Saturday, October 31, 2009
31 October 09
31 October 09
31 October 09
Gratitude
I am extremely thankful to the property manager who worked so hard to get the deal done, to the owners who made it possible and who will allow me to enjoy their beautiful home for the next six months, to my mother for her prayers (to God for answering) and to my friends and family who have patiently listened to an endless loop of my worries and doubts and second-guessing.
So, after a year of documenting this journey over at Every Day Do One Thing, searching and vacililating, it's finally time to move. Of course this is really just the beginning of a new journey which will entail finding a new job in Colorado and then buying my first house. I'll continue to document all of it here and on Every Day, I hope you'll continue to follow along.
And thank you for traveling the road with me....
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Waiting for Godot
We've been back from Colorado for two weeks. The great news: we've decided that this is where we want to move. Mom managed the high altitudes of Evergreen and Colorado Springs with aplomb, in fact I was the one who woke throughout the night at two hour intervals as a result of the altitude change mixed with anxiety about the house hunt.In all, we had a wonderful time. The weather was sunny, dry and mild. (And we were assured by the realtors that this was just what to expect for winter, which of course quite ironic now given the three feet of snow that has blanketed the region.)
Our search for a furnished six month rental was difficult since most homes are rented unfurnished. We did find a couple very promising prospects, however, we unable to find just the right one that would meet our price target as well as requirements for a mainfloor bedroom and easy access.
As a result, the last two weeks have been incredibly stressful as from one day to the next a house that we think would be perfect is picked off by someone else or is just a little bit too expensive to meet our target. In fact, I've found the perfect house and got 'this close' to signing the lease...but the monthly rent is just a bit too expensive, so much that the anxiety of paying that much in rent rather than a house I own, literally made me sick to my stomach. How to resolve the fact that you've found the perfect house but feel stopped by the price tag? We've made one final counter offer and will keep looking while we wait.
So, the good news is that we have decided on a location. We've decided on a lease date starting December 1st, we're packing in earnest, and we've even found a prospective tenant for our condo. All that's left is the most essential part, securing the home. That's the scary part, and the reason why I haven't written in so long. I'd hoped to wait until I could happily announce here that it was done and we were on our way. We're not there yet, but I decided I needed to check in and ask for your positive thoughts or prayers that we obtain the perfect home for our needs. It's time go, we're ready.
29 October 09
We found a couple great prospects and are now just waiting for the right one to come through. We also met some wonderful people through the homes we stayed in via VRBO.com. Our experience with both homes was incredibly positive and I would recommend them as an alternative to hotels for extended stays, especially for families.
So that's where we are.....waiting. Satisfied that we've chosen the right place for us, but anxious that we haven't found the right house. We're now back at home packing up and with plans to rent out our Florida condo as Mom will be joining me in Colorado. We plan to begin a lease on our new home December 1st.
29 October 09
We found a couple great prospects and are now just waiting for the right one to come through. We also met some wonderful people through the homes we stayed in via VRBO.com. Our experience with both homes was incredibly positive and I would recommend them as an alternative to hotels for extended stays, especially for families.
So that's where we are.....waiting. Satisfied that we've chosen the right place for us, but anxious that we haven't found the right house. We're now back at home packing up and with plans to rent out our Florida condo as Mom will be joining me in Colorado. We plan to begin a lease on our new home December 1st.
29 October 09
We found a couple great prospects and are now just waiting for the right one to come through. We also met some wonderful people through the homes we stayed in via VRBO.com. Our experience with both homes was incredibly positive and I would recommend them as an alternative to hotels for extended stays, especially for families.
So that's where we are.....waiting. Satisfied that we've chosen the right place for us, but anxious that we haven't found the right house. We're now back at home packing up and with plans to rent out our Florida condo as Mom will be joining me in Colorado. We plan to begin a lease on our new home December 1st.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Go to Your Destiny
When I was younger I relished change. A move cross-country was contemplated and accomplished at a drop of the hat. Advance planning? Job in place? Housing arranged? Why take the fun out of the adventure.
