Ok, this is not my month. Luckily we have like 3 days left in it. That loud banging I heard the other night from the washing machine was my iPhone. Apparently Holly didn't check that pocket and it was "buried deep" in the pocket. It is another tragedy that happened this month - got the first offer on our old house rescinded, found out Brennon has a heart abnormality, got my car stolen and now my iPhone is swimming with the fishes. You might think that would leave me bitter, however, I am an eternal optimist. If there is an optimist club I should be in it. We did get a second offer on the house and it should close on March 15th. Brennon is perfectly fine, his heart just needs to be monitored every year. I should get some money for my car, which should eliminate a car payment since I am driving a van. So my car being stolen will actually save me money. Then with the iPhone being gone I am lucky my 2 year contract expires next month, meaning I can get a better phone.

So last night as Holly pulled out the remains of my major award I decided I needed a junker phone to go with my junker car. So I went to the AT&T and got the cheapest phone possible - $33. It is like I went back in time 10 years. I am going to use this phone for a month until my contract is due and then get the latest and greatest. I am thinking about switching to an Android Phone since AT&T starts selling them in March. As I look into it the Android can run most of the apps the iPhone can, plus it will have flash, which the iphone doesn't and it has an SD card slot so I can upgrade its memory. However, the screen is 3.1 inches instead of 3.5. The Android has a flip out keyboard and a 5MP camera with a flash. I can also develop applications on the Android. As far as utility goes, the iPhone and Android are remarkably similiar. Now iTunes is on the iPhone with my music, but I can stream it anyways so I don't need to convert it. Most of the apps I use are available in the Android app store. I think I might like it. More tests.

However, I already have purchased apps on my old iPhone and when I sync with a new iPhone I can get them all back. Also, since I have mobile.me I should be able to get my contacts to sync back, in a month. For now I have no contacts on my cheap phone. Something interesting is that I have also setup Google Voice on my old iPhone, so when people call I can still access my voicemail on the web, without even having a phone. Sometimes it doesn't get right the person who called. So if you call and leave a message say your phone number. For a month it will seem like I am ignoring everyone. I can't even check my email on my new phone. Thank God I can text on it. I just have to press a digit down three times to type one letter. Ack. I think I'll play taps on my trumpet tonight for my phone and bury it in the backyard.

I am phoneless today. I couldn't find it when I woke up. I heard a loud banging in the dryer last night. I hope it wasn't my phone. That means people who call or text me won't get a response. That means I can't respond to my home email as it is blocked at work. That means I can't listen to music while I code. That means I can't post from my phone. That means I can't play a game when I am in the bathroom. That means I can't check the app store for new apps. That means I can't text anyone any information. That means people who call for ridesearch will get a busy message. That means I can't watch TV or movies while I am waiting in a line. That means I could get lost while driving. That means I can't location search a place and call them. That means I can't check others facebook statuses. That means I will have to do something else with my time.

Um, I just reallized I do have some time, but still I am busy with life. Wow, it is like I am disabled without my iphone. I do use Google voice for my voicemail. So the weird thing is I can still check my voicemail.

I suppose I could make music in my head or start singing. But then again, people would think I am crazy. I think I could whistle while I work but then people would think I am a dwarf. Anyone know any jokes?

So the current rental I have is a Chevy Impala. I don't like the radio and it is very sluggish in driving. I get 30 days worth of use till they close the case. It is a newer car that takes flexFuel. Meaning it can drive on Ethanol(85) and any other fuel as well. By sheer cooincidence our house is located near a Kroger which has an ethanol pump. It is always 10-15 cents cheaper than regular gas. Like regular is 2.45 and I am paying 2.35 for my gas. Alot of newer cars take flexFuel. I like how it is cheaper but wonder if I am getting the same MPG as regular gasoline. That would be the trick.

Of course this all makes me think about electric cars. I hear next year will be the big release of many new conventional electric cars. Ones that go 100 miles on a single charge and can go normal speeds and don't cost an arm and a leg. Right now cheap electric cars can sometimes get up to 40mph and are not allowed on highways. I was thinking about how much money you can save by buying an electric car. Say you spend $40 a week on gas, which we do. If we didn't have to buy gas then we could save $160 a month. So say your car payment is $500 a month for a $28K Nissan Leaf. Subtract $160 and you've got a nice car for $340 a month. That is pretty good. Electricity costs are negligable and could equal 5 cents a gallon.

