The Amigo's Slippers

There have been requests to see a photo of the slippers in question.

Here you go. This shows the style of the slippers as well as the customization. The synthetic fiber boot laces continue to perform perfectly. Note that the Amigo left the little reinforced tip on one end and cut off the other end and melted it with a match. No unravelling!

A New Year's Eve Gig

Something cool has happened. The Venerable Friendly One has been due, and it appears that Fate has Smiled.

Turns out that a friend of an old college friend lives here in the village. The Amigo's college buddy facilitated an email introduction prior to our arrival. We've had a few chats.  

Well, it also turns out that this friend-of-a-friend is a very good conga player / percussionist / drummer and *he* knows a world-class vibes player who also lives in this little town (when he's not somewhere else playing, recording, etc.). We're talking seriously world-class here. "Shockingly good" is not an exaggeration.

The Amigo has been invited to participate in a pickup gig with these guys on NYE. A fourth musician -- a 20-ish bass player (home from college for the holidays) who possesses significant musical aptitude and excellent attitude will round out the quartet. Note that this material is lots harder than the E Pluribus Blues set list. It's real jazz (not Sears jazz) and the expectation is that we play the changes. We've been rehearsing essentially every day for two to three hours. Very congenial group. Very talented group.

It is the first time the Old Amigo has had the opportunity to play with, learn from, observe a world-class jazz guy on a daily basis. What a rare phenomenon this is. Also amazingly cool is that this vibes player is extremely kind, patient, and supportive. Never critical; never looking down at anyone else. Always positive. He suggests what he'd like us to do and helps us learn the parts and we play. And play.

The clock is ticking. We practiced for three hours today. We'll practice again tomorrow at noon. 

This is the finest of rocks. 

great article / great book

Well, the the Venerable Friendly One just finished Thomas L. Friedman's  Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Read it.  Now.  No excuses.  Yes, you are very busy. It is the holidays and all.  You've got a lot on your plate.  Read the book.  Please!

You will find it alternately incredibly optimistic and downright depressing.  It stitches together threads from many sources and gives you a very good... no, an excellent, base from which to think about what we're facing and how things are likely to play out.

While I'm on this subject, Tex Bravado, recently sent the Amigo a link to an article from the Stanford University News Service.  This article puts the scope of the work we could/should see happening into perspective.  Compare the number of wind turbines we need to begin addressing the current crisis with the number of airplanes we needed to face the crisis of WW II.  It is within our power, our capabilities to do this.  If we do not, it is clear that we have lost our way. 

The article takes but 5 minutes to read.  Can you spare that much time for such an important topic?  One hopes so.  Note the links to other, refereed articles in respected journals.  This is not "fringe thinking" in any sense.

We can do this, but it is difficult to ignore the fact that Americans "didn't want to get involved" in WW II either -- until an attack forced us into action.  We could have been similarly galvanized by the 9/11 attack, but our so-called leaders had other agenda.  Can we motivate ourselves at this juncture?

Customizing Slippers

A while ago, not too long, Angel bought me a pair of slippers.  My previous pair had gone the way of all things.  Angel found a pair "on sale"... at a very reasonable price.  Sort of a cross between penny loafers and moccasins with fuzz inside but with a nice rubber sole that helps to keep the Old Amigo vertical as he shuffles around the abode.

Now the moccasin-like aspect of these slippers was the only part that seemed unsatisfactory.  The "leather" (who knows what the actual material is) thong lacing around the top-front of the left moccasin were apparently not of adequate strength. The thong would break and I'd unthread it to get a little slack in it and tie it off again.  Sometimes it would break again during this process. Eventually I reached a position where the thong was strong enough, but a good third of the top of the moccasin was now flapping in the breeze.  That was both unsightly and sub-optimal in the basic purpose of a slipper.

I requested that Angel look for a pair of boot laces -- something (according to my calculations) pretty long with reinforced tips that I could thread through the holes on the top of the slipper with the bad thong.

Angel & M**2 returned from a shopping trip with a pair of boot laces.  Plenty long. Some kind of synthetic material -- nylon maybe -- so plenty strong too.

Well, last evening I worked on the left slipper and replaced the thong with the boot lace. It's now functioning at maximum slipper-ness. Not only that, it looks really cool... so cool in fact that I felt compelled to make the same mod to the right slipper.  See, the boot laces have this sort of dark brown / light brown woven pattern.  It's really sharp looking.

Customized slippers.  Who'd a thought it.  The Friendly One smiles each time he looks at his toasty warm feet. 

Star Trek Voyager & National Politics

The planets align:

Jeri Ryan's (aka "7 of 9" of STV fame) phaser is always set to Maximum Stun, if you catch the Amigo's drift.  Anyway, "7" divorces hubby Jack Ryan in 1999.  A few years later, during Jack's campaign for the US Senate, it comes out that the (ahem) bone of contention in the marriage had much to do with Jack's pressure to have Jeri do certain things in public that one generally does in the privacy of one's domicile.  Various clubs in New Orleans, Paris, etc, were implicated... cages, harnesses, etc, were allegedly involved. One can only imagine.  Maximum Stun, indeed.

Anyway, the Moral Right becomes Rightly Outraged at these... revelations; although the Amigo cannot of course quote chapter and verse. True Conservatives, after all, mate through immaculate conception, artificial insemination, or sneezing.

Under pressure, Jack withdraws his... tainted... candidacy.

The Right is now in disarray. Wing Nut Alan Keyes leaps into the breech (Ed Note: the breech is defined as the rear part of the bore of a gun, esp the opening and associated mechanism that permits insertion of a projectile).  Wing Nut is handily defeated by relative political newcomer. We, the People, are blessed with a new Junior Senator from Illinois.

The new Senator blasts onto the national scene, captures the imagination and hopes of several generations, and charts a new course for the Ship of State.  The storms have not yet abated, but we may hope for sunnier climes ahead. 

The Amigo is convinced that science fiction is a force to be reckoned with in the world... and in all the quadrants of the galaxy.

More than Annoying

Yesterday the government announced that we Americans lost over a half million jobs in November.  That was the worst job loss in 34 years.

The stock market perked up nicely on the news, with the Dow up about 3% and NASDAQ up just over 4.4%.  

As if you needed it, this provides further evidence that the financial community cares little about the financial health of our country and in fact generally moves in the opposite direction from the fortunes of ordinary American citizens.  

Does anyone besides the Old Amigo find this disgusting?

