nc211 Posted August 31, 2011 Posted August 31, 2011 Well my friends, it has finally happened, I scored the ticket out of here today! My signature is going to read ChiTcago to ChiTcagone! We're heading your way Steve, and in much better condition than I had though the first time, much better! This offer I received, which took me nearly 6 months, 2 secret trips to DC, and one secret trip to NY, has my head spinning! Steve, I need a house!! I'll contact Mike in the morning to get that ball rolling. This is a done deal, FINALLY!!!! GOOD BYE CHITCAGO!!!! HELLO VIRGINIA!!!
nc211 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Posted August 31, 2011 Now, if you'll excuse me....I'm going to get drunk and smooch with my wife!
pj8708 Posted August 31, 2011 Posted August 31, 2011 Congratulations!!!!! Glad your dreams are finally coming true. My brother lives in Richmond and love's it. Just wishes they would quit reliving the war over and over. LOL
smooth1 Posted August 31, 2011 Posted August 31, 2011 I know you've been waiting for this day to finally get here. Congrats on the relocation. When does the house hunting begin? Any areas particularly appealing? My wife is from around there.
cduluk Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 Hey congrats! I was just in Chicago last Tuesday, during a layover on a flight to Seattle. The airport seemed nice from what i could tell anyways...
nc211 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Posted September 1, 2011 Thanks fellas, we are extremely excited! Resigned my post yesterday with a 2 week notice. We're wanting to live in the Ashburn or Leesburg area of the VA burbs, with my new office to be located in the Tysons Corner area of VA. We want some peace and quiet back, and some elbow room. While our house here is quite nice, it's packed in with other houses, have the busiest train line 3 blocks behind us, and right on the street in the front. Too tight and too loud! Oh...and way too friggin cold 5 months out of the year. I counted how many stop signs and stop lights I go through each day during my round trip commute to the office...
nc211 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Posted September 1, 2011 For a 24 mile round trip drive? 58 lights and stop signs. An that's befor the 5 miles of highway congestion! I know DC has bad traffic, but I won't miss this drive here! There, I'll be on a toll road in/out everyday. None of my cars have had a pair of brakes that have made it 8 months up here before they warp and wear out. The 4runner shakes badly, the Lexus shaked badly (after I put new rotors and pads on) and my VW shakes badly now (new rotors and pads installed when i bought it, a year ago and 8k miles). After we buy a house and get settled, the 4runner is going to become that Buick Enclave, and the GTI might become a newer model. Rates this low, I can't justify the $1,500 to have the rims fixed again (all bent) and a brake job. Cheaper to trade it for another one for the same monthly payment. 4runner will have over 100k on the clock, facing $2,500 of maintenance and (de-Chicago) it. The rims are showing signs of rust now, and under the hood looks pretty rusty too. It's held up great though! Of that 100k miles, only about 10k were in NC. The rest have been in NJ and IL.
lenore Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 Yea Leesburg and Asburn are nice areas, Busy now compared to 25 years ago, but still have some nice properties....Good luck in your search.
SW03ES Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 Like I said in my email, congrats! We'll find you a mostly structurally sound shack, not to worry! -Steve
lenore Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 Hey there are some old civil war foundations for the future home over by the Potomac behind the Leesburg training facility....
nc211 Posted September 2, 2011 Author Posted September 2, 2011 Thanks Steve, I'm in good hands! For me? A single-wide with a 7 car garage behind a Lexus dealer would be perfect! But, my "boss" will see right past the PVC white picket fence from Lowes and skin my hide!
nc211 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Posted September 20, 2011 Well my friends, I have the distinct honor of saying that I know SW03ES personally! I have seen his ES, even rode in it yesterday. If any of you think you've got a pristine car...you'd be hard pressed to top SW! Steve was instrumental in every fashion in securing our new home in DC! We had just two days to search, and Steve led us right to the exactly perfect property yesterday! We got it, and now we're just down to the mechanicals of a half cross country move! Hello Virginia!! AND HUGE THANKS TO STEVE!!!
