Bits & pieces

Well, we finally managed to get our MMR booster shots done this morning - something we'll need to prove for next weeks' interview with immigration. We went to get it done yesterday afternoon, but the waiting room was full, and after a couple of minutes it became apparent they weren't going to be processing all the people already in there, that day.

So we checked what time they opened (8 a.m.) and showed up early. Just as well, when we got there the parking lot was already almost full, and there were half a dozen people in the waiting room already.

I should perhaps explain this is a government health centre: dead-cheap, so of course under-resourced and always in high demand. Still, it's done now, thank ghu

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And our long struggle with the dreaded TV set is finally coming to a close, it seems: the repairman has given up on trying to fix it, as they no longer manufacture the parts he requires for it, so (as it is still under warranty), they have agreed to replace it with the equivalent model: so I went to the store last Sunday and picked out the model, then arranged for delivery & installation (not until this Saturday, alas). Finally, we may be able to watch more than half an hour of TV without the highlights being painted neon-green!

Still, it certainly added charm to some of the less interesting programs, and made for a rather, umm, abstract experience at times.

Oh, and what are we watching at the moment? (at least, the pick of whats available)
* True Blood (Alan Balls excellent version of some so-so* vampire books, with Anna Paquin starring)
* Royal Pains (highly recommended, very witty & tight so far)
* Weeds (although this is deteriorating substantially from the first couple of seasons, it still has its' moments)
* Saving Grace (passable cop show set in OKC, which makes a nice change all in itself)
* Big Bang Theory (limp sitcom, altho the best of whats available I think, mostly watch for Johny Galecki's exquisite timing ... not sure I'd recommend it to anyone)

Thats about all that's worth watching at the moment. Some of the TV channels have been quite, um, disappointing: the Sci-Fi channel, which I thought, great! when I saw it would be available, erh, not so much - it seems to be full of Star Trek (NG) reruns, Real-life Ghost Hunter rubbish, and other even less SF-ish things, plus getting commandeered for Ultimate Fight Wrestlemania Homoerotic Grope-a-thons periodically (can you spell sublimation, guys?).

And the History channel is, well, even worse than I expected (which is saying something). The UK History channel I watched occasionally in England was bad enough (sloppy, lowbrow, and full of myths, plus horrendously jingoistic & pro-British), but the american original is ... oh dear god, so much worse: hysterically patriotic, blinkered, and endlessly propagating, not just myths, but outright errors and lies. Did you know Vietnam was a draw? or that the South deserved to win the Civil War (or, the War of Northern Aggression, if you accept the racist bollocks that gets served up when you talk about that).

Still, for all that, there are a lot of channels available, and you can usually find something halfway acceptable if you want to vege out, either on the Classic Movies channel or one of the HBO movie channels. We have also been watching quite a lot of 'My First House' and 'Property Virgin' houses about buying in the USA, trying to pick up familiarity with how it's done, what tricks to look for & what to try out on sellers (heh), and also to gauge relative prices in different parts of the country, as the programs tend to flit all over.

As they also can date back 2 or 3 years, it's also giving me something of a feel of how prices are falling now (if not how much further they have to go yet). One universal, tho, every area, every year, is that the estate agents will always tell you the market is heating up, you better make a good high offer, and if you offer too low you can insult the seller so he won't consider any offer you make. Yeah right, that all depends on exactly how desparate a straight he's in, and whether there are other offers. Of course, as the agents commission is a percentage of the price, it's in their interest to keep this as high as possible.

We are contemplating trying to subvert this: if we buy in LR, we have found a woman who we like & trust as an agent, and if it proceeds that way, I want to discuss with her making a fixed-commission deal (i.e. stipulating a flat payment to her no matter the price of the house), and then getting her to check through all the foreclosures & bank-owned properties: by removing her concerns about her fee, we're hoping she can find us some real deals, rather than steering us to the top of our affordability bracket. Not sure if that'll work, but it seems an idea worth trying anyway.

Anyway enough of that: the other thing on our minds is, of course, planning for our trip to Historicon next week! More on that tomorrow, tho, time to get back to work.