On Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:52:34 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> On 17/10/2013 11:34 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Ah, now if I'd known that, I could've sent you some bookcases we just
>> gave away. ;)
> 
> My mother has a shelf obsession, not me! My flat is quite full of
> furniture as it is; I don't need any more.

If you've ever seen "Waiting for God" - this made me think of Geoffrey.  
If you haven't, that won't make any sense, though. :)

I don't think we could afford the shipping. :)

> The walls are made of cardboard, so you can't actually attach anything
> to them. (Not if you don't want the entire wall to crack in half,
> anyway.) So everything has to be bookcases and the like.

Ah, yes, paneling - we've got some of that in our place - it's attached 
to sheetrock, but I could see that being a problem.

>> Good curtains are a good thing - we've got some windows in the back of
>> our place that don't have interior coverings (we have exterior shades
>> on three of the bigger windows - they help keep the place cool in the
>> summer).
> 
> I'm hoping this place will be cool in summer - the Sun never faces it.
> But it's not very warm right now with no curtains... I'd turn the
> heating on more, but without curtains I'm just pouring money down the
> drain.

Are the windows single- or double-glazed?  Curtains may not make that 
much difference if they're double.

>>> I especially enjoyed that the paperwork for the flat contains the
>>> manual for the previous boiler, and not the one presently fitted. :-D
>>
>> That sounds familiar.  When we moved in here, we found several old
>> instruction manuals for all sorts of stuff that was no longer here.
> 
> The flat comes with an owner's manual of sorts - a folder with sections
> for everything you would ever need to know. Trouble is, it was clearly
> compiled by the builders. So it contains the manual for the boiler they
> installed, not the new one it was replaced with.

Got a model number and manufacturer for the new one?  Usually there's 
something printed on a metal plate (or otherwise) on the side of the 
thing that has that info - I find most manuals can be found online these 
days, but if not, having the manufacturer and the make means you can get 
hold of someone at the company and ask for one if you really need it.  
That's what we ended up doing with the ancient boiler our place came with.

> But I think the thing I most enjoyed was the section entitled "meter
> locations". It is entirely empty.

LOL

>> I don't know about in the UK, but here in the US, it's been my
>> experience that with that type of gathering, people tend to come and
>> go.  Put some music on, get some light snacks (chips, dip, pizza, that
>> sort of thing - and drinks, of course) and invite people to come over. 
>> Get to know and invite your neighbors as well - that's a great way to
>> reduce the chances of a noise complaint from them. :)
>>
>> People tend to just gather and socialize, have a drink or two, and then
>> may wander off.  My son did something like this when he and his SO got
>> their place - with only a couch, they got a bunch of pillows/cushions
>> so people could sit on the floor.  They played video games and such as
>> well.
> 
> We'll see what I can set up. According to the terms of the lease, I'm
> not allowed to play music though. (Which is unsurprising, given the
> walls are made of cardboard. If the guy next door takes a dump, I can
> tell you if it's one lump or two!) I'm also not allowed to use a TV,
> although I'm damned sure I've heard other people doing so. Oh, and I'm
> not allowed to play a musical instrument OR SING!

TMI on your neighbor ;) - but you might talk to the landlord and see what 
accommodation they're able to/willing to make for a housewarming party.
> 
>>> My last bank statement was scary. It's alarming to see the money out
>>> column has MORE DIGITS in it than the money in column. :-S Welcome to
>>> never having any money ever again. ;-)
>>
>> I know *that* story. ;)  It's been over 2 years since I was laid off
>> and started working for myself.  While I could make a lot per month if
>> I put in a full work week each week, I tend to work about 4 hours a day
>> on average, really just enough to keep paying the bills.
> 
> No matter what your woes, somebody else always has a bigger problem.
> Why, I just spoke to my ex-girlfriend, and her sister died yesterday.
> What do you even SAY to something like that??

"I'm sorry for your loss" or "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that" is usually a 
good place to start.  That is sad news indeed.  I find that some people 
enjoy talking about the person who passed away, others want to be 
distracted.  Listening is usually good.

> 
>>> Oh, and my boss tells me I might want to update my CV, because the
>>> company *may* go under shortly. O_O
>>>
>>> (NOW you tell me?!)
>>
>> Eep.  Always a good thing to keep the CV current, just in case.  I wish
>> I'd done that in the years leading up to my layoff - it was much harder
>> to remember and provide specifics on projects I worked on (things like
>> savings, revenue impacts, that sort of thing - if you work on stuff
>> where you have that information available).
> 
> Fortunately, I now have a goodly list of stuff I've single-handedly done
> here. And more to the point, last time around everybody who interviewed
> me was wowed by the stuff I put on my CV, but then completely lost
> interest when I said I have no commercial experience. Now I have a year
> of solid experience, so...

That'll certainly help. :)

>> We're looking to probably move to Seattle by the end of the year
> 
> Sometimes I like to think of moving from one American state to another
> as being like moving between European countries. I gather they're
> approximately the same size...

Depends on the state.  Here in Salt Lake City (and the surrounding towns) 
there's about a million people.  Seattle's about the same size, but 
different politics, climate, ... pretty much everything. :)

>> That's one of the nice things about owning a place and fixing it up -
>> you can make money on it when you sell it. :)
> 
> Interesting. I assumed that you always lose a huge chunk of money when
> you sell a property - pretty much like anything else you can buy...

Oh, no, property values can (and do) go up.  I bought my first place out 
here in the mid-90's, paid about $89K for it (well, the bank did, and I 
paid them back when I sold the place and we moved in 2001.  The new place 
cost roughly double that (I think about $160K when all was said and 
done), and our realtor tells us that we should be able to get about $325K 
for it when we finish the last few little things that need finishing (a 
couple hardwood floors to professionally clean and refinish, and a little 
bit of painting).

A lot of it has to do with supply and demand.  Right now around here, 
it's a seller's market (there are more people wanting to move in than are 
wanting to leave), so you can ask a higher price.

We also had a 50-year roof put on the place while we were here - at a 
cost of about $20K (we had equity built up in the property because we 
bought it below market value, so we put the equity up as collateral for a 
loan).  So the next people to own the place (and possibly a few after 
them) won't have to have the roof done.  That's got value, too.

New heating system (the "ancient" boiler has been replaced with a high-
efficiency multi-zone radiant heating system), restoration work in the 
living areas, completely refinished the addition.  The costs add up, but 
the return is pretty good.  I could point you at before and after 
pictures if you were interested. :)

Jim

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