Mama-say-mama-sa-mama-ma-q-sa.

There really is nothing better than sitting at an airport gate with Boston as your final destination.

If I move away, I could experience that joy even more often. 

Happy 4th everyone! Have a safe and happy holiday!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Devid is on Twitter! Hooray!

I’m headed home.  Finally.

I guess I won’t be heading to Neverland Ranch for the big viewing after all.  Oh well.

In my last entry, I promised I’d explain how my vacation got extended from one week to 17 days.  After thinking about it, I realized that it wasn’t that interesting.  But since people have been asking, here’s a feeble attempt at the cliff note version:

On my (planned) last day in California, I visited with some relatives from my father’s side of the family.  If you’ve been following along, you know that since my parents’ divorce I haven’t really talked to him.  However, I did want to make a point to reach out and at least see my uncles, cousins and 92 year-old (last remaining) grandmother out in LA.  My grandmother had just gotten out of the hospital and I hadn’t seen her in like five years.

After getting together with them, I realized that I really haven’t spent that much time with my father’s side of the family at all.  They live out on the west coast, while most of my Mom’s side of the family lives on the east coast.  Even though my father is someone I really don’t want to talk to right now, the other side is still family.  It was really great to hang out with my aunts, uncles, and especially my cousins Andrew and Gail.

While visiting with my Lola, I realized that I have been a terrible grandson.  She is bed-ridden, can barely talk and I’m not even sure if she recognized me.  Massive amounts of guilt overtook me.  I thought of all the years I’ve wasted in not coming out to see her.  I like to think of myself as someone who highly values family, yet I’m pretty much a stranger to my father’s side.  Per usual, I’m full of sh*t.

Anyways, my uncles convinced me to spend another week out in California.  Knowing I was unemployed, they reasoned that I didn’t have any reason to go back so soon.  They offered to pickup my flight back and my Uncle Greg even offered to let me tag along on his trip to Vegas last weekend.  Their offer was too good to refuse and in retrospect, I’m really glad I took them up on it.

The flight they got me is what is called a “buddy pass” on United Airlines.  My aunt used to work for United, and part of her retirement package is that she gets 20 of these passes per year.  They are free flights, but the only problem is they are standby flights.  When it came time to leave on Tuesday, the flight(s) I was planning to take were full.  I found out on Monday that I had to wait a few more days before I could take another flight home.  I looked for flights on other airlines, but because it was a holiday week the prices were outrageous.  I decided to stay in California for a little while longer and headed back to Vegas to kill a few days.

So there you have it.

In the end, this will end up being a 17 day vacation with stops in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco and seven (!) total days in Las Vegas.  Aside from my honeymoon in Hawaii, this was my best vacation ever.  I got to reconnect with my father’s side of the family and spent a ton of time in Vegas, one of my favorite places.  I also picked the perfect time to leave Boston because of the monsoon that has hit the area.  Next week, I’ll break down the vacation in more detail.  For now, I’ll tell you that after a week of heavy gambling in Las Vegas, I ended up dead even.  A win in my book.

This is my last entry from the west coast.  Time will surely tell if there are more to come in the future.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!  I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Catch you on the flip side, I’m coming home.

(and I’m bringing the sun back with me!)

Dear Readers:

Happy July and Happy Canada Day to our Canadian brothers and sisters!

Due to a confluence of airline flight suck (which I will explain in greater detail tomorrow), the epic vacation of 2009 continues.  When I got laid off, my friend Marlene told me to use this as an opportunity to do things I never would have done otherwise.  I am certainly taking her advice to heart. I have never been on a vacation this long in my entire life.

Presently, I am writing to you from an undisclosed hotel casino on the Las Vegas strip.  I decided to take the lemons that United Airlines served up and turn them into lemonade.  I did this by heading back to Vegas to kill some time until I can get back to Titletown/Pleasantville.  I consoled myself tonight by watching the Sox in a bar while listening to bad karaoke (is there anything funnier, btw?).  I plan to return tomorrow night to perform my trademark version of “Ring of Fire.” It will surely bring the house down and rock/change Las Vegas forever.

