Category Archives: Life

No frontrunner…

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So, after two years of paying for the registration, maintenance, fuel, and other sundry bills on two vehicles, I’m thinking it’s about time to pull the plug on that. Yeah, it’s been nice having one when the other is down for maintenance, but realistically I can rent a car much more cost efficiently than keeping one on standby just in case. Part of me says I should be looking for something economical and fuel efficient, but the other part (the side that usually wins these arguments) says that I might as well get what I want since it’s going to be something I live with every day for the next 3-4 years.

With that in mind, I drove four vehicles this afternoon: a Jeep Commander, a Toyota Tundra and FJ Cruiser, and a Ford Escape. Yeah, I know, no mileage winners here, but my logic is that because SUV’s are so discounted right now, I would be taking my savings on the purchase price rather than at the pump. Basically on any of these, my payment would come down about $100/month while consuming gasoline at roughly the same rate as either of my current vehicles.

Here’s my quick assessment. The Commander has a huge cabin and keeps the slightly rough “Jeep” feel without the kidney jarring or wind noise of the Wrangler. The Cruiser is a remarkably impressive vehicle. Simplistic interior with clean lines, but I worry that once the novelty wears off I’d just have a rather odd looking vehicle. The Tundra was the come from behind contender. It impressed the hell out of me with its quick pick up from the light and extremely easy handling. The Escape was the least impressive of the lot and felt quite constrictive and more like riding in a raised station wagon than a truck or SUV.

In any case, there is no clear frontrunner and I’ll be doing a lot of research. If any of y’all have any personal experiences, feel free to chime in.

Absolutely nothing…

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There really is absolutely nothing new going at the moment. I’m starting to plan the transition from my current job to my new one and the corresponding move down the hall. Winston is doing well (15 pounds at the vet this past Monday). I’m enjoying a terribly good cup of local coffee and the weather this weekend should be nice enough to starting getting the yard in shape or putting down some fresh mulch.

Don’t worrky, I’ll let you know when some asshat comes along later today and shoots my good mood all to hell.

Dyson…

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I never in my worst nightmares thought I could get all hot and bothered by cleaning equipment, but I picked up a Dyson vacuum at Target this morning… and oh my frigging god. I had no idea there was so much disgusting stuff in my carpet. I generally think of myself as a meticulous cleaner, so I was actually a little disturbed at the amount of stuff this thing picked up. I filled the canister just going over the living room. And then I filled it again. Twice. My old vacuum was no slouch, but this one is clearly making an impression.

I know it’ll wear off in time, but right now, I’m totally hot for this vacuum.

Suburban Motorcross…

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I don’t have a problem with kids who ride motorcycles. I mean I was one of them growing up. I was a holy terror on my little Honda and even later on my four-wheeler. Of course as a kid my house backed up to thousands of uninterrupted acres of places to ride. There was a time when I knew trails that would take me from Frostburg to Westernport in an afternoon’s ride. With that being said, I don’t know what would possess a parent to give their kid a dirt bike in a subdivision of ¼ acre lots.

I don’t fault the kid for ripping and tearing around the cul-de-sacs, but I sure as hell have a problem with the parents who are teaching him that it’s ok. I’m not gonna be the guy who calls and gets the kid in trouble with the law, but I wish there was some legal way to smack his parents in the back of the head. I’m just saying, if you want little Billy to be the next Motocross champion, maybe you should have considered buying a house that was… I don’t know… outside the city limits? Asshats.

It’s small and furry… and no, it’s not the damned Easter Bunny.

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I’ll be doing a little reshuffling of my schedule for the next few months in order to accommodate the addition of a new fuzzball to my household. Everyone say hello to Winston (and WInstonPuppydon’t blame me for lack of creativity, his paperwork went in before I got him). I was leading more towards Wellington or William, personally. Don’t let the rotund little guy fool you, he’s a bundle of energy when he’s awake. He’s bully through and through. The timing wasn’t exactly how I had planned to make an addition, but when opportunity presents itself, I suppose we have to take advantage. More pics as I manage to take them.

Damned free market…

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OK, so I am usually a dyed-in-the-wool champion of the free market… unless, of course, it’s doing something bad to me. In this case, the national slump in new home sales has driven the builder of my subdivision to take a different approach. Instead of selling their new construction outright, they are coaxing people into “lease-options”… effectively turning all the unsold houses the subdivision into very large stand-alone apartments. I don’t have any particular problems with apartments, per se as I lived in them for a long time and enjoyed it, but the approach he decided to take does all sorts of weird shit to the value of the existing stock of houses, particularly to those of us who bought into the subdivision early. The builder is in it to make a profit and I can’t fault him for that, but still, it creates a giant pain in the ass for me… and we all know what I think of things that do that.

Server…

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I realized I might have a problem when a WoW server collapse nearly caused me to go into a twitching state of withdrawal a few minutes ago. I just needed to kill one last dohicky to collect the last thingamajig I needed, too. If I would have known what a perfectly wonderful addiction this was, I would have started years ago… of course I would have never passed any of my classes and quite possibly not manage to show up to work on time. I guess there is something to be said for moderation and developing a modicum of self-control in my old age.

Things you learn from weather.com…

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Sometimes I question myself for picking up and moving down here. Of course it would be nice to be closer to everyone and everything… and I’m still convinced that DC is the center of the universe… but then sometimes I surf by weather.com and realize that it’s 50 degrees warmer here than it is back there. At times like that being here seem like a much better idea.

The South is a different world, but it does have a few perks. Of course when it’s 110 in August, my calculus will probably be a little different.

Wanting and Getting…

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In life one of the hard lessons I’ve learned is that there’s a profound difference between wanting and getting. Wanting leaves open the window of great expectations where the actual getting has the hard finality of real world consequences. For most of my post-teaching professional career, the only thing on earth I wanted to do was run my own operations center and be at the center of the action. It’s a hell of a way to live and almost never a dull moment.

While I’ve held my own over the last year and even excelled at some points, what I have discovered is that my real talents don’t lie in running an operation. They lie in developing the grand strategies and seeing the big picture that the entire organization will follow. With my own frustration rising to a point that I haven’t seen since I was still teaching, I decided it was time for a change.

To make a long story shortish, I asked my boss if he would endorse a reassignment if I formally requested one. He offered training and a lot of other things to try to change my decision, but I think even he knows that if I’m talking about it openly, my mind is made up. So, yeah, I’m putting the wheels in motion for another change. If all goes well, I’ll still be here in Memphis, just down the hall from where I’m sitting now. Someone once told me that I seem happiest when I’m the calm center surrounded by mayhem and chaos. Maybe that’s true… and since nature has been letting me down in the mayhem and chaos department, perhaps I’ve decided to create my own.