Amazing how getting an early start can really add hours to a day...

Yesterday I had pretty much decided that if I didn't do SOMETHING constructive this week I would feel like shit. The closet seemed like the obvious choice. On my way to P's I stopped in to The Home Depot to just kind of price things out.

I would love to have a fancy, custom, designer closet... but until that big sweepstakes win comes in I just don't have the spare dough to pay for all that. You can easily spend $1000 on a closet the size of mine. My budget is less California Closets and more Alabama Armoire.

P had to go out of town for work today, and so he had to be up hella early to catch his flight... I would usually stay in bed, but something told me that today I should follow his lead. I can't remember the last time I saw 5am when I hadn't STILL been up from the night before. I figured I was up, have the whole day ahead of me and am already feeling kind of inspired to do something with my closet so I might as well bite the bullet and git'er done.

I think I did really well for a first time closet designer! Here's the before shots:



Notice there is only one shelf/rod thing in there. My plan was to buy a similar shelf/rod system and install it up high and then recycle parts of the old shelf/rod system to use as a second level underneath.

Of course once the old shelf/rod came down I had to spackle up the holes it left behind and paint the walls (using the touch up paint my builder provided).

As it turned out, two pieces of the new shelf/rod things I bought were cut too long. They cut them to order for you right there in the aisle at The Home Depot by the way. I don't know if it was his mistake or mine, but I anticipated this and bought a hacksaw along with my new closet shelving. Took a little bit but I got em cut down to the correct lenghts.

So here's what the empty closet looked like before:


and empty closet After:



I really thought I was making good time! I was done with all that by Noon... but as I started to put stuff away I realized that while I had increased my hanging space area quite a bit, the shelf space really didn't grow. Mostly because the area up high now is QUITE high now. So I chose to store boxes I never need up there. So all the space where t-shirts and sweaters and stuff like that would have gone before had disappeared.

Ultimately I had to return some leftover things to The Home Depot. That errand seemed like a good enough excuse to head over to Atlantic Station and check IKEA just to see if they had SOMETHING that I could use for more storage. And they did. And it was only $40!

So here is the finished product:



The recycled lower shelf should have been about 5 or 6 inches lower, and then I could use the shelf space it provides, but as it is there's no room for anything because the clothes hanging above are just RIGHT THERE. Guess that's why I'm not a closet designer.

I MAY decide to lower that bottom shelf, but not today.

The whole thing cost me about $150, which I think is a bargain.

Now I'm off to have an adult beverage or 4 and enter some sweepstakes!

By the way, if you'd like to see the whole process from beginning to end you can check out the photo set at flickr. Why you would want to see all that I'm not sure, but if DIY is your porn, knock yourself out!

Can you hear that?

It's the sound of my toilet not running and the tank not dripping into the bowl.

For about a week I've been fiddling with the guts of my toilet to try and make the adjustments necessary to get it to stop dripping and filling and dripping and filling and dripping and filling. It was to the point that I was actually turning off the water to the toilet between flushes.

I don't know why I'm so reluctant to call someone to fix stuff... I'm UNDER WARRANTY after all and I need to take advantage of that while I can!

So I broke down and called the plumbing contractor today and within an hour two dudes were here takin care of bidness. 20 mins later, a cacophony of quiet was cascading from my commode. That means they fixed it.

Still no word on the noises in the wall... it's actually kind of cleared up a little on it's own. Still, it's weird that someone came and looked at it, offered a solution for diagnosis, assured me that action would be taken and since then... nothing. How much pushing do I want to do? How much should I HAVE to do?

A fellow Atlantan is having customer service issues of his own. I know we all have cable TV issues but few of us take the time to really document the whole debacle! It's a shocking and AMAZING blow by blow account of what just ONE person is dealing with trying to get cable installed. I can't imagine how many other stories like his are happening all over the country right now.

...and I am tellin you...