nc211 Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 In 337 hours, I get to put ChiTcago in our rearview mirror FOREVER!!! But...who's counting... One more grinding 920 mile drive to NC with the kids, one more flight back to Ohare to meet the movers, and one fun drive in the VW across Northern Indiana, Ohio "Cleveland Rocks!" and down through PA to our new home state of VA! Get the keys to the new digs on the 26th, unload the movers on the 27th, get drunk and do my best Tom Cruise Risky Business impersonation while unpacking that night, bring up the family from NC on the 28th, and get my first speeding ticket on the 29th on those sweet and smooth VA roads! These next two weeks are going to be like the last 100'miles of a 1000 mile road trip! Just need the 4Runner
nc211 Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 to last another 5,000 miles without seeing the repair shop again! 3 years of ChiTcago road salt winters have done some damage to the brake components. While we were house hunting with SW0, our front brake calipers seized up onto the rotors, $800 repair. Tires are now all cupped due to the rough roads up here, with about 40% of their tread left. Got a loud ticking noise from one of the valves now too "or a sticky injector". Rear brakes are starting to squeak a bit, but the pads are good...more road salt damage to the calipers I suspect. 102k miles... Of all the people to suffer a Toyota malfunction around, especially given my track record of personal car repair, it had to be with SW0! Murphy's Law!
nc211 Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 ...and the BEST part of this deal? Accuweather is now predicting the worst of the worst of the pending winter season, will be in ChiTcago! They're saying it will be worse than last year, which was the 4th worst winter on record! They're saying it'll be colder, wetter, more blizzards, tons more snow, and start much earlier! NC211 and family are outta' here like a southern !Removed! in the wind during hurricane season!! Oh, and let me not forget the out of control tax increases going on here now too. I paid an additional $2k in state income tax to Illinois already this year, and real estate taxes are spiking dramatically, even though housing values keep falling at a pace that is the second worst in the country. Just to give you an example, our house we rent here. Maybe 2,500 sf in livable space, maybe a 6,000 sf lot. Trains about 3 blocks away "loud 24/7". Owners bought it in 2006 for $690k. Today, they'd be lucky to get $450k for it, and it's a NICE house! Tax bill accidentally showed up here instead of to their house in CA yesterday... Care to wager a guess how much it is now? Over $15,000!!!
SW03ES Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 ...and the BEST part of this deal? Accuweather is now predicting the worst of the worst of the pending winter season, will be in ChiTcago! They're saying it will be worse than last year, which was the 4th worst winter on record! They're saying it'll be colder, wetter, more blizzards, tons more snow, and start much earlier! And we're supposed to have a warmer, wetter winter here! You can thank me for that because I bought the Jeep...
LEXIRX330 Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 And we're supposed to have a warmer, wetter winter here! You can thank me for that because I bought the Jeep... I don't know SW...I got the GX and thought the same thing...and you see what kind of winter we had. I was glad to have it...it was like a tank in the snow.
nc211 Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 My wife has found your Christmas gift, SW0. Given this logic of the Jeep, we've decided nothing would enhance the appearance of the Lexus better than.....a pair of snow chains!! Looks like I'll be telling the movers to leave the North Face gear in the box!
nc211 Posted October 18, 2011 Author Posted October 18, 2011 So, I have the Accuweather app on my IPhone. Checked it to see what kind of weather I'll have for the movers to load us up in a few days. Clear and cold. Couldn't help but to scroll down a week...snow and ice starts the following week in Illinois while we're unloading in sunny Virginia! Talk about sneaking out the back door as old man winter comes busting through the front door! The entire Holloween weekend in the 60137 zip code is ice, snow, real feel temps in the 20's and teens. Now, I'm not a vindictive person (except towards Iran), but I would be lying if I said my little voice in my head wasn't laughing a little..
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