Takin' a ride

It has been a couple weeks since I started work at the new job. This evening, after I'd settled back a bit, I got a call from a coworker to meet for pizza and a beer. Cool enough. We had a nice conversation, and then we went outside and he asked if I wanted to see a bit of Houston. I said sure, so he pointed to his car: a bright blue Viper coupe.

It has been a while since I've driven or ridden in a high performance sports car. And this is the real deal! A V-10 Engine with 8.3 Liters and well over 500 Horsepower. I snuggled in to the well bolstered passenger seat, and away we went. I didn't notice it before, but most of the lights at night seem to blur in long horizontal lines. Houston just streaked by in bursts of effortless and high-G acceleration in this ride. It was very much fun, and I'm glad for once that I wasn't driving. In fact, I think the Viper just may be more car than I can handle, at least when the accelerator is pushed down vigorously. We went around all four leaves of a clover-leaf interchange. There may have been another car attempting to keep up, but when we left the intersection, he was still on the second leaf. The tires never even squealed. I had a thought during one particularly exhilarating accel, that this is what a golf ball must feel like when it leaves the tee.

My coworker asked if I wanted to continue the evening and bar-hop a bit, but I declined, as I my fun-meter was pretty much pegged out at that point. My Toyota Avalon felt a bit stodgy as I drove back to my temporary housing.

Starting again in Texas

As noted in my previous posting, I have unretired, and have started my new job in Stafford, Texas, a suburb just southwest of Houston, certainly part of the greater metropolitan area. After a very nice trip to Milwaukee, the wife and I came back to Tennessee, and spent the week continuing to get organized for this transition period. I left for Houston Monday morning, and got here Tuesday mid- to late-morning. I reported to work, and spent the day in-processing. I know it would be better if I could spend more time with my wife right now, she has an awful lot on her shoulders. She is trying to get her late aunt's house ready for sale, keep our house in show-able condition, go through things to prepare for our move, and all the while, run herd on our pack of three dogs. I try to talk with her as much as I can. This may be the first time ever that I will actually use all the minutes on our cell phone plan.

I must say, the Houston traffic is incredible compared to our rural little town in eastern TN. Even after work, at 7:00 PM, it was still bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go. Amazing. But this evening, at about the same time, it was flowing much better.

We had our first inquiry on the house in TN, just a nibble, really. A realtor asked about showing the house sometime soon. It has been almost a month since we listed the house, so we are a bit hopeful, perhaps overly so, about this.

The new job is going well, there is a lot to learn, with new systems, new procedures, lots of new names and faces. But I am excited about it. I started on my first proposal today. It is for a customer I started to court late last year, and we have progressed to defining and pricing some very specific tasks. And my first business trip is starting Saturday afternoon.

Nearing the end of a chapter

My time in Tennessee is newly limited. I have decided to go back to work. The firm for which I have consulted these last two years has agreed to hire me full time, on the condition that we move to Houston, TX. I accepted the job offer, and start September 30. So we have put our house up for sale, and I will drive there at the end of the month.

My lovely wife will be somewhat occupied here while our house is being marketed. Her aunt passed away a couple weeks ago, and she is the executor of her aunt's estate. There is a lot of stuff to go through in the house, so she and her friend Sue are doing just that. Sue's husband will be here this weekend, and I will join them to help as well.

We had made plans months ago to visit friends and family in Milwaukee next week, and we still intend to do that too. Boy is this September busy!!

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas.....

We are all so relieved that the price of oil is dropping a bit. And ever so thankful that gasoline is getting a bit less expensive too. But no one is asking the big question: WHY?

The news is saying that U.S. demand has dropped. That's true, but demand has been dropping significantly since May. And oil & gas are just now dropping in response??? Bull!

T. Boone Pickens' ad was running, encouraging support of alternative energy, less dependence on oil, especially foreign oil. And a few politicians were trying to get approval through for significantly increased oil exploration and drilling off the coasts of the US mainland. But all of that has fallen by the wayside since we've experienced a few dollars off the price of a barrel of oil. Wake up America!!! We are being manipulated again.

Big oil, especially OPEC, is afraid that we actually might develop alternative energy sources and make a huge dent in their flow of US dollars. The best way to cut that off at the knees is to lower the price of oil. All of a sudden, we as a nation are being swayed to drive again, use lots of gas and oil now that it's cheap again.

We need to keep up the pressure to develop those other energy sources. If we don't, this will happen again, oil will rise again, this time to well over $200 per barrel.

Things on my mind

I am contemplating going back to work. My old employer called and asked me if I was interested in helping to write a proposal. It would be something I can do from home, mostly. And just today, an engineering contract labor firm asked if I was interested in a 1-2 yr assignment in Indianapolis as a Project Manager. Both offer pretty reasonable rates of pay. I want to talk to the firm I am currently helping through a consulting agreement before I actually accept one of these positions, especially the latter.

To be candid, I am feeling a bit useless, just golfing and putzing around. My consulting work is just a couple hours per week, and really doesn't help much in terms of monthly expenses. The financial advisor told me I need to do something for the next couple years to generate some additional income, and I really don't want to be a WalMart greeter, despite the fact that I would be really good at it. Lowe's might be fun, but when I compare the pay rates ($8/hr vs. $45 to $75/hr) the consulting and working out of town sound so much better.

The bathroom is done

It has taken just around two months and about what we thought it would cost. In fact, our contractor was within 1% of what he estimated. I can't imagine being better than that.

House Painting

Our house was looking a bit drab and tired, so we decided it could use a paint job. I hired a local contractor to do the job. He came recommended, and we are quite pleased with how it all turned out, as well as how his workers accomplished their tasks. They started out by washing down the whole house with bleach water and scrub brushes. No pressure sprays to penetrate our log home with unnecessary water. Then they filled in every crack and opening between pieces of wood with caulking, and the primed spots that needed it. Finally, they painted the house a golden brown color, accentuating the logs and the wood. Trim was done in a dark green, and the ceilings of the porches were done in light blue. Supposedly, flies and other insects do not like that color, and will not hang out. Here are some pictures showing the completed work.