Monthly Archives: November 2016

Doubts and Deals

Gosh, I can’t believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone. And I know, I’ve been slacking big time on blogging. What can I say: every damn day is packed and the hours just slip away! So for Turkey Day, we were invited to S’s place. She was hosting Friendsgiving. Since she’s pescatarian, J and I did a little pre-emptive turkey. I told J to just forget about it this year, but he knows how much I love my turkey (and cooking it in the NuWave), so he went out and got a 16-pounder. All I did was stuff it with veggies and sprinkle on top with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Time >> 1:40 >> Start. Flip. Repeat. And OMFG, that bird came out to perfection. I’m telling you! Then, I watched YouTube and carved that sucker up. Easy, breezy, and fucking delicious.

As things turned out, S’s neighbors made prime rib AND turkey, so we were pretty set the very next day. I’ve fallen off the damn gym wagon (again) and my waistline is quickly expanding. Fuck man, too many issues on too many fronts. But those are all troubles for another day, right? On Thanksgiving, we feasted. S also bought a Trump pinata… Unfortunately, we had to get home to Marty and didn’t stay for the Trump beatdown. Meanwhile, S was taking work calls like every 30 minutes, working in retail and with Black Friday being one of the biggest shopping times of the year. That lady: so dedicated. I was surprised to learn that she’s starting to ease up on the vegetarianism… mostly bc her doctor says she’s not getting enough nutrition. She even had a slice of turkey. I’m all for the animal cruelty angle, after all, I was veggie myself for six years but man, when you start getting health/sickness issues and esp given how much she has to travel for work, something’s gotta give. You can always source local/organic and reduce the portion… Overall, it was a lovely Thanksgiving gathering. As usual though, I was freezing my ass off bc well, SF. SF is a city where, even indoors, people bundle up in coats. I always forget.

Marty has been slowly getting better, although the last few nights, either I took the diaper off too soon or it came off… and he shit in the house. Sometimes too after he awakes from a nap, he’ll shit getting up to stretch his legs. I know, he doesn’t have the muscle/organ control he used to. Still, I swear I am THE worst person for special needs. I get so damn frustrated and impatient. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

In other news, I’ve still been going full throttle with work. I just want all my software and systems all set up, you know? And then I’ve been reading things and I swear, every damn night, I get this bout of anxiety. J says it always strikes at the 10 o’clock hour, where I’m suddenly overcome with doubt. Can I do this? How am I going to make the ask? How am I going to get business? When I read the scripts, they feel so. damn. forward. Like pushy. I know I have to make the ask, but… and so the cycle kicks off again. Will I ever achieve professional success? Will I ever be good at anything? Blah, blah, blah.

Thankfully, J helped clarify some things for me. Initially, I was a bit confused, bc my coach was really pushing the ask. But the office CEO/managing broker was telling me to network and plant seeds and NOT be obnoxious. I was having trouble reconciling the two, and then J explained it like this: with vendors and service providers (say, lenders or insurance agents), be aggressive and make the ask. With people you know, your inner circle, your personal network, you can be more subtle, like tell people you’re in real estate and WHAT THAT MEANS (like you can help with buying, selling, RENTING, even handle out-of-your-area referrals), but you don’t have to be so forward. Ah, ok. That makes more sense. I felt better.

So I’ve started going through my network, you know, cutting out people who probably don’t remember me and then categorizing the remaining people based on how we are connected. And then I’ve started crafting messages today based on that relationship: it takes time bc I’m not really using the scripts provided by my coach… Slowly and surely, I have to believe the work will come.

Meanwhile, I’m building my self awareness, reading about business strategies, doing technical trainings, and then filling my calendar with all sorts of networking opps. Tomorrow is the Board Game Night… same one as last week but J is joining. Frankly, I want to play the new game I learned again and then I want to try the networking angle.. this group is kinda like a test bed for me. No harm done if it doesn’t work out, but it’s good practice AND I also realized that a lot of these gamers are software people so actually, that’s within my realm of potential clients.

I was thinking the other night about “finding my tribe,” as the broker described it. Obviously, just like in the wider world, not everyone is going to jive with my personality or my style. I need to just go through lots of people, quickly cess out whether or not there’s potential (kinda like dating, I imagine), and then just focus on the shortlist. So I started analyzing my group of friends. Are there patterns or similarities among them? At first, I was thinking they are unconventional– like they do things their own way. But that was actually way off. A lot of my friends don’t really have the defiance issues I have with workplaces, leaders, and with society… So I was thinking and thinking and discussing with Bubs, and of course, world class EQ dude came up with the pattern: I get along well with people who like to research things. And it’s so true!!! I went through a lot of my friends and indeed, they like to research shit, be it recipes, restaurants, travel places, ballot propositions, tax/investment laws or secrets, products, politics, deals, historical events and legal cases, etc. So maybe that sheds light on the type of clients I might mesh well with? I dunno, really. Anyway, it’s one data point I suppose. And kinda interesting to me.