After I graduated from the University of Michigan and decided I wanted to fulfill my dream of living in New York and working on Wall Street, I packed my peacock blue Hartman luggage, booked a room at the YMCA on Lexington Ave. and flew to my destiny. When I arrived that evening, I had $300 in my pocket, I was wearing white linen pants, a gold silk shirt, and with one phone call to a friend who was attending graduate school at Columbia, I was on the next subway to 112th Street and Broadway...home of Columbia University campus and Harlem. That evening I spent hours drinking vermouth soaked-gin martinis and listening as my friend gathered the courage to spill the beans that he was gay, a revelation perhaps only to himself, as those of us who were his friends had suspected for years and didn't think it made a whit of difference. The upside for me: he was moving out of his apartment and in with his boyfriend...which meant that he had a room to sublet. I never spent the night at the Y, after crashing at his place that night, I went back downtown the next morning and retrieved my luggage and moved. Three months later, I also had that job on Wall Street I'd dreamed of....
Which is why I am a big believer in serendipity, though I also understand that the wheels of miraculous intervention can only turn if we first lay the groundwork through our own efforts and then be willing to step out in faith.
This time around things have been different. I live in fear that I've lost my mojo, that magical belief in myself that somehow makes everything turn out right. As readers of this blog and my other: Everyday Do One Thing know, I've spent a concerted effort over the past year searching for and planning a move out west. In fact, I am about to embark on the final leg of the journey as I fly out to Evergreen and Colorado Springs tomorrow to look at rental homes and decide between these two locations and Lake Tahoe as my next home.
But this time that gut 'aha' feeling is missing. My intuitive mojo has deserted me. For the past week I haven't been sleeping well, which is a sure sign that I'm over thinking this thing. In the sporting world this is called 'choking' and it's what will hobble the best trained athlete, reducing them from a well-oiled machine into a dull-eyed sluggard with the athletic prowess of a five year old. For me, the choking sensation manifests in waking at 5am and realizing that I can no longer visualize my happy self pulling in the driveway of my house in the mountains, that I have no idea of what I would even do there. Instead my thoughts are filled with the anxious thoughts that no one will hire me, like the time ten years ago when I applied for a job at a publisher in Colorado Springs and despite the prestige of my previous career as an Assistant Vice President at a New York Investment Bank, they wouldn't even hire me as a secretary. I was crushed. There have been a series of these disappointments over the past ten years that have out-shined my accomplishments to such an extent that in moments such as these I can't see anything but the possibility of failure.
And that disturbs me because I've always thrived on optimism. I am a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. I know firsthand that we can use our positive thoughts in conjunction with a lot of hard work to create the lives we want. It's just that at the moment I'm having a difficult time conjuring the positive thoughts.
I'm doing two things to lend myself a hand: First, I've been subscribing to and reading a number of inspirational books and blogs on change and creating the life we dream of. One of the most effective I've found thus far is the First 30 Days, a website and book authored by Ariane de Bonvoisin. One tool that I've found useful is a daily inspirational email sent from her website that is just short enough to be read in a minute, yet which invariably provides an interesting way to look at the usual anxiety traps that come up with any new undertaking. They are common but comforting reminders that our fear of the unknown can also be keeping us from our next great adventure.
The second thing I've started since the cloud of gloom shut out my optimism, is to simply remind myself that I have experienced the most wonderful 'aha' moments when I least expected them, that it didn't require any special positive thoughts on my part, just that I show up ready.....in fact it's when I was over thinking things and trying too hard to make things happen through my own efforts that I was stopped in my tracks.
As I head home to pack tonight and then to the airport tomorrow, I'm going to get out of my own way and let the good things come. I've done all the work, now it's time to get out there and rest assured that it's okay if I don't have all the answers just yet or even know how it's going to turn out, I just have to trust that it will all be perfect.
After I graduated from the University of Michigan and decided I wanted to fulfill my dream of living in New York and working on Wall Street, I packed my peacock blue Hartman luggage, booked a room at the YMCA on Lexington Ave. and flew to my destiny. When I arrived that evening, I had $300 in my pocket, I was wearing white linen pants, a gold silk shirt, and with one phone call to a friend who was attending graduate school at Columbia, I was on the next subway to 112th Street and Broadway...home of Columbia University campus and Harlem. That evening I spent hours drinking vermouth soaked-gin martinis and listening as my friend gathered the courage to spill the beans that he was gay, a revelation perhaps only to himself, as those of us who were his friends had suspected for years and didn't think it made a whit of difference. The upside for me: he was moving out of his apartment and in with his boyfriend...which meant that he had a room to sublet. I never spent the night at the Y, after crashing at his place that night, I went back downtown the next morning and retrieved my luggage and moved. Three months later, I also had that job on Wall Street I'd dreamed of....
