Not much going on today. I had to report to work around 9:00. Barbara picked Katie and me up and dropped us off at the office. We packed turkey sandwiches and ate lunch there at the office. I haven’t had a diet coke since Sunday and at this point have no craving for one, which is nice. However, we discovered that there is a Burger King about 200 feet down the road from my office so hopefully I don’t get back into my #9 chicken sandwich habit that I had a few years ago.
Gigi, our realtor, is not very good about calling me. I always have to call her to find out what is going on. She always says, “Oh Kevin, I’m so glad you called me” and then proceeds to tell me the news she has. When I called her this morning, she told me that she presented the offer of $1350 to the owner and they wouldn’t even give a counter offer because the price was too low. I told her to come back with $1550 and to call me as soon as possible to let me know. Around 2:00 I hadn’t heard anything from Gigi so I gave her another call. “Oh Kevin, I’ve been out of the office and haven’t been able to check my email.” About two minutes later she called back excited and said that they would accept our original offer ($1700) and not put the condo up for sale. They also said if they decided to put the condo up for sale that they would accept the offer of $1550. Good enough for me. The only catch is we can’t move into the place until March 18th. Originally we were told that it would be available on March 10th. Our stay at the Sunshine Suites ends Monday morning, the 10th.
My boss has offered to let us stay with her, but I’m a little reluctant to take her up on the offer. When I told the Jamaican Ed. Psychs, otherwise known as my life coaches, they said I should call Gigi back and try and negotiate some reduced rate or place to stay at our condo. So, we are in waiting mode to see if Gigi can make anything work. I doubt that they will give us anything, but it is worth a try. I also called the local ham radio operator who has a big station and I believe a small one bedroom place at his shack. He already knew I was coming and the purpose of the call was to introduce myself and to nonchalantly tell him our situation. He was very nice but didn’t comment about our lodging situation. He called back later and I got really excited when I saw it was him calling, but he was just calling to invite me to their club meeting on Monday. Nigel, G3TXF, will also be at the club meeting. It will be nice to have a group of hams around the island, with many top contesters visiting the island throughout the year.
So it looks like the only viable option for the next 10 days is staying with my boss, Barbara. The days will go by quickly, but my only concern is if any long lasting repercussions develop from our stay with her.
Katie did a good job playing in the office with her doll and on her iPad all day Friday while I looked at the paper thin files on all of my students. A typical IEP for a student in Arkansas is around eleven pages long. The amount I will be responsible for here is one goal page. Therapy and paperwork here will be a walk in the park.
We are settling in and I think we will really have a good time, especially when Jennifer and Michael arrive. It will be great to greet them at the airport (hopefully I can get off, ). I’m going to rent a car Saturday morning for a few days until I can buy one and get it insured and registered. We are going to get Katie’s uniform Saturday morning and will also have to buy some black sneakers and black dress shoes for her to wear to school.