Ups and Downs

These past two weeks have been somewhat of a roller coaster ride.  Our condo went on the market last week on Monday.  Then for the next few days we wondered why we hadn't had any showings even though we had put in a lot of work to make the place look nice.  Of course the day after asking this we get not one, but two showings (actually one person looking at the place twice).

Then, last weekend was very busy as I helped Erin with the state speech and debate tournament at her school while also making sure the condo was ready for additional showings.  This included making sure to be there for the plumber, tidying things up, and doing some last-minute cleaning.  Then on Friday we were excited to learn that the person who had seen the place twice had made an offer.  That day we made a counter-offer and by Saturday we were under contract.  It was hard to believe since we had just listed earlier that week.

At the same time the condo sale has been going on, I've been in contact with the director at the school in Taiwan where Erin's going to be teaching next year.  We have been discussing me taking on the position of IT Coordinator for their school which would be an ideal position since it would allow me to have a similar schedule as Erin's as I apply my technical and business experience to help the school.  The process involved having my references respond to the director though and emails from both sides seemed to be getting lost.

Amongst this backdrop of future plans and actions we still had day to day activities.  On Sunday we went to Erin's parent's house to celebrate her dad's birthday with a delicious shrimp meal and a lot of good wine (even the puppy Dante enjoyed some wine).  Over the weekend I finished the beta version of software that I had been working on and had it sent off to the client.  On Wednesday we were able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and beautiful weather outside with a walk around Wash park and a meal at Darcy's pub with a bagpipe band playing.

Then Wednesday night I spoke with the school director to discuss the current situation at the school, ask me a few final questions, and finally offer me the position.  It's going to be an exciting opportunity to apply the technical and business skills that I've learned over the past six years.  It will also be a challenge to keep track of the many different parts that make up a school IT program as well as quickly get up to speed on the existing software and processes.  Altogether Erin and I are very glad that I've got the position.

But it hasn't all been good news.  While we've been making plans to move out after a quickly approaching closing date on our condo, our brokers haven't heard any more from the buyer or their broker.  On Thursday he broke the news to us that the buyer had missed a major deadline and that the buyer's broker hasn't responded to their calls or emails.  It seems like he's flaked out.  Guess it had been too good to be true.  Still the place has been showing to other interested buyers even as late as Tuesday.  So now we return to the daily chore of keeping the place cleaned up while we wait for more showings.  It probably won't happen today since a snow storm has replaced the warm sunny days we've been having.

Fortunately Erin goes on Spring Break next week so we'll have more time to do sorting, cleaning, and packing.  It looks like the storm will pass by then and we'll have some more warm sunny days.  And so it goes with life as with weather (especially here in Colorado) some days the sun shines while the next day the snow falls.  We celebrate one while seeking refuge from the other realizing these things are out of our control and happy that we at least have someone to share them with.

Dante's Inferno and Condo Listing

This past week found Erin and I looking after her parent's 12-week-old puppy, Dante.  He is a very cute Shizu-Poodle (shipoo) mix and full of energy.  Like most puppies, he is also quite a handful.

Erin's parents dropped him off on Friday the 26th before heading out on their trip to Texas the following day.  Unfortunately that night was the first night of a speech and debate tournament that Erin was attending so it was just Dante and I for most of the day.  Dante demanded attention for most of that time and we saw how attached he was to people that night as we put him in his crate to go to sleep.  We had originally put the crate in our laundry room, but after an hour and a half of off-and-on barking/whining we brought the crate into our bedroom.  Fortunately that got Dante to go to sleep and be quite.

Dante and I spent most of the next day together as well with Erin's tournament continuing into the night.  While it was fun to play fetch with him or go out on walks, he made it very difficult to get much else done.  By the time Erin got home I was exhausted and glad that Sunday was her turn to look after him.  The rest of our week went similarly as I would look after Dante in the morning and Erin would help look after him after she got home.  All in all it was an exhausting experience that led us to believe that it would be a while before we got such a demanding pet of our own.

The other big news from this week was a meeting with real estate brokers to put Erin's condo on the market.  My friend, Brian, has been working as an associate broker at Peak Realty and so came down to visit with his associate and mentor, Levi, on Wednesday.  Over dinner and for a full four hours we went over all the details of selling the condo.  It ended up being a very stressful experience with all the things we would have to do to get the place ready and the fact that we would likely need to pay money since the place is "under water".

Thus we've spent much of this past weekend sorting, packing, cleaning, and storing our stuff.  We've gotten a storage space and divided it into sections for stuff we're storing, stuff we're shipping to Taiwan, and stuff we plan on selling at a garage sale.  We've staged the front rooms of the condo so they look more appealling.  It was nice to get away from all of this on both Saturday when we had a wonderful meal at my Aunt and Uncle's place (after dropping off Dante) and again on Sunday when we had a delicious pizza at Erin's parent's place.

It's been a pretty stressful week, but looking at the condo and all we've accomplished gives a good feeling.  There is a lot to keep track of as I'm applying for an IT Coordinator position at the school that Erin will be teaching at next year and our wedding videographer works to finish the video of our wedding.  It can be quite tiring, but also exciting as we work towards this next adventure in our lives.