As an aside, (per Amalie Benjamin on Twitter), the last time Red Sox lost a game in which they were up by 9 was 6/4/89 (Crazy, huh Phil?) when they lost a game they led 10-0 vs. Toronto.  Last night, Mr. Baseball was in attendance with the lovely Mrs. Baseball.  I completely and totally blame this epitome of “epic suck” on them.  (insert smiley face here)

A lot of you have been asking about the house.  I have had about 17 appointments/visits and one lowball offer.  I think this is really encouraging especially considering the monsoon that has hit New England.  It is also encouraging considering that my only open house was on Father’s Day.  I remain committed to selling the house and even found a neighborhood I’d like to live in while I was in San Francisco.  It is called the Mission District.

Also, my realtor (who is the greatest realtor in the world, by the way) has been checking in on the house, getting my mail, etc.  Neighbors have been messaging me on facebook also keeping an eye out on the house.  I have some really great neighbors and am really going to miss them when I’m gone.  It also helps that I took everything of real value and moved it out of the house, in anticipation of the long vacation.

The only really bad part has been leaving Miley behind for 2.5 weeks.  I called the kennel today, and the woman was actually happy that Miley is staying a few more days.  They absolutely love Miley there.  She has been well behaved and apparently, Miley has become best friends with a lab pup that is also being held at the kennel.

It is amazing how much I miss that dog, especially considering that I only got her in March.  The two things I miss the most are my bed and the dog.  I really don’t miss Boston all that much.  I think this does bode well if (when?) I decide to move.

As I was driving back to Vegas today, I heard on the radio that Michael Jackson’s body will be on display at Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara on Friday.  This link confirms it (sort of).

From that link:

Meanwhile Tom Barrack, chief executive of Colony Capital Llc, the private equity firm that co-owns Neverland, issued an open letter to the people of Santa Barbara County asking them to prepare for “a global drama of epic proportion.”

I am thinking about heading to Santa Barbara to be in attendance for this once-in-a-lifetime event.  Admittedly, my motivations would be less than sincere.  I love MJ’s music and all, but I’d be lying if I said the main reason I want to go wasn’t the comedic potential of attending said event.  It certainly qualifies as the mother of all wakes.

Picture this: Me, with a Lloyd Dobler/Say Anything-esque boombox over my head, blasting MJ tunes, surrounded arm-in-arm with fellow mourners.  Think of the funny pictures I could take and the blog entry that would follow.

There will be tons of signs, silly outfits, sparkly gloves and crazy people.  It would be the Woodstock of death.  My goal would be to get my picture taken with as many mourners as possible.  This would more than make up for my falconry debacle at Phil’s wedding.

What do you think?  Should I make an attempt to attend this once-in-a-lifetime, “Super Bowl of Wakes?”  It truly would be the perfect way to cap off the whirlwind west coast tour I’ve been on.  I’m looking for honest feedback in the form of comments here.

I will ponder this question over the next few days, but until then…

Off to the blackjack tables!

Mike

PS - I promise to bring the sun back to New England upon my return. 

Crap.  I forgot to mention…

A huge Truth About Mike bouquet of congratulations goes out to Kid Spin, Ben and the rest of the cast and crew of Wah Do Dem (What They Do). The film won the Target Filmmaker Award (for Best Narrative Feature) at the L.A. Film Festival last week.  This award comes with $50,000 in prize money.  From what I understand, this money will be used to further promote the film.

I attended their release party and the second (of two showings) at the festival last week.  The film was very well done.  The best compliment I heard about it was during the question and answer period after the movie.  A woman from Jamaica stood up and complimented the crew on making such an accurate portrayal of Jamacian people and life in Jamaica.  Needless to say, even though I am not even connected with the film, her words gave me goosebumps.

Well done and well deserved, guys!

Congrats again!

As an aside, thanks to NEIL for picking up the drink tab at said release party.  When it comes to the bar, NEIL is definitely not cheap.  He really knows how to let the dogs out.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ll be back on schedule next week with my usual “Miley Monday” installment.

Some people call Las Vegas “Sin City” and the moniker is probably merited.  After all, there is no other place in the world that feeds into the seven deadly sins more than Las Vegas.  If someone ever wrote the true book on Vegas, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride would probably be the chapter titles.

Even with all the excess of Vegas, there are often moments that happen in that city when the magic of Las Vegas is truly exposed.  These moments contribute to what makes Las Vegas a special place.

