April 17, 2009: Watching the Gilmore Girls

This whole week has just been amazing weather here in the Hudson Valley.  We have been able to have all of the windows open all of the time – even at night.  It is great.

I took the Sunday shift this week so I am officially working all weekend (as oppossed to being paged out and unofficially working all weekend.)  I almost always work for several hours on Sunday so it really doesn’t make much of a difference if I am scheduled on or not.

The Ralstons were going to be coming down to visit us next weekend originally but have decided to move up the schedule and to come down during the week next week.  So now, if all goes according to plan, they will be coming down on Wednesday and leaving late on Friday.  Katie is then coming down on Saturday for a baking and wine evening.  This weekend we have no plans but to work and clean which we desperately need to do since we have visitors all next week.

Dad is leaving for Ohio tomorrow morning.  He is going to be there all weekend.

We are still in the process of moving stuff around the house that came in the last load(s) from dad’s house.  Today I managed to finally get the last of the books moved down to the basement and put up on the shelves.  Tons more work on CD and DVD conversions.  That is going to be a process that will never stop.  The CDs that came down are dwindling fast, at least.  I expect them to be all converted by tomorrow morning.  Then just the DVDs to work on yet.

We ended up speaking to Orange County BMW today and have committed to take the car.  We feel that we are getting a good deal on it.  Dad sent our title today so that we should have it on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  OC BMW is starting the paperwork today and, if all goes well, we hope to be signing papers and picking up the X3 on Monday.

I worked until almost nine then joined Dominica and Liesl watching The Gilmore Girls.  Oreo snuggled up with me on the recliner all evening.

April 16, 2009: Car Shopping

Another busy day of catching up on work.  The weather has been awesome this week and we have been getting a chance to go walking every day.  So far Oreo’s allergies have not been all that bad either.  He is definitely itchy but far better than he has been in previous years around this time.  The grass is being mowed today so this is the first really serious test of his allergies here in the Hudson Valley.

Our cupboards were seriously bare today so Dominica and Liesl ran out to go grocery shopping leaving Oreo and I alone at home.

Our case of wine from Lakeshore on Cayuga Lake arrived today.  We had been worried about it as it originally arrived on Monday and we had left a note that we would be availble to receive it today.  We are quite excited to have good wine again.

I kept working on CD and DVD conversions today.  My desktop has been very busy working on CD conversions and Dominica’s laptop has been working around the clock getting movies converted.  We have finally figured out how to handle foreign films with subtitles so we no longer have to worry about what to do with those.

Strangely, I learned today, Owego, New York has been named the coolest small town in America.  Katie and John will be proud as they both call Owego their home town.  How did Owego get named this?  I have no idea.  It would never have occurred to me to think of Owego as a cool town.  Owego has always seemed such an uncool place – especially considering its neighbouring areas.

Our plans this evening include heading over to Harriman, New York to do some car shopping.  We left at five thirty and it takes less than half an hour to get over there.

On the drive over we were talking about our car buying options.  Dominica really wants to get a small SUV so that we have some cargo capacity.  We have been kicking around the idea of getting a Mazda CX7 in addition to whatever BMW we decide to get and trading in the PR5 for it.  It occurred to me that we should consider a BMW SUV, potentially, rather than a Mazda SUV because it does not necessarily make sense to get rid of the PR5 yet – especially when we own two sets of tires for it and just paid to have so much done to it to get it up to snuff this week.

We decided that it would make sense for us to test drive the X3 in addition to driving the 528i.  We really didn’t know anything about the BMW SUV options (or SAV as they call them) so we were going in rather blind.

We sat in a few cars in the show room at Orange County BMW.  Then we test drove a 2007, black with tan interior, fully loaded BMW X3.  The X3 is an all wheel drive, 3.0 (same engine as our 330) which rides mostly like a car.  You don’t sit up that high and the fuel efficiency is actually better than the convertible’s.  Dominica really liked the X3.  It didn’t hurt that it was fully loaded with all of the bells and whistles including in-dash navigation system and front to back moonroof.

We took Liesl with us on the test drive (Oreo stayed in Peekskill – his first time alone since Liesl was born and since he has gone blind.)  She fit comfortably in the back of the X3 with a ton of available “trunk” space for hauling whatever we need.

Our next trip out was in the 528i.  I preferred the 528i as it was more comfortable in the front when I was driving and, obviously, was much more attractice, cooler and handled better than the X3 and would be available in rear wheel drive for serious drivers rather than all wheel drive for soccer moms.  On the passenger side things were pretty tight for me with Liesl in the back seat.  The trunk is very ample but not nearly as big as the X3.  The cost is much higher for the 5 series, the fuel efficiency is a smidgen less and Dominica does not like it as much.