I’ve also been actively trying to hone my negotiation skills. Obviously, people want a realtor who can advocate for them in every possible way. In recent weeks, our Comcast cable and internet service has been extremely unreliable and shoddy. All over my neighborhood list, people were griping about it. People said they called and got $10-20 discounts. Last night, our cable went out again so I decided to call AGAIN. The matter still isn’t fixed— the tech is coming on site tomorrow BUT I did manage to get a $40 discount plus free Showtime for three months. Originally, the dude offered me $10 plus Showtime. Um, this is the second time I’m calling about shit service. The first time, the account billing person never even called me back. If my monthly bill is $140 and I’ve had at last a week of wonky service, $10 hardly covers the disruption. Homeboy tried to say the outage was only two days. I was like, is your company keeping records on its performance and tracking when service is actually out? Bc all over my neighborhood list, people say the outage is MORE than just a few days– like on the order of a week. That’s the thing I’ve learned. You gotta push back, bc people will try to get away with as much as they can.

Meanwhile, on the eBay front, I’ve been scoring some deals. Hee, hee. The secret is to filter for items where sellers have multiple quantity AND they post a list price OBO. I find that if I buy more than one and they have multiple in stock, sellers are generally more interested in clearing inventory than in getting optimal price per item.

Ok well, enough with my ramblings today. Obviously, my brain is filled with shit that’s all over the place. I’m going to try and hit the gym now. If anything, I gotta warm up in the sauna and take a shower. 😉 Ha!

The Gamers

As you know, I joined a board gamers meetup group this week. As it turned out, they had a gathering in Mountain View the very next day, so I went. The venue was a place called GameKastle… the former Daiso location inside a strip mall shopping center very close to my home. Let’s just say, I turned up and immediately, I knew this was not the crowd I was expecting.

So here’s the thing about me. I have this bizarre naivete aka lack of pop culture awareness. In my head when I joined a board game group, I was picturing like my friends and people who came to the Game Nights that I used to host– and I was expecting to play games like UNO, Taboo, or Cranium. Maybe like Scrabble or Pictionary. Nope, I was waaaaay off.

The venue, while a very cool idea, was cold… a huge space with just blue walls. The left side of the store had games for sale and on the right side, the place was set up with a bunch of long tables, like a cafeteria or a hackathon. Separating the two areas was long shelves of games.

Of course I showed up at the start of the meetup, punctually at 6pm. There were only a handful of people there, and well, they were all dudes and they were like Dungeons & Dragons type dudes. Throughout the store on the walls were plastered banners of fantasy art and looking at the games these guys brought, I had never even heard of them before. Um, hello. Total intimidation. Great.

So then I headed over to the shelves and shelves of games. There was maybe one pack of dominoes and other than that, NOTHING recognizable to me. Absolutely zippo. Oh shit, what the fuck am I gonna do for like four hours???

An Asian dude walked in and I started asking him some questions, explaining it was my first time at this meetup. When I mentioned the kind of games I wanted to play, he kinda said, yeah those games are pretty light. We focus on strategy games. The thing is, I like games, but I’m a slow learner and even though I have no issue reading directions/instructions on how to assemble furniture or set up computers, I HATE reading game instructions. For some reason, games are something I absorb better being taught in person… so I stood there by the games, with my stress levels going up. Would these hardcore gamers be keen on a newbie joining at their table? Do I pick a random game and try to figure it out myself? Argh!!! Honestly, I almost went home, but something inside told me to try harder.

So I went up to a random table (there were three groups set up by now) with three geeky guys– one dude was young, had a crazy white dude fro, glasses, and a big Google badge around his neck. The other two were guys in their 50s. The game was Favor the Pharaoh and the setup looked super complicated with a gabillion dice, cards, tokens, plus cutout pyramids. Oh god. So I pulled up a chair and offered to just observe as it appeared fro dude was already explaining the rules… he was the only one familiar with the game. Well a minute later, one of the older gents gets up and offers me his spot. Um, what? No, I just want to watch. But he doesn’t want to play. He wants to play the Mars game at the next table. So now Fro dude is irritated and he’s kinda Aspergery… he asks impatiently, do you want to play or not. Ok, sure. I’ll try it out.

So I mean, he was very nice with having to start over and explain the different aspects of the game. Honestly, my head started to hurt and I seriously felt like I was in over my head. But shit man, I was already there… no choice but to continue. Let me just say: it was a humbling experience. Why? Bc I’m retarded about certain things. Like seriously, a dumb dumb. Anything that involves strategy/theory, my brain just cannot grasp. I mean, even in Seattle, when we played games with G&J. We played three new games, and I was the ONLY one of the group who played each round super slowly and I often had to ask them to re-explain a rule that they had just read. I mean, it’s ok. I know everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but I dunno: sometimes, I still can’t help but feel a little vulnerable or inadequate or not good enough…