That is just the first generation of cars. Eventually they will become cheaper and will be commonplace. Then green energy will become commonplace as well. I think our economy is spending enough money on green technology that in the next 5 years we are going to see major breakthroughs in energy, nanotechnology and personal power plants. Where is this all headed? Well in Brennon's lifetime there will no longer be traffic. He will go to work at home, be surrounded by whatever information he needs on flexible screens. He will be able to talk to anyone at anytime just by speaking the name out loud. He will be able to multi-task and enjoy things and work at the same time. He will have robotic assistants for mundane tasks. He will laugh at my 80s movies that are 2-dimensional and music that is in stereo. The stuff we value today will be the trash of tomorrow. Just like hifi tape recorders were built back then are worthless now, so will all our stuff be. With free electricty and cheap computers the world will become completely connected. That will be cool. For now though, we are the technology pioneers, the technoneers. I wonder if I should get an electric car next year?

So this weekend was more work. One of these days I will have all pressing matters taken care of. On Friday I went to a men's conference at Prestonwood. It was ok, but wasn't inspirational or anything. Saturday we went to Wichita Falls to pick up mom's 2000 Dodge Caravan. I am now a van guy so the following phrases apply - "I guess you don't want to live in a van down by the river." and the obligatory "If this van's a rocking don't bother knocking". We got a bunch of stuff mom wanted from the house. Now all that's left is beat up old furniture and a bunch of bottles and junk. There is still alot to clean out. Luckily I hear my sister is going to come to town the third week in April. She should help us fix up mom's house.

On Sunday was a special day. It was Brennon's dedication at our church. As a baptist we don't do childhood baptism cause it is not really biblical. Baptism is regarded as a pronouncement from a person who has made the choice to follow God. Typically people who become saved then get baptized. Instead we do baby dedication when the parents stroll out in front of the church with our babies and dedicate ourselves to teaching our children biblical principles. It happened Sunday morning. Holly's mom picked up my mom from the home and brought her to church. We dressed up Brennon in a blue and yellow sweater and a blue golf cap - like my grandpa used to wear. He was so cute and alert. Before we went out there we all got in line. I had been holding Brennon so that he could look out and the audience could see him. Because it was alphabetical we were second to go out. Right before we did however I noticed something wet on my arm. Apparently the backside of his diaper had leaked all over my arm and his pants were wet.

Holly was like,"Ack, this never happens!" and I was like, "This is funny. That's life." Someone grabbed a towel and I put it on my arm so he could
sit on. We were fortunate in that his front was not soaked at all. I wonder if the audience noticed. We went out there and Jack Graham said,"look
over there" at the camera and they took our picture. Of course when the cameras were on us they all looked at Brennon and said,"aaah" in his cuteness. He gave us
a Bible signed by him and a certificate of dedication. The whole thing lasted like 30 seconds. I took mom out to IHop afterwords. Later on I unloaded
the van into her room. That evening I started on my taxes. Always something to do. But as I stop and look at things, life is good even if it is hectic.

So it is a bit freaky. As I learned more about this Joe Stack guy I find that we are too similiar. That really irks me. Apparently he was an independant software contractor that set up 2 companies and declared himself CEO. Funny, I did the same thing. He also was a musician in a band. Funny, I did the same thing. He had a blog and websites. I have the same thing. He also had political viewpoints that could not be pegged down. Funny, I have the same thing (not same viewpoints, but I can't be labeled as any member of any party). So the fact that he snapped kind of leads me to wonder if I am capable of snapping. I think the answer could be yes and that is scary. So I have set out to figure out why he snapped and make sure I prevent it.

He was a logical computer programmer who played an instrument. I have met many programmers who play music. It is something about our brains that can tie the linear progression of notes to the linear progression of code. It is like being able to tell what the next note should be because you heard the previous progression. We can figure out the next line of code in a similiar fashion. Over the years our minds become programs themselves. It is the common sense of predicting events in sequence and the ability to do it on a massive scale that makes a top notch programmer. Our brains are logical. Our brains are also egocentric - that powers our minds to have the will to perform the logic. We have the power to make changes in a set of real life events that makes a difference. It is like you are a creator, an inventor and eventually a powerful leader. So the fact that someone who is in a logical profession can do that begs me to answer the question: why?

