I've moved!

Not only do I have a new house, but I have a new address. Please feel free to check it out at recoveringbaptist.com.

And I know everyone at atlbloggers.net is waiting with baited breath to know if I'll still be around. The answer is yes; I'm working on getting all the feeds updated. I'm also hoping to figure out how to set things up so that only the interesting posts end up there, but that would imply that I have something interesting to say in the first place, wouldn't it?

Thank you

As I've chronicled here, the past few weeks have been pretty grueling for my family. What I've been remiss in relaying here is the support of our family and friends, and I need to correct that now.

We closed on the new house last Monday afternoon and began painting the new one on Tuesday evening. Our goal was to paint 7 rooms, 2 halls, and the trim in another room before the floors were installed on Saturday. That's a lot of painting in a little time, but not only did we get it done, we even managed to paint a ceiling, too! (OK, technically we finished the second coat in one room on Monday, but we took the weekend completely off and the floors weren't installed in that room yet.) Considering that during all of this we were also dealing with the difficulties which come with the contract falling through on the house we're selling, I'm very happy with what all we accomplished.

I've been a little surprised at how many of our friends are keeping up with what's going on through this blog (don't ask me why that's a surprise, I know that's what a blog is for), so this seems to be one of the many right places to say thanks.

First, to the hired hands. I lucked out and managed to hire the three best teenagers in Atlanta. Thanks to Corey and Dave for several long days of painting and to Becca for giving up her one free night. You're good painters, but the Anne Murray music's got to go!

Then to all of our friends who helped out. Veleda brought us an incredible lunch and then loaned Mike out for a long evening to paint. Doug watched the girls at home while Vanessa got high on paint fumes at our place. Keith also gave up a night to help out, which means Liz was at home with the boys. Finally, there's Jimmy who's stayed with us so many times over the years that he may as well be family. Jimmy painted more than I did (hey, someone's got to earn some money in this family) despite his cold. Nothing goes with paint fumes better than Robitussin!

Doug, Vanessa, and the girls made sure we took Saturday night off by inviting us to the pool. Little did they know we were going to bring the lightening show of the year to their house and kill the electricity. We all had a great time anyway, even if we didn't get to see Doug light up like a Christmas tree while cooking burgers.

We also need to say thanks to Reid and Kim for caring enough to invite us over for a nice, stress-free lunch after church. We needed that even more than we thought, and meant a lot to us.

I would also say thanks to my parents and in-laws, but they don't spend enough time on the internets to know what blogs are, which is the way it should be.

Friends like all of you make weeks like last week bearable. And we're looking forward to years of welcoming you to our new house.

Don't Panic in Large Friendly Letters

My grandfather manually set the insurance rates in Augusta many years ago, and my father and uncle are still in the insurance business, so I'm probably more interested in risk than most people. So I can't believe that I'm nearly two years late in finding this five page article from an OSU professor concerning the risk of terrorism. (Thanks to boingboing for the link, btw.)

Just the other night I saw an intro for a new program asking the question of whether we're more safe now than we were just after 9/11. I'm sick and tired of stories like that which play to our fears. The fact you're more likely to be struck by lightening or killed by a deer than to be directly impacted by terrorism should give us some comfort, but it doesn't seem to. Of course, fears are irrational, and few people really know how to assess risk. It's a very common fallicy to overestimate the probability of those things which we consider to be terrible and to underestimate the probability of those things which we do not consider as bad. For example, if I were to advertise that I have a rifle in a place where my kids could possibly get to it, I would be called a terrible parent. However, no one blinks twice when I take my children to the local pool, regardless of the fact that the chances of a child dying from drowning are much, much greater than of him dying from a bullet.

As many analysts have pointed out, the point of terrorism is not to kill people but to inspire fear in them. The more we change our way of life as a result of their despictable acts, the more they have won. I've known this for a while, but it's good to have someone more qualified than me actually do the math to prove it.