Good Dog, Sparky

Reginald and Sarah live in a sweet little two-story home in San Diego. Sarah had found the place, oh, a dozen years ago. It had needed quite a bit of work. Over the years, they had fixed the place up nicely. Reg (rhymes with “vej”) – as he is known to his friends – loves gardening. Sarah, who is a professional designer, has a real flair for decorating in the style of their native England. They are both handy with tools and, since they are personable and intelligent people, have over the years built a good network of friends and acquaintances in the greater San Diego area.

Reg had founded a specialty tea importing company in the early 1990’s. “T-Reg” was fairly successful and enabled them to have a comfortable if not affluent life. But having one’s own business is a time-consuming proposition, as is an interior design practice. Between the demands of T-Reg, Sarah's design business, and the restoration of their home and one or two hobbies, the time had never seemed “just right” for children.

Far from regretting their choices, Sarah and Reg are happy, healthy, and middle-aged.

Dan and Hiroko are friends of Reg and Sarah’s. They are about the same age as the English ex-pats. Hiroko, like Sarah, is also an interior designer. In fact the two women had met in design school, where they’d become life-long friends. Dan, in his younger days, had been a motorcycle racer: track, mostly, but occasional motocross.

Eventually, Dan’s injuries accumulated to the point where he realized that he needed to do something a little less physically demanding (and damaging). He leveraged some of his racing contacts into a motorcycle sales position, where he’d excelled. He was enthusiastic about the products, new the business inside and out. 

You should also know that Dan is a bit of a trickster.

Hiroko and Dan live in the Sacramento area. They too have no children, but they have a dog. The dog’s name is “Sparky”. Sparky is a very smart, energetic Jack Russell Terrier.

The two couples genuinely enjoy hanging out together and usually get together several times each year. When their schedules permit it, they sometimes vacation together. The one bit of, oh, call it non-congruence in their friendship revolves around Sparky. Reg and Sarah don’t mind dogs, but they really aren’t what you’d call “dog people.” They notice Sparky when they come to Sacramento, but they never really interact with him, except to make polite noises when Dan demonstrates Sparky’s latest trick or clever behavior.

So when Hiroko and Dan come to San Diego for a visit, they typically board Sparky or hire a neighbor to come over and look after him.

Unfortunately, Sparky had gotten hurt just a few days before a long-planned visit south. Dan had been training him to do some jumps and one of the hoops had fallen. It wasn’t serious, but Sparky had a cut on his right hind leg that needed tending. So Dan called and asked if they might this time bring Sparky with them to visit Reg and Sarah in San Diego. Truth be known, Dan expected so hear a hearty, “Sure! Bring him along. I’m sure he’ll have a fun visiting too!”

Instead, the line got very quiet.

After a pause, Reg said, “Well… I suppose that’d be okay. He’s well-trained and all, right?”

“Sure he is. He’s not a pup; he’s a smart dog. Loves to hang out with people.”

“Okay… um, where will he sleep?”

“We’ll bring his dog carrier. He’s used to it and we’ll put it in the guest bedroom with us. Hey, thanks a lot. This’ll be great!”

“Oh… well, can he, er, go all night without needing to…”

“What? Go outside? Sure. He’s in his prime. Great self control. No worries there!”

“Well, that sounds fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Fine, then. We’ll look forward to er, Sparky being part of the party.  Fine.”

So you see where this is going, don’t you?

Dan was quiet after he hung up the phone. After a few minutes, he chuckled, then laughed out loud. Hiroko looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow. Dan just shook his head and laughed some more. Then he grabbed his car keys.

“Be right back. Just thought of something to bring.”

“Don’t bring a bunch of stuff. We are only staying the weekend.”

“Right.”

Dan was indeed gone only a few minutes. When he returned, he got busy packing the car. This occupied the better part of an hour. Later, he and Hiroko (and Sparky of course) spent a pleasant evening and turned in early. First thing in the morning, they and Sparky were in the car heading south.

It’s almost a straight shot down Interstate 5 from Sacramento to San Diego. In good traffic conditions, you can make the trip in well under 8 hours. Our intrepid travelers made it in 7 1/2, including pit stops. 

When they arrived at Reg & Sarah’s place, there were many hugs and kisses all around. Sparky, happy to be out of his carrier and able to romp trotted all around the two couples emitting the occasional cheerful bark. Had Sparky been in top form, he would probably have circled the yard at top speed and performed a few impromptu tricks. Still mindful of his hurt leg, he settled for a more sedate display of enthusiasm.

Despite Reg’s unspoken misgivings, Sparky was a great houseguest. The dog is indeed well-trained and – like many Jack Russels – is excruciatingly cute. The weekend passed uneventfully (with regards to the canine addition to the party) and all too quickly. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, the car was again packed. Sparky was again in his carrier. Again, there were hugs and kisses all around, and the travelers headed north.

Dan seemed uncharacteristically quiet on the return trip. Two hours into the trip, Hiroko, who was taking a turn at the wheel, asked if he were feeling well.

“Oh, I’m fine,” came the brief reply.

“Well, you’re kind of quiet.”

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are. Did something happen that I should know about?”

“Well… remember when I ran out to the store right before we packed the car on Thursday night?”

“Hmmm… yes, I do remember. You said you thought of something to bring.”

“Right. It was sort of a joke on Reg, but he didn’t react at all.”

“Exactly what sort of a trick, Dan?” Hiroko wanted to know. Suddenly, it got cooler in the car. In his carrier, Sparky pricked up his ears. He recognized that tone of voice and knew that something was up.

“Oh, well. Nothing much…”

“Dan…” The temperature was now dropping precipitously.

“Oh. Do you know those rubber dog turds?”

“Rubber what?!”

“Rubber dog turds. You can get ‘em at Phil’s Novelty & Magic in the mall. It’s a little store sort of near Macy’s…”

“Dan. You didn’t!”

“Well… I thought it’d be funny. After I got all our stuff out of the guest room, I left a rubber dog turd in the room… in plain sight of the hall.”

“Oh, Dan! That’s awful. How old are you? That’s humor fit for an ill-behaved middle-schooler. You know that was the first time we’ve ever brought Sparky with us on a visit!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not that big a deal.”

Now the air was both frosty and thick.

As luck would have it, just then Dan’s cell phone rang. It was Reg. Reg was half-laughing and half annoyed. He had indeed noticed the fake dog deposit. Not wanting to embarrass his guests, he had carefully picked it up with a tissue and flushed it down the toilet. Oops.

No more than 15 minutes after Hiroko, Dan, and Sparky had hit the road, a toilet backed up at Sarah & Reg’s. They’d called a plumber who’d arrived about an hour later and immediately located the rubber dog turd right near the cleanout. The plumber had obviously been a bit puzzled, but he was used to finding odd things in drains.

