1. Re-wire the truck's entire electrical system with my awesome in-laws up in Prescott. Escape the heat, work online there, help them build their house, and get the truck to never-imagined levels of awesome.
   
2. Look up a new house to live in that has a yard, laundry machine, a place to work on the fiberglass dash I need to put into Rachel's truck, isn' insanely expensive, and is close enough to Bookman's that Rachel can walk. The discount we get for not driving to work (either of us) is nice.
3. Rent the place two weeks into August, and take those two weeks to move. Catalogue every last item. We'll be listing every item we own, and decide if we need it. If not, it's donated or sold. Keep the list for our house insurance, and update it as life goes on.
4. Rachel takes her last class for her Bachelor's Degrees in Creative Writing and English Literature (fall semester). She drives her amazingly well-running truck.
5. In January, I either get promoted to full-time at ITP, or keep working part time and begin finishing my teaching certificate. Either way, Rachel starts her graduate program classes in Library Science.
6. After that, things get a bit fuzzy, but for now:
   If we can afford it, sometime in Fall '08 or Spring '09, buy an RV, give the truck back to the in-laws for a while, tow the Bug and live on the road for about 3 months. Make a time-lapse video of the entire thing. Explore the entire United States, and decide on a place to settle down for the next few years. In all likelihood it will be in Arizona, but why not find out for sure? Living without regrets is a part of freedom.
   
7. Reproduce on the road! Our kids will not know exactly where they were conceived, and I think that's vaguely awesome.
8. Have kids. Name the girls Méria Jael and Artemis Ella; name the boys Aaron Isaac and Michael David.
   
9. Buy a house.
10. Live well.

Labels: ambition, college, gas, house, kids, money, Rachel, rant, RV, To-Do, work

First, I've been spending a lot of time at work. 10 hours today, for example. This has been for a variety of reasons. First, I've been doing graphic designs for Maloney's. They are very difficult to work with, because of short notices, long feedback lead time, and other demands. Second, I've been transferring music archives and making new daytime music lists. I'm also training new DJs because I'm hoping to become a barback, because I desperately need the money.

Second, money as mentioned - my current budget has me making $10 less than I need per day, every day.

Third, I've spent a lot of time up in Phoenix with my grandparent-in-law trying to get Rachel's truck working. This is so that I don't have to come home at 3am, only to take her to work 4 hours later, and then our friend AZ a few hours after that, and then take Rachel home again. It's between 1 and 3 hours of driving every day, and that is insane. Especially the amount of gas we use doing it. Despite her having a vehicle with much worse gas mileage (17 compared to 25 mpg), it's only one trip. Not to mention the gratification of independence. Even with the extra insurance every month we'll still save money on gas.

Also a few random life events; Our friend Jessy had her second baby. I've been trying to get serious about my 4th album. I've been updating my resume and sending out for a 'real' full time graphic design job.

In so many words: I've been fucking busy.

Labels: cars, gas, money, work

I want to say first that, cynical as I've become, you've always surprised me with your candid, sensible approach to governing. I understand your decisions - even when I dont agree with them. You have a supporter if youd like to become President.

I have three things I'd like to point out to you: taxes, energy, and Jon Stewart.

I believe IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson has done well and deserves the money to continue properly taxing. In particular, I would love to see the evasion of taxes involving mutual funds, off-shore accounts, etc, come to an end. People like me, who can't afford anything we havent fought bitterly for, feel cheated when shown things like this:

"On March 30, 2004, Congress was told that 78 percent of known tax cheats in investment partnerships are not even asked to pay because there are not enough tax collectors to go after them. While letting rich tax cheats run wild, Congress did finance a crackdown on the poor. The working poor, most of whom make less than $16,000, are eight times more likely to be audited than millionaire investors in partnerships." (source)

Let him do his job well, and the deficit will be cleared just that much faster.