...I'm not goin... to the Homeowner's meeting on Sunday. I should but I've been invited to an early Passover dinner and I'm not going to miss that in order to listen to a bunch of complaints. I am pretty happy with my place, aside from a few weird little oddities, which don't seem to be effecting anything negatively (yet) I really don't have too much to complain about.

I hope this doesn't result in: "I did nothing when they came for the floor complainers. I did nothing when they came for the soundproofing complainers. I did nothing when they came for the painting complainers... and then there was no one around when they came for me."

There has been a bit of activity 'round here lately. Some workers showed up at 8am earlier this week to paint the underside of my upstairs neighbor's deck... just grey, to match the concrete, but only a thin strip of it... not the whole deck. They are doing it to all the undersides of all the decks/balconies in the building. I THINK it is to clean up and protect some exposed metal where the base of the balcony meets the building.

I am also the proud new owner of a little balcony "set." P and I hit Ikea over the weekend and I found the perfect little folding chairs. Seems like my neighbors are trying to cram too much stuff onto our little balconies. I wanted to keep it simple out there, so the chairs are little bitty things, and in between P invented a table made of a ceramic pot placed upside down and the drip tray for that pot also turned upside down on top. What? You are having problems visualizing it? Well, um.. oh OK. Hang on.


Can't believe y'all made me put on pants and everything just to go out and take that photo. Happy now!? Geeze. It's all Ikea stuff... even the little cacti. Think the whole deal set me back 40 bucks.

Don't know if it comes across in that pic, but on my window sill, can you see the yellow dust? That's pollen that the city has been plagued with for days. Counts over 5000 most days this week. Doesn't effect me too much but man, it looks like Beijing during a bird flu outbreak with all the people wearing breathing masks walking around. The stuff is just coating everything too. CANNOT WAIT for some rain!

I have a new outdoor lighting issue that MAY be problematic... not going to jinx it by freaking out like I did with the Ted's sign though. Going to be patient. The city has finally put up the street lights in front of my side of the building. They are very tall and very bright and one is right in front of my unit. Down a bit, but right out there... we'll see.

This weekend a big shelving convention called the "Final Four" is here in Atlanta. I THINK it has something do to with shelving because everyone is talking about their "brackets." I DO need some new shelves so I may head downtown and check it out.

Where's Lenore when you need her?

Once upon a midday dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over American Idol TiVo’d the night before,
While I blogged, quietly typing, I wondered when there’d be a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my condo door.
`'Where’s my visitor,' I muttered, `no one’s at my condo door -
They've forgotten my appointment once more.'

Two appointments. Both canceled. I should have known. The only times my appointments actually happen when they are scheduled are when I'm the one running late.

So OK, not a huge deal. Schedules change, things "come up." I understand. Do me a favor though. Before I get up early, before I clean the bathroom, before I arrange to be home... call me and let me know you can't make it. Don't make me call you. I don't want to call you. It's awkward for me, it's awkward for you.

My building manager and I planned on meeting in my unit at 1p to look at some grout/sealant that had been "touched up" around my windows. I don't think they did a good job touching up. Not being a grout/sealant expert, I don't really know though. At 1:30 I called to just check and make sure I had the right time. She was not on the property at all. In fact, she was not planning on being on the property today. Why oh WHY would she agree to a 1p meeting IN MY UNIT (which is in the building) when she wasn't going to be here at all!?

My other appointment was with the plumbing contractor to take a listen to the ticking, a tapping, as of some one gently rapping, rapping in my bathroom wall that occurs when I flush. He was supposed to be here at 1:30p. This one I am blaming on the guy who answered the phone when I called to set up the appointment. The guy who set it up sounded asleep and not particularly interested. When I called today at 2:30 to find out where my plumber dude was, a DIFFERENT guy answered the phone and he had no idea what I was talking about. So that's been rescheduled for, "maybe tomorrow" between 1 and 6p.

So no appointments today.

Quoth the condoblooger, Nevermore.

