Saturday, August 23, 2008

Once you go club, you'll never go back!

That's how I feel after attending the Panthers game tonight. We lucked into some tickets at the last minute, and they were club seats. The club level, aside from just being good seats, has a whole array of amenities that "regular" ticket holders cannot access, like sushi in the little markets, access to game side restaurants, plenty of available seating in the air conditioning, and just plenty of people being nice to you and offering to help in any way. Wow!

While much of that stuff we didn't use, just walking through the carpeted and much less-crowded hallways instead of being herded like cattle through the concrete walkways was enough to make it worthwhile. Oh, and the extra 2 inches in the chairs was a comfy surprise. Throw in clean restrooms and free parking, and you've got a convert! Not that I could have afforded these seats on my own. These were $150 seats, times 4. Yeah, wow again.

We have attended once in the lower section (the excitement of that was quelled by the 20 degree weather that night), but since then, the only tix we've been able to buy have been in the upper section, usually as close to the back of the stadium as possible. One time we sat in the next to the last row, and paid well over $100 for the privilege, to be sure. The last time we did that, we realized that it just wasn't worth the expense to sit that far removed from the field. Why pay that much when you have a much better view on TV? So we haven't been back in the last couple of years.

Of course, sitting in the club section, you also get a sneak peek into the luxury suites. That's my next goal, finding someone to invite me to a fully catered luxury suite with the comfy leather arm chairs with an awesome view of the field. That'll never probably happen, but I just won't be going back to the nosebleed section; that's for sure. LOL!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Apartment Living at its Finest?

We moved into The Legends apartment complex which bills itself as "luxury apartment living." Well, somehow, I don't quite feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury. Maybe it's all the boxes that I'm refusing to unpack that are stacked up everywhere. But it could also be the dated cabinets and rustic stove and dishwasher. Or, perhaps it could be the nice family upstairs who seems to be constantly doing laundry and their kids who like to run laps around 11 p.m. at night. And let's not even think about how much I'm paying to live here. That's probably my real issue. I really do wonder who chooses to live here and pay this amount versus buying a house. My house was like $500 cheaper than this apartment.

It also could be that I have stuff strewn all over the county. We have our tools at one person's house, outdoor stuff at mom's, indoor stuff in storage, and even stuff stored in the new basement. Philip was wondering the other day how and where all this crap will go in the new house. LOL.

Okay, enough rambling for now. Off to lunch and Target to look for Tug a backpack. (That's his new thing. I got to calling him B, and he informed me that he already had a nickname, Tug, and I should use that.)

We finally closed!

I was reading my last posting and had commented that we were hopefully on track to close on the 30th. Well....we didn't close on the 30th. We didn't close the next Wednesday either. We finally signed the papers on August 8, yes, 10 days late.

I think I mentioned earlier that the buyers were getting some kind of grant to help with their downpayment, or a 100% loan, or something of the sort. So their loan was held up with whatever governmental agency that was. Everyone seemed shocked that in this mortgage and foreclosure crisis, a governmental agency would take extra time. It was as if I was the only one who expected this. Those of you who know me and heard the stories first hand, remember the last minute septic inspection and the water test? Those results weren't in until the Friday before closing. Who in their right mind thought that any government agency could process a loan in two days? Anyway, it's finally over and that chapter of my saga is over. Wahoo!