Energy. I have never been so sad and yet grinned so wide when I read your statements (1, 2)about the Energy Bill. In all seriousness - THANK YOU for recognizing it for what it is. More importantly, thank you for recognizing that what weve done so far is inadequate, in particular with fuels and ethanol (gasohol). Most of the current solutions involve one of two things: New forms of transportation (electric, hybrids) or radically modifying our current cars (bio-diesel). I applaud your work with Senator Lieberman on encouraging new technologies. However, while new technologies should be employed in new vehicles, consider the ratio of new vehicles to old. It will be a long time before the new-technology vehicles are enough in number compared to old-technology for them to do significant good.

What we need is something that will run relatively clean on current and older cars. Weve spent $200 Billion on Iraq why dont we give $20 Billion to scientists from DuPont, Harvard, and the military and say make a substance that burns at a spark smoothly at 92 octane, does not freeze above -20 degrees F, nor evaporate below 140, and runs my 62 VW as well as a new Corvette, at a total cost of less than $1 per gallon to the consumer. I just refuse to believe that its impossible.

Energy independence is something that is well worth the cost of research. Imagine if tomorrow, we sent a diplomat to all of the nations in the squabbling Middle East and say, "we dont need your oil and were selling our new substitute to Europe for a buck a gallon." Instant reform. They would have to their whole economies are based on oil. Thats how they can have ridiculous poverty and no women working.

I understand that this is armchair politics, easy from where I am sitting and much more difficult to actually do. Please, help take the momentum of the unanimous public assertion that the Energy bill was terrible and help propose putting money where America can use it best - a product we can sell to improve our economy that also severs our umbilical cord to the Middle East.

Finally, look for the clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in which your conversation with General Richard Myers. You received resounding applause.

[signed]

Currently listening : Rattle and Hum By U2

Labels: environment, gas, government, irs, money, oil, politics, rant

Labels: cars, frightening thought, gas, joke

What we need is self-sufficiency in fuel for our cars.

More than anything else, I'm convinced that this one, seemingly simple thing is where it's at for the U.S. for security, for our economy, Hell, for our sanity or what's left of it after all this terrorism-fear military-industrial complex hysteria.

Right now, we (that is, Americans) are in a position of very little real power. I am living in a weak country. How can I say that, with such a huge military power? Simple - that's not real power. Real power is when you've got something others want. And right now, the only really enviable thing about the U.S. is our colleges and our sense of eternal optimism: that if you work hard, you can make a better life for yourself here. Mind, those are two very enviable things but most of the people that really loathe the U.S. aren't interested in either one (especially the former).

I live in a weak country because it has nothing tangible to offer the world. Our electronics have long since been surpassed by Japan. Cars are behemoth gas-guzzling status symbols. And we can't support our own oil usage by a long margin. As far as the Middle East is concerned, we're no more powerful than a junkie is to his dealer. How to solve this?

It seems to me, there are a lot of smart people in this country. At least at the University level, where we don't have to teach just people from our own public school system. If you gave DuPont and a few dozen really great Universities, say, 10 Billion dollars, and told them to make a substance with the following qualities:
- Minimum octane of 94.
- Freezing and boiling temperatures of <-15F and > 140F.
- Total logistical cost, from manufacture to delivery of <$0.80.
- Minimal harmful emissions.

I believe it could be done. Or if it couldn't, give them 100 Billion dollars. That's how much we've spent in wars in the Gulf so far (according to Wikipedia, anyway).

Then picture what happens next in the Middle East - we send a diplomat to tell them that we don't need them anymore and that if they don't play ball, we won't let them sell our alternate fuel. Suddenly, every two-bit dictator from the United Arab Emerites to Pakistan has no choice because the only thing that's kept them in power - the money from oil - is gone. We have their balls in a fist.

Thomas Friedman is with me on this one, too: he pointed out that the only reason that the oil baron terrorist countries haven't collapsed is because of oil. After all, if it weren't for that, how could they lose half their work force (women), stifle education and skilled workers through religion-oriented learning, and trade nothing but drugs in the international market? (sources: 1, 2, 3)

At that point, my hope is that we would use our new found power for good instead of revenge, but at least it would be much more effective than popping dictators and invading for a few years.

Currently listening : All These Things That I've Done By The Killers

Labels: cars, gas, oil, politics, rant