The first illogical part of the story is what he did: burned his house down and flew a plane into a building. That is the output. What is the input? Well in his manifesto he talks about how he had struggles with the man from the early 80s. The law he is referring to caused many corporations to fire independant contractors and hire employees, thereby getting rid of his easy paying job. So he had a major gripe about that. To this day independant contractors typically work for only 6 months at a time, otherwise it is worth it to hire an employee to do the job. I think the crux of the input was losing his power and money. A man who loses money and power and loses the ability to change how his life unfolds can become very unstable. It is like that movie "falling down". A man can't take losing his power and money and he snaps.

In his situation Joe was audited. The manifesto said it was lack of declaring $14K in undocumented income that made him snap, but that is probably not all of it. I can read between the lines. He probably had over $100K in penalties. All his retirement and assets were about to be liquified to pay his tax bill. His ego made him hide this from his friends and family. He also could have been up for jail if he didn't pay his penalties. Joe didn't fall down, he was justifiably pushed down by the man and his ego and delusions made him not take responsibility for his actions. It said he used his manifesto as a therapy note and updated it many times. I know exactly what he means as I do the same thing. When you write you go over and over what you write and determine if what you are writing is logical. So in his manifesto at the tail end of it, he had probably changed it not that many times. Finally at the end of his rope he couldn't hang on and typed some rhetoric and his death date. His post was complete. His delusion was complete and he became psychotic. He thought he could take his power back if he martyrd himself.

Now that I think about it I am definitely different. For instance when my car was stolen I decided to drive around and look for it. I went through paranoia scenerios where someone was watching me get into my car and recording the key signature to steal it. I went through a scenerio where someone who viewed my old house found a spare key, researched where I work and went and stole the car. So I went to the old house with a bbgun just in case the theif was there. I went through scenerios where someone was mad at me for my job and wanted to get back at me. How could someone steal from ME? I must punish him! Finally I calmed down. I accepted the enevitable. They didn't want me. They wanted my car. So life goes on and I deal with it. That is the correct output. I didn't snap. Joe could have thought - they don't want me, they want my money and accepted it. Instead 24 years of a grudge got to him. His mind was no longer sane. Now that I think about it. I have no grudges against anyone. Sure we may have a similiar brain type, but that is it. My program in my mind is just fine. His program should have been deleted a long time ago.

Wow, so I know some people that work in the Austin offices. I haven't heard back from one of them. It is kind of freaky, to think that could happen to me in my current office. It makes me think that my car being stolen could have been a pissed off taxpayer. Right now we are all just talking about it. Nothing is happening in Dallas. I remember hearing when I first arrived at this office that the guy who did the OKC Federal Building staked out the one I am in right now, but he couldn't park his car close enough so he picked OKC.

It is also weird that the guy who did this is some kind of disenfranchised Software Engineer who got audited. Do I feel sorry for him? No way. He is a nutjob. I have worked with some nutjobs in the past. The engineering kind can be a social misfit because their primary interaction is with a computer and not people. I read his manifesto. He talked about the history of developers over the years. Yes, we did have some major setbacks like the .Com bust, but the reality is we are more compensated than a majority of people in the US. I understand that the upper middle class supports a majority of America through our taxes, but it is much better to work with the system than against it.

Coming from a software engineer at the IRS I can tell you that this guy is not a representative of any engineer. He had some kind of skewed point of view that is validated by his own circumstances. Through each turn in his life he experienced events that led to his feeling that they are out to get him. His paranoia and snapping after getting audited tied everything together into evil. I think I will now take a step back and make sure I don't take my job too seriously. Life is good. I shall enjoy it while I can.

So it happened again. The continuing saga of the many Brian Basses that are out there. This time a title search was done for the new owners of my house. I get a call saying,"Are you Brian Dwayne Bass?". "No.". "Good, you may have to sign an affidavit saying you are not him because he has leins on his house." I can't believe it. The many Brian Basses out there are staggering. I am afraid it is time to change my name and get a new identity. First when I was a kid there was a Brian Bass in Wichita Falls who stole a computer. My dad got called in and eventually they realized it was not me. Then there was a Brian Bass in Carrollton who is a famous trumpet player for a jazz band. I believe they are called Crosswinds Jazz Band (http://www.crosswindsjazz.com/). The funny thing is I play the trumpet as well. So when I first arrived in Dallas I got a call from a church wanting me to play trumpet. I said, "alright, but I am not that good. How did you hear about me?" This Brian Bass has a wife named Nancy who has MLS and is doing pretty bad. Luckily his band put on a benefit for him. It is amazing what you can find on the internet.

