mikeg's blog - Home

WANT

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:37:02 -0400

OK, I know it's TOTALLY impractical in a 500 sq. ft. studio, but c'mon - http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/02/27/ballpit-phase-ii/ WANT!

And on the N+45th day god created paint...

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:52:37 -0500

... and he flung it upon the walls of his abode and he saw that it was good, or at least better than what the last guy had. The paintwork, she is done (except the bathroom which has one or two small construction projects left and two closets which I have to get construction crap out of before I can paint them).
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DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN STEAM VALVE...

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:05:27 -0500

... If Happy Fun Steam Valve begins to shoot burning hot steam at you close valve immediately before Happy Fun Boiler comes up through your floor to have a few words - words mostly beginning with, ending with, and consisting entirely of "HISSSSSSSSSS BABABABABABABABABABANG". Uh, yeah - so anyway, the joys of a building older than I am - One of my convectors is cracked (so it makes a wonderful hissing-whistling-popping noise when I open the valve for it, and makes the apartment smell like rust from the steam blow-by). Also, the radiator in the bathroom has a busted valve seat (open the valve and there's steam blow-by with the attendant rusty smell, close it and you get a drip of water once every 10 minutes or so). Both bounced to building management to source me a plumber. On the bright side I finally found a use for The Lost Art of Steam Heating and A Pocketful of Steam problems (with solutions) which I bought a while ago just because I'm a freakish little engineer-whore and like reading about systems design. Stop laughing. You all suck.

As promised... Pictures

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:40:32 -0500

So I promised y'all pictures - I'm only 2 days late in delivering. Shut up and deal.
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Pictures Coming Soon

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:26:26 -0500

What have I been doing you ask? Working on that damn co-op, that's what! It's torture I say! Torture! So if I remember to make my lazy-ass take some pictures of the new place I'll be posting them tomorrow. Kitchen is 87% done (counters need to go in, then a final coat of paint). Bathroom is 75% done (Fix hole in wall where previous idiot put ginormous medicine chest thing so big you couldn't even turn around in the damn bathroom!) Rest of the place is about 33% done (Fix the crap job previous idiot did with wood putty on the molding (somehow he managed to get it everywhere but in the gaps and nail holes), sand the float job I did on the busted plaster, prime, paint and furnish)
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$this->search(RealEstate::new({location => 'NY-METRO', price => 'Cheap', size=>'Reasonable'});

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:28:03 -0500

... 1 match found. For those of you wondering where I've been the last few months, the answer is "Buying a f***ng house, now leave me alone!" Ever the nonrtaditionalist (and displaced City Boy), I'm not buying an actual house (two main reasons - #1 is the median home sale price ($500,000), #2 is my aversion to shoveling snow). I've picked up a nice co-op in Freeport (for far less than it should sell for) and will be closing on Monday (11/19/2007).
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Hey! I'M BACK!

mikeg@bsd-box.net (mikeg) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:53:00 -0400

Not Dead (Still). So in other news, I finally took a huge step toward not renting anymore - I'm officially in the market for a dwelling. So what am I looking for? - A Condo or Co-Op (because buying a house in New York is just INSANE between the price and the taxes and the upkeep -- UGH!) - It's gotta be a 1 or 2 bedroom (because sleeping where you eat is wrong, and if someone ever moves in with me we'll need to be able to get away from eachother sometimes...) - Somewhere on Long Island (Nassau/Suffolk - Because I still work on the island, and because I can't afford Queens or Brooklyn...) - Something in the $100,000-$150,000 price range (because I know I'll go as high as $175,000 if the place is right) - Maintenance can't be insane ($1500/yr is the high-side of reasonable to me...) I'm also looking for a mortgage (since I'm not independently wealthy and $100,000 isn't exactly "Walking Around Money"), so tomorrow's tour includes a brief stop at my local WaMu branch to inquire as to the pre-qualification process for both a traditional mortgage and a "Co-Op Mortgage" (essentially a stock loan...) (More below the jump!)
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