Overwhelmed

Need to increase 401k contribution.

Work's nuts.

Bills are piling up.

There are weird plumbing sounds in the bathroom when I flush.

There are weird muffled clanging sounds in the brown wall.

There are weird clunking sounds under my car.

Weird sounds are expensive.

Should I have an Oscar party?

Fighting a cold (I think).

Zero percent financing for 90 days is really not much of a grace period.

Laundry needs doing.

New shift next week.

Still need window treatments.

Have not been to the fitness center in a week.

Tax day is LOOMING.

When you gonna get that art project started?

House needs cleaning (bad).

Some sex would be nice.

Is it too late to send Xmas “Thank You” notes?

Told my shrink I would call him soon... 2 months ago.

The Pillsbury Dough Boy poked ME in the belly yesterday.

Bedroom closet needs a system.

Bathroom tile needs sealing.

Closet systems and tile sealant cost money.

The caulking around my windows that they fixed last week doesn't look fixed.

I'm not drinking enough water.

Need new shoes.


When did I become an adult?

Taking out the trash

Ted's FINALLY moved the last of a seemingly never ending string of ginormous construction dumpsters from beneath my balcony yesterday!


It was actually kind of neat to see exactly how something that big gets put up on a truck... had always wondered about that process...

So now we have a couple more street parking spaces, and I can stop including, "turn left at the giant dumpster full of construction flotsam" in my directions when telling people how to get here.



We're expecting rain today. Hopefully some of that red Georgia clay and dubious seepage left behind will be washed away.

I know I've mentioned this before... but given the size of that restaurant, I am really surprised at how much GARBAGE it's construction generated. I wish I had counted the number of those dumpsters they've filled in the process of carving that space into my building. It's doubtful that they would have all fit inside the space they were there to support.

Bitching and broken vows

Yes, yes... I cracked. I broke my vow of silence to you and spoke up in last night's Homeowners Association meeting. Only briefly though, and what I said was constructive I think.

MOST of the meeting was a discussion about the Parking Deck. We talked and talked and talked about the parking deck and how there isn't going to be enough parking spaces for all of our guests! Frankly I am surprised by all the hubbub. I knew months before I moved in, months before the deck was even done being built, that I would have one parking space, and that my guests would have to park in the "public parking" area... and that likely they would be charged to do so. So why were all the rest of these folks so worked up about it?

My first vow of silence violation occurred during this extended discussion. There was a question about the security of residents in the building due to the nature of the entry doors from the unsecured areas of the parking deck... it's kind of convoluted. I spoke up regarding this issue to explain to the person who brought it up WHY that situation exists, and to agree with her that it is something we should look into. I didn't get to the agree part though, I was interrupted by a guy who was NOT HAPPY that we were spending so much time talking about parking when there were so many other issues! He was perfectly happy with the parking situation!

We talked about the sidewalk down below me... apparently there is more to that story. Still to come is a railing and some shrubbery!

We also learned the projected opening dates for the retail units down on the street. Three storefronts (Ted’s, a chocolate and liqueur "bar," and a mortgage company office) should be open by mid February, and one more in mid March.

One dude complained about the water puddles in the lobby over the weekend because people were shaking their umbrellas after coming in. He wanted special rainy day mats with the building logo on them laid down to absorb some of those umbrella drippings. Dude, shake your umbrella outside! There are plenty of covered places to do that!

My second slip of the tongue came after more people brought up other little issues... elevator lobby decorations, painting questions, parking deck beautification... At one point the developer's representative spoke up and said, "So what about all these things do you want to know?" I said, "Are they done?" Meaning, is the developer finished with the finishing touches. The rep didn't know, but assured us we'd be more in the loop about that stuff.

After all was said and done, I kind of felt like I had just spent two hours with a group of people who were mad that their automatic ass wiping machines were not as shiny as they expected.

I did meet some new neighbors, and said hello to some I already knew and that was cool... but I definitely do NOT want to be a board member!

