So far we've found two houses that were strong candidates. The first one sold the day we were planning on making an offer, the second one we discovered had a train track about 1,200 ft. behind it. Bleh.

I'm thinking house-hunting is like finding a mate. You have to kiss a lot of frogs, and some you think are perfect - only to have everything go to hell in a hand-basket. Eventually, though, if you persevere, you find your "lobster" (to quote Phoebe from Friends).

Meanwhile - house hunting is a pain a royal pain in the derriere.

*sigh* As many of you know, Cliff and I are trying to get a house. Cool! The suckage of the matter, though is we aren't quite ready yet and interest rates are going back up. Supposedly, the interest rates were lowered to boost the economy, and now the economy is "doing better" so they're hiking rates back up.

Is it me, or do the powers that be have no concept of Average Joe's economic situation? When I was working at Digital Bridge I had had two paychecks bounce and had been without pay for six weeks and worried every day for 4 months that I'd come to work and the damned door would have locks on it. Meanwhile, the newscasters are glibly reporting that we're in a "minor recession". This was pre-9/11, at the time of the dot-com fallout. And then 9/11 happened. More financial joy.

Fast forward to today - yes, the economy is improving, and I realize we aren't in a depression the likes of which our ancestors saw in the '30's. However, the economy is still trying to recover - it ain't over yet. Hell, the city I live in is two steps away from going belly up.

So tell me again why they're raising interest rates? Oh, that's right, according to Washington the economy is just ducky...:roll:

Husband and I came to a conslusion this weekend - we are eating out ENTIRELY too much, and it's seriously eating into our funds. So, we've resolved to stop eating out so often and limit it to once per week. Which is still a luxury, lots of people can't afford to do that. I feel pretty bad. We're trying to save up for a house, and it's usually me that's asking to be taken out. In my defense, we have seperate accounts, and so unless he fills me in I've no idea what his finances look like.

Another problem - usually crockpots are wonderful for people who work, but it is possible to over-crock something. Assuming I put something in the crockpot at 7:30 before I leave for work and Cliff's not ready to eat until 9pm (not an uncommon occurrence - sometimes he doesn't get home until then) I've got a disentegrated dish. I think I may look for a crockpot with a 'warm' setting.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good holiday, and here's to a more frugal new year (for my family, anyway :))

Here's my list of Christmas suggestions for the PC gamer you know and love :-)

• Half-Life 2 - for the first person shooter fan
• Sid Meier's Pirates! - for either the strategy lover or the person who likes to game but doesn't want to get frustrated
• World of Warcraft - for just about anybody. Game of the year, easy
• Zoo Tycoon 2 - good for parents to play with their kids, or for adults who love zoos
• Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - for the creepy goth roleplayer. Seriously - this one is supposed to be awesome :)

Many people wonder how a person can vote for one candidate or another. For myself, I'm always between a rock and a hardplace. I'll warn anyone reading this, I'm about to make some huge generalizations - I realize most democrats and republicans are somewhere in the middle.

The Right Wing Religious Nuts want to:

• Legislate morality, which bugs me tremendously. Nay, it infuriates me. I will include the following in this:

1. Take away a woman's right to choose
2. Not give homesexual people the same rights and priveliges which any pair of horny 18 year olds can acquire
3. Outlaw businesses of a sexual nature, from the dowdy XXX video store to the strip club down the road
4. The list goes on and on. But I want the government out of my house.

The Bleeding-Heart Liberals want to:

• Give everybody a handout rather than a helping hand.
• Raise minimum wage, which relates to the above.
• Feel sorry for criminals
• Let children run amok and say "Aren't they cute?". Discipline is a family decision, and again, I want the government out of my house.
• Blame everything on somebody else, ala Columbine being the computer game industry's fault
• Take away my right to own guns and use them to defend myself or my family if need be.

Rant over :)

I draw your attention to this journal entry:

Heretic's Slam of Republicans

This whole diatribe made me sick to my stomach. People want to know why this country is divided? It's posts like this, which spew vitriol and insults. I don't understand this. If his intent was to somehow make republicans see the error of their ways, he failed. Not only do posts like this come across as coming from a nut, they also alienate Republicans and conservative Democrats.

You don't change someone's mind through insults, you do so through reason. At any rate, thanks for the abuse :(

Intelligent debate on the Off Topic forum tonight. I'm enjoying the heck out of it - good brain exercise. A lot of people think debating issues is pointless because you're unlikely to change anyone's mind. The point of debate, however, is not to change anyone's mind. The point is to exercise your brain, which is a muscle and will atrophy with lack of use just as any other muscle.

Well, Halloween is here. Yay. We're supposed to go to a party tonight, but Cliff is on call and he's not home yet (quarter to seven) so it's highly possible he got held up. *sigh* Not that i particularly want to go to the party, but I miss my baby :oops:

Just as an update - husband didn't get home until almost 8:30. So we ended up not going to the party but instead went to eat with some of his co-workers. Not too bad.

Well, I broke down and did it. I pre-ordered the collector's edition of WoW. Got my spiffy pre-order bonus, too - a nice, big, meaty novel. Works for me. I'm just hoping two things:

1. Blizzard doesn't screw me over and that the game is good.. Past history would indicate that they will release an awesome title.
2. That it doesn't come out mid-November. That's when Pirates! is coming out, and I wanna play Pirates! more. Waaah.

Lastly - I got very excited by the pre-order box. They seemed to really be pimping the fact that you can play casually and solo if you want.

Please lord, let it be good.

What is it about online communities that cause them to devolve into romper rooms? Seriously, you look at the posts of some people and have to wonder how old they are (at least I do). I'm not sure if this phenomenon is caused by the relatively young age of some posters, or the general deteriation of manners in society, or the fact that people are anonymous. Perhaps it's a combination of all of the above, but it's sad, regardless.