HOA, and Other Things

Originally posted March 23, 2006

Ryan and I went to our first HOA (homeowners association) meeting last night. It was an interesting experience in that I suddenly felt grown-up. Here we were trundling off to a meeting of other homeowners, ready to ask about the cost of replacing our windows and listen to complaints about frisky raccoons and where to place garbage now regarded as "hazardous materials." It was actually sort of fun!

Granted, I'm sure not every meeting has a 20-minute chunk devoted to ancient men on dialysis who need to repeatedly voice the same complaint about their son's car being towed from the visitors spot, where it's being parked 6 out of 7 days instead of the 3 allowed....but once that part was over with, we were once again on our way to adult homeownershipdom and listening to options for new storm doors.

It was at this same meeting that we found out the guy we bought our place from, who recently got married and bought a house in Stockton, died of lung cancer. Wow...that's kinda sad. Also might explain why our walls were that familiar shade of beige when we moved in. Anyway, hopefully his wife is doing OK. We're still getting some of their mail. And it's important stuff, too.

Well, now we've made the appropriate contacts to get our balcony railing (suffering from dryrot) replaced. Luckily, since it's outdoors, it's the HOA's responsibility. Woohoo!

Homeownership is actually pretty cool.

###

I just had THE moment of work bliss not too long ago. I was sipping a tall white-mocha frap from Starbucks, eating a chocolate chip cookie, snuggled in my jacket (because the office gets cold sometimes), reclining in my office chair with the massage pad running and reading Best of Craigslist.

If that's not Office Divinity, I don't know what is.

###

A list of things I want to learn more about:

*Where key players were when the Titanic went down. (I enjoy Titanic history.) I know Murdoch was at the bow, heading up Collapsible A when things got crazy and he reportedly shot himself (although there is even controversy in that). John Jacob Astor and his...um, dude (what do they call them...valets?)...had chairs, cigars and brandy brought to them near the grand staircase and waited for the ocean to swallow them up. Meanwhile, "the Unsinkable Molly Brown" was in an underfilled life boat, trying to convince this bastard of a first officer to go back for more people (he refused because he was afraid they'd get swamped). The captain was obviously in his quarters, ready to go down with the ship. I know one of the radio guys drowned in the cabin. But where were other people? How about the lookouts who first spotted the iceberg? Yes....I'm a dork. I know.

*Astronomy. I already learned a little on the Web...such as that if you face north in the winter sky, spotting Orion's shoulders can lead you to almost anything you need to find (Pollux, Castor, the dippers, etc.). It's a good reference point. However, I'd like to learn more constellations and night-sky navigation.

*The order of presidents. I know, I know....I should already have this memorized...but I don't! I absolutely suck at remembering which president came before which, and I'm especially bad at the early presidents (starting after the fourth). This seems to be a constant downfall for me when watching Jeopardy. Urg. Conversely, Ryan kicks ass in this category!!

*Spanish. Needless to say, I should know some. (Although most people mistake my last name to be Spanish, it's actually Portuguese...and I don't speak that either.) Witnessing kindergartners spelling in Spanish yesterday was a big wake-up call that when it comes to that language, I know less than a 5-year-old. I should know some Spanish for work anyway. For some reason, my nine years of French only comes in handy when visiting relatives.

*Mainland Portugal. Every Portuguese person I meet says their family is from the Azores. Am I the only person whose relatives came from the mainland?? I'd like to know more about this.

*Greek mythology. I already have a pretty good handle on this, especially when it comes to the epics, but I need to scrub off some of the rust. I'd also like to learn more about the Roman gods, as I sometimes confuse them with the Greeks because there are many equivalents.

###

I must peruse the "LOST" board to find out why and how there are so many furnishings in "the hatch." And where did these "others" come from? I just recently started watching the show -- I think 3 or 4 episodes ago -- and this stuff is baffling me. Great show, though.