Spoke briefly but pleasantly with my brother after playing a considerable amount of phone tag this afternoon… it seems that Francesco (his landlord) took my suggestions of cleaning the place up to heart after a potential tenant decided not to lease after seeing it sans a coat of paint and a good cleaning. Latest word is that the Terrazzo will be overlaid with tile or carpet. I hope tile, much simpler with a pair of hirsute boys living there…though Newt sheds more than I do. The bro apparently sold him on my moving in with true tales of my reliability with payment schedules and quiet living. (No bills overdue or crack use here!) Also, Francesco likes my brother… he’s been a good tenant with him since he arrived back from Hawaii. I’m quite enthusiastic about living next door… He and I both have enough respect for one another to call before coming over, even if we only live two doors apart.

I’m also hoping that it comes through, because it’s one of the better deals financially for the district… taking into account that cable will be free, I’ll be paying about $15 less a month than I am now. I’ll finally get the History channel unscrambled, and the Sci-fi channel again. (Is there anything worth watching on Sci-fi anymore? I used to only watch it for the Bionic Woman and the odd 60’s shows…Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants… I hear that the original programming is a little feeble.)

Doable would be running a wireless network (or heck, even a cable, maybe if need be) between here and the outside courtyard… maybe into my brother’s place, too, for multiplayer gaming, or just to let him surf from his place at DSL speed. I imagine that I’d be burning more CD’s for him now, as he discovers the wonders of file-sharing.

I like being closer to the bro, being able to help him out and be more social.

Variables off the top of my head to take care of when I move into a new place:

• Theft / Disaster insurance
• Parking for the future bike – I may end up just keeping it in the apartment, by the door.
• DSL or Cable High-speed access (looks like both are available)
• Shopping Areas, particularly for groceries, books, and hippy-goods.
• A separate green-grocer?
• Places to walk, parks, beaches, etc.
• Library
• Laundry
• Takeout & Sit Down – Thai, Chinese, American, Spanish and Italian
• Nearness to Police / Ambulance / Fire Stations (Close enough to be quickly served, far enough away to be quietly served.)
• Bus Routes / Taxi / Metro Rail
• Possible New places of contract employment?
• Local Human & Animal Hospitals
• A local map is going to be a must… do like I did when I first moved to Pompano from Davie… put it on the fridge, or a corkboard.
• Clothes Store
• Shoe Store
• Blood Donation Center
• How’s the night sky’s light index?

From metafilter –

And The Winner Is….
Hurray! I can finally sleep at night, the new M&M color is Purple. The intro is a bit annoying, but the flash page they have to show voting stats by country is kinda nifty. mmmmmm…purpliscious

The new money will be called NexGen
The Treasury and Federal Reserve make it official: Starting in 2003, U.S. currency will have pretty colors. But they don’t say which colors!
Is anyone else creeped out that they call the money “NexGen”? It sounds so … Orwellian.