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The appraisal on the house was done on Tuesday morning before the big snowstorm hit. Hopefully by Friday we will have the appraisal, the list of things they will want done, and an estimate of what it will cost. Then we can crunch the numbers and see if we can even swing it, but I don’t imagine it is going to be that bad. There’s a lot of cosmetic things, like a broken window in the basement that is boarded up along with some things in the basement that were done by the previous homeowners that aren’t up to code, but they work. The most expensive fix is going to be putting a new roof on the house and while that is a major fix, it’s a common one and might not even be as big of a deal as we think since it could still be the original roof, a new one could be laid right on top of it.

In the new house Kris and I will have our own separate offices. Mine will be in the basement and will double as a man cave. She already has her office all planned out, color scheme, desk she wants to build, everything. I can’t even figure out what I want to do with mine. I am thinking of sound proofing it as much as possible so I can blast music, scream, record videos, etc without bothering her or anyone else who happens to be over. Other than sound dampening the room I am stuck. Maybe when I am absolutely sure we have the house, then I would be able to focus and figure all that stuff out, but I am not sure.

So I started looking up all the games coming out this year for the Xbox One. I didn’t realize that there were so many that I want to play,  there’s Titanfall, Watch Dogs, the new Halo, The Division, Metal Gear Solid 5, Project Spark, Elder Scrolls Online, Quantum Break, Tomb Raider, not to mention the games not announced yet, like the much rumored GTA5 for Xbox One, and a new Call of Duty, plus games I’d love to get from Gamefly that came out last year, like Assassin’s Creed 4, Need for Speed Rivals, and NBA 2k14. It’s a lot to play and I don’t remember the 360 having this many games within 12 months from launch. I am not complaining, but I don’t see how I will have time to play all these games, work, and have a new house to take care of.

I really should explore some areas like getting Ritalin again to see if I could focus. I used to be on it as a teenager, but I have been off of it for so long I don’t even know if it is a good choice for me.  I’m not even sure who I would go to for a prescription since I don’t have a primary doctor and it takes months to get an appointment for anything in this damn state. I don’t think I can go to the hospital with a concentration emergency. “Help me doctor, I have a deadline and a game I need to play, I need me some Ritalin, STAT”, I think they’d call the police on me for being a drug dealer, or put me in the psych ward. Either way it wouldn’t be good. I was thinking about getting Onnit’s Alphabrain, but each bottle gives you 30 pills and you need to take 3 a day. A 10 day supply for $35 is a bit much.

I am saying that we have a house, but really that is just hopeful thinking. They ordered the appraisal on Friday and as of Wednesday have not scheduled it yet. Everyone is getting anxious at this point, we need to know what to tell the sellers, the selling agent is calling our agent almost everyday and my agent is talking to the bank directly trying to find out what is taking so long. It is a very stressful process, I mean getting any other type of loan takes less time, usually under 24 hours, but this type of loan is going to take 60 days minimum. The worst part is that I am not sure if that is 60 days including the wait for the appraisal, or 60 days after the appraisal is done and all the final negotiations are done. Right now with the house, just like the games, it’s a waiting game and I can’t do anything else.

I wish I could just move in and get started on some of the repairs and stuff that is not required by a licensed contractor. Being able to go shopping for furniture or supplies, just to be able to do something to be moving forward. It feels like nothing is getting done and that we’re moving at too slow of a pace for my liking. It really sucks when you’re anticipating something and you can’t do anything to speed up the process.

It’s hard to believe it’s already 2014. Last year wasn’t bad, Krissy and I got engaged, we were under contract for a house twice toward the end of the year, I got an Xbox One, Mom’s been cancer free after surviving chemo, so it was a good year.

Starting the year, we heard that there are a lot of problems with the house we want and it won’t be approved for the loan we were hoping for, so we need to apply for a different type of mortgage. If we can do it great, but as of right now we’re waiting to hear back from the loan officer with the specifics. It is very frustrating to say the least, but if we can get this house, then it will be pretty much everything we could want and need right now and the forseeable future.

We need to go from an FHA mortgage to a 203K mortgage because it needs a new roof and when they finished their basement, they did some questionable things that are really no big deal, but to pass the inspection need to be addressed. I’m waiting on what specifically on the list needs to be done and then getting estimates for the work so we can just get in there within 90 days or so.

This house hunting process has been really disappointing, the first house we weren’t approved for financing due to the community and the lenders being in litigation against each other, the second house there was a lot of things wrong with it that needed to be addressed that actually were a big deal like lead in the water, infestations, etc, but this house is the best one of the three because it is so big and a great price, we just need the lender to give us a way to get a mortgage for it.

I’ve still got my head held high, but it’s disheartening all the same.

