back on the market, so to speak

SJ and I have been talking about buying a house for a while, but you know...we live in San Francisco...and you have to either: have a trust fund, have a job that pays $100,000/year (each of you), have a death wish (to move into an "affordable" area), or not care if you live in a 400 sq. foot place in a building in the Tenderloin. None of the above apply to us.

With the market how it is, we've decided that this is the year. 2009 = a house of our own. We've given up on SF, so...it looks like E.Bay here we come!

We drove around a bit last weekend, checking out neighborhoods, because really, every street has its own feel. And, we've been perusing the internets.

It's funny, when we put in the price range ($200-$400,000) we are interested in, BOY do the choices dwindle. It appears that the homes we want are about $300,000 out of our price range. Ha ha. Well, we both believe that if we really look, and have a good realtor helping us look, maybe, just maybe we can work it out.

Here are some things we've been seeing:

There are these condos with yards. $300,000 for 800 square feet, and shared walls? not so sure.

There's this adorable little house on Peralta street. Seems perfect. But, if you look at the street view of the google map...

That's what you see across the street. :-(

There's this cute place in Oakland Hill/Mills area:

But, "up and coming neighborhood" smells like "you don't want to walk around here at night" to me.

There's this really cute house, but where the hell is Gold Links Rd?

Wayyy out there.

Bummer.

There's this cool house in Berkeley.

It even has over 1000 square feet. i wonder if it has a roof?? And of course, it is almost $400,000. ouchie.

And, this looks almost hopeful.

It even has a red door!

Well, the hunt is on. Watch out, e.bay, the lesbians with pitbulls may be coming to a neighborhood near you!

Love for sale.

Now available...kisses, sunshine, and roses. The sweetest cuddler you'll ever find.

ying & yang

Good and Bad.

Let me start with an amazingly GOOD story.
Saturday, at the San Francisco rally against prop 8, about 2 hours in, we decided to head off to get something to eat. We went over to Hayes Valley, and it seems as though every other gay in the city did the same thing. After a few failed tries to get grub, our group decided to split up, and go to our own hoods for lunch. So, we're walking with our 2 friends to BART to go back to Glen Park, when it happened. We were at Market Street..and looked down (towards the Castro) and what we saw looked like something from a movie. A huge crowd of people were walking up Market Street. "Are those OUR people?" asked Cynthia. Sure enough, they were, and the march was headed right our way.

Have you ever had a huge group of people invite you to join them? Because, as they approached us, it was like a huge wave welcoming us in the pool. It was amazing.
So, starving and cranky, we walked. And walked. And it was good. Up Powell Street, passing wide-eyed tourists. Up through China Town, passing surprised shop owners and shoppers, into North Beach. And that's where we jumped out. Girls gotta eat, and eat we did. The best pizza EVER. then walked back to the BART. Feet = tired. Heart = happy.

In other news:

BAD. Prince? As if. OMG. WTF. And here, we really liked you.

GOOD. Jack from Fort Myers. We salute you.



BAD. Not just bad but Koo Koo Krazy Bad. "God is saying, "California shall be a refuge for America when the catastrophes come. California belongs to Me, not the advocates of sexual anarchy."" (twirling finger about the temple kind of crazy bad.)

GOOD. Shark poo. Probably more intelligent than James Hartline.

BAD. Bible prophesy. Kooky McKookertons.

GOOD. This girl's knocking it out of the park.

REALLY BAD. Poor polar bears. I still blame Palin.

COULD BE BETTER. American cars suck. They suck so bad, we shouldn't save them. But we want to save jobs. So, I have an idea. Why don't we bring in Japanese and German consultants and change them? Seriously. They should hire me to help them.

AND, WHO KNOWS. ???? I'd go with GOOD because she is still alive.

no on H8 march last night

How to capture the feeling of walking down Market Street surrounded by thousands and thousands of people of all colors, ages, and flavors..all of us expressing our anger, hurt, dismay, disbelief that our state, and the people in it, would willingly discriminate and TAKE AWAY our rights...well, I can't really capture that in words. But, I can try: inspiring, motivating, nourishing, validating, powerful, emotional, and loving. (oh, and my sign was a hit)



The Mormon Church is scared. They are frightened. They are "disturbed". And I'm glad. (ARE YOU READING THIS MORMON CHURCH?)
What the hell do they expect? They pour in millions of dollars to a POLITICAL issue and they really thought nobody would notice and fight back? We are fighting back....and we are smarter than they are, and our beliefs are actually based in reality, not in magic undies.

