The jump is complete... officially.  Alyse and I have now set up residence in Austin, TX.  It's been a rather long and strange trip, but it's good to be in a home again.  Our in-laws were nice enough to set us up in their guest house for almost six months while our house was being built.  Getting in here was one of the most taxing experiences I've ever had buying a house.  The last two were simple.  Sign some forms, move in.  This one had a builder that was up against a financial wall.  It was their end of fiscal year, so they wanted to make sure everyone closed by Jan. 31st.  The sub-prime crisis is in full swing, and loans we applied for in May of 2007 are now non existant.  We ended up going with our own loan provider, Prodigy Mortgage LLC.  These guys are a start-up and they were great.  The were up past 10pm on several nights to rush our application and get us closed by noon on Jan 31.  We had 34 minutes to spare on Jan. 31 when we signed.  The consequence being the house going back on the market and loosing our substantial deposit.  However that is all behind us know.  We got what we wanted, everyone closed on time, Mercedes made their numbers, and Prodigy Mortgage got their commission.  All is well.

 

Now we get to customize our place even more.  We're never satisfied with beige, so we painted almost every room.  We're starting on the deck, but that project is so large it's rather off putting.  I guess this is nesting, but it was the best time to do it.  The movers didn't show up withour worldly posessions for over a week, so we had plenty of time with an empty house to paint, seal, sand, and stucco where we liked.

 

Home - check

Moved Cats - check

Create new bank accounts - check

Get new insurance - check

Career - um, where's my eraser?

 

This is the big goal now, and one that can't be solved with 14 trips to Home Depot.  Not even 15 trips.  Alyse and I are both chasing big dreams right now which is both exciting and terrifying.  Alyse is having quite a bit of success getting her music in front of the right people.  She's won some prestigious awards, and is now setting up a tour for later this year which will likely be followed by another tour, and another, oh and probably at least a few more.  It's important to layer them so that word of mouth from each one generates larger subsequent tours.  It's going to be quite a lot of work, but it's what she is passionate about.  I am certainly very glad to see her go after it and support her the best I can.

 

Whereas I am in a slightly different position.  The wind project is coming along nicely.  We still have several milestones ahead of us, but there is nothing putting a hard stop in front of us yet.  Our next big goal is to secure enough land to plan for 10 3.0 MW Vestas turbines on our land owner's property for the site we are developing in Wyoming.  If we cannot fit that many, we'll need to expand to neighboring land owners whom we do not know as well at this point.  That however can change, and hopefully we can bring a profitable opportunity to them as well.  The siting plan is actually due back today, so there will be more news on that soon.

 

In the end, we're all dead, so despite the risk, we're going to make it a great ride.

Nepal can hardly be summed up in a single blog entry, however I have finally gotten a portion of the pictures upload for you see some fraction of our experience there.  I took over 1200 photographs, and the combined total of the group was probably near 10,000 photographs.  This is a mere 200, as paging through even that many can become a drawn out affair.

 

The trip was in-tents!

 

Don't be too fooled by the beautiful scenery, most of the trip I spent looking at the ground trying not to step in anything that might carry a pathogen.  However, when we did stop to look up, it was an impressive sight almost everywhere.  I could only describe it as an asian fairy tale world come to life.  Think Hobbit, but in Asia instead of England.  Most of the villages we visited could only be reached by foot, donky, yak, or otherwise.  As such these areas showed little impact of cars, trucks, and modern machinery which reveals just how beautiful this country is.  There isn't much usable land, but what is there has been used to the fullest.  Whole mountain sides have been painstakingly terraced over the last several centuries by hand to increase crop production.  Most of the villages are several centuries old and a mix of farming and vending for trekkers.

 

Nepal has a very high poverty rate, and it's especially evident in the cities.  I personally preferred the rural areas for their tranqulity and sparse population densities.  The cities still lack proper drainage, sanitation, plumbing, and electricity.  Kathmandu is home to a mere 1.8 million people, but it feels like it's far more than that.  So if you visit, land in Kathmandu for a day, and then get into the mountains where the real beauty is.

We've reached our final destination of Raleigh, NC.  It's great to see Mom, Grandma, and Kenny as well as get some great home cooking.  Leslie and I are both a little sick of the car, so we've stuck a deal with Kenny to drive the car back for us.  He's going to get to have his own road trip back, and then he'll fly home shortly thereafter.  Leslie and I will be coming back on Tuesday.  The trip has been a lot of fun, and we got to see lots of friends and family.

 

There is one other big development.  We bought a house in Austin on the way through.  We loved the place so much, and we'll get to be near the Repps, and the music scene will be fantastic for Leslie's music career.  It's a big change, but sometimes you need a good shock to your system.  I moved a lot as a kid, so I don't think I ever outgrew moving every few years.  Texas will certainly be a big change, but I figure our votes will go further in the blueberry in the tomato soup that is Austin.

Day 11 of our road trip and I decide to update my personal site that I haven't updated in almost a year.  Well this road trip has given me an excuse to put something up here.  We've made our way from Seattle to San Francisco, over the Sierra Nevadas, through Death Valley, and into the nation within a nation, Texas!  Now this isn't oil field Texas.  We're in Austin which is kind of wierd.  It's a liberal haven in the middle of Pax Americana.  We're staying with the Repps and their neighborhood is full of out of state techies.  So in that respect it feels right at home.

This past weekend, Leslie and I joined the Jackson's and Suzie our German exchange student for a trip to Eastern Washington wine country.  It was far too short at only two days.  We could see both Mt. Ranier and Mt. Hood.  Saturday we broght home almost a full case of assorted wines.  It wasn't quite Sideways, but I think that's a good thing.  The highlight of the trip was definitely watching shooting stars and sattelites on the grass at midnight.  We must have seen a dozen easily, some of which lit the sky with purple and golden showers of dust reentering the Earths atmosphere, all while sipping our fine domestic wines.  Next time, we'll definitely go for longer.

I found this pic of Leslie and me and thought it would make a nice splash entry.  Life seems to have settled down a bit now that we're done moving in, and have finished our traveling for a while.  It's nice to relax at home.  Got a LAN party coming up on July 1st, and our LMF advanced course on July 14th.

 

I'v also recently gotten into managing my finances in a way other than sticking everything in a mutual fund.  I highly recommend reading Rule #1 by Phil Town.  If you get really serious about it, check out www.investools.com for the best place on the internet to get comprehensive financial research info.

Hey guys, this one is for the kick ass bachelor party we had last weekend celebrating Jason's departure into the married world.  It's nice here, you'll like it.  Join us.... join us...

 

Jason, Corey, Chuck, Brit, Moon, you guys are always a great group to hang with.  I'm ordering my kilt right now!