Our first winter storm

The first big storm hit this past Friday and I wasn't able to get to our home until Sunday, at which point the nice powdery snow had turned into a sheet of ice! I tried my best to shovel it all away (note: ice is much more difficult to shovel than snow), but I couldn't scrape all of the ice around our stairs. I even tried using a crowbar, but I was afraid I would chisel away the actual stairs along with the ice!

I hope the mailman will be okay.

I also found out that salt (the kind that melts snow) sells out pretty quickly around storm time. So when Home Depot/Lowe's/BJ's gets some salt back in stock, I will need to purchase some in advance!

This is quite a different experience than living in Queens, where I would just watch the super shovel the sidewalk and complain that he's doing a crappy job.

At least our horrible overgrown grass and dead lawn is covered up for now.

Yes, the joy of home ownership. Side effects may include backpain, stress, burning sensations in the holes of your pockets and the strange desire to own a Dremel. Some users reported dizziness, vomiting, and nausea. Please consult your doctor before taking home ownership.

Speaking of our home, the kitchen contractor was unable to show up last week to finish up the job and set up inspection, so we are still waiting for this kitchen to be "finished". It's 95% there, and we're looking forward to it being completed. By the way, today is Dec. 22, which is the 10 week anniversary of this project (4-6 week estimate). We're lucky that it's not inconveniencing us too much as we are staying at Sandra's parents, but at the same time we want to finish!

Election Day and Politics

Yesterday Sandra and I exercised our privilege to vote for the next president of the United States. A little different here in Cranford than in Queens. It took us a total of 5 minutes, and 3 of those minutes were spent talking to two ladies who were running the polling station who have live in Cranford for the last 40+ years. Pretty easy. I remember waiting on long lines in Queens to go vote. Not fun, but I'd still do it.

We also appreciated that we actually got to meet some of the candidates who were running for Congress (both Senators and House of Representatives). We met, amongst others, Dick Zimmer (who lost to Frank Lautenberg for NJ Senate), Linda Stender and Leonard Lance (winner) who represent our district for the House of Representatives. On different days they all were campaigning on our train/bus stop and it was the first time I had the opportunity to meet politicians who were running for government.

Regardless of who we were voting for, after Barack Obama was declared the next president of the United States I felt a resurgence of my American pride. Yesterday's election was a historic one; one that I hope will galvanize the nation to unify, rekindle our patriotism, and stand together to work to make this country the greatest country in the world (which it is!). I felt the same way after 9/11. Personally, this election has a different meaning to me as I find myself thinking a lot about my future son/daughter and what kind of world he/she will be living in. Strange how quickly those thoughts have crept into my psyche. I can only hope that when our child is learning about American History in school, that November 4th, 2008 will be remembered as a great day, a new era, and a triumph for our country. Why not?

Happy Halloween

We weren't going to be home for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, so we decided to put a bag of candy on our door with a sign that read, "Happy Halloween. Please take 1". Everyone that we told that story to had the same reaction, "Oh, that's candy is gone. And probably the bag too." We weren't so sure, but we also weren't confident. Living in the city, the chances that the candy would all go to the first or second person to show up at the door was pretty much a certainty. But how would our suburban town of Cranford fare? Well, we came back Friday night to find that our bag was still hanging on the door...and there was still candy! Thumbs up and good karma for you, kids of Cranford!

Yard Waste

Normally, during football season, I like to plan on watching football all day. All day means 11:00 a.m to 11:00 p.m., breaking for bathroom, food and drink. This past Sunday, I woke up ready to rake some leaves in the backyard, as they had been piling up for the last few months. I started at 10:00, figuring it was going to take two hours. FOUR hours later, I filled up roughly 300 gallons of yard waste (10 - 30 gal. bags from Home Depot). I was pretty tired, sweaty and a little sunburnt, but at least the yard was clear of leaves. Surprisingly, not all of the grass was dead and I had to mow some of it later. Side note -- the grass in the front lawn is pretty much all dead. Apparently you have to water the grass (free homeowner tip #1). It's pretty horrible. At least the neighbors know they don't have the worst yard on the block. It's definitely my goal to have a beautiful lawn next spring.

Anyway, now I have 10 bags of lawn waste. Since my garbage company only takes kitchen and bath waste, what am I supposed to do with it? I'll tell you. I have to drive a few miles to the Cranford Conservation Center to dump it. Even better, I need to obtain a "permit" for $55 for the year (April - Mar). I'm not sure why they call it a permit. I don't have to apply for anything, I don't have to know anything, proove anything, waive anything, sign anything, etc. I just give some guy $55, and I have a permit. The permit itself is a hideous white sticker on the side of the car window. Goes nicely with the white/red parking sticker on the back windshield. We keep this up and our car will look like NASCAR soon. The center is open from 11-3 during the week, so I will have to go during the weekend. What can be better than driving around in a car full of yard waste on a cool Saturday morning? Ah, the suburbs!

Garbage

Our garbage gets picked up every Monday and Thursday, so today is garbage day. Something I found out about moving to a house is that you have to PAY a company to come pick up your garbage. In New York, we were able to drop our trash down the compactor chute whenever we wanted. That garbage would be taken care of by the super or maintenance man and I never thought about it again. The New York Sanitation Department would pick it up. Here in Jersey, we had to find a list of trash companies and hire one.

Another inconvenience/cost -- we're allowed to put out two 32 gallon trash bins each day, which is a lot, but it can ONLY be kitchen and bath refuse. So, all that carpet and crap that I've ripped up is collecting in the garage (picture to come). Again, back in New York, you could just throw your over-sized crap in the basement, or whatever, and it's gone! Here, I have to pay extra for any non-kitchen/bath garbage pickup. I'm basically letting the trash pile up and then going to rent a 10 yard container to get rid of it ($$$). Finally, since I'm on a rant, Cranford picks up recycling every two weeks. You'd be surprised how many bottles, cans, newspapers, junk mail, etc. builds up in two weeks.

I guess that extra 3-4% New York City tax isn't a total scam.