I've got a new home!
Closing went well, despite a last-minute change in schedule that (at the LAST last minute) was reversed, so that everything happened on time after all.
My new contact information:
Ben Ostrowsky
107 Caldwell Dr #181
Brandon FL 33510-4208
813-657-6346
The phone number should be turned on early next week; I'll be moving on April 9-10, which is when my answering machine will move to the new number.
After closing, my buyer's agent -- whom I did not pay a cent for her services -- handed me an envelope with a "Congratulations!" card in it, and a $50 gift card to the Home Depot. Jävlar, que lagniappe, ne?1 I already used some of it to put a water filter on the kitchen tap until I find out from the county what on earth makes the unfiltered stuff taste the way it does. I'll put the rest of it into a new water heater, probably.
I slept there last night after doing laundry without using any quarters. The concept is still a little foreign to me. I do wish I had a full-sized dryer, though -- it takes an hour or more to dry half a wash load.
I met my next-door neighbor. I apparently parked in Her Space (they're not marked). Where do you suppose *she* parked? Not two spaces over: right in back of me, so I couldn't get out. Fortunately, she had also been waiting up to see who it was, so after a five-minute lecture, she let me out. She said she was glad it was me, because if it had been That Woman Upstairs, there would have been trouble, because she knew better.
1 If you understood that entire sentence, you may be eligible for a position in the UN, Mensa, or your national intelligence service.