Sunday Internet Distractions

If you're anything like me, Sunday is that day that you madly try to get everything that you were going to do during the week done so that you don't become truly behind and you can maintain some feeling of accomplishment before Monday. Of course between loads of laundry and rounds of yard work there's always time for some internet distraction!

Today my main distraction has been "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!". Those of us who are too cheap to pay for Showtime are deprived of getting this show over our old-fashioned moving-picture boxes, but thankfully you can find many episodes online, either through good old YouTube or other places. That last link, which should take you to their episode on the Vatican, is the one that started the whole distraction earlier today, but the show is kind of like potato chips - you can't watch just one.

In case you haven't stumbled across them before, Penn and Teller are fantastic entertainers and magicians that also have strong political and religions beliefs. I'm a particular fan, since their beliefs (they are atheist libertarians) line up pretty darn well with my own. I just don't use as much profanity in my day-to-day life. Bullshit! is their way of highlighting people who hold crazy, scary, or outright dangerous beliefs (they've covered everything from cryptozoology to the IRS to faith healers) and while they may not be "fair and balanced" - heck, they even say they aren't during several episodes - I think they do an excellent job of presenting their views in an educational, if not hilarious, manner. Anyway, watch an episode or two and I'll let them speak for themselves.

Alright, back to that silly "work" I've been putting off.

Some Florida Awesomeness

While there are some things I find lacking about Florida, there is one thing that makes up for a lot of it, and that is that we have the Space Shuttle! Standard middle of the day launches are impressive enough, but every so often we get a truly spectacular night launch, like the one we had on Friday night. It never fails to impress me how something that many miles away can turn night into day. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

The Search is Over

Looking for a house makes me jealous of all my married friends. I mean, I like to look at houses. I find architecture and real estate interesting. Even so, after looking at the 25th house they all start to run together. If you have a significant other then at least you can divide the work so that you get burnt out at half rate. But things are looking up. I have found a solution to both problems!

First, a house has been found! I never thought that a house search would involve so much soul searching, but after several re-examinations of myself and what is really important to me in life I think I've managed to settle on a house that will give me (most) of what I want. So to illustrate how far I've come on my journey, I will start with my original criteria in order from most important to least.

1. Multi-car shop
2. 1+ acres
3. Cost
4. Doesn't need major renovation
5. Location

Now, here's what I ended up with (once again, in order):

1. Location - less than 30-second walk from 3 good friends
2. 3-car garage, and a builder that is very flexible
3. Good price
4. Brand new - it will be done in November
5. 0.18 acres

Most dramatically, location has leapt from last to first! After hearing the "location, location, location" mantra many, many times, I finally took it to heart. After all, one of the things that I miss the most from college is the ability to be close to people you enjoy. Well, this is about as close as I can get without actually moving in with them. But that's not the only reason why I chose this location. The house is actually in Rockledge, FL, which has many benefits over other areas I was exploring. For starters, it's actually a developing area, so lots of new construction and lots of nifty conveniences, like grocery stores. It's also very close to both the interstate and to the ocean, so it's very easy to get to the ocean when it's being nice, and escape it when it isn't.

Before I get requests for pictures, I don't have any yet. Mostly because the house is currently nothing more than a grassy lot. But rest assured that I will start taking many pictures when things start to get interesting. I'm actually trying to convince my friend to take a picture of the lot each day from the same location. That way when the house is done I will get a house and a nice time-lapse video of it being built! Who ever said being nerdy wasn't cool? If that actually happens I will definitely be posting that video here as well.

Now, onto the other "search". Those of you that know me also know that I am very good at being single. Well, those days are over! It's official, too, since it's on Facebook. That's the real test, right? Anyway, the good part of the story is that we hit it off over the 4th of July weekend and have been happily dating ever since! The bad part of the story is that she's still in Clemson. Since, much to our frustration, the teleporter has not been invented yet, we've only gotten to see one another once since the 4th. But there are some long weekends coming up, so I sense some travel to South Carolina coming up!

The thing that's been crazy about this relationship, and what has made it very different from my previous relationships (all three of them), is that I feel completely comfortable. In the past I have always felt, even a little bit, that I had to modify my behavior to please the other person. This time there's none of that. I'm taking that, and the fact that this is the first time where I really do find myself unconsciously thinking about the other person, as a good sign, hehe. I know I have at least one married reader, so if anyone has any tales of how they felt at the beginning of their relationship, I would gladly welcome a comparison.

And with that, I am off to some well-needed sleep! Have a great weekend everyone!