Check this out. Rachel Maddow talking to Princeton Political Professor Melissa Harris Lacewell and race and prop 8. The professor makes some good points. I'm torn, because I think the no on 8 campaign did a really good job with the resources they had, but I think we all learned that we have tons of work to do in minority communities. We assumed that racial minority groups would understand our cause and our fight, and we were wrong. Religion and fear overrode any sense of compassion and understanding. And that needs to change.

Last night on the local news, they talked to Bill May, from Catholics from the Common Good. Of course, he whined and cried about how the gays were unfairly targeting religious groups (waaaaa!!!) and at the end of his whiny sad little speech, he did something very, very interesting. He basically said, "why aren't they targeting the 7 out of 10 black voters who voted Yes on 8?"

See what he did? He totally pointed the finger. They love this shit, those religious bigots. They love to judge, enforce their judgments on others, encourage other groups to judge, put alot of money into taking away others' rights, and then when they are called on it, they start to panic, cry, call foul, and point fingers. It was so blatant!! He was like the stupid kid in the schoolyard that pushed someone down, and in this case, he is pointing to the black kids saying THEY DID IT. It was sickening. The religious bigots love to see the divide of the minorities, and they are encouraging it every chance they can.

Okay, sorry for the rant...but it's been an emotional few days. Lots of anger. Lots of disappointment.
And tons of thinking.

ps. watch this. it's great:

Real Estate FAILS

On Craigslist today:

Listed as Bernal. NOT in Bernal. Silver & Bayshore...good try though folks!! Should have known when I saw $349,000 right?

A million-30 DUPLEX. And it's not even pretty.





"CHEAP!" Who uses that in a listing about a house? Makes it sound like a marked down display model. And, what the hell is "curb appeal?"


Romantic Excelsior Hideaway. Those 3 words should never be put together. Okay, the inside of the house is cool, I admit it. But they say "killer view" and that's enough for me not to want it. Who says "killer" anymore?


"You'll love this house--At least the price" WORST SALES LINE I HAVE EVER HEARD. Basically, this house sucks. But the price is okay. And it IS okay. $280,000. I bet it's a crap box.


Large Loot. If a realtor can't spell LOT, I'd stay away.


Charming Classic Home with Hip Details. Hip details? I don't think I want a home with HIP details.


This house is gorgeous. But it is $2 million over our budget. But it has a dumb waiter.

i want to spit

i need help. it's my neighbor. let's ignore for a minute the fact that he: wears a bluetooth but doesn't have a job, watches his wife mow the law because he is too lazy to do it himself, drives 2 large vehicles that match the color of his house, goes outside in his wifebeater (all wrong), and spends most of his time making sure his vehicles are parked in front of his house. Those things are bad enough, but here's the kicker.
Because someone lives in his garage, he doesn't park either large vehicle inside..both are in the street, like most everyone's car (because most of our neighbors have their garages as illegal inlaws). So, here is what he does:
He parks one of his vehicles parallel, across his own driveway. Which is fine, right? However, because his vehicles are long, they go beyond the space of his driveway, and into both the street parking spot to the left, and to the right of his garage. IE, he takes up two spaces. Now, this is not by accident. He does this to SAVE a parking spot for the other car, when his wife has it out. He saves a spot ON THE STREET.







So, while other people are cruising around, trying to get a parking spot somewhere near their house, this good-for-nuttin is taking up two spaces. This bothers me so much, because often I can't park near my house, and it burns me up that he's inside, in his wifebeater, pretending to be talking on his bluetooth (he never is talking on his bluetooth, it is just on his ear), while I (and others) are parking up the damn hill or down the block.
Sometimes, just to piss him off, I will wedge the Ribbit right behind or in front of him, barely fitting in. I can't really do it in the space right behind him because there is a crosswalk. Also, i don't like my car too close to his. it will get cooties.

QUESTION: does anyone know if this is illegal (taking up two spots)?

I really hate to waste my blood pressure medication on this guy and his pig-headedness, so I'm asking...does anyone have any advice? I've already left a polite note. It was totally disregarded. And once I asked him verbally to move his car up. Oh, and one time I did spit on his car. I'd had a few drinks. But, he does this shite all the time, and I'm kinda fed up.

Reason #4 to move out of city = my dumb neighbor and his ridiculous vehicles.