But whatever. I’m playing games in a social setting and I just have to get over myself, you know? Try my best and suck it up and just go with the flow even if I’m slowing it down… So I thought back to Seattle. This scenario was a bit different bc I was with strangers and who knows what tolerance they have for slow-bos… I just tried my best to get through each of my turns. At some point, another older gent showed up and just observed. He had never played this game before but holy shit, homeboy like picked up on it immediately. To the point where he was coaching me and the other dude on what to do. And this game involved all kinds of like strategy and manipulation: basically, you roll a bunch of dice and then you try to earn cards based on your dice combination: triple, two doubles, whatever. In turn, the cards give you powers to manipulate your dice or roll more dice in subsequent turns. The end goal is to get 7 of a kind. So based on the cards you have, there are a bunch of different combos you can apply to optimize your hand. So this new dude shows up and immediately within like 3 sec of me rolling my dice, has already figured out the optimal approach. Anyway, we finish the first game and the host wins. The second game, the new guy joins and he gives the host a run for his money.

By the end of the second game, the new guy was basically like, these are the best tactics for this game: optimize your tokens early on, earn cards that give you extra dice, and then use your extra rolls sooner than later… Seriously, he had the whole thing figured out in what felt like a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, the host was like, so do you guys think you understand how to play now? Bc I felt like I had to keep explaining the same things over and over again…

I mean, the game was super complicated, I said. But he corrected me, saying, “Actually, this game is one of the more simplistic ones here…” Oh diss! What could I do but chuckle, right? I mean, when you’re in the presence of someone way smarter, you just have to concede. But shit, his comment made me think of how I interact with my mother, you know? She gets so confused. Then you have to explain shit over and over again… the experience was an interesting role reversal. He then asked us what games we typically play. I named my usual and basically, all of them laughed in my face. I mean, in my defense, maybe the meetup shouldn’t be called a board game meetup, bc are my games NOT considered board games? WTF? If you only do strategy games, then I think that’s how you should market yourself! Whatever. I’m not going to be shamed for liking my games.

Obviously, from the networking perspective, this event was a dud. I mean, we hardly even introduced ourselves until the very end. SMH. That said, I’m going to go to one more of these board gaming sessions and bring Bubbey. It has the potential to be a fun shared activity… and maybe having to learn new games every time will build my mental muscles. 🙂 As for the other meetups, I found another board gamers one where the participants appear more diverse and fuddyduddy: they also incorporate bowling and potlucks and other activities. I was also very excited to find a rollerblading one, a ukulele one, and a skateboarding for adults (!!!) one. We’ll see how they all check out. Hee, hee. Now I’ve opened a can of worms!

Boring

Ok, so clearly I’ve fallen off the NaBloPoMo wagon… too much going on. I’m still pleased with my frequency of posting for though considering…

Martin is doing better after the second lug of subcutaneous fluids. He is eating again, but dang, that mental cognition is definitely starting to go. He’s constantly bumping into things and getting all tangled under the chairs, and then it seems like he doesn’t even know to go potty anymore! Like I have to force him outside and THEN in the process of walking in the yard, only then does he remember he has to piss or poop. Sigh. It’s frustrating and tiring dealing with his old doggie special needs, but shit, what else can be done?

I met with a sitter tonight. She was the only one of 12 sitters asked who agreed to a meet and greet. Technically, there was one other sitter who sounded totally on board via phone but then after I told her I was meeting with one other person, she like totally gave up. Was it a fear of rejection on her part that she’d rather take herself out of the running? I mean, what can I say, I need a super deep bench for this shit. Anyway, the lady from today works 20 minutes away with the hours 6:30-4, so she wouldn’t be home with him much except at night. But at this point, we’re out of options. And frankly, the last sitter was out nearly the entire day also, and he did great! I just hope the sitter confirms the booking tomorrow. The trip is still a month away, but I’ll feel better knowing someone has agreed to care for Martin.

Saturday’s magic show in Martinez was so much fun. It was a long drive 70 min each way but so totally worth it. The small venue. the California Magic Club, was super cozy and charming… just a complete labor of love for the owner and his posse of magicians. As we were served dinner, strolling magicians performed at the various guest tables. Then by dessert time, the stage show began. I realized that a lot of magic involves storytelling during the sleight of hand… and sometimes I don’t like the distraction, bc I want to keep my eyes focused on the tricks!! But I suppose it’s all part of the entertainment. There’s def some element of cheese to it, but at the end of the day, I just love the good, wholesome fun. Seriously, I’m so thrilled to have found this gem and for sure, my bucket list contains all of the other magic parlors across the country (there’s only a handful). That Southwest Companion Pass is gonna get used to death!

Related: I had the disappointing realization that magic is a craft that takes thousands of hours to master. One dude said his premier trick took him two years to master. And every single one of the five magicians was old, like over 50. In other words, there’s no chance that magic is gonna be my next hobby. I def don’t have the patience nor dedication. I’ll just have to continue as a spectator.

So speaking of hobbies, I met with the managing broker today– the  California native/surfer dude. I like him, but he was trying to talk to me about all the networks to tap… like what are your hobbies and activities?? Ummmmm. Yeah, I came across so boring and lame.

