citizen of the planet

Just like I stated last year, at this time of year I have a tendency to avoid doing these run down type posts.  I tend to do these on my birthday, and usually it’s enough.  Thing is, I think for a year like this a little bit of navel-gazing is necessary.  There’s a lot of talk about this year being a tough one.  By and large, yes, it was tough.  With all of the doom and gloom, it can be easy for me to sink into a dark place.  There are, however, enough reasons for me to look up and forward.  That’s why it’s important for me to see what I’ve gone through.

This is one heck of an entry, so I’m placing it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The whole condo process has been pretty long and drawn out: years in the making, really.  As such, each time I reached a new milestone, as much as each was pretty cool, they didn’t really hype the excitement level by a particularly large amount.  OK sure, settling on a mortgage was a big event in my life, but it doesn’t have that…punch.  Know what I mean?  Well, finally, something has come along that kind of has that big wow factor.  This morning I went through my PDI (pre-delivery inspection).  Prior to this date, I could only imagine how the condo would look.  I knew the layout, and what finishes I chose.  I had a nice image in my mind, but at the same time it was all rather nebulous.  This PDI was my chance to take those images and crystallize them in my head.

I parked my car by the station and walked to the building.  As I walked along side, I could see that there were people already living on the lower floors.  Some of the windows already had blinds.  Some suites had furniture.  I don’t think I saw anyone in the units, but perhaps people living on the ground level have just gotten good at camouflage.  Heh.  Well, it’s not like I was staring in.  Anyway, I felt rather dwarfed by the building.  I usually just drive by it, so I never really had a chance to get a sense of the building’s size.  It’s not so tall that the proportion of concrete and steel to human is overwhelming.  See, the building is only a few floors high–it’s not overwhelming at all.  The result is that…it’s like…the building is in the realm of stuff that I can still compare myself to.  As a result, it feels massive.  Did that make sense at all?  It’s kind of hard to explain.

As I neared the front entrance, I saw a woman in a hardhat waiting by the front entrance.  I presumed that she was the inspector that would be accompanying me.  Indeed she was.  I shook her hand and in we went.  She told me that this would be more of an orientation than anything else.  As I entered the lobby, that’s when it really started hitting me: wow…I’m going to be living here very shortly.  HOLY CRAP.  I had my bag with me.  I was smart enough to carry my camera with me so I asked if I would start taking pictures.  She obliged and let me start snapping at this and that.  I was a freaking kid in a candy store.  Look at that!  What’s that over there?  Oh! Oh! Oh! Really, can you blame me?  She took me around the lobby area and showed me the mailboxes and the garbage area.  The interior really felt spacious.  I was expecting something a little bit more cramped, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I was also kind of disoriented.  My mind was overloaded, really.  She took me to the basement to see my parking spot.  It’s my luck that I got a great spot close to the elevator bay.  Whoo! As much as the basements were interesting though, they weren’t the reason I came.  Soon enough we were on our way to my suite.

When we got to my floor, the first thing I noticed was that the area by the elevators was spacious!  No kidding.  The ceilings were high and there was enough room to swing a cat if I wanted to.  There I was still snapping photos of this and that when the inspector allowed me to be the one to open the door to my unit.  I’d forgotten how I was in close proximity to the elevator.  In my mind I imagined the hallways to be cramped, but no, this building is pretty decent.  Anyway, as my hand reached for the knob, I could feel my heart beginning to race.  With a good turn, I opened the door, and whoooooa.  I was floored.

All of the imagined images were shattered at that moment.  What I saw was a bright, spacious, and well-dressed unit.  No kidding.  The hardwood floors, the selections I made for the kitchen, the tiles, the countertop–it all just came together.  Before I saw all of the upgrades as kind of just bits and pieces here and there.  I made some damn good choices though.  In the unit was one of the many tradespeople around the building site.  He told me that everything looked really great.  Sure, it’s sort of his job to say that, but the way he said it made me believe him.  He said that it was a good size and good look for a single guy.  I agree.  The inspector said that the kitchen look was very masculine, and yet a woman could live there.  Looks like I struck the perfect balance then.