So the final verdict, after much consideration, is that we will get a BMW X3.  Orange County BMW made us a good offer on our 330Cic – not for as much as we owe but for more than we thought that we could get.  We looked into several options including leasing new and buying used (we know enough not to buy new) and finally decided that what we really wanted was the X3 that we drove.  I didn’t really want it in black but Dominica really liked the black and its an SUV so I really only barely care.  It’s ugly and ridiculous looking no matter how you paint it so might as well get whatever Dominica wants as long as it isn’t white – we saw a white one and it was bad.

So we put down $1,000 on the X3 to hold it until we have time to really make a decision.  I could tell that Dominica really wanted to buy it on the spot but obviously we aren’t about to do that.  But putting a hold on it meant that we could take as long as we want to decide on it.  That seemed like the conservative step to take.  I am happy with getting the X3 over the 528i because of the overall cost savings, additional space and the removal of the need to them get Dominica another car that is an SUV.

Now we can save money by keeping the PR5 for at very least another year if not more and when we do replace it we can do so with a car rather than a truckish thing.  Even with rolling the money that we still owe on the 330 into the payments on the new car we will be decreasing our monthly payments by over $100 and maybe by as much as $150.  A lot of that cost savings comes from the fact that the new interest rate is 4% lower than the old one – if all goes well.  So that makes the purchase a lot more worth it.  And because the X3 has the built in navigation system we can put the Garmin that we have into the Mazda and always have one no matter who is driving what vehicle – even when we are both driving at the same time.

After our test driving was over, it was around eight thirty, we drove down the street to Cosimo’s Pizza and Bar (or something like that) and got dinner.  Liesl did really well all evening barely getting upset at all and only when she was starving.  It was really good that we were able to take her test driving with us because we would not have had a good feel for the cars had we not and it would have taken forever if Dominica and I had to drive each car separately.

We ate dinner and then drove back to Peekskill.  The decision to buy the car is all but made at this point.  Dominica is really excited to be getting the X3 and, while I am far from thrilled about the X3 in general, I am pretty realistic that driving the 330 is not possible and that if we kept it it would just cost us a fortune and never get to be driven.  The X3 is very practical for us at this point and is going to help with the month to month finances.  The sooner we switch from the 330 to the X3 the sooner we start to save as well since our interest rate will almost be cut in half and our monthly payments will be lower (and all of that based on no money down – so we might be able to improve it slight by putting some down yet too.)

Our plan is to decide on the car for sure tomorrow and call them on Saturday since I know that I will be really busy tomorrow.

April 15, 2009: Mamma Mia!

Back home and back to work.  Today is our attempt to get everything back to normal after the long weekend back home.

I worked all day.  Nothing surprising there.  Lots of catch-up to be played after having been off yesterday.  My big project for the day is getting a jump start on all of the CDs and DVDs that have come from dad’s house and that need to be converted so that we can take them back for long term storage.

I made good progress on the CDs today.  They are my first order of business because they get converted so quickly and because they are so useful straight away.  The moment that they get converted I can listen to them at my desk or Dominica and Liesl can listen to them upstairs in the living room.  And they can be converted quickly so it is most advantageous to get them completed and boxed back up so that they are out of the way as quickly as possible as we have no spare space.

Liesl came down to the office with me for at least half an hour today.  She loves sitting on my lap while I work and she really watches what I do.  She is going to love computers – I can just tell.

Liesl enjoys typing on the keyboard just like her daddy and while I was sitting here working today I opened up KWrite on my Linux workstation and Liesl typed out the following document:

huuu5ttttty7uuuuyy7yuuu8uuuuuuuu,k kkkkkm7766666666tpppp;;;,,,,

\]’]'[/+..///…………………… ,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmykjew 00000ffgyyvvvvvvvvvvvvvf56
,,,,,,,,,,,,,n ‘

I took out a number of empty lines to make it more readable.  But she typed all of that all on her own.  Pretty impressive, I think.  She will be blogging on her own in no time at all.

This evening we watched Mamma Mia! which came on BluRay from Netflix.  While being incredibly corny it is a really good movie.  You can’t go wrong with the music of Abba and there are some really great actors in it as well.  We really enjoyed it and expect that we will probably end up buying this one.  This is the first movie that we have rented since joining Netflix that we feel like we should own.  That really shows how well Netflix is working out for us.  We are getting to see a ton of stuff that doesn’t make the cut for buying it and finding stuff that we want to own that we may have been reluctant to spend money on previously without being sure that we would want to own it.

We made an appointment with Orange County BMW for tomorrow evening to go look at cars.  We are thinking that we are going to trade in the 330Cic convertible on something like a 528i.  We just don’t have enough space in either car.  The Mazda PR5 is usable but just barely.  Dominica has to sit dangerously close to the dash when Liesl’s car seat is in the car and the convertible she is smashed into the dashboard and can barely move.  I cannot even get into the passenger seat when Liesl is there and if we were to have another child I would be physically unable to drive if I could even get into the driver’s seat at all.

April 14, 2009: Back to Waverly and Home

It is Tuesday morning and today is my first, real, honest to goodness day off of work since mid January.  Before going to bed last night I set my Out of Office in Outlook and am not checking my BlackBerry today.  I absolutely have to have the day off.  Too much to do and too long without a break.

