Also, the process might go a lot faster than you think. I saw this house March 7. I made an offer March 12, it was accepted that evening. Did one round of counter post-inspection, but it didn't change the timeline. I closed April 17. AND I got a new roof in that interval.

It'll be a whirlwind.

Indeed - from offer to closing was only about 4 weeks, in my case. Everyone was motivated!

Man, just thinking about that spring revs me up. It was CRAXY. I was completely batshit and it was fun, in retrospect.

Bonus to java: no moving to do!

Start polling homeowners insurance companies for quotes. You know the property well, but a home warranty might be something worthwhile, at least in the first year. (Which reminds me, I need to exercise mine a bit.) I've used it for non-emergency things like learning how to bleed radiators and maintain a boiler system, but it would cover things like rotor-rootering the sewage line if it clogged (somewhat chronic in this neighborhood. Without an outside cleanout drain, that would be a $500 plumber call, but with the HW, it's a $60 service call. WORTH IT!)

Ahahah. I just went looking through the old threads for the day I made an offer and found this sarameg "Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam" Mar 12, 2009 6:52:10 pm PDT Powers of prediction. I spend probably 15+ hrs a week at the Y.

meara, PECS is a picture exchange communication system -- using icons to communicate. The PECS software is RIDICULOUSLY expensive, cumbersome and stupid -- like Boardmaker which is only PC, costs $300 and must be run from a CD.

Is there any good stuff for iOS? I thought I had read at one point that iPads looked like they might be a really good option for some of this type of software.

Either it is thundering or someone is setting off a big fireworks display. Leaning towards the latter because I see no storms on the radar.

Home warranties can help reassure buyers, but they're mostly an exercise in discovering what they don't cover. You might want to have a home inspector, java. You probably know most of the problems, but inspectors can find things that you never imagined would be the case. For example, your stove hood might just be spewing greasy air into the attic rather than through a roof vent. You can negotiate to get things like that fixed.

Inspection got me a new roof, fixed electrical outlets, confirmation the deck was a deathtrap, fixed plumbing and a list of things to keep an eye on and predicted lifetimes of existing hardware.

For those who geek on the legislative process, NY is voting on gay marriage NOW.

ND, there sort of is good stuff for turning an ipad or itouch into an AAC device. The issue is Grace isn't ready for something of that complexity (something that has multiple folders which require her to understand categories and is a dynamic device). The device she DOES have is static and needs to be programmed by us with limited options. Once she masters the static device, getting her to understand a dynamic device, where I won't need to make fucking templates, will be possible.