My good buddy Debra over at Reflecting *hearts* my blog, so I decided to rise to the challenge and respond to her call to action.  I have decided to mercilessly direct link her jpg first, so here’s the badge:

The One Word Meme (well, we’ll see about that)
Where is your mobile phone? Counter.
Where is your significant other? Nebraska.
Your hair colour? Brown.
Your mother? Worries.
Your father? Couch.
Your favourite thing? Many.
Your dream last night? Nonexistent.
Your dream goal? Freeeeeedoooooommmm.
The room you’re in? Living.
Your hobby? Blogging.
Your fear? Failure.
Where do you want to be in six years? Pekin.
Where were you last night? Louisville.
What you’re not? Comfortable.
One of your wish-list items? iPhone.
Where you grew up? Pekin.
The last thing you did? Laundry.
What are you wearing? Sweats.
Your TV? N/A.
Your pets? Nebraska.
Your computer? Rules.
Your mood? Lonely.
Missing someone? Yes.
Your car? Saturn.
Something you’re not wearing? Glasses.
Favourite shop? Amazon.
Your summer? Gone.
Love someone? Incessantly.
Your favourite colour? Blue.
When is the last time you laughed? Dinner.
Last time you cried? Leaving.

In addition to tagging some of Debra’s fav’s (Andrea and David, get to it!), I tag the following folks:

~ Tasha (my lovely wife) from Coconut Cake & Coffee!
~ Matt of Vanaheim
~ Trent from Life of Obscurity
~ Liz of (stupid private blog)
~ Other karate people that blog… you’ll get a link when you actually post something.

Today is my last day by myself in this place, so aside from pulling a Tom Cruise in Risky Business, I will be fixing up a few of the easy things that the previous tenants of this house left undone.  On the list is replacing burnt out light bulbs and the missing light switch cover.  I’m also going to pick up some firewood and a holder for said firewood, and some laundry detergent so I can get my small shambling mound of laundry subdued before Tasha arrives.

In other, more exciting news… I have purchased a new HDTV!  The venerable Samsung LN52A750 52″ monster will be arriving at my house as soon as I can get a payment method to post that Cefcu won’t kick back.  I tried an eCheck, figuring that it would be easier to process than a huge charge on my Check+ card.  It appears that Cefcu hates those, and I think my daily purchase limit on my Check+ card is not high enough to process the order but I am trying anyway.  If that fails, I will call them tomorrow and get them to bump the limit for a few days while I place the order.

Thanks to Eric for the tip on the TV… I couldn’t have gotten that big of a discount at the stores around here, they’ve all got the thing at like $2700, which makes my $2149 look like a pretty sweet deal.

The cable guy just showed up, he says he has to run a new underground cable and that someone else will come out to bury the cable in a few weeks at no cost to me.  Hopefully I will soon be coming to you live from my own Internet connection!  woot!

I’m sorry to say that I generally slept like crap the first night in my new house.  My air mattress wasn’t quite inflated properly, so it deflated slightly overnight leaving me with a backache.  I was all prepared to be up for the cable guy to show up at 8 am, only to find out thanks to a phone call from my lovely wife that he will be here between 8 and 10 am.

Due to the aforementioned air mattress issue, I am still quite tired today and I would prefer nothing more than to sleep until about noon.  I don’t think that is in the cards so I will wait for the cable guy, get cleaned up, and head over to King Sooper’s or Safeway to get some groceries.

Some interesting things about Colorado: King Sooper’s is owned by Kroger, all the Hardee’s are Carl’s Jr. out here, and nobody seems to obey construction zone speed limits (except for me, of course).  Thankfully, there are a ton of familiar stores too, it seems that I am in a consumer paradise given the likes of Costco, Sears Grand, numerous Super Targets, and the list goes on and on.

Interesting thing about my neighborhood… there are 10 wireless networks, 2 of which are unsecured.  This is how I am able to blog to you right now, as I am sitting in the unfurnished living room of my new house!

Among the strange things the previous tenant took with them: one light switch cover, one towel rack, assorted random light bulbs, and shower curtain rods.  That’s right.  Shower curtain rods.