Uh, I do dog sitting on Rover. My hubby and I like to travel. We like to go to wineries. We like national parks. I used to work in nonprofit tech so I used to attend a lot of events in that arena. But man, judging by his stoical countenance as I rattled off these things, I could tell he wasn’t impressed. His advice to me though was to get involved in things that I would normally want to do and through that process, build my network. Ideally, these activities will involve a lot of people and people with steady income. Like my nonprofit crowd? That’s gonna be hard. And the dog clients… well not enough numbers. So I gotta think big, huge events… I see what he’s saying. But man did I feel like an anti-soc afterwards. My best idea at our meeting was to partner with a lender to hold a home buying/real estate education class for business and professional women at orgs and places where I used to take all my career and self discovery classes, i.e. Deborah’s Palm. Honestly, I felt deflated afterwards.

But later that night, John suggested that I have made good connections though classes in the past (like my friends W and I), so maybe now would be a good time to take up my Spanish or riding classes again. I think he’s onto something. The point is, I have to be planting seeds all the time… and since they’ll be at activities that I’m interested in anyway, it’s like a two birds, one stone deal. For a moment, I felt nostalgic for an older version of me: the one who used to have an activity booked every single night of the week. I used to do yoga and rollerblade and host game/craft nights, and ride horses and attend all kinds of classes– academic, language, community, etc. I was happy back then… and then circumstances shifted and things changed. I changed.

Admittedly, sometimes I get into such a zone about focusing on my work/career that I drop all my hobbies… and now that I see what has happened, I need to re-tap into that older version of me who is curious and fearless once again….

Tonight I emailed a ranch where three years ago I had thought about taking new classes. I do want to get back into the (literal) saddle. Meanwhile, I’m learning a lot about my new career by watching tech webinars and attending trainings. There are a ton of software programs to learn… Also today, I joined the national, state, and regional real estate associations and obtained my lockbox key so I can start scoping out properties. I will be ramping up for a long long while, but the lesson of the day is that I still need to balance learning the formal knowledge and tools with building my pipeline and with feeding my curiosity and nurturing my soul. With John and I both being at home, the hermetic way of life had really started to become the norm. Now, it’s time to get out and about again.

Hence, I joined a couple of meetup groups. I did meetup.com several times before in the past, like when we first moved to California and when I left my govvie job. Sadly, many of the groups were duds, but I’m willing to try it again. I signed up for a board games group and a couple of women professional groups. The board game group is actually meeting tomorrow night in downtown Mountain View. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve also rejoined the Palo Alto Lean in Circle whose meetings I used to attend regularly two years ago. Get busy living or get busy dying, right?

Mood Swings

My mood has been all over the damn place lately. This week, I was feeling super energized work-wise. Every time I’ve gone into the office (just 10 minutes away!), I’ve met some really nice and friendly people. The vibe is so welcoming and cohesive! Also, the staff are on it! Like as soon as I submitted my formal paperwork, I was set up with the email account, website, intranet access, etc. Same day service! On Friday, the office also hosted a holiday party, and it was a lovely spread. I asked about taking something, and the organizers were all like: oh no, we’re ordering food so don’t worry about it. Mind you, this whole last month or two, bc I couldn’t formally submit my docs, I haven’t even had to pay any business fee or anything to attend all the trainings. They don’t care. They seem to really understand the concept of building goodwill. Anyway, I feel really good about my decision to join this office.

Of course, just as all of the work stuff is ramping up, Marty is not doing well. He is uncomfortable/restless at night. We administered 400 ml of fluids two days ago, and yesterday, he started eating again but his legs are increasingly weak. He’s been trembling a lot more, and then this morning, he was too weak to do much beyond going into the backyard. I just gave him another 350 ml this morning. If he’s not better by tomorrow, I’m going to take him to the vet. The decline is inevitable and yet my mind is still in some kind of denial… Thank goodness we aren’t traveling for Thanksgiving.

In other news, John and I are on weird sleep schedules again. I try to sleep in (wake up between 8-9AM) while he’s up early, but by mid-day, he’s all crashed out. He’s been reading a book lately about dictatorships and the principles of power and then watching new tv series like Narco and Black Mirror. All really thought-provoking, disturbing content about the crazy world we now live in and the hurdles that will come in the future. I’m still very sad and disillusioned with the elections to the point that I don’t feel emboldened or empowered at all. I signed a few petitions, but I’m still so disheartened. All the news about the potential cabinet members… it’s all fucked up. And I have lost faith. Even if we were to speak out and march and protest and write letters… ultimately, he and his cronies just DON’T CARE about the opposing point of view. You know what I mean? They think what they think and they are absolutely unapologetic, so how then do the pressures of protest change their minds or actions? I honestly do not see a way out of this fucking mess.

My friend J invited me to join her and the hubs for the Women’s March in DC the day after inauguration. Right now, that kind of action seems utterly pointless. And then Bubs keeps wanting to talk about all this stuff he’s reading: I cannot deal with the world right now!

And so, I can only proceed by focusing on my new business and on Martin. Otherwise, this shit is too damn overwhelming and paralyzing.

Tonight, we’ve got tickets to a magic show and dinner at the California Magic Theater in Martinez. The theater is like 70 minutes away, but I’m looking forward to the distraction. The world sure could use some more magic these days.

Evacuate

I was back at the office today attending a training on the escrow process. Once again, the instructors confirmed my parents’ past suspicions and fears, this time about wire transfer fraud. My parents still insist on using cashiers’ checks for big transactions and sure enough, my parents are right again! Crooks are getting insanely good at following homebuying/selling email threads: at the very last minute on the day of closing, they’ll try to sneak in changes to the wire transfer instructions. Some thieves have even dropped by the escrow office handing the secretary written change instructions for their escrow officer. Super tricky!! Apparently, some people have lost $6ook from a botched wire and that money is gone forever. Even the FBI is unable to get it back. So crazy!

Overall, the training was good. I sat next to a Vietnamese lady… she says her family is in the restaurant business in San Jose and she is doing real estate part time. She just got her license. She seemed very friendly and pleasant. I was also talking to another newbie who told me to check the BRE website, bc they post license certificates and numbers online under your account before they even mail that shit out. Holy fuck, it was there! So I now have my number and issue date and I am ready to proceed with all my marketing materials, i.e. business cards and website. Woot, woot!

Back on the home front, it was a chaotic day. The plumbers returned to run the pressure test and we failed again, which means there is a leak somewhere in our system. So he rechecked all the exposed and accessible joints and no luck. I was then kinda pissed thinking that they should have made sure all was clear before installing the tankless bc now we can’t pass inspection. Long story short, the head foreman came by in the afternoon to meye with us. All of us are perplexed by the gas lines in the house. The original system was laid in the concrete slab, then at some point that system was abandoned and the gas lines were moved above ground, seemingly up towards the roof and yet there are no visible gas lines on the roof. I then proceeded to ask my neighborhood list if they knew the layout for this model of home. On hearing the word leak, people replied urging us to evacuate and call PGE immediately. Thankfully, the plumbers had explained that the leak was minor enough to be safe, and according to Bubs, they did warn us to NOT call PGE bc if the utility found any leak, the gas would be shut off indefinitely.

In the time that John hopped on the phone with his sister for thirty minutes, I fielded the neighborhood responses and called PGE thinking maybe they would have some special tools to help locate the leak. Yes, I should have remembered from last time that once you mention leak to PGE, they are at your door pronto to investigate. So of course, we had plans just the two of us in the city that immediately got canceled. When I told John that PGE was coming, he was furious bc he was convinced we would get our gas turned off. He basically reacted to me like I was retarded, and I got very upset. As it turns out though, PGE has different (lower) standards for testing and we passed no problem. On one hand I was relieved to keep the gas on. On the other hand, I also felt some reassurance that the house was indeed safe by two sources.

I also learned from my neighbors that there is a specialty leak detection service where they can identify the leak without cracking open all the drywall… I have placed a call to learn more. But after sitting down this evening to re-evaluate  everything, John and I have decided that we will proceed with the bathroom expansion, which will involve moving the gas lines inside the hallway washer/dryer area and THEN we’ll tackle the leak issue should the remodel not resolve it. Other items on the work order include running a gas line to the fireplace. The other option is for us to get the chimney swept and we can just burn duraflames. I dunno. Ugh.

Of course this evening, Marty’s appetite soured and he puked like three times today. I ate some popcorn shrimp the other day and left the tails on the coffee table. At night he got into them and I suspect that triggered some kidney issues. I just gave him 400ml of subcutaneous fluids. Hopefully he’ll feel better tomorrow. Sigh. Tessa is coming over again for daycare. I had mentioned before about ending with her on a good note and her last visit went surprisingly well without any incidents with Martin. Tomorrow she’ll be over just for the day. Hopefully, all will go well.

Phil Dunphy

John and I finally went back to the gym last night. Twenty minutes on the recumbent bike was enough to get my lame heart rate going. Yup, back to Square 1! Of course, I was back to using all the gym amenities: sauna, towels, shower, toiletries, hair dryer, etc. Fuck man, our last utility bill was through the roof, so you know I’m playing my game again!

The new tankless water heater is working out so-so, to be honest. I mean, the purpose was to create more space in the master bath, but I guess neither one of us really thought through the part of having a delay in getting hot water. In retrospect, duh: there ain’t no 40 gallons of water kept hot at all times… It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s definitely an adjustment. The delay is maybe 30-40 seconds? maybe a minute?

