Movers and Shakers

* when pictures are added, this will be WAY cooler.

So we moved.
Yep.
Not that that's a huge deal, considering we both move approximately every 6 months, but this was a big move, because we bought our first place together!! Woohoo!!

Yep. 306 - 1240 Quayside Drive, New Westminster British Columbia Canada V3M 6H1 (love my 6 hot unicorns... makes sense to us... or to me anyway)

Jax helping Sid put on his moving dress.

We started looking with Rich the realtor in January, pretty much right after we got back from Cuba, and it took us until about the middle of April to finally find a place after much hand-wringing and some stressing and bidding/making an offer on another place (and having that offer accepted! only to us finding out that there was a pending lawsuit against the builder and that the garage was leaking profusely... so we backed out of that one) and, yeah, then we found this place - in the tony Tiffany Shores no less - but it was in rough rough shape. like, blech. the carpets were black with filth, the walls too, the blinds, the appliances were all circa 1980, the wallpaper peeling, and most disconcerning was the old lady who liked to do puzzles sitting in the middle of the living room and pretty much refusing to move.

But we managed to see past all that, because A) about a month earlier we saw an identical suite in the same building only on the second floor. and that sucker was $289,000, and the one we ended up with was a floor higher, with a view(ish) of the river and trees, and was being offered for $249,000! The one we didn't buy we thought was overpriced for a one-bedroom and it faced the street with an unhidden balcony (not good for 4 kitty fur babies masquerading as 2 kitty boys according to the strata bylaws) but it had new laminate flooring and was all done up nicely and staged with snazzy new appliances (although it was a bit dark because it was lower down, and not south facing, and the trees in front of the building kinda blocked the sunlight)
and B) upon further review, everything that was horrible and disgusting about the new place was all cosmetic - there were no walls to bang out and no electrical wires hanging out or holes in the floor or anything like that. Even someone with no tools could throw on a coat of paint and rip out some carpet and all that stuff that only required labour, and not actual skill... right?!

so we talked it over while Richie and Jack Klinkhammer (the other realtor who Rich loved talking to) waited, and we decide to lowball em with a $240,000 bid. Jacquie was all for bidding the asking price cause she didn't want to insult them (because really, it was a fair asking price) but Richie talked us into asking $240,000... so we did.
They came back at $243,000 - and since we were already preapproved by Allan our friendly neighbourhood mortgage broker for $300,000 - we accepted, contingent on us reading the minutes and having an inspection, and that was that!

We took over the place on May 15th - and luckily I had a job that allowed me to run around and go to the bank and mortgage broker and realtor's office and read minutes and all that stuff! And then on May 15th we waited while the weird old lady attempted to move... one hour, two hour three hours late... but eventually she was gone (we felt kinda bad because it was a foreclosure situation and it was apparent she wasn't pleased about going... but I did end up running into her in the hall and she was kinda Asbergerish, a tough gnarly traffic-sign waving working grandma who took no shit and was heading up the hill to live in her friend's basement suite and she rode a motorcycle and seemed a bit skuzzy (and considering we knew she never cleaned her apartment in 15 years, skuzzy is probably a nice description) but anyways, she wasn't so bad, and the good thing was after meeting her I felt less sorry for her... it wasn't like she was limping and pushing a walker in front of her with her 6 cats strapped to her back and white hair....

I wish I had pictures, cause right about now I'd add some of Jacquie's condemned building at 1-1020 Nicola |Street, our chicken-wired balcony, the 50 year old broken flower beds hanging from outside the windows, the vines covering the chipped and cracked stuccoed walls, the uneven steps, the 3 inches of space under the doors to let in the winter air, the no cupboard kitchen, the electrical fuse box from the 1920's, the fuses themselves that could only be purchased at one hardware store in the westend, and they'd blow if you turned on the microwave the same time you had the space heater going (which was necessary due to the single pane windows and the aforementioned drafty doors) the lack of shower, the exposed pipes and ancient radiators and cracks in the walls and crackheads in the back alley and drunk neighbours screaming in front of our window at 3am and....
yes yes jax will tell you the ceilings were nice and high, it was at least 650 sq. feet and... well the floors were original hardwood too so that was nice. Plus the location across from the firehall was good, and it was only a 7 minute walk to the Listel, all for under $1000, which was a WAY better deal than Laurenas on Nelson - although come to think of it, the doors didn't have giant spaces, the heater worked, the glass was doubled-paned etc etc.
but I digress...
I'd look to put up some pictures but if I stop to do that I get I'll stop writing and fiddling around with photo shop and I'll never get this finished!

