Found a Place!

It’s a 2/1.5, full-size W/D hookups and cable. I don’t know if I can get DSL or not but I can always get a cable modem if it comes to that. It’s next door to a similar unit and shares a picnic area overlooking a beautiful trout stream. There’s room for all my furniture and I’ll be able to fit more bookshelves in so maybe I can finally unpack all my books. Maybe. I’ve got to fill out an application, but I’ve talked to the landlord and I have a really good feeling about it. I was telling Critter about it Sunday, and she wanted to see it so we drove out there today.

I managed to snatch up that 40" Bravia before anyone else got it, so that was good. I got an Xbox 360 and a couple of games, a few games for the PS2 and PS3, and some cables and what not to get everything hooked up for best performance. The Xbox an the PS3 are going straight into the television for now, I’m going to have to wait until after I’m moved and pay my taxes to upgrade the A/V receiver in the entertainment center. I’ve also discovered a solution to a problem I didn’t realize I had: the local (probably all, but I don’t know) Office Depot sells 24-port gigabit ethernet switches. The also sell the 10/100 version as well. The reason that’s important is I totally lost track of how many of the eight ports in the entertainment center’s hub I was using. Turns out I’m up to seven, and any new Sony A/V receiver I get is going to need that last one. Bummer. I don’t need a 24-port switch, but they sell a 16-port one too… I’d have to have to worry about it later since it seems more and more A/V components are needing Internet access for firmware updates and enhanced features, and I’ll be out of ports, so I’ll just upgrade the hub to a switch with more ports sometime this year. The really sweet thing about both the 16- and 24-port switches is they are rack-mountable, which means they are the same width (or close enough) as the components in my entertainment center so I can stack them in the middle or wherever it’s convenient and not have to worry about the patch cables not being long enough. The hub I have now is was smaller than even the PS2, and it has to sit on top.

I’ve got K tomorrow. Her father had her today, but he’s going to be going out checking on applications tomorrow so I’ll have her. I was thinking about taking her up to the park by my parent’s place, but it snowed (yeah, snowed) and rained here today and the ground is going to be all mushy and muddy. Of course it would give her an excuse to take a bath, something she loves doing, but I don’t think we’ll go.

Critter has fallen in love with the first place I looked at, the one without cable. She told OtherGuy she wanted to live there and he needed to get another job and help her with the rent. He doesn’t actually need another job, he could help with the rent with the job he’s got if he didn’t blow all his money on fast food. I’m thinking I’d have had a frequent visitor if I was renting the place. I told her if it had cable I’d have stopped looking and signed a lease that day, and she and the kids could move in if they wanted, but OtherGuy might get a little upset that she and I were sleeping in the same bed, no matter that we can behave ourselves. She laughed and agreed with me.

I’m a little bothered by this health care thing. About seventy or so percent of the American people were unhappy with the bill as written, and in spite of this it was ramrodded through Congress anyway. I suppose we’ll find out in November if this arrogance will cost them or if the American electorate has fallen asleep at the wheel. There are better ways to "fix" our health care system than more government oversight. If they’d stop and look, it’s governmental interference in the marketplace that has gotten us where we are. Who is it that decided that all insurance policies must cover certain conditions that not all of us want or need, thus ratcheting up costs? The government. Who is it that decided there would be no tax breaks for individuals who purchased their own insurance versus enrolling in their employer’s health plan, effectively stifling competition? That’d be the government again. Yeah, they got this thing wired alright. I know the current system has flaws, but they can be better managed with tort reform and a truly free marketplace.

If you disagree on the health care thing, that’s fine. If you feel compelled to note about it that’s fine too. You aren’t going to change my mind, I’m not going to change yours, so there’s not going to be a long drawn-out note war about it. If that’s what you’re looking for then don’t bother.