The next Brian Bass was the infamous one who won a Saved By The Bell trivia contest and didn't take it. So it was given to me cause I have the same name and was in the phone book. That was a good time, but it was meant for another Brian Bass. Then there is the Brian Bass who works with an ex-coworker of mine at Brinks. I hear he is a programmer as well. Then there is the Brian Bass who plays major league baseball. I wonder how he is doing? And now there is Brian Dwayne Bass the bad credit risk. I guess I am tired of getting confused with others. It is time to change my name.

But to what? I think legally I can change my first and last name. Do I change my first name, last name or both? It has got to be so unique that it can't be confused with anyone else. What should I change it to? Brian The Great? Professer Incredible? Motivium Ridesearch? Quincy Adams Bass? Brian 2.1? Luke Skywalker Bass? Jimmie Ray Vaughn Bass? King Brian of Bass? Then there is the obligatory Large Mouth Bass and Sea Bass. But I don't think those are unique. I am actually partially serious about all this. What with the theft of my car and other people having my identity by name it might actually be time to button down and become someone else. I wonder if the witness protection program takes applicants?

Here are some thoughts on my mind. In business, management lies and I know it. A majority of people in power are unethical. For instance a manager may be told to give raises to 80% of their workers. So, even if everyone deserves a raise they may have to shift people around in their opinionated performance reports so that 20% of people will not get a raise. Back in the day I remember a boss saying "we have little money for raises this year" and giving me a small raise. Then a coworker said,"can you believe they had no money for raises this year?" It was then when I realized a boss will not tell the truth because they would make things worse for morale, even though the truth is the right thing to do.

Other thoughts: People around here don't know the difference between climate and weather. I seem to remember learning that in 4th grade science. An example of ignorance - "This week is the coldest it has ever been. Therefore, global warming doesn't exist. It is all a conspiracy." Reality is - it is not. Climate is based upon a recorded measure of instances of temperature over a long period of time. For instance Hawaii has a tropical climate. It may be -20 there one time, but it is still a tropical climate. Global warming is the measure of climate and the proof that it is increasing in temperature over many years. It is also proven in greenhouse experiments that mankind puts everything out of balance with higher C02 emissions than ever before. It is proven over and over again. It is not a belief, faith is not required. One cold week does not a climate make. The same is true for super hot as well. If we had 120 degree week that would still not equal a warmer climate. It has to be measured over many many years and averaged in. Like the past 10 years have been the hottest on record. That is climate and that is fact.

Other thoughts: Why can't people be easygoing? I sense stress in many people and it is usually over the minutia of their day to day lives like people saying "thank you" and people not calling you. So many things don't really matter and so many things are fine even if I don't agree with them. For instance, even if don't agree with the conspiracy theorists I don't stress out and hate them. I just think they are misguided and leave it at that. I agree to get along with everyone. There is always something to like about everyone, sometimes it is harder to find than others. I try to live in the gospel. I try to love others. That is the way to do it and it makes life easier to live. Peace out man.

So these past 4 days have been rather relaxing. We have had record
snowfall of like 8-12 inches in the metroplex. That was nice. I was
allowed to work from home Thursday and Friday. I enjoy it so much I
get 2 times more work done. There is something about coding in your
pjs whilst a movie plays in the background.

On car news, I have a feeling it is not coming back. I am going to
start driving mom's van. Hopefully the insurance company will give us
enough to pay off the note. Highly unlikely though since I really had
no down payment for the altima.

On Brennon news he is as cute as ever. I am hoping today to upload
more pics of him. I was Mr. Mom this morning since I am off for
Presidents Day and Holly is at school. I had to take Brennon to the
heart doc. That is the person who looked at him when he was born who
said he had a hole in his heart and a heart murmur. The good news is
that he no longer has a hole or a murmur. The bad news is that he has
a bicuspid aortic valve.

Most people have three leaflets in their aorta pumping blood. Brennon
has two leaflets. What that means is every year he needs to be
monitored by the heart doc. If it is leaking or he gets tired
quickly and out of breathe they may need to do heart surgery.
Hopefully he will be fine without any intervention. The doc said it is
genetic. I wonder who in our families has this. Anyways, it does suck
that he has something wrong with him. He is growing like a weed though
and looks fine to me. At
5 months he is 28 inches long and 18lbs 6oz. Thats in the 95th
percentile of bigness. I know cause I carried him throughout the
hoapital today in his carseat and had to take breathes every now and
then. Hmm, I wonder if he got it from me?

