Sunshiny Day

Finally….my new house purchase is finally gonna close and I will be moving in this weekend….well, barring some kinda paperwork disaster that is. I've come to be very wary of any promises made by the bank/mortgage/escrow people about when they think things will get wrapped up but at this point all signs point to the closing happening tomorrow (Thurs, Aug. 28) and then me "officially" getting the keys to the house on Friday. Now I just gotta move all my "shtuff" from the old house to the new house. I bought some new furniture because I didn't want to feel like I was just replicating rooms from the old house - I very much want, and need, a fresh start. I'm sure being back on my own will bring on a whole new batch of stress, but at least it'll be a different kind of stress than what I've been going through for the bulk of 2008…2008 has sucked so far, I'm hoping the remainder of the year and beyond is much, much better (anything less than a Lehar coming off Mt. Rainier and wiping out me and my new house will be acceptable).

Did I mention that divorce sucks? It does…and hard. At this point (well actually way before this point) I'm just glad it's all coming to an end and I can begin to move on. But one of the things that has bugged me about this whole thing is the idea that the "process of divorce" has become so clinically sanitary…at least that's the way it feels to me in my case. Yes, yes I know, a "civil" split is the ideal situation - no yelling, no anger is definitely the way to go, but it's gotten to the point where you can basically follow a "divorce template"…"This is what you should discuss with your kids…", "Here's a form to create your "Parenting Plan"…", "Here is divorce checklist for things you need to do…"

It's all such a "happy, touchy-feely, sunshiny day" load of crap. The bottom-line is divorce is an ugly thing. Okay, I feel I am giving the impression that I am a ranting and bitter ex-husband…okay so I am a little bit, but really it's not the actual divorce I'm ranting about (I'm way over that) but just the idea that it can all be done painlessly - to that I say bluntly: Bullshit. My advice to anyone contemplating it, especially if you have kids - think long and hard about it. Better yet, attack (and fix) any problems now in your marriage that you think could become a bigger problem down the road. Ya know, a tsunami just looks like a little bump in the ocean…until it reaches the shore.

Did I mention I am sooo happy to be moving into my new house? Whoooo boy am I! I can see that sunshiny day on the horizon….

Sailing in the San Juans

Well I'm back from my sailing adventure - we had a great time! The weather could have been better but all in all it was not bad, besides I don't care what the weather is like, sailing is fun no matter what.


When sailing it's good to look like this is something you do every weekend. I figured the ridicules hat, camo shorts and XXL "Terminator Stout (beer)" hoodie made me fit right in with the million dollar yachts and the rich folks at Roche Harbor.


Craig (port) and I (starboard) on the bow of our sailing vessel. See, I can talk all nautical and shit.


One day we raced our friend Roman (the Russian) - it was just Roman in his boat and a crew of five of us in our boat. Roman was beating us for a while, then later, being the well oiled (alcohol) machine that our crew had become, we finally overtook him.


(Most of) the crew of the SS Jack Daniels (I can't remember what the actual name of the boat is). In this picture (from left to right - Roman, Craig, "Skipper" Fred and Ryan (not pictured - Ken and I)) I think the "crew" actually gives the illusion they know what they are doing...almost.

Great, great time. I hope I can do it again someday.

Ahoy!

Lucky me - I get to go sailing next week in the San Juans! Whoo hoo, can't wait. Here's some pictures of the boat we'll be on, these were taken last Sunday when we took it out for a test run.

Skipper "Fred" takes out for a cruise (I'm the one wearing the orange hat and black shirt).

I discovered that the trick to piloting a sailboat is to always have a beer in your hand.

Hoist that jib!!

The galley...aw, life is rough.

I'll write a blog about the trip when we get back. Something tells me there will be lots to write about.

Olympics

I like the Olympics, I really do. Watching the best athletes in the world going for the gold can be thrilling. But of course, as I usually do, I'm gonna focus on what I don't like.

Synchronized diving - what the F? Who decided this should be a competitive sport? Regular diving - sure, but this is just silly.

Swimming - Superb athletes, no doubt about it...but as far as I am concerned they could eliminate the breaststroke, butterfly - even the backstroke races. I mean really, that's just about three events too many. Now if they did the dog paddle for 400 meters, that would be something to see.

