Definitely around the corner. Also seems like lots of people are on vacation. Commutes are pretty empty, traffic is light. Not bad. Last night went to Taste of Chicago, meeting up with Tracy. Nothing too memorable, but want to hit up Las Tablas again. Ride home was nice, and now that I'm getting up to speed on my bike, I'm thinking my bike is the slow part of the equation. Gearing won't let me go any faster. Oh well. Have to decide on whether to wait for all the furniture to come in, or send out 2 deliveries, one for in stock items and another when all the backorder/special order items come in. Would be nice to have some furniture to use. Also have to start thinking of what to pack and bring over. I can't wait to see what's left, all the detritus, the sediment that will settle to the bottom once the current takes us over to the new place. Seriously. A clean slate is a nice thing to have.

Apparently we could have closed tomorrow, as the seller was available, but they only found that out on Monday. And Tracy and I can't get time off that quickly. Either way, 5 days left. Just picked up content insurance. Another item to check off the list. Worked some more on the floorplan in Sketchup last night. Still figuring out how to do some stuff, which means I'll definitely redo the whole thing after we get measurements of everything. But redoing it should be quicker, now that I'm getting more comfortable with the program. Getting the animations to mimic a walkthrough should be interesting. Right now I don't think I have enough intermediate steps, so you end up moving through cabinets or walls. Also have to spend the time to make the accent chair from Arhaus. The curves should make it interesting. Otherwise, did Urbanathlon resistance training with weights. A whole lot harder with weights. Transcoding of Las Vegas (tv show) plods on, and should be done with the 2nd season soon. Also transcoded The Holiday. Wish I knew how to pull plot summary and description info from iTunes Store listings. Tracy made roasted chicken thighs/legs with veggies for dinner. Forgot to mention that I started using some Shiseido cleanser. Also got some matte/anti-oil stuff as well. That would have come in handy for the wedding photos. But it's some good stuff.

And counting. Went for a run last night, even if it was drizzling a little. Seems like they got ride of the mile markers on the lake front path, so I drew my run out quickly on Google Maps and it's only like 1 1/2 miles. Whoops. I'll have to start lengthening it out tomorrow. Watched The Middleman. It's kind of getting better. Kind of. I wonder if I'd like it better with a bigger budget. Otherwise, still more floorplan work. Decided to try and redo it all. This was after figuring out there's a whole lot of existing components, like cabinets, windows, doors and the like that I don't have to make myself. So it should make things a little easier the 2nd time around. Maybe I'll give it another go, and not put down a floor until the end. Hmmm. Tracy made lamb chops for dinner, potatoes and broccoli. I finally made some mini cobblers; peach, peach & raspberry, and one raspberry and strawberry. Pretty easy. Have a 4 day weekend coming up, but Tracy's working, so I think I have to start packing, taking some stuff down, getting ready to get it moved. Exciting.

Last night nothing special. Tracy made a chicken pot pie type dish. Good, but not necessarily traditional pot pie filling. Also, had to make a grocery run after resistance training to get ice cream for the cobblers I made the night before. Ended up watching My Boys, and getting annoyed with a giant fly that's buzzing around the condo. On Independence Day, nothing too special since Tracy was working. Got up with her, watched Pathfinder, picked up some Keen Venice H2's from erewhon and visited with Russell for a bit, did my run, had some leftovers for dinner, watched Finding Amanda, made turkey sloppy joes for dinner, watched Waitress with Tracy, then went down to Diversey to watch the fireworks. Gonna go mattress shopping tomorrow. Oh, took down some shelves today. Supposed to start packing up some other stuff tomorrow. Not sure when we're actually gonna start living at the new place. Kind of have to wait for furniture.

Well, it's done. Tracy and I are homeowners. Closing went smoothly yesterday afternoon. The seller's attorney actually gave us the keys before everyone got there actually, since the seller wasn't there, and so we wouldn't forget them when we left. So I guess we missed out on that little bit of theater. But we walked back from the attorney's office, picked up a bottle of bubbly, actually headed back to 3550 N. Lake Shore Dr. Unit 601, packed up the car with a few things, some glasses, dish towels, a couple of tables, and headed over. It's great. But empty. We're getting a new mattress delivered tonight. Some of the furniture from Crate & Barrel is on backordered, so we're playing the waiting game to see if they come in soon enough so we only have to pay for a single truck delivery. Ordered some more stuff from Pottery Barn. Need to measure once more for Room & Board dresser and night stands. And of course we need to pack up the stuff we do use, and drag that over. And have to get cable, internet and phone set up. So even more spending. But it's so nice have a clean blank slate for Tracy and I to make our own. Other than that, Tracy worked all weekend. I'd get up and watch Joan of Arcadia, which is really good on HDNet, and then go back to sleep. Watched The Ten, Night Watch, Day Watch, Hairspray, Resident Evil: Extinction on Saturday and Sunday. Took down any wall hangings and patched up screw holes. Bought the new mattress Saturday after Tracy got home from work, had dinner at Halsted's Bar and Grill. Transcoded a couple more episodes of Spice Up My Kitchen. Had the final walkthrough of 3535 N. Reta #4 Sunday night. Everything checked out. Monday had waffles (my best effort yet) and bacon, made some blueberry compote. Went to the closing. Had dinner at Taco Burrito Palace II.