Dan, now more than a little sheepish (and very conscious of Hiroko’s icy stare) apologized profusely for his ill-considered practical joke. He insisted that Reg send him the bill for the plumber. Reg argued but eventually allowed himself to be convinced and promised to send it along. After a few more back-and-forth pleasantries, they hung up.

It was quiet in the car for a while. Then Dan, unable to dampen his natural spirits, started laughing. After a while, Hiroko gave up being irritated and even she smiled a little.

Dan leaned over his shoulder to face the back seat and the pet carrier. “Good dog, Sparky!”

Electric Cars

The Old Amigo does a little volunteer work for EV World.  That's a web 'zine dedicated to the promotion of non-ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) powered vehicles.  Most of the time he does things like enter events in a database that shows up in an on-line calendar.  

Once in a while, however, some fun things float over the transom.  One such is a short biography of John Wayland, aka "Plasma Boy".  The biography will probably go live in early 2009, but in the meantime The Amigo has been emailing back-and-forth with him and learning.  And writing. Mr. Wayland is an interesting and talented man... and he is dedicating his life to changing peoples' minds about electric cars.

Mr. Wayland recently forwarded the URL for a video from Oregon Public Broadcasting.  It is both fun and inspiring.  The Amigo hopes it makes you grin just as much as it did him...  Check out the race stats: Wayland's "White Zombie" breaks 11.5 seconds for the quarter mile.  That's quick -- especially for a street-legal car.

Deflation?

Deflation? We don't got to show you no stinking deflation.

The Amigo read that deflation would be bad.  It would cause prices to fall, wages to fall, and (gasp) corporate profits to fall.  My, my.

Let's see... if prices fall, well our purchasing power would increase.  It might let us live without incurring debt.  In constant dollars real wages have been falling for the last 8 years -- unless you're one of the Robber Barons feeding at the private trough at the pinnacle of the economy. The Friendly One merely notes that corporate profits have been growing and growing and growing for a long time. Maybe it's time to take a look at that model to see if it still makes sense.

Note that local economies may do okay during times of deflation.  People can trade work for goods or other work (consult your tax advisor for implications of bartering).

It is not clear that deflation is a disaster for any but those at the top of the pile, and we probably don't need to worry about them too much.  An adjustment, certainly.  Perhaps a move away from the consumer treadmill.  Perhaps a slower, simpler pace.  Maybe I'm wrong about this, but we would probably adjust.

Cooperate with your neighbors.  Plant a garden.  Tend it.  Share the food.  Share some meals.  What a concept.

The Mole Sez', "Can you dig it?"

The Old Amigo has been carting around a lot of dirt lately... probably a couple of tons. One of the neighbors has started referring to me (in a nice way) as "the Human Mole." We had a blast of rain through here, and it let us know just how full of water the garden area can get. So when the rain backed off for a couple of days, I hit the garden prep project really hard and got it wrapped up -- at least for this year. We're talking at least 300 cubic feet of dirt removed and either sifted (to remove LOTS OF ROCKS) or hauled over to a low spot on the property that I'd like to raise. That was all the heavy work. By yesterday evening, I hurt pretty much everywhere, but it is great to have it done.  

Next we plan to add a couple of inches of compost (already piled up and ready to go) to the bottom. Above that we'll mix sifted soil and compost. Then we'll top the whole thing off with some night crawlers and some straw. Ought to be great by spring.

At the end of the digging, I took a quick shot of the sunset over the Olympics. Pretty nice, huh?

Very nearly stupid with fatigue, I ate a quick snack and taught my regular Monday evening gentle yoga class. Most of my students are very kind, however, and applauded at the end. It was the biggest class ever (19 students). Speaking of kindness, one of the guys who works at the gym helped me scrub down the mats. Then I returned to mi casa, ate a real dinner (Angel had been gathering Chanterelles and made a fantastic mushroom Stroganoff), relaxed, and crashed.

On the Economic Front, it might be worth mentioning a couple of things:

• Paulson seems bent on spending every cent to bailout his buddies in Big Finance. We, The People are at liberty to spend still more of our tax dollars if we'd like to cushion other industries, but the Hankster sez' we should keep our grubby hands of the hundreds of billions that he wants to dole out to his cronies.


• The 5% or so of the TARP funds that we may or may not want to throw under the wheels of Big Auto is NOT supposed to come out of the piles 'o cash already allocated. Do your nostrils detect a stink?


• Wholesale prices seem to be falling. Hmmm... I've blogged this before, but it bears repeating: if we stop buying crap from BIg Retail, Bit Retail will just go away.


• In fact, if we start paying off our debts and then saving as much as we can, we'll avoid inflation. We are the ultimate drivers of the economy. If we spend with consciousness and intention, our purchases become a powerful political act. Keep that in mind.


• Would you like to shake things up big time? Don't buy stuff you don't need, and if you do need (really need) something, see if you can buy it used. This could quickly & extensively re-order the economy.


• Be careful if you play with sharp objects.

Finally, I wrestled with MySQL for much of the day. Talk about Old Technology. Talk about FUNKY user interfaces. Ouch. Well, I got a bunch of things going at least. Equally important, I'm set up to do some good tutorials next. I've started taking (typing) more detailed notes so that I have a trail of bread crumbs for the next time I enter these woods.

There are so many rocks.

PHP Tutorial

Well, the Old Amigo found a PHP tutorial on the web...

I can see why some folks don't like PHP much.  It seems to've grown by accretion (no, I'm not saying that anyone's a cretin) into a humungus blob o' functions with a syntax reminiscent of an offspring of Visual Basic on a one night stand w/ C.  Or something like that.

Still, lots of folks use it, and it's not too hard to understand in it more simple forms.  And, of course, it's got a well-accepted interface to MySQL.  In fact, the tutorial upon which I stumbled segues right from PHP to MySQL to using PHP to have its way with MySQL.

Just what the Old Amigo ordered.

Now, I spent several hours on this today, and my brain is a bit foggy.  

I got a strong recommendation to drop Django and spend some time learning YUMA.  The first part I can easily do right now!  Re: the second part: I looked some at YUMA and it looks good, so I've put it on my ToDo stack... which seems to suffer more pushes than pops.

Angel, Uncle R., Cousin R., and now Cousin M (who was stuck in traffic but got here this afternoon) are up looking at Hurricane Ridge.  They had to take Uncle R's car 'cause Cousin M's had a nail in the right rear tire.  Uncle R. pulled some channel locks out of his trunk and was all for pulling the sucker out, but we convinced him that it'd be better if we left the nail in place and dropped Cousin M's car off at the local tire store.

