This was a particularly good Good Friday for me.

[rax]

There were a bunch of little reasons, like getting to bed early and having a light workday, but here are the two big ones:

• I have an accepted offer on a house in Bloomington, IN. (It's the one with the green roof.)
• I handed my MA thesis in. Early.

Yes, that's right. I finished my thesis late Thursday night after realizing I could make a push and get it done and not spend the whole weekend miserable. I handed it in early Friday morning --- they have the option of telling me to tweak it [0] and if they do I have a couple of weeks to fix it, and the final-final-final submission is actually May 15th but the extra month is for working on formatting and I'm already done with that because no one told me I shouldn't have the formatting perfect for this draft. *sigh* It's in the documentation, but the documentation contradicts itself, and I went with the earliest deadline since that's the sane thing to do... But it doesn't matter now, because it's done.
The house thing, oh my god. I worked with Zak Szymanski at Jeanne Walters real estate, and I would absolutely recommend him to any of you looking to buy a house in Bloomington --- he was amazing. We only had two days on the ground, and we looked at scads of houses, and I'm already working on the items on a closing checklist five days after touching down in Bloomington. It's a split-level house with an extra bonus basement under the theoretically single-level part; I've heard it called a quad-level. It's ginormous and gorgeous and in excellent condition and and and and. At some point I'm going to draw diagrams on graph paper and be like "My house! This is where I will put things!" Here's a brief list of the awesome features:

• An induction stove, which I've heard good things about and want to give a try, but we can always install gas if it is terrible
• Three extra rooms in the basement space, two of which would make excellent craft studios or something
• Ample space for dinner parties
• So much storage space, like oh my god.
• Four bedrooms --- we're definitely going to have at least one guest bedroom (which will probably also be my home office, like now)
• It takes longer to walk from the front door to the street than from the street to a bus stop, and it's a pleasant bike ride to the building I'll be spending much of my time in on campus

There's more, of course. I could go on and on and on about this house that I am very likely to soon own. And I do mean soon --- it looks like we're going to be taking possession, if all goes well, on May 17th. I don't know how long it will take to find housemates --- we'd like one or two other people, I really like cooperative living situations --- but I expect to get nice and settled in over the summer before school even starts, and that will make starting school much better, I think. So, cross your fingers for me that everything goes well with this, and expect me to be at least somewhat more present both online and at social events, starting soon.




[0] They could tell me they're failing me. But they won't.

Comments

[tiamat360.livejournal.com]

Hooray for both thesis and house! Congratulations!

[sovay]

I handed my MA thesis in. Early.

Mazel tov! Go, you!

[perbac.livejournal.com]

> So, cross your fingers for me that everything goes well with this

Crossing fingers!

[weirdquark]

Awesome!

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! You rock!

Nine

[schrodi-kitten.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[jadia.livejournal.com]

Yay! Maybe we could hang out & have dinner or something one of these days? :) I miss you!

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

Thesis submitted, yay!

[jackbishop.livejournal.com]

Awesomeness on both counts! Give me a shout when you come out here for good (or when you have a housewarming whatever). You're close enough for a day trip, or I have an air mattress should it get late.

[rax.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! We should have a spare bed, but I guess if it's a party the air mattress is worth bringing just in case. :) It will be awesome to get to see you more.

[cshiley.livejournal.com]

Not all cookware works on induction stoves. I don't know the details but you should investigate before you get there and are tired from unpacking and want to make food hot and it doesn't work. :)

[rax.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've confirmed I have at least some stuff that will work. I'll have a couple of plug-into-the-wall electric burners if I really need them, too. I'm not 100% sure I'll stick with induction, but other people seem to really like it and it is more efficient.

[lhexa.livejournal.com]

Many congratulations! Does this mean you plan to stay in Bloomington beyond graduate school?

[rax.livejournal.com]

It's not terribly likely, as it's probably not the best place to be whether I want to be in academia or back in industry when I'm done. But the real estate market is such that for five years, buying is probably better than renting (especially with the ridiculous $8000 tax credit this year!), and this program is probably more of a 6-7 year program. eredien is also considering applying to grad programs at IU, and it would probably take her another year or three to get into one, so we might be around for an extra year or two for her to finish a program.

Of course, who knows what's going to happen; in four years it may turn out the dissertation research I need to do is somewhere else, and I won't be spending much time there at all. :) I could also end up staying in Bloomington forever. I'm currently planning on leaving, but it's hard to predict anything right now.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Congratulations^2

[darthbitsy.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! *is slightly intimidated by the thought of buying a house*

So, where do we look if we want to read your thesis?

[rax.livejournal.com]

Well, there will be a public defense (which I'll post about when I know when it is), and the thesis will also be in the UMB library. If you really want a draft copy, I can mail you one. :) The book that the thesis is an excerpt from won't be done for a while --- I'm clearing my palate with another writing project I've already started on, and then I'll jump back into it.

[darthbitsy.livejournal.com]

I really thing I would love to glance at a draft copy. If you'd send me one it make me happy!

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It looks like it has a real yard and how convenient that it is so close to campus! Happy nesting this spring.

[baxil.livejournal.com]

A weekend of much happiness! Congratulations!

And thank you for starting my day with a smile by footnoting in the style of a programmer. :)

[kelkyag]

Woohoo! Go, Rax!

[rathdei.livejournal.com]

Once again you're moved out of reach, but this time I know you're following life instead of just escaping.

I'll miss you a lot, Rachel. When I get my sports car I'm gonna roadtrip it out there.

[listener.livejournal.com]

Handed in early? Criminy, you're full of awesome-sauce.

Congrats on the house too!

Kanye'd

[rustycoon.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy for you, and I'ma let you finish but...


When you say "the one with the green roof" do you mean a roof that happens to be the color green or do you actually mean a green roof (made of living, organic matter)?

'cause if its the latter? ZOMGAWESOME!

(Even if it's not that's all pretty rockin')

Re: Kanye'd

[eredien]

Sadly no mossy roof, just colored green. But! Garden space.

[somnialcat.livejournal.com]

Double congratulations!

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I pinged you on IRC to see if you'd finished the thesis, but I should have read LJ first. Nice one.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Belated double congratulations!

Although I see that you're going to be in Bloomington INDIANA, not ILLINOIS. That's a 5 hour drive from where I am, according to Google Maps, not the 2-ish we discussed. With speeding, I'd guess about 4 hours.

All the same, I'd love to visit you for a weekend once you're settled, or have you visit me here. We have a guest room, if I'm still in the same place, and my housemates are totally awesome. Only downside is if you dislike kids -- they can be noisy in the morning.

You take possession on May 17... Is that when you plan to arrive in the area? Potentially, I could visit you on a weekend when you're still getting settled, and help you unpack or at least keep you company while you do so. And/or, we could go garage-sale-ing if you are needing furniture. It could be much fun! I really enjoy garage sales, and decorating. But even moreso, I enjoy quality Rax time. :)