So today is Thanksgiving and I will follow suit and say what I am thankful for. I am thankful for the ability to move forward. What do I mean by this? Well seven years ago I was jobless, my grandmother had just died and my mother and I just moved to Delaware. The Xbox 360 came out, but there was no way I could afford it, or even hope to afford it at the time. Fast forward seven years, I run my own business, Kris and I are looking to buy a house, and I got the Xbox One on launch day. A lot has changed in the last seven years, some good some bad.

Kris and I put an offer in on another house, we had to submit it in writing, so we will see what happens in the next few days. If they do accept the offer, we could be in the house before the end of the year. I’d have a lot of room for my new console if we do, which will be great since I have a Kinect now and could finally play some games I couldn’t try out last generation. I didn’t really care much about Kinect when the Xbox One was announced and I didn’t understand why their announcement focused on the Kinect and how it interacts with the cable box, but now I get it. Voice commands is one of my favorite launch features for my One. I wish they didn’t take out streaming, but that should be added in a few months.

Here’s some unboxing pictures from day 1:

It really is a great console. So far I’ve been playing a lot of COD Ghosts and Dead Rising 3. I am going to send some games back to Gamefly and hopefully get some of the other games I was interested in playing, but didn’t want to commit to buying just yet. Here’s a video of me getting stuck under some stairs in Dead Rising 3:

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, it’s not that there’s not a lot going on, it’s that I’ve had no inspiration to write. I guess I’ll start by informing everyone of what’s been going on lately.

Dad sold his house in New Jersey to move down here, that’s the reason that we can leave now. Since he’s here, Mom doesn’t need us here anymore, so it’s the right time to start looking for our own place and to start the next chapter.

Kris and I tried to buy a house, but was told by two banks that it was an unapproved property, but then sent an official letter saying it had to do with credit problems, I guess you can’t discriminate properties legally in the state of Delaware. We’re currently trying to find a property that we wouldn’t be turned down with, but so far nothing (in a way not even the unapproved property) is meeting all of our needs. I guess we will keep looking.

Before Kris and I got together, she had me sign up for a Blockbuster Total Access account. At the time, it was basically Netflix with a much better deal, DVDs and video games for approximately $20 a month, plus free in store exchanges. They’re shutting down Total Access next month, so I cancelled my account and signed up for Gamefly. I’ve thought about Gamefly for years, but since I had Blockbuster, I had the best of Netflix and Gamefly, but since they shut down it makes a lot more sense. My Xbox One is pre-ordered and I should be getting it on the 22nd, so it makes sense to have Gamefly ready to go. Until I get it though, I’ve loaded it with 3 current gen titles that I want to play: The Last of Us, Beyond Two Souls, and WWE 2K14.

I’ve always loved wrestling. I think it’s because my grandmother and I used to watch it every Sunday when I was growing up. Sports games are something I could never really justify spending the money on though, the few wrestling games I did purchase in the past would get played for about a week, then I wouldn’t touch them at all. It’s a perfect rental game though.

Beyond Two Souls and Last of Us were two games I’ve been looking at for a while, but my PS3 has mainly sat there unused since I bought it last year. I did play Arkham City on it, but since I sent it back to Blockbuster, I haven’t touched it much. Infamous and Infamous 2 were not what I thought they’d be and I was planning on getting GTA 5 for it, but I bought a thumb drive and got it for my XBox instead. I don’t dislike Sony, I think it’s more that I’ve had my 360 for 7 years, I got it 3 months after launch and I am just used to playing everything on there. Plus the Achievements. I think with Gamefly I will be doing more Achievement whoring.

I need to write more. I also need to update a lot of things around the site. Many big plans, but no time or inspiration to do them. Maybe one day soon, maybe if we buy a house, the change of scenery would help inspire that, but who knows? I hope my next update won’t come 3 months from now, but I can’t make that promise. We will see I suppose.

So as the title of this post entails, and so does your calendar most likely, it is August. It is a happy August as well! Yesterday, our dog, Bella, was throwing up and having explosive diarreah, so we took her to the vet. She somehow was just so compacted with liquid poop that it was coming out of both ends basically. They kept her overnight and had her hooked up to an IV the entire time. When Kris went and picked her up she looked much better and was back to normal, about as normal as you can be when you’re drugged up on pain medications and other drugs.

If we had waited she could have gone into kidney failure, liver failure, or any other combination of problems could have arose. It was expensive, but well worth it, I’m just glad to have the puppy back!

As you can see I’ve been playing Black Ops 2 lately and while I haven’t touched the campaign or the regular multiplayer, I am loving what they did to Zombies in this game. This is the farthest Colin and I have gotten on Nuketown so after round 26 I started recording the game and uploaded it to Youtube. I figure from now on I can hopefully put more and more videos up here since the site is lacking updates recently. Hopefully I can figure out the audio to make our conversation come through. I plan on recording on Tuesday when the new map and game mode comes out as well, so maybe on Wednesday there will be a new video up as well.

