12 posts tagged “miami”
This is NOT good news.
Water main breaks on N. Bayshore Dr.
A 16-inch water main broke Tuesday morning in the 1700 block of North Bayshore Drive north of downtown Miami. The cause of the break and the extent of the damage are unknown, but contractors are working in the area. Crews from the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department are on the scene to begin making any necessary repairs. Traffic in the area may be affected, county officials said.
The problem isn't so much that traffic will be affected on my way home from work -- I don't live over there. But, the problem is that this is ONE BLOCK from my future home, which I'm hoping will eventually be finished this year! I seriously hope that they haven't done any serious or permanent damage to the 'hood because that'll be one more reason for the city to take its sweet damn time approving everything.
Geez.
Oh, and it's raining pretty hard. So I'm sure they're excited about MORE water everywhere.
My crappy cell phone camera doesn't quite capture how amazing the moon was at 6.30 this morning ... it was bright, perfect white - against a midnight blue background. Pre-dawn in Miami is actually pretty cool.
I really wish I understood how this worked.
I appreciate that construction isn't an exact science, but there would be NO WAY that I could get away with a statement like this one at work:
Gee, sorry you won't be getting your high-priority project on the date that I promised. In fact, I'm pretty sure you won't be getting it in the next 12 months either. I'll let you know as we make progress (or not), whenever I feel like letting you know. 'Kay?
Um, NO - not okay.
I don't get it. How can the developers get away with it? I guess there's nothing I can do to make the little Cuban army down there work any faster, but I really wish they'd either (1) stick to the plan, or (2) be more honest about their timeline. Do you know how frustrating it is to have everything lined up, including a mortgage and your floor guy, only to have to tell them both that we all get to wait another 8 weeks? Those interest rates keep changing, dude! There's no locking in a rate, either, with a moving target for a closing date. Terrific.
Plus, my landlord is starting to get snarky when I email him about yet another extension to my lease. He was pretty easy-going the last 2 times I had to request an extension, but now we're getting to the anniversary of my first lease's start date and I know he's gonna want to raise the rent. I don't blame him, given the number of "special assessments" in this POS building and the rise in taxes, but I can't afford to pay him more. I should be saving money. Besides, for at least 2 months, I'll be paying him rent AND holding a mortgage while the place gets finished. (Can't live on raw floors, my friends. And who can live with that ugly bathroom?) What a nightmare in the making.
For anyone who has ever bought a pre-construction unit, you completely understand what I'm going through. I knew it would be a waiting game, but I had no idea that they'd be so totally RETARDED about it. (I don't mean to be insensitive by using the word "retarded," but I am starting to believe that the developer is genuinely not-right-in-the-head.) My adorable little realtor is frustrated, too, because he doesn't get his full commission until I close. Poor guy is a real trooper to wait it out with me.
Oh, and did you guys notice that today is the first day of hurricane season? Perfect. Not only do I find out about the delay on the first day of a predicted long and busy hurricane season, but there's also a sub-trop storm brewing in the Gulf. There's certainly no doing anything to that building in the rain. The Cubans might melt. What are the chances my closing date is going to be delayed AGAIN?
Chance of rain: 90%
Chance of hurricane: 50%
Chance of delay on Roboco's new home (which is totally going to ROCK): 1000%
Eventually, I'm going to have a super-fabulous home. When I do, I promise to invite (some of) you to the housewarming party. For those who can't make it, I'll send photos.
So I thought I was doing the "adult" thing by buying some real estate last year... I used all of the same reasons that we renters like to use when making the decision to be a homeowner:
I'm tired of throwing money away on rent.
I want to make an investment in my future.
I want to be responsible.
It's all crap. Lies, lies, and more lies, just to get us to buy something permanent (which here means nothing since hurricanes can be more destructive than Lindsey Lohan in a new car).
But I made the commitment in August to buy, and now I'm waiting. The very first estimated completion date for the building was June 2006, but that was nearly 3 years ago when the developer hadn't broken ground. By the time I made my deposit, the building looked nearly complete. The estimated delivery date was December, which turned into February, which has now turned into April. My landlord fortunately has let me extend my lease through June, so I should be covered.
I drove by the building today to see how the little worker bees are doing while I'm at work. Here are some photos (and yes, I nearly killed myself trying to take them while driving):
Bastards!
South Florida is infested right now with tourists, journalists, game fans, and some very confused northerners who were looking for sunny weather, warm temps, and steamy nights. Well, they got the temps (sorta) right, and the nights are definitely steamy thanks for 90% humidity. We'd been having the most gorgeous weather until Thurs evening, and I'm sure those visitors are cursing themselves now for bothering to fly south for the Big Dance.
And now, we up in the clouds. Literally.
This is my view from the balcony today.