For a while, M**2 was reading the paper upstairs.  Now she's gone out to the guest house to watch some Tube.  Me, I think I'll eat a bit of a snack and play some guitar.

Once my brain is defogged some, I think I'll read my Learning Python textbook and do some of the exercises in there.

All-in-all it was a good day and promises more along those lines as the evening approaches.

The rock may be wrong, but it's looking okay.

Rain and Relatives

We have out-of-town guests.

I like my in-laws.  They are fun to be around.  One of our visitors is a cousin of Angel's, Cousin R.  He's a university professor.  Very intelligent and personable.  I enjoy talking with him; although we hardly saw each other today today (he hung out in the guest house and worked while I hung out in my office in the basement and did the same).

Next week he goes to Geneva to lecture.  Like I said, he's a smart guy.

Then there's Uncle R.  He's a retired truck driver.  Has lots of native intelligence and practical knowledge.  Like me, he enjoys green tea.  I've spent quite a bit of time chatting with Uncle R.  Today we talked about microwave ovens and electric lawn tractors.  And forklifts.

Finally, there is M**2.  That's Angel's mom.  She'll be staying on with us after Uncle R. and Cousin R. leave.  She'll move out to the guest house, which is finally done.  She specifically wanted to visit during the dark time of the year.  And so she has.

It is good that we all get along and have plenty of space to get out of each other's hair, because it's been raining for a couple of days now... on-and-off, but mostly on.  The weather forecast says that it's supposed to stop raining and be mostly clear for about a week.  That would be welcome.  While I love the rain, we didn't get the garden finished.  A long story, that:

• Farm Girl has to take care of her farm


• Notof is in jail - nothing too serious


• Carlos works for the Blind Man


• I'm trying to learn Python, PHP, C#, MySQL, and a little Django


• ...and the incomplete part of the garden is about 12" in water

OTOH, I've figured out a strategy to finish the little bit that remains.  All I need is a few dry days for the water to soak in.  It's going to be great.

The compost is coming right along too.

My yoga classes are starting to develop.  Four classes at The Gym.  Another level 2 vinyasa class at the studio in Uptown.  I love teaching yoga.  It is too bad that it pays poverty wages.  Still, if I am able to get a good grasp of most of the above programming technologies, I may be able to get some work applying them... and that would pay above the poverty level.

Which would be very nice indeed.

YES!

A friend writes. He senses that we may be coming out of the darkness. Indeed, we may.

The earth itself feels a great sense of relief. Visualize: gentle rain on parched earth. Imagine: a hand extended in kindness. Focus: on the path ahead. Breathe. Fill your lungs. Release. Relax. For tonight at least we can, we should savor this.

Nature has righted Herself and the nightmare may well be drawing to a close. The margin could have been greater but is acceptable. The body politic is perhaps redeemed. We ourselves feel profound relief. Going forward, no longer ashamed of the actions taken in our name, we may again hold up our heads.

We assert a rightful, a just place on the world stage.  Room for others; room for us. We recognize the difficulties that we face, but now we may address them intelligently, carefully, and we may anticipate success.

The Old Amigo knows better, but he nonetheless feels like dancing.

"Here. Look at this rock!"

"No. Sorry, that one is wrong too."

"Oh, okay."

"Yes it is."

Guardedly Optimistic

Last night I read that African Americans were guardedly optimistic that Barack Obama might be elected President of the United States. I share their optimism; I share their guardedness. 

Obama has the education & knowledge, the charisma, the speaking ability, the calm & intelligent demeanor. He has the excellent & rare combination of confidence and humility necessary to select the right advisors. He neither deludes himself that he possesses all the answers; nor is he afraid to surround himself with the best & brightest. He has the vision to set us on a better course. 

When you compare the Obama/Biden ticket to its Republican counterpart, the Democrats should win it in a landslide. It should make LBJ's 1964 victory over Goldwater look like a photo finish. Alas, the Republican misinformation machine is going full tilt. In many states, there is a concerted effort to disenfranchise many bona fide, registered voters. The Third Estate should be up in arms over this, but the mainstream media is now largely a gelded, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Right.

So we wait on pins and needles until Wednesday morning.

It would speak well of our country if we were to elect the better candidate. It would speak volumes if we could do it by a landslide, but I'll be satisfied if we can do it by a whisker. 

I'll be relieved if it is not stolen yet again from the American People. If we can get back on a decent, humane path, all will be well.

Then Play On... The Old Amigo might still be on the wrong rock, but it would be a good one.

Quiet

This place, by far, is the quietest place I've lived for at least 30 years.

When I awake in the small hours -- an event that happens all too often these days -- I listen in the quiet dark.

I hear: 

Angel sleeping softly

A boat out somewhere across Puget Sound, perhaps bound for the Pacific

If the weather calls for it, fog horns blast their locations into the night

If the weather calls for it, rain on the metal roof

If the weather calls for it, wind through the trees and around our home

That is about it.

In the day time, the crows call to each other, laughing the way they do. There are not so many song birds here. I do not know why that is. Sometimes, but not that often, we will hear a car or a truck moving on a nearby road.  Today was recycling day, so we could hear bottles clink. If neighbors are out and about, you might hear some voices. Dogs bark as dogs are so fond of doing.

That is about it.

Where else can you count the sounds of a place on your fingers and have fingers left over?

Weather Holding

The Old Amigo is feeling like he needs to get some blogging done.  I've been working on a longer piece -- an animal story.  It's taking some serious hours to pull together though, so I thought I'd give you an update on the garden.

We're feeling pretty good about the weather today. Fox, the Blind Man, recommended the Namesake of the Other Folksinger (Notof). Notof is 27 and Fox's son's best buddy. He's spent the summer fishing up north and now he needs some work before winter sets in.  

Notof can work hard.  He spent a day-and-a-half clearing brush and then breaking up soil in the garden.  Job well done. I spent several hours yesterday sifting and moving soil. Angel mixed in compost. 

Notof and I also did quite a bit of clearing on the south side of the property. That's about the last bit that needed attention. It's starting to look darn near manicured (hardly). But at least it's starting to look cleaned up.

The Farm Girl called today too. She couldn't work last week because she had a fire in her yurt. Yep. It started where the pipe from the wood stove went through the wall. It was a close call, but she got it put out and got her place cleaned up. She got her garlic crop in and can work this Thursday AM. If we can get Notof over tomorrow or Tuesday and FG over on Thursday, we'll have the garden dialed in.  No extra time left, but that's okay.

