On the Mountain of the Lord, it will be provided

Well, I'm home for the weekend a little early. I have an interview tomorrow, and then I get down to business deciding my future. The path still looks hazy, so it's going to be an interesting weekend.

I had a very interesting plane ride home tonight. But that will have to be a blog entry for a later time...

Lowes isn't ready with the carpet yet, so it won't be installed tomorrow. The master bedroom won't be finished up this weekend.

Tonight, I got introduced to a Christian rock band from, of all places, the TV show Scrubs. The last song on this week's episode was intriguing, and it turns out it was a song called "All the Words" by the band Kutless. I've been impressed with some of the musical choices of the show over the years, and this one was no exception. Kutless is on iTunes if you want to check them out.

Requiem for a Kitty

It is with sadness that I note the death of my friend Kathryn's cat, Miss Mocha. Mocha died today at age 14, and she will be greatly missed. I met Mocha when I was in college, and Mocha and I developed a fondness for each other. She had the coolest feline personality that I have ever come across. She was curious, intelligent, and somewhere along the way decided that she was the princess of the house. She could be a very sociable cat (at least for humans), and not aloof or distant like some cats are.

I hope that in kitty heaven she will always have sunny days outside, that there will be many hair ties to hunt, and that there will always be a friendly hand to pet her when she needs it.

[Updated 3/30/2006 to add a picture of Mocha enjoying a sunny day outside]

Halfway There

Well, I made the first part of my decision about Ann Arbor vs. Virginia today. Telecommuting from Ann Arbor was still going to require at least a week per month of travel. While that would greatly improve the travel situation, it would still mean that I would be balancing lives in both Ann Arbor and Virginia. For that reason, I've decided against that option. That leads to the second decision that I need to make, which is whether I move to Virginia, or quit my current job and get a new one. I plan on making this decision before the end of this month, so that I can move somewhere else if I need to. So stay tuned for further developments...

A Dave Divided Cannot Stand

For the past several years, I have been commuting back and forth to the DC area. Initially, I was only down there every other week, which wasn't too bad. But over time, the frequency of travel has increased to the point where I am now down in DC Monday through Friday every week. The travel has finally reached my breaking point, and it's rather suprising that I have survived this long. So I am now in the process of soul-searching to figure out whether I move to DC, or move my work in Michigan. Unfortunately, this decision-making process has not been easy. I like the work that I am doing in DC, but the quality of life in DC leaves much to be desired. The traffic is lousy, there is concrete everywhere, and everything is outrageously expensive. Plus, the attitude of the average DC person is not quite the same as the down-to-earth-Mom-and-apple-pie quality that seems to pervade much of the Midwest.

I have been given the option of telecommuting from Michigan doing software development. It's not a bad option, but I'm not sure if working alone for eight hours a day, five days a week is a good thing. And there would still be about a week a month that I would need to be on-site. Four years ago, I would have jumped at this opportunity. But given my distaste for business travel right now, I'm not sure if this is really for me. I need to make a decision on this within a week or so, and it's not easy making major life decisions in a hurry. This is especially true when neither option looks appealing.

So anyways, stay tuned for more developments, as there will be a decision one way or the other within a week.

Almost There...

The painting has been progressing on my master bedroom, and it is almost done. The painters need to come back on Monday and finish the second coat on the moldings. A guy from Lowe's came out and measured the bedrooms today. I should be able to order the carpet when I get back from DC in two weeks. I'm hoping that I can get the carpet installed by the end of March. Here's the room as it looks now: