Check out the new videos, previews, and such for Wahammer Online. Will it overthrow World of Warcraft? HAHAHHAHAHA probably not. But you never know. I'm definately looking forward to checking it out. And I mean that literally.

I've been pretty bored lately. I've done a lot of work packing and preparing and yesterday the mover guy and I went through the house for an estimate. But overall I just keep having to wait on other people. I won't hear back from Mayflower until Monday. Mayflower is what my company recommended so that's who I'm using. They seem to be a good moving company and have several safeguards in place to ease all the issues I had with our previous moving companies. But they're probably a lot more expensive. But its only like 450 miles so hopefully it'll be within my relocation budget.

Speaking of relocation budget, my new company is paying for my move, but only a set amount. So I have to be careful not to go over that amount. It should be enough though. We'll see. We have about 12,000 lbs worth of crap, 4 animals, and 2 SUVs. Of course, we'll be taking the computers, work stuff, animals, and 1 SUV with us. I'm considering renting and pulling a small trailer to carry the things we'll need the first week after the move, before the movers arrive.. like our mattress to sleep on, some folding chairs, etc. I think that'll be covered too.

The relocation budget is very strict, and does not cover temporary housing. Thus I have to pay for my own hotel when I go down there to look for a place to live. I'll probably be leaving tonight and looking Monday through Thursday. 3 or 4 days should be long enough. I hope. I've been trying to find a way to avoid hotel room costs (40-70 bucks a day) but so far no luck. It's kinda cold to sleep in the car and apparently all the rest stops in the area have a 2 hour limit.

I've been looking online and rent.com and move.com and all those places suck for finding a single family detached home for rent. I've found craigslist very useful though and I have about 20 rental homes to look at once I go down there.

I can't say I'm overly enthusiastic about this move. Maybe its because we just moved back in July, or perhaps I'm not looking forward to the area. The company is great and the project is outstanding. I just wish they were located near San Diego. With the baby coming it would be nice to be around friends and family. I also miss everyone and everything. Especially gaming with friends and eating at familiar restaurants. Besides, we're gonna need free baby sitters later this year. I'm sure we'll make new friends and find new places. But going through all that again is getting tiresome.

Ah well. Violet commented that I hadn't posted anything in a while so I figured I should ramble something off before driving down to Fairfax, VA. I think I've accomplished that.

I'm a big fan of the personal video craze(YouTube, Flixxy, etc), as I'm sure millions of others are. I debated putting up a "Favorite Videos" link on the right, but for now I just decided to make it a regular blog post. When you're bored, check these out.

Man Flies. For real. With a jet pack. For about 4 mins. Back in 2004. Why isn't this mainstream yet you ask? Cuz the government doesn't want people flying around doing stupid stuff, which is why poor Moller International's SkyCar, which I'm a big fan of, still has yet to see market. :(

Speaking of flying vehicles, here's one that really works. It's a flying motorcyle. (No resemblance to the Battlestar Galactica TOS version)

Cat plays Piano. Need I say more?

This could have been done better. I really like the premise of Medieval Tech Support, and its kinda funny, but it could be so much better.

I've always been a fan of Nikola Tesla, and I think he really got a bum deal. So I'm happy to see his spirit in this car.

Maybe I just don't know enough about it, but Section 8 pisses me off. Millions of Americans work their asses off to barely afford their inflated rent. Then a "low income" family comes along and lives in the same nice house right next door and pays nothing. The government pays their rent for them. That kinda pisses me off.

Section 8 is part of a larger government subsidized program created during the Great Depression. Its changed a lot over the years but in essence it lets poor people live beyond their means, thereby encouraging them to stay poor. The middle class, once again, picks up the slack by not only paying for their own full rent/mortgage, but also paying the taxes that pays their Section 8 neighbors rent. There is currently no time limit for how long someone can stay on the program, and no cap for how much rent can be subsidized. That kinda pisses me off.

Sure, I could rent my house out to a low income family and get guaranteed rent payments from the government, thereby getting back a few of my hard earned tax dollars... But I won't. I don't agree with the program. Violet works her ass off to pay for that home's mortgage.. I don't agree with some low income family moving in and getting a free ride. Besides, it could lower the property value too. I'm just not sure if I'm legally allowed to say no to them based on their use of Section 8 due to Equal Housing Opportunity laws. That kinda pisses me off.

