Homeless

I'm now in Northwest Arkansas, in between homes. I've driven the moving van for 12 hours and I don't want to do it anymore. I will press on.

I will see my God-parents on Saturday. I'm very excited about that. I have visions of moving in with only two 60-year olds, two 70-year olds, and a 9 months pregnant woman for help. Please, can we make this happen. Virginia and Sandy will be in San Antonio on Friday, serving as surrogate grandparents (a trend that I started) for my cousin who is graduating from some sort of medical technician training program. I'm not sure what the specifics are of the program, but she's had a hard time and this is a big deal for her.

On Sunday, my aunt, uncle, cousins and their kids, will meet my parents, Mrs. LaBlog and myself at the County Line for a Battle Royale style family barbecue dinner.

Monday will be a trip to Luling for still more barbecue.

Tuesday is a national holiday as well as sausage day at Ruby's.

Wednesday is Mrs. LaBlog's birthday. I anticipate more barbecue.

I want to thank the kind people of Madison for the past two years. There are some people up there who I've really enjoyed knowing and with whom I hope to keep in touch.

I am in the midst of the first real job search of my life. Yes, I am 27. Yes, I took a three year break between undergrad and grad school. Yes, I would love to never have a real job. Yes, I still remember how to make the entire menu at Thundercloud.

Home Again...or something like that

After a nice train ride, complete with long delays due to a bridge being out, it's nice to be somewhere that isn't moving constantly. Unfortunately, we are in the process of making our home as uncomfortable as possible right now. Anybody who's known me for more than two years recognizes that the thing in this world that I hate the most is packing. I can load a truck better than most people, but putting things into boxes is the type of repetitive crap that I hate. The truck gets loaded on Sunday which means that the boxes need to be filled now. We've made good progress. I really want it to be over.

We met a nice guy on the train. He used to be the City Editor of the Austin Chronicle and now is a Political Consultant for TateAustin Consulting. He gave me his card, so I'll see if he has any leads.

I'm applying for a job that will in many ways make me a professional blogger. It wouldn't be the brilliant prose that my regular readers have come to adore. It would be Texas Tax blogging, which is something that I would love to do. The job is an outreach coordinator position at the Center for Public Policy Priorities down in Austin. The primary role of this position is to attempt to sell sound budget and tax policy to voters and politicians in Texas. This means selling a state income tax. I'm stubborn enough that I may enjoy the constant frustration that would come with a job like that.

I got emailed a job listing in Atlanta yesterday. It sounds like a job that I would love, so Mrs. LaBlog told me to apply for it anyway. I think she recognizes my nervousness about moving so close to people that we, or more specifically she is related to. (I feel like there were many grammatical errors in that last sentence.) I have had at least 8 hours between my family and myself since 1997 and I like that. There aren't people who I enjoy seeing more than my parents. I think that some of that may be because of the physical distance between us. Mrs. LaBlog's relatives started actually being civil to us once we moved 1,300 miles away from them, granted that took a confrontation and some tears. I'm nervous, but I'm also excited.

Onward.

Alabama says to Ride the Train

In less than an hour I will set off on my second cross-country train trip of the summer. Mrs. LaBlog will be with me this time, so I'm trading some of the awesome lounging ability for the company of a good woman. It seems like a good trade. We'll be in this tiny, off-the-map, town called San Antonio. They've got these little missions that nobody has ever heard of. We're going to a wedding. We'll be at the country club for that. Did I mention that her friend is marrying an Aggie?

Damn

It occurs to me that I am moving away from Wisconsin in 16 days. I'll spend a few days in Arkansas and then I'll end up in Texas. That's crazy soon. It also occurs to me that I will be in San Antonio or on a train for 7 of those 16 days. That leaves me with 9 days in Wisconsin to get packed up and see people that I want to see. I'm notoriously bad at seeing people in general, so that will be a challenge.

