HFS! We found our dream apt!

Our plan was simple. Get to Hawaii and hang out in a vacation rental for most of August while we take our time looking for a decent place to live. Well, things just got simpler today. Our plane landed at 10:30am this morning (more on our flying adventures later) and we spent the day hanging out in Waikiki. This evening Erin and I decided to cruise around town while Nonna (Erin's mom) put The Boy down for the night. While we were out, we got a call from a guy we've been in contact with about a 3 bedroom flat in Manoa (right next to the IfA). He asked if we could stop by sometime tonight. Um, heck yeah we could! We pointed the Hertz NeverLost GPS to the address and drove on over.

When we pulled up we got to meet Faye, the super-nice, Japanese landlady. We introduced ourselves, gave her our renters resume and took a look at the place. Here are the highlights of the pad:

3 bedrooms (that's right people, you can have your very own guest room)
1.5 bathrooms (0.5 in the master bedroom)
Huge living room, probably twice as large as our place in the UC Village
Dining room = 2x old place
Japanese sliding doors between dining area and living room
Same sized kitchen as our old place, but with a breakfast nook
yard
2 car covered parking
laundry inside
GARBAGE DISPOSAL! (never had one before)
A Park down the street
Rent = average price for 2 bedroom in Manoa

Come on, you're saying. This place can't be that perfect. Right? Well, there was a frikkin' rainbow outside when we were done scoping it out.

Long story short we told Faye we'd take it if she'd take us. Faye gave us both hugs and said she really liked us and would love to have us as tenants. Yup, our hunt for the perfect apartment took all of 2 hours (of course, I'm neglecting the 87,000 hours Erin has spent on Craigslist in the past three months).

Also, I should mention the fact that we haven't actually signed anything yet. We should get a call from Faye's property manager tomorrow or the next day. Erin doesn't want to jinx anything, but come on. A frikkin' rainbow!

The Johnson Pad 2.0 opens later this month when our stuff arrives (fingers and toes crossed).

A view from your shut down

The Daily Dish has been posting reader emails reporting on their " view from the shutdown ." If you think this doesn't affect you, or if you know all too well how bad this is, take a look at the growing collection of poignant stories. No one is in this alone except for the nutjobs in the House. I decided to email Andrew with my own view. I plan to send a similar letter to my congressperson. Dear Andrew, I am a professor of astronomy at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA houses one of the largest, if not the largest collection of PhD astronomers in the United States, with over 300 professional astronomers and roughly 100 doctoral and predoctoral students on a small campus a few blocks west of Harvard Yard. Under the umbrella of the CfA are about 20 Harvard astronomy professors, and 50 tenure-track Smithsonian researchers. A large fraction of the latter are civil servants currently on furlough and unable to come to work. In total, 147 FTEs

The Long Con

Hiding in Plain Sight ESPN has a series of sports documentaries called 30 For 30. One of my favorites is called Broke which is about how professional athletes often make tens of millions of dollars in their careers yet retire with nothing. One of the major "leaks" turns out to be con artists, who lure athletes into elaborate real estate schemes or business ventures. This naturally raises the question: In a tightly-knit social structure that is a sports team, how can con artists operate so effectively and extensively? The answer is quite simple: very few people taken in by con artists ever tell anyone what happened. Thus, con artists can operate out in the open with little fear of consequences because they are shielded by the collective silence of their victims. I can empathize with this. I've lost money in two different con schemes. One was when I was in college, and I received a phone call that I had won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas. All I needed to d

back-talk begins

me: "owen, come here. it's time to get a new diaper" him, sprinting down the hall with no pants on: "forget about it!" he's quoting benny the rabbit, a short-lived sesame street character who happens to be in his favorite "count with me" video. i'm turning my head, trying not to let him see me laugh, because his use and tone with the phrase are so spot-on.

Mahalo.ne.Trash

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