Which is why I am a big believer in serendipity, though I also understand that the wheels of miraculous intervention can only turn if we first lay the groundwork through our own efforts and then be willing to step out in faith.
This time around things have been different. I live in fear that I've lost my mojo, that magical belief in myself that somehow makes everything turn out right. As readers of this blog and my other: Everyday Do One Thing know, I've spent a concerted effort over the past year searching for and planning a move out west. In fact, I am about to embark on the final leg of the journey as I fly out to Evergreen and Colorado Springs tomorrow to look at rental homes and decide between these two locations and Lake Tahoe as my next home.
But this time that gut 'aha' feeling is missing. My intuitive mojo has deserted me. For the past week I haven't been sleeping well, which is a sure sign that I'm over thinking this thing. In the sporting world this is called 'choking' and it's what will hobble the best trained athlete, reducing them from a well-oiled machine into a dull-eyed sluggard with the athletic prowess of a five year old. For me, the choking sensation manifests in waking at 5am and realizing that I can no longer visualize my happy self pulling in the driveway of my house in the mountains, that I have no idea of what I would even do there. Instead my thoughts are filled with the anxious thoughts that no one will hire me, like the time ten years ago when I applied for a job at a publisher in Colorado Springs and despite the prestige of my previous career as an Assistant Vice President at a New York Investment Bank, they wouldn't even hire me as a secretary. I was crushed. There have been a series of these disappointments over the past ten years that have out-shined my accomplishments to such an extent that in moments such as these I can't see anything but the possibility of failure.
And that disturbs me because I've always thrived on optimism. I am a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. I know firsthand that we can use our positive thoughts in conjunction with a lot of hard work to create the lives we want. It's just that at the moment I'm having a difficult time conjuring the positive thoughts.
I'm doing two things to lend myself a hand: First, I've been subscribing to and reading a number of inspirational books and blogs on change and creating the life we dream of. One of the most effective I've found thus far is the First 30 Days, a website and book authored by Ariane de Bonvoisin. One tool that I've found useful is a daily inspirational email sent from her website that is just short enough to be read in a minute, yet which invariably provides an interesting way to look at the usual anxiety traps that come up with any new undertaking. They are common but comforting reminders that our fear of the unknown can also be keeping us from our next great adventure.
The second thing I've started since the cloud of gloom shut out my optimism, is to simply remind myself that I have experienced the most wonderful 'aha' moments when I least expected them, that it didn't require any special positive thoughts on my part, just that I show up ready.....in fact it's when I was over thinking things and trying too hard to make things happen through my own efforts that I was stopped in my tracks.
As I head home to pack tonight and then to the airport tomorrow, I'm going to get out of my own way and let the good things come. I've done all the work, now it's time to get out there and rest assured that it's okay if I don't have all the answers just yet or even know how it's going to turn out, I just have to trust that it will all be perfect.
12 October 09
By the way, one travel tip I'd love to pass on: if you have an extended trip, check out http://www.vrbo.com/, often you can rent an entire beautifully decorated house for the price of a hotel room. So instead of being stuck in a small room and eating every meal at some fast-food chain, you can relax in a spacious home and enjoy your own homecooked meal. This is a particularly good deal for families and a great way to get a feel for an area from a residents perspective rather than a tourist's.
So I'm ready for this trip, I've got comfortable accomodations to look forward to, homes to visit, and hopefully some beautiful sights to see. And then it will be decision time. November will find me somewhere....I've had difficulty sleeping this past week which is what happens when I have a lot on my mind. I either have difficulty getting to sleep at night (to which problem I address by reading myself into somulance) or I wake up at 5am with a mind full of worry. When the 5am situation happens I start talking to God. And I try 'positive thoughts'. I remind myself that some of the best things that have happened were completely unexpected, so I remain open to the possibility of a positive outcome instead of worrying about my lack of a decision.
12 October 09
By the way, one travel tip I'd love to pass on: if you have an extended trip, check out http://www.vrbo.com/, often you can rent an entire beautifully decorated house for the price of a hotel room. So instead of being stuck in a small room and eating every meal at some fast-food chain, you can relax in a spacious home and enjoy your own homecooked meal. This is a particularly good deal for families and a great way to get a feel for an area from a residents perspective rather than a tourist's.
