A Year Later in San Diego

Rain in SoCal (photo credit: Francisco Arcaut)

Yesterday, June 30, was my year anniversary of closing on my condo. I'd have to say my first year of condo ownership has been an exciting and tumultuous ride. There were highs and lows. I have learned a lot, especially since becoming the HOA Board President. Even though it is stressful to deal with repairs and owner concerns/attitudes/drama, I feel this is the best thing for me. I guess it's my way of keeping things in control. I am making sure that things are structurally sound. In the past year we have had repairs to our tile roof, the patio/door above my unit that was causing a leak and all four garden windows in the kitchens (including mine) have been re-flashed due to leaking. The rains were pretty heavy for San Diego standards this past Fall/Winter and we paid the price. Typically it doesn't rain as hard or as often, but for the past year (June 30-July 1, 2011) we received 12.65 inches of rain. I realize that doesn't sound like a lot, but for Southern California standards it is significant, but not excessive. Our average rainfall is 10.77 inches. Some years were as low as 4-6 inches since I have lived here. I remember 2004/2005 we had 20+ inches, which was extremely rare.

June 30 was also the day that I gave my notice at my previous job in Orange County. I was very unhappy living up there so I am so glad that everything happened the way it did. I started a contract job in mid-July, but received a full-time offer at the agency I work for now 2 days into my contract job. It was all meant to be. I am still standing after 1 year and hope to remain in this position for a very long time. It's time Anthony stays at a job for more than 1-2 years. It's time to really THRIVE at my career. So far, I am doing really well. My goal is to be promoted within the next 18 months. I do think it's possible. I tend to not stay around long enough to even be promoted. I enjoy my work now since I no longer have to be stuck in the tech B2B world. I get to work within health care marketing on the B2C side and also do some work within B2B in the construction industry. It's great that I am now expanding my experience within other industry verticals. For so long I was pigeon-holed within the B2B technology/software/hardware market.

Running-wise I am doing ok, but not great. I have been trying to do 4 runs a week with the longest runs around 8-9 miles. This past week I did 9.5 miles and maintained a 7:07 pace, which was decent. I have run faster runs though in training. At my peak in 2007 I was doing 15-20 mile runs around 6:55 pace. My hamstrings still ache and now my lower back is tight. I believe this is due to not sitting correctly at work and hunching over too much. I am trying to work on this and maintain proper posture. I have been able to maintain pace averages from as fast as 6:50-7:15 min/mile pace, which is typical for me. I still worry about how I would perform in a race. I am pondering doing a 5K race in a few weeks during San Diego Pride weekend. I also may do a half marathon in November. I am not ready to do a half marathon in August (America's Finest City Half Marathon). It has sold out so it makes the decision easier for me. In terms of a marathon, I may try to do the Carlsbad Marathon in January, or Long Beach Marathon in Oct. Not sure yet. My body is just not like it used to be. I'm not as resilient.

One last mention about the entire patio/door repair. Last Friday, June 24, we did a water test to make sure the door was installed correctly and that no water would get through. Well, after a few minutes of spraying at the threshold of the door, water leaked through! I couldn't fucking believe it. I was actually really sad. After 7 weeks, I thought this mess was over with. The contractor had no explanation since he wasn't here when his subcontractors installed it. Once again, showing why we should have NEVER hired this guy. He was not involved enough and on site enough to monitor the job and the careless people he hired to do it.

After about 20 min of pressure spraying we determined that the under the threshold of the door there was not enough polyurethane put in, therefore creating a gap where water could leak through. VERY BASIC STUFF! I was outraged that such a careless mistake could be made, especially knowing that was one of the EXACT SAME PROBLEM we had with the previous door. Of course there were other issues like the fact that the door was never installed correctly or flashed correctly to begin with. The other issue we determined with this door is that the area where the bottom of the door meets the threshold, water gets through. So the manufacturer had to be called and after 5 days has finally called us back and are going to come here on Tues, July 5 to fix it. I am also involving the contractor to make sure everything is done correctly. We have a 5 year warranty on the weatherproofing system.

I have already started to have the ceiling and walls repaired, finally, after 6 months of the walls and ceilings of being open. I was waiting for the patio to be complete before starting. I didn't anticipate the water test to go poorly so the work was already scheduled for the day after the test. It's ok since it doesn't rain here in the summers and I KNOW they will be plugging up the leak under the door next week. As you can see from the photo on the left, the drywall has been installed. Now the guy we hired just have to finish with the spray texture this weekend. Then I will prime and paint the area.