Back From BarCon and Ready to....Unbox??

Well this past week I've been out of town at the BarCon!! It's a weekend where our group of friends (Beeners (nickname for the group of friends I've had for a long time. It's along the lines of the Goonies in Goonies) and others who are friends) gather at my friend Bar's hut for a long weekend of Gaming. This is the 4th year that BarCon has happened. Year one there was no real theme just BarCon. Year two it was Monster Menace (think Godzilla, Rampage and such). Year Three was Pirates and all things Pirate like. This year it was Close Encounters of the BarCon Kind. Well the weekend went down as follows:

Thursday Flew into town and met Bef at the airport say Hi Bef!!


Well after a quick stop at the Car rental where we got upgraded into a Rav4, which was actually quite spacious, we headed off to BarCon. B!'s navigation to BarCon was a little off in one area but we persevered and made it at last to the BarCon! Only to be greeted by this year's guest host:

Zelnak

For the rest of the evening we had drank some, people smoked, people gamed and most important of all people got in some Deck Chit-Chat. Deck Chit Chat is an unofficial event during BarCon that happens once or even multiple times. But one thing is clear what's said on the Deck stays on the Deck, well except for the neighbors we probably annoy! For dinner we have homemade grilled pizza and was it delicious as always when Kong and Bar tag team it!! *ding* *ding* *ding* Ladies and Gentlemen we have your Grilled Pizza Intercontinental Heavyweight Champions of the World!! I give you Bar and Kong!!! Well after some more drinking, gaming, smoking and chit-chat it's off to bed for everyone at the BarCon. This year I didn't get my deck bed but did get the coolest room in the Hut, oh did I mention that the Hut doesn't have A/C??

Friday I wake up to the stoke of the keyboard and an elbow if I'm not mistaken. Yep that's right our friend Bef is logging into the Realms to do some daily quests for rep. After the blowing up of eggs it was time for some break and then off to the BarCon Annual Frisbee Golf Tournament. Being as I'm not working this was my first year of enjoying BarCon all the way and the first time I got to play in the Tourney!! Unfortunately I haven't played in a while so I did alright for being so rusty. After the tourney we headed off for Wings and Poker/Trivia at a local wing joint. Hmmmmmmmm Wings!!!!!! Well then it was back to headquarters and time for some more gaming! After another night of eating, drinking, smoking, chit-chat and gaming it was off to bed but not too early.

Saturday I received multiple elbows to wake up to. And also throughout the day. For some reason there was a bounty placed on B! you got a 1,000 Space Bucks to drop the elbow. Oh well I just gave watts back and also some Elbow justice of my own!! LOL!! Well Saturday followed the same pattern as the previous days with gaming, eating, smoking and we can't forget the drinking. That is until the 3rd annual BarCon Texas Hold'em No Limit Tournament brought to you by BefBoda Enterprises. This year's final three, we give out medals and other prizes for finishing in the top three, featured two familiar faces. In 3rd place was last year's winner "The Big Cheese" Tim and in 2nd place moving up one spot was "Stonewall" Barsky!! We're already laying bets on the big Barbosky taking the title next year as he's been a constant at the final tables. We also give out prizes for being the first to leave and a hidden bounty prize.

Sunday was another round of waking up to Bef dailies and elbows galore. Also was the first annual Fun Run titled this year appropriately since everyone was surviving on minimal sleep, well everyone but one of us *nod* *nod* *wink* *win* you know who you are, "Sucking Vacuum" Fun run!! It was a mile and for those who did it they got a little rejuvenation while getting the old blood pumpin'. Then came the sad part of BarCon the BarB!Q where we wrap it all up by gorging ourselves on good quality grub, birthday cake (for the two little girls who's birthday's are close to BarCon) and of course the Auction for games and other misc items. Did you save up all your Space Bucks well time to put in a bid!! I got a super hard alien head puzzle game and alien head pen that lights up when you write.

Well Bye BarCon it was a great year!




For most people that was the end of BarCon and for me it was too but I got to stick around and help get the Clean up effort started on Monday while the shuttle services got Bef to his flight. I was staying a couple extra days to meet up with other friends I haven't seen since we moved down to California. Monday we took in the Transformer's movie so that Kong and Bar got to see it, it was the second viewing for me. It's not a great movie but is a good action film with lots of explosions and stuff. Good Time!! We also made it over to the sponsor of BarCon Rainy Day Games where I picked up the 5th expansion for Munchkin and some packs for a new game called Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG.

Tuesday I went to Fire on the Mountain,the best Wing place I've ever been to, with my friend Dawg. If you ever make it there you've got to try the Spicy Peanut sauce. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Then I made a quick stop off at the old office to drop off my keys and to say high to all my friends who are still there. It was a good visit to check up on folk and stuff. Then it was off to my friend Mike's house for dinner with his family and a good friend, and old boss/coworker, Robert. It was good evening just to sit and talk with friends and eat some good food. Then it was back to the Bar Hut for some shut eye.

Wednesday I met my Brother-In-Law (BIL) at Chipotle for some Lunch. Him and his family had just gotten back from our place down in California where they were visiting some family and friends including my wife and our new hut. He had some good things to say about the place and that was great to hear because I value his opinion very highly. Then after that it was a quick stop off at REI to pick up some new shoes as mine were starting to fall apart. Then off to the Airport. Man was that an adventure. 84 was backed up so I stayed on I-5 then that was backed up so I got off at an unfamiliar exit, can you say uh-oh!! Well I felt lost for the next 15 minutes until finally the road I was on looped back to where I thought it would go just off I-5. There were no issues with the flight so got home on time.

Man and what a good job my wife and BIL and family did unpacking tons of stuff and getting things setup. Great job you guys and thanks for helping her out greatly appreciated. Oh and Jere I got the TV up this morning just had to rotate it a little onto the narrow side and it was actually pretty easy to get up there. So that's one thing down. Well two if you count that I got all my books unpacked and into my bookcase. Hmmmmmm I don't seem to remember it being that crowded before. I have a shit load of books!! Oh well so I think based on what I've seen I've only got like 5 boxes to go through. Like I said they did an Awesome job while they were here.

Well that's all for now!

Long Tiring Weekend and Begining of Week....Now off to BarCon

Well the weekend was a bit tiring and a bit of an ass kicker!! The movers showed up on Saturday and we got stuff moved in. Lucky for them we wanted our boxes in the Garage as we weren't sure where things should go and also figured it would make it faster for the movers. Ugh it was a long day. I helped out and seems like I might have moved quite a bit of the stuff myself. The Driver said I was a natural!! LOL!! Yeah years of hauling Hay for my Papa (Grandfather) I know how to pile stuff up and move it efficiently. As Papa always said "Work smarter not harder." Well it was a nice warm day and I got a little bit of red on my neck, nose, arms and legs. Not too bad as it doesn't really itch but my neck was probably the worst.

Over the next few days I unboxed the boxes we had them move into the house. Then got to work on the boxes in the Garage. That was a slow process and after awhile I felt like I was getting nowhere and that our Garage would never have room for the coches. So I decided to just concentrate on getting the boxes that needed to be inside the house close to where they should be based on the description on the box. Well finished that today(er make that yesterday, Wednesday, it's after mid-night now) around noon. Then got to work on starting to unpack what I could before the wife get's home. Ugh another story there she was supposed to land around 9pm but she landed just a short while ago. D'oh! Well I didn't get as much done as I was hoping but I'm so tired I know I did a lot of work. Moving into a 3 story townhouse is a good way to get into shape. I felt like I sweated away 20 pounds over the last 5 days. Yeah probably not really but it feels like it.

