housing
There was an offer.
A ridiculous counter-offer.
A counter-counter-offer.
And a less-than-ideal-yet-not-entirely-ridiculous-counter-counter-counter-offer, which we bravely countered by accepting.
I can hear you now: “That’s crazy!” you say. “But congratulations. When do you move in?”
Not so fast; that entire dance was done on top of someone else’s offer (with the contingency that they—the first to succeed in having an offer approved—sell their existing house first). They can now choose to “act now!” as the TV pitchman might suggest and make all of the above for naught.
Which is to say, it’s still outside of our control.
Failure will bring frustration. Success will bring (ostensible) poverty.
I need a nap. Wake me in 24 hours when we know which ways the chips will fall.
I’ve never in my life had skis—of any kind—on my feet. Last week, my (WITSEC) buddy fixed that. He’s very kind, and I had a blast.
Bonus: give this two minutes of your life (or start right around the one minute mark) and you’ll have watched the thing that makes my wife collapse into a puddle of mean-spirited laughter. So there’s that.
I’m extending the Pure Narcissism: Kayaking series to new endeavors: a two-minute video of yesterday’s hike up Kamiak Butte.
Music: “Night Owl” by Broke For Free (via Vimeo’s Music Store)
I ran off to explore and hike nearby Kamiak Butte this morning. The trail listing noted that it’s an April—November kind of hike, but I think that’s an error; on this New Year’s Eve, I found the trail completely denuded of snow but the peak wearing its fanciest crystals.
Above, below, and above yesterday’s inversion.
I got a Saturday afternoon pass, so I loaded up the kayak and my gear and…well, took it all for a drive. :) I had grand intentions of actually paddling, but I ended up having fun just exploring my new part of the world from the comforts of four wheels.
The video above is a mostly unedited view of my travels from Moscow to Uniontown and Colton, WA, to the Wawawai-area down on the Snake River (to an area known as Lower Granite Lake), back up to almost Pullman, back down 194 to Lower Granite Dam itself, and then back through Pullman and on home.
Happy to be out exploring and looking for liquid water, I wasn’t expecting to pass through a very pronounced inversion layer. Twice. The Palouse (Moscow, Pullman, and surrounding areas) sits at just shy of 2600’ and was a balmy 46˚. The Snake is quite a bit lower at 800’, but as I dropped through the fog/cloud layer, the outside temperature plummeted to a wet and cutting 32˚—hence, the boat stayed dry today. Someone should tell the residents of Salt Lake City that they’re not the only ones with bad winter air problems.
Shot with a windshield-mounted GoPro shooting at 5-second intervals for about three hours. Music was “LordDa Mercy” by Daddy_Scrabble (via Vimeo’s Music Store).
The video above documents my first foray back into my kayak’s cockpit since moving to Idaho to work for a paddlesports company. During the kids’ naptime, I was able to sneak away to a little (little) body of water called Spring Valley Reservoir just up the road past Troy.
I got lucky with the weather; just as I found the water, the clouds parted and blue sky was on display. It was perfect fall paddling: the air was cool but not cold, the wind was mild, the leaves were turning, and the birds and fish all knew I was sans weapon (neither rifle nor rod).
Music: “Gladias” by Haute Culture.
We’re new to town, and visiting the Moscow Farmers Market is a rite of passage. Since today is the penultimate week, we thought we’d better get on it.
A couple of fun things happened on my birthday last weekend:
- The sun came out for a while in our new town of Moscow, ID, so
- I was granted a reprieve from moving/unpacking duties for a few hours, allowing…
- Grandpa and I to take the kids to a local pumpkin festival.
Which, frankly, was kinda weak. But to the kids, it was the best thing ever after a long rainy move.
News
So. A news update for the three of you who read this. The Maxfield’s will be moving out of the desert of Southern Utah. Why? In a word: Twitter. Some backstory:
I’ve been casting about, looking for a different employment opportunity for a while. The search intensified at mid-year, but went to 11 a few weeks ago when it became really apparent that I couldn’t do another 24 years in government (despite a really good pension program). A few weeks go, out of utter frustration, I pinged NRS (a maker of all things fun) on Twitter asking how they hire. I didn’t ask if they were hiring, just how they went about it because I’ve never been able to find a listing for them. (Trust me, I’d looked.)
The next day, I got a DM from their twitter account telling me to call them. I did. That lead to many skeptical questions as to whether I’d really want to live in Moscow, ID and a link to a job posting. Which lead to me tweaking my portfolio and applying. And then a call asking me if I was sure I’d be OK living in Moscow, ID. And then two or three phone interviews, a 16-hour one-way trip to World Headquarters for Christina and I, and eventually a job offer.
So, you know: Thanks, Twitter. Say what you will about it: it’s a vapid, egotistical, narcissistic, and pointless service. And you’re probably right. But it also got us a new adventure, so there’s that.
Anyway, the Maxfield clan will be here for about another month or so, then we’ll be packing up and moving out. It’s going to be crazy and hectic—we’ve only done one tiny cross-town move since having kids.
That’s our news. Anything fun going on with y’all?