I slept in a little but was up around nine.  At a little after ten we drove over to Geneseo to eat at the Omega Grill for breakfast.  Out third time here in two days.

My aunt Sharon and uncle Leo met us at the Omega so that they could see Liesl some more before we head back home this afternoon.

After breakfast we ran over to M&R and picked up the Mazda Protege 5 which is all set now.  Inspected, new rear brakes and the summer performance tires.  Not cheap but we haven’t had a car payment to make on it in years so can’t really complain and it costs practically nothing on our insurance.

Once we got back to dad’s we spent quite a while loading up the two cars.  Dominica and I went through the garage and picked out the bins that were of the highest priority to us so that we would have stuff back at the house that would be most useful to us.  We also grabbed books, CDs and all of the DVDs that we could cram into the nooks and crannies of the cars easily.  More than enough stuff to keep me very, very busy converting media for a month or more without a doubt.  It takes a long time to work through all of this stuff.

I think that it was around two when we finally got on the road out of Pavilion.  We are both driving on this trip.  Dominica driving Liesl and Oreo in the Mazda and me driving the BMW.  We had to split it up that way as it was the only way that we really all fit.

We stopped at the Pilot gas station in Kanona where they have a Subway.  We stopped in and got subs because we were going to be really hungry later on and would end up snacking while on the road if we didn’t.  We also topped off the tanks so that we would avoid needing to stop again for gas.

We drove on to Waverly and decided to stop and visit with Dominica’s family again for an hour or so before continuing on.  Dominica’s cousin Diane and her kids were down at James and Nikki’s house and we were unable to see them on the way up a few days ago so we decided to stop in and see them now.

It was around seven when we got back on the road towards Peekskill.  The drive went well.  I spent most of the time listening to my iPod.  I am still catching up on my podcasts from IT Conversations that I have been missing over the last few months.  I especially enjoy listing to Stack Overflow.

It was just before eleven when we pulled into Peekskill.  We were quite tired by the time that we got home.  We unloaded only what we needed and left the rest of the stuff in the cars until tomorrow.

The note that we left on the front door for UPS is gone so we are hoping that we will have our wine delivered in a day or two.

April 13, 2009: Omega Grill Day

I got up this morning and worked for an hour or two before we all loaded into the car and drove over to Geneseo to get breakfast at the Omega Grill and to drop off the Mazda PR5 at M&R Automotive to get the winter tired removed and the summer tires put on.

We dropped off the car and then went over to the Omega Grill for a long breakfast.  I was on the BlackBerry all morning working from that.  I was able to do almost all of my work through email so it worked out really well.

As we were leaving breakfast we ran into Karin

After breakfast we went across the street to Tim Horton’s where we bought $40 of coffee beans to take back to Peekskill with us.  We do not have any convenient access to Tim Horton’s at all so this is our only way to really get the coffee.  The nearest Tim Horton’s to us is in Elmira, New York which is just over four hours away.

Then it was over to Walmart for some quick shopping for baby supplies.  Were only there for fifteen minutes at most.  I made a quick pass through the store to see if Mary was working but she was nowhere to be found.  As always seems to happen whenever we are in Walmart in Geneseo, we ran into the Ralstons on the way through the checkout.  They are planning on coming over to visit this evening.

We swung through the auto shop to see if the car was done having its tires changed yet but it had not.  By this time, between eating a light breakfast, staying way too long drinking coffee, running errands and needing to wait for the car we decided to just swing back into the Omega and get lunch there as well.

After lunch the car was still not ready so we went back to dad’s house and I worked for the afternoon from there.  They called about the car.  It turns out that we had let our NYS inspection expire on the car without realizing it.  So they were going to take care of that when the found that the real brakes were in bad shape.

So the car has to stay in the shop until tomorrow morning and we have to have $800 of work done on it rather than just getting the tires changed.  Older cars are never cheap.  We only have about 115K miles on the PR5 at this point.  It is a 2002 so it is getting old but isn’t that old.  It still drives quite well.

After work was over, more or less, we ordered pizza from Davis Farm Market in Pavilion.  It just wouldn’t be a trip home without pizza from there.  I took the convertible down to pick up the pizza.  This is the first trip in it this season.

As I was pulling out of Davis’, the Ralsons pulled up behind me at the light on Route 63.  What timing.  I run into them more than anyone else that I know.

The Ralstons hung out until almost eleven.  They are getting ready to move to the Republic of the Congo in the very near future.  Maybe in as little as six weeks!

After the Ralsonts headed back home Dad, Dominica and Liesl all went to bed.  I hit the road to drive over to Geneseo to meet Tony at Tim Horton’s for coffee at eleven.

Tony and I ended up talking about software development until three thirty in the morning when he headed for home to do his homework and I went back to dad’s house.  Once I got back I worked online for almost another hour before turning in for the night.