Well I'm off to BarCon, an annual event one of my best friends throws at his house for gaming over Labor Day Weekend. It's a complete blast!! I'm staying an extra few days to meet up with friends I won't see and haven't seen since we left.

Well report more when I get back.

Townhouse Is Ours

Well today we got the keys to the new Townhouse!!! Yeah we're now officially in Debt again!! LOL!!

Well not much else to report other then the painting has begun along with me sealing the grout in the tile floors. The painters got a good portion done this evening but before they showed up I took some more pictures and some videos.

Closing Delay

Well Monday afternoon we got some bad news the loan didn't fund so closing wasn't going to happen on Tuesday. What happened you might ask? Well Well Fargo had a nationwide computer issue that started on Sunday. Needless to say they didn't get it fully fixed in time so alas our closing pushed out. Luckily this morning they funded the loan and closing will now be tomorrow.

Well now hopefully our timing will not thrown off. We've got painters coming in to paint the house another color other then the base white. We're going with a Tanish color that is similar, for those who've been there, to the Ceiling of my room in the old house. Anyway they were supposed to start tonight with painting and I was supposed to start sealing the grout in the tile floors. Well now it's all pushed a day. We're hoping they'll be done by Friday as the Movers show up Saturday morning to move all our stuff in.

We also get our new Frig delivered on Friday as well. Had to get a new Frig since the appliances are all Stainless steel and our old Frig was White!

Well will report back more later and will post more pictures and maybe some videos as well.

House Orientation and Signing

Well yesterday was a full and busy day for us. We did our Construction Home Walkthough, Signed papers for closing at the Title company and attended a class put on by Centex. Below are some pictures from our walk through:


Living Room (or B!'s Play area Wii will be here)

Family Room Entertainment Nook and Fireplace

Other side of Family room and part of Kitchen


Kitchen (with sweet appliances and big Island)

I would like to show more but having issues with the editor placing pictures in the wrong spot then not being able to move them but instead having to move the text around. Once you have loaded a picture how do you link to it. I loaded some of these pictures multiple times but don't see where you actually reference them from within the editor if you want to include the same picture again. Any pointers?

Back Online and Ready to Write

Well it's been longer then I thought since Last I wrote on this site. Well a lot has happened since last we met.

Let's see you already know our house sold very fast and has since completed. One thing you may or not know is that we also in that time span purchased a Townhouse in the Bay Area for what we feel is a great deal. We're upgrading footage but lowering the number of bedrooms. Only snag is it isn't ready until August 21st. So we had to scramble get the movers to now store things for like 2 months and to find temporary housing. Luckily we found out that my wife's company was going to foot the bill for the storage and the temp housing which was huge and a dramatic change from what they had said before.

The movers showed up on the 25th and started the packing process. They were in luck as my wife had done a ton of pre-packing for them. Which was also lucky for us as it saved us some money. Then on the 26th of June the movers packed the last of it and we took off in our overloaded vehicles for the long trek down to the Bay Area. The first day we were just heading to my Grandparents place who were just about the half-way point and gave us a good excuse to visit them since it had been a while. The first leg of the trip went by without much excitement other then the guy biting it ahead of us on the road. Didn't see it actually happen but did see them pass us then probably less then a 1/4 mile he bit the dust in the road. He could get up and stand not necessarily meaning he was OK. Gees who's OK after hitting the ground doing 75+ MPH. But as 5-6 cars had already pulled over and were helping him out and since we hadn't seen the actual accident we kept going. We had a nice diner and breakfast with my Grandparents then headed off for the second leg of the trip. This one went really uneventful until we go to the temporary housing we had. Now that was an adventure. First thing that struck me as odd was the place didn't know to expect us and never asked for ID or anything. Strange yes? Well guess that's how the service we were using works. So anyway we get the keys after they had to make a set for us then headed into the garage to unload the cars. Well we try the key in the apartment and wouldn't you know it they didn't work. So my wife headed back to the office and got a different set of keys. So we then try those and they work. Great right not so fast there people! We open the door and there's stuff in the apartment already. Yeah we were getting a furnished apartment but I don't think clothes and jackets are part of that deal. Oops something isn't right here. So the Wife call the company we're going through finds out the had re-assigned us to another apartment in the complex, luckily would have sucked if we had to go somewhere else as it was getting late. So we got those keys and got in and this looked much better. Well after that was over we unloaded the cars and got everything in here. That took some time then we had to unpack everything. So now we're here....... or are we...

