weapons of massdistraction

I’ve been coming to terms with some bad news. My bubble has been burst - yet again - about this house selling business. Last week my realtor went over his market analysis with me. I’ve been trying to absorb it but all the number crunching in the world isn’t going to help. Even in the best case scenario, my net profit would be far too little to make a move worth it. Sure, house prices are lower across the board. I’d be selling low and buying low. But it still wouldn’t work. I’d have to finance more of it than I’d anticipated. And because the child support we receive isn’t court ordered it can’t be considered income, and I’d qualify for less of a mortgage. I don’t want to move us into a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood, just for the sake of living somewhere in Minneapolis.

Been trying to look on the bright side about staying put. In the last nine years nearly all of the major issues have been addressed (read: a lot of money has been thrown at problems to make them go away). The house is spacious and gorgeous and decorated just the way I want. The neighborhood is safe and not without charm. The commute is going to suck even more for the little man, whose school is moving further south in a couple of weeks. But many Minneapolitan folks I know have been having trouble with break-ins (two of them while they were in their homes).

Another consolation prize? Punch Pizza is opening a new location on Grand Avenue, not so very far from here.

Bonus: Just ordered a copy of Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community and Art by Russell Howze, which includes pages featuring the lovely and local Amy Rice. And speaking of books - how about Philip Pullman on Age Banding.
Plus: Radiohead’s Big Ideas (Don’t Get Any) played by old computer parts. Perhaps better than Prince covering Creep (not because of the quality of his cover, but more because of his proprietary attitude about it).
And: Like a giant ball pit, but in water - the L.A. Department of Water and Power dropped 400,000 plastic balls into the Ivanhoe Resevoir. And speaking of balls, the 30th Anniversary of “Ping-pong Diplomacy” Marked in Beijing.