Women's Beach Volleyball - Gee, I wonder why this has the highest TV ratings of all Olympic events? I'll give you a hint, it's not because of the thrill of competition.

Skeet shooting - Probably fun as hell to blast orange plastic things out of the sky with a shotgun. Not gonna replace Monday Night Football anytime soon though.

Fencing - Who does this? I mean really?

Race Walking - Obviously a sport that takes years to develop a good technique, like when you were 12 and the bigger kids at your junior high were always trying to steal your lunch money.

Okay, I've got more I'm gonna add to this list but right now Paraguay and Argentina are starting the second set of the Women's Beach Volleyball playoff for 10th place and I don't want to miss it.

Breests

Well the house buying is going agonizingly slow (typical). It looks like next week is when things will finally start rolling (with all the mortgage paperwork). My best guess at a move date is now somewhere around the 22nd (two weeks from now).

Yesterday was my son Jake's 10th birthday. We celebrated his and his brother Trevor's (8) B-days together (their B-days are about a week part) at this place called "Super Jump Zone". The place has three big inflatable things for the kids to play on - a "boxing ring" where the kids don giant boxing gloves and wail on each other, a obstacle course and a giant double slide. There were about 20 kids total that attended and by the end of it they were all just a sweaty mess. They loved it.

We brought a couple of the boy's friends back home with us after the party and as I was driving home with them they, like young boys do, were getting obnoxiously silly. At some point one of them starting talking about "boobs" and I finally had to say "Alright - enough of the boob talk!". Trevor then spoke up and in a serious voice he said "Yeah, and you guys are not calling them by the right name - they are called "Breests". I started laughing to myself because I realized he must have been reading one of the "Where did I come from" books I had given Jake (after he had started asking some questions) and came across the word "Breasts" and he was mis-pronouncing it "Breests". The more he said it the more it was cracking me up. Finally I said "They are called "breasts" Trev and he said "Ohhhhhh, breasts...well what are "man-boobs" called then?"

My eye's were watering from laughing so hard I could barely drive.

The New House

It's looking more and more that I will be moving into my new house soon. Still have to go through all the mortgage stuff but the owners of the house have accepted my offer and we've had the appraisal done and it came in at a good price (slightly higher than the asking price on the house) and I had the house inspection done Thursday and the house passed with flying colors. SO now it's just a matter of jumping through the usual mortgage hoops.


A little about the house I am buying: It's 1920 "Craftsman" home that was completely rebuilt from the foundation up in 1989. It's in outstanding shape and everyone who sees it immediately falls in love with it. The yard is full of really cool plants and tons of fruit bearing trees (Cherry, Apple, Pear). Quit honestly the yard scares the hell out of me - I love a nice looking yard, but I just don't have time to work in it everyday. The owners insist it's established enough where there is not a lot of weekly maintenance (beyond mowing the grass), but it'll take a couple of weekends of "wacking" to get some of it knocked back to a reasonable level (It's a tad overgrown in my opinion). It's an awesome yard though and like I said I just love the house (I love older houses...especially older houses that have been totally updated). I'm hoping to be in by the 3rd week in Aug.

The boys are excited to check it out the new house (I will have them evey other week). The neighborhood will be perfect for them. It's one of those neighborhoods that it seems time has forgot...neighbors are friendly, everyone keeps their yard looking nice (without being forced to by a local covenant) and you actaully see kids out riding their bikes and people jogging or walking their dogs - and there are sidewalks! (and it's all very flat). We even have a nice park nearby where I see families or other large groups of people having BBQ's almost every weekend (I even saw a wedding going on there the other day). And get this - from time to time the local Highschool marching band will march through the neighborhood to practice. I swear to god that June and Ward Cleaver will probably bring an apple pie by when I move in.

This is very different from the current house, where the neighbors are all spaced apart on large acre-plus lots and walking on the streets in the area is not recommened because of the hills, no shoulders, no street lights and cars that go flying by 100 mph (in a 25 mph zone). I always liked the privacy of the house, but I kinda feel the boys have been jipped (sp?) from not growing up in a neighborhood - granted that can bring problems too. But hey, I still hang out with my friends from the neighborhood I grew up in from when I was my son Trevor's age (he just turned 8). So I think it'll be great for them.

The Lord of Suburbia has found a new kingdom to rule over...or make fun of anyways...