At some point this weekend I am going to have to venture out to get replacements for those things, but the major To-Do for tomorrow is to select myself a new HDTV.  I am leaning towards one of the new Philips 120hz LCD TVs… it lends them to better black and less artifacting during action scenes.  The trick will be whether or not I can parlay myself into severe discounts on said set.  I will do the best I possibly can, but I’ve never attempted negotiating a purchase like this before.

One other thing I have noticed about this house: it was not apparent from the photos or other walkthroughs, but it seems that the majority of the light in the house was generated from floor lamps that were controlled by wall switches.  Neither of the master bedrooms actually have light fixtures, which should make it for a dark evening.  I am somewhat tempted to get myself some logs and have a fire tonight, but I lack my fireplace kit to clean up after it so I will probably delay that until Tasha gets here.

It’s good to own a home in Colorado!  Woot!

Today was a very long, productive day at the office.  It was punctuated by one meeting that was a little challenging, but in the end we emerged with some victories and a clear cut direction toward the right answers.

This is my last night in the hotel, tomorrow I close on and take possession of my new house!  After that point, it will be an air mattress and camping out until my stuff arrives on Monday!  I’m very excited, this has been quite a few months in the works and I’m ready to begin getting settled.

I hear tell that Tasha has been very productive getting the house packed and loaded, and my dog and rabbits are peacefully coexisting at my parents house.  Only a few more days until our little family is all back together again, and then the fun of unpacking and setting up the house can begin!

I found this writing via a personal finance website that I often frequent.  This resonates on many different levels for me, financially, personally, and when considering my career.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

I Do Not Choose to be a Common Man

It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”

By Dean Alfange
______________

*Originally published in This Week Magazine.
Later printed in The Reader’s Digest, October 1952 and January 1954.

The Honorable Dean Alfange was an American statesman born December 2, 1899, in Constantinople (now Istanbul). He was raised in upstate New York. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and attended Hamilton College, graduating in the class of 1922.

Today was a busy day… got to work on time (made the right turn, woot!) and had a very productive day at the office.  I followed that up with transporting one of my coworkers back to the airport car rental place to drop off her rental, and then we went to dinner.

My coworker needed to go pick up a TV antenna, so I got the chance to begin negotiations with the Best Buy employee in charge of HDTVs.  He gave up far too much information regarding how they structure discounts at that store, I think I can come back and make some demands of the manager and get a deal.  Then I’ll turn around and try to do the same with the American store.

We then adjourned back to my coworkers house, where she implored me to come in for a cup of tea since I drove around so much on her behalf.  She’s living in an awesome house, and her kids are really fun to watch run around.  It’s going to be fun getting to know their family better!

I arrived just in time to watch Obama’s acceptance speech, I have to say I’m glad that I voted for that man.  I might not agree with all of his policies but I think his charisma and character is exactly what America needs right now.

I am tired, and now it is time for bed!

Well, I woke up bright and early this morning, ready to greet my first work day at the new office permanently.  As fate would have it, I took a wrong turn and ended up driving around Westminster for 40 minutes or so, eventually finding my way back to my hotel, picking up the trail correctly the second time around.

The day itself consisted of equal parts setting up my desk, greeting people, training, and working on project tasks.  I had a lunch meeting with my buddy Paul at the deli attached to the building, they have a nice sensible French Dip that was just right for lunch.  We got some good planning work accomplished, so at least something productive happened today!

I left work and headed over to the Safeway, where I was delighted to find the Ruffles Thick Cut Cheddar Baked Potato chips that I had been longing for in Pekin… I almost ate the entire bag!  Prices were almost exactly the same as in Pekin, so that is looking up.

Last, but certainly not least, Tasha got the final quote on our mortgage payment and thanks to the recent rate drop my monthly payment should be only $300 more than my old one!

All in all, it was a great first day at the office.  I’m going to aim to be a bit more productive tomorrow, focusing on knocking out some of the training I have been putting off!

Tasha and I spent last night on the dubious task of packing up all of my swords from the basement.  It took awhile, and it ended up being much less distressing than I expected.  I woke up by my alarm (all by myself) today, and spent most of the morning telling inanimate objects, rooms, and local businesses goodbye.

Interestingly, the part that was strangest to me was leaving my keyring and car keys behind.  My pockets feel relatively empty, and that is VERY strange!

I am sitting at Peoria International Airport waiting for my plane to show up.  I’m ready for this, let’s go!