Two more people in my office have gotten the house-buying bug. One has pretty much finished, but the other is discovering various legal wrangles, and is getting the vibe that the seller and the vendor are hiding something from him. He's not sure that it's not some past history between them, rather than anything to do with the property, but (as he said), "If it really has nothing to do with me, then they need to hide it better." :)
There's talk about "mega-nega-money", which I think is a much better term than "mortgage".
***
I wanted to go to a seminar at Vic that had a title along the lines of "Culturally Aware Persuasive Technologies", but I forgot that this wasn't consistent with my desire to walk into work. :( The walk is pretty good, by the way - it takes about three-quarters of an hour at a brisk pace, and it's a nice amount of time to be listening to music with little or no distraction. And it's exercise, which is good, and not using petrol, which is both environmentally and fiscally responsible.
I'll admit that it's a lot nicer to be walking to work than walking home, though - but I think that's something to do with glorious sunshine vs. dreary cold and dark, rather than any eagerness to get to my computer and start sifting through email. :)
Anyway, to make up for missing the seminar, here's a link to a survey being run by the University of Waikato's Computer Science department to find the worst song in the world. Why don't you go help them out? :)
***
Had lunch yesterday with the elusive Topcat, who long-term friends will remember from Vic Uni's long-vanished BBS. She seemed in good spirits. It's a little sad that nothing sprang up to take the place of the BBS... although perhaps blogs serve a similar purpose. Arguments with Creationists notwithstanding, I suspect I tend to write more here than I did there - and I feel a lot less pressure to be entertaining or relevant, since I don't feel I'm cluttering up a public space if I'm suddenly possessed by a desire to talk about my garden.
... which is something that will need tending to this weekend, I suppose - I've planted a couple of fuscias, but I might put in something colourful and low, like pansies or violets. I should buy some compost, since I seem to be tossing out a lot of dirt while I'm weeding, and my soil doesn't look particularly fertile. Oh, and I need to clean up my front yard - even with the gate closed, I seem to get large quantities of rubbish blowing in from the street. Having visitors on Sunday, and the new flatmate on Tuesday should ensure that the house is pretty tidy - which will be good for next Saturday.
I hope that having the new flatmate turns out well.
Posted by svend at April 21, 2005 10:12 AM