Sunday, December 23, 2007


There should be an X prize offered for moving--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_prize
why is it that the human species has not applied science to the subject of the household move? There has been no advancement in human moving since, well since people loaded their stuff onto a travois, harnessed up the dog, and moved that bigger, better cave down the road. I am surrounded by unboxed,partially boxed and boxed confusion...we are at that state where it feels as if we are camping out in someone Else's home, but this perception is reducing over time. I have never felt as if i own something until i am completely set up in it...the rain man element within...which does not infer being unhappy--- So far there have been advantages and disadvantages to the recent moving process--on the plus side getting out of the motorhome is major!! we now have heat and a flush toilet, as well as room to stand up and stretch---something the average human does not miss until one attempts motorhome living for an extended period of time. The new mexico winter is simply too rough for living in a 3" thick metal can with zero insulation--it was really, really, really cold in the MH....which makes me so thankful right now for our small, toasty warm, but currently disorganized California bungalow...additional good things are a reduction in the number of cigarettes I've been consuming...I'd been smokin'like a fiend lately and since we've moved into the little house---I've been smoking allot less----on the bad end of things is the "you are truly an old guy now" bummer of a--backache---caused by the initial move in process. The not being able to move or sleep for two days, back being out type of thing...this is one of those times when i am extremely glad not to be a member of a hunter-gathering tribe--cause my fellow tribe members would view me right now as a worthless-toothless old thing--suitable only as staked out "bait" in a communal hunt.
We now have one of those two thousand channel cable tv systems installed. We needed the complete cable package for wireless internet from the offering company...this will be the first time in years that we have had on demand commerical television. It's amazing to observe the combination of crap and cool stuff available. cool= Pulp Fiction and conspiracy theory programs available. Uncool=political commentary and advertvision...ah well! We also did the big monitor and a new dvd player present to ourselves. Now watching the matrix i can see up Neo's nose--amazing.
I've pretty much made the decision to do away with my desktop computing system..and switch to laptop only computing. The age of my desktop and with the reduction in size of living space--doing all my work on a laptop system simply makes sense. So far my XPS dell 13" has been doing everything i have needed and i believe i'll stick with this system. I have been looking at an Asus Eee 4G-Galaxy 7" PC Mobile Internet Device to carry around in my backpack, allowing me to leave the XPS at home. The Asus Eee is a umpc, or ultra mobile portable computer. The Asus works off of linux and is reasonably priced at $399.00.
I'm figuring that for what i need on the move--access & construction of email--and net browsing for information and reference this Asus should do fine.....according to the documentation this little thing is ready to fire up out of the box, all software is pre-loaded....the major downside is that the Asus has no disc drive. Memory is based on the digital card system such as those used in digital cameras. However for the two purposes i have described this system may work perfectly. My prius totality 'concept' has been delayed by the move as has my record keeping of cash spent on gasoline. The world just got too complex during the MH stay and the move....right now my prius is incredibly dirty both inside and out...and it needs it's standard maintenance i just have not been able to keep it to my usual standards of care. i have been running about 45 mpg over this cold time period...which is not as good as the summer months but overall not too bad...all reports that i have read are projecting a price of around $3.75 per gallon at the pump this spring.Once gasoline hits that price the hybrid concept comes into it's own. I have increased my commute mileage by 4 miles due to this move---to 38 miles one way. The new 74 mile round trip commute should run me about one and a half gallons per day, less in the summer months.
I have a lot to be grateful for---an excellent little house, a great life, many,many interests in the world around me, and most of all a wife i love with all my heart. I'm really lucky and I'm not confused at all about that......



Saturday, December 15, 2007







Moving again ---- (into our new small house on a little planet) there will be a hopefully small gap in my blog postings--required by the transfer process and re-establishing connectivity to the Internet. We found a 1200 sq.ft. house built in 1904 that perfectly fits our parameters of how we wish to live within a smaller footprint with a higher quality of life around us.This has been a unique experience (insert cold), living in the motor home for several months during the new mexico winter---we learned quite a bit about multiple issues--living small--the yes/no option on motor home living in retirement (without actually committing to it)--decided what we really wanted in a home during the search---yes, a number of items were studied during this experiment, and we managed to live through it. We discovered that we needed alittle over one thousand sq.ft. for our interests, art and lifestyle. We wanted a small yard to grow plants and putter in...(this was kinda up in the air)..that a townhouse wasn't just in the cards so to say. So we've found our smallness--and creative capability and are going to spend acouple of weeks setting up.

Meanwhile--I've been reading and computing and in the final days prior to moving I'm going to start working my simulation sim-societies....I'll update you as i get a chance....

more later...