Hi, I'm Tommy...Like the gun

Ha! Proof I was actually there

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So the annual tournament at Kapalua on Maui is being played this week.  I actually got the chance to play that same course.  Wow, what a challenging course.  And that's a complete understatement.  Unless you play golf, you really have no idea how hard that course is.  I had an absolute blast playing that course, but I don't know if I would enjoy playing it more.  I think once is enough for me.  I'm about a 10-12 handicap, and I shot 97.  Yeah.  I know.  But watching the tournament has brought back all of the great memories I had when we were all on Maui.  That place is really magical, and I only got to see about 1/8 of the whole place.  I really want to go back with Heather and spend a good 2 weeks exploring that beautiful island.  Hope all is well!  Aloha!

The vlog of what's goin on...

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Buying a home sucks...until you're done

I'm about to turn 31, I'm about to buy a house with my wife.  It's been a pain in the ass to say the least.  I told her most of the things I was feeling during the whole process, but not all of them.  95% of the houses we looked at sucked.  Plain sucked.  I mean they were shit holes.  She kept saying that I should picture the house after some love.  And those houses we saw could use a lot of love and then some, more than I was willing to give.  I wanted to improve houses, not repair them.  But after looking at a bunch of ugly houses in depressing neighborhoods, we finally found one we really liked.  One that we could see ourselves living in for a long time.  It had everything I wanted.  Almost everything.  It had a pool, it had the square footage, it had the open feeling I've become used to.  It had a great southwest feeling in the front yard and the back yard.  It was the type of place where we had already mentally taken ownership and fallen in love.  Now at this point, the whole experience of becoming a homeowner has gone as expected. 

We talked to our loan officer, Cory.  Great guy, seriously great guy.  Almost too great for his own good it seems at times.  But we were approved, and had the go ahead to talk to a realtor and start the process.  But nothing was set in stone.  We knew this house we liked wasn't going to be ours overnight.  But we ended up putting an offer in on 4920 Milky Way.  Still, everything was going as expected.

Denied.  Offer wasn't good enough.  Heartache.  Disappointment.  My first experience ever with finding a place I wanted to move to, and then being told I can't do it.  I don't take that well.  This house got away from us.  Well, not really.  It was just a little out of our price range.  So maybe it was for the better.  But that's also like saying that you asked the prettiest girl to the dance and she said no.  Only to turn around and tell your friends that it was for the better anyways, because she would've broken your heart.  I don't buy it for a second.  We would've figured it out.  We always do.  We're unstoppable.  Heather and I can do anything we want to do.  We just couldn't buy the Milky Way house.  And it sucked.  All was not going as expected.

After losing Milky Way, we obviously kept looking at more houses.  We were bound to find one we loved.  Only thing was, we work opposite schedules.  The only time we could look at houses together was on the weekends.  Our sacred time with each other.  So we would scroll through 20 or so listings during the week, and meet with Carol, our realtor, on the weekends.  It took a while, but there was finally a time where we said it was ok for me to go look at a place without Heather.  I didn't want to do it, but I obliged.  I wanted her there.  I wanted to see her reactions, not hear them over the phone or text.   I met Carol at a place Heather and I had overlooked, and wasn't really excited about seeing it.  But once we got there, I really started to like the place.  It had decent curb appeal.  It had a great open floor plan.  It had a big back yard for the dogs.  But no pool.  I'll get to that later.  It had 3 great bedrooms.  There were some weird things about the house that bugged me, but not enough to pass on it.  Heather had to see this place.  It was the first place that I had actually liked in a while.  One that would work for our lifestyle.  Yikes...we're gonna buy a house aren't we?  Everything was going just as I expected.

I have to take a break from writing this post.  Even writing about this experience has gotten me a little pissed off.  Be back soon, I promise.  You wait there.

Ok, I've slept on it.  I can now finish this entry.

Lots of things had been done to this house, but they were half way finished.  Things were missing.  Parts of baseboards were missing.  Trim around most of the windows were gone from the outside and the inside.  The patio door was new, but it was missing trim, and on the outside it looked like someone took a slingshot full of cement and spattered it all over the trim.  But this house definitely had potential, and I wasn't ready to let it go.  So we put the offer in on the same day that we both saw it separately.  We signed bid papers while I was working.  Yes, I signed paperwork at table 13 on a Wednesday night while my realtor, wife, and loan officer all had a beer.  Here we go again.

