Blog: Entries Tagged With 'housing'

For the second time in our lives, our new house is beginning to feel like our home.

It's been 1.5 months since we moved in, and we're taking our time getting settled so as to not feel overwhelmed. We're using the corner room for our sleeping quarters and for my office. Eventually, after we get a couple more home improvement things done in the master bedroom, we'll probably want to buy a bigger bed and start sleeping there.

So far we've spent a combined $17k on termite treatment and repairs, a water heater repair/repiping, sewer lateral replacement, and installation of roof vents. The outlets in three bedrooms need to be grounded and the master bedroom needs to be painted a color that doesn't burn the eyes. I also need to drywall over a couple outlets which were placed in a weird spot halfway up the wall in the gym room before we can have a full-length mirror put in there.

The first week in the house, we bought a washer and dryer and a dining table with 6 chairs. Next was a sectional sofa, 3 small bookcases, a large coffee table, and finally now a TV stand. I just finished building most of the TV stand and we finally set up our PlayStation 3 and watched a DVD that we had borrowed from the library - The Money Pit. My coworkers had mentioned it when I first mentioned buying a house. The movie was a little weird but had its moments. Our house is a bit of a money pit, but fortunately nothing like the house in the movie!

There are a lot of small things that need to be done for the house. I cut down one of the giant bird of paradise plants that was growing too tall next to the house, and I've been repairing various leaks which are present in half of the 13 irrigation zones. In a month, I'll have more time for these things. My company is not approving any new requests for people to be permanently remote, so I'm going to have to leave after September 28 when my 3-month transitional period comes to an end. I could refuse to leave and have them fire me, though if they fire me with cause then there would be no severance, but I'd rather leave on good terms and not make life difficult for my manager. I should be able to give 2 weeks notice on September 28 which would allow me to remain employed for the first two weeks of October. That way, my 90-day window for exercising stock options will extend into next year. I'd rather exercise them next year since we have too much income this year, though our stock has fallen $20 in the time that I could've exercised this year, so was that really the right call?

I've been working for 16 years, 11 of which have been at Pure, so I'm feeling overdue for a change. It's been good here overall, but lately I've been feeling like the work that I do doesn't really matter. I'm planning to take several months off before deciding whether to find a new job. I'm looking forward to having more time for the things that I want to do, and I'll also need to help Priscilla's parents understand their finances. We probably have enough to be financially independent, assuming the stock market doesn't crash, so I don't need a high-paying job anymore. If I do get another job, I'm hoping for it to be with a Christian non-profit where I feel like I'm making more of a difference in people's lives. But in whatever I ultimately decide to do, I hope that I can live with purpose.

Being down in SoCal has allowed us to see family more frequently. They came over the first week and helped us unload the pod, and Aaron came by one day to mount our TV and another day to bring my bike which I'd been storing at my parents' place. We visited Priscilla's parents during a weekend when we went to Arcadia to see Sharon who was visiting her daughter there. We got together with my parents and Aaron's family earlier this month to celebrate birthdays. And we'll be staying at Priscilla's parents' place again next week in order to keep her dad company while her mom is helping out at a church retreat during the week.

We've also visited a few churches, two of which are in Camarillo. But we feel the most comfortable at a church in Thousand Oaks due to the worship style being close to what we're used to and the people being similar to us demographically. Church community should not be constrained by demographics, but I can't say that they don't matter at all. We haven't committed definitively to the church yet, but we're hoping that it will be a place where we can grow, serve, and build deeper relationships.

There's no shortage of things to sink money, time, and effort into. Some of it is meaningful, some of it less so. We have a lot to figure out, but one step at a time. Do the next right thing.

This is going to sound silly to everyone (the wife included), but since I do a lot of Yelping, I also like to check in on Yelp for every place that I visit. Partly to rack up dukedoms (awarded to the person with the most check-ins to a place within a certain period of time), and partly to keep track of where I've been and how many times I've been there.

Upon moving away from the Bay Area, I collected the stats on my total check-ins to the places we've visited most frequently. They kind of provide a high-level snapshot of where we've been the most during the past 12 years. They are as follows:

Church:
CCIC: 616

Cities:
City of Mountain View: 1,839 (I checked in basically every day I went to the office)
City of Santa Clara: 639
City of Sunnyvale: 440
City of Cupertino: 68

Recreation and fitness:
Central Park: 445
San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail: 191
Rancho San Antonio: 105
UFC Gym: 53
Monte Bello OSP: 33
Mission Peak: 28

Restaurants:
Mediterranean Grill House: 99
El Pollo Loco: 43
Yiassoo: 30

Other commercial:
Mariposa Shopping Center: 188
Santa Clara Town Centre: 154
CVS: 115
Chase: 109
Sprouts: 95
Dollar Tree: 65
Safeway: 62
Home Depot Santa Clara: 50
Home Depot Sunnyvale: 35

It's only been 10 days since we left the Bay Area, but we're already starting to adjust to life down here in SoCal. We of course miss our friends and our old church, but hopefully absence will make the heart grow fonder and we'll keep in touch and have a sweet time with people when we visit.

We drove down July 4 and stayed a couple nights with my parents and a couple nights with Priscilla's parents. We then stayed 5 nights at the Bella Capri Inn in Old Town Camarillo, and now we're in an Airbnb in Santa Rosa Valley for a week, and then finally we'll be in another Airbnb in Camarillo Heights for 1.5 weeks. The idea was to be in town so that we could look at houses, but we're actually closing on a house in two days!

We liked the house in the west part of Camarillo Heights that I'd previously mentioned. We had an offer in the pipeline before our move, but the sellers wanted us to see the place in person to verify that we actually liked it. So we saw the place the day after our move and submitted a stronger offer that day (same price but even faster close), and the sellers accepted it the next day. They interestingly had no other offers. Our agent said that the market had slowed down, and it also helped us that the house was shown for just one weekend, with the next weekend being a holiday weekend. And another thing that probably helped was that the house was in a price valley - higher than most other houses here but lower than the really expensive houses that people with a lot of money can afford. But the market is picking up again now, so we bought at just the right time. We're grateful for God's providence, for our amazing agent who'd been sending us listings for nearly two months and finally found this place when it was off market, and for having enough funds from selling our Bay Area house to make a cash offer.