I got an estimate for my hail damage. I'm told that there is nearly $4,000 in cosmetic damage to my vehicle. The adjustor will come around to give me the official State Farm estimate. Hopefully that will happen early in the week. Then I will need to make a choice. Should we fix the car? Should we just pocket the cash? Should we pocket the cash and trade-in the car? You see, the KBB trade-in value of my car, with damage, is about $7,100 and the value of the car with the repairs is $8,800. It seems to me that it only makes sense to fix the car if I can find someone who can do it for $1,700 or less. If we can't do that, then we either just pocket the money, or we trade the car in for something new. I do like the Honda Fit as well as the Mini Cooper, but if history is any indication, and Underground assures me that it is, I will not get a car for many years. We will use the cash towards the purchase of some sort of car for Mrs. LaBlog and I will drive the Civic until it dies or becomes obsolete. A $16,000 Fit has much better safety features than the Civic and gets slightly better gas mileage. It costs roughly the same amount to insure a 2007 Fit as it does a 2001 Civic. That's true in Wisconsin anyway. I'm not looking forward to paying Texas premiums.

la deuxieme annee

Today marks the second anniversary of my marriage to Mrs. LaBlog. It's been a good two years. I'm a little nervous to see how things will go when we live within a two hour drive of her relatives.

Movies

25. The Sentinel - A mildly entertaining, but mostly boring secret service movie. Just watch "In the Line of Fire" instead.

26. True Lies - I somehow missed out on watching this all the way through until now. It's an interesting blow shit up movie. The Arab stereotypes are only slightly over the top.

27. Mission Impossible 3 - Tom Cruise is the least talented, successful actor of my lifetime.

28. Somnersault - This movie features a promiscuous Australian teenager. I think she tries to have sex with every other character in the movie. It flows like a Sofia Copola movie. It looks neat, has a nice soundtrack, but there's no story.

29. the Break-up - The best part of this movie was the crowd response at the end. I won't spoil it. Vince Vaughn is okay. John Favreau is okay. Jennifer Anniston is fine. Joey Lauren Adams is annoying (surprise). Vincent D'Onofrio is exceptional. It's a decent romantic comedy if you enjoy that sort of thing.

30. the Notorious Betty Page - There's lingerie and boobies in this movie which makes it worth seeing, particularly when the boobies belong to a virtuous, southern baptist nudist.

31. Russian Dolls - If you saw Auberge Espanole, then you will probably enjoy this movie. You will be armed with the back story. Audrey Tautou's character is slightly less annoying. Wendy is significantly more attractive. Xavier is still neurotic, but what a lady's man. It's a good movie.

32. the Rock - I had never seen this movie in its entirety. It is brilliant. I knew it was brilliant, but the full viewing simply confirmed that.

33. Over the Hedge - It's an entertaining animated feature. It's a nice matinee.

34. Bridget Bardot Sings - This is an interesting compilation of old Bridget Bardot French TV performances. There's plenty of commentary by Bridget. I got this for Mrs. LaBlog, but I watched it on the train. It's really entertaining.

Costs and Benefits

I want to do a cost-benefit analysis of the death penalty. Anybody out there want to fund or otherwise support this endeavor?

Uh oh

I am as enamored with the Honda Fit today as I was with the Mini Cooper 3 or 4 years ago. Anyone who knew me at the point in time knows that I seriously considered purchasing a Mini even though my car was only a year old. The Fit is less expensive and more practical for me. That's a problem. There's a good chance that we buy Mrs. LaBlog a Scion when we get to Austin and sometime after that, once the Fit craze has died down, purchase a Fit Sport for me. It's much more likely that we buy the Scion and then several years down the road I may be allowed to get a new car.

I want to point out that the Mini now holds some mythical place in my mind. It's the car that I'll always want, yet somehow never get. That is, unless any friends or family members decide to buy me one. My birthday is in a few months.

I overheard a lady refer to people who drive manual transmission automobiles as stupid. I think people who drive automatics are cowards who lack a passion for driving. They don't want to drive, they merely want to get from place to place quickly. There's no honor in that.

I will be taking the train to San Antonio soon. This will be my second train trip in a few weeks. The wife will go with me this time which should make it more fun. We're both looking forward to it.

I'm a record setter

I'm trying to see how many budget analyst positions one person can apply for within one government agency. So far, I am up to three. Two of them closed today and the third either has no closing date, or closes in a week. Go team.

Kudos Jamie

I want to point out here that I am in no way a compensated participant in the Jamie Aulik for State Senate campaign. I am a contributor and a friend of Jamie. I also happen to be a policy analyst with some expertise in state and local finance issues, but that's not what I'm writing about in this post.

I just want to say that having Dudley Sharp of "Justice For All" writing essays critical of Jamie clearly indicates that Jamie is on the right track. Justice For All is a garbage pro-death penalty group out of Houston. I'm not sure how somebody who has seen all of the problems with the implementation of the death penalty in Texas can honestly say that the death penalty is sound policy. This is just my bias, but I think a person has to be pretty twisted to dedicate his or her life to the legalization of state sanctioned executions.