I'm sitting in the Cafe Artiste, a few blocks from my apartment. I'm finally able to write a blog entry without needing to be at work. I bought a wireless card for my laptop while I was in Massachusetts. They have a wireless "hotspot" here, so I don't even need a network wire. Nice.
My return trip to Mass. last week was good. I had a chance to catch up on a bunch of administrative matters, including putting my first two pay checks in the bank. A bit of a close shave, but my regular mortgage payment will go through as usual. I was getting a bit nuts because of the delays that I get from this long food chain of payment, and the company that pays me (SACC) fibbed about when it sent the payment out. I hope that everything levels out soon so I can get on with paying everybody back. I started to adjust the spreadsheet I use to figure out what my monthly expenses typically are so I can strategize on my next move. I'll be ready to create my new corporation any day now. Then I'll probably create a Chase corporate bank account for the corporation, which SACC says it will be able to do direct deposit to. The shared bank account Helen and I have is already proving itself as a good idea. I just transfer money from my main account (where all my usual auto-payments come from) into the shared account, and Helen can take care of whatever she needs to.
Helen and I and Ian went with Helen's mother (Nancy) on a trip to the Boston Aquarium while I was there. It was a birthday treat for Nancy. We took a boat from Quincy (south shore area) to Long Wharf by way of Logan Airport, which was fun, although rather noisy. We saw an interesting exhibit on Jeyllyfish, followed by a film on Jellyfish, narrated by Leonard Nimoy.
Helen is graduating from the Harvard extension next week, and I'll be going back to attend the commencement ceremony. It's been a lot of fun to eavesdrop on her academic progress for these past years. I am so proud of her. But I knew she was a smart cookie a long time ago. ;-)
Life in Houston is getting hotter. Days are up in the 90's. Night are still pretty nice, with a wind coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. I didn't get the table Michael told me about yet, but he said that maybe next weekend might work. I really want a table badly now. Sitting in a chair or my bed (folded into couch mode) is ok, but not when you need to spread out a bit and shuffle papers.
Another member of my team arrived this week, and he (Krishna) is still getting set up with passwords, etc. We have out team conference calls on Thursdays, so we can start to hash out our next pile of stuff to do shortly.
Posted by David Cymbala at June 2, 2004 11:11 PM