Since I didn't buy a house, I'm going to Rome.

About 8 or 9 months ago, there was a house in the neighborhood that I rent from near my job that was going to auction.  I decided, "What the hell?  Why not start the process to bid on it?"  So I did.  I signed up with a mortgage company, got an agent, and started the process.
Well, it didn't go well.  The house never went on auction.  It was in the process with another buyer.  I got to look inside, and it was beautiful and big and had a pool and jacuzzi.  Although the pool was all fool of scum so I couldn't really tell if the pump worked or anything.  Then the bank dropped the other potential buy, but asked for $50k or more than what my agent thought that it was worth.  So I made a low offer, was declined, and let it go. 
Then, about 4 months ago my agent called me out of the blue and said that the house had been appraised for about what we offered for it.  I said "Cool, let's offer what it was appraised for!"  And we did.  And it was accepted!  Great!  Scary!!  Gary inspected it (with no water or power on), and found a couple problems, but said it was mostly good.  We still didn't know if the pool worked.

I had planned to visit a friend in New York city this spring, but put it off because I needed all of my savings for a down payment!

After deciding that my budget could just barely manage the payments, a lot of thought, and a pro-con list, I decided not to buy the house.  I loved it, but it wasn't the right time for Gary and I.  If I had bought the house, I couldn't pay rent where we live now, and he'd basically be homeless.  Not a good situation.

But from then on, I was pretty free with my money.  I kept saying, "Since I didn't buy a house, I can afford this!"  I bought $100 boots and $100 pants just because I liked them.  I bought plane tickets for 5 people and didn't have them pay me back.  I bought expensive cheese, went to the movies, paid for all of our dinners out.  

It was a great few months!  Then, my niece's best friend for 16 years (starting when they were toddlers) said that she was going to nanny in Rome for a month this summer.  This sounds like a great excuse to go to Rome with one of my favorite people!  I checked package costs, and ended up buying a package from Orbitz for 7 days in Rome this July!

The only downside is that I can't say, "Since I didn't buy a house, I can afford this!" because now my extra savings is taking my niece and I to Rome!

If I do end up buying a house in the next couple of years, I hope my nephews are okay with a slightly less epic trip...  May be stay with family in Finland?  Hawaii?  Latin America?  But I have a few years to save for those trips, and a house.

I worked hard for my degree and avoided having children, which is what allows me to have some money now.  But I know that my family's support through most of my education and being White also has helped me get as far as I have.
How far is that?  Rome with the one who made me an aunt!

Deadpool

For all of it's R-rated fanfare, Deadpool was pretty much any action movie from a couple decades ago.  It was a bit more raunchy than Kill Bill (either volume), and just as violent.  What makes it even less watchable is that the one woman character was so stereotypical. 

I don't even remember her name.

But she started out a badass, protecting herself at a rough bar.  But she immediately refers to herself as "merchandise," objectifying herself.  And the love story that we see?  Is them having sex.  She was a badass for, like, a minute, and then just a willing sex toy.  The movie is just all male fantasy all the time. 

And during the sex montage?  Why is International Women's Day celebrated by painful anal intercourse?  What are you saying about women if you celebrate us that way?!  

When we finally get back to her, she's a dancer or waitress or something in a strip club.  WTF was she doing in a mercenary bar, and protecting herself well, if she's merely a waitress?!  It all makes no sense. 

Legal Marriage =/= Wedding

After a discussion with a colleague around an assignment on marriage equality in my Human Sexuality class, I've come to realize that not everyone recognizes the important difference between a wedding and legal marriage.  So I wrote this up for my class:

A wedding is a religious ceremony and celebration.  Marriage, on the other hand, is a legal contract recognized by the government.  

Gay couples have been able to have weddings in certain faith communities for a several decades (shout out to UU's!!). Vermont was the first state to recognize civil unions, and Massachusetts was the first state to recognize marriage between two people of the same sex (this info is based off of my memory of living through the years, so I may be wrong...).  

If it helps you to recognize the difference between weddings and marriage, think about the positions of U.S. slaves.  They could not get legally married because they were not considered legal people in their own right.  However, couples often held a ceremony or ritual with their family and community to demonstrate their love and commitment (Google "jumping the broom" FMI).  Obviously, the slave owners and the government didn't recognize this ceremony in any way.  The slave owner could still sell one of the committed partners and not the other, or sell both to different people.  

I hope that helps.  I didn't realize that people who aren't associated with some of these minorities didn't see the difference between legal marriage and a wedding. 

Every Driver Needs Jumper Cables

Dr. O. to the rescue!

