April 2006 Archives
Ah.. So it's been a while since we've updated the blog here, and let everyone know what's been going on. Lisa and I found a quaint place to live in the middle of Santa Monica, about a mile from the beach (15-20 minute walk). It's a bit cheaper to live in than our place in Albany, but both our renters insurance and my car insurance went up, so I guess it's probably around the same now. We'll send our new contact information out in an email sometime next week, when we're all settled in and we have a permanent internet connection.
Over the past four weeks since we've been down here, I've been casually looking at homes, with no intent to buy in the immediate time frame. It's quite amazing what houses are going for in this area (Santa Monica, west LA). I don't see how regular people can afford to live over here! In the Bay area it's a little bit more affordable, but $500,000 will still get you just a 2 bedroom home! Even in Vancouver, it's outrageous. I'd definitely be making less up there, but the plus is that Lisa will be able to work. Which, I just found out, is now possible for her here in the states! She got her work authorization, so now she can work if she chooses too. We're pretty well off though, so I think she may decide to not do that. Regardless, I think we'll be renters for a little while longer, because the property that both of us want is definitely out of our price range at the moment. We'll be saving up a bit and waiting for the right time to put down a downpayment. Check out http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/ for some interesting reading.
A couple nights ago, I guess it was Tuesday, we saw an interesting show on PBS called 'Dimming the Sun'. It was pretty interesting, but also doomsdayish in it's foretelling of what might come. Even Stephen Colbert from 'The Colbert Report' on Comedy Central said something about it on Wednesday night! He mentioned how even though it was extremely interesting, he was so depressed about it afterwards. Yes, these shows will do that. :) I thought it was good. The show was primarily about the dimming of the sun, not on it's own, but from the pollutants in our atmosphere which are preventing the sun from reaching Earth. During the three days following 9/11, when all the planes were grounded, they recorded an increase in temperature range of 1 degree Celsius! Which is an amazing increase, and just for those three days. They also mentioned that both global warming and global dimming are tugging the climate in opposite directions; global warming, warming the climate, while dimming is cooling the planet. The problem is if we continue to emit greenhouse gases, global warming will take over faster than dimming can cool! And all this will happen in our lifetimes (before 2100).
Exotic car count so far:
One Lamborghini Gallardo
One Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
One Mercedes SLR
One Acura NSX
Three Ferrari 360 Modenas
Two Lotus Elises
Tons of Porsches