This new house basically checks all of our boxes except for walkability - there's a Ralphs a mile away but nothing else within reasonable walking distance. It's a single story house and is over 2,700 square feet, which will be ideal if we ever have parents living with us. The lack of stairs will be ideal in terms of mobility, for them as well as likely for us someday. Priscilla has her big kitchen and I have my gym room - the one bedroom that's on a slab foundation; the rest of the house is on a raised foundation. There are 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, and also a 2-car garage. I wish the garage was slightly wider; one side of it has some cabinets that protrude a little into the space behind the garage door, and I think we can fit two cars and a couple bikes in there, but it's going to be a squeeze. Other than the garage, there's a lot of space everywhere since it's also a corner lot. The place has been kept pretty well and the backyard is nice. The plants are all on drip irrigation, and the backyard features a large patio, a patio cover, and a hot tub. I really like that the backyard is completely private, unlike most other houses that we've seen that have a neighboring house with a view into the backyard. Priscilla is planning to spend more time there compared to the backyard at our previous house.

God really paved the way for us to get this house. We weren't crazy about it due to the location, so we were committed to offering $45k under the asking price and not going above that. Our reasoning was that if it was God's will for us to have this place, then we would get it. And sure enough we did, and without anyone else bidding. Our hope is that we honor Him with this house and everything else that we've been given.

And now that the question of where we're going to live has been settled, we now need to find a good church to call home. Last Sunday we visited Priscilla's old church in Woodland Hills, and today we visited a church in Thousand Oaks that would be 18 minutes from our house. We talked with a few people today and they were very welcoming. And one couple and another guy also live in Camarillo! We'll probably check out a local Camarillo church next week. I think these are all good churches and great people, so it might be a difficult decision. But we trust that God will lead us to where He has planned, like He's done for everything else thus far.

Well, it finally happened. This afternoon, Priscilla and I moved out of our house and out of the Bay Area. I'd been living in this area for 16 years, and she'd been here for 12 after we got married.

This past week has been crazy with loading the pod, tidying up the house, and packing up our cars to conclude our move. Packing and loading was a huge ordeal, and suffice it to say that I should've had us hire movers at least to load the pod. We had such a stressful time doing everything ourselves, and Priscilla made me agree to let us hire movers when it comes time to unload the pod when we have a new house.

Saying goodbye is hard. During the past weeks, when people asked how we were feeling, I'd respond by saying that we were feeling mixed emotions and it's a bittersweet time. Today, however, there was no sweetness, only deep sorrow. Sorrow over leaving this house that we've been in for 10 of the last 12 years of our marriage, leaving our wonderful neighbors and neighborhood, leaving our church and the so many people we've gotten to know there, and leaving the Bay Area which we've come to love. I'm a pretty emotionally stoic person, and I think the last time I cried was when I moved up to the Bay Area and my dad had just left after staying with me for a week to help me get situated up here. But today I was sobbing involuntarily when getting the final things ready for us to leave the house for good. Priscilla, the less stoic one, was in tears as well. There's something about a sense of loss that really cuts to the soul.

Indeed, there's so much we're giving up as we begin this new chapter of our lives. The last chapter can be defined by growth and accumulation. It was our first years of working after college, building adult relationships for the first time, cultivating relationships in the church, and building a life together after marriage. Now we are starting over, venturing into the unknown both in terms of life events as well as community. The main reason we're moving down is to be closer to family, and our parents are getting to the point where they're going to need more help with things, and their health will only just eventually get worse. We've been fortunate to not have really had to deal with significant trials in this past stage of life, but the next stage will undoubtedly be marked by them.

But as Priscilla's coworker said to her, it is a privilege to be able to spend time with parents, whether they are healthy or otherwise. God has gotten us this far in life, He's given us strength and many mercies during this move, and He will guide us in the future from now until the rest of our lives. Our hope is that we honor Him in all that we do, in where we ultimately settle down, and in the relationships placed in our lives.

We closed escrow on our house last Monday! It felt so good to finally be done, and closing and having the money wired to our checking account (the most cash we've ever had and probably will ever have) felt like turning the page towards the end of this chapter of our lives.

It's hard to believe that we only started the home selling process with Susanna two months ago. It certainly has been a journey, and it's gone by very quickly. The buyers gave us a month of free rent back, but we're planning to have everything packed up over the next week and drive down to SoCal on July 3. We ordered a container from PackRat that's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, and half of our stuff has been packed up in the garage ever since we did the house showings.

We've been constantly looking at Redfin listings for houses in Camarillo. There were two houses that we were considering: a single-story house in Camarillo Heights that's far from everything, and a two-story house in Mission Oaks that's close to a Vons and 10 minutes closer to parents. But talking with some church friends about their and their parents' experiences with two-story houses convinced us that a second story can be a major obstacle later in life. Having just one bedroom (or in some cases no bedrooms) downstairs just won't do for what might be our forever home, especially if we ever have parents come live with us. Unfortunately, that rules out most houses in Mission Oaks.

We're quickly passing through a season of "lasts." Today was Priscilla's last day going to the office; Thursday will be mine. Sunday will be our last time at this church. Over the past few weeks, we've had over a dozen get-togethers with various people/families from church, including a dinner with many people who've been in Family Fellowship with us. We/I have had just about as many get-togethers with other friends (old friends who used to come to our church, old coworkers, current coworkers, and more). There is just not enough time to say goodbye. In a way, this is showing us that while we haven't felt close to many people, there are actually a lot of people whom we care about and vice versa.

We'll have a lot to think about when we move down. Like whether we really want to live in Camarillo, which house to get, where to go to church, how to serve our families and others. Aaron had a serious health scare a couple weeks ago and was in the ER/ICU due to meningitis. I guess he ate some old food, and having a compromised immune system plus additional risk factors due to lifestyle caused him to get a brain infection. He ended up being in a coma and was intubated, and tests revealed that he also had a small clot in his brain. Apparently he'd also had a mini stroke. When he woke up, his speech was a little slow and he would sometimes exhibit minor confusion and occasionally forget that he'd had some conversations. There was also indication that he might need dialysis.

Fortunately, he seems to have made nearly a full recovery (and continuing to get better by the day) and didn't need dialysis. He'd started trying to take better care of his health before the hospitalization, and we hope that he continues doing so. Maybe I can use his guest pass at 24 Hour Fitness to go work out with him, and hopefully we can have a deeper relationship in adulthood than we had as kids. Even though it would be a 30 minute drive, maybe we'll want to go to Priscilla's old church in Woodland Hills, partly because it's familiar and we know some people and partly because Aaron and his family go there.

We'll have a lot to think about and work through. But we'll have a whole new chapter of life to figure it out.

The last week has been a flurry of activity for the home selling process. We had open houses on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday a week ago. We stayed at the nearby Granada Inn from Friday to Wednesday in order to leave the house vacant for the open houses as well as the private tours with people coming by with their agents. On Friday, we had a private tour that was scheduled at the last minute and we were running around trying to get stuff straightened out and were out the door one minute before the tour's start time. We saw what looked like an agent waiting in his car; he was probably shaking his head at these people who obviously didn't have it together.