Poor loser

Cynthia McKinney was soundly defeated today. Some other Congressman must now step up and serve as the laughingstock of the House, at least for the next two years.

I am very excited that Hank Johnson has won. We don't agree on political policy, but I'm glad that he seems to be, as one friend put it, "a genuinely nice and classy man."

Cynthia knows how to run a campaign, and she knows how to work the media. It was clear early in the night that she would lose, but unlike all the other losers tonight, she was not about to give her concession speech on live TV. She waited to arrive at her headquarters until 11:35, right as all of the late-night news shows were signing off. Channel 2 claimed they would try to carry it live, but as of 11:52 pm they haven't broken in to show her speech. I guess she just can't handle speaking the truth that she's lost her power.

Update - Since it seems like my other blogging friends have called it a night from Hank Johnson's campaign HQ, I figure I'll take notes
Update 12:14 am - just when I was about to turn off the TV she graces us with her presence. She has some sort of "special presentation." She's got some sort of musical presentation, but the sound guys can't get it to work. You can tell she's lost, she's completely speechless during the 4 minute plus downtime. I'm just sure we'll all be headed to youtube to check out her video.

Update 12:20 am - Cynthia's "special presentation" sounds like some sort of pathetic white singer-song writer chick. Not the kind of thing you'd expect at a McKinney gathering. According to the crack news group at WSB TV it's "Dear Mr. President" by Pink. Apparently she's going to play the whole song, and I don't think she's actually conceded yet. Kudos to Channel 2 for keeping the entire staff around to carry this wonderful moment live. WXIA did break in, too, but I think they were a little later than WSB.

Update 12:26 am - Cynthia claims that the media wanted us to focus on her hair. And now she's talking about someone "in the press in this room tonight" who caused someone on her staff to need stitches. Interesting that's the second thing a cop-beater talks about on the night she loses.

Update 12:28 am - I'm really bewildered. If she was going to make a speech like this, I don't know why she didn't do it during prime-time. She's attacking Bush while quoting Bobby Kennedy and MLK. Now she's praising every left-wing activist after "standing" with all the Iraqi dead and the homeless American and green-card soldiers. Of course, now she's taking advantage of this opportunity to denegrate the memory of so many dead soldiers and joining the likes of Cindy Sheehan.

Update 12:34 am - now it's getting interesting. "Electronic voting machines are a threat to our democracy." This is followed by a statement that they won't tolerate any more stolen elections. And she "wants her party back" too. I'm surprised she didn't spend more time on this.

Update 12:36 am - not really a concession, but she wishes "the new representative of the Fourth District well." And that's the end. Even Monica Kaufman points out that this wasn't a concession speech and didn't mention Hank Johnson by name. Leave it to Monica to say that Cynthia "took a whoopin" from Mr. Johnson.

As they ended the live coverage they returned to a rebroadcast of the nightbeat right as John Evans, Cynthia McKinney's campaign manager, was being interviewed. He was essentially saying that they got their asses whipped in areas where they "typically controlled." And, of course, Hank Johnson got all the white votes in Rockdale and Gwinnett counties. Here's a tip to Mr. Evans, if she had ever paid any attention to us white people in the northern part of DeKalb County, she probably wouldn't be looking for a job right now. One last note, it's interesting that right as Hank Johnson was claiming victory the McKinney team was claiming that Cynthia was in the campaign HQ building. Just one more lie from their team, since WAGA caught her arriving at that building at 11:35 pm.

Goodbye Cynthia, and good riddance. Mr. Johnson showed more class tonight than you've ever had.

Please vote today

I've tried to minimize my political comments on this blog. There are enough politically oriented blogs already. But today I'm asking my neighbors in Georgia's fourth district to please take the time to vote in today's run off election.

For 12 out of the last 14 years our district has not been represented in Washington. Cynthia McKinney has been nothing but an embarassment, and we have an opportunity to replace her with a much more honorable man in Hank Johnson. If you did not vote in the Republican primary, then please vote in the Democratic run-off today.