PostScript: (5:39pm) I have edited this post to delete some words I used to describe the language and attitude of one of my neighbors. I forget that this is a public document and I need to take that into consideration. My intent is to just document some of the issues that come up in condo ownership, not to defame anyone.

(4)

Sidewalks? How pedestrian.

Here are the b and a shots of the sidewalk outside This New Condo:

Before



After



There is still a strip of dirt down there... You can see in the next shot how gets bigger as it extends toward the corner.




Not sure what the plan is for that patch... can't be grass. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

Some Blog housekeeping:

Added a couple links to my Blogroll.

Changed out my Apple ad (that will have to do until I can put a pic of my next phone up there).

Added a Yahoo! Messenger button. My Yahoo! Messenger screen name is: thisnewcondo (can you believe condoblogger was taken?).

The neon's on

I think it looks pretty cool. It's actually been on since Saturday or Sunday... I spent the weekend mostly at P's so I don't know exactly when they threw the switch. I first noticed it in the afternoon, but it was still light out and I couldn't tell what impact it would have on this new condo. Last night at work I got an email from one of my real life neighbors reminding that it was on. I was pretty certain though that they would turn it off after closing hours so I didn't think I'd be able to catch it all electrified. Luckily I finished early and a buddy of mine who I work with offered me a ride home (I usually take the train) so I was able to get there in time to see what a yellow neon buffalo looks like all lit up, and I think it looks cool.

We must have pulled up JUST IN TIME though because by the time I got up to my unit it was off and so I didn't get a chance to see how much (if any) of that yellow bovine light is stampeding into my place.

The next picture illustrates why I think I am going to be OK and why I think my neighbor needs to invest in some heavy drapes:



The YELLOW ARROW indicates where the light is reflecting off the tops of my neighbors windows. In my neighbor's case I don't think it matters, that is one of the mac daddy corner units. That window opens into a 3rd bedroom (not the master) and there's only one person living there. So they can sleep in one of their OTHER bedrooms. The GREEN ARROW shows the underside of my deck and how it seems to be deflecting most of the light away from my space.

Let me point out that these photos were taken with my Treo, and so the resolution is not the best. Also white light seems to look a lot brighter than yellow light so some things might APPEAR brighter when in fact they just have a different color temperature that my little Treo cam can't cope with.

I honestly think a bigger issue for me is going to come from a street lamp that will be going up in close proximity to my space. Right now the sidewalk below me is all torn up, but amongst all that dirt there is a base for a street lamp. I assume "they" are waiting until that patch of concrete is poured to reinstall the light. Once that is in I think it will negate any issues the neon buffalo might have caused by washing it out with it's own brightness. Hard to tell if I am high enough up for my deck to block any of that light pollution.

Bathroom Style

What's missing from this picture:



That's my commode. Its a TALL one by the way. I honestly believe that if a short person had to use it his or her feet might not touch the ground. To the left is my vanity. To the right is my tub. Seems like all the components are in place, down to the requisite trash can from Bed Bath and Beyond. Certainly the builder took into consideration all the things one would require in a modern American bathroom. Look closely though, a vital component is missing. One that we don't always look for BEFORE we need it.

Yes my friends there is no TP holder in my bathroom. When did the toilet paper roll in the wall thing stop happening? Growing up, in all my bathrooms, there was a recessed spot in the wall near every toilet that had a little spring loaded bar in it onto which one put a roll of TP... something like this:



Do people not like those anymore? Are they out of style? They are so functional... they don't take up any floorspace like this kind:



And they are DEFINITELY less tacky than something like this thing:



So when did the recessed TP holder stop being standard equipment, and why? I'm very concerned that I'm not seeing the big picture or something... If the builders aren't installing them anymore there MUST be a reason. If I install the TP holder that I like (the one at the top) will I be ostracized or otherwise shunned for my poor taste in bathroom fixtures?

