hello MacBook. It arrived yesterday and still needs most of the applications. love the weird, flat keyboard, and the screen is so crisp and clear compared to the iBook screen.
the signing went about like i'd expected. mall signings never go well, not even big group signings. i'm not sure why. maybe the lack of intimacy. small indy store signings usually do much better. i also think there's just too much going on at the mall of america. sensory overload. kind of like holding a signing in the middle of a midway. people don't want to slow down for something like that.
BIG HUG to the people who came and braved MOA on a saturday!! it was nice meeting you!! thanks so much for supporting local writers and the Minnesota Literacy Council!!
the house thing is still in limbo!! i'm discovering that the whole national mortgage mess has made it really hard to buy a home. i can get a loan, but making sure the place is worth what i'm paying has brought everything to a standstill. the appraisal is being questioned since there were no comps in the area. a third party has been brought in to find 3 local realtors who will come up with their own value figures. we've been waiting for them for a looonggg time, and are pretty much at their mercy right now. then it goes through underwriting again. another long wait. at that point they can ask for another appraisal or turn down the loan if they aren't satisfied. and this is all before the inspections, which could turn up something i don't want to deal with. so buying property ain't what it used to be. sometimes i think i should have given up, but i keep thinking each hurdle in the last one. the mortgage consultant, real estate agent, and seller have been amazing through this whole ordeal, which also makes it much easier to follow this through and see what happens.
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ah, a macbook! I want one!! =D My old toshiba is a big clunker.
It's crazy all the twist and turns it takes to buy a house. I hope it is resolved soon.
Glad you at least got one of your problems sorted out. Hope the house thing levels out soon too.
you need to kwit foolin round up yonder in wishkonsin anyways like i tolt you.
when at snow comes a flyin an you no bigger than a minut you gonna be bureed plum up to yer gizzerd.
daddie says theys a cabin aint to fer way from here empty as a ole pump house an you can have it fer nuthin.
the onliest thing is some says theys a haint in there but i don't put no stock in it an i know you aint afeared a such.
heckfire i tolt mama you even rote a storee in a book bout one.
anyways i can git willards mules an wagon and come fetch you an yer possibles if you take a notion.
mama says she have a plate a neckbones an collerd greens an fried taters an cracklin bread a waitin on us when we git back.
now you caint beet that with a stick.
lester A. frack
Finally caught up on some posts. You're going to live in Wisconsin? Wow,that's amazing. I really miss WI, but love the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It's going to be 80 degrees and sunny today. Plus there's the whole Gulf thing; what a vista.
Best of luck on closing the deal on your new home. Jer
kelly, it was a tough decision to go with a mac. apple doesn't have good voice recognition software, so i was considering a pc. couldn't do it, though! :D
thanks, sandra!
lester, save me a seat in that wagon! i might need it!
neckbones.... yummmmy. :D
jer, nice to see you! yeah, i'm having a hard time believing the wisconsin thing. my plans really took an abrupt turn when i realized i simply COULD NOT rent -- something i'd planned to do if i'd moved south. i still hope to do the snowbird thing at some point.
another chapter in the rental saga -- this building is infested with mice. i've never seen anything like it. they pretty much own the place. apparently this has been going on for years with no control measures taken. mice have nested under my dishwasher and behind the refer. it's horrifying. they run all over the place at night. one condo owner had a mouse in bed with her.
here's an interesting tidbit: i'll see a bunch of droppings on the floor, then a couple of hours later they'll be gone. so i'm assuming the mice pick them up to hide evidence of their occupation of the property?
apparently an exterminator has submitted a bid, so i'm hoping something is done soon.
Eww re. mice. That is completely gross.
Yay re. macbook (I'm so jealous...still waiting to get a laptop worth a damn). fingers remain crossed re. the, uh, housing situation.
Real estate deals are such a drag. That's very good that your realtor is on the ball. If they're not, it's like a getting a root canal with a hand mixer.
I wonder if small book stores have more loyal customers instead of quick in-and-out folks. Dedicated readers are probably more likely to hit a signing table (and not just with the corner of their stroller).
thanks, angie. i'm feeling bummed about the housing thing. now that i've had the weekend to mull it over, i'm beginning to feel it's not going to happen. maybe i'm comparing it to publishing where no news is almost always bad news. i'm beginning to wonder if they just haven't put the paperwork together for the rejection.
jason, i think for a signing to be successful it has to have at least one of the following:
strong customer readership and sales within that particular store
the booksellers themselves are fans and handsell your books
attendance by friends and relatives
without one of the above, you can be pretty certain the signing will fail. most booksellers don't seem to know that, and a lot of writers don't know it.
Those elements make a lot of sense. Regarding #3, I imagine it's intimidating to approach a table with just the author sitting there (I've never done it). A few folks milling around to grease the wheels sounds good.
Congrats on the MacBook. I have a 20" iMac that I bought from a discount place online. When it needed a new power supply I took it in and found out that the serial numbers have been removed--from the machine and the firmware, usually meaning that it's a HOT computer. As in stolen. **Sigh**.
But hey, it runs.
Best of luch on the mortgage thing. Nice to know the real estate market is funky nationwide and not just in my neck of the woods.
jason, friends and relatives can backfire if they never leave. :O most readers won't approach the table. kind of like butting into a private conversation at a party. milling is perfect. i like that description.
jamie, wow! i keep imagining a guy opening a trenchcoat to reveal several ibooks. :D
yeah, real estate is funky nationwide. i've learned that 80% of all loans are made by fannie may or freddie mac -- no matter where the paperwork originates. they are the ones putting a stop to any loan that isn't 100% traditional and normal. makes you wonder how much of the real estate slump is really due to their overcorrecting for past mistakes. the whole thing has reached the level of farce right now. the only loans that don't go through freddie and fannie are private bank loans that tend to be 8% ARMs. no thankee.
Treat the cord VERY carefully. I just purchased my seventh one and just put my sixth one into use. Yes, I always keep a spare around. I'm always one cord ahead.
Why?
Because they break where they connect into the computer. I'm not kidding. You might get sparks or smoke or...big flaming devils!
Anyway, 80 bucks a pop and apple had the nerve to ask me what I thought of the product.
idiots.
So, buy an extra because they are sometimes hard to buy in stores (lots of them breaking for so many users) and the battery only lasts a few hours.
Other than that.
Mazel tov.
mindy -- your seventh? yikes! my daughter experienced the spark thing you were talking about. i went to apple to pick up a new cord for her and the powerbook cords are unavailable for 3 weeks. so everybody is having trouble with them. i think it's the magnet. makes it almost impossible to unplug without a lot of tugging.
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