Well the next day the 28th I'm on a plane pack to Portland for work for 5 long days. Short end of the stick we were doing an upgrade and it didn't necessarily go very smoothly. I got back home and worked out of the apartment until the 13th when I went on Vacation. Well "Vacation" was better then working but still I was working at least an hour a day if not more until the glorious last day arrived the 27th of July!! Whoot the end of my 12 years with my company. It was a great feeling but at the same time a very sad moment as I was leaving behind many good co-workers that I enjoyed talking to and working with. The biggest hit I had was my office mate who I've known for my entire 12 years with the company. She I will miss the most but luckily we're friends as well as fellow employees so hopefully that relationship stays in contact.

Well that brings us up to date as far as what's happened so far in my life since last I wrote.

Stay tuned for more posting in the very near future.

Weekend of Shattered Dreams

Well the wife and I spent the weekend in the San Francisco area looking at a couple of different areas in hopes of finding a good area to concentrate the house hunting for our upcoming move.

Saturday we spent in the Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hills area. Oh man downtown Walnut Creek is just wonderful and feels like a great place to be. There were shops and restaurants all over and it felt like a good place for a late evening stroll. They have a beautiful auditorium, Architect is from Portland which seemed like a weird coincident, that I thought just put the icing on the cake. I love the theater and all that kind of stuff so that’s a huge plus for me. So after a quick drive through that area we kept on going out of town and ended up in Pleasant Hill where we found this awesome little neighborhood of Spanish (or at least that’s how I characterize them) style homes. We figured these are all 1.5-2 Million dollar homes. We saw one for sale so grabbed the flier for it. It was only a mere 990K. But was a really nice home being a little over 2,600 sq ft. It had all the amenities that we could think of. Great kitchen with granite counter tops, dual convection ovens, jacuzzi tub and walk in shower in master bath, loft, 4 bedrooms, living, dining, family great room into dining and kitchen, built in gas grill outside, tiled outside eating bar and great landscaping. Man we said if that's what 990K buys man we should be able to find what we want for a reasonable, well for the Bay Area anyways, home that is close to our 1,600 sq foot home here. Well were we wrong. Most of the houses we looked at were 780K-850K for 1300-1800 sq ft homes built mostly in the 70s and early 80s. Nothing was even close to what we were looking for. Some had good features but all of them had some major work we would want to do to it to make it more what we wanted. And at 800K+ we just didn't feel like having to put a ton of money into remodeling.

Well the next day we went looking on the peninsula. We started over in Pacifica before we even met the Realtor my wife pretty much vetoed this area. It reminded her of some of the older costal cities in Oregon. Well I wasn't too heartbroken as if I wanted to live in a town like this we could move back to the Oregon coast for a lot cheaper!! The next area we visited was San Bruno this reminded me of my home town of North Bend, Oregon big time. Lots of older ranch homes with pealing paint and of course that Ocean smell. We really weren't too impressed with this area. Then we went onto San Mateo where we actually saw one home, with a detatched living area, that was probably the best house we saw all weekend. But the biggest issue with the peninsula area was the prices most were again in the 800k+ range and were only for 1,000-1,200 sq ft home all of which were probably 40+ years old maybe. After this day we felt the other houses we looked at looked much better to us today then they did yesterday.