I honestly thought that it would be the big stuff that caused me to freak out... the mortgage payments or major repairs to appliances... a leak or something! That stuff I have been able to deal with no problem. It's the LITTLE stuff like the TP holder that is making me nuts!!!

My first hot contractor

The plan was to blog about the fitness center in my building today (lets just say it's no Golds Gym... more like a Curves, but with no pilates) but something else came up.

There are a fair number of construction dudes walking around This New Condo because the building is still a work in progress. I always know a contractor is in the hall or around the corner because their Nextel walkie talkie phones are always chirping. The Nextel walkie talkie is the bell on the cat's collar for builders.

Anyway, maybe I've been conditioned by Hollywood or Madison Avenue or Van Nuys to expect Mike Delfino or that guy from the Diet Coke Commercial or even one of these guys to be on the jobsite. The hot construction/maintenance/workman guy has always been a part of our cultural landscape. Stanley Kowalski, the dude on "Kitchen Accomplished," Russell Crowe in "The Sum of Us," we (or the "we" who make movies) seem to have an ideal, a mold that all blue collar, construction dudes are pressed from. THIS jobsite though is staffed with very talented, professional craftsmen who came from real life, not central casting.

Remember my tile problem? It's fixed. Done on time, under budget, by a tall, broad shouldered, italian accented, craftsman with helluva handshake. He came complete with the requisite tight t-shirt and toolbelt too! I never learned his name, but I've decided that it's Paulo. When his Nextel chirped Paulo actually answered, "Caio!" Now I'm not a single guy, not looking for fodder with which to write a letter to [name you favorite skin mag here] that starts with, "I never thought these stories were true, until one day..." but it was a cool surprise to open the door and find the Hot Italian Tile Guy instead of Larry the Cable Guy for a change. He did good work too!

Looks like the whole thing might even be covered under warranty!

Why do I feel the need to blog about this? Weird. Just part of this new homeowner experience, and that's really why I write these posts, right? Yeah, right.

It Came from Below (the good stuff is near the end of this post)

Hope you are having or had a good long weekend!

I had a great Thanxgiving weekend. Two good meals, one at my Boyfriend's Mom's house in the burbs with most of his family there, and then later that evening a less traditional meal with some good friends on the 22nd floor of a tower in town with cocktails there. All bases covered.

We also saw two good movies... well... two movies that were better than most of the shit I have paid to sit through lately:

Casino Royale was great. The new Bond is unbelievably hot, don't care what your type is, he is hot. Even a straight guy would have to admit, that, "Yeah, he's pretty hot." He didn't have to do much acting... a lot of pursed lips and long stares, but with those eyes... woof. The story was pretty good too. Lots of nice nods to the old movies, little tongue in cheek touches that really made the movie for me. I missed Miss Moneypenny though, and Q. Maybe next movie.

Next up was Bobby, which I thought was really cool. Nothing amazing, but certainly very cool. Outstanding cast. Total love letter to RFK. I had no idea until the credits rolled that Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it. What it was missing for me was the epilogue. You know, "Two years later [character name] went on to become Secretary of Transportation under..." Didn't get any of that.

So both of those get my recommendation. Just a side note, we saw Bobby on Friday at a theater in a mall... and I gotta tell ya, the mall was not crowded. I wonder if that "day after Thanxgiving" shopping thing, Black Friday, is starting to end.

The dog sitting was uneventful. He ate, we walked, he pooped... I forgot to take his picture though... I'm sure you could find one that looks like him on flikr (Awwwwwwwww). Dad paid me for my hard work watching his dog with a half rack of Coors Light! No slowing down with the SILVER BULLET baby!