Jax breaking it to Johnny that we're moving and leaving his friend Flo behind.

actually, you know what? I better stop anyway - Jacquie is on the Skytrain and if I don't finish sweeping and mopping she'll come home and have to do it, and she'll get all obsessed by it and won't even want to kiss me (among other things) until it's done to her satisfaction... so I might as well. plus the kitty litter is starting to attract flies (sidrick is an impressive pooper) ha! Actually, the other night we had Jax's dad and mei and jordan over for dinner, and she picked up Sid near the end of the night, but when she put him down there was a big glob of cat poop on her arm. I laughed, and she scolded me, saying ' don't baby, he's embarassed!' and we both turned, and Sid jumped up in the middle of the glass dining room table, stuck his back leg behind his ear, and starting licking his kitty butt in front of all 6 of us (jen was there too) definitely NOT an embarassed or shy kitty.
but wow, that's a huge digression...
I'll finish this soon!

Friends don't let friends date Rich

Just adding this on the off chance that Jax forgets...
remember - richie, while a nice guy to us and a wonderful friend, is not to be trusted when dating.

Oh my god!

as in, Oh My God it's almost August and we haven't written a blog entry in months!

And so much has happened - and so many many bottles of wine were drank (drunk/drunken) that there is no possible way I'll be able to remember what/where/how much we bought. Too bad, because I'm sure there were some good ones. One that comes to mind is Flip Flop - a California Pinot Gris that cost $9.99 and had - you guessed it - flip flops on the label! very clever. and very refreshing and fruity!
But to just jump into a wine that we drank at the end of July, skipping May/June would be redonkulous. So we won't do that.

So where have we been? Where HAVEN'T we been! and what haven't we done!

Looking at the last entry, we were snapping pictures at 1-1020 Nicola - and now we're in Tiffany Shores - so a TON has gone on since the last entry.

We moved, of course. But before we moved we had to run around and secure deposits and mortgages and have multiple meetings with our rotten realtor (he's not rotten really, that's just what Bob nicknames Richie : It's Richie the Rotten Realtor... rolls off the tongue nicely.

And then after we secured the new apartment we painted and laid floors and ripped out carpets (but not in that order) and Jax learned how to (sorta) do light fixtures. And we travelled to Seattle where Jax almost became a vegetable due to the excitement of seeing REALLY cool architecture (and drinking approximately 3 bottles of Chardonnay) and we bashed piles of crabs with mallets.

Dork with  a mallet.

 Jacquie devouring a bucket of crab, potatoes and corn. Not to mention 2 bottles of wine!

What else, you ask? We were golfing in Vernon, and Jax once again kicked my butt. And it's not even like I pretend to try and don't, cause I'm a guy and that's what you're supposed to do.. no. I try, and I lose. Golf blows.

Beautiful girl, beautiful course - beautiful form!

Yikes. Might have to rethink the white shades.

and the we found ourselves in Rock Creek!! YEEEHAAAA!! Wrastlin' mutton and ridin' greased pigs and hanging at the local pub with stuffed bears and crackhead waitresses and racist Indian gang members and just havin' a grand ol time in Jacquie's home town.

And then we found ourselves in Osoyoos, and the Golden Mile in Oliver, sippin' BC wines and hangin' at an awesome hotel and a fantastic pool, with a view of the lake - heavenly. Oh, and it was nice and hot and frankly, I think a road trip to Osoyoos is almost on par with Cuba.  

 And we even found the an elusive den of ground weasels!!

On the road again... one of our many weekend summer road trips.

We were chased by a ravenous bear on my birthday in the wilds of Port Moody... and I learned that Jacquie can outhike me hands down if she has the added motivation of a bear somewhere in the woods behind us. We even painted/cleaned the White Rock condo and put it up for sale! see??? crazy busy. no wonder I haven't been blogging. And that's not even the half of it.


I went to Minneapolis not once, but twice, and endured possibly THE most boring sales meetings in the history of the world, then quit my stupid boring horrible trade show job - thank god - and am now working at Flight Centre as a business development manager (aka sales rep) and Jax had PRK (People's Republic of Korea) done to her eyes and can now read signs and tell the difference between all three cats by sight alone - without having to listen to how their nails clack on the laminate at 4am.

What else? Death almost visited the Bjorkes' new abode - a small bat made the near fatal mistake of flying into our side window... only to be greeted by Loki, Sidrick and Mr. Mooglez. Luckily Jax was there to whisk the boys into the bedroom, then lock me in the laundry room to wrassle the bat. Afterall, it might have rabies, and she didn't want the kitties to be subjected to that! me on the other hand....

Oh, and we witnessed someone almost dying at our new gym at the New West Canada Games pool - but apparently he lived. Some weightlifter keeled over and had a heart attack mid-lift. This prompted us to buy yet another Groupon we probably won't use: 2 for 1 First Aid course.

And... well, that's probably enough for one entry eh? I'll stop now. C-ya soon.
~JIM