Ups and Downs

The average person who happens upon this blog would probably see some of my posts and say, "Mike, you're so negative. All you do is rant and rave about everything." Not true. There are many positive things in my life, but I prefer to vent about stupidity vice talking about things that involve my feelings.


The last couple of years have had their ups and downs. I missed out on buying a house due to my credit being as fucked up as a soup sammich. But that seems to have been a blessing in disguise. With my wife finding a job near where I work, we decided it would be better to move a bit closer to work instead of staying out on the west side, which makes for a helluva commute. I'm glad we didn't get that house, since we'd be stuck out there for 4 more years before we could sell it and try to get out of it what we owe. And the housing market is making a swirlie around the toilet bowl, so we'd have probably ended up getting screwed on that deal. Houston's not near as bad as some parts of the country, but when you're trying to sell something noone wants to buy, it can make life rather difficult.

We did eventually buy a house on the northeast side, which puts my commute at just over 15 miles. Beats the hell out of a 34 mile each way commute. The house we were going to buy was built by Kimball Hill, and they are a good builder. If you ever decide to buy a Kimball Hill home, see if a guy by the name of Jose Cavazos is still working with them. Last I knew he was at Lakes of Bridgewater off Mason Road in Katy. The house we ended up buying was built by David Weekley, another very good builder. The floorplan we chose had everything we wanted: covered porches front & back, study, open...it was an inventory home, so we got it at a good price too. I'll have to post some pics of it sometime. But with buying a new home comes decorating, and that tends to be a pain in the ass as well as the wallet.

My boy is getting huge, and speaking more clearly now, both in English and Spanish. He can count to 10, knows letters and is learning his colors. And he's not even 3 yet. And, like daddy, loves to fish. He has a couple of motorized fishing games and when he catches one will say, "Daddy, look...I caught a fish!" I'll have to post some more photos of him soon too.

My paternal grandfather passed away earlier this year. His death hit me particularly hard because I was rather close to him. I've been in a funk since I found out he was diagnosed with colon cancer, and when he passed away it got worse. I'll probably delve into that more some other time, just because it'll probably be a huge post.

I talked before about changing jobs, and I did. I was offered a position at a different agency for more pay, and the people where I was couldn't match the offer. I miss working with some of the guys over there, but I like the people I work with now too. The majority of us like to fish, and we get along well so there are relatively few problems. Every once in a while tempers can flare, or somebody feels like someone else pissed in their Wheaties, but everything is smoothed out a little while later and we're back to cutting up. The last two jobs I've worked at have been great. I worked at a privately owned company when I lived in Illinois, and that place felt like hell on earth. My friend Doug stayed on with them for about a year and a half after I left, and he moved on elsewhere. I guess he finally got tired of the mangement's bullshit too.

That's about it for now. I'll expand on some of this later and may open a few new cans of worms as well.