The big surprise of the weekend (so far) came when I got home from the dog sitting and the dinners. I spent Wednesday and Thursday night at my folks house. While I was gone, construction on the restaurant they are building directly below my unit continued. Yes, Directly beneath me they are building a restaurant. Which I really am very excited about. It's a chain, but kind of an upscale kind of place. Will be nice to have in the 'hood. This place is RIGHT underneath me. So during construction they are constantly drilling into their celling (my floor) in order to attach anchors that they will hang the false celling and AC ducts and all that from. It's a very scary and VERY LOUD sound when they fire up the drill or percussion hammer or whatever they are using to make the holes... sounds like they are coming up through the floor. In fact:



Can you see that? Look right in front of the toilet. Imagine you are sitting on the toilet and look right where your left foot might be. See that? It looks like...



A DRILL CAME UP THROUGH MY FLOOR FROM THE CONSTRUCTION BELOW! They came up so hard through the floor with that thing that a chip of the tile ended up in my TUB! Needless to say, not happy me. When I went down to talk to them about it, they assured me that it could not have been them. "No one's been drilling," the foreman assured me. When he finally came up to look it was clear that, yes his workmen had done it... so I'll be getting a new tile. Freaking weird though... like a tiny little invasion of privacy. I'm also wondering what this says about the construction of my building. I know the floors are several inches thick of solid concrete, I watched them build the place. Just weird.

The restaurant is slated to open in a couple weeks. Here's hoping that the hole in my floor is the last time I'll have to deal with anything coming up from below!

Just a housekeeping note: my second all electronically handled mortgage and HOA payments were transmitted yesterday. No fuss, no muss. My system is holding up!

Next time: Just in time for the holidays, some of THIS NEW CONDO's favorite things.

the blog

I waited till I was 38 to become a homeowner (technically this is my second foray into home ownership, but the first experience didn't really count, I'm sure that will come up in future posts). It's been an interesting process involving a lot of paperwork, many many trips to Target, some serious soul searching and the biggest checks I have ever written.

Frankly this blog is something for me to use to keep track of all the stuff that I'm trying to keep up with as I continue this process, but I think it could also be interesting to others who are considering buying a place or who are just moving into a place.

How much about myself and my address I want to reveal are issues I'm working on... so in the meantime here are some generic tidbits that will hopefully provide a base to build on:

Little about me: I'm a 38 year old guy living just outside Atlanta, GA. I'm 6 feet tall and carry about 20 extra lbs around. I am in year three of my relationship with my boyfriend who does not live with me. I work behind the scenes in broadcasting. My salary is in the mid 40's which is good for my line of work. I mention that because lets face it, the financial aspect of this process is of paramount importance. If I am going to write about what it's like for an individual to buy/own/maintain a home those reading need to know how deep the financial pool is.

Little about this new condo: It is, in fact, NEW. The building is still under construction as I write this. When I moved in there were only 13 other units occupied in the building and the units on the upper floors were still being sheet rocked. I'm the first person to live in this space which is a very new experience for me. It's a small (relatively), one bedroom unit at just over 780 square feet. It's on the 3rd floor of a 7 story building in what my friends tell me is a very "hip and trendy" area about 10 minutes away from downtown Atlanta, but outside the city limits. I paid around $170 for my space. This number is less than what the units of similar size go for in my building thanks to a program that my city has in place to make sure that people from all walks of life can live here... I'm sure that we'll talk about that program again in future posts. The unit has wood floors, 12 foot ceilings, granite counter tops, a small balcony, stainless steel appliances (my only upgrade) and travertine tile in the bathroom. Now that may sound like boasting, but that's what the place came with, and again, it's important to document some of the details if I'm going to have an honest dialogue about what it's like to live here. Frankly all that fancy stuff has made me more nervous than proud.

Why blog? It occurred to me that every day since I moved in something NEW has been added to this new condo. Sometimes it's a piece of furniture, sometimes it's a friend. Sometimes it's an annoyance, or a bill. Sometimes it's a new cleaning product. Usually though it's just an insight that I gain simply by being part of the process. At any rate, I thought that might be a cool point of view from which to keep a journal and so today:

THIS NEW CONDO has: a blog