Lots of Thinking

Tuesday I did end up going to the Haven, and I watched Gene and Steve play Warhammer for the fantasy campaign that's going on. They didn't finish until about half an hour after closing time, but it was so fascinating that I didn't feel like going home until they were done. I've watched bits of two different other Warhammer games since then, and I think I might want to learn the game. But I won't buy an army for myself unless I really get into it--and then, only a few years or so down the road. Until then, I'll just use the armies they have at the store for club use.

Last Saturday, I went to Allegheny Optical and got my eyes checked. I found out that it'd been four years since my last eye exam. It's funny--I never realize how long it's been between exams until I put on/in my new prescription in the optometrist's office. I put in those new contacts, and everything was much, much sharper. It made me realize that having trouble reading road signs from the short distance I'd been having trouble at was not normal. I've resolved to go to the optometrist at least once a year from now on, or at least listen and schedule further appointments as recommended, instead of waiting for the money to be there and then scheduling the appointment. I also got a new set of frames. They're like the frames I had two prescriptions ago (which I still have), but they're copper-y colored, instead of gold.

Kayla's currently in Alabama, visiting her family, so when she gets back this weekend there will be two episodes of Pushing Daisies and Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction to watch--much fun! I have yet to get caught up on Psych, Numb3rs, Bones or Smallville though. I'm thinking I'll just catch them on Sidereel later. I've also not yet finished watching my MacGyver DVDs--I've been in the middle of season 4 for at least a month and a half. Plus, I want to re-watch at least seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy and seasons 4 and 5 of Angel--I don't remember much about Angel, and I've only seen those seasons of Buffy once, with a few episodes here and there from when Anna and Kayla were going through the serieses.

I've been thinking too, that I might give up on re-reading the core DragonLance novels--I've been in the middle of Dragons of Winter Night for months now, and I've only read that much because I needed something to read while I got my allergy shots every Monday.

BUT! A girl at the Haven this past Tuesday (not the one with the Warhammer) brought a bunch of books she was getting rid of, and I took 7 or 8 that looked promising (I haven't added them to LibraryThing yet, but I will this weekend), including Sister Light, Sister Dark, which, if I remember correctly, Heather recommended to me a few months ago and sounded extremely intriguing. So, if I do decide to quit on DragonLance, then I'll be reading those books.

Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to catch up and read fast enough to actually make the 50-book goal this year.

Ankle Update . . . Among Other Things

When my dad got to my house on Friday, he made me pack up to go to my parents' house. I had to crabwalk all the way up the stairs to my bedroom, get my clothes bag and my laptop case, as well as my backpack (to carry my research materials in), pack some clothes (I ended up forgetting my hairbrush), and then go back downstairs to get the computer and the books.

Dad got back before I was even finished with the clothes. So he helped me carry a couple of the bags back downstairs, and I packed those too. Then we went to my parents' house.

I didn't actually do anything with the astronomy paper on Friday evening. Instead, Anna, Kayla and I started watching season 4 of Red vs. Blue, and then Kayla fell asleep and she was going to watch Star Wars with Dad anyway, so we stopped RvB for the time being.

Saturday, I woke up extra late, then when I got up to go to the bathroom (I was on the crutches) Kimba was already in there, so I had to wait. For some reason, I started to feel like I was going to pass out. Luckily, I didn't before I actually got into the bathroom, but I did spend quite a few minutes with my eyes closed and my head leaning on the bathroom sink area. After that, I went into the living room as quickly as I could (I've never had to use crutches before, so using them properly and quickly took some getting used to) and flopped on the couch. That was around 9:30am.

I didn't fully get up again until around noon or so. Everybody was nice about getting things for me like food and the ice pack, which I wouldn't have been able to carry with the crutches.

Sometime in the evening, Jason, Kayla and Anna decided to play some games, but I had to write my paper. So they played Electronic Banking Monopoly while I wrote my paper on quasars. I'll post it in the same place I'm going to post my school newspaper articles later.

I think we might've played some video games after that, but I can't remember very clearly. I know we at least did some video game bowling and played Halo 2 sometime this weekend.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. More games and stuff. Anna and I watched Gilmore Girls on the projector for a while before everybody got home from church, then I think we finished up the Star Wars movies.

Monday, Anna took me to work, and then Dad picked me up so we could both get our allergy shots. Then he took me back to their house, and Anna, Kayla and I finished watching Red vs. Blue season 4. Only one more season to go!

I got home around 10:30-ish on Monday night, and basically just read the book I'd borrowed from Sister G.