I mowed some more on the south side today. There's long grass there. I pull it up and then run over it with the rotary mower. That chops it, but it clogs the chute into the bag so every few minutes I stop the mower, turn it over, and push the heavy trimmings into the bag. Then I mow a few more feet and do it again. It's a lot of work, but it's having a great effect. 

I call the south & east sides of the property "The Meadow". As I clear it and mow it, I also pull out surface rocks and wood debris. The weedstack continues to grow. The Meadow looks better and better. 

Angel laid in Halloween candy. This'll be our first Halloween here at the Edge of the Continent, and we don't know the trick or treater traffic levels yet. Not many kids in the immediate neighborhood. Of course Halloween, like everything else, can depend an awful lot on the weather.

One more thing: the "Monster Maul". A neighbor loaned me his Monster Maul. It's a heavy (VERY) splitting maul with a metal handle. This thing is amazing. This afternoon I split a couple of 16" long, 18" diameter rounds. No wedges. It's a real... monster.

Okay, I'm going to try to talk Angel into giving me a haircut now.

Stay warm.

Stay dry.

Almost

We are almost to the election. This will be a long 2 1/2 weeks. I worry about some last minute news story, claim, or projection -- real or fabricated -- that might alter the trajectory of events. This is the first time I have felt truly optimistic about our political prospects since the year 2000. Little did we know that we would be misruled by brigands for 8, long years. This terrible national mistake is almost over. The healing process is almost ready to start. America may once again take her well-earned place at the forefront of civilized nations. Almost. Almost.

We have almost got the yard in shape for winter. If the weather holds, until Halloween, we'll manage nicely.

Today I completed breaking up the soil and removing the largest rocks in 3/4 of the first section of the main garden. Angel worked a good mulch / compost mixture into the sifted soil. This is heavy work. If I could do this much each day for the next four days, we would have the first section of the garden prepped. This is probably not a reasonable goal, but it is almost a reasonable goal.

One of our neighbors, Nancy, gave Angel some root stock for five, shade-loving plants. We got these in the ground today too. This is not nearly enough to constitute a landscape -- or even a landscape plan, but it is almost a good start for some of the places snuggled against the north side of the house.

The rocky soil -- glacial till, I have heard it called -- is beginning to yield to our efforts. We are beginning to see the incredible number of rocks as a resource. We have almost enough piled up from the main vegetable garden preparation to make a beautiful private garden space. I am beginning to visualize this private space on the east side of my office. It may well be fenced off from the rest of the property. This will keep deer out and will allow for privacy... a special, spiritual sanctuary. We may use the small rocks in a gravel path. We may use the larger rocks in a wall. There are almost too many options from which to decide, and this project will of course have to wait for a time when we have basic, remedial and preparatory work done.

I have almost resigned myself to my lack of employment prospects. I continue to pursue opportunities, real and chimeric, but I am slightly less frantic. I am slightly less distraught with our circumstances. It is possible that Angel's work could turn into something that could almost support us. Then the pathetic contributions through my work at PTAC might almost be enough. All we need is something like steady state expenses covered. We continue to reduce our expenses. I hope to learn to do more and more for us so that our expenses continue to drop. It is not a plan, but almost an idea for a plan.

Almost.

Almost.

The Yardman Cometh

This AM I sat looking out the window and thought that it looked too cold, damp, and windy to go outside.  But then I thought that I'd better suck it up and go do something.  After all, winter is nearly upon us and if I don't get the yard ready for it, we're likely to be overwhelmed when things start growing.

So I bundled up and went outside.  It quickly became obvious that I was overbundled.  My tasks were strenuous and the temperature in the mid-50's.  It's important for me to realize that here in the Pacific Northwest, an overcast day does not mean one must stay inside.  The weather stayed mild.  I just came back in the house after about 4 hours of heavy work.

At this point, the north and east sides of the property are just about under control. The south side probably needs about two more hours.  The west side is fine for this year. It is good that I'm nearly done with it.  I now have a "weed stack" that's taller than I am and probably 6' wide and twice that in length.  Next year I will be able to compost my mowings from the meadow area, but this year there are too many weed seeds.  Even next year I'll probably only use that compost in certain parts of the property.

My strategy is that if I can get the heavy brush cleared and the grasses thatched, I will be able to maintain things using my electric lawn mower. Of course I'd like to follow in the footsteps of John Wayland and build some kind of electrically powered riding lawnmower, but that will have to wait for fatter times. My electric lawn mower is heavy, but it's also pretty quiet and it's really easy to start!

The garden area still needs several days of work.  We still hope that Angel's farmer friend will help us with that once she has her garlic crop in.  She has already given us some good garden tips.  

So far the compost bins aren't producing anything but gnats.  I think we need more wet, green-type stuff.  We've got too much straw in the mix.  From what I've read, that's the opposite of most compost situations.  Angel suggested some anti-raccoon measures.  The bins have nice lids.  We've added bungee cords and so far the compost bins have remained unmolested.

The last few days have been overcast with brief periods of sun.  The nights have been rainy, cold, and windy.  The wood stove keeps the house comfortable and the slightest amount of sunshine warms the main living areas.  The passive solar design features really work!

So far the local climate suits us perfectly.  It feels so nice to be near the water. When I go downtown and smell the salt air it immediately lifts my mood.  The local views of mountains, seashore, and water are no less stunning today than they were when we first found this place years ago.

Some Political Considerations

Well, the Old Amigo generally steers clear of overtly political observations, but there are a couple of things I've read and heard lately that bear passing along.  So if politics bothers you or makes you upset, maybe you might want to skip this post.

Maybe next time I'll write about the flock of birds that enjoyed searching for tasty morsels in the area I cleared at the north end of the property.  Or gardening.

But today, I've got two things that I want to mention.  They're political things.

First of all, yesterday I read a New York Times article about the economy.  Buried well down in the article was something that everybody ought to know.  Everybody ought to realize that in the last 8 years -- even though there was an "Economic Expansion" -- the median family income in the United States actually fell.  The numbers?  $50,600 in 2000 to $50,200 in 2008.  Just in case you missed it, let me repeat that this 8 year period was marked by economic expansion.  What does that mean?  Well, I am pretty sure that it means that the top 5% of the monied interests in our country got a whole lot richer while the rest of us just hung on as best as we could.  Sobering isn't it?

Now often when someone has the audacity to bring this up, someone else flings the "Class Warfare" epithet at him, sniffs derisively, and changes the subject.  I ask why it is not class warfare for the richest 5% to accumulate ever greater wealth on the backs of everyone else's labor when working people are seeing their real earnings erode?