On both Saturday and Sunday, we had 30-35 people come by the house. Our agent Susanna said that a few people from Saturday came back Sunday to take a second look, so that was a good sign. Based on conversations with buyer's agents, she had expected 5-6 offers. We had priced low ("only" 1.569 million) in order to attract more bids, and in the end we had 4 offers, though she didn't bother mentioning one of them since it was too low - "just" 1.65 million, even though it was a cash offer. We also had an early offer of 1.68 on Thursday, but we turned it down because we thought we could get more by seeing the process through.

So this past Wednesday, when offers were due, we had basically 3 offers to choose from: Offer 1 at 1.68 million, Offer 2 at 1.71, and Offer 3 at 1.83. The third offer was by far the best, but they had opted for 3 days to transfer the deposit to escrow, which Susanna said was too long and needed to be changed to 1 day. I thought the 3 days indicated that the buyers might have another bid on another property and were considering backing out of ours. Offer 1 was from a couple who work at Google who stopped by Thursday morning before the open house and chatted briefly with me when I was outside sweeping. They've been renting in the area for 10 years and they're familiar with our neighborhood. I told Susanna that I'd be fine with giving it to them for 1.75 since Offer 3 didn't seem like a sure thing, but she told me to wait.

Susanna got Offer 1 to increase their bid to 1.828, and similarly she got Offer 2 increased to 1.825. She also got Offer 3 to change their terms to specify just 1 day to transfer the deposit. So now we had three comparable offers and were leaning towards giving it to the Google couple since we liked them. However, Susanna then sent us another update saying that Offer 3 had been increased to 1.85! Offer 3 was also giving us a month of rent back for free. So this was the best offer overall, especially since they had offered such a high amount to begin with, so we accepted that one. As much as we liked the Google couple, we were also concerned that the amount they would be paying for the down payment was nearly all of the amount in their proof of funds. It felt like they were getting emotionally tied up and probably bidding more than would be good for them long-term. Though it benefited us, I felt bad that Susanna got the buyers into a bidding war. I guess she was just doing her job and this is just how the market is, though. There's a reason why houses are going for this much in our area. And our area is still cheaper than Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Cupertino, etc.

At the end of the day on Thursday, after an agonizing wait, Susanna informed us that the buyers had taken a cashier's check to escrow and that we were now under contract. Whew! We're really blessed to have gotten such a high offer, and we're blessed that the process has been so smooth and that we have a shrewd agent who knows the market and knew what improvements to make to have our house appeal to today's buyers. We'd had doubts about whether anybody would want our house and whether it would even go for 1.6 or 1.7 million, so this has totally exceeded our expectations.

We're supposed to close escrow within 21 days, so we'll probably move around the end of June. We want to move down sooner so that we can start touring houses in SoCal. The hardest part is over and we're in the waiting period, but we've been trying to do small things like pull weeds so that the buyers don't think this place is terrible and get buyer's remorse when they move in.

We've also been spending more time with old friends from church. So far we've done dinner with Ryan and Steph (they bought us El Pollo Loco), dinner with Uncle Kenway and Aunt Susan and their family, dinner at Google with Tracy, dinner with Ruth and Albert with Richard and Michelle joining, dinner with Jerry and Vivian (she's an amazing cook), and brunch today with Tim and Irene. Coming up, we have dinner plans with James and Charlotte, a going away party with people from previous Family Fellowship groups organized by Emily, a going away get-together with the people on our worship team, a Korean BBQ meal with Jeff and Eleanor since we won their service auction, and a meal with Jean and Brion that we'll have to coordinate when they get back from traveling. Plus probably a final hangout with Tracy and my uncles and aunts, respectively. It's too bad that we're only spending time with people now that we're leaving. When we're in a new place, we need to be more intentional about meeting with others and cultivating relationships.

For now, we're enjoying a little bit of respite and a slower (but more intentional) pace of life. Priscilla and I did our annual hike at Mission Peak yesterday, followed by dinner at an old favorite, Layang Layang in Milpitas. I ran at Rancho with Yang last Saturday, and I trained at the park today and last Saturday with Joe and Wilson; we have our Monterey Spartan 5k coming up next weekend. We're learning to make the most of our time as our time in the Bay Area is rapidly coming to an end.

After signing the listing contract to begin the process to sell our house, the work to do hasn't let up. Our agent Susanna has handled coordinating with the various contractors to fix up our place, but there has still been plenty for me and Priscilla to do.

The house has received a lot of updates including a new thermostat, a new toilet and refinished bathtub, ceiling fans replaced with LED light fixtures except in the family room where we got a modern fan (with its own LED fixture that's not very bright), two recessed lights in the living room and two in the hallway, all doors painted white, redwood mulch everywhere in the backyard, and flowers on drip irrigation in the front and back yards. I was not in favor of removing ceiling fans and painting doors white; we used our fans when the weather was hot and barely used the A/C, and I felt that the wood doors had more character and appeal than plain white doors. But Susanna felt that the changes would make the place look more modern and appeal more to younger buyers, so I deferred to her experience. When we buy our new house, I'm going to consider putting in ceiling fans if they aren't there already. ;)

Two Thursdays ago, we were extremely busy with fixing small things, packing for our trip to SoCal, and moving everything to the center of rooms so that the painters would be able to paint the baseboards. We didn't finish everything that night, and we were scrambling to get everything done the next morning while the guy doing the refinishing and the painters were in the house starting their work and covering everything. It was pretty hectic and though we packed a lot of stuff in the car, mostly the day before, we weren't able to load it as fully as we would've liked.

So Friday, we drove down to my parents' place and unloaded a few boxes into my old room, to be kept there until we have a new house to move into. We had a quick dinner with my parents before driving down to Camarillo to stay the night there. On the way, we hit up the gas station at the Oxnard Costco. Should we move to Camarillo as hoped, we'll be visiting this Costco a lot, at least until Camarillo opens its own Costco in several months.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and it was a little noisy because of its location next to the 101. Apparently, almost all of the hotels in the city are located next to the freeway. The next day, we viewed 3 open houses, walked around a couple parks, and had beef pho at Love Pho N' Mor where they had pretty big portion sizes. The houses we saw were a bit small and needed work. $800k is probably too low to get something that we'll be happy with; I'm thinking we'll end up spending $1 to $1.2 million. We're thinking we want to buy a place either in Camarillo Heights or Mission Oaks. The former would have older but more one-story houses, while the latter would have nicer but probably more two-story houses. Our preference is for a one-story house since stairs might be hard to use in old age, and the home we buy could be our forever home. We also value being able to walk to places, and Camarillo Heights would be closer to lots of stores, whereas Mission Oaks just has a Vons, CVS and Chase. But Mission Oaks offers nicer homes and nicer neighborhoods. Decisions...