So I'm ready for this trip, I've got comfortable accomodations to look forward to, homes to visit, and hopefully some beautiful sights to see. And then it will be decision time. November will find me somewhere....I've had difficulty sleeping this past week which is what happens when I have a lot on my mind. I either have difficulty getting to sleep at night (to which problem I address by reading myself into somulance) or I wake up at 5am with a mind full of worry. When the 5am situation happens I start talking to God. And I try 'positive thoughts'. I remind myself that some of the best things that have happened were completely unexpected, so I remain open to the possibility of a positive outcome instead of worrying about my lack of a decision.
12 October 09
By the way, one travel tip I'd love to pass on: if you have an extended trip, check out http://www.vrbo.com/, often you can rent an entire beautifully decorated house for the price of a hotel room. So instead of being stuck in a small room and eating every meal at some fast-food chain, you can relax in a spacious home and enjoy your own homecooked meal. This is a particularly good deal for families and a great way to get a feel for an area from a residents perspective rather than a tourist's.
So I'm ready for this trip, I've got comfortable accomodations to look forward to, homes to visit, and hopefully some beautiful sights to see. And then it will be decision time. November will find me somewhere....I've had difficulty sleeping this past week which is what happens when I have a lot on my mind. I either have difficulty getting to sleep at night (to which problem I address by reading myself into somulance) or I wake up at 5am with a mind full of worry. When the 5am situation happens I start talking to God. And I try 'positive thoughts'. I remind myself that some of the best things that have happened were completely unexpected, so I remain open to the possibility of a positive outcome instead of worrying about my lack of a decision.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Kindle Me This: When Does a Book Stop Being a Book?
Last weekend, while I waited for my friend Julie to show up at Barnes & Noble (a weekly meeting which entails Starbucks coffee, a stack of books, and four hours of meandering conversation), I browsed the Mystery section looking for new inspiration to satiate my recent Cozy-binge. My interest was captured by a series by Cara Black (who is not a cozy writer, though she does write compelling mysteries). The books had two things going for them from the start, beautiful cover art, which perfectly conveyed their second attribute: Paris, one of my favorite cities in the world. I picked up Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (An Aimee Leduc Investigation, Vol. 7) and read the first few pages, it was a keeper that would be added to my 'to-read' list.
Happy that I'd discovered a new author, I reflected on the fact that this discovery was due to: 1) that I was actually in a real bricks and mortar bookstore, instead of wandering around Amazon.com, where 95% of my book purchases are made from the comfort of home, and 2) the attractive cover art that compelled me to pick the book from the shelf...again, not something that would have happened if I'd been shopping on Amazon.
This experience got me wondering about books and the book buying experience and the future of both...
Premise One: bookstores provide an attractive venue for capturing readers through idle browsing. We begin by looking for one book and then find a neighboring book equally captivating until we amass not just the one we'd come in for, but five more that we can't live without.
Premise Two: Books, in printed form, are often sold first visually, through compelling cover art, the satisfying weight of the pages with their deckle edges, the ease of a serif-typeface against a creamy background, and the comfortable 'hand-feel', literally how it rests in the hand.
Premise Three: Which leads me to thoughts of my own library of books. There are books that I own which can trigger happy memories simply by looking at the cover or feeling the rough linen binding and remembering where I was in my life when I first purchased it. Recently, I read that a Kindle can store up to 1500 books, which means that I could conceivably get rid of every book I own and simply and conveniently carry around my entire library in my purse. But would the happy memories be erased when sensory cues from their physical presence was gone?
Premise Four: I've been on a cozy-mystery reading binge lately in part because of my sister-in-law Kathy who is an avid reader and promoter of cozies. At some point, one must simply succumb to her enthusiasm. One aspect of our book-loving relationship is that from time to time, instead of simply recommending a book, Kathy will actually hand me her own copy of the book, passing it along to me to read. It is my understanding that with Kindle's DRM technology this bit of sisterly-sharing would not be possible.
Happy that I'd discovered a new author, I reflected on the fact that this discovery was due to: 1) that I was actually in a real bricks and mortar bookstore, instead of wandering around Amazon.com, where 95% of my book purchases are made from the comfort of home, and 2) the attractive cover art that compelled me to pick the book from the shelf...again, not something that would have happened if I'd been shopping on Amazon.
This experience got me wondering about books and the book buying experience and the future of both...
Premise One: bookstores provide an attractive venue for capturing readers through idle browsing. We begin by looking for one book and then find a neighboring book equally captivating until we amass not just the one we'd come in for, but five more that we can't live without.