She took me through the rooms and explained all of the controls in detail.  I was listening intently, but to be honest there was just so much information that I couldn’t retain it all.  Luckily she left me with enough reading material to last me a long while.  I just couldn’t get over the fact that all of that would be mine in short time.  According to that widget on the right: 6 days.

When it was all over, and all of the forms were signed, I left in a mild state of shock.  I mean, I was still trying to process everything that I had seen.  Really was a lot to take in in the span of an hour.  This whole home-ownership thing is reality.  There really is no question about it anymore.  Seriously, next week is going to be one hell of a week.

My mind has just been overflowing with thoughts over the past day or two, and really there’s nothing to point to except for the whole deal about me moving out. Last night I was kept awake just thinking about the possibilities. I entirely blame the hyperactivity on all of the mortgage talk over Thursday and Friday. I suppose all of that just drilled the idea home (ha!) that in a little over a month I will be a home owner.  That’s just utterly insane.  Am I mentally ready for such a leap?  Can I survive under the new burdens that I’m going to put myself under?  Well, if I answer “no” to any of these questions then I better damn well figure out a way to get myself ready.  I’ve started this runaway process, and there’s no way to stop it short of doing a “kill -9″ or some equivalent.

Sorry, was that geeky?  Did anyone get that reference?  I can pretend to know Unix, but really, I know jack squat.

Anyway, that’s only part of why my mind was buzzing.  I was actually playing out scenarios of sorts, trying to figure out what to take with me and what to leave behind.  I’m somewhat fortunate in the sense that even if I leave something behind I will live close enough to my parents that any retrieving or returning will be somewhat simple.  Even so, having to move big items more than once would be tough.  Originally I was thinking that I wanted to leave most furniture items here and just get all new stuff for the place.  That’s all well and good.  I mean, it means that moving will actually be a light job and that I won’t require much help with things.  I guess the thing is: I’m not sure why it didn’t click for me just how expensive such a plan was.  Duh!  Will I have that much free cash to make such a decision to get all new stuff?  Even if I did, it wouldn’t be the wisest of decisions.

I eventually came around and decided that taking my mattress and box spring would be prudent.  The parents can just replace the bed if they need something to go in my room for guests.  I will also probably take the computer desk in the other room.  The one in my room–the one this laptop is currently resting on–is pretty beat up and ugly.  The other one is decent and won’t be a mess to move.  Do I want to take the extra dining table with me?  I don’t know because the light wood will probably clash with the dark flooring.  Can I afford to be picky?  I don’t know.  Long ago my mom offered to bring home boxes from the hospital for the sake of packing things.  I balked at the thought.  Why would I do that?  Well, in all likelihood the boxes she’d bring back would be from boxes of adult diapers.  See, in a hospital full of seniors those would be the most common.  I just thought it’d be weird to carry around boxes labelled with Depends on the outside.  After much thought last night I decided to just say “screw it” and get the free boxes if available.  A box is a box, right?

See, I indulged the idealistic free-spending part of the mind for a while.  It’s now time to suppress it for a bit and let the pragmatic saving side do it’s thing.

Of course, the move is still a month away.  I still need to get through my inspection.  OOOH, that will be damn exciting.  It’ll be my first chance to see the suite mostly put together.  Still.  The way things are rolling, July will fly by and then August will bring many many changes to my life.  I’ll be ready one way or another.

Less than a month ago I wrote about the upcoming info session regarding my new condo. Well, that meeting happened earlier this evening and let me tell you, I am now going to allow myself to start to get excited. I know I’ve been hesitant and all, but gosh, it’s all starting to really look like there will no longer be any delays in construction. It looks like my moving date of August 5 will truly hold.

Why am I making these statements? At my table, I got to meet a couple of great people also moving into the building. They were telling me stories of how they went into the building and got to see how all the counter tops were already done and the cabinets were in place. It’s supposed to be pretty great. Now, all of that is just surprising to me. I’ve stated that I park by the building, so I see it almost daily. From the outside it’s not obvious that all of these changes are happening. I only see the outside, and from that it looks like progress is slow. I mean, the exteriors are up but there’s not much you can see there in terms of obvious differences. All of this time that was hiding all of the magic going on within.

One day, I really want to go in and see if I can give my unit a visit with camera in hand. The widget on the blog says I have two months left.