We returned to my parents' place that night to have dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday. Aaron and Lauren and the kids joined us, but Lauren's parents had cooked a lot of food for us (I think my mom had requested that they bring a dish but they made a few) and were too tired to make it as a result. It was a low-key but good time with family, as usual.

The next day, we went to church at CCAC and ate with Gina, Weber and Cindy at California Fish Grill. Gina wanted to pay for Priscilla (since it was our anniversary) and she made Weber pay for me - it felt a little awkward accepting since he was compelled to do it, but he was a good sport about it and what's $15 between friends?

We drove back up on Monday and there's been a ton of stuff to do since then. This week is our neighborhood's turn to participate in the Santa Clara annual city cleanup, so we've put a lot of stuff out on the street, including our old sofa that is sagging in the place where Priscilla sits. Whatever we're not throwing out, we need to pack up and put in the garage since we have a cleaner coming in a few days, followed next week by inspections, staging, and hopefully listing. Most of our furniture will be used for staging, so the only large things that need to go into the garage are the bookcase, my desk, and the old area rug. I'm concerned that we'll have a lot of boxes and that will make our garage look unsightly, but we'll see.

I've been taking these last two days off from work in order to be able to focus on the things we need to do for the house. And I still need to finish installing door knobs for half of the doors. Okay, that's enough blogging, time to get back to work!

Until now it's just been something we'd been discussing, but now the plan has been set in motion. Yesterday we met with our real estate agent and signed the listing contract to begin the process of selling our house.

We're using Susanna as our agent again. She was our buyer's agent when we bought this house 10.5 years ago and though she's not working as much these days, she was touched when we reached out to her. We're grateful to have her help and expertise, and by yesterday evening she had already reached out to her HVAC guy, gardener, and handyman, and also picked out items from Home Depot that she wants to have installed.

Susanna is coordinating all the logistics of fixing up the house, and she's going for small but impactful improvements like painting the front, painting baseboards and trim, removing ceiling fans, tuning up the air conditioner, painting doors, painting bathroom cabinets, and replacing cabinet handles in order to make the place look more modern. She said that painting the whole house is not worth it since most of the paint still looks fine. Priscilla and I don't have to do much other than be home for the contractors and declutter and pack up stuff. Susanna is trying to save us money, and she asked for only 2% commission but offered to lower it to 1.75% if we use our own furniture for staging. Most of our furniture looks fine and she said that the stuff that staging companies provide is not always in the best condition, so her proposal seemed sensible.

Previously, Priscilla and I had thought we'd be using Redfin due to the lower commissions. But we read some poor reviews of the level of service that Redfin provides. In going with Susanna and getting a discount because of our previous relationship with her, we're getting a better rate than what we'd get with Redfin, and much better service. What a win!

We also thought that we'd have to rent a container and pack all our stuff and move out prior to listing, but now we get to stay in our house and avoid having to book a lot of hotel nights. It might make sense for us to be in a hotel during the two weeks that the house will be shown, since it'd be a lot of overhead to come back each evening and tidy up, pack up, and be out the door again in the morning, but we'll see. Either way, though there is a lot that needs to be done, Priscilla and I have the easy part. I guess this is why people like having a dedicated agent.

Susanna thinks that we'll be able to list the house four weeks from now. I think the process could be delayed if the pest or home inspection discovers things that need to be fixed, but Susanna is also on top of her game. So if there's a delay, I don't think it will be much.

So yesterday Priscilla and I went from having a fuzzy timeframe to having a more defined, accelerated schedule. Supposedly the closing process typically takes 30 - 45 days, so we could be moving out in June. At that point, we'll probably want to move down to SoCal and be in a hotel or Airbnb until we can find and buy a house. So that likely gives us two months to spend time with our family and friends here, and hit up the places that we might not have the chance to visit again. Time to get cracking!

You know how the song goes. There's no place like home for the holidays.

For the second year in a row, Priscilla and I stayed home for Christmas since we made an extra trip to LA in July ("Christmas in July") in addition to our usual trip for Thanksgiving. Despite not traveling in December, we had a pretty eventful holiday month. Here are the highlights.

We went to WinterFest at Great America on December 1. We both had the Gold pass this year due to me getting an award at work. It was nice to see all the lights and the holiday magic, though it was a little sad to see that the "It's Christmas, Snoopy!" show had been updated and no longer has the scripture reading from Linus. It was an impressive show in its own right, just not the same and felt a little empty without referencing the real reason for the season. We did a couple rides - RailBlazer twice and the holiday version of the Barney Oldfield Speedway, the latter at which we learned the lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" due to signs and decorations they had up.

Priscilla visited Great America again last week to get food one last time, since she had the dining pass for the year. The Great America app said that she's been there 53 times this year, and that's not including the days where she visited twice (once for lunch and once for dinner). She's definitely gotten her money's worth from that pass.

I took two weeks off work to make up for the four weeks of overtime that I put in when I was scrambling to get my big project done. I'll take a couple more weeks off when we go back to Japan in March. I got back to work the week before Christmas, which was a light week. And then nobody was really working the week between Christmas and New Year's. So, while I've been doing some work here and there, it's been a good time of getting away and focusing on other things.

Unfortunately, I was battling a cold during two of those weeks, and it seems to have turned into a mild case of pneumonia. I'm almost over it now, but progress has been slow.

We attended my business unit's holiday party on December 15. For the second year in a row, it was held at The Plex in San Jose. We enjoyed the food (and got a decent amount to take home when they brought out the takeout boxes at the end of the night), hit up the arcade, and did a good amount of roller skating. This was a familiar and predictable holiday party and I can see how some people would be turned off by that, especially since the parties of yesteryears were no-expenses-spared amazing, but we enjoy this venue. We don't mind the simple things.

Throughout the last month, we've been better about meeting up with people. I ran 10 miles at Rancho with Yang, we had dinner with the Leongs the first week of December, ate with Sharon during church lunch, I had my third and final training session with Brian (through the service auction at church), we had Christmas dinner with Uncle Kenway and Aunt Susan and her family, did respective Zoom dinners with my parents and Priscilla's parents, and Sharon and two of her daughters came over the day after Christmas and we walked and ate ice cream. And Tracy came over tonight for dinner and then we walked around the Willow Glen Holiday Lights. Unfortunately, visiting on New Year's is apparently a little late, since a fair amount of the lights were turned off. Our previous visits there were on the 28th and 27th, so I think that's what we'll have to do next time.