Yesterday, I drove myself to work; it was uncomfortable, but nowhere near as painful as it was on Friday. After work, I went to take my astronomy final, and turned in my paper and night sky observations. The final was a cinch.

When I came home, I finished the book while I started my laundry (after dragging the basket from my room as I scooted downstairs) and then tried to watch the shows I'd recorded on my laptop. But alas, apparently my laptop is not able to read DVDs that I've recorded myself. So I had to go back upstairs and watch them on my TV. That wasn't too bad; all I had to bring were my pillows and the DVD.

I watched the Bones from May 5th, the Smallville from May 8th, and the Numb3rs from May 9th. When I went to delete that Bones episode, I accidentally deleted the second Robin Hood episode I'd taped, so there will be no watching it "just to see if it's really as bad as it seemed the first time."

Before I left the house on Friday, I'd forgotten to set the DirecTV box to autotune to Fox for Monday's Bones episode, so I dragged my carcass (and my pillows, as well as the DragonLance Chronicles novels) downstairs again and found this past Monday's episode on Sidereel. I finally finished watching it around 2:30 this morning, so I am officially caught up on all of my shows.

SPOILER WARNING!!!!!

But holy crap, Booth got shot at the end of the episode! There were no previews on the Sidereel video, so I tried to find the trailer video online for next week's episode (it's the season finale on the 19th). I didn't find any trailer videos, but I did find spoiler pictures in which Booth is up and about, seemingly without trouble from the bullet wound, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

END SPOILER WARNING

Now, here I am typing this up, and I have almost nothing else to say. After work, I'll probably watch a movie before reading some more. I might even fold my laundry, even though I won't be taking it upstairs until after my foot is feeling good enough to actually walk up and down the stairs. The swelling went down considerably yesterday, but it actually hurts slightly more now than it did when it was all puffy. I think the swelling must have helped to dull the pain or something.

I also have bruises on my foot that aren't really in the places that my foot hurts. One of them is on the complete opposite side of my foot, on the instep side of my heel. The other is on the outside of my foot, and runs from my heel to the ball of my foot, just below my ankle. The truly tender part of my foot--the part that actually hurts--is my ankle itself, and the only bruise there is just above the actual bone and slightly heel-ward. The top of my foot on the outside is also a bit tender (although not much at all), and has some light-greenish bruising on it. Maybe I'll post some pictures later.

Ah, refreshing!

Last weekend was pretty normal for a weekend at my parents' house. Dad actually played Halo with us though--that was kinda fun. Anna, Kayla, Jason and I have been playing the same characters all the time, and they're characters from Red vs. Blue, but Dad made up his own character. Anna plays as Tex, Kayla plays as Church, Jason plays as Caboose, and I play as Tucker. Dad's character's name is Chef, and has the same color armor as Church.

We watched The Princess Bride on the projector screen on Sunday night. That was fun.

I also talked to Dad about my financial figurings, and how I might get money for downpayments and such. Not very many options there. I thought about refinancing my car (I found out I'm paying 10.9% APR), but with only 2 years left to pay it off, getting a lower interest rate would actually cost me more per month than I'm paying now.

Dad told me that when he bought that house he didn't have money for a downpayment--he borrowed money from my aunts and uncles, as well as my grandpa.

After that discussion was well and truly dead, he told me about an idea he'd had for a business, which was sparked by my current housing search and the brochures he'd gotten from the Fleetwood dealer (I'll explain later).

Yesterday, I got my allergy shots after work, and I meant to do my laundry while I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but I got about six chapters read (and dinner eaten) before I decided to take a nap instead. So I set my alarm for 9pm (or was it 9:30?), which would have given me an hour and a half to sleep, while Bones recorded. The alarm went off; it was on my cell phone, so the ringtone for "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" played instead of a beep. I was still sleepy, so I went back to sleep. I "woke up" sporadically (2:30am, 4-ish, 6:45, maybe other times too), but didn't actually get up until my alarm went off at 7:30 this morning. I feel very refreshed now. Turns out, I needed that, because of all the stress of house-finding I've had lately.

Anyway, here's Dad's idea.

Most builders are caught up in building these houses with costs somewhere in the hundreds of thousands--or even the millions--these days, but that doesn't help people like me who are just starting out on their own, or young families who can't afford much.

So, his idea was to revive Dutch Master Builders--Grandpa's old house-building company--only, he would stick-build small houses which would be sold for about the cost of an equivalent-sized mobile home. And instead of spacing them out like regular houses, he'd get about two acres of land and put 30 of those houses (of different models and sizes) close together in groups. Each group would have space in the center for a playground, a basketball court, a tennis court, a pool, or whatever, and each house would have 5 feet of land on each end and in the back, and twelve feet in the front (for a driveway and some green space), with an unfinished basement underneath. There's definitely a market for cheaper housing that doesn't require monthly lot rentals as well as the cost of the house, so I think the company could really take off.

