1416 Salter Street
July, 2nd 2006

I never really thought of buying a house in the near future up until very recently, when a chance conversation while tubbing in the Tennis Club jaccuzzi with two very good friends of mine convinced me that maybe I should have a look around. It started with "it doesn't hurt to be aware of the market".

About a week after that discussion, these same friends told me that a house "just within my budget" just came up on the market a few doors down, "why don't you come for dinner and have a look at the house". The trap was being laid down... Dinner was very nice, as usual. So was the house, seen from outside. I love this heritage style that it featured. They contacted their mortgage broker and the seller's agent that very evening. They were wiggling a little hook in front of my eyes... It took a while and a few twists in the story, but I ended up biting the hook.

So let this be recorded here for posterity: This is entirely Peter and Haakon's fault!. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have even dreamed of buying. I'm still trying to think whether I should thank them for it or not...

All pictures are available either in tar or zip formats. Also available is a tar archive of the original pictures, before being reworked (these are actually the same). Note that the tarballs contain all the pictures I took, not just the ones I present on this page.

Entering the house for the first time

I get to live in the yellow house!

Following a Malysian (?) tradition, for good luck, I entered the house with oil, salt, and rice.

My new office.

Moving my stuff into the house

The actual move into the house occured in two phases, because it was complicated by the fact that I had to move from the appartment before July 1st, while I took possession of the house only the day after, on July 2nd. Moreover, I had a couple of business trips in June, in particular one where I came back from Ottawa on July 1st! Throw in a very busy schedule due to Tennis Officiating, and there was only one week-end when I could actually move my stuff out of the appartment.

Peter and Haakon (them again - I guess they really felt guilty about making me spend my money like that) kindly offered to store all my belongings inside their garage. So I rented a big 5t truck, and Gaby, Peter, Haakon and I moved everything into a garage only 8 houses away from my future house. Unfortunately, I forgot to take some pictures of everyone on that day. The pictures below were taken on July 2nd, after I took possession of the house. Gaby was still partying in Ottawa so could not make it that day to help us. To move faster, we used Peter and Haakon's truck. Not a 5t, but very convenient nonetheless.

Thank you so much, guys!

What kind of nutritionist would recommend nutella to one of his patients, and actually give you 8_000 calories worth of it???

That's it! We're done.