Had our first dinner at 3535 N. Reta Ave. Unit 4 last night. Had to be there to take a mattress delivery, so Tracy wandered over to Whole Foods and picked us up some dinner. Ate up on the roof, sitting on the deck. Very nice. Put together the console and nesting tables for the deck as well. Also set up schedules for the thermostat, since we aren't living there yet. Things we need to remember: post it notes, to label light switches, of which there are many, and kitchen cabinets, for organization, like utensils, dishes, glasses, and so on. Looks like I'm going to have my own little baking nook, which is pretty cool. We won't get in the way of each other while she makes dinner and I make dessert. I also looked at the current AV wiring setup, and will try and make some sense of it, and figure out what I want to do and how I'm gonna do it. Otherwise, came back to our other home, Tracy packed up a couple more boxes, I put another coat on the patching I had done over the weekend from removing the wall hangings, and watched another episode of Joan of Arcadia. Oh, and I finally got Time Machine back up and running. I just had to reselect the network share as the location to back up to, and away it went. So that's good. Maybe I should actually try and restore something to see if it works.

Tracy packed up 4 more boxes last night which we brought over to the new place after dinner. Also brought the Cobb grill, and the leaning bookshelf. Wandered up to the deck to get some air, then back to the old place. Sketched up a couple different dressers to see how they'd look in the bedroom, and then ordered one and some night stands from Room & Board. Oh, and ordered a grill from Ace Hardware. Slowly coming together. Watched another episode of Joan of Arcadia. Still not sure how I want to handle home automation, if at all, or audio/video distribution, especially since wireless HDMI or HD signals won't be coming for a couple months. Headed back over tonight, I think. Woke up this morning fairly congested, which was weird. It'd be a shame if I was coming down with something.

New iPhone software update was released this morning, just as I was about to leave for work. I wisely chose to wait until tonight to do the upgrade. Otherwise, I would have been sans phone for the day, since there are/were issues with the reactivation process. Hopefully it'll be all nice and quick when I try it tonight. Also means I'm gonna try and set up getting work email on it as well. Which could be construed as a bad thing. We'll see. Rode home in the rain last night, but not the bad thunderstorms. That showed up after I went to the new place, dried off some clothes in the dryer in our unit, helped Tracy bring some stuff up from Bed Bath & Beyond, then headed back to the old place, and then the thunder and lightning hit. Leftover spaghetti for dinner. Watched another Joan of Arcadia. Started Point of Impact yesterday. Oh, also went upstairs to grab some more stuff we had in storage in the other condo. Our place is pretty crazy right now, lots of stuff out, boxes everywhere. Room & Board dressers and nightstands are getting delivered tomorrow. Going to get paint for the master bedroom tonight. Another moving run tonight as well. Painting this weekend. And totally off my exercise and training schedule. But trucking boxes up and down 4 flights of stairs has to come for some sort of physical activity, right?

Well, a week being homeowners and it's actually starting to feel a little lived in now. We seem to at least have moved enough to start eating meals over there, even if we don't have chairs to sit on or tables to eat on. Moved more stuff over Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Made my first Home Depot run as a homeowner, and could have spent even more than I did for all sorts of home stuff. Also painted the master bedroom, starting on Saturday night and finishing up on Sunday. Also got nightstands and a dresser from Room & Board Saturday morning. Brought over the Apple TV to have something to watch. Need to pick up some more paint today to finish off the accent wall and tray ceiling. Also looking into getting a different wall mount for the TV in the living room, so it can pivot out and we can watch from the kitchen. Trying to decide between a Peerless SA760PU or PLA60-UNL. Dual or single arm, but just need the 180° swivel is all. Also brought over the Aeron chair on Sunday to have something to sit on. Friday night did last sort of bike maintenance on the bikes in the garage. Brought over the bike stand and tools to the new place, and no longer have to carry them up and down stairs anymore.