Next, I want to flog a horse that ought to be dead but seems somehow to be on taxpayer-funded life support: nuclear power.  In last evening's debate, Senator McCain once again flung his nuclear sound-byte onto the air-waves: We should build 45 nuclear power plants right away.  Now I guess the Senator is counting on us to be unable to do 6th grade math -- or perhaps he is counting on a certain intellectual laziness.  Let's examine this campaign rhetoric masquerading as a proposal to help our country.

It costs about $9B (Billion: with a "B") to build a nuclear power plant.  45 of them would cost in the neighborhood of $405B USD.  That doesn't count the cost of the enriched uranium fuel, either the extraction or the processing costs.  That doesn't count the cost of infrastructure upgrades: nuclear power plants are, after all, centralized facilities that produce lots of power that must be fed into the grid.  That $405B certainly doesn't count any disposal, reprocessing, or security costs associated with spent fuel.  But let's leave ALL THAT OUT of the calculations for the moment.

Now in sunny parts of the country, you can build a pretty decent little rooftop PV system for about $20K (Thousand).  This will be a "grid-tied" system, meaning that it'll automatically feed any excess electricity into the local power grid and automatically pull power from the grid when you need more than the PV panels can supply.  

Properly installed, these systems are safe, reliable, and last for, oh, twenty or thirty years with no more maintenance than occasionally washing them down to keep them free of dust and bird droppings.  When the sun shines, they produce about 3.5kW of electricity.  In a reasonably efficient home, this will be a significant fraction of the electrical needs of the household.  In a mild climate, such as we have across much of our "sun belt" this could easily contribute a third of household electrical needs.  You could probably do better if people were willing to conserve (see my blog posting about sacrifice).

So how many such systems could we buy for $405B?  Oh, we could build a little more than 20 Million of these.  That's right.  20 Million households could cut their electrical use by about a third. And if we funded 20 Million grid-tied PV systems, their cost would probably come down due to economies of scale.

I am pretty confident about these numbers.  I live north of the 48th parallel and am producing about this amount with a 4kW system.  Yes.  Up here in the gray, cloudy Pacific Northwest, such a system produces well over 40% of our *total* power needs in an all-electric home during the months between April and September.  Imagine how the system would perform in Fresno.

Funding this would produce lots of jobs.  It would not require mining, refining, and processing uranium.  It would not require big investments in grid infrastructure.  It certainly wouldn't require storage or reprocessing some of the most dangerous stuff humanity has ever produced.

"But," say the red-herring bringers, the detractors of solar energy.

"But, PV systems don't generate any power at night or when the sky is dark and cloudy!"

Yes, we know that.  That's why we favor grid-tied systems.  When the system is not producing electricity from the shining sun, the house automatically draws power from the electrical utility in the conventional way.  And since we use most of our power in the day time -- especially on hot, summer days -- this works out beautifully.  So grid-tied PV systems produce power when we need it the most.

So why is the nuclear power horse not well-and-truly DEAD?  Why?

It is still on taxpayer funded life support because of the nuclear power industry and the pathetic cretins in Congress who work for it.  It continues to be proposed because the the people who build nukes want that money, and they're powerful and well connected.

Nuclear power has nothing to do with energy security and everything to do with funneling money into the same old network that's been running things for a long, long time. It is all about funneling my money and your money into the well lined pockets of that top 1% of the population who are ever-thirsty, ever desirous of even more wealth to prop up their empty lives.

Feels a Little Like Wednesday's Child

First the good.

I got into the garden again today.  Put in maybe 2 hours of dirt shifting, rock shifting before I got tired and the weather turned nasty-ish.  It wasn't terribly bad (the weather) but the wind kicked up and it looked like it would start raining any second. And I got a bit tired of operating my shovel.  If I can get about the same amount of time in again tomorrow, I ought to have things rearranged well enough to restart the dirt prep.  OTOH, the young farmer we're hiring to help us called Angel and said she can't come this week -- she needs to get her garlic in.  I wish we were planting garlic.  Perhaps next year...

Which brings us to the less good.

My career consultant sent me some documents that were intended to be of help in my search for employment.  I'm talking gainful employment now.  While I mostly enjoy teaching my 5 yoga classes each week, the employment is more loss-full than gainful.  But I digress.  I read some of these documents.  They basically say that I'm hosed.  

See, most legitimate companies will only let existing, well-regarded employees telecommute. So if one loses his job for any reason, it's not likely a real company will hire him as a telecommuter right off.  First he must prove himself.

Since I can walk from one end of this town to the other in two hours, I wouldn't really need to telecommute if I could find a job here (which so far I haven't).  That pretty much means that if I want to obtain gainful employment, I will have to move back to a big city.  Hosed, see?

Now I haven't (quite) given up hope yet.  It is just possible that one of my contacts, someone who really knows me and my work ethic will be willing to get me hired at something like 25% of my previous income to do something.  Like technical writing.  Or editing.  Or web content development.  Or news stories.  

Basically, if I could make any decent salary & medical benefits doing something useful and good, I'd be more than satisfied.  We'll see.  One of my former colleagues in The Valley asked me to send him a copy of my DVD.  He has many contacts.  Perhaps... perhaps.

I really did land on the wrong rock, didn't I?

"Bring me a rock, please."

"Here.  This is a pretty rock."

"Sorry.  Wrong rock."

It was raining when I got to PTAC to teach my yoga class this evening.  Luckily I got a pretty good parking spot.  

When I came out it was no longer raining, but the wind was starting to blow.  Now, nearly 9:00PM, the wind is clutching at the edges of the house.  Our home is sturdy, solid and well-planted in the hillside, so the wind cannot get so much as a fingernail lodged in the cedar siding or the standing seam roof.  But the wind tries. And howls its frustration when it can do nothing but go around things.

The fire pops.  The wind alternately whispers and howls.  Angel says she's sleepy and goes to brush her teeth.  As she always does, Isabelle follows to see if Primary Human is doing anything interesting.

I ate an early dinner and would like a snack before bed.

Busy Sunday

It is great to have an almost functioning shop again.    About all that remains is to go through all my supplies (fasteners and scavenged parts, mostly) and get them organized so that I know what I've got.  I expect to save quite a bit of shelf space by consolidating & organizing the supplies, and this should allow me to use that shelf space to hold still more supplies. 

I already put the shop to use.  We picked up a pretty good wheelbarrow for $12 at a garage sale.  It only had one problem: the wheel was wobbly on the axle.  I had some thin-walled plastic pipe and I cut a sleeve/bushing to make the wheel fit right. Wobble gone!  

