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Last Day of Work August 16, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : San Diego, House, Travel, Pittsburgh , 1 comment so far

Tomorrow marks the last day of my almost five year stint at my current employer. It’s unreal to think that I spent more time working there than I did either at college or high school. It will be bitter sweet to leave. I developed a lot of good relationships over the past years, so it will be sad to leave everybody. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to a change and a new chapter. Everything will be different - new place, new culture, new job, new church, new serious relationship, etc. Though some things won’t change. Colin, rest assured that the Pirates are still my home team.

One of the really recent developments over the last couple of weeks is that I rented out my apartment. It was my first time advertising and showing the place. I put the place on craigslist and within twenty-four hours, I showed it to seven different people, with the last one wanting it. It’s a huge relief to get that piece over with, so now I can concentrate on moving and house improvements.

In case anyone is wondering what I’m going to do with the place, my friend will be the property manager. And I hope to collect some handymen in the meantime so issues can be handled.

On Monday, I head to Seattle to spend eight days hiking in the Pacific Northwest.  For the majority of the time, we’ll hike through Olympic National Park’s diverse landscapes. We’re pretty psyched for the trip. After that, it’s off to San Diego for a week to visit Chelsea and take an interview.

Exciting times ahead…I’ll keep you posted.

1040 is Finished! March 18, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : House , 1 comment so far

I finally completed by 1040 tax form after about 10-12 hours working on it.  The most difficult part was figuring out the tax basis of my rental property.  And if you’re a first time landlord trying to figure out tax deductions, I highly recommend Every Landlord’s Tax Deduction Guide.  It’s straightforward and simple and cuts through all the legalese of the IRS tax publications.

In other news, my kitchen and second bedroom are finished as far as the floors go.  Much accomplished this weekend.

Bedroom 1: Before & After March 2, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : House , 5 comments

I wish I had better before & after pics, but I unfortunately do not. I hope to take more of the rooms that I’ll work on next. These before & after pics are of my bedroom. As you can see, the before picture is a grungy green carpet that had a similar tone to stale vomit. I actually think I saw this color when I was shopping for one. To spruce up the place, we picked out a color from Sherwin Williams called “Milk Pail” and refinished the floor with two coats of Minwax polyurethane.

before

My friend Garrett recommended to me that unless I was looking for a particular color to my floor, I should just polyurethane it. This idea is good from many different angles. It’s cheaper to do this. It’s less time and energy. And it brings out the natural color of the wood. I’m glad we went this way.

after

A week from now, we plan to do the kitchen and the other bedroom. I’ll try to get some better pictures.

Note: The pictures were taken at different places within the room. The second photo was taken from inside the closet.

Moving (In More Ways Than One) February 20, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : House , 3 comments

This past Saturday marked the move (finally) of myself and my earthly possessions to the new place in East Liberty. The move was helped by some good friends and my Dad. As far as moving weather goes, it definitely could have been worse. It also could have been better. On both the loading and unloading sides, there was a good bit of ice and snow that made things a little tricky. Anyway, I’m finally living there.

And to give you an update, I’m refinishing my pine floors. Thanks for all the input! You won me over. Since we’re in the middle of the process, everything’s kind of a mess, so I don’t think I’ll have anyone over for at least a few weeks.

The other move that’s happening is my move of hosting companies. It should happen in the next few days. That means that this blog may be shut down temporarily. Don’t worry. It’ll be back with more force than your internet connection can handle! Plus, with Wordpress’ ability to import/export blog data, I should be able to set this blog up at my new home at 1and1.com fairly easy (Actually, I already tested it at prognosisnegative.com). It works!

The L Word February 13, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : House , add a comment

While Cupid mills around Pittsburgh tomorrow piercing couples young and old, I will sit in class, pierced by the laundry list of landlord legalities. As other men will surprise their loved ones with boxes of chocolate and flowers, I will surprise myself with the nuances of Form 1040 Schedule E and its tax rules. While others will sign up their future lives with each other, I’ll learn how to sign up future tenants.

Tomorrow marks the first night of landlord class. My coworker (who just bought a duplex) and I start Property Management and Landlording tomorrow at CCAC. Unfortunately, love will probably be the furthest thing from people’s minds. It’s a three hour class every Wednesday night for eight weeks.

The class description sounds like it will be helpful and informative. It’s fairly cheap too. The class is $119 for 24 hours of class time, which breaks down to just under $5 an hour. It’s at CCAC main, so it’s walkable for the first week. After I move, I hope to carpool with my coworker.

Hope everyone has a good Valentine’s.