But there might not be a next time for us, at least in the near future. Priscilla and I have been talking about moving back to SoCal to be closer to family, particularly since her parents are getting to the age where they're starting to need more help with things. Weather is a big factor for me and I wouldn't enjoy living in the San Fernando Valley where summers get pretty hot. But we've been eyeing a city called Camarillo in Ventura County since it's semi-close to family while still providing some separation, homes are more affordable there (most places we've looked at seem to be between $800k and $1.2 million), and the weather actually seems to be better than where we are now. Camarillo is more coastal and it's not in the San Fernando Valley, and it doesn't get as hot in the summer and doesn't get as cold in the winter compared to Santa Clara. The crime rates are lower as well. It's not the perfect place, but no place is, and it would seem to suit our needs. I'm pretty sure that my manager would let me work remotely since three of my coworkers are fully remote. Priscilla thinks there's a chance that her workplace can shuffle job duties so that she can also work remotely, but it remains to be seen.

We're thinking of moving this year once the right house comes on the market. So far, I haven't really liked any of the houses that have shown up on Redfin, though I have more criteria than Priscilla. Hopefully inventory will pick up in the coming months. But I don't think we'd really want to buy anything before our Japan trip. We've also been discussing whether to sell our current house first and the logistics around that.

At any rate, moving will be a big change. I've been in the Bay Area since 2008 and at RBF since 2009 or 2010. Priscilla married into the church in 2012 but, even so, has been there longer than most people. Though we're not super close to people here, we do have valuable friendships that we will miss. Who knows whether we'll be able to cultivate the same level of relationships when we move, even if we end up going to Priscilla's old church (which would be a 30 minute drive, doable but not ideal). And we've worked hard to make this house a home over the last 10 years; moving and going through that process again will be no small effort. So much is up in the air, but we do think we're intent on moving. We've been in the Bay Area together for nearly 12 years, but it didn't take long to come to this conclusion once we started seriously discussing it. The timing and circumstances just felt right. So we'll see how things go.

On a final note, my home improvement project for the past two weeks has been to install motorized shades in the family room. The wand on our old blinds broke and we had to operate them by climbing onto the couch and turning the mechanism by hand. Not great considering that we operate those blinds a couple times every day. The blinds also never worked that well. So I did some research and decided that I wanted motorized shades, and I found a company on Yelp that quoted me $1,700. But I found some shades on Amazon that came out to $400 when I selected my dimensions and options, so I decided to order those and attempt to install them myself. I had to remove the old blinds and patch the holes, and the first time I installed the new shades, the drywall anchors that were included started pulling out of the wall. The shades are mounted on the underside of the window frame and the anchors didn't provide much holding strength when used vertically. So I had to remove everything and patch those holes as well. I ended up buying 2-inch screws from Home Depot and used those to attach the mounting brackets to the window frame, with an inch of each screw secured tightly in the header of the wood frame. Those brackets aren't going anywhere now. So now we have some pretty useful shades that are programmable and can even be operated using a voice assistant. Priscilla loves the shades and loves telling the Google Home to open and close them. This was something that was time and money well-spent, and it should also enhance the appeal of our house when it comes time to sell!

I think it's been a productive month and a meaningful year. I hope that we can be intentional about how we spend our time, who we spend it with, and where we spend it, so that the new year is equally as purposeful.

Lots of changes this year, but for others in the family.

My mom had taken a job in Orange County and rented an apartment there to be closer to Aaron and Lauren in order to help with the baby. But just recently, Aaron and Lauren moved to the Valley in order for Lauren to be closer to her new job. Because of that and because long-distance marriages are hard, my mom moved back home to be with my dad. My parents had originally planned to sell their house and move to Orange County, and my dad was working hard to get the place fixed up, but now they intend to stay put. At least they have a house that looks nicer now!

On Priscilla's side, her parents sold their house so that they could move once and for all to the condo. They had 40 years worth of accumulated stuff that they had to pare down. This was hardest mostly for Priscilla's dad, who liked living in a house and having lots of things. But he finally acquiesced, likely due to much pressure from the family.

They initially explored the option of having some things (cracks in the walls, paint and carpet) fixed up before listing the house. The two realtors they consulted both thought that the place would sell for around $600,000 after $30,000 in repairs. But ultimately, her parents felt that it would be too much hassle to have the repairs done and get all their old stuff hauled away, so they opted for selling the place as-is (including junk left behind) to a cash buyer. The agent they decided to work with arranged to have one of his contacts buy the house, and Priscilla was able to get the price up to $520,000 after a few rounds of negotiation. After fees and the realtor's commission, Priscilla's parents walked away with $490,000. If I was in their shoes, I would've spent the money to fix the cosmetic issues so that the place could sell for a lot more, but it would've been a lot harder for them. It was worth it to them to get less money and avoid the many headaches. They should have enough to live a comfortable downsized life. They closed escrow on Christmas Eve, but they asked for the final moveout date to be three days later so that Priscilla and I could stay there one final time when we went down to LA for Christmas.

As for me and Priscilla, not much has changed this year. Lately I've been thinking about what I'm doing and what I want to do with my life, and I think I'm in a bit of an existential rut. I've been feeling like the writer of Ecclesiastes who wrote that everything is meaningless. But I think that rather than trying to find the meaning of life, we should be trying to find meaning in life. Like being grateful for what we have and the relationships we have. And of course as Christians, Christ should be the center of our lives and the root of our meaning. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what that looks like.

It's hard to believe that half a year has already passed since we moved into our new house! For the sake of brevity, here's what's been going on, in timeline format.

End of January:
Got a sofa and chaise for the family room.

Beginning of February:
Replaced three sets of door locks, all keyed to the same key. Discovered that our yard has lots of snails; spent lots of time catching snails at night.

Middle of February:
Installed solar garden lights. Bought a push reel lawn mower. Assembled a credenza. Uncle Kenway wanted to buy us a TV as a housewarming gift; we picked a 55" LG TV. Finally was able to use the Comcast cable receiver that had been sitting in the closet for a year. Bought a pole saw and started trimming some of the overgrown elm tree in the front yard; it was so overgrown and inter-woven that dead branches and leaves had nowhere to go.

Beginning of March:
Finally installed the gas dryer. Lots of yard work.

Middle of March:
Bought a bbq grill. Bought patio furniture (table, four stationary chairs and two swivel chairs). More maintenance on the elm tree.

End of March:
Replaced a sprinkler head that I had broken while mowing the lawn. Dug out and sawed off old connector and attached a new one.