Picked up some more paint on the way home from work. Used the little folding baskets on the bike. I really need to get some sort of strap system, not bungie cords, because those are unsafe. Dropped that off at the new place, then had to lug the 6 new folding deck chairs from the vestibule up into our unit. That was fun. Then headed back to the old place for dinner, then back to the new place to paint the accent wall in the bedroom. Also brought laundry over, so I got to do our first load of laundry. Which was awesome. Took me a while to get the TV back on the wall in the master bedroom. Thinking of maybe just using the Apple TV as a video source in there until wireless HDMI comes of age, or I figure out how I want to get the place rewired. Works pretty well. Need to get an DVI-HDMI cable to try and plug the Mac mini into the other TV. Also moving phone service over to the new place. Next up: cable/internet.

I really need to catch up on sleep. I'd say I'm in the negative on that. But shouldn't have to stay up too late anymore. Made another moving run last night, Tracy had packed up more of the kitchen stuff, appliances, spices and so on. After that we headed over to Halsted's for dinner, which is our go to place now because it's so close. Came back, I put another coat on the accent wall in the master bedroom, and Tracy unpacked the folding deck chairs. Then we had to get ride of the boxes, since all 6 were packed individually. Hopefully the boxes will get picked up my recycling at some point. More stuff we have to worry about. We did mean another of our neighbors last night, on our way out the door. Wondering if we should do some sort of formal introduction to the building. Would be nice, wouldn't it? Decided to try out Comcast for cable/internet. Just a trial run. If not, can also just cancel and switch over to RCN again. Or maybe go with DSL. Wait and see. Headed out on the train tonight to the Argaos; Gabe, Sania, and Ella are in town.

Met Ella, Sania and Gabe's daughter, Tracy's niece, my niece-in-law, or just plain niece, last night. She's tiny, and cute, and 9 1/2 weeks old. Very cute. Absolutely adorable. Had dinner out at the Argaos, Momma Argao made pot roast, and ginataan for dessert. Also borrowed a ladder, so we can finish painting the little accent in the tray ceiling in the master bedroom. And then we'll be done painting. Tracy had the day off today, and her family came up to visit, check out the new place, baby too. They also brought up the chair she got from Arhaus, which makes one more piece of furniture we have. Supposed to get phone service installed today. Oh, finally got some passport photos taken, and I'll get my renewal out in the mail tomorrow. Finally. Good thing I don't have any plans to leave the country. Oh, and it's hot outside.

Kind of been a crazy week, lots going on, and next week should be even crazier, since Market Track is moving their Chicago office. It's just down the street a block, but still, got things to pack up, move around, take apart, it's crazy. Crazy I tell you. Met Tracy at the new place after work yesterday, then headed over to Cozy's for dinner before she had a haircut at 8:15. I walked some boxes back, moved the phones/answering machine from the old to the new, since phone service was successfully moved over. Yay. Cable/Internet get installed tomorrow, along with delivery of a deck dining table. Tracy's picking up the grill tonight from Ace Hardware, and I apparently didn't have to order online and ship to store, as they had them in stock, but I didn't know, and didn't bother to check. Next time. And I realized that the Ace Hardware on Clark and Wellington is closer than the Home Depot on Halsted and Schubert. Hmmm, good things to know. Also got another BBQ at the Argaos on Saturday afternoon, Ella's coming out party on Sunday in Chinatown. Oh, and finish painting the master bedroom. And probably move the computers over as well. And should have a new wall mount for the TV in the living room so we can watch in the kitchen as well.

Friday night made it home, carried the grill up from Tracy's car in the new place, also the new wall mount for the living room TV. Assembled the new grill, so Tracy could make dinner. Then put the new wall mount together and on the wall. It's awesome. Can totally watch TV while working in the kitchen now. Do need to get a Flat Power Strip Liberator so the mount can fold flatter against the wall though. Was supposed to do some painting, but the wall mount took a long time. Went back to the old place to sleep. Back to the new place Saturday morning for the alarm setup, which went fine, the delivery of the Pottery Barn dining table for the roof, which also went fine, and the Comcast install, which of course, didn't go fine. They were late, but managed to call 3 minutes before the end of the window, to say they'd be late because too many defective set top boxes, so had to pick up more from the warehouse, except they didn't have any, so instead they just came out to install internet. Which they did. Which worked for 15 minutes. Then Tracy, coming back from picking up some more stuff from the old place, said the installers were up on ladders in the alley. And then the internet stopped working. Sweet. Anyway, had to head out to the Argaos for a family BBQ. Ended up seeing The Dark Knight at the Woodridge 18 at 9:45pm, got tickets around 8:15pm, got to the theater about 20 minutes before the show, and managed to get decent seats. Good movie, but long. Slept out there Saturday night, then headed out shopping at a bunch of places on Sunday. Need to have measurements of windows and closet shelves before shopping again. Having wall colors handy would help as well. Then a multi-course meal for Ella's coming out party at Phoenix Restaurant. Lots of food. Even got to hold Ella for an extended period. Very cute. Then finally did a little painting in the master bedroom, since we got furniture delivered today. Including a dining room table. Except that some of it needs to be assembled. Awesome. Still lots of stuff to do, and try and get cable and internet working again. Ugh. Maybe we should have just gone with RCN.

