Month: April 2010

Well, there hasn’t been any action on the ‘selling the house’ front. A chat with my mortgage broker made me realize I should aggressively price my house so I’ve knocked the list price down below what the other house on the street is being sold for.

There will be another open house this Sunday so I’m hoping that we get some interested parties in. If nothing happens in the next week, I think I’ll have to call the realtor in to sell the house as it’s getting too close to my comfort level.

In other news, Vero’s sister Andreane has moved in with us for a few days. She has finished her first year of University as a Nutritionist and had to move out of residence. It will be nice to have her for a few days before she heads back up North for the rest of the summer.

Parallels is a software which allows Windows XP (or other operating systems?) to be installed onto the Mac. This is quite handy in my case considering I ran into the problem of not being able to link up to my Fostex MR-8HD recording equipment with my Mac OS.

Parallels itself was a breeze to install and I must say I’m impressed with the options of how you want it to run Windows XP on your computer. You can choose to run it in a window environment, or a Crystal environment which integrates Windows features with your Mac. So now I have a folder in the Dock which says Windows XP Applications and I click on it, choose the program I need for the Fostex, and voila! It opens up in a new window and I have the ability to choose files from my Mac or the Windows virtual environment.

Well done Parallels!

But now that I have Windows on the Mac, I can play some vintage adventure games (Hello King’s Quest!) without any problems! Eric got me interested in delving into the classic games as he had downloaded a few himself.

Back to the Fostex, I managed to lay the guitar track on the recording unit and then I spent an hour before dinner laying down some vocals. It was going to be my first attempt at putting layered vocals onto a track. I ended up with one main vocal track, along with a track where I whisper the lyrics. Vero really enjoyed the whisper track while she thought the main vocals weren’t heavy-metal enough and thought it was too ‘pop’! I also had another track where I come in with another voice so it overlaps with the main vocal.

All in all, it came off pretty good in terms of it being a sketch of what I was thinking of doing with Troy’s heavy metal tune. I didn’t bother doing too much mixing at all as I just wanted to show him what I had in my brain and we can work from that. A demo is meant to capture an idea…no need to work too much on it!

I’m pretty glad with how it turned out and Troy mentioned that it got some ideas sparking in his head to continue the tune which I’m happy about. I had a bout of writer’s block after the first verse so I didn’t really know where to take the song. Here’s to hoping something comes of it.

Today I was reading on ExploreMusic (an excellent Canadian music blog produced by Alan Cross) about the re-release of Legend – the Greatest hits of Bob Marley and The Wailers.

Now, I don’t know much Bob Marley…only the stuff I’ve heard over the radio (No Woman No Cry, Buffalo Soldier, etc.) and after reading this article
I realized that this is a staple that should be in everyone’s music collection, even if they don’t generally enjoy reggae music.

I shall be picking this up tonight but then I started thinking “If I don’t even care for reggae music, why am I even bothering to pick this up?” I believe it was the article that made me realize that there are certain albums out there that are in ‘global consciousness’, meaning that everyone and their Mother own it. It’s part of a global connection.

This got me thinking of what ‘classics’ are out there that are ‘must-have’s’ in the music collection. I’m not talking in YOUR music collection persay, but everyone’s music collection.

I can think of one in particular that everyone either has or should have in their collection:

Abba Gold. Freakin’ Abba Gold. This Swedish sensation has tunes ringing in my head…from Money, Money, Money, Waterloo…all the hits. I remember specifically buying this while on summer vacation with the folks thinking that the tune ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ was an Abba tune (yes, yes, I know) and perhaps it had a different title and that’s why I didn’t recognize it by the track list. I believe Dad cringed when I said “Can we put this album on?” while Mom was dancing away. I was disappointed that Brown Eyed Girl was *not* on the album, but heck, there were some melodies that stuck in my head over time.

So what other classics are out there that are in everyone’s record collection?