As I was walking back to my office tonight, someone from my class said her friend's car had died and asked if I had jumper cables.  I said yes, but since Prius's have THREE batteries, I don't jump cars from my own.  I got my car keys, and then the student whose car was dead said that she didn't know who to jump her car from.  And she was almost crying, poor dear!  Or was trying to stop crying.  Anyway, there was a guy sitting in a running car near mine, so we asked him.  Guys love to help women!  So I got my cables and he drove to the dead car.  He quickly jumped her car, and off we all went!

The morale of this story is:  every driver needs their own set of jumper cables.  This is not the first time that I've loaned mine out to be used on two other cars.

Dog Beach Day!

This is the second time that we've taken Brie to the dog beach.  The first time, we just walked and got the feel of it.  This time, we wore swimsuits and brought snacks!

Gary, the sea, and my knees! -->

Brie was pretty alert, making sure no dogs or humans attacked her humans!

It was great weather, around 73 with a light breeze.

Brie acted like she was well-trained, too!  She stayed with us, and laid on the beach with us.  She wasn't sure about the waves that kept coming in, but she did like running in the water.  I think she even growled at a big wave that was coming towards her Daddy!

I never would have expected this, but this is exactly what I want my life to be!  #dogbeachdaysalways!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Possible (probable) SPOILERS ahead!

I've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA) twice in theaters now.  I may watch it again, or just wait until I can get it on DVD to continue to watch it.  I loaned my set of the first 6 to a student, and she hasn't given them back, so I might have to buy them all over again!

Anyway, it's safe to say that I love TFA, even though I do see some places where there's a little too much missing information, or improbable coincidences.

There are several reasons why I love it.  It's action-packed and funny.
But more importantly, it's a Star Wars film.  The universe is the Star Wars galaxy, unlike the prequels.  Those were so CGI'd and glossy that none of it felt like Star Wars.  This one does.  The gadgets are similar, the machines are worn, it's just Star Wars.
It's also a pretty similar story to the original (A New Hope); there's a hero(ine) who lost their parents who is stuck on a desert planet and is untrained and mostly unknowledgeable about The Force, who goes on an adventure with the resistance to save the galaxy.  There's a villain who's taking orders from a more evil villain.  There's an unnecessary cantina scene.  There's a feisty woman who saves herself.  There's a crazy scary monster scene.

But I do have some problems, or questions.  Here they are:

1. Why does Finn's conditioning not work?  Does this happen often?  Is he special in some way?
2. How convenient was it for Han to find the Millenium Falcon at just that moment?  
3. Why didn't R2-D2 wake up when BB-8 first came to him with part of the map?  Why did it only happen after the Starkiller was destroyed? 
4. Is Rey just a random girl who is strong with The Force?  Is she an Organa-Solo?  Is she Luke's daughter?!  
5. Why can Rey speak every language?!
6. Did someone take care of Rey when she was first abandoned?  Who?  Was it that old guy with the map (Lor San Tekka is his name; I looked it up)?
7. How convenient was it that Han took Rey to the place where Luke's lightsaber was?

After watching the movie, I have read some things about it.  People have interesting theories about Rey!  I hope that Disney figures out that people (adults, boys, girls) want Rey merchandise!

I can't wait for Episode VIII!!!

Auntie Day 2015

I took some pictures on my own this year, so this Auntie Day post won't be late!

This year's theme was CHEESE!!  It was also Gary's first Auntie Day with us!  It was one of our more mellow celebrations, but that was fine for all of us.

We started off watching an episode of the TV show Chopped because all of the courses had cheese in them!  What's really cool is that one of the contestants is from Portland, Atalua, and we're going to his restaurant in a few days!   They also got me a giant container of cheese puffs to eat while watching it.  They were all mine!!  Okay, I did share; I just can't say no to those kids!

The big event for the evening was going to a local fondue restaurant, Urban Fondue.

We skipped the meat course to focus on melted cheese and melted chocolate.  So yummy!  I was happy that they offered sausage to dip in the cheese so we really had the best of both worlds!  In pairs, we got to pick the type of cheese we wanted, and extra sides, as well as the type of chocolate we wanted.  We tasted everyone's, and I think that Gary and I chose the best cheese (brie and gorgonzola) and chocolate (dark chocolate with no additions)!  Gary hadn't had fondue since it was hip in the '70s, so that was fun!

Another great Auntie Day!  I'm happy that my family invented this day for me, and we keep celebrating it!  We're trying to convince Gary's daughters to start their own Auntie Day, but they might choose the commercially-set date in the summer.  That works better for them.