Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Wet Carpets
Well, on Friday, I was all geared up for a happening Australia Day Long Weekend.
Had a few drinks at work, caught the train home and arrived to see my housemate mopping the floors.
On face value, that seems cool, except that these were carpets, and there was water friggin everywhere.
The washing machine drain hose had come out of the trough and spread probably a couple of hundred litres of water onto the floor. Now this in itself wouldn't have been too bad except (as we later discovered) the builders had installed the floor drain into an external downpipe and pushed it so hard up against the 4" pipe, that the little flap on the end can't open.
The water really only had one place to go. Out into the carpetted hallway, into my bedroom, the spare room, living room, kitchen, and eventally to my housemates bedroom.
So I spent Friday evening moving furniture out of my room into the living room, so that the carpet renovators could come in on Saturday morning and pull all of the carpets up.
Ironically the thing that most annoyed me, was that I had to move all of my furniture again, after only having finished setting my room up 2 weeks ago. I think my housemate felt pretty bad, and I was a bit grumpy, but we do have a bit of a laugh about it now.
It was one of those days.
The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. Two party's on Sunday, complete with backyard cricket, and Cobber of the Year (congratulations Cam). Monday was pretty mellow, though I did move all of my furniture out of storage ready for the big garage sale, and in the evening, my housemate dragged me out of the house to have some drinks with a good friend of his while we sat on the grass in East Perth and watched the fireworks display with a bottle of bacardi, and a 17 week border collie/kelpie pup.
Good company, and that warm fuzzy feeling that too much bacardi will give you.
Pity I had to come back to work today really.
Had a few drinks at work, caught the train home and arrived to see my housemate mopping the floors.
On face value, that seems cool, except that these were carpets, and there was water friggin everywhere.
The washing machine drain hose had come out of the trough and spread probably a couple of hundred litres of water onto the floor. Now this in itself wouldn't have been too bad except (as we later discovered) the builders had installed the floor drain into an external downpipe and pushed it so hard up against the 4" pipe, that the little flap on the end can't open.
The water really only had one place to go. Out into the carpetted hallway, into my bedroom, the spare room, living room, kitchen, and eventally to my housemates bedroom.
So I spent Friday evening moving furniture out of my room into the living room, so that the carpet renovators could come in on Saturday morning and pull all of the carpets up.
Ironically the thing that most annoyed me, was that I had to move all of my furniture again, after only having finished setting my room up 2 weeks ago. I think my housemate felt pretty bad, and I was a bit grumpy, but we do have a bit of a laugh about it now.
It was one of those days.
The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. Two party's on Sunday, complete with backyard cricket, and Cobber of the Year (congratulations Cam). Monday was pretty mellow, though I did move all of my furniture out of storage ready for the big garage sale, and in the evening, my housemate dragged me out of the house to have some drinks with a good friend of his while we sat on the grass in East Perth and watched the fireworks display with a bottle of bacardi, and a 17 week border collie/kelpie pup.
Good company, and that warm fuzzy feeling that too much bacardi will give you.
Pity I had to come back to work today really.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Wow - What a Month
I don't know where to start.
The month of December was a period of utter intensity. Unpacking, organizing, clearing out rooms of the house is always a hideous job, but we did it, though we've still got a lot to do.
I spent some time with my girlfirend, and went away with her. Worked out that things weren't really working, and that my feelings towards her weren't really the loving couple type of feelings. She's a great girl, but it just wasn't working, so we broke up.
She took it OK, but I think she was pretty upset underneath, and I kinda feel bad for that, but I hope that she sees that I was being honest with her, by telling her how I felt. The last thing I wanted to do was string her along. Anyway - I hope we can still be friends.
So I'm single again, though I haven't really had much impetus to go finding a new belle. Maybe in a couple of months or so - we'll see.
I've also be re-organizing my homeloans. My Broker finally had a breakthrough with the bank, and after a bit more fussing around I've managed to structure my portfolio exactly as I wanted to. I'm now gearing up for another purchase, and have started my research.
I've identified about 30 suburbs with consistent growth of more than 7% under $200K. I've still got to look at the amenities in detail and examine rental yields, but I should be able to find at least a few suburbs to start looking seriously at.
My broker says that I should be able to get finance without too much trouble, though I really do need to sell some shares to get that working properly.
This month has also been very expensive with Xmas, and having to pay REA fees for new tenancies on my two properties. Next month should be good though with two cashflow positive properties ploughing money back into the bank accounts.
Music has also been busy, with most of my focus on finishing a new sound set for the K2000 and puting a CD compilation together for Semikazi.
I also clocked up 1000km on my deadly treadly, which I'm pretty darn proud of. I've had the bike since about Feb last year. Crashed it once, nearly taking some blokes car door off, and bending my wheels pretty badly, but I've perservered, and it's all going well. Haven't actually lost any weight, but my body has toned up considerably - and I'm feeling alot more confident about myself - so that's a very good thing.
Anyway - overall life is good. Busy... but good.
The month of December was a period of utter intensity. Unpacking, organizing, clearing out rooms of the house is always a hideous job, but we did it, though we've still got a lot to do.
I spent some time with my girlfirend, and went away with her. Worked out that things weren't really working, and that my feelings towards her weren't really the loving couple type of feelings. She's a great girl, but it just wasn't working, so we broke up.
She took it OK, but I think she was pretty upset underneath, and I kinda feel bad for that, but I hope that she sees that I was being honest with her, by telling her how I felt. The last thing I wanted to do was string her along. Anyway - I hope we can still be friends.
So I'm single again, though I haven't really had much impetus to go finding a new belle. Maybe in a couple of months or so - we'll see.
I've also be re-organizing my homeloans. My Broker finally had a breakthrough with the bank, and after a bit more fussing around I've managed to structure my portfolio exactly as I wanted to. I'm now gearing up for another purchase, and have started my research.
I've identified about 30 suburbs with consistent growth of more than 7% under $200K. I've still got to look at the amenities in detail and examine rental yields, but I should be able to find at least a few suburbs to start looking seriously at.
My broker says that I should be able to get finance without too much trouble, though I really do need to sell some shares to get that working properly.
This month has also been very expensive with Xmas, and having to pay REA fees for new tenancies on my two properties. Next month should be good though with two cashflow positive properties ploughing money back into the bank accounts.
Music has also been busy, with most of my focus on finishing a new sound set for the K2000 and puting a CD compilation together for Semikazi.
I also clocked up 1000km on my deadly treadly, which I'm pretty darn proud of. I've had the bike since about Feb last year. Crashed it once, nearly taking some blokes car door off, and bending my wheels pretty badly, but I've perservered, and it's all going well. Haven't actually lost any weight, but my body has toned up considerably - and I'm feeling alot more confident about myself - so that's a very good thing.
Anyway - overall life is good. Busy... but good.