I was walking from having dinner at the Wynn to the Palazzo theatre when I came upon one of those Vegas moments.  I stumbled upon a band playing some music in a lounge type area.  I always stop when I hear live music because, well, who doesn’t like live music?  Hopefully, it will be something I can expose myself to more often while living in San Francisco (wait, what?).

Anyhoo, I listened for about half a song and the band was decent but nothing special.

And then amazing happened.

For the next next number, they introduced a female member of the band.  She then proceeded to belt of out a version of the song “At Last” that would stop traffic.  The best compliment I can give it is that it was so good, it almost made me drop my beloved iPhone.

Pitch, pace, key, intonation - you name it; They were all perfect.  She hit every note as if the song was written just for her.  No combination of words can truly describe it, but a single, solitary word comes close:

Magical.

One of the band members invited people up to dance.  In what had to be at a world record pace, the dance floor filled up.  Many of these folks would have fit right in with the cast of Cocoon.  With those sounds coming out of that woman and the transformation of that lounge into a dance hall, Vegas once again put on her magic.  It was like a flower, popping up through the dry, lifeless land of the desert.

I scanned the dance floor and the looks on the dancers’ faces.  You could literally feel and cut the love emanating off of those couples.  They all looked as if they were transported back to the day they met.  It was intoxicating; A room full of strangers from all over the country, almost all spontaneously swaying in unison to the most beautiful sound in the state.

It is scenes (and sounds) like these that make you forget the things that are bothering you.  It makes things you’ve been worrying about seem trivial.  Furthermore, they simplify life.  They stop the clock, put it on its end, and make it seem more manageable.  They are an almost tangible and tactile representation that ultimately, times are good and that even better and brighter days lie ahead.

These scenes seem to happen in one place more often that almost any other.

Vegas, baby.

Vegas.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I know I threw up the “Gone Fishin” batsignal, but I can’t not write this one.  I’ve been itching to write this one since I heard the news yesterday.

February 3rd, 1959 is known as the day the music died.  The reason for this is Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson all perished in a plane crash that day.

Growing up, one of my favorite movies was La Bamba, the story about Ritchie Valens.  Even today when it is on, I have to stop what I am doing and watch it.  I’m not sure if it was Lou Diamond Phillips’ funny hair, his crazy brother (wonderfully played by Esai Morales), or the fact that it was a story about the minority kid getting the cute white girl.

I’m glad I was in California yesterday, of all days.  I had just spent a few hours sitting with my 92 year-old, bed-ridden grandmother and was in the car.  I was headed to Santa Monica to watch the Sox game at Sonny McLean’s (the official Southern California Red Sox bar) with my friend Hope.  At 2:56pm Pacific time, a text came in from NEIL that I will never forget:

“Heard that Michael Jackson died.“

Shocked, I turned on the first AM station I could find and it was the CBS radio affiliate in LA.  They confirmed NEIL’s text and even mentioned that the website TMZ was reporting that MJ had actually died.  Every other news outlet was reporting that he was taken to the UCLA Medical Center, but not reporting that he had died.  There were also reports that people were streaming to the UCLA Medical Center and the traffic I was stuck in seemed to confirm this.

At 3:22, the station reported that the L.A. Times had confirmed Michael Jackson had died citing local officials.  My heart sunk.  The “King of Pop” was dead and I was stuck in a Los Angeles traffic jam.  I had just driven from LA where Michael Jackson was and on the way to Santa Monica, where Farrah Fawcett had died just hours earlier.  I felt like I was driving through purgatory.

I arrived at Sonny’s and took at look at the bar.  Three of the TV’s had the Sox game on and one of them was on MSNBC which was running wall-to-wall Michael Jackson coverage.  I grabbed two seats between the TV showing the Sox game and the TV showing MSNBC.  It was funny to see almost every TV in the Californian watering hole turned to the Red Sox game.  Except for the palm trees you see when you look out the window, the bar could easily be in Quincy or some other nook in the Commonwealth.

The game was a stinker.  I had been eagerly awaiting watching John Smoltz’ debut as a Red Sox, but my glance kept sneaking over to the only TV not showing the game.  Masses of people were seen at the hospital and they even showed footage of Jackson’s body being transported by helicopter to the L.A. County Coroner’s Office.  Someone remarked that it felt like we were watching the events of the OJ Simpson debacle.  Another guy loaded up the jukebox with Michael Jackson songs and they played in the background as an eerie reminder of the day’s events.

