I transferred custody of Mark to his brother last night, so I'm back to making and eating breakfast on my own. It's quite a contrast. One lasting improvement for me is now I know when I'm treating myself to "shirred" eggs (Mark's term) which sounds so much fancier than "scrambled in the pan" eggs (my old term). While Mark was here, I bent one of my core tenets of solo cooking and scrambled our eggs in a separate bowl before cooking. Then one day he asked if I ever made "shirred eggs." I didn't know. (Am I the only female on the planet out-femmed by her ex-boyfriend?) So he described the cooking methodology and lo and behold that's what I usually do just for myself. Who knew I was so fancy-schmancy? So, I'd been making special considerations while he was here, he observed. Oh, you have no idea the special considerations I'd been making on his account! Like what? Like, I don't usually eat at the table. So, you usually eat over the sink? No!!! I wasn't raised by wolves! I usually eat at the computer like any civilized person. I like to call it multitasking.

Damn this yin/yang role reversal! I won't even go into our breakfast table conversation about strategies for eliminating tea spout drips. I suppose if I'd been leading the conversation it would have gravitated to my looming real estate transactions. So just as well I wasn't.

Speaking of which, my intended Tenancy in Common (WIKIPEDIA - Tenancy_in_common)partner and I are scheduled to sit down with our respective realtors to write up our offer this afternoon. Offers are due on my place tomorrow at noon, and on the 3-unit in SF tomorrow at 5PM. Barring any last-minute surprises, cold feet, or objections from persons present, looks like we'll be throwing our lot in together, at least on this one. We probably won't know whether our offer is the winning bid before Friday. I still think it's a longshot, but you never know.

I'd better double-check those numbers again. Ay yi yi. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

p.s. - holy crap! My mortgage guy just asked me if I saw the front page of the today's Chronicle:

Breaking barriers in S.F.'s housing market
Marin bank first to lend to individual owners in TICs

(I thought that might get your attention.)

So, I put my house up for sale last week after I found a gorgeous 3-unit Victorian in a great neighborhood in SF. The catch is, the 3-unit building is so "reasonably" priced it's sure to get multiple bids way over the asking price. In other words, their ploy worked. Once you're hooked, the next thing you know you're making rationalizations like "this is like buying three houses in one, each with 3 bedrooms, double parlour, 2 fireplaces, rounded bays, ornate trim..."

Come on (e:peeps)! Doesn't anybody want to go in on this one with me?

So, why not just buy a single family home, you ask? Same reason you can't buy one in Manhattan. Here the footprint where everybody wants to live is bounded by the Ocean and the Bay. Thankfully in San Francisco that just means most buildings are 2-4 unit Victorians, not the more modern skyscrapers common in Manhattan. Sure, there's the occasional multi-million dollar mansion. But that is sadly out of my price range.

The other alternative, condos, are expensive for a variety of complicated reasons. So the best value (just trust me on this) is to buy a building either alone, or with partners for each unit, and go through the lengthy condo conversion process yourself.

Since I can't wait around for a few dozen more of you (e:peeps) to move out here to start an (e:commune), I turned to the usual resource for any deficiency in the Bay area: craigslist.

Oh crap. Somebody's coming to see my house now and I still have to make guacamole for the monthly pot-luck BBQ this afternoon. Much as I would like to skip this party, I've got a lot of explaining to do to all my friends who are royally p!ssed that I'm making life decisions without consulting them first. At least I'll get plenty of chances to fine-tune my story before my weekly phone call with Dad tomorrow. Oh boy.

To be continued...

Wow. That went amazingly well. I didn't get to explain all the details, but most everybody is onboard with the gist of my plan. It's just weird that the more I convince everybody else the less convinced I become myself. I hope I haven't outsmarted myself this time.

p.s. - the first reaction across the board has been to fix me up with the guy I'm partnering with. I just met the guy on Thursday! I'm not that crazy!

I was cleaning out some of my old crap and happened upon a bunch of my old business cards. I forgot everyone in the design group had cards made up for our alternate identities. Ha!

Living off the land.

If the craziest thing happens to you in the forest, and there's no high-speed connection by which you can document it ...

The Joy of Self-Exposure

Ok, obviously this whole p:mobl thing was just a ploy to get me to post. How am I supposed to resist that kind of pressure? (jk!)