Beginning of April:
Cut fungal-infected leaves off rose bushes. Lots of elm tree cutting. Used bbq grill for first time and made chicken wraps, steak and turkey patties; the turkey patties fell apart, the steak came out decent, and the chicken wraps were slightly overdone.

Middle of April:
Cleaned everything out of the second bedroom; previously we'd been using it for storage. Cut down a large tree/vine in back of the house, because it'd gotten too large and when we started to prune it, we discovered that the inside was just unsightly vines.

End of April:
Grouted the side of the vanity in the hallway bathroom. Finished removing all dead branches from the elm tree!

Beginning of May:
Got new water heater delivered and installed.

Middle of May:
Bought two accent chairs. Bought a 99 gallon deck wicker box to store chair cushions in; the cushions were getting too dirty from material from a nearby tree and spiderwebs. Aaron and my dad visited; my dad helped redo the mail slot in the garage (previously it had a sharp metal edge sticking up), removed an unsightly battery backup on the wall of the second bedroom, installed a new showerhead in the hallway bath, and a bunch of other small things. Bought a new fridge and pantry cabinet to put in the living room for our renters to use. Our respective renters, Sarah and John, moved in on the same day. John moved out two weeks later because his commute to Oakland was killing him.

Middle of June:
Got a PlayStation 3 to be able to play DVDs and Blu-rays. Started playing Heavy Rain, which plays like a movie; Priscilla really enjoys watching.

Home improvement never ends, and I've gotten more handy in the last few months, but I think we've gotten to the point where all the important stuff is done and we can take improvement projects one step at a time. We've had several people/families from church over, and Priscilla sometimes has friends come over. We're blessed to have a home and things that we can enjoy and use to serve others, and this place pretty much feels like home now.

The week before the official move-in, we made a few trips by car between the apartment and the house, moving what small stuff we could. I had electricians come by the day before our move to ground 14 of our outlets for $125 apiece. Two outlets remain ungrounded, along the front wall of the house, which I skipped because it sounded like it'd entail damage to the wood siding to drill a hole to run a ground wire through the wall. But based on what the electricians did, it sounds like they can drill straight down through the space there and avoid having to drill through the siding, so I'm going to have them come back to finish grounding those two remaining outlets.

Then on moving day, January 18, I picked up a 16' truck from Budget, and Jacob and Kevin came by to help load all our furniture. Surprisingly (to me), all the furniture fit in the truck without having to stack anything. Christine showed up later and helped move small stuff. Unfortunately, both Jacob and Kevin had to split and couldn't stay for lunch, missing out on the yummy sloppy joes Priscilla made! The moving process took about three hours.

Since then, Priscilla and I have gotten the bed, our desks and the living room set up. She moved all the boxes of stuff to the two smaller bedrooms, where we'll deal with them when we have more time. I ordered a Maytag washer and dryer from Home Depot, and they arrived yesterday. I set the washer up (always nice to have more automation!), but I still need to order a gas hose for the dryer. We also now have a shag rug from Costco that Tim delivered to us in his minivan (which was a funny story because we called him to ask for his help transporting the huge rug that wouldn't fit in our car, only to find out that he was at that moment at Costco in Mountain View, 20 feet from the rugs). Finally, a sofa and chaise from a local furniture store is on its way this week, and Priscilla is looking at accent chairs. After that, a TV stand and TV will likely be the next items of purchase.

Yep, this place is beginning to feel more like home. There's still a ton of stuff to do, but we need to remember to take it one step at a time.

Officially as of today, Priscilla and I are homeowners! We got the keys from our agent this evening, and the sale was recorded today.

Owning this house feels a bit surreal, similar to how I felt when we were first married. It's our house, but it doesn't quite feel like our house yet. It feels like somebody else's house, and with many quirks- like kiddy light switch covers, tiles on the kitchen wall painted with a picture of fried eggs, a bathroom sliding door that jams, locks that collectively require multiple keys, and a backyard with a plethora of plants unknown, kept alive only by a sprinkler system, the inner workings of which might as well be black magic.

Yeah, it'll take a while for us to settle in and furnish the place the way we like and get to know all the little intricacies of this 5,500 square feet of land. Tonight we shopped around at a few stores and ultimately bought a fridge from Best Buy's website, so I guess that's a start.

And so the perpetual home improvement begins. 3/4 of the outlets need grounding, and some are wired incorrectly. The door that jams needs to not jam. Old blinds need to be replaced. Maybe the bulky fan/light fixtures, too. Hey, recessed lighting would be nice. So would a working outlet in the shed. And that yard... surely a garden should go somewhere?

One step at a time. For now, we're grateful to have this house, quirky as it may be. We're looking forward to making it our home.

After losing bids on houses in February and June, Priscilla and I got a little discouraged and stopped looking. But at the end of last month, Daniel and Kelly got their offer accepted for a house in Sunnyvale, which motivated me and Priscilla to start looking again. Hey, why not? After all, the bidding isn't as intense during the winter holidays, so we thought we might have a better chance now.

So on December 7, we looked at five open houses in Santa Clara. We were surprised at how much inventory was on the market; we passed by signs for a few other open houses not on our list. Of the five we saw, our impressions ranged from "everybody's going to want this" to "who's going to want this?". We eventually decided on one in a quiet neighborhood, with 3 bedrooms (but more like 2.5 since one is very small) and 2 baths, and a 1-car garage. It didn't seem to be getting the same attention that some of the other houses we went to were, and ultimately there were 13 other offers (as opposed to 30 when we were bidding on the second house!). The house was listed at $683k, we bid $755k and the highest was $762k with some contingencies. Thanks to our top-notch buyer's agent, Susanna, ours was overall the most attractive offer since we put down no contingencies and a large deposit. The personal letter and pictures from us probably helped, too. ;)

Due to her previous job as a loan processor, Priscilla knew which documents she would need to provide to the loan company, especially since all large deposits from the last two months needed to be explained. Verification of my employment and financials went pretty much without a hitch due to her tireless efforts, Susanna's clout, and the excellent processors that we're working with, and today we were notified that our loan was approved, ahead of schedule, by the underwriter. All that's left is to go sign things, and close of escrow is January 8. I've largely taken a backseat to the whole loan process, but I'll definitely make up for it when it's time to make monthly mortgage payments!

One nice thing about the house is that it's move-in ready. The paint, roof, wood floors, granite countertops and copper piping are new. All that really needs to be done is some electrical work to run a ground wire to the outlets in the house. Priscilla's parents also want to buy us furniture and appliances.

We're very blessed to have parents who love and support us, adequate savings (again made possible mostly by our parents' and my grandfather's support), Priscilla's brief background in loan processing, and fortunate timing. God has blessed us with this house and made the process very smooth. Our hope is that we'll use this house to honor him and as a tool for ministry to those around us.