Here’s some thoughts:
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Chronicle Vol. 1
Eagles Greatest Hits (1971-1975)
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

With me being so preoccupied, I can’t believe I didn’t mention this already…my iPad will arrive on Ottawa soil on Saturday! My colleague Juan (who is referred to around these parts as our Columbian Agent) is down in Vegas and picked up a couple of iPads for us. Sweet!

I’ve been getting a little (yeah right!) excited for the iPad coming our way. We’ve found ways to download apps for the device easily enough, and I’m looking into the ability to download free e-Books from Google Books.

For example, I’ve always wanted to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes…well now I can! Legitimately free! That’s an exciting concept. I think it will be interesting to read classic tales that are in the public domain…Sherlock, the Hunchback, Dracula…stalwarts of our current pop culture.

Other than that, we all know that my love for the device lies in the ability to read comic books on it. Unfortunately, it looks like there aren’t that many applications built for that function yet so I will wait patiently until I can choose which one to pick up.

So unless there is someone dropping by to see the house this coming Saturday, the iPad shall be mine!!!

I heard this conversation on the radio this morning and thought it was an interesting conversation topic.

What was the first autograph you ever got?

I will admit that after I thought about it, I don’t even know if I have ever personally got an autograph from a famous person!

I remember my mom meeting James Doohan (Beam me up Scotty!) at Casey’s Bar and Grill and getting his autograph for me on a fridge magnet. That was great.

The greatest story I have of an autograph is when I was scouring the Smashing Pumpkins albums at HMV (why would I do that every time I’m in there if I already owned all of them?) and stumbled upon a Tonight, Tonight CD Single which mysteriously had Billy Corgan’s autograph on it. I can’t remember if I picked it up right there and then, or went to the Internet to confirm if it looked like his signature…I’m going to assume that I took the plunge and nabbed it right there and then.

I get to the cash and the guy working there says “Huh! That’s strange…this must be the manager’s copy that Billy had signed in the store a few years back.” Fear entered my body thinking “I must have this CD!”. The guy didn’t even bother asking his manager, he just sold it to me for $12.

Awesome! In my hands was an autographed CD from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. A good day, indeed.

So what was your first autograph?

Vero sent this note to me yesterday and I couldn’t stop laughing and also thanking the heavens that I am not at the receiving end of her Tae Kwon Do classes.

You`d be proud of your girlfriend: I just fought with a guy here that didn`t think I could bring him down.

Véro: ”Want to bring this outside?”

Big Army Guy: ”Oh yeah?”

Véro: ”First successful punch wins”

Big Army Guy: ”Hell Yeah!”

Véro gives the big Army Guy ”the look” and goes in the parking lot.

Big Army Guy follows.

Véro puts herself in powerful ”Taek Won Do” position.

Big Army Guy laughs.

Véro fakes with a jab and punch him with the other hand right in the stomach.

Véro: ”HA YAHHH!!!!”

Big Army Guy, holding his stomach: ”OHHHhhhhhhhhh……”

Véro, still in powerful Taek Won Do position: ”Want an other one?”

Big Army Guy: ”Alright, alright, come on, don`t tell the other guys you kicked my ass OK?”

Véro: ”HA!!!”

Yesterday during the day was going fine and dandy but little things creeped up in the evening that put me in sour mood.

First up was having to scan about 30 pages of mortgage application forms and then find out later that night that the broker couldn’t print them off! Doh!

Second up was the fact that my musical muse is starting to creep back into me (must be the lovely sunsets seen from the office window around 8PM) so I took a crack at writing some lyrics for a song of Troy’s that I’ve been toying with for awhile.

I finally realized that I was hitting a writer’s block at a certain point and I have been for the past six months on this particular tune. So I finally said “Screw it, I’m going to record what I have and use it as a working piece that I can send to Troy and bounce some ideas off of.” The problem is, I have packed up all my worldly belongings and they are in the basement. I pondered if I should tear open some boxes to find the microphone.

