Gallery 1

Lady Liberty












Old Central Railroad of New Jersey Train Station & ferry terminal at Liberty State Park











Ellis Island

Real estate woes

Just got off a somewhat-heated conversation with my Foxtons agent. You see, we've been playing phone tag for a few weeks now. They went out of business last September and we've been very patient with them. They've only got 30 employees now dealing with the 4000+ listings that they're still holding on to and I can just imagine their volume of work.
However, being sympathetic to this company's troubles does not change the fact that I still need to sell my home. The phone-tag thing where I call them and get the voice mailbox and I get a call back and they get my voicemail is getting tiresome. It didn't use to be like this when we were starting out.

Since they "closed down" last September, I've also gotten 3 appointments setup for buyers to come in for a look. None ever showed up. I did, however, get a few calls from other realtors who claim that they could not show my home to their clients because they couldn't get an appointment set up.

The proverbial straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back came in the form of another realtor who dropped by last night. Again, she told me the same song and dance number about not being able to reach foxtons but thought she'd chance it and drop by anyway. With this, hubby and I decided to just call it quits and try to get out of our contract.
This morning, after a short game of phone-tag, I finally got through to an agent. I explained to her how I've been getting calls and visits from realtors who claim that they have not been able to get through to foxtons and her mood changed. She got all defensive and started raising her voice and told me what she thought I was trying to do. According to her, I was trying to turn things around and shift the blame on foxtons. They've gotten me 6 EXCELLENT offers since we got listed with them and I've refused every single one... so I can't go on blaming foxtons for the situation. It was my fault.

Huh ?

I corrected her. 3. We got 3 offers, all with prices lower than the price of the one bedroom that got sold recently - and I have a 2 bedroom. And MIND YOU, these offers were all from people who were putting 0 downpayment. 2 out of the 3 offers even had concessions - that means that the price they're offering for my house isn't the bottom line, they still need to get some $$$ out of that to pay for closing costs - and they blame me for not accepting those offers ???
So I'm not trying to put the blame on Foxtons and they shouldn't try and put the blame on me. What I am doing is stating facts. That's what these realtors (who have dropped by) have told me and I believe them, why wouldn't I ? I've been having a hard time getting in touch with Foxtons too.

Bottomline, I was told that the judge has signed the approval papers for their sale of our listings. There was no way for me to get out of the contract and for now, it's a waiting game. Our listing has been transferred to Maplewood (?) and Century 21. I googled this and found an article that says that sellers are allowed to opt out of these contracts but cannot list their houses with other agents until the date on the contract passes. Given then, it's probably better to just stay with the new realtor handling our account and hope for the best.
Hopefully, I get someone more courteous this time. I don't blame the lady I talked to for being borderline-rude. I'm upset and I'm sure she's upset too. After all, I'm sure she's been getting a lot of flack from other sellers too - not to mention the fact that her job may not be too secure right now.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Our group of friends decided to hold a belated celebration of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Traditionally, this is celebrated by Chinese people all over the world by eating (and gifting friends / family with) moon cakes.

We also reached a new milestone with Jacob (R's kid) that night. He started talking to me - finally! - and acknowledged that Sammie exists. Heehee. To those who know Jacob, you'll know that this is a big thing. The picture posted here was snapped by Aris when she saw the three of us together in a room.

Anyway, I digress. The best part about this time of the year is the dice game. There are 5 tiers of prices and 6 dice. Each person throws the dice into a bowl and they get a price depending on how many fours they throw. There are also other combinations that they can throw to get a prize (five of a kind, six of a kind, two trios, straight, etc).

This year's big winner (Riza) got a $70 gift certification to Amazon.com. Second prizes were a UPS unit (battery backup) and noise cancelling headphones. There were a whole lot of other prizes up for grabs. By the end of the night, we found ourselves with an odd (but fun) assortment: 1 toothpaste, 1 can of spanish style sardine, 1 bowl, and 1 ResQMe (keychain version of the LifeHammer, the tool which can help save your life by breaking your car windows and slashing your seatbelt). It was really quite interesting.

Lastly, hubby and I decided (at the last minute) to try our hand at preparing Pancit Palabok. It didn't turn out too bad - or so they (our friends) say. Click here for the recipe posted on our food blog. Personally, I think it could still do with a bit more tweaking.

Happiness

What would it take to make you truly happy?

I thought long and hard and you know what ? Nothing. I couldn't come up with a single thing.

Yeah, I do have a few things on my wish/prayer list, but I wouldn't really classify anything as being critical to my happiness. We live a good life - me, my husband and our families - we're healthy and very close to our families. We have good friends.

Yeah, I could do with a raise and hubby could do with a good job. We sure would appreciate it if we receive our GCs soon and we could do with a nice vacation. We'd love to have kids some day. But if we don't get any of these soon, who cares ? We'll get it when we get it. We have simple needs and God has generously provided for us.

So yes, I am in a good place in my life. I am happy. Truly happy.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Autumn Colors

I love everything about Fall - the changing colors of the leaves, the cooler temperatures, and yes, even the coming winter.

I had to go on a trip up North early this week for a few meetings at headquarters and at a couple of prospective clients and the view along the highway was just gorgeous. I couldn't resist taking a few shots but I was going too fast to get anything decent on my phone camera.

Nevertheless, don't just take my word for it, it's beautiful out there. Go out and enjoy the foliage, it will be gone pretty soon.

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

October 20, 2007
Liberty Island & Ellis Island with April
(click on photo to view album)

Joel hooked us up with April, an ex-officemate from SBI. She's currently based in Singapore but was sent to the US for a short project. We really enjoyed April's company and hope that she could've stayed a few more days (or that we could've heard about her trip earlier).

Anyway, these albums are pictures taken from our Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island tours. We then went to the Jersey Gardens outlet mall for some shopping - and boy, did she shop! *wink*

A day in the life of ...

Backgrounder: My sister [aka Mommy] was trying to teach my 3 year old (going on 4) nephew [aka Lyle] the concept of opposites. Now, note that the older son is already 7 years old so Mommy doesn't really remember how she did it the first time.

Mommy & Lyle were looking at a picture with 2 tigers, one big and one small.

Mommy: Lyle, this is big *points to the big tiger*. So if it's not big, what is it ?

Lyle: That's a Daddy tiger and this is a baby tiger.

Mommy thinks that maybe it would be better to try different example, she flips the book to another picture, one with clouds in the middle, a mountain on the ground and a plane flying high above the clouds.

Mommy: How about this ? You see the airplane ? It's flying above the clouds, right ?

Lyle: Yes

Mommy: So what is below the clouds ? Do you see anything below the clouds ?

Lyle: *points directly on the cloud* On the cloud, Mommy ? Huh ? How about on the cloud ?

At this point, Mommy realizes that Lyle is not paying attention... so she decides to just let him do his thing. Baka ma high-blood pa. :-)

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Shoutout: if any of you guys have pointers on how to introduce "opposites" to a 3/4 year old, drop me a line, am sure that my sister (and I) would appreciate your tips :)