So now that my car is gone I am wondering where to go from here. Right now my insurance company is giving me a rental car until they process the claim. They have put their investigator on the case since the government has one of their investigators on it as well. I don't know what anyone can do though. It is gone. I keep on thinking my car is getting fixed in the shop and that is why I am driving a rental. The reality is, it ain't coming back. Maybe I could post some signs around work- Lost Car, answers to the name of Altima. It is kind of like a lost pet, except way more valuable.

The final program has yet to be ran. It was a 2008 Altima that I owed over 18K on. The insurance company will end up giving me the value of what they think the car is worth. Blue book has 17-19K. So it may all be a wash, hopefully. In the end I may no longer have payments, but I won't have a car as well. I am not ready to go and buy a new car. After this whole house fiasco I don't have a down payment on one. I just want my old car back. So what should I do? Right now I am definitely leaning towards driving my mom's van. It has 200K miles, 4 wheels and an air conditioner and is just sitting there. I've also thought about selling my guitar amp to get a cheap used car. I don't know. I do know that I wouldn't trust a junker to work with a baby in the car so we are going to use Holly's car for all baby transportation. Of course, her car is a lease and we have to watch the miles on it. There's always something.

I have had some good cars in my life. I remember in college my Grandpa gave me my grandma's Cadillac. The Caddy as all my friends called it. It was a big boat of a car that was pleasant to drive. It had a huge engine, but was sluggish cause it was made of solid metal. We went on many a road trip in the Caddy. When that died I got an Eclipse. This was the opposite of the Caddy. It was small and zippy. I drove that till it died. Then came the string of PT Cruisers. I loved the PT. I think the 2001 and 2003 PT cruiser will become a classic car. But the Altima. What can I say. It is the best car I have owned. It had so many gadgets, like GPS, Bluetooth Phone, Voice Recognition, Rear Camera, XM Radio and even heated seats. It was the perfect car. I joke that I am going to get a junker and put lo-jack on it. That may be closer to the truth than I realize.

So here I sit going through the greiving process. I am exhausted after carpooling with my wife to work this morning at 6:30AM. It feels like my car is in the shop. Like I am waiting for a call to say "your car is ready." and then I will go pick it up. The reality is, the call will never come. My car is missing. It is like a lost child. It has been gone for more than 48 hours now. I suppose I need closure, like a funeral for it or something.

See, on Friday I went to lunch at 11:30AM to my favorite lunchtime restaurant, Mango's. They serve the best pho chicken noodle soup ever. It is like chunks of chicken in hearty noodles. They furnish me with a good supply of diet cokes to keep me awake while I eat. When I was there someone was in my seat so I had to sit somewhere else. On the opposite booth was a santa claus looking guy staring at me. After the meal I went to fedex next door and mailed my mom's cable box, otherwise they would charge her $800 for a cable box. So I get back in my car and go to work.

Now at work I usually park in the same parking spot as well. This time I was sure that I got my same spot. I got back from lunch at 12:30. Many people were there getting back from lunch. So I go in to work. Even though it is Friday I stay until the closing bell at 6PM and then I go out towards the parking lot. At that time there are only three other cars in the parking lot. But where is my car? Dude! Where's my car? Thinking it was towed I go back inside and ask the security gaurd if it was towed. He said no. So I call the police and make a police report. My car was stolen.

At first you are in disbelief. It is like, it can't be. Who would do such a thing. No, it can't be gone. Then you get a little depressed, like, but that was my car. Then I was in anger and frustration mode for the rest of the night. In talking with the cops of Farmer's Branch they said their systems are not tied to others. So I actually went to the Carrollton jail and asked them if they had any news on it and gave them more info. I then went back to the old house and was worried the criminals would us the cars gps system to find my home, so I took my fake replica of a 45 just in case. I was maaad.

When I got home I submitted a claim to USAA online. They said it could take up to 30 days and at least will give me a rental car. The thing is though, say it is a total loss. I think they will pay off my bank note but I won't get anything else out of it. What that means is, I have no car. Had this been four months ago I would have said,"let me go get a new one then" But not now after we have bought a new house. Now we a pinching pennies and my car gets stolen. I tell people now I am going to get a junker car. I think I might borrow my mom's van up in wichita. It's got over 200K miles so I think that counts as a junker. Maybe I should look at things better. This is an opportunity for the creator of a free nationwide carpool site RideSearch.com to carpool. Something I know alot about. As for the crooks who stole my car, what you did for evil I am confident God will use for good.

