• It had originally felt easy-ish for our group at work to move entirely online because many of us already worked from home and dating back from earliest days at Nom, we'd always had a vigorous, interesting, funny, all-purpose online conversation. But somehow over the last few months the stream of conversation has slowed to a halting trickle. A few ( Read more... )

It's my mom's birthday. Not sure how best to mark the occasion. Doug sent copies of the photo montage from the memorial out to various relatives. I wish I could be confident that it won't backfire.

A fridge is on its way to us today, to replace the creaky 1980s-era one we've been using, which works but just barely. Presumably it's about 120 in human ( Read more... )

When I last wrote, Marti was temporarily bunked in SF. At the time, she was recovering from a brain procedure. She still is, really: wobbly and tired and not able to drive.

When they were ordered to evacuate, she and some friends piled into her car (someone else drove) and fled to another friend's place in Santa Rosa. But Santa Rosa itself was ( Read more... )

And the buyer has already moved in! She's optimistic, young, lots of fun to talk to, and has a deaf puppy.

I'm not recommending buying a house during a pandemic, much less a more expensive one that will require a year of infrastructure work, especially before selling the old one. But should you do it anyway, unloading the old place will be an ( Read more... )

In the tense competitive real estate summer of 2018, when prices rose every single week, houses were listed for two weekends, then they'd "close offers" on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday and pick one that was at least 200K over the list price.

2019 was calmer. It never really heated up in the same way.

The first few months of covid lockdown made things ( Read more... )

Orion and crew were booked up, so we went with different movers. Rob Paradis isn't québécois as his name might suggest, nor is he from Southern California as his surfer dude accent suggests. He's from Charlotte, NC. He and his gang didn't have two successive days available, so they packed us up on a Friday and then moved us on a Sunday. On the ( Read more... )

Infrastructure:

Work is proceeding rapidly. I don't want to be all middle-class couple house stories here, because it's in poor taste, plus who really wants to read about other people's floor stain samples? I will substitute a dramatis personae, with apologies to people I've left out:

• Alice the seller. Her grandfather built the house, it's been in ( Read more... )

Until a few minutes ago we were outside cheerfully minding our own business -- I was on the rowing machine, Jon was doing some carpentry -- when a police helicopter appeared overhead making tight circles over our redwood tree. Every so often it would tilt and someone with a megaphone would beam out:

GIVE YOURSELVES UP OR WE WILL RELEASE THE DOGS! ( Read more... )

Oh boy. Yesterday, after a long interval, I finally get around to posting something here; then later, right before bed, I glance at the BBC news and discover that the Queen has caused offence by posting something on a blackout day.

...I'd be very, very surprised if the old dear had any idea. Admittedly, she undoubtedly has staffers whose job is to ( Read more... )

I'm not going to be a jerk or a scofflaw, and I don't want to increase anyone's anxiety, but so far there isn't any solid evidence that cloth face coverings actually help reduce outdoor virus transmission. I'll do it, of course; local regulations require them, and per public opinion it's become a marker of being a public-spirited, considerate ( Read more... )