Mortgage free - again

Three and a half years ago we had some renovation work done. Wood floors refinished, new deck put on the side of the house, electrical retrofit and upgrades.

Paid for it with a 'line of credit' against the house. A small mortgage where we had none before. The terms gave us 20 years to pay it off. I made the last payment today.

< $1,000

My home improvement line of credit gets paid off on Friday. Then, we will again be mortgage free. Just in time for Obama to declare the workers proletariat.

So, I got a promotion

I am now the "GIS Roadway Centerline Manager" for the Virginia Department of Transportation. I have a staff of five editors working for me, and a QA/QC manager to come (my old assignment). We will be trying to get all of the centerlines up to snuff so we can build a decent linear referencing system.

To date the Interstates build pretty good, and short little subdivision secondaries are OK, but lord what problems in every oher road! We have crazy deadlines for trying to get at least some sort of LRS working. This is causing me to do 50+hr weeks right now because, frankly, I'm a good editor, and have the best understanding of the data model, so I'm doing a lot of it myself.

I'm still an IT consultant, so they can still "fire his ass" at will. Interestingly enough, my main contact outside of VDOT may be my former manager that originally coined that phrase. The job change also resulted in a higher pay grade, and a sizable increase in my hourly rate. Now I'm dealing with my own company where my immediate supervisor is telling me that my getting a raise out of this is "not automatic". Like *expletive* hell!

How messed up is that?

George Mason University just elected a drag queen as Homecoming queen

George Mason University senior Ryan Allen dresses in drag and doesn't mind being called a queen — homecoming queen, to be exact. Allen, who is gay and performs in drag at nightclubs in the region, said he entered the homecoming contest as a joke, competing as Reann Ballslee, his drag queen persona.

Granted, in 1974 one of my fraternity brothers was elected homecoming queen. We were so proud. But what kind of a school has homecoming in February?

You know what they say

You only rent beer.



OK, I stole it from Ace. So sue me.

I'm Confused

At the Egypt-Gaza border -

Hamas negotiators left Egypt without a long-term cease-fire with Israel on Thursday — but not before some members of the militant group's delegation were stopped at the Gaza border carrying millions in cash.

The delegation walked away from the cease-fire talks because of disagreements over the blockage on Gaza and border security. Talks will continue at a later date.

An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the group initially refused to be searched by Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing. When the group relented, authorities found $7 million and 2 million euros ($2.5 million) in cash in their suitcases. Another security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said $9 million and 2 million euros were found. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained.

OK, I can understand a terrorist group would have lots of uses for cash, but why would they be smuggling it into Gaza? Is there something special there they have previously been unable to buy? Or steal at gunpoint?

Dude!

The growth of Target

There is a cool visualization at FlowingData about the spread of Target stores.

They also have a similar visualization for the spread of WalMart stores.

Insanity...

...is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.

So, some of my coworkers kept dropping $1.25 in this vending machine. The slot for the green Gatorade has been problematic since day one. It always gets stuck. But what's with the others? Did everybody else figure this was like a slot machine, and they were just waiting for the big payout?