We made it! After a solid week of riding, 2000+ cyclists from all walks of life reached Los Angeles, yours truly one of many amongst them. It was amazing, an experience quite impossible to forget, almost a little life of its own.
Funny thing is, I still can’t stop talking about it. Everyone I see gets treated to a first hand account of the ride, because so much of what I am thinking about right now is just the last week and all the things that happened.
Continue reading{moszoomimglink:Whistler mountain from Glacier hut}Amazing how much difference there is this year! British Columbia has seen record snowfall this season (almost 30 feet), while Tahoe is stuck in a pattern of rain and warming. Too bad for those that have to stay here! I will be in Whister again in February, and can’t wait!
Christmas will see me invited to a friend’s place in Whistler – for the first time! I’ll pack passport, green card, snowboard and gear, and we’ll get to check out the Canadian Rockies!
Well, it’s been a long wait, but at last a few of the Tahoe resorts opened. The most boastful, of course, is Heavenly, which managed to open a few artificial runs on the Nevada side. The claim is that the coverage is top to bottom, and that seven runs/lifts are available. Should we check it out?
{moszoomimglink:Model of Hawai}So what? Turkey dinner is passe! I had several invitations for Thanksgiving (mostly a mix of pity and desire), but shunned them all in favor of the nuclear option: turkey sandwich with brie on croissant. YUM!
If the weather is fine, I’m going to haunt (possibly alone) Kehena. Otherwise, I’ll drive to my favorite place on Earth: Honaunau.
{moszoomimglink:Sparkling sunrise}Incredible morning sunrises have become the norm, while I am getting to complete yet another year of life. Somehow, I think I chose to be here on that special day, but I quite regret it now. For the first time ever, I’d rather be in San Francisco.
Let the flight back be my best birthday present!
{moszoomimglink:View from the hotel towards Mauna Kea}It’s been a while now: I had to refinance the loan and get my act together at work, but I am finally back at the house. I am writing this from the living room, a trusted Kona Koffee Kan next to me, and my computer running on batteries because I am too lazy to get the generator going.
I did something new: I realized how much it annoyed me to come out to Ninole after landing late at night in Hilo. I mean, the flight gets here at 10p, which is 1a in Pacific time, and then I have to get the car, drive out, find the bed, etc. I didn’t know what the house was going to look like, after missing the last two months. So I decided to just get a room in Hilo and stay there overnight.
Continue readingThe dice are cast, and the house is clean. From a process perspective, Wells Fargo says they just need the appraisal and the insurance policy, and then they can convert the loan. The appraiser is going to show on Saturday, while I am still waiting on Brad to come through with the final inspection (which was due out two months ago) to be able to get an insurance policy.
Sigh. Still a dependency on Brad. This time, it should be the last one. From now on, I can build on my own.
Sitting here in front of the computer, with sweaty eyebrows and wet clothes on a rainy Saturday morning.
It’s done. I have still some cleanup to do, but most of the work is completed. The bathrooms are tiled, grouted, caulked, and sealed and look positively gorgeous (waiting for the sun to take pics). The house is cleaned up, and I even found the time to wash some of the windows (i.e. the ones that didn’t force me to climb on the roof). Most importantly, I have talked with the appraiser, who is going to come next Saturday. She seemed to have a much nicer attitude than the other lady I talked with a month ago – she was upset because the site was not cleaned up and thought that was reason enough not the give me a loan.
Continue readingSee, it wasn’t too bad that I didn’t get to take a lot of pictures last time: nothing happened at Hau`Oli in the past two weeks. Brad must have forgotten to show up, must have given up on the house, and now I have to figure out who is going to do the remaining little pieces.
There is a bunch to do. To get through final, I suppose:
To get the house through a clean appraisal:
Continue reading