The Easter Bunny Hates You!

Boise & Portland Dodge Housing Bubble

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10 bubble blowers -- appreciation should continue to grow

Boise, Idaho.

Besides having a happy-sounding name, Boise is consistently mentioned as a small, but strong real estate market. Forbes magazine ranked it first on its 2005 list of the best places for business and a career; John Burns Real Estate Consulting puts it almost at the bottom of its list of markets headed for a potential housing bubble.

John Schleimer, a real estate market consultant to major builders, says that both Boise and parts of the Idaho Falls panhandle will "hold up very well" housing appreciationwise.

"They're getting migration of people fleeing the blue states," he says. Annual price increases on housing has been a modest, but steady 4 percent to 6 percent over the past couple of years, with a significant -- but not out-of-proportion -- increase of 14 percent in the last quarter of 2005.

Seattle, Wash./Portland, Ore.

The overall news out of the Pacific Northwest isn't great. The area lost jobs in the tech bust and is still recouping. But in terms of housing price appreciation, the thing these cities have going for them is a restriction in supply. Tight controls on development have prevented the normal progress of builders going farther out from the city core to find cheap land in the suburbs. Hence, demand stays high for available units. (Forbes Magazine lists Seattle as the most overpriced place to live in the country; Portland was third on the list.)

"Portland and Seattle have really benefited from California's growth," says Richard Gollis, principal of San Francisco-based real estate consultants The Concord Group. "Portland is starting to see the next generation of housing product, which is large-scale, high-density projects in downtown. The same thing is happening in Seattle. People who moved there 20 years ago for the tech market are older now and have a different lifestyle."

Me vs. Lung Infection: Part 2

Alright, maybe this stuff will work. After being placed on a couple of drugs to fight my lung infection over two weeks ago, I had to head back to the doctor again yesterday. I felt different, but not better, and my cough was getting really bad.

Here is my latest load out of drugs:

Erthromycin ES: Erythromycin can be used to treat Streptococcal infections of the throat (strep throat) and the skin. It can also be used in treating lung infections (pneumonias) caused by streptococcal pneumoniae, mycoplasma pneumoniae, and legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires disease). Erythromycin is used in patients who are allergic to penicillin for the prevention of recurrent rheumatic fever, and heart valve infections (endocarditis) in patients with heart valve abnormalities before undergoing dental treatments. Erythromycin is also used for the treatment of staphylococcal infections of the skin, and as an alternative drug for syphilis, gonorrhea, and Chlamydia.

Prednisone: Prednisone is an oral, synthetic (man-made) corticosteroid used for suppressing the immune system and inflammation. It has effects similar to other corticosteroids such as triamcinolone (Kenacort), methylprednisolone (Medrol), prednisolone (Prelone) and dexamethasone (Decadron). These synthetic corticosteroids mimic the action of cortisol (hydrocortisone), the naturally-occurring corticosteroid produced in the body by the adrenal glands. Corticosteroids have many effects on the body, but they most often are used for their potent anti-inflammatory effects, particularly in those conditions in which the immune system plays an important role. Such conditions include arthritis, colitis, asthma, bronchitis, certain skin rashes, and allergic or inflammatory conditions of the nose and eyes. Prednisone is inactive in the body and, in order to be effective, first must be converted to prednisolone by enzymes in the liver.

The Prednisone pretty much shuts down my cough, but I can tell a few hours before my next dose, because the coughing starts up again. I have been assured that this will be the last medicine I need. Actually the quote from the doctor is, "You'll feel like a million bucks by this weekend!" We will see.

My Blackberry Is DEAD!

One minute it was there frustrating me... It's slow, it's hard to dial on the road, the friggen hour glass while you try to do just about anything! And then the next minute, it was gone.

(Reset Error 365)

I looked it up... It is bad... Hardware error, phone must be returned to dealer.

I will start out tomorrow with no ability to contact the outside world! No email, no voice mail, no talkee period! Nervous laugh. Why now, I ask.

I sure did love that phone!

It's Official... The House Is For Sale.

Railing Repair Project

Well, I spent last night fixing the deck railing from the Chrismas Day Tree Fall Event. I still need to pick up one ballaster and match the deck stain, all in all it worked out well.

As you can see, by the inset photo, the railing took quite a blow!

It Has Begun...

Monday afternoon our house will go on the market for $565,000. We spent the day cleaning and meeting with the realtor to determine a reasonable sale price.

I was fine until all of the paper work signing started, and then it became real to me. We now have a lock box on the front door and (as you can see) a sign in the front yard. I will post a link to the MLS listing as soon as it becomes available.