Kristen’s mom got me the Halo Megabloks Rhino tank for Christmas. Besides some missing pieces that I was able to get around my modifying the extra pieces that were in the box, building it went pretty smoothly.

Day one I was able to build the scenery that came with it, a nice Forerunner tower, though the tower portion is held to the base by the middle blue rod. It’s a shame it doesn’t spin like some of the maps on Halo 2 though.

Day two I got the wheels and a lot of the top of the tank completed.

Day three the top of the gun was completed as was a large portion of the body. I was disappointed that I had discovered a piece was missing, so I gave up for the night.

Day four I decided I was too close to finishing it to give up, so I finished what I could. I discovered that I was missing another piece. Once the Rhino was “complete” I had a lot of extra pieces leftover, so I made the missing pieces out of the spare parts I had.

Here it is all put together.

I have a Wraith that I will eventually start on. Some people might say 28 years old is too old to be building these things, but it is fun. Plus they make cool collectibles, and will go really nice with my Master Chief helmet once I get that displayed with them. Once the Wraith is together, I think I’d like to get a Warthog, an Elephant, and eventually the Forward Unto Dawn sets. Forward Unto Dawn is the biggest set and the most expensive, so thatwill be one of the last ones I get. I also doubt I have room for it right now.

Every year it seems most of us say that this year will be different, this year I will do this, this, and this differently, but then, weeks, if not days, shit if not even hours later they break these promises and nothing changes at all. I admit that I am one of these offenders, not this year, yet, because I have found a secret. What is my secret you ask? I’m always angry. Wait no, that’s Bruce Banner’s secret. My secret is this, don’t make New Year’s resolutions, they’re stupid.

Everyday you wake up is a new chance, waiting for the new year is just a way to put off something that you really do not want to do in the first place, so why lie to yourself and say you will do something you don’t really want? Think about it, if it was something you actually wanted and was somewhat feasible, then you would already be working toward your goal, would you not? If you really wanted to do something you’d have a goal and be working on it from that moment, not waiting for a specific date on the calendar.

If you really want to make a difference then just do something, whether you are reading this on January 1st or September 2nd, now is the time to start changing your life/habits/diaper there is no reason to wait until some date to do that, especially if it actually is a diaper you are changing.

I do have goals that I set for myself, but I don’t see them as resolutions, as they are more along the lines of goals that aren’t resolutions, I set them back in December and i was working on them, but I am on a vacation at the moment so some of them are on hold, but once I get back to my computers in Delaware they will be resumed.

So resolutions or not, Happy New Year to you and yours, make it a good one regardless of goals, successes, or failures!

I am sitting at Tunnell Cancer Center. My mom’s getting her second day of treatment 2 of chemotherapy. She is only getting 4 treatments, the third will be around Christmas, the fourth will be in the middle of January. Then it looks like she will start a radiation regiment.

As you can imagine, it’s been very stressful the last few months, between numerous doctor appointments, numerous surgeries, physical therapy, chemotherapy, and now radiation treatments being added. All i can hope is that the end of this is in sight. I know that stage 3 isn’t the best diagnosis, but she seems to be doing well, so I am optimistic at this point. I just hope in a few months we can put this all behind us.

Hurricane Sandy hit Rehoboth Beach hard the passed few days. Everything in the complex seems to be all right and if you didn’t leave the road, you wouldn’t know that anything significant had happened. We had a lot of rain and wind, but we didn’t lose power, except for a few dips here and there, we didn’t lose cable, no trees came down, and there wasn’t a significant amount of flooding. I took a video on October 29th and uploaded it to YouTube. As you can see there wasn’t anything wrong in the immediate vicinity. It’s weird though, because if you left the area, and even just ventured out to the entrance of the complex, you’d see flooding. We are lucky with where we are.

Another blog post from my phone. This time I am not fishing though, I am in the car going to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. My mom has an appointment with an endocrinologist and will possibly be getting a separate opinion in a Philadelphia hospital depending on what they tell her today. It just sucks having to travel 2 to 3 hours for a good doctor because doctors in Delaware are horrible.

Her surgery is on September 14th. She is having more than half her lung removed. They aren’t sure how long recovery will be, but they say that normally it is 6 months to a year. We will be going back to NY to grab some more clothes, our main computers and our dog and then staying for an extended period of time.

I know I hated Delaware when I lived here, it’s weird that I actually sort of miss it now that I don’t live here anymore. It isn’t even like I grew up here, I’m a Jersey boy, so to miss this backward state seems weird.