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Question: Carey and I are looking to make a list of home essentials. We've got a lot of everything already - furniture, cooking stuff, etc. - but we're curious as to what we may be forgetting. What things do you consider home essentials that two people who have lived on their own are unlikely to have bought for themselves already?

My Answer: Some garden equipment - lawnmower, edger, etc. is needed - but Carey and I really can't think of much else besides a few extra trash cans, cleaning supplies, and the really little stuff like that. We've got two couches, plenty of beds, and so on.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

A listing came up on Monday, and Carey and I added it to the list of houses we wanted to see today. We looked at one house, then visited the new one.

It may be our future home.

It's nearly 2000 square feet with only six rooms. A front "playroom," a massive family/living room, a kitchen with an island, a master bedroom with a jacuzzi and shower in the attached master bath, and another bedroom and an office. An extra bathroom upstairs and a half-bath downstairs. Skylights in the master bath and the kitchen. Great carpet, great wood trim, nice yard.

A bit more than we wanted to spend, but if things go right in the next few days, we'll still be making the 20% down payment and whatnot. Carey has to make sure she has her job - we'll know Monday, but it's a 99.9% lock - and then we hope to make an offer on Tuesday.

After we make an offer, I'll take some pictures. The ones in the listing are rather poor.

Question: When you're angry with someone, how do you handle it?

My Answer: I usually tell them in a straight-forward fashion that they're making me angry, though I do have a bit of a passive-aggressive streak sometimes. But it really takes quite a bit to make me angry. I'm intense, and sometimes people think I'm upset, but anyone who's known me for a little while knows that when I'm upset, they'll know it. There won't be any question about it!

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Someone reminded me today of Freshly Squeezed Software's 404 page. I forget about it every now and then, but it's funny, and when I'm reminded, I usually end up spending five minutes reading it all.

I picked up (well, it's being shipped to me) a Canon 75-300 IS USM lens (with hood and S&H) today for $350. New, this lens sells for $450 + S&H or so (B&H charges $415, IIRC). The one I bought has been used twice and it may not have the warranty - I don't much care.

I think this lens is the one I'll be taking to the golf tournaments as mortgage payments will be taking precedent over a $1400 camera lens. I talked about the 100-400/4.5-5.6L IS a few weeks back when I went to the zoo:

I think the 75-300/4.0-5.6 IS would be ideal for the zoo ($415), but I'm also considering the 100-400/4.5-5.6L IS as well ($1415) because I'm going to need to take some pictures at a golf tournament or two in late May/early June (discussion here).

If I can't get good golf shots with this, well, it'll still be good for the zoo. And if I really don't like it, I can probably sell it for about what I paid or use it to trade up to something else.

Question: If you knew you were going to be slashdotted, could you make money from it?

My Answer: I bet you could, but I'm eager to see the response. No, I've not got any slashdot-worthy things coming my way (and this post hopefully won't result in such a thing). Just a question of the day…

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I love seeing new stylesheets for "that other RSS aggregator." After all, they work in PulpFiction, too:

Question: Which do you burn more frequently: CDs or DVDs?

My Answer: I burn them about equally. CDs when I want to give someone some iPhotos or other small files, DVDs when I'm burning Tiger builds, movies, or backups of things.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: How many icons (and at what size) do you have on your desktop? What's your Icons/Megapixel rating?

My Answer: 34 icons at 32 x 32. 34 icons on a 1920 x 1200 desktop (2.304 megapixels) gets an Icon/Megapixel rating of 14.76 I/MP.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Clearly, the Adobe buyout of Macromedia is big news today. I'm a fan of competition, and this seems to be a smack in the face of that. But whatever.

I do remember that I once reviewed Fireworks 1.0, Fireworks 2.0, and ImageReady 1.0 for MacAddict. Both applications have come a loooooong way since then.

Saturday, Carey and I got some sun at Lake View. We played two holes before, well, let's just say we came in. We had lunch, we hit some range balls, and we went out again for nine more holes. It was pretty quiet and we wouldn't get in the way.

Carey played better than every other newcomer I've seen. She's not quite got the distance, but she's pretty straight and her swing is more like a swing than most new players - particularly most new female golfers. She hits her 9W hybrid thingy (9W/4I) from anywhere outside of about 120 yards and then moves through her 5I to her PW from there.

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The search goes on. Carey and I are very particular, but we've come up with a list of particulars for the house we'd like.

• Something in regions 5, 6, or 7 (Millcreek school district)
• Close to Walnut Creek Middle School is preferred
• One- or Two-Story; No split-levels
• An open floor plan
• $160k to $200k
• No pool and yard size doesn't matter much
• Three bedrooms, two bathrooms
• Basement (ideally, one that's "finishable" or already finished)
• Move in condition - no fixer-uppers

Very, very, very few of the houses we've seen meet our criteria, but we're just now getting into the season in which houses go on the market. So, we remain hopeful. We just want to get things settled by August so that we can move in before Carey begins her job in the fall.

Yes, I rated it 4 stars. It's not a bad tune. Poppy, but not "bad."

Erik is listening to "Avenue of the Stars" by Jennifer Love Hewitt from the album "BareNaked" (2002). Erik has rated this song 4.0 stars and last played this song Tuesday, March 1, 2005 8:50:46pm.

I'm without a car today, and I'm bored. Hence my blogging of this event. I even have a new Big Bertha 454 that I am eager to hit (for a review for the golf blog).

Mat of The Little App Factor has lost his girlfriend to leukemia. He's donating 100% of all sales of his applications through June 30th to the Westmead Millennium Institute for childhood leukemia research. If you're looking for recommendations, I like Netflix Freak and iPodRip.

Here are the numbers, assuming a $180,000 house, 6.875% interest, and a 30-year loan. Property taxes excluded from calculations. BTW, every "mortgage calculator" for Mac OS X absolutely sucks. I did this with some online tools at bankrate.com.

$180,000, 6.875%, 30 years
             Monthly    + $50   + $100      Interest
0% Down       $1183     10/31    02/29      $245,906
5% Down       $1124     08/31    11/28      $233,611
10% Down      $1065     06/31    08/28      $221,315
15% Down      $1006     03/31    04/28      $209,020
20% Down       $946     01/31    01/28      $196,725

$180,000, 6.875%, 15 years
             Monthly    + $50   + $100      Interest
0% Down       $1605     07/19    11/18      $109,051
5% Down       $1525     07/19    10/18      $103,598
10% Down      $1445     06/19    09/18       $98,145
15% Down      $1364     06/19    08/18       $92,693
20% Down      $1285     05/19    06/18       $87,240

Payoff dates listed for extra payment options.
Total interest paid is for standard monthly payment.

Of course, if software existed that could more easily let me compare these kinds of things - such as total expense for the + $50 and + $100 columns, I'd list those here as well for a better comparison. Online tools only do so much, it seems.

If anyone's got information about a real "play with the numbers" kind of site, please post the URL in the comments. Otherwise, I might just write something.