Before I left Hope, I told her that I would always remember where I was when I heard the news about Michael Jackson.  I also told her that she would always be part of that memory.  I don’t know why I said it, it just seemed like one of those “in the moment” things worth noting.  As I drove back down the 405 to my uncle’s house, it seemed like every station in LA was playing Michael Jackson music in tribute.  This is when the magnitude of MJ’s death hit me.  Station after station, it was hit song after hit song.  The man was an international, musical superstar in every sense of the words.  He was the truth.

I thought of La Bamba yesterday because for me, yesterday will always be the “day the music died.”  Michael Jackson was my John Lennon.  He was my Elvis.  “Thriller” was the first album I ever owned.  He’s the first man who ever inspired me to want to get up and dance.  He is the biggest musical superstar of my lifetime, sang the song I danced to at my wedding, and he changed the world.

These days, it has become “cool” to mock Michael Jackson.  Sure he was eccentric and sure he brought a lot of it upon himself, but nobody can question the man’s musical talents.  This is how I will choose to remember MJ.  I will remember him for the myriad of chart-toppers he sang, for the “Thriller” video and for making music that, growing up, seemed like it was on a different level than anything else I was hearing.

A small part of me died yesterday.  It died wearing a sparkly glove on one hand and doing a reverse dance move called the moon walk.  However, it will never be forgotten.

Rest in peace, King of Pop.

You will be missed.

I’ve moved my flight back and extended my vacation.

Check back next week for a full report on the house, California (Northern and Southern) and…..

VEGAS!

Have a great weekend, everyone. Make the most of every day.

PS - Happy Birthday Todd!

Instead of writing about how I sat next to a cute girl on the flight who raved about San Francisco and spoke about how she loved it there and had friends out there, let’s change it up a bit.

For me, LA is much like New York in that I love visiting these places for short periods of time.  There comes a time between the 24-48 hour mark that I start to get antsy and want to leave.  Here in LA, it is the traffic (Laker frontrunner car flags everywhere, btw) and the fact that the city is so spread out.  The reason I flew here instead of San Francisco is that I have a lot of relatives here: NEIL lives here and my cousin T-Lo’s family (his son Kyle is the cutest kid ever) are here along with two uncles, my grandmother and some cousins on my father’s side.  Also, I’m going to try and check out Kid Spin’s movie premiere at the L.A. Film Festival next week.

The only thing I really, really wanted to see in LA was the Conan show.  I’ve been here a bunch of times and have seen all the traditional touristy things.  However, I’ve always loved Conan (Letterman too, actually) but never could watch him because he was on so late each night (12:30am).  Three weeks and 14 shows ago, he took over the 11:30pm time slot and Tonight Show reigns from Jay Leno (thankfully).

Yesterday, I got a chance to see him and I’ll break down the day diary style (in Pacific time, of course).

5:30am - I awoke early because of the time difference.  Wednesday night, I pretty much threw out the idea of going to Conan because the only way I could get tickets was via their standby system.  The stand by system is going over to Universal Studios at 10am and getting a standby ticket.  After you get a standby ticket, you had to return at 3:30 to try and get in the show.  Getting one of these tickets does not guarantee admission to the show.  You would only get in if there were no-shows.  Since I was up so early, I figured I’d give it a shot.

7:30am - I headed out the door for Universal.  On the way, I grabbed some gas and hunted down a Carl’s Jr. loaded breakfast burrito which NEIL and T-Lo raved about.  Their raving was merited.  Good stuff.  All in all (with stops) , the drive from where NEIL lives in Laguna Beach to Universal took just over 90 minutes in LA traffic.  Not fun times.

9:15am - I arrived at Gate 3 at Universal.  I ended up being about the 30th person in line and met some nice people.  The people ahead of me were from Minnesota and the people behind me were from California, about 200 miles north of LA on the coast.

9:30am - They opened the gate and lead us into the holding area.

9:50am - A woman came out and explained the whole standby process.  She empathsized that getting a ticket didn’t guarantee admission and not to bring any cameras when we came back at 3:30.  She also mentioned that only 20 people got in on Wednesday night but 70 people got in on Tuesday night.  Wednesday night made sense because “The Rapist,” I mean Kobe Bryant was on the show.  You have to figure that she weren’t many no shows for his appearance.  After all, non-consensual sex between a NBA star and an unsuspecting hotel employee is pretty much commonplace these days, right?