Here's the wiki page for your info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_(housing)

Well, it's pretty bad when someone misses your birthday. But when that someone is yourself, I guess that's pretty bad too. I was in Seattle, WA. actually, and couldn't remember my Blog Password so I was unable to post anything. I was on-site for a job interview so I didn't really do anything else during my B-day. Doh. But my mommy called me and sang me Happy Birthday like usual, and Violet sent me a nice e-card. Being outta work right now, we kinda had to skip presents for Valentines and my Birthday. 36 isn't all that special anyway.. Now I'm even closer to 40 than 30. Ack!

Happy Valentines Day,
And I'd just like to say,

Though the trees may be bare and could give you a splinter,
snuggle with your mate and some hot cocoa for the Winter.

Even if you're solo the love that the holiday brings,
could potentially net you a mate well before the Spring.

I well understand being alone and yes it's a bummer,
but try to find Love now and don't wait for the Summer.

But you have to love yourself first and be beyond rock bottom
so don't worry if your Valentine is you this Autumn.

I'm so overjoyed that Violet chose to be mine,
she'll always be my most beloved Valentine.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Well apparently I haven't been posting enough. Not a whole lot of new news on the homefront though. So I'll just rant. (aka ramble).

I'm at the later stages of my job search and will probably be making a decision by the end of this week or early next week. It's very likely that we'll be moving to Fairfax, VA (Near DC) by the end of the month. It's a good offer and a great opportunity, but the location is still somewhat questionable. I've been researching a place to live down there.. and well, it certainly isn't cheap. We still haven't sold the house in Madison so that's been the main source of our financial burden.
So anyway since its pretty certain that we'll be moving, I've been packing the house. I saved all the boxes from our last move to here so at least I have a lot of boxes. We also never finished unpacking everything so lots of our stuff is still in boxes ready to go, so that's good.

We moved here to Boston from Madison on July 1, 2006. Legally the moving company was supposed to deal with my claim within 90 days of me submitting it. Its been WAY past that. And there were LOTS of emails, phone calls, red tape, and other hoops I had to jump through to even file a claim to begin with. Moving companies are a total rip-off scam. Anyway, this company (National Movers) have historically been very rude and unresponsive to my inquiries. I finally found a website where I could complain about them.

http://www.1-888-dot-saft.com/CC_main.asp

Soon afterward, the moving company contacted me in a polite but legally professional manner and worked to actually settle my claim. They emailed me a sum that they'd be willing to pay me for all the stuff they lost or broke. But, it's like 1/10th the replacement cost of everything. More Suckage.
I certainly will be VERY WARY of any moving company or moving broker in the future. Most of them suck. ALWAYS get the more expensive "Replacement Cost"insurance, not the default 'Replacement based on weight" insurance. You'll get like under 4 bucks for your 6 pound, $2,000 painting or sculpture or whatever. You get like 60 cents per pound... the replacement cost of the item is irrelevant. It's total BS. Stupidest 'insurance' coverage I ever heard of.
Don't do it.

Time's a ticking, and I cant find anything that rhymes good with that which makes sense for where I'm at in the interview process. I'm at the later stages now. I've done several onsites, but Im still waiting for the results from several tests. I HAPPILY have an offer already, so if all else fails at least I'll have a job. Its a pretty decent offer with a good company. But it would be unfair of me to not follow through on my other commitments (I still have a few tests to finish) and unprofessional OF me to accept an offer while still inthe mIDDLE of other people's intervIEW PROcess. stupid SHIFT key Keeps sticking. and I didnt even press it! Damn this keyboard is filthy. ack>

oh anyway I hope to decide on whatever offers I have before Feb 16 and start on march 1. TODAY I'm going through all my job hunting logs. I keep a text file of all jobs Ive applied to and all correspondence with all the people Ive talked to or emailed for that job. Its just a simple dated sentence or two but its very useful to me to KNOW where I stand with everyone since my memory is pretty poor. I update it right after the occurrence so I don't HAVE to go back and remember how the interview went, if I emailed so and so.. etc. So anyway today I went through the list and emailed a bunch of people whom I haven't heard from in a while requesting an update as to the status of my candidacy. Probably pointless since if they really wanted me they wouldn't wait a week or more to tell me I'm moving onto the next step.. but people get busy, their email boxes get filled up, etc.. so who knows what could happen. Besides I don't have anything scheduled today so I'm really bored. Which is why I'm blogging about it. Blogging postpones the boredom for another 10 mins.