In the end, I did just that. With microphone and headphones in hand, I went to the office and pulled out the trusty Fostex MR-8HD recording unit and set it up. All I had to do is load up audio from the Macbook and voila, I could record vocals.

However, there was one flaw in this plan. Turns out that the software that integrates with the MacBook and the Fostex is not working anymore. Clearly this must be due to me upgrading to Snow Leopard a few months ago. Nooooooo! I spent the next few hours searching for information on the Internet but to no avail.

At 10PM when Vero got back, I left the Fostex in disgust and wondered what I’m going to do with this hunk of junk now that I can’t even use it with my computer. Argh.

To top it all off, no potential buyers knocking on my doors. Thanks for the selling tips Uncle Gary! Much appreciated! Also, I would like to thank Katie and Aunt Lana for reminding me of the greatest trick in the book for washing windows…vinegar! How could I forget that?

Sunday morning came with the realization that we were going to hold our first open house ever.  We had no idea what to expect.  I chatted with the neighbours who are selling their house and they said they had a few people drop by to look at the place.  They were excited at the thought of the open house as well and hoped they had a lot of traffic.  I also talked with a few other neighbours and they said that they have seen great success with open houses.  This news invigorated my weary soul and I went out to buy some cookies so the house could smell delicious and also offer a treat to those visiting.

The open house was schedule for 2-4PM (a common time for open houses) and someone came knocking at 1:40PM.  Vero bounded towards the baking sheet for the cookies and hid it under the counter.

First up was a real estate agent who was checking out the house next door and wanted to see ours.  We’re not sure if the person with him was actually interested in a place or not, or if they were also a real estate agent.  The agent gave us a great tip seeing that this was our first open house.  He basically said it’s great to let people peruse the house on their own and let them know that you’ll be around if they have any questions.  This was the best advice we could have received as we were following them through the house at first.

We ended up with five showings during the entire day.  I personally don’t feel that this was a large amount, but Vero seemed quite confident about the whole thing.  I didn’t get a good vibe from anyone but at the same time, I’m sure I was the same thing when looking at open houses.  For all I know, our house is in the back of someone’s mind and they will call again to take a second look at the house.

We did find it interesting to note that we saw two groups of people visiting the other open house and not our own.  We can only deduce that a) They didn’t like their townhouse so they automatically assumed ours looked the same b) They didn’t go for private sales.  Either way, it was a little disheartening to see someone not even bother to look at our house.

Two hours later the open house was over and we went to pick up the directional signs we had set up in the neighbourhood.  All in all, an open house isn’t hard work (well, let me point out that the hardest work is getting the place looking great!) as long as you are fine with people roaming around your house!  It’s a strange feeling to just stand in the kitchen while you hear people roam about and open closets around the house.

We will definitely have another open house this coming weekend and we are thinking of extending the hours from 12-4PM.  It doesn’t make sense that 2-4PM is the common time to look at a billion open houses.  I think there would be an advantage to have it longer so people can come visit our own before others.

I will admit that this is the first time in my life that I’m not entirely positive about a life matter.  I believe I’m just impatient…heck, it hasn’t even been a week yet!  I’m sure that when this is all over, you will hear me say that “it wasn’t all that bad” but while we’re in the middle of selling our house, there is always the thought of “why hasn’t it sold yet?”

Day Three of Selling the House had us finishing up everything we can possibly finish up.  Vacuuming, scrubbing and de-cluttering the place had made the house we live in a different beast altogether.  In fact, I don’t even think it *is* the house I purchased five years ago!

Around lunchtime we dropped off some empties and I treated myself to some Mill Street Stock Ale.  We then headed in search of a chip wagon on this glorious Saturday afternoon.  The one at the old Canadian Tire on Tenth Line had moved (to places we’re not aware of) so Vero thought she saw one in Vars so we headed that way.  Why not?  We’ll be driving to Vars a lot more in the near future!

