House-buying headaches

So, we have hit some bumps in the house-buying process. After the inspections, several issues have come up. I won't go into the details, but in the next week or so, there will be many negotiations. Hopefully, the seller will take care of most of the problems. The issues are serious, but not deal-breakers for us. We knew going in that old houses are going to have problems, and this old house is no exception. Will keep you updated.

On a lighter note, my parents just left from a nice weekend visit to Philly. We did a few touristy things, including lunch at City Tavern and a visit to Eastern State Penitentiary. I highly recommend a visit to this site. I have heard they hold an awesome Halloween Haunted House there, which I can only imagine. Micah took some great photos, and I will post some later on Flickr. Here is a virtual tour if you are interested, but it isn't the same as walking around on site.

I took the day off from work today, but ran some work-related errands. Boy, I can't stay away! I went to Fabric Row, and picked up some scraps of animal prints for Teen Summer Reading. Our theme is "Wild about Reading," so animal prints galore. I needed the fabric scraps to help decorate my room and my raffle box. The teens submit a raffle ticket for every book they read. I plan on having weekly drawings at my branch for smaller prizes and possibly have 3 drawings for bigger prizes, like an MP3 player. Last year, my branch did really poorly, so the bar has been set quite low.

Well, enough for now.

Susquehanna front

Susquehanna front
Originally uploaded by athrahans.

It's ours!!!

Well, unless something weird happens. Closing should be at the end of July. Yipee! We get to move during the hottest part of the summer.

Fishtown, here we come.

Susquehanna backyard

Susquehanna backyard
Originally uploaded by athrahans.

This could be ours.

Sorry about not writing, but my mind has been occupied with the house-hunt. Wish us luck!

Mail Expire

Has anyone used MailExpire yet?

It looks quite interesting, so I will probably start using it. It is a temporary email address that you give out when signing up for things like newsletters. If you start getting spammed you can just wait until the address expires (you set the expiration date.) I just wanted to know if anyone else had experiences with them.

Free Comic Book Day

I know this is a little early, but I figured that if I wait until closer to the date, I might forget.

Oh, I will be attending Wizard World in June. Yeah, I know, I am not that into comics/graphic novels, but many of my teen patrons are. I thought I would attend to get a better sense of what is out there and pick up some freebies. I will report back.

NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK

It's National Library Week. Go to your local library and check out a book! You don't have a library card? Then go get one.

Seriously, this is the week to get you library card. Many libraries will be giving away prizes for just showing up. Oh, and tomorrow is National Library Workers Day. If you already frequent the library, thank the person at the desk for all the hard work. Please!

I'm bored

Encouraging Leader

Academy Awards

Please don't call tonight. I won't be answering the phones after 8pm. The Oscars are like the Super Bowl for me. I have the chips, dips, and alcohol ready. I really don't know why I get so into it--I've only seen one of the movies nominated (Crash), which I know is pretty sad. We don't have a theater near our new place, so the only movies we watch are through Netflix. Most of the films nominated are not out on video yet.
Oh, and tonight will be special because of Jon Stewart. You can't miss that.

our first snow in Philly

zerosnow2006
Originally uploaded by athrahans.

We stayed inside Saturday night, drinking cocoa and watching movies. Sunday around 1pm, when the snow finally stopped, we took Zero out to the playground across from our building and let him run to his heart's content.

Zero's famous!

Not really, but he may be in a documentary. Last week, we went to the Orianna Hill Dog Park and during our visit I noticed that one of the guys was filming with a large video camera. I didn't think anything of it until he walked up to me and asked my permission for Zero to be included. Zero loves any attention, so I agreed.
I found a post on northernliberties.org about a documentary being filmed dealing with dogs in Northern Liberties, so this must have been what the guy was working on at the dog park. Pretty neat.
phillydogfilm.com