So I am still getting this home networking thing down. Ever since we moved in I have not been able to access my smart homes router. What this means is that the ghost of Sammy the previous owner is still running the house. It is kind of freaky. Basically he created a bunch of macros for the house lighting that run at certain times of the day. Like in the morning the bathroom light will come on and off at a certain time. At night certain lights will come. Last night as I went to bed I noticed the light was on under the stairs. I wonder why that was set to go on? Sometimes the front house lights will go on. The flood lights in the back will turn themselves on. I don't mind the programming. I wonder if all of the cameras are sending information somewhere? That would be freaky. It would be like we are in our own reality show and someone else is watching us. Once I can get into the router I should be able to override everything. The problem is even though I have reset it I sill cannot access the routers configuration page through its gateway so I don't know how to get in. Who knows, maybe I'll just install my own router and switches. Of course even knowing where every ethernet cable is going in the house is going to be a chore. I hear they have testers for that. I should get a network admin to come to the house and set it all up. I can do it, but it is going to require alot of trial and error. I should do it though and increase my skills.

On the baby side Brennon is doing well. He is getting so heavy. Already it is a chore to carry him. He is not like "baby fat" kind of heavy. He is more like muscles kind of heavy. Last night as I was downstairs listening to the baby monitor all of a sudden I heard his mobile above his crib make music. I thought, Holly must be up there. But she wasn't. I thought, "that is definitely not automated". Then when I went up there I knew what had happened. Brennon had managed to slide himself from the center of the crib to the railing and start kicking the bed with such a force that it was moving. The mobile was going off. That makes me think if I install buttons in his crib he will have the power to turn on and off music and soothe himself to sleep. He slides on his back right now. He still doesn't like tummy time. I wonder if I set him up with some kind of baby roller skate for his back could he propel himself on the floor. That'd be cool. Although he'd probably bump his head. Eh, better not.

So Brennon starts the night crying at around midnight. My shift is supposed to be between 12 and 3 and Holly's is between 3 and 5. As a non mr.mom kind of guy I realize I am not as educated as I think about babies. Holly has it all down and can calm him pretty quick. I am still not sure what to do, so I go over the checklist. I decided I should get him a bottle. So I go downstairs to the kitchen and lo and behold Brennon has like 10 different sized bottles. So I grab one and then noticed the top doesn't fit. One bottle I had grabbed before I poured formula in and it went all over the floor. Apparently some bottles have removable bottoms. Then I notice the rubber thing doesn't fit. So I start mixing and matching. Eventually after 10 minutes of him wailing and me wailing as well I think I had finally rigged up a bottle. So I give it to him and he starts gobbling it up. Holly, of course, had woken up and was getting him a real bottle. In the end she got him to sleep but I have a feeling he woke up again. All in all he has been fussy this week. I think though he just keeps on growing so fast that he may end up kicking down his bed and doing a forty yard dash. I just hope I can catch him.

So I guess all of this moving has gotten to me. Today I have some kind of bronchitis thing. It is like a bunch of gunk in my lungs. I wonder if a CPAP machine can do that to a person? Anyways I had a fever last night so I am actually working from home today. I think everyone at work got annoyed hearing me hack up a lung all day. I debate taking cough medicine because it raises my blood pressure and I ran out of medicine yesterday. On the topic of health I can't believe I am now down to 265. I was 285 about 6 months ago. I think doing the one unhealthy meal every two days works. Also, tweaking my diet for my insulin resistance seems to be helping as well. All it means is more meat and less sugars and simple carbs. I can live with that.

In other news I wasn't able to see Brennon yesterday. That kind of sucked. He went to bed at 6:30 and I tried another route from work to home and I didn't get home until 6:45. This time I went straight up Coit. The whole commute lasted 50 minutes. On my way to work I went down the tollway. That took 40 minutes. I think I may be able to tweak all of these routes and get it below 40 minutes. Even leaving time can make a difference. It is just going to take some time. I also think we might start getting Brennon to bed later. Daddy needs some bonding.