Finished up the tray ceiling last night, at least, I hope I finished up the tray ceiling. Had to go ahead and tape off the top molding, as I wasn't good enough just using the brush. Hopefully I taped well enough, and won't have to go back to do more touchups. Tracy put together the dining room table, and only needed help getting the table top on. Still have the chairs in the boxes. The deck furniture wasn't as big as I thought it was, or our deck is bigger than I thought it was, either way, there needs to be some accessories up there, like plants and stuff. Bed and bench are up against the wall, waiting to be assembled. I think that'll be the first stuff that goes together. Now we have to find places to put boxes, or at least keep track of when recycling comes through, which I think was Thursdays, so boxes don't hang out for extended periods in our neighbor's parking spots. Living room rug and trunk looks good. It's nice to have some carpet. Tracy's starting to get a little disheartened with the slow pace of moving, but I figure we should be mostly good by the weekend, and just decorating after that. Of course then we have to start fixing up the old place. Sweet. Headed out tonight to Maggiano's in Oak Brook for a last family dinner with Gabe, Sania, and Ella before they head back east tomorrow.

So the tape job wasn't so good. Lots of leaking, not so even, so some of the old blue peeks through in spots. Not good at all. So I'll have to go back in and do some serious touch up work. Took the train down to Midlothian last night, Tracy picked me up and we cruised up 294 to get to Maggiano's in Oak Brook. Last chance to see Ella before they visit again in October. Came back into the city, dropped off some more stuff that Tracy bought for the house, found out about my poor painting job. Plan to put the bed together tonight, and the bench, then take the chairs out of the boxes, oh, and put the umbrella up on the deck dining room table, and then put the desk together. Then comes the touch up painting. Still not sure what I want to do AV-wise. Still want to put together a completed Sketchup model. Oh, and call in and get another Comcast appointment. Ugh.

So my plans were a little off for last night. Ended up putting the umbrella up first. Fairly easy. It's tall though. Way taller than anything else in the neighborhood. Awesome. Tracy made some sort of steak and veggie stir fry over mashed potatoes, which we ate on the deck, at the dining table, on the folding chairs, under the umbrella. After that I went to work on the bedroom furniture, getting the bed together, and then spending more time and effort on getting the bench together. But everything worked out. The wood on the bed and bench don't match the nightstands and dresser exactly, but it's close enough, and Tracy had picked out a perfect sized rug for the bedroom too. She also got the dining rooms chairs out of the boxes and set up in the living/dining room. So seriously coming together. All that's left is the desk to put together tonight, and then some wall hangings, and then waiting for the couch, and decorating. And, we're planning on actually sleeping there tonight. First time. Only 17 days after we bought it. Nice. We'll have to pack up some clothes at the old place, probably not all of them. It's a good chance to do some closet cleaning out as well. Speaking of the old place, the remote is on the fritz, and I need to reconfigure it, which I can't at the old place because there is no internet, and the Harmony remotes use the internet to configure, which is awesome. I should probably just take it to the new place, and just use the old remotes at the old place. This just means we haven't been watching any TV for the past week or so. Just using the Apple TV.

Finally slept there last night. Made a couple of moving trips, packed up a lot more stuff, including clothes and pillows and our duvet. Put the desk together, picked up some cold cuts for dinner, then after the 2nd moving trip sat down and got computers/internet up and running. Had to call Comcast and get the cable modem reregistered. Again. But it's working. And the home network is completely wireless, which means it's slow, well, slower for some slinging movie files around. For example, I wanted to get Shooter on my iPhone since I'd be busy all day with Market Track moving and might have some down time to watch something. But it was going to take forever this morning. Oh, and I'm having issues once again with my firewire enclosure. Now I think it's related to the power supply, having issues delivering enough juice for 8 drives. And it's really loud. If I can't move it into the closet, I may have to start looking at getting something quieter for Time Machine backups and media storage. Maybe a Time Capsule? Definitely have to get another Apple TV. Oh, had some trouble sleeping last night, it being a new bed and space and all. Showering was different, felt very much like a hotel shower. Nice though. Definitely feels like home now. Especially with internet access.

