Met up with the ex-aspentechhies at Lingo's in Cambridge for drinks and appetizers. This evening it was Dale, Mike White, Fred, me, Emily, Dave W. and Lori H., and Don Golden. Don is working on the Mercy Ships and they are currently docked in the harbor so we were able to get in touch with him and invite him down.

Went into the Stoughton office for a while and made quite a few cold calls. Ugh.

Class again today. We are all so burnt out! It dragged on and on. Of course, we did learn a few new things so it is worth it.

Had dinner with my former documentation team from AT. We met at Mary's condo in the city and walked over to the Brown Sugar restaurant where we had some really fantastic Thai food. It was a great evening. Unfortunately, no new gossip but still lots to talk about.

Met up with my buyer in Walpole to see a couple of houses. The first one was pretty nice but it's on a fairly busy street. It has a huge yard though. We went over to the next house and arrived quite early but she decided right away that she didn't need to see the inside so I called the listing agent and canceled that showing. We checked the list and decided to drive by a few more houses to see if she might like those and if she did, then we could make an appointment. We got to the first one and it wasn't too bad so I called the agent and, after trying the owner a few times, decided that it was ok to just go in. They have a lockbox on the house so she gave me the code and we went in. The floor plan was a bit odd so we didn't need to stay long--she definitely didn't want the house. She went driving by the next one which was one street over while I called to set up the appointment. When she came back, she said she definitely wanted to see that house. It took some finagaling but we were able to see it around 3:00. She went to pick up some of her kids and I went back to the office to gather some info on the house. The interesting thing I discovered was that they just bought the house in May. The listing broker did say something about "the situation has changed" so I don't know if someone lost their job, if their was a divorce, or possibly a death.

At 3:00, we went in the house--it was beautiful. All original woodwork, 4 bedrooms, huge yard, big dining room, etc. The buyer really, really likes it too. It's just slightly above her price range so we'll see what happens. She wants her husband to come see it so we'll see it tomorrow night at 8:00.

Finally brought my old color printer to the office so we can use it there. I don't need it here anymore since I bought a better one. Ran into Russ and Janis and we decided to go to Starbucks for coffee. Janis and I stayed for several hours while Russ only stayed a while. Later, an attorney named Heidi met up with us for a bit.

Was supposed to have lunch at the Barking Crab with some ex-ATers but decided against having to pay for parking again. They were to have lunch and then go over with Don Golden for a tour of the Mercy Ships that Don is on now.

6:15 have a showing at the Hyde Park house.

8:00 have a second showing in Walpole at a beautiful Victorian.

fri

sat

sun

Dropped my car off to Junior's Automotive this morning. But, since it doesn't make the loud noises right away, I had to go driving around for 15 minutes so they could hear the noises themselves. Walked home from there. I kept hoping nobody would call and want to go see houses since I couldn't drive anywhere. Oh, I also had Jr. do the emissions inspection so I can get my sticker.

He finally called around 3:00 to say they had to keep it over night because they had to order parts. Sigh. I hate that. That also means I'm stuck in my house for the whole day and night. Not that I always go out, but I could go out if I had my car.

Enterprise Car Rental picked me up at 8:15 to take me to their office so I could rent a car. It seems awfully silly to rent a car for $47.00 just so I can go make $50.00 in a usability study. What are you going to do, hey?

I got to Verizon in plenty of time to do the usability study. It's kind of fun to be on the other side. It was quick and painless and lasted about 15 minutes (???).

Finally got to pick up my car. Sheesh kapeesh. Almost $400.00 to have it fixed. I HATE CARS!!!!!

Meeting tonite for the local UPA. The agenda was to mostly discuss the big UPA conference that was held last month in Scottsdale, Arizona. Obviously, I didn't go this year but I really miss going to those conferences. It was good to see everyone and relieved to know I'm not the only out-of-work usability person. I'd say that more than half of the people in attendance were "independent contractors." I'll have to start using that phrase myself.

The potential buyer for the house across the street has his third appointment to see the house. This time he's bringing his Aunt and Uncle. The appointment was for 5:00 so the owners went out to run some errands. The broker, the buyer and his girlfriend were on time but we had to wait around for his aunt and uncle. We waited, and waited, and waited.... Then the owners came home. They saw that we were still there so they went across the street to my house and sat on the deck. At almost 6:00, the aunt and uncle finally showed up. Can you believe the nerve?! Then the uncle wanted to check everything out. The buyer had said it would only take about 5 minutes but it ended up being about 25 minutes. I could tell that the owners were pacing and getting upset and I can't say as I blame them. Sure enough, when I got over to my house, they were ripping mad. She's 8 months pregnant, it's dinne time, it's hot outside and there were a lot of bugs.

I went and fixed my dinner and then realized that the buyer and his girlfriend and the broker were still outside by their cars. There were some other people out there as well but I couldn't tell if these were their friends or if these were some neighbors. It looked like 2 of my neighbors--one who used to own the house. He's also the one that I feud with. Long story... I just hope it's not him out there. Who knows what he would tell them. What a day.

I did get another call on the house. We chatted for a few minutes before we both realized that we knew each other! How funny.

Spent the morning in the bowels of MIT in the Energy Lab again. Did some more scanning and updating our records. The day started off horribly, even before I got to MIT. I checked my email before leaving the house. The buyer's real estate agent is asking if the sellers of the house across the street would close early and then they could rent from the buyer for 2 months for $900/month. I didn't think they would go for it and later in the day when I asked them, they said absolutely not. Their mortgage is about 1/2 that so it wouldn't make sense to them. When I got home from MIT, there was a package in my doorway. I knew I hadn't ordered anything so I checked the label and realized it wasn't addressed to me at all. I checked the phone book and found the name and they do live on my street but their must have been a typo for the address. I gave them a call and the woman said she would come pick it up for her son. She came by with her granddaughter, Madeline. What a little cutie. They live in the other yellow house on the street and she had been curious to see my home. She walks by it quite often and said she admires my garden and yard and my house. They were very nice so I showed them around when they got here.