The Great House Hunt

I have decided to buy a house. In order to accomplish my goal, I have enlisted the help of Jane Frasch, a local Coldwell Banker Realtor recommended to me by Elaine. We began our house search two weeks ago. My ideal house would have 2 bathrooms, a large kitchen, plenty of storage, a room that could be used as an office, a dishwasher, garbage disposal, well kept exterior, reasonably close to school and shopping and be 60,000 or less.

The first house we checked out was only 936 square feet and way too small. I currently have an apartment around 1300 sq. ft. and I am crowded as it is. My dad thinks I have too much stuff for where I am in my life if I can't fit into 900 sq. ft., but I like space so we set off to look at some slightly larger houses.

The next house was a 1680 sq. ft. foreclosure. The house was rough on the inside, but some rooms were really nice. It has 1.5 baths, a huge kitchen, three small bedrooms, a detached two car garage, a large deck, and a Michigan basement.

The third house on our tour was interesting because of the decor. There were five shades of carpet used in different rooms: chocolate, aqua green, pink, orange, and pattered green. There were several types of paneling: real wood, fake brown wood, fake white wood, and fake stone. The basement was finished and had a bar which was nice, but I felt this house would take too much to redecorate so it was quickly crossed off the list.

We looked at several more houses but they were crossed off because the kitchen or bathroom was too small. There was a condo in the mix, but due to its 70's decor with mirrored walls and very vertical floor plan it was also discarded.


The second day of house hunting involved visiting three different duplexes. The idea of making money off my property was quite attractive, but once I saw the condition they were in I felt they would take too much work before my investment would pay off. They were all very old and needed new floors, plumbing, and many other cosmetic fixes that would be rather more time consuming that painting over the hot pink paint in the bedroom. Another duplex overlooked the local municipal brick and paving supply depot.

The second day yielded one house that Michael liked. It 1300 sq. ft. and well maintained. The kitchen was of a decent size, but it only had one bathroom. The attic was finished and could be used as a large bedroom or rec room. The main problem with the house is that it had a very narrow driveway that opened onto a major street so getting in and out could be a problem. There was an alley behind the house and we could rip up bushes and park in the backyard to solve that problem though.

At the end of our two day house hunt, I had determine my favorite house of the bunch. My favorite was the second house from the first day. Even though it was rough and needed work, all of the work could be classified as cosmetic. So tomorrow I am planning to get pre-approved for my mortgage and formulate my offer. With luck the house will be mine by August 1st.

The Results are in...

Today I received a letter from the university with my Qualifier test results. I panicked at reading the first line which stated that I had not passed the Qualifier test. My heart sank because I feared having to retake the math test and class. However, upon closer inspection I discovered I had passed math just not the other two tests. The results of the fluids test did not surprise me since I took it the day after the math test and only had about 4 hours to study for it. I will have to pass a second test in January in order to stay in the program, but I have all of the fall semester to brush up on fluids and none of the pressure of the math test.

The design test results were very surprising. I had received a marginal grade which means I will have to TA for the class. I have no idea how I made a marginal grade for two reasons. First, I had done well in the course all semester and had received an A. Secondly, after the test when comparing my answers with other people I felt that I had done better than Elaine but not better than Michael. The strange part is that both of them passed. I don't plan on protesting though since all I have to do is TA for the course. The professor for the course is nice and there are much worse TA positions I could get stuck with. Overall, I am very happy with my results because I passed math.

I do think that there are better ways of revealing the test results though. They could send a letter saying:

Below are your 2010 AME Qualifier Test:
Math: Passed
Fluids: Failed Required Action: Retake in January 2011
Design: Marginal Required Action: TA for Optimization Course Spring 2011

Instead I received the letter below.

Results Letter

Qualifiers, California, and Kerrigan

After a very brutal first year, Ph.D. candidates are required to take the qualifier exams. These exams occur one week after finals and consist of three tests: Math, which everyone takes, and two tests of the takers choice. I took Optimization and Fluids. In order to get ready for the math test, I joined up with some other students for a study group. Starting the week of finals and lasting until the math qualifier, we studied nothing but math for at least 4-5 hours every day. It was very depressing to break for dinner and come back to study. Professors leaving for home would just walk by our group shaking their heads. By the Friday before the test, I started to go a tad insane. Tuesday hailed the start of the tests with Optimization. While not too bad, it was harder than expected. Math was Wednesday and was horrendous. I knew how to do some of the problems, but completely guessed on others. My only hope at this point is if enough people did worse than me I might eke by with a pass. Thursday was Fluids. I would like to say I was confident about what I did, but I was so out of it by that point, I really don't know how well I did. I know I made some really stupid mistakes, but hopefully I didn't screw the test up too much.

With the tests over with, it was time to leave for vacation. Michael and I were supposed to leave 7:30 pm Friday night, but our plane was canceled and so we had to leave Saturday. Actually, the plane was first delayed, but no one bothered to let any of the passengers know until after the time the plane was supposed to have left. There weren't even any gate agents on our side of security to ask about the flight either. The plane ended up being delayed until 10 pm and everyone would miss their connecting flights at O'Hare so everyone rescheduled and caused the flight to get canceled.

When we finally made it California, we were ready to relax. After a day of rest, Michael drove his grandfather, sister, cousin, aunt and me to Yosemite. It was an interesting day since it was sort of rainy and there was construction throughout the park. Each time the road would collapse down to one lane, we would have to wait in line for the lead car to come and take us through the construction. Even with the slow progress we were able to see some stunning vistas.



We also made it into San Fransisco where we walked the Golden Gate Bridge, shopped at Pier 39, and wandered around Chinatown. We had dinner at a restaurant in Chinatown called Hunan Homes. We enjoyed a nice quiet dinner in the back room until a tour bus unloaded. After dinner we headed home.

Another awesome aspect of the week were the cherries. Michael's grandfather has a small orchard and several of the cherry trees were ready to be picked. A couple nights we would walk down to the farm and eat cherries off the tree for desert.

The week went by quickly and Sunday we flew back to South Bend.

Kerrigan went the vet yesterday. She was absolutely mortified the whole time. Her goal was to make herself as small as possible and limit access to her rear. She doesn't mind the shots so much, but it is the temperature taking that she hates the most. In two weeks she goes back for her spaying. We are still debating if we are going to de-claw her. I don't want to, but I can't go around with scratches on my arms for the next 10 years. She isn't scratching maliciously, but accidents still hurt. We are trying Kitty Caps right now. I don't think she likes them.