Considering the trouble I've been having finding somewhere to live on my tight budget, I think it's a great idea. It won't be started up right away (Dad says he could begin in a year or so, after some research and a lot of planning and stuff), but we can start planning for it right now, and I would totally quit my current job to do something with this. We figured out that the largest of the houses we'd build (about the size of a smaller double-wide trailer, with three or four bedrooms and two bathrooms) would fit into 1/30 of an acre, with the extra space around it, and room to spare.

Before the company can get started up, however, we'd have to do a lot of stuff like draw up plans for each of the models we're going to start with, plan out the first two-acre community, find investors to fund the company, get land and permits for building and subdivision, get employees (contractors, accountants, secretaries, etc.), and not to mention find office space.

It's an exciting prospect though, and I'm raring to get started.

Another Weekend, Gone

Saturday, I gave Jason my arrows. He was playing a Nintendo DS game with his friend William at the time, so he didn't say much except, "Thanks."

Then, I talked to Dad about the roommate/place to live situation. For those who don't know, the situation stands thus:

• Kayla's old room has been vacant since January or February.
• I have looked in many places, and posted many ads to the effect that the room is available. I've had a few interested parties, but they were either a) not currently in Frederick (I won't offer the room to someone unless I've met them face-to-face, for safety reasons) or b) didn't get back in touch with me after seeing the house.
• Our lease is up on June 30, 2008, less than three months away.
• I don't know if Jenn, Amit and Stacie want to renew the lease or not, but
• If Kayla's old room doesn't get filled, the point is moot anyway and we're all screwed.
  
• If they don't, then I'm pretty much screwed unless I find somewhere to live by mid-June (so that I have time to pack up and move out before the end of the lease).
• I can only afford to pay a total of about $550 per month total for rent, internet, water, power, heat, cable, and phone (if I have a land line).
• Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Frederick does not go any lower than $750 or so, and if I go to where rent is only $550, I won't be saving any money, because then I'll have to pay even more for gasoline.
• I can afford to buy a house which costs up to about $60,000 or so, but none of the houses in Frederick cost less than $150,000.

Dad suggested I might be able to live in a mobile home park. There are four or five in the city that we know of. We went to see if there were any vacancies at four of them on Saturday, but the offices were closed for the weekend (where we could find the offices anyway).

The way I figure it, if the site rental, plus the monthly mortgage payment on the mobile home itself (the model I like would be about $24,000 total), and utilities such as I've listed above is less than $550 a month, then I can afford to live there. I could also do without the phone (I have a cell), and even the cable, if my family will TiVo shows for me. Since I mostly watch the shows that Anna watches anyway, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Dad said he would go to the offices today and ask about costs and stuff like that. He also said he would ask if there were any of the mobile homes available for rent, or if I'd have to purchase one myself to put into one of their vacant lots.

After the trips to the mobile home parks (to see if there were any vacant lots and look at the quality of the "neighborhoods"), which was during a grocery trip, Dad made dinner. We didn't do too much after that though, except watch Sydney White and What a Girl Wants on the projector screen.

Yesterday, Anna, Kayla and I woke up, then we played Halo on the projector for a bit. After that, Anna broke out the Clue boardgame I'd gotten her for Christmas but she hadn't opened yet. We played two games (with Jason)--Anna won both times.

Then I setup my old desktop computer for my dad to check out and possibly fix. It wasn't fixable, since it's a Pentium III reporting as a Pentium II. So, we cannibalized it for parts, and I'm going to take the harddrive, the zip drive, the ethernet card and the memory sticks back to my house to see if I can use them there. I might be able to add the first three to Kayla's old computer so that it will run faster, and I might be able to put the ethernet card into my laptop dock. I'll still need to purchase more memory for my laptop though.

After the computer mayhem, Anna, Kayla and I watched the first season (plus some of the second) of Red vs. Blue, which I had never seen before. It's hilarious so far; we got to the part where Lopez and Sheila have decided to make their own army, and the Blues are supposed to be surrenduring both to them and to the Reds at 0600, but by then it was 12:45am, and the second season had been going for about an hour and a half. I thought it would only be an hour, so I asked to watch season two at 11:15. Turns out, it was longer, and since I had to work today, we turned it off before I started to fall asleep. I didn't want to miss any of it, so I was trying to stay awake as long as I could.