Well, big weekend. Friday night was the Market Track move down the street, which ended up being a pretty late night, even though it was our second time doing it. Figure we might be a little more versed in the process, but I still didn't get to go home until 4am, and then had to be back around 8:30am. Awesome. Bike riding home at 4am is interesting though, just cause the only people out are those going home for the places that close at 4am. Which is a surprising amount of people. But definitely nice and quiet. Saturday, only had to go in to work until 1pm or so. Then headed to the old home to pick up the AV Receiver, to try and get some music for the party. Took me a while, but it works. Using the Remote app on the iPhone to control music piping throughout the house? Pretty sweet. If they could only do volume control. I'll have to wait and see what sort of iPhone home automation stuff people can come up with before deciding what I want to do. Would be nice to be able to control it all from my phone. But the new place, at least the deck, very conducive to socializing. Lisa and Ryan were in town, and they stayed with us, so we had Bonnie and Ray, Jespy, the Russells, Tony and Carlo over to hang out. Tracy worked the grill, which is a little small for entertaining. Otherwise, pretty nice. Didn't really see any fireworks from Venetian Night, Chicago gets in the way. Didn't stay up too late, since I was running on 2-3 hours of sleep. Lisa and Ryan and Jespy spent the night, and Sunday morning April joined us and we made it over to Nookies Tree for breakfast, and got there early enough that we didn't wait too long. Hung out at home for a little bit longer before everyone checked out. Tracy and I went out to do some more shopping, Home Depot, Pier 1 Imports, Bed Bath & Beyond and Target. And the place is getting closer. Got a paper towel holder installed. Shoe rack. Plunger. Getting closer.

Had a meeting with Jason last night. Things are moving along there. Tracy made pasta with with the leftover grilled veggies, as well some Italian sausage and real roasted garlic bread. Also started hanging stuff on the walls. First up was the clock above the stairs. Not sure what's next, but there's lots to do. I also scheduled up some stuff for the DVR, which from Comcast is the same model as the one from RCN, just running a different software/firmware. Got to get used to it again, and it's again because it's the original interface that RCN used before switching to the Passport software. I do not like how channels are out of order, and they are very jumbled up, at least with the HD channels, so broadcast is mixed up with cable and premium channels. Kind of annoying. And I still don't know what the exact channel lineup is, since there's 5 areas, and some old and digital rebuild areas. Also managed to change the home network to a WDS, which should hopefully get me better coverage on the roof deck. I want to pick up the old Airport Express from my parents place in Woodstock and put it in the master bedroom somewhere to extend the network a little bit that way as well. Of course, that means replacing that one with something new, maybe a Time Capsule. Oh, also dropped by the old place to pick up my bike bags, and the charging station. Got a milk shake from Cold Stone Creamery to tide me over on the way.

Leftovers for dinner last night. Went through bills and stuff, setting up auto pays where applicable. Started looking for a garbage/recycling solution for the kitchen, taking shelves out of cabinets, trying to find a space that fits some preexisting solution. But no luck. Did find a really cool recycling center that fits into a corner cabinet, where a lazy susan would go. Where does the term lazy susan come from anyway? But our cabinets are kind of custom, so I'm not sure if it would completely fit in the space. Very annoying. I totally want a pull out trash, top mounted, like my parents have in their kitchen, but the available cabinet isn't big enough, unless I try and make my own, which I might do. Annoying. Tracy organized the deck wet bar area with outdoor dishes and glasses. Finally got around to doing another Time Machine backup, which took forever. Home network is 802.11b/g/n since it's set up as a WDS, and I don't think I want to double up on access points, although it is tempting.

Picked up some cabling supplies and a mattress protector on the way home from work yesterday. A few more of the Cable Cuffs I was using to keep the Wald folding baskets temporarily attached broke, so I might have to look into a more permanent solution to keeping them on my bike. Not sure what though, maybe some P-Clamps or something. Tracy made some Italian sausages, peppers and onions on bread for dinner. Watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog via Hulu over dinner. Had some issues with the DVR, I think from the giant storm from the previous night and some possible lightning activity nearby. But a reboot seemed to do the trick. Ended up watching Feast of Love, which was an Apple TV Rental from way back that expires soon, while folding and putting away more of my clothes. I think I might have figured out how to program Tracy's car garage door opener, which I'll have to try tonight, which means I can just use the one we got, so I don't have to get another one. That'd be nice, instead of having to go around the side door all the time, open the garage door from the inside to put my bike in. Need to get different cabling stuff, since the cheap route I tried didn't work. Might try hanging some more stuff today, maybe the paintings above the bed.