Rent

I just got back from a critics' sneak preview of Rent. I'll be honest: I cried more or less continuously through the last half-hour or so of the film. True, musicals tend to have that effect on me, as I've admitted in this space before. But still. It had the same effect on Adam, who'd never seen the show on stage or listened to the soundtrack.

It's a date movie. Go with someone you love. You won't get lucky afterwards, but you'll feel lucky.

Need sleep

You know you're getting tired when you wash your hands with toothpaste, and don't notice til afterwards.

Equity

So I'm finally, reluctantly, inching my way towards the choppy waters of home ownership. It is by no means a done deal, but there's a decent chance that in 2-3 months time, I'll be buying a house.

This probably isn't the best time to be doing it, coming at the tail end (?) of a huge rise in prices. But I really don't have the luxury of waiting. And since interest rates are due to rise again in the next few months, it's better than waiting.

So far, the biggest adventure has been on the financing end of things. As a recent college graduate with no real debt to speak of, my credit record is clean but very short. Lenders would almost rather have someone with a mountain of debt, because then they know you are willing, able, and accustomed to pay, pay, pay. I got it all accomplished in the end, but a national security clearance would have required less paperwork.

As for what kind of house, and where... really no idea as of yet. Kansas City natives are welcome to submit suggestions. I'll warn you, Johnson County is probably right out. I could barely afford a broom closet down there.

Music and Movies

Whew, almost back to the present!

This weekend was Adam's band's fall concert. It went really well, I think, and the band sounded great. Matt and Steven happened to be down in KC, and got to hear it. Maybe he'll write up a review in his blog (hint, hint).

Also been seeing a ton of movies lately, after a long drought. Tis the season, I guess. Good Night and Good Luck: thoughtful and engrossing, so much so that I swore the theatre smelled like cigarette smoke afterwards. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Not quite as amazing as the third installation, but still very good, especially towards the end.

Tomorrow night I'm off to see a sneak preview of Rent, a film I've literally been waiting years for. All through my junior high and high school years, it was the show, the one everyone owned, memorized, and quoted at length. Kauffman kids should probably use Holy Grail for a comparison. And they got the original Broadway cast back together for the film. You could say I'm looking forward to it.

Coming soon: Chronicles of Narnia and Brokeback Mountain, not to mention Wicked in St Louis. "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

What is this, a freak out?

So my company has these trips they send engineers on. Clients hire us to provide temporary, round-the-clock tech support while they're going through a new installation or major upgrade. True, it wouldn't usually be the most effective use of an engineer's time. But their position (and I would tend to agree) is that at some point, all software engineers should have to sit and watch people actually trying to use their software.

The practical upshot of all this is that I spent a week in York, PA working 12-hour night shifts, wandering a gigantic hospital looking for users with problems. After a while, you enter an altered state of consciousness and the hours just fly by. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone on a particularly regular basis. The consequences to your sanity might be... unfortunate.

On the bright side, I know a heck of a lot more about how hospitals actually work than I used to. Which, working at a company that makes software for health care, is probably a good thing. But I probably could have accomplished the same thing on an eight hour shift rotation...

The one good thing about York? It was just a few miles down the road from Hershey. If there's a heaven, I hope it's a lot like Hershey. The whole town smells like chocolate all the time. And at 25 cents a bar, it's dirt cheap. I brought back a couple of cases worth. If you ever find yourself in the Baltimore/Harrisburg area, I would highly recommend the trip.

No, I'm not dead

...I've just had a busy couple of weeks. Sorry if I've let you down. I'll see if I can catch y'all up.

Halloween: Adam and I went to a Halloween party dressed as Katrina and Rita. If that doesn't earn you a direct ticket to hell, I don't know what does. We had hats piled high with clouds, assorted dangling debris, misting fans, Mardi Gras beads, and of course, pitchers of Hurricanes. Won the costume contest, too, though I don't really remember too much after that. I always mix drinks a lot stronger than I intend to. It's a gift.

Birthdays: Mine was pretty uneventful. Cafe Trio is yummy. My parents and my brother both decided to get me wine, apparently without any coordination. And my favorite gift, believe it or not, was the terrycloth bath robe. The kind they give you at really nice hotels and spas. Everyone should own one.

Derrick's birthday up in Lincoln, on the other hand, was pretty darn eventful. First the boy's team wins the ACM regional programming contest, and then he polishes off 21 shots worth before it's even midnight. Last we saw him, he'd passed out on his bathroom floor. My sources tell me he eventually woke up, but I'm waiting for independent verification.

Anyway, congrats to Derrick and his team, and good luck at the internationals in San Antionio.