Oh lord. We had an accepted offer on a house.

It was nice. Very nice. We were completely enchanted when we walked in and saw the lovely front living room with the grand fireplace, and large dining area. It even had a front coat closet. The rest of the house was also very nice. Though we saw it at night. Still. We decided to make an offer. Of course it had to be above asking, because that is the way the market works when there's about 10 buyers for every house listed on the market.

Then there were a bunch of things that kept unveiling themselves. The final thing was that the basement leaks water. Well, that is enough for me to drop the offer. I am not going to deal with a garage rebuild, a bathroom remodel, basement remodel and water problems. I guess that was too much.

So we are back on the hunt again. What a bummer. But at the same time, it's better than finding out after we bought that it had water problems. I had seen the dehumidifier, and noticed that the basement had painted floors and rubber floorboards as well, which made me wonder if there was not a problem. They got rain in the basement this week (and said this happens routinely). We have had the driest winter that I've ever experienced, and the first rain that we get they have water. Well, I guess we will pass.

I am starting to think I would rather live in a camper parked in someone's backyard.

Before you die

"A good life is still a life. It must involve a full share of suffering, loneliness, disappointment and coming to terms with one’s own mortality and the deaths of those one loves. To live a life that is good as a life involves all this."

(Art + Science) An Ocularist in Portland

Last night was Kaiser's annual ocular pathology forum. Every year we have education offered to all optometrists and any other people who'd like to attend. It was the first time I was back amidst the entire group (new and old docs). I used to be the person who planned these events, now I was just happy to be sitting in the audience.

One of the speakers, Fred Harwin, was a man who had a fine arts background and grew up to be a medical illustrator and was eventually recruited to make prosthetic eyes for Dever's Eye in Portland. He played for us this short artistic biographic documentary created by Vance Malone (of Portland also), which was entered into the 2003 Sundance film festival and received an honorable mention. It's a very interesting look into things that most of us are not aware of. It's a gorgeous marriage of art and science.

[Advice: Watch the film full screen size.]