Angel & I did some good garden work today.  We basically need to move all the amended soil for the garden to the north edge and pile it in sort of a temporary "berm."  This will give us room to work south through the garden area. Here's what we do:

• Break the soil apart with a pick.
• Pull out the big rocks.  Some of them are bigger than two fists and are real tool-breakers.
• Pick out some of the medium sized rocks.  This leaves a sandy soil that compacts too easily.
• Add a large amount of compost & mulch.

This is time-consuming, heavy work.  And we're racing with the seasons to get the main garden ready for winter.  If we get this all done, we'll spread the bermed soil evenly through the garden area, cover it with some mulch -- perhaps straw if we can find something that hasn't been treated with fungicides, etc. -- and add a bunch of night crawlers.  Come spring, we should have a garden ready to plant!

The north & east sections of the property continue to get better.  I've almost finished with that work.

Completely different topic: The Presidential Election.

Even though the debate was fairly lame, I think that Senator Obama was asked a good question, namely, what sacrifice would he ask of Americans at this time.  

I am not surprised that in his answer he only alluded to a need to conserve energy. Remember, after all, what happened to the last president who actually asked Americans to put in some heavy lifting for the country.  Jimmy Carter tried hard to get us to conserve and we rewarded him for his efforts by voting him out of office ASAP.

There are many things that we as Americans can do for the country.  And I don't mean "go shopping" either.  Since I'm not running for office, I have the freedom to say what's on my mind.  Here are some things that we should be doing:

1. Figure out how to use less energy.  Find one person with whom you can carpool.  That will cut your fuel costs in HALF.  Yes, you'll relinquish some of your precious independence. You'll also have to cooperate with a neighbor to make it work.  Quite a sacrifice.
2. If you are able, grow a little bit of your own food.  Even if all you can do is put a couple of tomato plants in pots on your condo balcony, those tomatoes will be fresher and won't be transported who-knows-how-far from their place of origin to your local supermarket.  They won't be sprayed with anything that you didn't spray 'em with either.  Sacrifice?  Well, you'll need to pry yourself away from the TV and remember to water your vegetables.
3. Bake some cookies for the neighbors.  Do not expect anything in return.  Just show a little kindness to people whom you may not know all that well.  If you've got a Grumpy Gus (no offense if you're named "Gus" and are reading this and aren't grumpy, okay?) next door who is just too surly to deal with, well take some cookies to someone else on the block.  Smile.  Introduce yourself. Make nice for 5 or 10 minutes.  No agenda.  Now there's a sacrifice for you.

Now I could go on, but three things are enough for now.  If you're interested in more things you could do, file a comment on the blog and I'll think about making longer list.

Take a deep breath. Hold it gently for a couple of seconds, and let it out.

Is that the right rock?

Setting up the Workshop

My friend Ray M. was able to pick up the work bench that I wanted.  He & Rick S. dropped it off at the house on Friday AM.

This work bench is 8' (count 'em!) long w/a maple top.  It weighs 165 lbs.  I have exactly the right spot picked out for it in the garage.  Remember we have a somewhat oversized 2 car garage and Angel & I only own one car (un-American, I realize that...) so my shop space gets to be pretty big.

On the way back from yoga class this AM Lyn spotted a garage sale.  We picked up an inexpensive wheelbarrow.  We've been pricing them and this was a great deal even if it does need a tiny bit of work.  The garage sale people also had a full-on metal work bench (actually it looked like a teletype desk).  It had a smallish bench vise mounted on it.  $10 for the whole thing.  I was sorely tempted, but I am afraid of using up too much real estate in my shop, so I passed.  After all, I am seriously considering some kind of blacksmith shop and/or welding shop for my space, so I need to save some room.

I have a pile of high quality scrap wood.  It includes some nice pieces of cedar and quite a bit of purple heart.  I've got the purple heart organized and put on a shelf, but the rest of my wood is fairly disorganized.  Once I've got it straightened up I'll have still more room.  I am pretty sure that I'll "need" a bench grinder.  That is best set up on its own stand (that can be bolted to the floor) rather than on the work bench.  Why do they call it a bench grinder then?  Anyway, that means more floor space.  It is important to keep things organized.

Oh... back to *my* work bench: my goal for the day is to get this thing built and get my heavy bench vice mounted on it.  This will finally give me a good work surface.  That will make lots of little tasks that I've been struggling with go much more smoothly.

BTW, our garage stays pretty comfortable.  When we built it, the guys said that no one had seen a garage this well insulated.  That's primarily because of the guest quarters over the garage, but it makes for a much nicer workshop too.

Hey, I just figured out that I can add photos to this blog... you use the "Add Photo" button!!!  I'll try to do another post soon that includes a photo of the shop.

I'll try to do more later.  Right now I feel a strong urge to mess with wrenches.

Next Courses of Action

At this point I've applied for a couple of dozen jobs.  I've also made overtures to people in various organizations of interest -- not specifically looking for jobs, but merely to learn more about a field of interest or the kinds of problems facing an organization.  Most of the time, companies and potential contacts do not respond.  I think, perhaps, this is a sign of the times.  All the books I've been reading suggest or state that people are generally gracious in trying to share knowledge even if they are not looking to hire someone.  Perhaps people are just really stressed and any interruption of routine is viewed as a problem.  I don't think it's particularly useful to analyze it too much, but it leaves me with some choices:

1. Mr. Spock's wisdom aside, keep doing what I'm doing and hope for a different result at some point.
2. Try something different on the job front.
3. Put the job search on hold and learn some new skills

Now I'm getting pretty good at the job search activities -- efficient and all that.  So I could see continuing on at perhaps a reduced level of intensity.  Friends have suggested that many organizations have imposed hiring freezes even if they're advertising open positions.  Perhaps after the election.  Perhaps the economy will get better in six months.  

There's a different job search path, however.  This would be one that emphasizes local companies.  After all, I am managing to teach 5 yoga classes per week.  What if I got some more training related to personal fitness (say nutrition or senior fitness or personal training)?  Upside: possibility of more hours of work at the PTAC.  If I get enough hours, we'll be able to be fine for a long time.  After all, our expenses are low.  Downside: spending money on new, fitness-related skills only to find this is not of interest to the management of PTAC.  Also, what if the economy goes so far south that PTAC starts shrinking.  Even if they'd like to branch out, they may not be able to.

Still, it is probably good to look at significantly different career options.  PTAC has good vibes.  The people who work there are friendly and upbeat.  There is a sense of belonging that I haven't felt in my work life for many years.