I've had it

I feel like I'm setting myself up to become some sort of terrible viral advertising for do-it-yourself real estate services, but I'm completely had it. As I best understand it, we're completely screwed in this whole transaction. Since the buyer's broker is holding the earnest money, it's up to her who gets it. Of course, both the buyer (or former buyer, as it rests now) says he should get it back, but we've got a claim on it, too. The buyer is the broker's client, and the broker wants him to do business with her again, she doesn't give a rat's ass about us.

So it will probably turn out that our only option, if we want to pursue it, will be to take this guy to DeKalb Superior Court. According to my lawyer friend, that's the most backed-up court in the state, and we'd probably still be working on this a year from now. In other words, we'd all waste a lot more money than is at stake here.

As I've said before, I don't understand the value of an agent. I've dealt with three or four of them now, and I have yet to feel like I got my money's worth. We found both of our houses without an agent, but in both cases the agent got her full 3% commission. And we can't unload this one after two agents, both of whom talked about what a wonderful house it was and claimed it should sell in no time.

Do I sound frustrated yet? I need a beer, but all I get tonight are paint fumes.

I hate it when I'm right

As we were painting in the new house last night, my wife pointed out that I nailed the personality of the guy who put a contract on the house we're selling. From the very start I said that I didn't trust him and that there was a good chance he'd flake out and break the contract. I really didn't want to go under contract with him from the start, but I figured we really didn't have much choice.

The inspection process, including getting an engineer out to the house, only confirmed my suspicions. I didn't mind getting an engineer on site, but that was the first time I met the buyer, and I didn't like him. My wife says I'm pessimistic about people. Maybe that's true; maybe once I determine I don't trust or like someone it become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Either way, when I don't trust someone, my hunches often turn out to be right.

It turns out I was right about this guy. He's decided to break the contract. We should be receiving a termination letter today. The reason? Ultimately it came down to the way we proposed to "solve" a "problem" with two (yes, 2) outlets in the kitchen. Of course, once we offered to make his requested upgrade to take care of that issue he decided that he still wanted out.

I think I like the Aussie system much better. Your house sits on the market for four weeks. If no one buys it during that time, then it goes up for auction. After dealing with this mess for eight months, that's sounding awfully tempting right about now.

The New House

OK, so to my friends on atlbloggers.net, sorry that I've reposted this like a dozen times. In case you care and want to see the house in its full glory, blue carpet and all, and don't see it here, please go to my blog.


We went to the lawyer's office yesterday around 2:00 to close on our new house. It's amazing just how many forms there are to sign. It was also somewhat sad to sit across from the sellers. Rather than being a happy occasion, they asked to get paid in two separate checks - they're getting divorced. That's sad enough, but the couple is way too old for that - the husband is 73. It's a sad fact that in real estate you get your best deal when the seller is in a bad situation.

Since Kick keeps asking for pictures of the new house, I'll post a few here. I'm fighting some stupid technical issues with Flickr, otherwise I'd have a stream up and ready.

Everytime we drive up we have the same thought - it looks like a grown up house, and we don't feel that grown up yet! And it's still hard for me to believe that I now own a bedroom with five, count then 5 bedrooms! It also has a living room, den, dining room, and an extra room we'll use for the home theater. It's just frickin huge!!!

In case there's any question, here's why we want to paint and install some hard wod floors. House about a picture of our son's new room?
There's nothing quite like dark green carpet and lime green walls, is there? And then there's the living room with its real estate walls and blue carpet.
We start painting tonight at 6:00pm. We've got 60 hours to get 6 rooms (plus trim in two others and some halls) painted before the floor guy arrives on Friday. The wife's headed to Costco today to pick up enough Coke and Oreos to feed our small army. When it's all said and done, I'm looking forward to sitting on the 1200 sqeare foot deck and enjoying a beer.