PlanetHolt.com

Welcome to 2011! The month of December was pretty crazy, but I’m happy 2011 is here now. I had a great holiday break, but I’ve started my new position at Deere and recently found out that the offer I put in on a house was accepted.

So first, I am buying a new house as part of my previously-announced relocation to the Des Moines area. I found a house in Johnston, Iowa, that met all my criteria. It’s a new construction, finished shortly before I started looking, which will be a new experience for me.

Since I was house hunting from out of town, I decided to record walk-through videos as I viewed houses with my realtor—mainly to help me remember the details. I think the first day we saw something like fifteen houses, which is way too many to keep straight. As a side benefit, I’ve been able to use the videos to show family and friends prior to putting in the offer, to get feedback from them, and now I can show it to you! The house was a model home for the neighborhood, so the video shows the model furniture, but it will be bare when I take possession.

A mini-reunion of some of the folks with whom I lived in Ireland took place this weekend, as Ashley, Kristin, and I descended upon Albuquerque to celebrate the wedding of Melissa and Elias. While I didn’t have a whole lot of time in New Mexico, we certainly had a good time, and it was great catching up.