I received a reply to my offer on the house from the lawyer (I only called them Tuesday, so this is pretty quick). Actually I felt the letter they sent was somewhat condescending and meant to be intimidating. They say they can go no lower than $175k after my offer of $100k for the property. I’m preparing a letter to offer $150k for the property, because they are silly in the head to think that it’s worth anymore than that with the condition that the house is in. I made it a point to note two of the larger concerns with the property, but I’m really not trying to be a dick about it. I just don’t appreciate nor will I accept trying to be bullied by a group of lawyers out for money. Fortunately the nephew of the estate is still pretty understanding, it’s just he apparently doesn’t have much power over the estate as a whole.

I may start looking/asking around about getting a mortgage and see what kind of rate I am looking at (any connections here would be much appreciated).

Seems the games have begun.

• We did kill rabbits yesterday, 35 to be exact. Probably the most we’ve ever killed in one sitting. All but 4 of them are sold already, and those 4 are for me and dad. I’m telling you, when we get our ranch, fresh rabbit and chicken meat will be abundant and will be sold. The price for chemical-laden chicken these days is ridiculous.
• Sold two more pieces of jewelry today for another $46. One to a friend from the Grove and one to my cousin.
• Since I was unable to go to the Grove Sunday due to all the rabbits, I stayed home and caught that show “Dumped” on BBC America where they put people in a dump for 3 weeks and they have to build a sustainable environment from all the junk. I was surprised to see the model impressed me the most by really understanding what the show was about. It wasn’t about surviving in a dump, it was about showing that we can live normally and in comfort with the trash that we throw out. It can be reused instead of thrown into a dump. Incidentally, the model girl built herself a sauna out of the trash
• My birthday is this upcoming weekend, I’m not going to tell people that they can’t buy me stuff. Feel free Ignore the games though, they were just for a reminder for myself.
• MUD is going well, we’ve had some amazing RP lately and I started a small contest for my birthday and the players seem really into it. I’m anxious to see how it turns out.
• I’ve been doing a lot of work on my Genealogy site I’m creating for my family. I still have probably 400 more people to enter, but hell it’s a damn good start.
• I’m probably going to call the estate lawyer and make an offer on the house this week of $100k. But I’m going to ask that he allow me to work on paying off my car first, which I’m sure he will, but you never know.
• We have a new baby duck, may try to get pictures when it’s not raining.
• My mom has apparently finally moved out of my grandparents house. She’s been living there rent free for who knows how long. I’m told she’s living in a garage, or garage converted apartment or something.

Map Channels Hotel Directory uses Google Maps to find hotels located around the location you are going to be staying at. It then sorts the list of hotels by price, allowing you to find the cheapest hotel very easily.

Much better than those orbitz, priceline, etc sites. Not that I plan to travel anywhere anytime soon, but it would have been nice when I was flying out to Chicago and Biloxi Mississippi back in the day

If you change the listing type to DETAILED it shows all kinds of information and even pictures.

I decided to better the “Simple Myspace” userstyle for Firefox users to remove all ads on most of the regular pages that people actually use on myspace since Simple Myspace only did some brief minimalist work. I removed ads from the home page, profiles, pictures, bulletins, schools (I actually readded this function that was removed in Simple Myspace version), searches, messaging and blogs.

I did not bother with things like forums, videos, comedy etc, but can adjust for those sites as needed.

CHECK IT OUT

For Firefox users, there is a plugin you can use to skin the various websites you browse, including your Gmail. There are also pre-made templates you can install in this plugin for many of the sites you use regularly. I find this particularly useful for Myspace since it is inundated with ads and other stuff I’m not interested in being plastered across my screen everytime I login.

The particular plugin I use is called Stylish created by Jason Barnabe of userstyles.org. His site userstyles.org has a plethora of different pre-made skins you can install with this Firefox addon.

The one I use for my gmail is Gmail Redesigned (by Globex Designs) which you can see below:

For Myspace, I also recommend the Simple MySpace my modifications of the Simple MySpace skin to help reduce all of the clutter which you can see below:

To install these is simple:
1. Install the Stylish Plugin and restart your firefox.
2. Browse a template you’d like to use, such as the My Simple MySpace template. Each template page should have a button that allows you to “Install Style”. (a popup should come up that sets the URL’s that this skin should apply to automatically, just accept them)
3. Browse like normal.

It will install a small icon on the bottom right of your Firefox browser that lets you manage your skins and edit them as needed (or turn them off if needs be). You can even design your own. I’m thinking of doing a few skins myself for gmail that are Grove or MUD related.

They also have application styles for programs like Firefox, but I haven’t browsed through much of those yet.