☁️ Last ☁️ night’s ☁️ total ☁️ lunar ☁️ eclipse ☁️ in ☁️ Portland ☁️ #pdxtst ☁️

📷 Southern Arizona Foliage <samgrover.com/blog/2019…>

If you’re in Portland, check out this ten minute survey for E-Scooter pilots: www.surveymonkey.com/r/E-Scoot…

Uh oh. Is Apple getting desperate?!

Spinning this back up. It’s been a while 👋

So wonderful: hotair.com/archives/…

Essential oil diffuser or voice activated assistant? 🤔 #whatisit

On 11th February in 2015, I decided to buy a house in Portland.

At the time I was working on my laptop at Hivolt, a coffee shop in New Orleans. I ordered a cup of pourover coffee named Burundi Buziraguhindwa. The menu described it as “natural sundried, juicy, strawberry, raspberry”. Turned out to be one of the best coffees I’ve ever had. It was the catalyst, because a few minutes later I had made the decision. When I told Jenni about it, she started calling it “magic coffee”. I love her.

Fast forward to August. My cross country road trip has ended, and I’m back in Portland. I’ve been talking to friends about buying a house, and looking for an agent. Amber recommends Laurie Gilmer. I meet Laurie and the house search begins. Two weeks later I make my first offer. She suggests I write a “love letter”, so I do. It doesn’t work out.

About two months pass. I see a bunch of houses. I make an offer. It doesn’t work out. Four days later I make one more offer. It doesn’t work out. The love letter is getting better all the time, I think.

Another month passes. Another offer. I really wanted that one. Nopes. Two months pass. I see a bunch more houses. Another offer. I really really wanted that one. Same story.

With every offer I got sleepless nights and elevated stress. Prices of houses in Portland have gone up by 12% over the last year. That trend goes back a couple of years. Each time it didn’t work out, I wondered if I would be able to buy a house at all.

Tick tock. It’s leap day 2016. Laurie informs me of a house that is being prepared to go on the market so we go see it a couple days later. I like it. On 3rd March I make the offer. On the 4th, it is accepted. 😱

Five days ago, on 11th April, I got the keys to the house. I’m so happy and excited, even though I suspect that it hasn’t fully sunk in. I’ve never bought a house before, and except for six months, I’ve never lived in a single family home my whole life. I can’t wait to move in next week.

[caption id=“attachment_332” align=“aligncenter” width=“4032”] Photo by Jenni.[/caption]

P.S. Oh, and by the way, if you know where I can get my hands on some Burundi Buziraguhindwa coffee, please let me know. I have more decisions to make in life. [Update: It is available at Counter Culture Coffee: [https://twitter.com/tomburns/status/721458685797466113](https://twitter.com/tomburns/status/721458685797466113). Thanks Tom!]

P.P.S. If you’re in a similar boat, I wish you the best, and I highly recommend Laurie Gilmer, Laura Wood, and team at Think Real Estate. And also, Anne Viola at Rose City Mortgage.

This blog is being revived. It has been over five years since the previous post, and at that time it I had been writing here for five years. I don’t know whether it will last another five days or five years. We shall see. For now, consider this a revival.

Today I turned thirty-four.

Here are some personally memorable events since my last birthday post:

• March - Liz and I spent a weekend at Newport on the Oregon coast. The highlight was the visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Also, after three-and-a-half years at Intel, I left to join Small Society to make cool iOS apps. I started at Small Society on 22nd March.
• June - While in LA, Liz had to undergo emergency surgery for the removal of her ruptured appendix. She returned home a week after that and has recuperated well. Got an iPhone 4 which has a decent enough camera that for the first time ever I'm comfortable with my phone being the only camera on my person when I travel.
• July - I had to fly down to LA and drive our car back from there since we flew Liz up to Portland after her surgery. Traded in the MINI for a Subaru Outback. We had to [let Yoshi go](https://blog.samgrover.com/2010/08/01/goodbye-yoshi/).
• August - My parents visited us in Portland and we had a great time showing them around Portland. We also visited Seattle, Crater Lake and Bend.
• September - Visited Disney World in Florida for ten days. It was a vacation for us and a chance for my parents to meet Liz's parents for the first time. We all had a great time there. I also visited family in Chicago for a few days.

It was another amazing year and I’m looking forward to the next one.

And lastly, here’s more about the number 34.