Premise Two: Books, in printed form, are often sold first visually, through compelling cover art, the satisfying weight of the pages with their deckle edges, the ease of a serif-typeface against a creamy background, and the comfortable 'hand-feel', literally how it rests in the hand.
Premise Three: Which leads me to thoughts of my own library of books. There are books that I own which can trigger happy memories simply by looking at the cover or feeling the rough linen binding and remembering where I was in my life when I first purchased it. Recently, I read that a Kindle can store up to 1500 books, which means that I could conceivably get rid of every book I own and simply and conveniently carry around my entire library in my purse. But would the happy memories be erased when sensory cues from their physical presence was gone?
Premise Four: I've been on a cozy-mystery reading binge lately in part because of my sister-in-law Kathy who is an avid reader and promoter of cozies. At some point, one must simply succumb to her enthusiasm. One aspect of our book-loving relationship is that from time to time, instead of simply recommending a book, Kathy will actually hand me her own copy of the book, passing it along to me to read. It is my understanding that with Kindle's DRM technology this bit of sisterly-sharing would not be possible.
Rather, it seems that your purchase of a book in Kindle format does not entirely bequeath ownership to you, since you are not free to transfer your ownership to others, and since as in the recent unfortunate Orwellian incident, Amazon seems to have the magical ability to erase a book that you have purchased. Which gives me pause when I re-consider Premise Three and Amazon's conceivable ability to wipe-out my entire library. Which raises an interesting question: if you purchase an ebook are you the owner of the book? Or are you simply buying the right to read the book for some specified period of time to be determined by the seller? At present, it seems that $9.99 only conveys readership not ownership.
I've never read a book using a Kindle, though I imagine it would be a very convenient format for reading light entertainment, like the audio books I borrow from the library and listen to in my car as I drive around town. I also imagine that it would be like my iphone experience, something I reach for when I'm waiting in line or at an airport and rather than be bored, I entertain myself by reading the latest headlines from The Daily Beast, or the NY Times app I've downloaded. As a traveler, I can see the enormous benefits to be enjoyed in downloading a pile of books to read on a trip instead of lugging an extra ten pounds of weight in my luggage or carryon, especially as airlines charge for everything these days. I'm even looking forward to checking out the new Apple 'tablet' that is supposed to give Kindle a run for its money (I bet it will be a multi-media platform that willl challenge Kindle in both form and function). I even welcome the adaption of ebooks to replace the cumbersome and outrageously expensive textbook, ebooks will allow them to be customized and updated continuously to reflect the latest advances in education.
I realise that ebooks are inexorably part of our future and will gain market share until print books eventually go the way of records. In many respects, they are a positive development as they provide an economical means to transport and read a large library. But it also changes the nature of what it means to read a book, when the book is no longer a book but simply electronically transmitted content.
I wonder what will happen to our few remaining bookstores, the skill of hand selling, the pleasure of browsing the shelves and discovering a new author, or the satisfying pleasure of physically turning the last page of book. I know that Amazon currently allows Kindle owners to download free samples of books, and perhaps this will eventually take the place of in store browsing, or maybe the bookstore of the future will be a coffee shop with walls lined with books that you browse and then download to your ebook devise with a swipe of your card.
And finally I wonder about the lasting experience of reading via an ebook....years ago I read Anna Karenina for the first time. It took me three years of fitful starts and stops to get through the entire book. But to this day, I will never forget the feel of the book in my hands, how intimidated I was when I started, how I measured my progress by watching the progress of my bookmark's march through the pages, how confident I felt at the end, of reading and then re-reading the final chapters. I wonder what in the reading experience will be lost when we lose printed books?
I wonder what will happen to our few remaining bookstores, the skill of hand selling, the pleasure of browsing the shelves and discovering a new author, or the satisfying pleasure of physically turning the last page of book. I know that Amazon currently allows Kindle owners to download free samples of books, and perhaps this will eventually take the place of in store browsing, or maybe the bookstore of the future will be a coffee shop with walls lined with books that you browse and then download to your ebook devise with a swipe of your card.
And finally I wonder about the lasting experience of reading via an ebook....years ago I read Anna Karenina for the first time. It took me three years of fitful starts and stops to get through the entire book. But to this day, I will never forget the feel of the book in my hands, how intimidated I was when I started, how I measured my progress by watching the progress of my bookmark's march through the pages, how confident I felt at the end, of reading and then re-reading the final chapters. I wonder what in the reading experience will be lost when we lose printed books?
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