A Yankee in Texas

Nicole picked up the books I ordered from Amazon at the PO Box tonight after work. I got ordered three Brian K. Vaughan graphic novels. I am excited to embrace my inner geek and start reading these.– Jeremy

I am confident I will be feeling better by then end of the week. It’s about what I am not going to get done while recovering and about how much stress it would be on me to attend my cousins wedding this weekend. I really want to go, but in the end I need to do what’s best for getting me to Austin healthy, organized, and ready to work.

For now I am playing it by ear, getting rest, taking my meds, and drinking lots of water.

– Jeremy

I have been sick on and off for the past few months. I have seen a few doctors about it. I think I have finally found a Physicians Assistant who is willing to take the time and figure out what is going on. Basically she thinks I have developed allergies. The allergies create mucus. The mucus in turn invites infection and the infection takes hold in my ears.

Anyway I hadn’t been feeling 100% for a week so last week I asked Nicole to make an appointment for me to see the doctor. I knew I would be flying soon and it’s never good to fly with an ear infection. So now I am on a cocktail of medications to try and get things under control.

I have to make an appointment to get the go ahead to fly. Truth be told I will be getting on the plane Monday morning no matter what. Hopefully by then I will be good to go. Otherwise it’s going to be a very painful flight.

– Jeremy

Sorry I had to take the site off line for a few days, but now I am back!

– Jeremy

I’ve been living in an apartment for the past 12 or so years. Since Austin looks like it will be our next stop I have been looking at apartments. Buying really hadn’t crossed my mind. This morning I decided to give a quick search for town homes in the Austin area. After a little investigation it occurred to me that maybe buying was an option. If not right away maybe 6-12 months down the road.

I have a lot more to learn about mortgages and what goes into buying a home.

– Jeremy

… to find an apartment? Our move is still 6 months away and I think I have put 5 times more effort in to finding an apartment than I did finding the last 3 apartments we’ve lived in combined. In reality the search has just begun. When I am down in Austin for my training Ben and I will be slogging around to take a look at 8-10 of the best places.

I have about 20 more places that I need to enter into my apartment database, which will bring my grand total to 26. I plan on spending the rest of this week on that and getting the map script finished so it actually displays some information about the apartment complexes. Next week I will find 4 more decent places and then I will work on narrowing it down to the 10 I am really interested in.

– Jeremy

Life is a crazy thing… you can only guess at what it’s going to throw at you next. Of course as you get a bit older your guesses get more informed and you start to plan ahead a bit instead of just reacting to what comes along. A big factor in all this is how much money you can save up for these little bumps in the road. Saving is tough because it involves figuring out the difference between what you need and what you want.

Some things are easy food, clothing, and shelter are definite needs, but what about cable tv, cell phones, etc. are those needs or wants. I say things like “I need x for kayaking because it’s my hobby”, but do I need it or do I want it. Is a hobby a need or a want. What about other forms of entertainment? Should I look at going to the movies as a waste of money?

Pat and I were chatting a bit about this last night. He and his wife, Sara, are expecting their first child. Pat and I have both basically been living up to our means. What I mean by that is that we pay our bills and what’s left over is spent on play. We are both now facing situations where we need to make some tougher decisions about our money. For him it’s a baby and for me it’s making sure we stay a float while Nicole get her masters degree.

I guess it’s all part of growing up. For some people it comes naturally for others it’s more of a struggle. I fall in to the later half of that group.

– Jeremy

Since we got a lot done this morning Nicole and I spent the afternoon at the beach…

We saw several motorboats and one sailboat out on the bay.

It seems a lot of people had the same idea.

Hey look a fat guy sleeping… oh wait that’s me. Ok I have to admit this shot was staged, but I did spend sometime like this trying to fall asleep.

Stereotypical feet picture.

A serene parting shot…

I slipped off my sandals, stepped in to the surf, and I would say that the water was about 40-ish degrees, but it didn’t seem to deter any of the kids from going in. We saw parent after parent having to drag their kids out of the water. We, however, were much happier sitting in the warmth of the sun. I guess that makes us old.

I hope everyone had a relaxing day.

– Jeremy

Cars oil changed? Check!
Banking done? Check!
Dropped jeans off to be shortened? Check!
Waterproofing shoes? Check!

Now I am going to do a little apartment searching till Nicole gets home and then maybe we will head out to enjoy this beautiful day.

– Jeremy

…not only didn’t I post much this week, but I also didn’t follow through on my plan to put an apartment a day in the database. I plan on getting caught up on my apartment search tonight and tomorrow. This week I ended up watching a bunch of playoff hockey and going to bed much earlier than I normally do. Again, I am a slacker.

I am glad I made all those lists when I did because weeks like this week happen. I get lazy and I lose focus on what I need to be doing. With my trip to Austin just over two weeks away I feel like I am now behind. Basically I have this Saturday, this Sunday, next Saturday, and part of next Sunday to get everything ready for the trip to Austin and our trip to Maine for the wedding.

This weekends to do list:

1. Get my cars oil changed
2. Take jeans to the tailor (I have short legs what can I say)
3. Buy Polo shirts
4. Figure out what I am wearing to the wedding
5. Get toiletries (for trip to Austin)
6. Water proof shoes
7. Make kayak cover
8. Add apartments to the database

I think that’s it, but there could be more.

– Jeremy