The plumbers are coming back tomorrow. You see, last week before the install, they ran a pressure test and detected two gas leaks. (See? There WAS a gas leak on the Houseboat!!). At the time, the plumber fixed the big leak outside, but he said the smaller one was behind the old water heater, and he expected the removal of the old tank to make it a moot issue. So after the crew finished up yesterday, I texted the foreman just to be sure: do you need to re-test the gas pressure to make sure the second leak was indeed resolved by removal of the old tank? He said he wasn’t aware there were leaks detected before (poor internal communication) and that yes, they need to test again. That’s the thing with contractors. Bubbey was home the whole time they were here, and he never asked them a single question about it or anything else! I won’t be home again tomorrow, but I’m going to leave post-it notes. Bubs was also supposed to ask about running a water line to the fridge so we can hook up the ice maker.

I got a pretty late start today. Marty was restless last night, and he’s been trembling more than usual. Then his diaper was too loose, so early in the morning, it came off and Marty shit in the kitchen. Ugh. Thankfully though, after cleaning up, I was able to sleep in and wake up when rested.

I did more of my real estate training videos, and then I made Bubs do a photoshoot, so I could mock up my business cards. I’m not very keen on pictures of myself, and I’ve never really had formal/professional headshots taken, but hell, this is the new industry I’m in: the mugshot is standard. So we shot pics all around the house. In the end, Bubbey even whipped out his light diffusers from the garage and had me stand against a blank wall in the living room. With a little bit of Photoshop post-production, ONE pic came out ok. I mean, I am doing my usual Mona Lisa smile (Sorry, but my smile with teeth is AWFUL) and standing with a smug Stanley Roberts stance, but seriously, out of a gabillion pics, this is the best I can do. Now I’m just waiting on that damn license number from the BRE. Arrive in the mail, already! Sheesh!

Through all of this, I can’t help but think of Phil Dunphy in Modern Family. Shit, before you know it, I’m going to have my mug on signs and bus stations and vehicle wrappers all over town. JK! Hopefully, potential clients will see beyond my resting bitch face and give me some business!

 

Square One

OMG, the tasks just never end. Just as I started getting comfy with my newest favorite dog sitter, turns out she’s not available for Christmas. Whatdya know, dog sitters go on vacation too. So this morning, I launched another exhaustive search, inquiring with 11 new sitters. Thankfully two are maybes: I have a call with one this evening and a meet and greet slated with another person for Monday. See? Turns out it’s a good thing I labelled everything all around the house, bc now it’ll be helpful for the newbie.

The good news is that Marty is mostly stabilized. His appetite has been good and his legs are strong enough to carry him in/out of the doggie door and on multiple walks to the park. I’ve even got the bedtime diaper routine down, such that by morning, it’s only filled with urine. Poor Marty: sometimes I hear him use the doggie door in the middle of the night… little does he know, there’s no need to venture outside just to pee in his diaper. Ah well, old habits die hard, right? But dang that thing gets heavy by morning. My poor Marty. Aging sucks boat loads.

Today the plumbing crew came to install our tankless water heater. I’ve used this plumbing company twice before, and they are always clean, neat, and just plain good. The work took most of the day and we had to shut off the water completely, but by 3:30pm, everything was done. I also managed to find a $300 federal tax rebate for our unit! It’s kinda annoying bc every time I ask contractors about energy/appliance rebates, they never know. Sure would be great if vendors tracked that sort of thing, but then again, I suppose it changes so much year to year, it’s easier to just push that responsibility onto the customer. The work did require a puncture through the roof to add a vent, and oddly enough, it rained lightly this afternoon. I’m not worried though. I’m sure the roof wound is all patched up. Next, J will be applying for a permit; after that, we’re going to scout out vanities and contractors for when we knock down the wall and move the toilet. Argh so many details. I can’t even imagine the level of project management involved for G&J’s place where they are remodeling the entire basement, like almost an extra 1000 sf! Plus, they are both working full time with an active toddler and a baby on the way. Ambitious people.

I swung by the real estate office today. Pretty much, I can’t submit any paperwork until that damn license (with the BRE number) arrives in the mail. However, I have started watching the recommended videos, and I also took the Tony Robbins’ DISC profile test (again). Yup, I actually took the test a few years ago: my results this time are different in scale/intensity but essentially the same with regards to rank/priority of the categories. In other words, I have super high D (Dominance), then next highest is I (Interactive), then low and leveled off for S (Stabilizing) and C (Cautious). Here’s a quick summary of my profile. The report is quite fascinating as it also delves into your natural vs. adaptive state (how you behave/perform under stress). Anyway, here’s a breakdown of what my scores reveal for the four categories.

Dominance: Your score shows a very high score on the ‘D’ spectrum.
· You are very decisive and a risk-taker.
· You migrate towards difficult assignments and opportunity for advancement.
· Your approach tends to be forceful and very direct.
· You are a great source of innovation and new solutions, even if radical sometimes.
· You may be perceived as somewhat egocentric by others (i.e., others who you feel are less confident than you).
· You love a good challenge, seek freedom, and look for a lot of variety.

Interactive: Your score shows a high average score on the ‘I’ spectrum.
· You tend to meet new people in a confident and appropriate manner.
· You like democratic not dictatorial relationships on the job.
· People may find you charming to meet and to converse with on a variety of topics.
· You appreciate an open-door policy with both peers and supervisors.
· You present yourself in a poised manner to both small or large groups of people.
· You prefer an environment with ample people contact.