Carpet or Pine Softwood? January 30, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : House , 13 comments

So, I need to make a decision on my floors in the next day or so. And I’m continually going back and forth between carpet and the pine floor that lay there currently. So, like most problems I know nothing about, I come to the mighty Internet and lay my requests at its feet to see what it has to say. Here are my thoughts so far:

Carpet

Pine Softwood

Since it’s not a house that I’ll enjoy for at least 4-5 years (I plan to live there only 1-2 years), there is not much incentive to redo the floors in order to enjoy them. I’m trying to take a rental/investment perspective on the whole thing. Basically, I’m not thinking about how I’ll use the unit, but rather the tenants after me.

Does anyone have any thoughts or words of wisdom?

Carpet Ripped Up January 13, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : House , 1 comment so far

My new roommate Cleave and I tore off the carpet on my new place today. I’m not taking as many pictures as I had hoped to, but I’ll try to get some soon. The floorboards are pine and it looks like it will be difficult to refinish them. There are several patches of different pieces of wood and tile that are scattered throughout the floor. Right now, I’m considering a wood laminate that would sit on top. Anyone have any thoughts or experience when it comes to this?

Unfortunately, the sloping in my kitchen is bad and a laminate floor will not work unless I correct the slope. This would probably mean building a structure around my bay windows, which translates into lots of money. Since it’s a rental property, I’m sort of against investing more money into a place than I need to.

But, who knows?

Rope December 11, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : House , 4 comments

The painting of the apartment has officially begun. A friend and I put the first coat on this past Saturday. The official title of the paint was Ancestral Gold, but it turned out to be more of a limey gold. Unfortunately, it didn’t go too well with the brick in the room.

After doing some research on the internet, the experts at apartmenttherapy recommended a white/off-white so the walls wouldn’t compete with the brick. Their advice was to use the brick as the accent wall.

So in honor of one of my favorite films, it was repainted to Rope. I wish I had some photos, but I am sans camera at the moment.

Up too late November 16, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : House, Movies, Music , 1 comment so far

I think it was the Masala tea that James and I had at Udipi for dinner. These last couple weeks have been busy and I’ve barely made a dent in the house. First of all, there’s a lot of work at work, which is a good thing. But it’s caused me to stay late some of the days which is rare. Currently, I’m working with SD cards and trying to implement a FAT file system on an embedded device. Needless to say, it’s going a bit slower than I had hoped.

The apartment fits the slow category as well. I was already to tackle the kitchen, but there’s a slight problem. My kitchen floor slopes a bit. It’s not drastic, but it’s noticeable. Maybe that’s expected for a 75 year old house, but I’m not sure. I plan to have a professional come in and look at it, and give me advice on the structure in general. You’d think these things would come up in the home inspection.

And as far as enjoying things around town, Andrew Bird played a good show last Friday night at CMU. The sound was a little muted, but he was good. He opened for Blackalicious, which ended up being the largest rap/hip-hop show that I’ve been to. It’s odd. Pittsburgh does not get that many artists that come through its steel gates, but the ones that come, end up returning again and again. This was Bird’s third show within the past year.

The plan for the next few days is to pick colors for the rooms, tow the car to a shop (the ignition doesn’t work), and figure out a budget. I’ve always been terrible at budgets. Anyone have any advice?

Oh, and I got a call for another movie that they’re filiming in Pittsburgh: Smart People. They asked for tomorrow, which I can’t do. It would have been a 14-hour shoot beginning at 11 AM.

Waiting for the gas man November 9, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : House, Music , 1 comment so far

The gas man does not visit houses on weekends, but only business hours during the week. So, I’m currently sitting on my bare floor waiting for him to drop by. It’s comforting to find that my gas was not even turned on. I turned on the furnace a few days ago, but all it blew was cold air. I was scared that my pilot light was out and gas was leaking throughout the house. But when I called up my gas company yesterday, they informed me that it was shut off.

In the meantime, I’m trying to get a plan together for the next several weeks. What should I change and what order will I do it in? And how? It gets a little overwhelming at times, I must admit. It seems the best plan has to be one step at a time or you won’t get anything done.

So, I’ll return to planning…

P.S. Through Adrian, I read through dissections of three Hold Steady songs from NPR. I really enjoy Craig Finn’s wordsmithing, but I didn’t know that his songs were this crafty. I picked up Separation Sunday about a month ago and I really enjoy it. Though it can be dark and difficult to listen to at times (read a good post from Colin about hope in music). I’ve been describing them as a mix between Bruce Springsteen and Pavement with a raw edge. I hope to get their newest one in the near future.