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Condo? Check. Painting? Check.

So, we’re officially homeowners now. Closing went very smoothly on Thursday and we have been over in Hoboken every day since (I think we’re taking a break today) enjoying the new place.

By “enjoying,” of course, I mean: cleaning, patching, drop-clothing, masking, priming, “cutting-in,” painting, etc.

But the place does look much better! We’ve now got a “mountain sage” bedroom and a “cup of cocoa” living room. All we have to do before move in on Friday is finish the kitchen in “autumn maple” and we’re set. The two bathrooms will also need a coat of paint sooner or later, but not before moving in.

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Things That Make You Go, Hmm…

Unfortunately, no, not about the old C&C Music Factory dance number. I am still somewhat rankled by Bush’s “responsibility moment” wherein he tried to “make everything okay again” by saying a weak mea culpa. Exploring that frustration, I read some blog postings/articles while trying to go to sleep this evening.

Responsibility
The Reconstruction of New Oraq
Privatization at Work (or Not)
Leadership Void Stymied Aid

I remember reading Sen. John Kerry’s response to Bush’s “moment” and thinking it especially apropos: “The President has done the obvious, only after it was clear he couldn’t get away with the inexcusable.”

Anyway, I’m still not asleep.

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It’s Small—Tiny, Even!

Our car is small: a little Volkswagen Beetle.

We had to fill it up with gas today.

$42.00

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Casa Deb & Matt

Home sweet home…

At the risk of tempting fate, Debra and I will be homeowners (condoowners?) after a 2pm closing this coming Thursday, September 15th! It has been every bit as… “exciting”… as we’d heard it would be. Right down to the last minute phone calls early in the week from people telling us we might have to delay closing because this detail or that document weren’t in perfect order. What fun!

Come on in…

We’re pretty happy about the kitchen—especially after having survived the cramped kitchen that was our New York City apartment. You can also just make out the wine refrigerator under the counter in the second photo (now if only Debra liked white wine…).

The couple living there before us had a little baby girl in the second bedroom. However, they had for some reason chosen a deep blue rug—perfect!

Mommy & daddy aren’t so thrilled with the color of the master bedroom, but that can always be changed (later). We are, however, thrilled with the double vanity and walk-in shower in the main bathroom. Colin’s bathroom (not shown) has a tub for his splashing pleasure.

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Deb’s Glamour Shot (Labor Day)

I think she looks great. Not the statue—my wife!

Deb’s dad Carl and Judie were in town over the Labor Day holiday and we had lots of fun running poor, pregnant Debra all over the city (and environs)…

We learned all about what is legal to dump into the water (and how far out to see you have to be to do it) while we took the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue. We left from Liberty State Park on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, which we’d recommend to anyone visiting the islands because the lines—even on a holiday weekend—were next to nothing!

We thought the Ellis Island park was really well done. I was only sad to learn that we didn’t have any relatives (that dad could think of on a rushed call from the island itself) that came through there to look up in the archives!

Aside from the the trip over to the Statue and Ellis, I think all we did was eat: Bar Americain, the Bridge Cafe (where I first met Carl, before Debra and I were officially even dating), some restaurant in Little Italy with lots of wine and pasta, and even the Cosmic Cafe across the street, yummy yummy yummy. We also saw a performance of the Blue Man Group (where Deb got to hold the Toblerone). Oh right! We were cultural, too. We went to the American Museum of Natural History.

We had a great time. The next time we get out of town visitors we’re puttin’ ‘em to work! (Sorry, mom.)

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Defining Misconfigured

(Disclosure: I am a big geek, so I tend to read websites for big geeks. One of those sites is the “PowerPage” which is designed for power users of Apple’s portable PowerBook laptop systems.)

In any event, this particular posting has kept me chuckling all morning.

(In an interesting aside, several of you had noticed this posting was posted, yanked and then—now—reposted again. Turns out that the posting at the above link was itself misconfigured and the link went to a blank page listing only the title. So I yanked it until it was fixed. Apologies for any confusion. Though I will tell you this whole thing has kept me happily chuckling into the afternoon. Which is saying something given we close on our condo on Thursday. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)

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Katrina Coverage You Don’t See in the U.S.

From Switzerland’s Le Temps:

“The sea walls would not have burst in New Orleans if the funds meant for strengthening them had not been cut to help the war effort in Iraq and the war on terror… And rescue work would have been more effective if a section of National Guard from the areas affected had not been sent to Baghdad and Kabul… And would George Bush have left his holiday ranch more quickly if the disaster had not first struck the most disadvantaged populations of the black south?”

More international headlines here and a powerful BBC editorial here.

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Media Hype = Price Gouging

This image was taken just outside of Atlanta late last week (and was posted on WSJ.com). Here in NYC, we’ve been seeing $3.39 for premium gas, but nothing much higher than that (yet).

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