Stabilizing: Your score shows a low average score on the ‘S’ spectrum.
· You respect the established ways, but are open to change when it is deemed necessary.
· You are comfortable acting alone to determine the best course of action.
· You prefer a faster paced environment, but one that is not frantic or chaotic.
· You can multitask fairly well.
· You are flexible enough to deal with change openly and without fear.
· You like being mobile and on the go, but you like a home base to return to from time to time.

Cautious: Your score shows a low average score on the ‘C’ spectrum.
· You are flexible enough to work with or without a lot of structure or order.
· You can easily work independently when it comes to completing tasks and assignments.
· You may be perceived as being non-committal by some when it comes to deciding on how to proceed.
· To you, rules are guidelines, not concrete.
· You prefer to act as your “own person” rather than follow the norm.
· You are persistent in trying to get a message across, even in the midst of resistance.

These are suggestions for me to be more effective: You could be more effective
by:
• Becoming more aware of your approach to others, and it’s impact on others.
• Trying not to over-react.
• Being aware that your level of aggressiveness and tenacity may be off putting to others.
• Having support staff to handle the detail work.
• Reducing your competitive edge when dealing with others who aren’t as competitive as you.
• Becoming more sensitive to the climate or the situation, and adjusting your intensity accordingly.
• Learning to follow as well as you might lead.
• Remembering to negotiate difficult matters in a real-time, face-to-face manner, rather than through electronic means.

Interestingly, I don’t even consider myself competitive, but the other items are pretty spot on. For example, I wanted to negotiate my commission split via email, but Bubbey told me I had to do it in person. Haha.

Other tasks for this week? Bubs is going to do my photoshoot for my business cards and web materials. Argh, I kinda hate pictures of myself but apparently, homebuyers and sellers want to match the name to a face to build trust. Fuck. Phil Dunphy in da house! We’ll see what I come up with.

Back to the Bubble

Seattle was a great time. On Saturday, we hit up the Boeing facility up in Everett. We attended a 90-min Future of Aviation tour. Really. cool. And I’m not even an aviation geek. But we got to see the assembly floors for the 747, 777, and 787 Dreamliner. That carbon fiber, man. It is a game changer: so much lighter and stronger than steel, aluminum, or titanium. Amazing. Seriously, air travel never ceases to blow my mind: I mean, to get hundreds of people up in the air: living, breathing, eating, shitting– and transporting them thousands of miles all over the world- it is freaking magic!! Anyway, I highly recommend the tour.

Overall, our time was spent hanging out, playing board games (three new ones!), walking around, and eating. Yes, LOTS of eating, and John insists that the food in Seattle is better than the Bay Area. Then again, we’ve always felt that Bay Area food is overrated. Among our culinary delights in Seattle:

  • an amazing beef/lamb gyro + baklava dessert from Sultan’s in the university district,
  • doughy-crusted pizza and Italian apps at Mio Posto near G&J’s house,
  • cupcakes from Trophy,
  • yummo fresh doughnuts from Daily Dozen,
  • raw oysters and seafood at Elliott’s Oyster House by the water,
  • Mexican chocolate pie (among others) from A la Mode,
  • an amazing burger (crimini mushrooms and swiss cheese) at Uneeda Burger
  • more doughnuts from Top Pot,
  • vermicelli noodles from Dong Thap noodle shop in Little Saigon

And no, that is not even the comprehensive list. As you can see, the no-gym, carbo-loading theme continued for the entire trip. As for city attractions, well, the weather was wet– intermittent sprinkling but consistent wetness/dampness. We still stopped by some parks– Kerry Park, Washington Park Arboretum, Discovery Park, and Magnolia Park but aside from a longer stroll with Baby O and his parents through the Arboretum, our outdoor time was brief. I imagine the locals are completely undeterred by the cloudy skies and perpetual moisture, but I was pretty much paralyzed without sunshine.

I think the other couple and their kid H had a good time too. We hung out less with them: I think H is maybe on a stricter schedule. I’m not exactly sure. He isn’t quite as well-traveled as Baby O, so maybe the process was just a bit more tiring for them. He’s also in a different growth/development stage where I think he’s a bit more difficult.

The funniest thing is that J and I are the only child-free couple, and yet we were exhausted. J thinks we’re still recovering from our cold (eh, maybe, kinda), but I think it’s just the exposure to constant motion/chatter that causes mental fatigue. Then again, it could be a combination of factors. I’m sure the binging and minimal exercise did not help. Anyway, I’ll have to debrief with J&J to get their thoughts on traveling with the little man. Seemed like they enjoyed the break/escape esp following a very emotionally trying and depressing week (Trumpocalypse and all).

[FAG id=7494]

Regardless, we’re happy to be back in the Bubble. Marty did well again. This new sitter, I’m telling you. I hope she’s always available until the end, bc she has been a Godsend.