Holy crap! It’s coming! I have a postal code! I have to get a lawyer! Mortgage hunting soon!

That’s a lot of exclamation marks!

OK, so I’ll be honest and say that the whole condo thing hasn’t been in the forefront of my mind at all over the past two months or so. Sure, I park by that building daily, and have been monitoring progress for what seems like a very long time, but after that last disappointment I’ve been trying to make it a point to not get too excited. Hell, I’ve been keeping myself occupied anyway. Between work and running, do I really have so much time to day dream?

Well, today, something came in the mail and now suddenly it’s time to make a fuss yet again. I got an invitation to an information session that’s being run by the builder. This info session is scheduled for two months before my possession date. Wow. Crazy. Looking at that widget at the sidebar, I’ve got just under 3 months to go.

Let’s be honest: I still don’t want to allow myself to get excited. At the same time, the info session really does make it seem like the end is in sight. I don’t know what to think: I’m confused! Maybe I should bury myself in my work and in running even more. I need to keep my mind off it, perhaps until after that info session. Graaaaaagh.

Honestly, where the heck did February go? No kidding. March is upon us which means the equinox is just around the corner. I don’t think that winter has ever affected me as much as it has this season. I often comment about how much I enjoy it and how trudging through snow builds character, blah blah blah. Yeah, I still believe that, but for whatever reason the burden just feels heavier than usual.

First and foremost, I can attribute it to continuing training through the snowy months. It’s been a sacrifice to leave work early and commute north to join my running group. I’ve continued to run through blowing snow and biting winds. There were times when my thighs felt close to being frostbitten. I don’t mind. It’s been a fun and refreshing experience. It’s allowed me to maintain a level of fitness through a season where I’m usually relatively complacent. Still, it’s a different experience for me to be this committed to an activity and not have a down season. Perhaps the injury is my body’s way of forcing me to take some time off. Who knows?

In terms of work, projects are still being scheduled into the tight confines of the time line. Some days I almost feel like the client is asking to use me as a resource on more projects just because I’m the pack mule and capable of the weight. Tch. Just because I’m capable of it doesn’t mean that I should be pushed to my limits. I keep saying that I need time off. I haven’t scheduled anything yet, but I do know that I have one leftover vacation day from last year that I need to use up by the end of this month. It would be improper and ridiculous to let that day expire so I’m going to force myself to get away sometime soon.

On the housing front, this season has brought me a swift kick to the nuts. Actually, no, I suppose I can’t characterize it as that because there’s a good side to it all. The postponement is just tough on the mind. I mean, getting psyched for the move has been a slow process for me. I’ve been cautious about getting excited knowing that such delays happen. Then, in December they gave a confirmed final date. At that point there was a finish line: there was some finality. That’s when I allowed myself to start feeling great about it. Buying the appliances was a fantastic experience. And then…the date was bumped. I seriously cannot allow myself to get my expectations up so soon until there’s more evidence of finality. I mean, when I look at the building today, the balconies are under construction, and bricks are up on the ground floor. Still, as far as I’m concerned, those are meaningless to me: I need to force myself to contain any excitement.

These are a few reasons why this has been a relatively trying season for me. I’m not saying that it’s all been one downer after another, because a lot of good things have happened as well. I love my new car. It performed excellently on my trip to Burlington. I had absolutely no issues with acceleration–I felt that it was actually kind of zippy. Fuel economy for the trip seemed great too. Anyway, I think the result of all of this is that I’m anticipating the return of spring a lot more than I ever have in the past. I’m feeling the sunlight more strongly. In the mornings, I’ve noticed that sunlight pierces my blinds at an earlier time now. I’ve been toying with the idea of just turning my alarm clock off and waking up with the sun. Sounds great, but I actually question whether I can trust myself to actually wake up properly at a proper time. What if it’s a rainy day? Hmm.

What are my expectations for the month and for the upcoming season? Well, for one thing, I’m hoping to take better care of myself. When I return to my training I am going to attack it with measured fervour. I plan on saying “no” more often. I plan on having more courage. At the end of the month, the braces are coming off–I need to find more self-confidence.

If spring is a time for new beginnings, I’m going to work to plant as many positive seeds as I can.