Our bid was accepted, and I was awfully happy.  Now what?  No one told me about all the BS that came after this part.  The appraisal, the FHA appraisal.  Then the inspection.  I knew all this stuff had to be done, but I didn't understand that it had to be done in a certain 10 day time period, or else.  Or else we had to pay 1% of our price, or some BS like that.  Ugh.  So the appraiser gets there and says that the trim around the windows had to be finished, the utilities had to be turned on, and the roof had to be fixed.  Great.  The seller was cash poor.  And he's a hyperactive retard.  I humored him when I was around him.  I really hope I never see him again.  Dude just pisses me off.

WE payed to get the roof fixed.  Highly abnormal.  But whatever.  It's done.  But we don't own the house yet.  YET.  Then the inspector comes out.  He tells us all the things we need to do to our new home.  The list just got longer and longer.  But overall, he said it was a great house.  It just needed some love.  Sounded more like it needed money.  And lots of it.  It was overwhelming.  I was already whelmed, and didn't need to hear ALL the stuff that the house needed.  Especially since we were spending $800 bucks to fix a roof that wasn't ours, and the seller was acting like a dumbass.

I'm gonna stop this post here because I get a little frustrated when I start thinking/writing about this whole situation.  I'll post more when I have keys in my hand.  keyskeyskeyskeyskeys!!!!

New Career?

So I sat down with Darla today.  Boy, that went down way different than I pictured.  I had to get her personal facebook account a picture.  She's behind the times as far as social media goes.  But I'm pretty sure she knows how to run a business.  She's been in business for like 4 or 5 years.  Hopefully she can pay me!  Hopefully this is something I'm really good at, and something that I can get paid for.  Guess I better do a good job.  This facebook and twitter stuff could mean more money for the Pierucki's.

Anonymity?

So I read a post on Evo Terra's blog, and there was a post about why your blog sucks.  He only lists 5, but I'm sure he held himself back a little.  But one of the reasons was that you're boring and no one knows who you are.  No one knows who I am from the next guy.  So for now I'm gonna blog just to blog, and just for me.  So if anyone reads this blog, I'm not writing for you.  Well, maybe someday it'll be for you.  But for now I'm gonna start writing the stupid shit that goes on in my head, and put it online.  So don't be offended.  I am also going to take his advice and blog without telling anyone for a while.  Here goes!

My First Blog Post

So it's kinda nice to work for someone you admire.  Working at Ck's for just over two years now, has been a pleasure and a privelege.  And when I say kinda nice, I mean it's just plain cool to work for someone that you actually like, admire, and just plain respect.  A lot of us have bigger plans in life, bigger than serving or bartending.  And that's totally fine.  Who doesn't want to have bigger plans?  But for now, most of us are "lifers".   I don't have a problem with it, nor does my wife, nor does anyone else that's been there for the better part of a decade.  It's really a great place to work and grow.  We all know what's going on with each other, we all know what's going on with our regulars too.  Going in everyday has not always seemed like a job.  Obviously, there's been times where it has felt like a job, but for the most part it's home away from home.

When I started working there, I didn't picture myself as close to everyone who walks through the doors, whether it be the front door or back door.  It's amazing how intertwined my life has become with the people that come/work there.  There were regulars at my wedding in Maui!  I've met my dentist, my loan officer, my realtor, my guy that's gonna help out with home improvements, my guy that works at Best Buy, my guy that's helping out with Ck's website, my guy that works at Intel, my guy that is my buddy's maintenence man, and the list goes on like you wouldn't believe.  If you need something, I'm sure I can get it cheaper, quicker, smaller, bigger, faster, and better from the person I know from Ck's.  Man, I should get paid for this!  Is there a way to get paid just by having great trustworthy contacts at your fingertips?  If so, maybe my time at Ck's is in its twilight.  If you need the guy that knows a guy....I'm that guy.