Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow it seems like I've barely had any free time and that's probably because I haven't between trying to find a place, work and travel I've been going crazy the last week. I had to go to NYC for meetings earlier this week and had an impromptu visit with some family. It was great. I hadn't been to NYC in about 3 years, since then travel has sure changed. Taxis in NY now accept credit cards it was quite shocking. I was also surprised to see that Delta offered in flight wi-fi access. The cost was only $12 not too bad for a 6 hour flight. I didn't take it as I had somehow forgotten to pack my power supply so I would have run out of battery power very quickly.

Before I left I had seen a number of condos on Saturday and decided to put an offer on one. The owners countered and I accepted this evening, by the end of July I'll be in my own place - yippee! A lot of people have commented on how quickly I moved and I did but then again I've been looking at a lot of places on-line and in the end I knew what I wanted. There was a lot of fixer-uppers out there and unrealistic prices on tiny places I think I really lucked out. I'll be doing the inspection on Monday and will take pictures. Speaking of pictures I know I promised them in my last post but haven't gotten around to that yet. I'll get that taken care of this weekend.

The house buying process in the US is quite different from the UK from what I've been told. There's no need to worry about chains and wondering if somebody is going to drop out. I will be in the condo no later than July 30th, potentially sooner depending on how long it takes the financing to come through. There is also no need to worry about gazumping or gazundering they've agreed to the deal and there will now be penalties if they decide to take another offer.

It's surprising the things that I'm having to re-adjust to being back in the states. As I was signing and dating the offer for the condo today I was writing the date sometimes the British way and sometimes the American way. I very frequently have referred to condos as flats, luckily people know what I mean. The strangest thing though is the money. I've gotten so used to money being different shapes and sizes for different denominations I find myself spending much longer trying to figure out how much money I have and if I have the correct amount to pay for things. I've also found myself opening my change purse when I'm expecting less than $5 change so I Can put the coins away. I then realize that I'm getting dollar bills back. I'll get readjusted eventually.