So I went to take the dog for a walk, and thankfully I remembered the camera. It feels like another world out there.
... I wake up relaxed (most days)
... I am grateful (most days)
... my life is good (most days)
... I stare out my window
... Miami rocks
... you're all jealous!
... I chose to leave family and friends behind for the unknown.
... I make the decision every day to stay.
I've been thinking about friendship a lot these days... What does friendship mean, how do you define a friend, when do you cut ties with people that you thought were friends. I haven't come up with satisfying answers for any of the questions I've asked, which is just as frustrating as the underlying issue. I wish I knew how to narrow it down.
Miami has a few good restaurants... If you're into Cuban, Argentinean, Venezuelan, Mexican, Guatemalan, or Panamanian food, then this is definitely the right place for you. There are dozens of good options, ranging from super-cheap sidewalk food to uber-chic sit-down dinners.
But if you're an Asian foodie (I love a good Thai or Japanese dish), then this town won't be a lot of fun. There is plenty of good seafood and a smattering of excellent spots for sushi in SoFLA, but traditional Asian is hard to come by. If you look real hard, you might find a hole-in-the-wall palate pleaser.
I've been thinking about it a lot since I visited NY because there are some amazing Asian places in the city. Because I was in town only for a few days, I made sure to coordinate an outing for one of my favorite meals of all time:
Extra points for you fellow meat eaters who recognize the meat layed out here....(without reading the pic title, of course).
Shabu anyone?
I learned an important lesson yesterday.
Well, I didn't learn it exactly, but someone did. And she learned it the hard way. She was killed.
I wrote a post a while back about drivers in the Miami area that are generally inconsiderate. We speed demons like to have the left lane for our NASCAR-rivaling tactics, and we like you slow-pokes to get out of our way. Now, I don't know what happened to inspire such violence in our Miami streets (please read the article above), but somehow a traffic argument turned into homicide. And I have no interest in being the next news story.
I've thought about it a lot lately, since I find that people are becoming less tolerant of other drivers, as if the entire interstate system was designed solely for them. (In general I find that people believe they are the only inhabitants of our planet, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they like to own the road as well.) In any event, I've had some scary run-ins of late that might just encourage me to keep to myself on the streets.
I had one nutcase behind me go bonkers with his headlights on Saturday night. Perhaps he didn't enjoy being passed on the right by a (blonde) female driver? Perhaps he was worried that I'd nick his pristine white BMW 3 series with my "ghetto Nissan" Murano. I don't care what his reasons were -- he was attempting to blind me with his high-beams. Fortunately my car rides higher than his, and he could barely reach my rearview mirror. Finally I freaked him out when I came to a dead-stop in the middle of Broward Blvd. For those of you in the 'hood down here, you know that you don't stop on BB, ever. He pretty much quit the stupid headlight flashing antics after that and changed lanes. Weird little bastard.
Last night, I had a kooky little Audi driver in front of me move from the left lane into the middle (as I've requested), but he promptly got behind me and trailed a little too close for comfort. I knew what he was doing -- in fact, he may have been the brother of weird little bastard BMW man from Saturday, except he recognized our height differences and thought a little tailpipe-smoking would cure me. Oh, you silly naive drivers. Instead of getting upset, I slowed down a snail's pace and let him get as close as he wanted ... then I hit the brakes. We must have played this game 3 times before he panicked that he might actually scratch his little Audi "my penis is too small" TT into my ghetto Murano trunk. He too decided to change lanes and get as far away from me as possible.
Is it smarter for me to let the nutjobs have their way? Or should I continue to freak them out with my terrifying driving habits? Not sure yet. But please keep your fingers crossed for me that I don't become the next headline in the Miami Herald.
I made it back to Miami in one piece, physically. The flight home was relatively straightforward, albeit a little turbulent, and amazingly my car is still in good shape despite its parking location this weekend. All things considered, the trip was a giant success.
So now I'm back at "home" (and I use that term loosely to describe where I live) and getting into my regular routine. Why is it always so hard? I wasn't gone for months (a.k.a., maternity leave) and I wasn't even gone for weeks (a.k.a., a REAL vacation), so you'd think that it would be easier for me to return to "normal." Except - I'm really struggling. In fact, I seem to having more trouble than I should... I've lived in Miami for more than a year, I've been in my job officially one year as of yesterday, and the climate down here definitely suits me more so than up north. So, where's this trouble coming from?
I might be "home" physically, but am I mislabeling my Home?
How do I discern the difference? How can I determine if I'm "home" versus I'm Home?
There isn't much I can do about the problem right now, given my financial commitments to Miami and the fact that my golden handcuffs exist here. But it's still an interesting dilemma for me.
I had better come up with a good explanation sometime soon, too, or my coworkers are going to start asking questions about the tissue pile-up on my desk...
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