So anyway...had to go do dinner. Back to yak again.
Goodbye Guy and Jan. My minister, guy and his wife Jan, my realtor, are officially on their way to Lansing, Michigan. We had a going away party of sorts for them last Saturday. It turned out more of a counseling session as Guy spent most of the evening helping us deal with his departure and the fact that it is up to us to heal the church and make sure that it never happens again. Basically, in a nutshell, a small group led by a monied family who have been at the church for years, forced Guy out, just because they didn't like him. Very few people saw this coming. As Guy said Saturday, we are all now awake to this issue, and are less likely to let it slip by again.
Guy has shown an amazing strength throughout all of this, and I will miss his humor and energy.
I really grew to know and love Jan while she was helping me find a house. She actually made something fairly confusing and stressful into something fun. I credit her for finding my dream house. She also put up with all my stressing out all while she herself was being stressed out by her husband's job problems and having to move. An absolute Goddess!
I will miss them, but really, they haven't totally left. They have taught me much, and those gifts will stay with me forever!
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Humina, humina, humina! Obviously, I haven't had much time to write of late, so here's my feeble attempt to bring things up to date. You will soon see why time has been a precious commodity.

The House Buying and Selling Thing. Had all the inspections and they came back with a long list of stuff I had to fix on my house. The biggest concerns were the stove, which was putting out 3 times the allowable carbon monoxide, the water heater, which was in fine working order, but getting old, and the roof, which had a couple of cracks, the surface was getting thin and the tin portion of the roof, which FHA just plain wanted nothing to do with. So, although I had agreed to do $1,500 worth of repairs, the buyers wanted me to take care of everything, regardless of costs. At first I was very reluctant, but finally agreed to fix everything on the home inspection report. This will probably cost $1000 extra.
There was also a big controversy involving the roof. Dad had his favorite roofers come down and do an estimate- $1200. They told us that they couldn't do the roof for 3 months, but that it would be allowed by FHA. So I signed the contract. When I tell the realtors this, they go ballistic, saying that is not true, and that the roof must be fixed and certified before closing. Well, the realtor tries to get me another estimate, but that is no good no matter how cheap, because there is a clause in the roofing contract that if I back out, I have to pay half the estimate anyway! So my father pleas with the roofing company and they finally agree to do it next Monday and promise the certification by Wednesday. We close a week from Friday, April 30.
Needless to say, this whole episode made me a bit uneasy. I was upset for several reasons. First, I was starting to feel like the buyers were milking me for everything I had! Obviously this isn't the case. They just want to not have to fix things on their own. Also, I felt that Dad had pressured me into accepting his roofer....Well, this is my life story. I'm 43 and Dad still makes a lot of MY decisions. I know he is trying to help, but sometimes he helps TOO much. I need to work on this.
Also, having all these problems and expenses at once was just making me feel, well, pressured. I don't handle pressure well. On the flip side, my buying of the other house has been going VERY smoothly. The owners are wonderfully friendly people and there are no problems. As for their home inspection, only a few minor repairs were needed on the roof. This got me thinking. I want my buyers to be as happy with their buying experience as I am with mine. I didn't want them to think I was being a jerk, and maybe I was. So I just decided to go with the flow, repair what was needed, and get on with selling the house. Much of this was due to the counseling of my spiritual angel Sonya, who helped me look at the situation from the perspective of God principle.
FHA still makes me a bit nervous, because they can be picky, but apparently, all we need is that roof cert and we are good.
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House Update. All seems to be going well so far with the house. I have been re-preapproved for the loan and all systems are go. Had the termite inspection on my house today and got a clean bill of health. The termite inspection on the new house is tomorrow, then we get the general home inspection on my house Thursday and the new house is inspected on Friday. Jan has offered to do a "sneak peek" of the new house for, as she calls them, my "harem" of female friends sometime this weekend. We have to go under the pretense that I want to measure walls to see if stuff'll fit.

Play Ball! Had the unofficial start of baseball season in Albuquerque this past weekend as the Albuquerque Isotopes played their parent club, the world champion Florida Marlins on Sunday. We had our heaviest rainfall since the dawn of time it seems all week, so I was praying for a respite from the rain and wind, so we'd have a perfect spring day for the first day of baseball. Well, that really didn't happen. The sky cleared somewhat, allowing for the sun to shine for the first couple innings, but the wind was strong and the temperature never got above 47 degrees. The news reported that the wind chill was 34 degrees. Anyway, the beautiful Barbara and myself enjoyed our loaded brats, tall beers (which NEVER got cold, even after 6 plus innings) and had a great time watching the 'Topes wipe up the field with the champs, who clearly didn't want to be here. The rain started coming down in the 7th inning, the tarps came out and the game called 30 minutes later, with the final score 9-1, 'Topes victorious. Shortstop Wilson Valdez, who was called down from the Marlins, came to play and stole bases like a madman. He was my favorite guy last year, and while I wish him success in the bigs, I hope he sticks around a bit , 'cause the guy is a blast to watch. Reminds me a lot of Ricky Henderson in his prime. Oh yeah, I've got different seats this year for my game package, right at third base, four rows up. Awesome seats. Next game April 12th, the "official" home opener.

Recent Books.
Samurai Boogie by Peter Tasker. Fantastic noir mystery set in modern, Tokyo involving the aging jazz fan P.I. Mori. Mori is called in to investigate the suspicious death of a high official, leading him into a bizarre plot involving virtual reality video games, a crazy yakuza, and a illegal immigrant prostitute. Tasker has a wonderfully black sense of humor, and a great knack for character viewpoint and development. He also does a great job describing the bizarre world of Tokyo. Tasker's book reminds me a lot of Isaac Adamson's Billy Chaka series, but with a bit bleaker touch. Highly recommended!

For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen. The third in the Molly Murphy series set in early 20th century New York. This one has Molly infiltrating the sweat shops in the garment district looking for a missing Englishwoman. Again, Bowen does a great job evoking the period, but this series is starting to get a bit "girly" for my tastes. Molly swoons over men way too much, and it slows the story down. Oh well, Bowen has promised a new Welsh mystery with Constable Evan Evans this summer, so I look forward to that.

Movies.
The Missing. Ron Howard's shot in New Mexico weird western. Cate Blanchett teams up with her estranged father Tommy Lee Jones, who abandoned his family to go live with the Indians, to find her teenaged daughter who has been kidnapped by a band of Apache scouts. A really bleak and rough movie from the director of Splash. Beautiful NM scenery, including the Valles Caldera cabin we visited in February. Tommy Lee was great and the movie was generally interesting but I fear it is too violent and downbeat for most tastes.

The Rundown. A really enjoyable adventure movie starring the Rock as a "retrieval expert" sent to the Amazon to bring a rich spoiled kid back to his mob boss father. Well, the kid has a map to a priceless gold statue hidden in the jungle, which evil mine owner Christopher Walken for his own. The Rock has a great screen presence and kicks butt in some very inventive action scenes. The movie also has a great tongue in cheek sense of humor, keeping the tone light, and while there is a lot of violence, it's never gory or over the top. A real pleasant surprise.
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