We get to Vars and what Vero thought was a chip wagon was the pizza shop.  We drive by our new house quickly (as there were people there and we don’t want to be creepy) and am touring around looking for a chip wagon but no luck.  It’s around 1:30 and we haven’t eaten yet today so we’re thinking Embrun must have a chip wagon so we start heading down the road across the highway.

Sure enough, Vero was right and the chip wagon is in Vars but on the other side of the 417!  Sweet!  It’s looks great.  The menu boasts 100+ classic chip wagon items and there is a good crowd around.  This is a good sign!  We were asked to order right away and I got the classic…a whistle dog and some fries.  Vero got the poutine.

It was a good set-up they had going there…a LOT of picnic tables.  They also took phone orders so you could simply come and pick your order up!  The food itself was great as well.  The whistle dog was as good as they get and the fries were scrumptious.  Vero is a die-hard fan of chip wagons (as she worked in one as a kid) and commented that they made a great poutine, along with the ‘correct’ poutine sauce.  Perhaps Vero can explain on here what the ‘correct’ sauce for a poutine consists of!

We then headed back down the highway to see how long it would take to drive into town.  It took around 15 minutes to get to Blair Road but we’re unsure where I can park my car and catch the bus.  There is a ‘gold pass’ Park and Ride but I’m not sure if I want to spend extra money to park my car to catch a bus.  There is the option of parking at the shopping mall but I’m not sure if they are heavy-handed in handing out tickets.

Mike came over to the house to load up his motorbike into his truck.  That wasn’t as painful as we had thought it would be!  Althought the first time up the motor died and we were stuck with a motorbike halfway up a ramp.  We decided to settle in to the backyard where it was 23 degrees and had some Mill Street Ale and some steak on the BBQ.

We then watched a few episodes of Modern Family (which is a new favourite show…I love Phil.  LOVE HIM.) and a new show (to us) called Sons of Anarchy which was described as ‘Sopranos meets Motorcycle Gangs’.  All in all, it was a decent first episode and I’ll get around to watching a few others.  Mike, of course, was hooked as it involved motorbikes and tattoos.  All it needs is a guitar and Mike would have the trifecta.

Thursday night I decided that I need to be aggressive in the selling of my house.  For example, I noticed that the neighbour was having an open house through a Realtor on Sunday.  We are attempting to sell the house through Grapevine (privately).  So we realized that if they were having an open house, it would only make sense to have our own open house at the same time in case someone wished to see both houses.

So Friday morning the ‘open house’ signs were obtained from Grapevine and Friday evening was spent fixing up a few other things around the house…putting some top soil down on a patch of grass and cleaning windows.

Cleaning windows became the devil’s chore.  I will relay a good tip for future generations reading this journal entry…do not, DO NOT use Mr. Clean in your water when washing your windows outside!!!

I originally went ahead with some Windex on every window but I noticed that it really smeared the outside and didn’t make for a nice looking window.  I tried a few other times and had the same results.  I then thought that maybe there was just too much dirt on the outside of the window and that I should try and wash it before using the Windex.  So I concocted some water-Mr. Clean combination but it really didn’t do much at all.  Actually, it probably made it worse.  At this point, my fuse was short and Vero was also wondering what I was doing wrong.

In the end she made me realize that Mr. Clean shouldn’t be used!  So I went ahead and pour some Windex into a bucket of water and that seemed to do the trick.  Four hours later, I got the hang of it!  Bah…cleaning windows.

At this point, one day later into selling the house and having listings on Grapevine, Craigslist, UsedOttawa and Kijiji, I had emails from agents looking to represent me.  One agent did in fact call us saying he would like to drop by with some potential buyers but they said they would just show up during the Open House as we were still getting things ready.  Grapevine indicated that the listing had been viewed 200+ times at this point, one day later!  Sweet!