Well to finish out our trip we headed over to the Dublin/Pleasanton area to just take a quick drive to get a feeling for that area. We liked that area and our Realtor from day one was going to look in the Dublin and San Ramon areas.

Well I'll report more as we know more.

House of Boxes

Well the latest on the move situation is that we, the wife mostly, have started to get extra stuff boxed up or in some cases things I’m gonna want in the next few months but will have to live without! We’ve got the majority of our DVD’s and CD’s packed away. The wife has packed up the extra towels, bedding, clothes and such. Her and the MIL have gone through our garage sale items, that will be going into a friends garage sale, and Goodwill items. So now we have boxes stacked in the garage and closets. It seems really weird to see all that stuff in boxes and then stacked up.

On my front I started with my closet and got that emptied and most of it put into a box or at least in an grouped area for figuring out how I’ll pack it. I have board games that are big to fit in most moving boxes as they are too long. My biggest concern there is damaging them or them coming open during the move. I have a few miniatures that I’m not sure how best to pack. I have a bunch of them that are a plastic of some type I think so those should be ok. However, the metal figures I’m gonna probably have to individually wrap or it might work by taping two pieces of foam together between two boards or something. Oh well the fun of discovery. After those items I need to get my bookshelves mostly emptied so I need to pack all my books. I have both paperback and hardcover books not to mention my collection of Role Playing Games (RPG) material. I really want to pack the hardback books well so as to not ruin the covers or the books themselves. I also want to make sure I pack my paperbacks in such a way I don’t get bent up covers or pages. But probably the biggest thing to deal with is all my collectable card game (CCG) cards I have. I have a ton of Magic: The Gathering, Wheel of Time, Star Trek, Star Wars, Netrunner etc.. I’m not sure if I should pack all of them for the move or look at unloading some of them via Ebay or a local store. Big question is do I keep them in the cardboard card boxes they are in or do I find something else that will keep them dry in case the box they go in gets wet? I also have a collection of comics and graphic novels that I need to get some covers and backings for. Next time I head over to the comic shop I’ll look for something. I think outside of that I just will have some statuettes and other knickknacks around the room to pack.

Well once that’s finished then we’ll be real close to getting the house on the market for sale. We’ll need to get the house cleaned like never before and to get the outside painted. We’ve got some quotes for painting the house so hopefully we get that all setup to go in the next few weeks.

Keep tuned as there will be more updates to come I’m sure.

The Move

Well my wife and I are reloacting to San Francisco later in the year. My wife was given an opportunity to relocate at work and this opportunity is a fantastic one for her career. I'm very excited about the move because I'm ready for something new in my life and a new city is just the thing to get a fresh start on many levels. It also doesn't hurt that the 49ers happen to be in San Francisco. I've been a 9er fan since I was born. My Grandmother instilled that in me but that's a story for another time. Anyway while I'm greatly excited about this there are some things that worry me.

First off is of course the cost of living down there is much greater then it is in Oregon here. Then of course there is where will we live? This will depend upon how much commuting my wife wants to do. But with her job, auditor, she'll be traveling to clients as much as she's in the office so not sure what area will be best in terms of location, cost and traffic. Well we still have a while to figure this out but I know it will probably go by faster then it should.

What will I do for a job? Now this question is the big one. I've been given an opportunity to figure out if I would like to change my occupation or not. Currenlty I'm a Computer Programmer by trade, although in my current job I don't really get to do any programming just system analysis and other support junk. So I could stick with programming and will probably have tons of options in the Bay Area as there are lots of tech companies down there. But also I have been thinking about teaching High School math and computers for about the last 10 years or so. Most people tell me I'd make a great teacher and my time in my current job has reinforced that notion with the many times I've sat down and walked people through how to do SQL, report writing and other stuff. So I may look into that.

Will we be able to sell our current house? This shouldn't be so bad as my wife's Sister-In-Law, she's a realator, will be helping us.

Well as more stuff comes up I'll be writing more on this subject.