground pool in the back with a very nice concrete patio space.  It's going to be wonderful.
• The location is great.  The neighborhood is very 'homey' and it's close to Hwy 52 for quick access to the 5 or the  805/163/15.  
• It's over 1500 square feet, so it's lots of room.  4 bedrooms is nice because it means we can have a dog room, spare bedroom, master bedroom, and future-baby-room and then our office can be in that addition space.

Our inspection is next Wednesday and I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes well and the Appleton house will be ours! =D

DIY Halloween & Fall Wreath

I was having a bit of a bad day, so I decided to do something crafty.  I used to love making things and somehow fell out of the habit of doing so.  A quick trip to Michael's gave me everything I needed to make my own awesome Halloween wreath!

This is one of the easiest DIY projects ever.  If you can use a hot glue gun, you can make a wreath.  Michael's sells the wreath bases (called grapevine wreaths) in various sizes (I went with 18" but it's totally up to you) for under $10 each, and then what you put on it is up to your imagination!

Supplies:

Grapevine wreath in whatever size you wish
Ribbon
Silk flowers
Hot glue
Glue gun
Wire cutters (for the silk flowers)
Lace tablecloth (or fabric of your choice, this part is totally optional)
Various accessories (I picked a bird and some pumpkins).

I started out by wrapping the wreath in ribbon.  For an 18" wreath, I ended up using about half of one roll of ribbon.  I glued the beginning and end on with hot glue, but you could probably tie it as well.   Next, I cut the lace spiderweb tablecloth that I bought and I glued it on the back of the wreath.  You might not want to do this step, it makes the wreath not hollow in the middle and it's totally up to your taste.  I liked it though, as it provided a nice backdrop for my raven bird.

Next is the fun part -- start gluing things on!  I positioned all the flowers & leaves before gluing them on to make sure I liked how they looked, then I went crazy with pumpkins.  Lastly, I glued on the raven (which I'm sure Luke will think is creepy because he hates birds) and I think it was a great final touch to the whole thing!  The best part about working with hot glue is that it dries really quickly, so this project took less than an hour and I already have it hanging up on the front door.