10:00am - She passed out the standby tickets.  Each person could get a ticket for up to two people.  I got one for two people, hoping I could convince NEIL to leave work and come to the show with me.  My ticket was numbered 24th and I was pretty confident I’d get in.  The NBC website said there usually was 100 seats given away each show.

10:10am - As I was walking back to my car, I ran into my friend Mike.  His wife is a producer on the show and I had sent him an email Wednesday night asking if he could get me a few tickets (apologizing for the short notice, of course).  He was at Universal dropping his wife off for work.  When I saw him, he told me he would work on getting me in.  I explained that I had a pretty low number on the standby list, so I should be all set.  I asked him to still try just to make sure I got in.  Good thing he did.

10:15-3:15pm - I spent the next part of the day driving around LA.  I went to Hollywood Boulevard, past the Chinese theatre and even grabbed a few beers at the famous Red Sox bar Sonny McLean’s in Santa Monica.  I also spent a lot of the time trying to convince NEIL to come.  At around 11:30, Mike called me telling me he could get me one ticket on the VIP list.  Upon hearing this great news, visions of Eva Mendez on my lap danced through my head.  Ultimately, the only thing the VIP list got me was a guaranteed admission (huge, actually) and a later check in time (4pm).

3:15pm - One of the cool things about getting to Universal early was that I found a great parking spot.  Across from Universal, there is a park that had free two hour parking from 8am-6pm.  I parked there when I grabbed the standby tickets and went back there again.  It is directly across from Gate 2 where I had to enter.  I figured that if I parked around 3:45 I’d be good during the taping of the show.

3:45pm - I arrived at the VIP meeting area to find a line of about 25 people.  There, I met the first of many pages working the show.  His name was Rafael.  He let us know all of the procedures and gave us wristbands.  He advised us that the taping was from 5-6pm.  He also told me that McLovin was on the show along with Eva Mendez (which I knew).  They were very strict about their no cell phone policy and told us to turn them off right away.  He also said that using a cell phone in the studio would be grounds for dismissal.  I saw Mike again and he came over and said hello.

4:00pm - They started to let the regular, ticketed guests in.  Rafael said they would let two or three of those groups in and then let us in.  Apparently, VIP’s aren’t worth the best seats in the house.  At that point though, it didn’t matter.  I was just happy to be getting in.

4:10pm - Our group was lead into the studio.  It was a short walk and we had to go through a metal detector.  Also, we were advised to go to the rest room if needed because it was our last chance.  Again, they mentioned the cell phone thing.  There were a ton of pages escorting us where to go.  They were all dressed similar to Kenneth from “30 Rock.”

4:12pm - I finally was seated.  Seeing the set was surreal and it is a lot nicer in person than on TV.  It was very cool to see the set of the show I have been watching every night since it started.  There were a ton of lights and flat screens above our heads.  Above each flat screen was an “Applause” sign and the theater was ice cold.  As the people were being escorted in, I kept an eye out for the people around me in the standby line.

4:20pm - The theater was finally full and there was no sign of the people I met in the standby line.  They didn’t get in.  If it wasn’t for Mike and his wife, I wouldn’t have gotten in either (thanks again Mike and Rachel!!!).

4:30pm - The turned up the music really loud, presumably to get people pumped for the show.  Security was pretty strict with people trying to secretly use there cell phones.  Even though I wanted to snap a few pictures of the set, cameras were completely out of the question.

4:35pm - Some comedian came out.  His job was to warm up the audience.  He also explained the applause meter and made us practice our applause.  At first, he really wasn’t funny.  He then started picking on people in the audience and his schtick instantly became funnier.

4:50pm - The comedian introduces Conan’s announcer, Andy Richter.  Richer serves no real purpose on the show except an occassional cut to him laughing at Conan’s jokes.  True to form, he didn’t do anything at this point except introduce the band, the “Max Weinberg Seven.”

4:51pm - The band comes out and totally sparks up the crowd.  There were really high-energy and a few of them even came out to the audience while they played.  They were fantastic and that was when I finally realized, “Wow, I’m actually at the Tonight Show.”

4:59pm - I was amazed at the amount of people around the set.  There were tons of pages, camera men and even some dudes up in the back in suits.  On the stage there were people in front of monitors, a stage manager running everything and rent-a-cop-security dudes all over the place.

