Number of colds in the last five weeks:

Simon: 3
Hava: 2
Matthew: 1

Clearly, Hava needs to get this new cold or Simon will remain in the lead.

We will officially bid on the Ugly House this afternoon but neither of us expect to win the bidding war this time around. The house is a mess and we really don't want to live in a complete sty for three to five years before we can fix it up. We will bid only 21K over asking which is probably too low but the best we can do under the circumstances. We also learned last night that the owners expect to live rent free for two months after closing. Because of this housing market, they can get away with such tomfoolery but, once we heard of their plan, we were a lot less interested in the whole idea. It's just rude.