Sean, I'm happy for the final result and remember - while stuff on the internet is impossible to eradicate, at this level it's probably easy enough to take down before anyone you don't want to see it has.

And Tom, I'm so sorry. Can you take some time off? give your sanity some time to regroup and maybe look into photography as a vocation (or paid avocation)?

Tom that sucks.

Belated congrats and glad the leak didn't turn out to be too awful, Sean!

Thanks for the absinthe advice. All I need is sugar cubes.

I found a "Deaf event" here. Some Penn State ASL students are running an ASL story time at the library. It doesn't really count, because I don't think there will be any Deaf people there, but it'll be good enough, because I am not driving five hours just to go to an event for a class that I'm only taking for fun.

Plei, we know what they paid 7 years ago. They bought high and I do feel for them, but if they really want to sell right now, I really don't think they are going to be able to get what they are asking. Maybe in a few more years but not now. My real estate agent is going to call their agent and say that they are able to make a more reasonable counter offer we are still interested, but that his market research does not support their price. We'll see.

How much they owe will be the kicker. I mean, the lowball non-offer on our place was over what we paid, but less than what we owed. (HELOC, as the market crashed RIGHT after we'd signed papers on the house we're in now, and we'd done the then-typical juggle of HELOC for a down with plans to sell ASAP, only ASAP failed to happen for a number of reasons that weren't predictable. In hindsight, we wish we'd listed as is as soon as we'd closed on the house we live in. Oh well.)

Fingers crossed that they can afford to meet you part way to the market value.

Yeah, God knows I wish I could sell our house cheap, but unfortunately, I need to cover the note. I also wish we could rent that mofo.

A friend of mine has a house she bought before her marriage and, rather than sell it in a down market, was renting it out to someone she knew and had dealt well with in the past. Well, years passed and the renter became the neighborhood's crazy cat lady - she had more cats than her lease allowed and had taken to feeding and providing shelter for the local feral cats (she built little shelters outside). The neighbors complained to my friend and to the homeowners' association, she's been threatened with fines and possibly a lien on the house. My friend's going to have to have the house professionally cleaned, replace the carpets, and probably have someone deal with the outside. So ... renting has its downside as well.

Yeah, I know that story too. Nightmare tenants AND underwater mortgage. Living the muthafuckin American dream, I tell you what.

I do understand if they are underwater and can't come any lower, but if that is the case, I don't think they'll be able to sell at all right now.

Sean, glad it wasn't too big a deal.

Debet, yay for good news! Glad to hear it.

Drama Llama has apparently been gunning for me since day one; my crew thinks that it's because I make $5K more a year than she does, because she bitches about that pretty publicly. Other exciting things I learned today

• she has taken off early to go drink (and announced it)
• she sits on her ass most of the day (knew that, actually)
• she's told the current crop of volunteers that they suck and will never be as good as the ones who just left
• she may be misusing petty cash
• she may be submitting anonymous complaints about me to the director on almost a daily basis
• she vents abut her boss to volunteers
• she takes even neutral comments and makes them negative and spreads rumors

I am just agog and aghast at her vituperativeness and unprofessionality. I mean, unprofessional doesn't even start to describe it. What a backstabbing bitch. I had NO idea whatsoever that she was constantly telling people that I'm incompetent.

If she doesn't get fired, I am going to have to confront her, because apparently the only language she understands is bitchese.

Also, I just had to tell PB that I can't give him a reference.

Factor all that in with waking up at 3:30 and dozing with nightmares until the alarm went off? It's gonna be an early night.

smonster that really really sucks.

I'm always surprised at the level of bitchiness and deceitfulness people will get up to.