5pm - Taping begins.  Conan comes out, does his monologue and the show pretty much runs on the same timeframe as it would on TV.  He was brilliant per usual, very tall and between takes seemed very businesslike.  They did a bit with the USC band which was great. and the only real bad segment was the Twitter Tracker.  It just wasn’t funny and should probably be cut from the show (*cough* Rachel *cough*).

5:25ish - Eva Mendez comes out.  Two words: Smoke. Show.

She was actually very funny and someone who seemed like she would be really fun to hang out with.  Definitely hotter in person.  During the commerical breaks, a producer guy would go up to Conan and talk to him.  Also the cue card guys would get into position and useless Richter went up and talked to Eva Mendez.  I can’t blame in for that, though.  Hey-Zeus, she is hot.

5:40ish - MCLOVIN!  I was surprised at how young he was.  I thought he was older than 19 and seemed like one of those kids you’d pick on in high school.  It was probably smart for him to not mention that he was a Celtics fan with the Lakers parade being the day before and all.

5:50ish - The worst band I’ve ever heard, the Dead Weather came on.  Mendez, McLovin and Conan all moved closer to the stage and watched on.  I could even see them nodding their heads and tapping their feet.  I bet they were just pretending to be into it, because there is no way any sane person would enjoy that noise.

6:00pm - Taping ends, but not before Conan, Mendez and McLovin do a few quick promos for local newscasts.  Conan thanks the crowd for being a great audience and then leaves.  Mendez and McLovin leave arm in arm (Go McLovin!).

All and all, a great day in LA, mostly thanks to Mike and Rachel.  Thanks again guys, I really appreciate it.  Please let me know if you are ever up in Boston (or if I move, San Francisco).

Now, off to San Francisco for the weekend….

Have a great weekend, everyone! Make the most of every day.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to Maverick for helping me move (and storing) my recliner.  Thanks to Flah for helping out for three straight days on the yard and my neighbor Tim for letting me use his tools.

Greetings from California!

Welcome to what could be the first of many “Truth About Mike” west coast entries.

A week ago, I set a goal to get my house ready for sale by yesterday.  It was an ambitious goal, but I always work better with a deadline.  When I started, my lawn and yard were overgrown and the house was cluttered, dirty and a mess.  It was probably in the condition same any single guy’s place would be in.  At one point, my realtor even suggested pushing everything back a week.  I wasn’t having any of that talk because July is typically a very bad month for selling houses due to vacations.  I wanted to get the house on the market right away.

Over four out of the past five days, I spent at least 12 hours working on the house.  Tuesday, I spent 19 total hours working on it, finally going to bed at 4:30am.  At one point, I was crawling around on the floor because of how sore I was.  I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder on anything in my life and (as sad as this may sound), it is probably one of my greatest accomplishments.

Those 12 hour days consisted of cleaning, organizing, yard work (with lots of help) and a basic overhaul of everything in the house.  I was opening boxes I haven’t opened since we moved in six years ago and gave away seven pieces of furniture.  I learned that Lowe’s closes at ten, where I could drop off used clothes and books, how great Kid Spin and Flah were at yard work, and where dumpsters in town where it was easy to drop trash after dark were.

When my brother came to pick me up for the airport yesterday, I experienced a feeling I haven’t had in a long while.  The feeling consisted of relief, excitement and joy that I had accomplished my goal.  It was a goal that seemed very unrealistic when it was first set.  When he pulled up, I was putting the finishing touches on the last room.  He took a quick walk through the house and commented that it looked like a different place.  My realtor came over yesterday and she was amazed at how great the house looked.  The pictures above are “before” and the pictures below are “after.”

The house went on the market yesterday.  We are holding our first open house on Sunday.  To be honest, I am not optimistic about the prospect of selling the house; it is a really tough out there.  However, since serious thoughts of moving to San Francisco entered by head, everything seems to be falling into place to do so.  Tune in tomorrow to hear about my flight out to California and what happened to make me even more excited to make the leap.

Getting the house into the condition it is in right now over the course of a week was no small task. I learned a lot about myself and some of the people in my life.  Now, I truly know that I can accomplish anything.  Moving to one of the most expensive cities in the country 3,000 miles away with no job will seem like a walk in the (dog) park compared to the past week.

It really is amazing what one can accomplish when motivated.