Today was merely a reminder – we just closed on a new home. We felt like Ioana’s school was not good enough, so we moved in a neighborhood assigned to Davis Drive Elementary (and Middle).

This will increase my commute by 50%, time-wise (from 10 minutes to 15 minutes). Ha. I’m sorry Todd.

We’re now in the process of beautifying the current house. After the sellers move out (since they’re renting back from us for 6 days), it will be time to repaint the new house. (Technically it’s the older house since it’s built in 1992 as opposed to 1996 – but it’s new to us).

And if you’re looking for a mortgage, a word of advice. Don’t go with E-Trade. I don’t know if they’re terrible all the time or I caught them with their pants down, but closing on Monday and them not having the lending package sent to the attorney by 6PM on Friday was not fun. Me calling the contact numbers I got and not getting through wasn’t either. The guy who processed my application is no longer returning my calls, he must be hiding from me. His manager promissed several times to call back on Friday and never did, and promised to call me back today after 10 minutes and that turned out to be 2 hours. His manager’s manager was helpful, but that was too late already – I was already fed up with them. Yes, they changed their processing to a different company and have backlogs. They told me I was one of the 7 clients in the same situation on Friday. Would you feel more comfortable hearing that? “You think we suck because of what we did to you? We do. But wait, there’s more! We did that to 6 other poor guys!”

Now I’m wating for them to sell the mortgage (because that’s what they said they will do), and not notify me who the lender is. Rumors are sometimes that happens. Just google a bit and you’ll see what I mean. This is shoing the wide range of opinions people have on them. Unfortunately they’re a 1 out of 5 for me.

First, Todd graciously threw a farewell party for him and me (mine being way overdue since I left Red Hat more than 2 months ago). I think everybody had a great time. Thanks Todd!

Then, on Saturday I went and got a Christmas tree, and we decorated it yesterday. Saturday afternoon we were invited to some friends, and that was another alcohol-laden evening.

The same friends told us about Disney on Ice. Being princess-themed, it almost meant mandatory presence. Cristian being only 2 years and 7 months old, we decided it will be only me and Ioana that would attend.

I couldn’t quite understand why the RBC center had to charge for parking when you already pay for the ticket, but then again that’s how the entertainment industry works, I guess. A bag of cotton candy was $10, just because it had a princess/prince crown with Mickey Mouse ears that couldn’t be adjusted for size – so most kids were wearing it as a neck gaiter.

The show was pretty impressive though. I’ve never seen a live performance on ice, and I was impressed with the quality of their artists – they must be competitive figure skaters turned pro. My daughter had a blast, especially when the dragon to be slain by the prince threw flames on the ice (more alcohol, I suppose – my weekend’s theme).

They even had miniature fireworks at the end.