What’s on tap this week? We’re heading back to the gym. Also, I’m thrilled to be getting our new tankless water heater installed tomorrow!! J & I have def been pushing our luck with the old 40-gallon. For real. There is all kinds of rust/corrosion/water ponding on the top of it (signaling it’s imminent demise), so I can’t wait to get this old sucker (dated 1998) hauled outta my house! The work should just take a day, so fingers crossed! We removed all the junk (supplies, shelving, shoes, etc.) out of the hallway washer/dryer area to make room for the plumber. He’s supposed to mount the tankless unit on the wall above the dryer, and then he’ll remove the old tank. Phase 2 for us will then involve finding a contractor to bust out part of the wall and then we’re hoping to move the master bath commode to where the water heater sat so as to make room for a larger sink/vanity. We’ll see. I haven’t even contacted any contractors or anything. That’s later. First things first. Gotta remove the exploding bomb!

Beyond that, I’m planning to hit up the kw office tomorrow and the rest of this week: I’m submitting my paperwork and kicking off my first 100 days. Woohoo!

Of course, just as I’m ramping up for real estate, I’m also getting a ton of requests for Rover for Thanksgiving. So far, I’ve turned them all down though. Mostly bc the dogs are too young (< 3 y/o) and I don’t want the added stress on Martin. Don’t worry: I’m still hustling via eBay and Craiglist. In fact, a Palo Alto techie is coming by tomorrow to buy J’s old Apple monitor! Yeehaw! More Bubbey bucks! 🙂

Hello Again

Well looks like I skipped a day already for NaBloPoMo. Oops. Our time here in Seattle has felt quite busy. On Friday, we were up early to check out all the downtown sites; unfortunately, we didn’t plan the operating hours at all. For example, we hit up the Chihuly Museum and Space Needle bc Friday was the only clear day in the forecast. When we arrived, the Chihuly place was closed, opening only at 11. So we decided to do a brisk walk downtown to Pike Place Chowder. Then, they were also closed, set to open at 11. So weird: we really expected a major city like Seattle to have more things buzzing by 9am. But our bad. We should have looked that shit up first. Anyway, after walking around tons, we scored our clam chowder and fresh doughnuts then headed back for the glass exhibits. Chihuly was decent: a very doable exhibit, though I kinda felt like having seen his work in Vegas and in Phoenix, the pieces looked very familiar. We were in and out in about 30 minutes. As for the Space Needle, the cloudiness never burned off, so we decided to skip.

For dinner, all of us met up at the Fremont Brewing company. Our old friend D, who has lived in Seattle since 2013, also came out. It was good to see him– the last time was maybe three years ago. He’s at the same company now, but he bought a house and then recently got married. Sadly, his new wife extended her trip in Japan so was unable to join us. But D seemed happy and well. I am pleased to report that all my old disappointments about that friendship are gone now. The friendship was great while it lasted; I mourned its loss years ago, but now things are fine. With my reaching out a month ago, I realized I was actually ok with everything. Life has moved on for sure.

Carbs

Since returning from Asia, J and I have not been to the gym. It’s been ten days too. First it was our colds, then the week-long jetlag, then the nasty ass carpets at home, then the leaking water heater, etc. The bullshit never ever ends. I know, all excuses. I own up to them. Some day we’ll get back on the JCC wagon. Hopefully sooner than later.

In the meantime, we are back in the air. Yup, today was our inaugural Companion pass flight, and already I fucked something up: I mis-entered J’s TSA Pre number, so then he had to go through the regular line. I know, first world problems and all. Fortunately, we still had enough time, but geez what a pain regular security is. If TSA Pre is not indicated on your boarding pass, it doesn’t matter whether you have the number or card or whatever. Tough shit. Regular security line for you. Needless to say, as soon as we got to the gate, J talked to the agent to get that shit fixed pronto.

An interesting thing happened: at the gate, I spotted the former GM of the public agency where I used to work. I immediately went up to him and his wife (I still remembered her name). He didn’t remember me, so I had to jog his memory. Funny thing though: he said he had been tinkering around on the agency website and he just couldn’t find what he was seeking. This whole time he was thinking that I was making the site more confusing and less intuitive. Nah man, it wasn’t me!! Glad I was able to clear my name, right? Anyway, it was a brief but nice little catchup. It’s cool to see retired people still active and traveling and having fun. The conversation was also a good exercise for me to revisit and relight those old connections… My new job is gonna demand that kind of thing from me far more often now…

As for the flight, it was an easy 90 minutes. I conked out and dreamed about hustling to sell houses. 🙂 After we touched down, we putzed around UW and then snuck in a quickie meal (gyro and baklava) at a local Middle Eastern food shop. Wow, a flavorful meal!

Then for dinner, we met up with our two couple friends– G&J, who are Seattlelites, and J&J, who flew in from OAK this morning. The neighborhood pizza joint hit just the spot: we had a great time catching up over yummy food. For dessert, Trophy cupcakes! Yup, clearly, the carbo loading has only just begun.