One of the ways I try to get up-to-date information about the process of the construction of my building is through a forum that someone has set up for the whole development. It’s interesting because there’s a whole lot of hope and aspiration floating around in the different threads. The other day, there were some rumblings though that the possession dates for the condo will be pushed back yet again. I was hoping that it was just a rumour. I mean, the date has already been pushed back twice before. However, today I noticed that someone reported that they’d just received their notice today via registered mail. I knew that it was a done deal.

Sure enough, when I got home, there was the registered letter waiting for me. Indeed, the letter said that my date was being pushed back to August 4. Damn it! Of course, like every other time this has happened, I recognize the obvious bright side that I’ll have more time to earn money prior to moving. My calculations tell me that that will give me an extra five pay cheques to work with.

The thing that’s really annoying the hell out of me right now is how “confirmed” doesn’t mean “confirmed” at all. I made a big deal out of the fact that they changed the wording they used from “tentative” to “confirmed.” I mean, “confirmed” has a whole tone of finality to it all, correct? Lies! I mean, they even started taking elevator appointments last week. What am I supposed to think? I had my time, and had already marked my moving date. Now it’s all useless and needs to be rescheduled. What is that? I’m lucky in that I live at home, but what of the people that have already given their landlords notice that they’re going to be leaving? It’s just not right.

I pass by the building site daily. I’ve seen that they’ve started working on the balconies. Truthfully, at the rate they’re going, I can see why they have to delay things. At this point, I’m fatigued though. I don’t want to pin my hopes down for the time being. Who knows? In a few months they may push the date even further. I’m not trying to be negative, but I can’t rule it out.

So, it’s with some sadness and irritation that I have to readjust that countdown clock. Just 5 months and 12 days left.

I had an appointment with the builder’s design consultant this morning. Apparently the company that was originally going to supply the cabinetry for all the condo units went under, meaning that I had to come in to see and approve the substitutions. I parked at the station lot and made the short walk over to the office. As I walked by my future building I noticed that my unit had the windows and patio doors installed. Wow, man. That means that my unit is now enclosed and somewhat shielded from the weather. That’s really good news because with the cold weather encroaching upon us I don’t want any delays due to construction people not being able to do anything useful in the skin-numbing winds. That’s pretty much what the consultant told me: they wanted to get the shell up as soon as possible so that they could continue working through winter. Makes sense.

Next to the condo building, work is already well under way on a new recreation centre. I really appreciate the fact that there’ll be such a place just a few steps away from where I’ll be. There’s been talk that the factory north of the community will be torn down and replaced with commercial developments including a bank and maybe a grocery store. God, there’s so much going on around this place that it’s almost unbelievable, you know? I’m completely looking forward to seeing just how transformed this area will be in two years. Right now it’s a tad bleak, but the potential is all there.

Anyway, the appointment was really quick and painless. The original cabinets were labelled as having the stain colour “espresso” but who are they kidding? The colour was basically black. This new cabinet stain colour by the new company is also labelled “espresso” but isn’t black. Instead, it’s a dark brown that’s somewhat warmer than the previous ones. I think this is a great substitution because dark brown is simply more visually interesting. For these cabinets, I was given a choice among a wide selection of handles. For the old cabinets, there was no choice–either I took the ugly handles that they had or just specified them not to put the handles on at all. I opted to not have the handles installed because the specified ones were just damn ugly. In its place, I was planning on just getting these long, chunky metallic ones. I had the image in mind and was determined to have it look right. Well, among the selection of handles for the new cabinets was basically the type of handle I was thinking of. Sure, the sample was smaller than I had imagined, but it had the same aesthetic. And it was free! So yeah, that was one less thing I had on my mind.

One of the upgrades that I signed for was to switch the electrical switches from the skinny ones to the fat Decora switches. For whatever reason, that option suddenly became standard, meaning that the several hundred I paid for that option was going to be refunded to me. That extra $500+ was already basically a sunk cost in my mind so I asked if there was anything else I could throw the money toward. I ended up asking for a cold water line for my fridge. Even with that added though it seems that the builder will still end up refunding me some cash. Really, I have to ask, how the heck did that happen? In effect, I’ve added another option, and they still owe me. Ha!

There are only four months and a bit left before I can move in. I am ridiculously excited!