Location

It is raining cats and dogs. M thinks that’s a funny saying, and I can’t tell her why we say it, but I think it’s funny, too. One of the fun parts of being a parent is explaining things to a little kid, especially a smart little kid like M. She asks amazing questions. It is always a joy to see how her mind works. I don’t always have a good answer for her, though, and she can get frustrated with me. That part isn’t fun, especially while I’m driving. We spend a lot of time commuting every day. I have her in a great daycare that is half way between work and home, so she gets a half-hour ride each way.

I worry about being on the freeway, but there aren’t very many options here. They just didn’t plan this area at all, and all the improvements have been retrofitted to the bizarre layout that came about from the gold-mining past. I will NOT miss this rain.

Four months of this job left. It sucks so much, it is mind boggling. In the past couple months, I’ve worked on several projects that didn’t go anywhere due to conflicting legislation, poor communication, and changes in requirements that no one knew about. Thousands upon thousands of dollars wasted. The state of California is in such a financial quagmire right now. It will take years to rectify the mess. I don’t have that kind of patience, or the desire to pay crazy out of control prices for things just to avoid snow. That is what most people say when they learn that I’m moving – “but it snows so much in Colorado!” Yeah, and that keeps the population and the real estate prices down. There is a great little elementary school by M’s daycare that I would love for her to be able to go to. The housing in that area costs easily twice what it would in Colorado. Even now, with housing prices tanking, California is unaffordable. The jobs don’t pay better. How do people do it? Twenty years ago I couldn’t afford the Bay Area; how does anyone now? Here is bad enough. My friend S lives in Sacramento, and his neighborhood is nice, but I can't afford it there, either.