======Solstice to Sunrise======

|  [[wedding|{{:kanjiweddinglogo.png?200}}]]  | **Solstice to Sunrise is dedicated to the lifelong journey of \\ Sunny James Fugate and Trúc-Hà Lưu Dương** \\ \\ If you would like access to other portions of the site and image gallery please contact [[mailto:tld+sjf@solsticetosunrise.net|us]] for a username and password.  This website may be made public in the near future.  | |

===== News =====
  * Our baby's due date is September 10, 2008. 2008Feb06
  * We stopped birth control! 2007Dec01
  * [[Archive:News Archive]] - prior news posts 

===== Solstice to Sunrise: June 2006 =====
|**Putting Down Roots** \\ \\ We've gone through the initial process of qualifying for a home loan, searching for houses with a local realtor, putting in our initial offer, and negotiating the price down with a couple of counter offers.  All in less than a week, whew!  We looked at a couple dozen houses in two days, but the very first house that we looked at in our first full day in Albuquerque was the house that we chose to bid on.   It is in a superb location, just a half-mile from the edge of the University of New Mexico campus and a mile from the UNM Medical Center where Truc-Ha works.  The house is about 3 blocks from Route 66/Central Avenue with shops, restaurants, and coffee shops.  It is about 50 years old, Adobe/Pueblo style with flat roof and stucco.  It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and has all hardwood and tile flooring, except new carpet in the master suite which is a new addition as of this spring.   The house is expensive, but we are sure that it is a good investment given the great location and good size (1820 sq.ft.).   It has all new appliances, gas range, gas water heater, refrigerated air, and solar heating.\\ \\ Our closing date is July 26th, and if all works out well we should be able to move in on or just after July 28th.  We are still waiting on inspection and everything, so things might turn sour, but we are optimistic.  :)  Soon to be added to the gallery are pictures taken while we were inspecting the home from a consumer standpoint.  Of course we are having all of the usual inspections done.  The seller is paying most of the closing costs and we were able to negotiate down to $328,400 from $339,900.  Our realtor is also decreasing her commission from 3% to 2.5% which enables us to save an additional 0.5% on the closing price.  Interest rates are quite high and climbing (7.25% when we locked in) but we are paying a percentage point of the price to decrease it to 6.75%.\\ \\ Truc-Ha is living in a month-to-month furnished apartment until everything is final and the house is available.  I will be moving at the end of August.  I am applying to the graduate school to study computational intelligence or cognitive science and plan to earn my PhD while Truc-Ha is in residency.  I'll attend school half-time for the first year (this allows me to pay in-state tuition) and work part-time either on my current project or at one of the local laboratories in Albuquerque.   I'm in correspondence with several companies and Department of Energy labs and expect to change jobs before moving, but it is possible that I continue work for the folks in San Diego while living in Albuquerque.\\ \\ Albuquerque reminds us both of Nevada.  It has lots of dirt, sage brush, and beautiful mountains.   The weather is dry and hot, but surprisingly better than inland (20 to 50 miles) Southern California.  Even though it doesn't have San Diego's climate, it has some charming neighborhoods and people.  It is an incredibly bicycle friendly city and we both plan on biking to work.\\ \\ We look forward to future visitors in our new city!\\ \\ Love,\\ \\ Sunny & Truc-Ha\\ 2006Jun25|{{dsc00125.jpg?200}}{{dsc00135.jpg?200}}{{dsc00129.jpg?200}}{{dsc00126.jpg?200}}|

[[Archive:Newsletter Archive]]

===== Links =====
Links to the chapters in our lives:\\ 
  * [[sjf>| Sunny's Homepage]]
  * [[tld>| Trúc-Hà's Homepage]]
  * [[http://solsticetosunrise.net/photography|Photo Albums:]] Viet Nam excursion (2005), Wedding journey, and more to come.
  * [[wedding|Information on our Wedding:]] December 18, 2005 - through - January 1, 2006\\