I'm writing this from my new house, connected via DSL to my Web server, running off my DSL connection at my apartment. Let me say this: DSL was much easier in the early days when you just got a DHCP connection. Configuring PPPoE is a royal pain.

A month ago, I was looking to buy a fridge and a washer and a dryer. My family came in to help me.

It's official. I'm a debtholder.

Yep, I've been away. I've got a few problem children at work. Two of them are computers.

I went out looking for a fridge and washer/dryer.

The other night, the talk turned to first cars. And I sure remember mine.

I knocked on the door of a house in Soulard, a neighborhood in south St. Louis. A tough, biker-looking guy answered the door. "Tom's not here," he said.

It all kinda snuck up on me. I'd been kind of halfheartedly looking for what seems like forever. Last week, I decided it was time to get serious. Real serious. I called up a friend of a friend and we had a good conversation. We agreed to meet on Saturday. More good conversation. We were out and about for a couple of hours. The results were pretty good.

I don't talk about work very often, and usually in vague terms. I don't know if I've ever mentioned my current employer by name here, and I very rarely mention a former employer by name, mostly because they sometimes made decisions I disagree with. I figure if I'm going to trash them, it's better if I do it without mentioning them by name.

I can wait a long, long time
Before I hear another love song.
-- Sisters of Mercy