Slight change of plans: rather than me and Priscilla going down to LA for Memorial Day, her parents came up.

For Priscilla's birthday, they came up on Thursday, May 23. They visited their friends in Petaluma on Friday, and the four of us made the drive up to Sacramento on Saturday. Priscilla's been meaning to make us visit Sacramento, and her parents' spontaneous decision to visit made for a convenient time to take that trip.

On the way, we had lunch at Denny's, where I played the crane game and won a duck! We stopped at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, where went on the free factory tour. Though the tour runs daily, factory operations don't happen on weekends, so our tour consisted of listening to our guide talk and watching videos of the manufacturing process. Still pretty cool. We also had free samples from the sample bar!

That evening, after checking into our room at the Fairfield Inn in Natomas, we walked around Old Sacramento and admired all the old western-style buildings and had dinner at Railroad Fish and Chips, somewhat of a hole-in-the-wall place. But the deep fried shrimp and fish were simply divine!

Sunday afternoon, we visited the Capitol Building and went on a free tour. It was interesting to learn that San Jose was the first capital of California after it became a state. Vallejo served as the next capital, then Benicia, then finally Sacramento. We visited the Assembly Chamber, modeled after the House of Commons in England, and the Senate Chamber, modeled after the House of Lords. After the tour, we posed for pictures outside of the governor's office in the Capitol annex. Too bad he wasn't there!

We tried to visit the Stanford Mansion for another free tour, but the building was unexpectedly closed. We had a late lunch at Shoki II Ramen House, where we each ordered a large ramen without knowing that "large" there would be HUGE by any other place's standards! Quite full after lunch, we somehow dragged ourselves over to the Sacramento County Fair, where we saw everything from a hypnotist show, variety show, an art, game and puzzle area, mechanical bull riding, and a huge building where livestock was being kept to be auctioned.

Finally on Monday, we visited Sutter's Fort and saw a live cannon firing, musket firing and blacksmith demonstration. It was cool learning more about the history of the area and about John Sutter, whom I did not know was from Switzerland! We were homeward bound after lunch at The Sandwich Spot, pretty tired after a full three-day weekend's worth of activities.

My birthday was slightly more low-key, and Priscilla and I celebrated it over two days. This past Saturday, we hiked at the Sawyer Camp Trail at the Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo. That was followed by lunch at Espetus Churrascaria, where we finally got to use the $100 giftcard that Justin and Vicky gave us as a wedding gift!

Today I took the day off from work and used that time to go to the junkyard and get a parking brake release handle+cable to replace the one that broke on my car. It's nice to have an easily-releasable parking brake again. ;)

Priscilla and I had our buyer's agent submit an offer on a house that we're looking at in Santa Clara. Our agent expects up to 30 offers on the place, and without having made an extremely competitive offer, we probably won't get the place. It's just not a great time to buy right now.

Priscilla took a half-day and we used that time to get chores done and go to the gym. We had dinner at Ramen Seas, our new favorite place on Murphy Street that we've been to four times in the last two months.

We've definitely been keeping busy! And there's lots more lined up for the rest of June!

We have furniture! Last week I picked up a five-piece dining set and a vinyl sofa bed from a place called NorCal Furniture, a home business where the guy works directly with suppliers. I was originally going to go with some mediocre looking furniture from Ikea, the best looking in that particular price range, but on a lark I checked Yelp and found NorCal. NorCal had much better looking furniture for less than what I would've paid at Ikea! Plus NorCal also had a 15% off promotion for liking them on Facebook. After tax and shipping and assembly charges, I paid $530, which I think was a great deal.

This weekend I bought us a nicely-sized microwave from Costco for $100. Priscilla's last day at work was last Friday, so she and her parents drove up to bring up some of her stuff (gifts from people, blankets, clothes and a mountain of shoes).

We went to Ikea and bought a kitchen cart (for extra counter space), microwave cart, computer chair, floor lamp and various odds and ends. Priscilla still needs a desk, and Ikea didn't have one that I liked, so I'll be getting one through NorCal next week. In the meantime, our apartment is really starting to look like a home!

In preparation for our upcoming life together, today I moved into the apartment that Priscilla and I selected. If you count the one-month stint in corporate housing, this is the sixth place I have lived in during my 4.25 years in the Bay Area. Interestingly, Sunnyvale has been the destination of every other move. Corporate housing was in Santa Clara, followed by Olive Garden in Sunnyvale, then the townhouse in Mountain View, then the house in Sunnyvale, then Kenny's house in Santa Clara, and now back to Sunnyvale. I suppose it's because I like to be close to work. Work will now be only 1.8 miles away from home, so I will feel self-imposed shame if I don't bike there whenever I don't need a car later in the evening.

Today I had a reservation for a 10' truck from Budget, but when I showed up, only a 16' was available. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the 16' truck was just big enough to accommodate all of my furniture and boxes, minus the dining set and couch that I will be leaving behind. Jon and Albert from church came to help, and Kenny and Fred lent a hand. I had packed mostly everything the night before, and having a large crew allowed us to finish loading the truck, drive to the new place, unload everything and arrange furniture, chill for a little while, and return back to Monroe in a span of two and a half hours.

It was a little early for dinner but I wanted to treat everybody, so we eventually decided on SGD Tofu House in Santa Clara. After tax and tip it came out to $21 a person (ouch), but it was a very enjoyable meal. Jon ordered the bbq pork and I had the bbq chicken, and the amount of meat put on our plate was enormous. The seafood pancake really hit the spot and the spicy squid appetizer was pretty decent too.

I'm really glad the move went so smoothly. My friends are truly awesome. Now comes the real time-consuming part: unpacking all my boxes and finding a place for all of my junk!

Priscilla and I decided sometime last month that she would be moving up to the Bay Area after we get married. Or more like, I made the decision because of the tech job opportunities up here and the fact that we'd be more financially stable in the short run if I were to keep my job. And she unreservedly agreed to leave her job, parents, thriving church, and the home she's known for 26 years to be with me. That's how selfless she is and how lucky I am to have her.

This weekend she came up to do apartment hunting, and we found a place we liked. On Friday I sifted through entries on Craigslist and PadMapper and found three viable leads. Of those, one never contacted me back, one sounded pissed off on the phone, and my top lead returned my call and sounded polite and sincere. So I went and checked out the latter's place and liked what I saw and liked the neighborhood. It's in the middle of Sunnyvale 1.8 miles from work, a real convenience. I returned with Priscilla on Saturday and she liked it too, so we paid the deposit and now the place will be ours!

The apartment is on the first floor in the back of a fourplex. It was touted as 700 square feet but feels more like 500. Cozy is the word. The bedroom seems a little bigger than my current one, the closet takes up the length of a whole wall, the bathroom is roomy enough and has ample sink space, and the living/dining room should be just big enough for a couch, coffee table, dining table and computer table. The only major downside is the kitchen has very little counter space, no built-in microwave and no dishwasher. But Priscilla will be the primary user of the kitchen and she thinks we can make it work.

The landlord, Tony, is a 77-year old Korean man who seems intelligent and looks very healthy and young for his age. He and his wife will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year! They seem personable and reasonable and are letting me move in in mid-April.

We're getting all this for $1200, which is not the best price, but reasonable given current market conditions. This is the first time I've gone with the first apartment/house I've seen, but I felt like it was right.

On Saturday we also saw Hunger Games with some church friends. Priscilla has been dying to see that movie after reading the books. I thought it has an interesting story and good CG, and I'll probably read the books at some point.

Priscilla wants to attend a church with a choir she can sing in, so we've been considering going to a new church since RBF has no English choir. On Sunday we checked out North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara. I visited four years ago but didn't remember much except that they had a choir and the message was powerful. But Priscilla and I found the church to be a little more traditional than we're used to, especially since she would like a choir that does more of a blend of traditional and contemporary.

The rest of the weekend was spent making lots of food! We made tacos on Saturday using rotisserie chicken, and Priscilla boiled the leftovers on Sunday to make soup. I made turkey and mushroom burgers. Priscilla wants me to be her guinea pig for her cooking when we get married. I don't think I'll mind in the very least.

After a few months of waiting, Kenny's short sale purchase finally concluded and we moved into our new home, Monroe, today. The place is not as spacious as Erica and is two miles further from everywhere I go, but I'm now paying $650/month in rent, about $100 less than at Erica.

Excluding my one-month stay in corporate housing, Monroe is the fourth place I've lived at since moving to the Bay Area three years ago. Fortunately, I now have the option of not having to move again in the foreseeable future.

It started to rain towards the end and Fred took some time to get his stuff ready, but overall the move went well. Anton came down from SF to help, and Kenny's parents came up from LA with a huge fridge.

The house has three bedrooms and there are four of us, so Bao will be in the living room (his choice), which is pretty well sequestered from the rest of the house. My room is a bit smaller than before, but the layout allows me to keep an extra nightstand in the room, albeit with the dresser in a funny but functional location. I also get twice as much closet space in my room than I did at Erica.

Everybody seems pretty happy with what they're getting. And there's a trail 500 feet from the house, so I anticipate I'll be biking on the weekends much more often!

We moved all the big stuff to our new place two weeks ago, and since then I've been casually moving all the little stuff and cleaning up the old townhouse. We had two weeks till we had to be out, so we weren't in a hurry.

Today was the last day at the townhouse. Whew! Moving is stressful. Hopefully I can stay at this new place for more than a year before having to move again!

I'm moving yet again! Anton, our friend from high school, is moving up at the end of the month to work at Yahoo in Sunnyvale, and he expressed interest in living with us. After three weeks of browsing Craigslist postings, we finally found a place we like and signed the lease today.

This place is a single-family home in Sunnyvale with five good-sized bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, family room, laundry room (but no washer or dryer provided), and a two-car garage. The master bedroom is twice the size of the other bedrooms, and has its own bathroom and a huge closet that stretches around a corner. There's also a backyard with enough room for a bbq grill and some patio furniture. That should be more than enough room for the four of us! And we're renting this place for $2950 a month- per person that's only a bit more than what I'm paying right now. We get the place starting July 25. I can't wait!

With the lease on my Olive Garden apartment ending today, I've moved into a 3-bedroom townhouse in Mountain View with Kenny and Fred. The rent there is $2050, and I'm paying $700 for the master bedroom since I have the biggest stuff. The rooms and storage spaces are smaller than at my apartment, so it's a slight squeeze trying to fit everything in with two other people, but the significantly lower rent and companionship more than make up for it.

We moved all our large items this past Saturday, with Minh and Dave helping. Originally I had rented a 16 foot truck from Budget, and called the day before to make sure it'd be ready for pickup. To my horror, when I showed up on Saturday I was told that all they had available was a small moving van, or a 24 foot truck. The former being impractical, I had to go with the latter. So there I was, cruising down the freeway at a whopping 50 MPH, trying not to side-swipe anybody because of the limited visibility from inside the cabin. But the larger truck turned out to be beneficial, and the move was expedient, with the hardest part trying to get my heavy desk up the stairs at my townhouse.

Priscilla also gave me a nice surprise by dropping in unexpectedly, after she had told me she was going camping for the weekend. She drove up at 4am, and had worked out a plan with Kenny to make sure I was out while she snuck into my apartment. I guess that's her payback for me conspiring with her parents and Deborah to surprise her in June. I guess she really does like me. Just a little. ;p

After a long bout of phone calls, reading good and creepy reviews online, and touring many places, my search for a new apartment ended when I decided on the Olive Garden Apartments in Sunnyvale. Now I won't be homeless when my corporate housing term is over in two weeks. ;p

I got a 672 square-foot, 1-bedroom unit that's newly remodeled. Everything is brand new and looks beautiful. It's situated on the second floor of a 2-story complex, so I won't suffer the noise of people walking above me, as is the case in the apartment I'm in now. Also, the complex is just under two miles away from my company for an easy commute, or a good jog should I decide to get in shape again!

For this fine unit I'll be paying $1455 a month on a six-month lease. My first choice was to get a studio, but most places I talked to didn't have studios, and the studios I did find seemed a little iffy.

So here's a little more info about the Olive Garden, which shares its name incidentally with the Italian restaurant chain:

The complex is semi-old, having been built in either the 60's or 70's. Some negative reviews complain that the fixtures/appliances are old, but that doesn't apply to me since I'm in a remodeled unit. The facilities are also kept up with two heated pools and a recreation room with no less than three pool tables.

Most people seem to enjoy living at Olive Garden. According to the managers, half of the residents have lived there for 20 years or more, and one person (who is 98 years old) is an original tenant from when the place opened. The place does seem very tranquil and loud music and wild parties are frowned upon. Security seems good with gated access to the parking lot, a patrol unit that comes four times a night, the Sunnyvale City Hall and a police station down the street two blocks away, and the area being on the low end of Sunnyvale PD's crime statistics (Sunnyvale being one of the safest cities in the country per capita notwithstanding).

So all that's left to do is to sign the lease this Friday and coordinate with the moving company to bring my furniture up from LA!