I'm one printout away from having the forms I need to apply for a spousal visa done and over with. Now I just need to gather all the relevant documentation, passports, wedding licences, pay slips and pictures and I can send everything on its merry way :)
Month: February 2007
Where our money goes
All this talk about mortgages made me realize that I didn't have a good idea where the money goes on a monthly basis, so armed with the last transaction log, I fired up excel and figured out that we're in pretty decent shape. This makes me happy.
You know the previous post about the pet shop?
Well, yeah, there’s been a new addition to the family. One that seems to fascinate the cat.
The cat can’t stop looking at her and sniffing at and around the cage. As in, always for the last 2 days.
Drug dealers vs Geeks
Why drug dealers have it better!
| Drug Dealers | Software Developers |
| Refer to their clients as “users” | Refer to their clients as “users” |
| “The first one's free!” | “Download a free trial version…” |
| Have important Asian connections. | Have important Asian connections. |
| Strange jargon: “Stick” “Rock” “Wrap” “E” “Stash” “Drive-by” “Hit (LSD)” “Source” |
Strange jargon: “SCSI” “RTFM” “Packet” “C” “Cache” “CTRL ALT DEL” “Hit (WWW)” “Source-code” “Microsoft” |
| Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market |
Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market |
| Clients really like your stuff when it works. When it doesn't work they want to kill you. |
Clients really like your stuff when it works. When it doesn't work they want to kill you. |
| Job is assisted by the industry – producing newer, more potent product. |
Job is assisted by the industry – producing newer, more potent products. |
| Often seen in the company of pimps, hustlers and low-lifes. |
Often seen in the company of marketing people, venture capitalists and fund managers. |
| When things go wrong, a “fix” is just a phone call away, but may be expensive. |
When things go wrong, a “fix” is just a phone call away, but may be expensive. |
| A lot of people are getting rich while still teenagers. |
A lot of people are getting rich while still teenagers. |
| Product causes unhealthy addictions | DOOM, Quake, SimCity, Duke Nukem 3D… |
| Do your job well and you can sleep with sexy movie stars who depend on you. |
Damn! DAMN!!! |
Disabling anonymous postings
I've disabled anonymous comment postings. I'm fed up with having to delete spam comments generated by bots or idiots. If you want to comment from now on, you need to be a registered user.
Weekend update
Been a slow weekend. Katy worked on both mornings. Saturday, she went gallivanting with Donna to parts unknown in search of an aquatic pet center and a tree frog (don't ask) while I spent the day cleaning and sorting out paperwork in the office. Sunday was spent lounging in while I cooked a roast chicken and Katy did an apple crumble.
Slept really badly last night. Really vivid and disturbing dreams. Guess I have lots of things on my mind at the moment.
We were approved for a 240K mortgage, but we decided that we didn't want to move just yet. Bidwells is renewing our contract for another year (well sorta – we have a yearly contract, but after 6 months, they can give us 2 months notice if conditions change – but they say that we're “preferred tenants!” and that they have no plans to give us the boot. whatever) and we're comfortable in that house. What we need is stability at the moment, and it seems that the universe is conspiring against that.
We went to see a house in Great Chesterford that would have been an interesting fixer-upper though, but I can't be bothered with DIY just now. This week should be fairly sedate (I hope) and we're going to Manchester to Anna and Rho's wedding this weekend.
My cat is grossly stupid and stupidly gross
How many cat owners need to regularly clean the paws of their cats to get rid of the crap on them? And I'm not talking about the bottom, where it might be explained that he got them dirty by burying his crap in litter. No, I'm talking the top of the paws. I mean, what does he do? Shit on his paws for the fun of it? And talking of crap, how the hell do you, when sitting in a litter box, manage to miss and crap outside of it???
Ahhh, the joys of cat ownership.
Yay.
Good news, bad news
We got a letter from our estate agent last weekend telling us that our yearly lease was soon to be up and would convert into a rolling monthly lease. This would mean that they'd only need to give us 2 months notice to kick us out or change the terms. While common business practive over here, it was a bit of a bummer because it took away a bit of the sense of security we had at having a lont-term contract. We like the house we live in now. It's decorated to a standard we like. It feels like home.
We emailed the agents asking if it would be possible to get another long-term contract but started looking at other options at the same time. The good news is that the agents said yes to another yearly lease, so that's a load off our minds. The bad news, which is not really bad, but meh news, is that while we were looking into the prospects of getting a mortgage and buying a property, we found out that one of our neighbours is selling their house.
To be honest, it'd be close to perfect for our needs and wants. We want it. We want it a lot. We probably couldn't get it though, because we can't get a mortgage any time soon. Lenders will do 100% mortgages, or mortgages to people (like me) on visas, but very few will do both. It's an either-or thing.
If we had a deposit, we'd be fine. If I had an indefinite leave to remain (ILR) visa, we'd be fine. We can save up for the mortgage and I can get the visa (in about 3 years), but in the meantime, we're stuck.
If we were in Canadia, I could leverage some of my RRSPs to get a down payment without even batting an eye. The problem comes from the fact that if I try and bring my canadian savings to the UK, I get triply hammered by losing 5% of them to early-sale penalties, half of them to the canadian tax man and more than half again at face value for the exchange rate. So yeah, no.
Fooey, I say!