Wed, 30 Jan 2008 {7:20 pm}
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We've put in a couple offers on that house, but their Realtor (Cathy Russel, of all people) or the seller himself doesn't seem to get that the closing date in the offer is the earliest we can possibly close. In their latest counter-offer (after one round gone through already and explaining to them why the closing date has to be when it is), they kept the price where we wanted it, but they changed the close date to the middle of March. Our Realtor talked to the lender again to see if there was any way to get a mortgage for then, but it just ain't happening. I called Bank of America this evening (they sent me a letter about their "no closing cost" mortgage a couple weeks ago), and we would have to close even later than what Countrywide will let us do. Now, I don't necessarily think closing in the middle of March is a good move, considering I'd still have a couple months of school left and we'd have to deal with the payments on the apartment during that time too (in order to terminate the lease, they require 60 days notice, and then charge you 2 months rent extra). I've thought about doing a sublet, but I don't know how much hassle that would be. At least if I could get someone to rent it, I wouldn't blatantly be giving away money for no good reason.

On another, somewhat related note, I'm considering getting a geothermal heating/cooling system installed once I move into a house (providing the installation cost isn't prohibitive.) There is a program Indiana has that will give up to a $2000 rebate to someone installing such a system. Duke energy has a $200 rebate program, and part of the cost I could write off on Federal taxes. I think it would be a good investment, so long as I stay in the house long enough to reap the benefits.

On to homework...

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 {6:26 pm}
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We looked at those houses yesterday, and today we looked at the second two on the list again. After further consideration, we really like the 401 Big Pine house a lot better than the other one.

The other home (4616 Elijah) after further inspection has lots of stains in the carpets, poor paint in some places, some scuffed walls in certain rooms, they didn't use the door stops so the locks on the door knobs have created dents in the walls, the fencing around the deck seems kind of weak, and it's 400 sq ft smaller.

The Big Pine home has a good paint job, very few (I only noticed 1) carpet stains, a much flatter back yard, and larger rooms. We would have to seed the back yard though as it is now mostly dirt and rocks, but that shouldn't be too bad.

I was kind of disappointed that both homes have low efficiency furnaces and water heaters. I wonder if we can sell them back to a heating/cooling contractor for a discount on high efficiency replacements. Probably not, but it would be nice.

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 {12:40 am}
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I got a new laptop. Not new per se, but it's new to me. The specs are only slightly better than my old one (save for the smaller hard drive), but it's the XPS M1210 (12.1"). I was getting tired of the bigger Inspiron 1420 (14.2"), and selling it resulted in only a small expense on my part for getting the smaller laptop. It's the same size as my old Dell 700M, which was a little larger than my old Fujitsu P5000, which, again, was slightly larger than my even older P2000.

I'm disappointed that Dell's new small laptops have gone the way of being thin rather than actually being small. The XPS M1330 (13.3", notice a trend?) does not feel like a small laptop. It is very light and thin towards the front, but the back of the laptop is just about as thick as the M1210, and the extended life battery sticks down rather than out, making it even thicker. Why would they put a battery that extends in the thickness direction on a laptop that they exclaim is "one of the world's thinnest". They're completely negating their thinness advantage by extending the extra battery space in this direction.

On a separate note, Ally and I will be going to look at houses on Saturday. We already looked at some houses a couple weeks ago and put an offer on one, but the seller was looking for a quick sell and we can't close until May at the earliest.
Houses we'll look at on Saturday, in order of my preference based on photos and driving by each one.
4951 N 50 W, WL
401 Big Pine, WL
4616 Elijah, WL
1166 Montgomery, WL
1621 Shining Armor, WL

I really like the second house (from photos), but the yard is kind of lacking, and its in a subdivision.
I also like the first one mostly because of the yard and location. I'm not sure about the house yet since there are no interior photos, but it is a split level and is likely very similar to my parent's house, though it seems to be mostly contained on the upper floor with a second living room and utility type stuff in the lower floor. it also has a deck out back.

Well, that's it for now.

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 {12:10 am}
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Employment news!

I received and accepted an employment offer from Arxan today. I don't yet have a hard start date, but it will be in May sometime. I will continue to work there as an intern during my final semester at Purdue.

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 {8:39 am}
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Happy 2008!

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 {9:44 pm}
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And grades are indeed in.

The results:

Software Security:	A
Ancient Philosophy:	A
General Chemistry:	A
Leadership Through Teams:	A

Yup. All 'A's, and I'm also on the Dean's List and Semester Honors. Only one semester left until I graduate--6 years after finishing high school.

I still haven't gotten word from Arxan about employment, but I think I should soon.

All Christmas shopping is done, save for one person. And I yet to receive my N810. I actually have gotten tired of waiting for it and have bought a slightly cheaper and slightly more used one off of eBay which should arrive tomorrow. I'll sell the new one when I get it and hopefully come out ahead since I got such a good deal on it in the first place.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 {8:17 pm}
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As you may or may not know, I had interviews today for a full time position at Arxan. If you didn't know, don't feel too left out as I only found out myself last Friday. The interviews went well, and (I think) by the end of the week I should find out the results.

Other news...

My Nokia N810 has not arrived. So far as I can tell, it hasn't even been shipped yet, but I did get it for $70 under retail, so I can't complain that much so long as I do get it (this month, preferably).

Apparently, I never updated the quick-links with my Fall 2007 schedule, and now it should be time to put up the Spring 2008 schedule.

Finals this week:
Tuesday - Chemistry
Wednesday - Software Security
Friday - Philosophy

Grades in - Dec. 19

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