(e:Mike) - you can't leave us with a cliffhanger [inlink]mike,359[/inlink] like that for long! I'm dying to know what happens. Maybe you can write in a part for Shana's long-lost cousin, once-removed, last seen heading West but never heard from again. Unbeknownst to her friends and family back home, she has been keeping tabs on them from afar. She hears of Shana's plight, and racked with guilt for abandoning her loved ones in their time of need, decides to make amends and unequivocably show her loyalty by sacrificing the 6 months she has left to live due to a fatal but non-communicable disease that thankfully does not affect any of the organs Shana needs transplanted in order to survive. In a heart-wrenching video enclosed with the bio-packed organs, the cousin professes her love for Shana and the others and assures them she is certain this was meant to be her destiny ever since she and Shana found out they were a perfect match when they registered for the bone marrow donor program when that kid in second grade was diagnosed with leukemia.

It's just one way you could go with it. I'd be happy to moblog the audition in for your consideration. Oh yeah, feel free to harvest some eggs from the dead cousin since obviously Shana's accident left her unable to conceive. That'll give you a few more twists for the next season. haha!

"2-story cottage 4sale"



The catch? The only way to get to the kitchen is to go down that outside staircase. I am not kidding!

The 5th Internet Dating Conference (San Francisco 2005) event will cover Mobile and Wireless Technologies to the Dating and Social Networking industry. Topics included will be new and existing technology and business management for Dating and Social Networking businesses that are entering the mobile/wireless space.

and

New mobile dating services allow people to browse profiles via cell phone and message potential matches -- even on the spot

(as long as I'm already in the top 12 might as well post again.)

(Cell phone pic does NOT do it justice)

I wasn't expecting another round of plumbing [inlink]paul,3543[/inlink] advice, so I just noticed this in my inbox. Maybe it's still helpful:

---

This is probably some sort of compression fitting. The end of the pipe is probably flanged (underneath that nut) and fits into the mouth of the threaded pipe from the new faucet. Theoretically the teflon tape won't help, but it might.

If it doesn't fix it he needs to undo the connection and make sure there are no nicks or burrs on the threaded pipe from the new faucet, and make sure the flange on the other side is similarly clean. With old pipes sometimes bits can actually break off or perhaps a dried bit of pipe dope from the previous installation could be stuck in there, keeping it from sealing correctly. If the old faucet had any burrs or bumps the flange would have conformed to them when it was tightened down, causing a problem when connecting to the new faucet.



Here's a very rough sketch of what (I think) is going on in the connection. If the ridge that is supposed to make the seal is integrated it is called a flange. If it is a ring that slips over the pipe it is a ferrule. I think in this case it is probably a flange. It slips inside the threaded pipe on the other side of the connection and the nut around it compresses it tightly enough to create a seal. In theory the seal only occurs where the flange hits the other pipe, hence the teflon tape won't help.

---

Um, yeah! So there you have it. I really have to get a life.

p.s. - I think this was the "middle" possibility before Mark knew exactly what was leaking. Relaying (e:Paul)'s IMs and describing the pictures to Mark on the phone then typing Mark's responses back to (e:Paul) was kind of like the blind leading the deaf with me as interpreter. Weird. I hope it helped.

p.p.s. - Speaking of weird, I can't believe this is going to be my last post. That is so weird. Ciao, 'strippers.

Here I thought I'd been to every campground on the Eastern Seaboard but somehow my family missed that [inlink]paul,3512[/inlink] one.

My Dad is continuing the tradition by taking 5 grandkids camping on Hunting Island, SC for 3 nights. And because no family camping trip would be complete without some extended quality time in the car, after he and Jean drive to Rehoboth Beach to pick up Tyler and Connor, they'll take the scenic route back with the kids (Norfolk, Cape Hatteras) with a bonus side trip to Ocracoke Island requiring TWO ferry rides. I hope these kids know what they're in for.

Don't worry, he's going to swap the Jetta for my sister's car when he picks up her older two for the rest of the trip. I can't believe she's not letting Stephen go. She was just shy of two when we camped at Caledonia State Park.


OMG. We had to be the geekiest-looking kids in the whole campground.

As long as I have you on the edge of your seat (haha), I ran across this pic of Dad rowing me and my brother around some island in the middle of the Long Island Sound. Here we are just setting out from City Island, NY where my grandparents lived. I can't believe Mom let him do that. I guess (e:Paul)'s right about rowing. Dad does look pretty buff here.



p.s. - if you want to camp with a bunch of naked people of all ages go to Burning Man, while you still can.

p.p.s. - As San Francisco police Sgt. "Carl T." helpfully explains here, public nudity is perfectly legal as long as it's not lewd, intended to titillate, or annoying. Buffalo cops may have differing interpretations so think twice before you try it. Oh yeah, I love the way they include cup size in the quote attibutions on this article. Haha!