Still farther afield, I have been seriously considering radical changes.  I have been collecting information on blacksmithing and welding.  If I didn't have to work at all, this is the direction I'd go.  I don't think I'm artistic enough to do beautiful metal work, but I could certainly imagine making some nice gates for the garden.  I have been thinking about both of these crafts for many years.  Is now the time?

One other factor to figure in: what if the recession turns into something worse? What if things get bad enough (or transportation gets expensive enough) so that economies are fragmented towards a more regional model?  Under such circumstances, a guy who could cast nails from scrap metal might have a decent trade even if he's not much of a sculptor.  I'm not saying that I think things are going to get that bad, mind you.  It's just a factor in the equation.

My friend Lee, who is an experienced blacksmith and artist, tells me that I could start messing around & making stuff for not very much money, so in my mind the big thing to consider is time. If things just got a little bad, being a welder would be pretty good.  People would want you to fix things that they'd ordinarily just dump when they broke. If things got seriously bad, you wouldn't be able to get modern welding supplies, so one would have to fall back on blacksmithing skills.

I am making very good progress with getting the property ready for winter.  The weather is supposed to be good for the next few days, and it's likely that I will be able to taper off the yard & garden work pretty soon.  This will free up some time.

Interestingly, I'd always thought that if I didn't have my high-tech job, I'd play music all the time. This hasn't been the case. It took me a while to figure it out, but I am sure this is because I've always been a "work, then play" kind of guy. Now that I have no work, I have a very difficult time playing. Interesting.

Anybody have an opinion on which choice(s) to pursue?

Working the Garden & Visiting with Friends

Yesterday the weather cleared and got very comfortable in the afternoon. The east end of our property slopes down to a nature trail. It's a large chunk of our land and has become overgrown with native grasses (fine) and noxious weeds (not fine).

A friend loaned me an industrial strength weed whacker and I've been working this part of the property, cutting down waist high (and higher) swathes of weeds and grasses. I must wear safety goggles and ear protection when I use this machine.

Also, I don't want to subject the neighborhood to more than one fuel tank's worth of noise at a time. That's about as much as I can physically handle anyway, since after "whacking" I must rake and tote huge piles of dead vegetation up the hill. I sort of wish someone around here had goats.

El Grumpo (one of the neighbors) used to have goats but he got rid of 'em a few months ago. Allegedly the guy who owns the property at the top of the hill behind us has or is thinking about getting some goats. He probably has enough forage for them on his own property, however.

Angel may make cookies and bring them up to the family at the top of the hill (she's done this for most of the other nice folks in the 'hood already). Maybe when we deliver the cookies, we'll ask them if their goats would like to munch on our weedstack.

Today is darker and colder out. No complaints. We've got a nice fire going in the wood stove. The house is cozy. I spent a few hours on-line looking for work, emailing old colleagues, etc. Then I returned some stuff to the local library and ran a couple other errands.

Tonight I need to teach a beginners' yoga class at the local athletic club. It will be interesting to see who shows up. Although I've taught lots and lots of yoga classes over the years, until now, no one has asked me to teach a class for complete beginners. It will be interesting and a good experience for me.

I am hoping that tomorrow will be nice enough to do some more outside. It will be important to get the property in shape before the "real winter" sets in in November.

Is this the right rock?

Fast Forward

Over the next couple of months, I apply for dozens of jobs.  I try to resuscitate my professional network.  The economy is just about where anyone who's been paying attention for the past 30 years would expect it to be.  

Although, many positions are advertised as on-line application only, few companies do more than send an automated reply.  No phone screens.  No job interviews. No job prospects.

I have many skills and can work hard.  I tend not to be easily discouraged.  I've contacted some headhunters.  I continue to apply for jobs. I continue trying to talk to friends, friends of friends, etc, about places where I may work.  Contacts are not forthcoming, but I try.

A local yoga studio and the local athletic club have both hired me to teach classes. The money is minimal, but it is a contribution to the community.  And it gets me out of the house and in contact with people.  Angel is patient.  Her faith in me does not waver.

Isabelle the cat sleeps curled in a sunny window.  She has adjusted to the move and to becoming a house cat.  She does not seem worried.

My dialog with the universe seems to be as follows:

"Bring me another rock, please."

I scramble off.  Search for a rock.  Rock in hand, I return.

"Okay.  Here."

"Sorry.  That's the Wrong Rock."

Change of Circumstances

Well, I'd worked for X for a long time -- about 15 years.  I needed a change and proposed a new assignment.  I pitched it to HR.  I pitched it to a potential supervisor.  Together, he & I pitched it to my current boss.  Everyone liked the idea. 

The transition went off without a hitch.  My customers -- engineers & other technical staff inside X -- were very satisfied.  I reported back to senior management with data about the success of the new programs.

...most of a year passes...

For several years, Angel & I had owned property in a sleepy village in the North Country.  We had always planned to retire there, but that would be some years in the future.  But we realized that my new job was ideal for telecommuting.  So after my new job was dialed in and I'd had a very successful review, I proposed to my boss that Angel & I accelerate our plans.  We'd build our "dream house" 'way up north, move up there and I'd continue my work for X.

We proceeded slowly and spent much of the subsequent year building our home.  I saved up vacation.  Although our home wasn't completely done, it was inhabitable by April of '08, so we moved up.  I used my saved vacation time and we spent much of April getting the place set up; although I did spend nearly a week of my "vacation" doing some urgent work that my boss just couldn't wait for.

By May, I was connected and working.  Things looked good.  We lived in a beautiful place and I was making a good wage.

Soon, however, we began to hear rumors of possible layoffs at X.  My friends sent me emails.  They called.  Big changes were in the wind.  

Now X had *never* in it's 25 year history had a layoff, and we'd always been told that unless the company was in serious trouble, we would not have layoffs.  X was very profitable, so how serious could this threat be?

OTOH, X now had a new CEO.  And several new VP's.  The rumors persisted.  The rumors got louder and scarier.

One month after I had started telecommuting, my boss called me and gave me the news.  After nearly 17 years at X, I was being laid off.  All my projects were cancelled.  They were going to keep me on payroll for a couple of months.

A couple of months went by.  In the meantime, I'd applied for many jobs.  No luck. The economy was going south.  House prices continued to erode.

In early August, my "separation date" with X occurred.  No fanfare.  By now, this was almost exactly my 17th anniversary with X.  Employment gone.  58 years old.  Tiny, isolated town.  Local employment opportunities: bed pan changer, bus person at the diner, etc.  You get the picture.

What had seemed like such a good idea.  What had seemed so well planned.  Poof!