If there is one thing I've given a lot of thought to lately it is “stagnation.”

While Iodynamics seems to gradually forge forward and grow — albeit not as fast as anyone would like it to — Christine and I frequently finding ourselves discussing, debating, arguing, even fighting, over our current situation with regard to housing, employment, and income.

Do not fear. We still maintain a very loving relationship, but there is this new stress we're dealing with which is substantially more significant than the stress of us spending our weekdays apart when I worked in Orem and was home only on the weekends.

Understandably, Christine wants stability and security. Iodynamics is almost to the point of providing that, but not yet. And there's still a lot of uncertainty with Iodynamics. If there's anything I've discovered while operating a business, it's that there is always uncertainty. Most people don't realize it, however, because they're usually in an abstracted position.

For example, I'm sure the employees of Enron Corporation felt they had great jobs with a stable, secure company. Then, the world came crashing in.

That's probably not a good comparison since it seems Enron was plagued with all sorts of scandal and deception, but it just goes to show there's a lot the “employee” doesn't know about the state of affairs of the company they work for.

Anyway, back to the topic of stagnation.

I don't want my children to grow up and say, “Man, mom and dad sure squandered their life. ”

Christine and I have been living in the basement of her brother's house since May. When we moved in, we thought our inhabitance would last no longer than the summer. As the summer wore on, we started thinking the end of the year. Now, we're not really sure what's going to happen.

I want to build a home somewhere — probably in Weber or Box Elder County. Maybe even Cache County again. Who knows? The reason I want to build is because I've heard I can save a bundle of money building my own home vs. buying a new or newer home built by a homebuilder and sold by a real estate agent.

In fact, one associate of mine told me he built his house for less than $130,000 and a major homebuilding company built a house across the street from him with almost the same floor plan and it sold for $185,000.

So... this week, I'm going to be talking to a civil engineer recommended to me that works with many of the communities in Weber and Box Elder Counties. I'm hoping he can give me some ideas of where I should look at building sites.

Maya turns the big zero-five

I can't believe I have a kid that's going to be in school. I suppose this is the first of many unbelievable milestones in a parent's life. Maya's fifth birthday is tomorrow (today actually) and she's going to be starting kindergarten on Wednesday.

We celebrated her birthday today by heading down to the local Chuck E. Cheese, where we did a half-birthday party for Lucy in June. Then, we went out to my mom and dad's and the girls made cupcakes with my mom. Then we lit some candles and sang “Happy Birthday” to Maya.

Maya got a Power-Puff Girls backpack full of stuff for her birthday from Christine and I. She got a Care Bear, an umbrella, and a little picnic table from my mom and dad.