Holly leaves early in the morning at around 6AM so she avoids rush hour. I think it takes her 50 minutes to get south of Dallas. It is amazing how the commute time is longer in rush hour traffic. She will be working next year to help us with all the move-in expenses. Although I wonder if she is going to keep on teaching pre-k special ed or move back to 5th grade science. I think she likes pre-k special ed better. I do know she is less stressed at it than when she taught 5th grade science. I guess we'll see what the future has in store.

So what a whirlwind it was. We are still not as unpacked as we should be. Since we are having a Super Bowl party on Sunday that should spur us to clean and unpack. Yesterday I cleaned the old house since we are showing it again. The good news is that we no longer have to scramble to get it clean since it is practically bare. BTW, does anyone want a refrigerator? We have two in the old house and we moved into a house that already has one. I think I may be able to call Salvation Army and have them come pick it up. Or I might just leave them for whomever buys the house.

Something I notice when we have visitors to our new house is people are struck by how nice the house is. I mean if you multiplied by three we'd be living in a mansion. I have learned some valuable lessons in life that I should probably put on the wall for visitors. "God hates envy" and "God hates pride". That leaves us in the middle not worrying about material things and not comparing ourselves to others. Just because we have a nice house does not mean people should envy it. The correct response is to be happy and give us congratulations on the upgrade. In some Christian circles, having something that others do not is an automatic label of materialism and bad priorities. Some people may wonder how I got it, like if I sold my business or something. The answer is no. I got it because it is a perfect time to get a house with low interest rates and our dual incomes, savings, persistance and luck helped us do it. Not everyone with a nice house is "rich" so to speak, some are just fortunate.

Don't get me wrong. Our house could be taken away from us because materialism is fleeting. Even life is fleeting. The way to happiness is not through stuff or even friends and family. Peace in salvation does bring happiness. But to be honest, having entertaining stuff does make living in this world easier. My philosophy is a little off the beaten path. I believe that quality of life is something that can make earthly happiness easier to obtain. I believe that having fun should be a priority in life as well. Some people don't even think about having fun they are too busy being worried about work, life, needs and wants. When people come over they will see the entertainment features. They will enjoy them. It is like a resort home. A place to relax and chill. Ah it is fun. I call our house the Bass Family Fun House. Everyone's invited!

Ok, so sometimes in life you
have to enter a boxing ring. If you do not you will be walked all
over. In the house situation I have been in a battle ever since it
started. To begin with, because I already had a house this mortgage
was looked upon as a second home or an investment property. That made
the conventional loan requirements much harder to meet. So every step
of the way the underwriters would deliver a punch saying "we need
proof of this or you will be denied". Then I would respond by faxing
proof to them and sometimes they wouldn't receive it. Then I would
have to swing again and do it again.

Then a couple of days before we were supposed to close something
happened that wasn't my
fault. The underwriters did not like that the appraiser put his
opinion about the seller paying closing costs. As a result they were
about to deny my loan and
the appraiser wrote an apology to VP of the bank. They thought I would
be knocked out. Finally the only way I might have a shot was if I
would pay my half of the closing costs. As a result I picked up the
closing costs with my glove and delivered a punch. I was very
persistant and everyone noted that. The mortgage broker said most
people would have quit way before then. The only problem was I would
not know if it was a knockout until I was actually at the table and
the banks gave up their funds.

So of course I was not getting any sleep. I wasn't even thinking about
the old house when on my way to closing I get a call - "There's an
offer on your old home" "I accept it!" and so during that cold and
rainy day I was joyous. Things were looking up. I was on cloud nine.

So Holly and I get to closing. Holly had food poisoning that day and
didn't
feel well, but she got through it all. I did pray that it all would go
smooth. There was a little punch thrown in the negotiating table and I
had to call the seller and tell him to take off the gloves, and he
did. In the end, after two hours of paper signing everything went
through. In the pouring rain I was given the keys. In my mind it was a
miracle. To have everything work out like that.

So we moved on Friday. There was alot of stuff and we still have stuff
at the old house. We got new furniture delivered and our new is a
dream house. Although back to reality.

In reality our water heater broke on Saturday and the home
warranty people are coming tomorrow to replace it. That actually could
be a good thing cause our house will have a new water heater.

The worst part about the reality is that the offer on our home backed
out today. It had something to do with their kid choking and them
wanting a one
story house. I guess it is back to showin the house. Luckily once
cleaned we won't have to worry about spontaneous showings. There is
always a silver lining in every cloud and there is always a winner in
a boxing match. Yo Holly, I did it!