We are happy with the determined value of the house, since just 13 short months ago we purchased it for $400,000. Not a bad way to make $165,000! We of course still have to actually sell the house, but the realtor is confident that we are priced right and positioned to turn the house in a reasonable amount of time. I hope so, because we won't be able to sleep again until all of this is over!

We have begun to get listings for homes in Idaho with a target price of $600,000. Homes in this price range are very nice but come with the caveat of (at the most) being 2 acres or less. If we wanted to get our five acres back (flat treeless scrub of 5 acres I might add) we would need to spend over a million dollars. So, we have adjusted our search accordingly. I figure that as long as I regularly wash and wax the quads, that we will be able to run up and down the road in front of our house without any complaints!

... Now we have to make the bed every morning and pick up after ourselves. This is going to be tough!

Stone Age Man Used Dentist Drill

Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago, according to researchers.

Teeth from a Neolithic graveyard in Mehgarh in the country's Baluchistan province show clear signs of drilling.

Wow! Put down your club and spit!

Monster Rabbit Devours English Gardens!

In a tale reminiscent of the last Wallace and Gromit movie, furious villagers in northeast England have hired armed guards to protect their beloved communal vegetable gardens from a suspected monster rabbit.

Leeks, Japanese onions, parsnips and spring carrots have all been ripped up and devoured by the mystery were-rabbit -- prompting the 12 allotment holders in Felton, north of Newcastle, to hire two marksmen with air rifles and orders to shoot to kill.

"It is a massive thing. It is a monster. The first time I saw it, I said: 'What the hell is that?'" the Northumberland Gazette newspaper quoted local resident Jeff Smith, 63, as saying on its website (www.northumberlandtoday.co.uk).

Whitten DVD Collection Goes Online!

That Strange Falling Sensation

Do you ever wake up suddenly to a falling sensation and a strong muscle twitch just after you have fallen asleep?

This strange falling sensation and muscle twitch is known as a hypnagogic myoclonic twitch or “Hypnic jerk” If this has happened to you on more than one occasion, don’t worry, you are not alone. Close to 70 percent of all people experience this phenomenon just after nodding off, according to a recent study at the Mayo Clinic...

How To Pour Ketchup... The Right Way!

Google Earth In High, HIGH Resolution!

Load up your Google Earth and head to Las Vegas or Cambridge, Massachusetts for a look at what 3 inch resolution satellite mapping looks like! Who needs to fly to Las Vegas... You'll feel like you are there!

Dream Dinners

Dream Dinners is an innovative concept in meal preparation that eliminates menu planning, shopping, prep-work and cleanup by moving the meal assembly process out of people’s kitchens and into specially equipped stores.

Dream Dinners’guests preview a monthly menu online at dreamdinners.com and select their dinners from a menu featuring entrées such as Herb-Crusted Flank Steak and Citrus Ginger Salmon. Then they register to attend a meal assembly session at the nearest Dream Dinners retail location, and pay for their session online.

When it’s time for their session, guests bring boxes or coolers with them to the Dream Dinners store, where our friendly and knowledgeable staff greet them and explain the process. At the store, guests rotate through refrigerated recipe stations, scooping freshly cut and prepped raw ingredients into the provided baking pans or gallon-sized zip-top bags, which they label with the appropriate cooking instructions. The whole process takes two hours and costs about $3.00 per serving.

After assembling the dinners, guests then take the uncooked meals home and freeze them. Each week, three meals are taken from the freezer and placed in the refrigerator to be enjoyed during the week.

Deb and I tried this out! Since the meals feed 4-6 (and they mean it!) we were able to split each meal into two helpings when we created them. So bottom line is $210 dollars: 24 dinners all ready to go in our freezer right now! It took less than 2 hours to make all of the meals. I must say it was a fun process, and the provided coffee and snacks made it even better.

It's Been A WIld Week!

Well as most of you know, it happened this week. After two interviews and much wondering, I was offered a promotion at my place of employment Wednesday afternoon! This was of course an exciting, terrifying, and melancholy day! Much thought, conversations between Deb and I, soul searching, and emotional energy went into my pursuit of this life changing opportunity. Now that it has actually happened we are trying to work through it mentally one small chunk at a time. It is a little hard to get your mind around it when some of the chunks include:

- Selling the house and moving to Idaho!

- Finding a new home in a strange (to us anyway) land!

- Deb quitting her job here, and then hunting for a new one there!

- Leaving all of our friends and family behind!

- And me trying to figure out what the hell I am actually supposed to be doing!

... Every day will be unscripted for quite awhile as the comfort zone must be reinvented 440 miles away!

Deb and I thank everyone for their wishes and good thoughts.

As usual, tune in here for the latest in this next chapter of our lives.