This last week or so has been, perhaps, the busiest I've been in a long time. That's a good thing, I know, but it does leave me with less time to “flog” my life into a database like I like to do.

Progress?

Iodynamics has paid a couple regular paychecks now and even though we were unable to do a distribution in the period before those, the distribution before that was significant. So... we're not doing too bad.

Of course, our goal is to establish a reasonable insulation against the flux of our business — to treat our salaries like any other bill or liability and make sure there are enough assets within the company to cover those liabilities.

Good hell! I'm talking like some sort of suited-up executive!

Anyway, yeah. We're not doing too shabby.

The coordinates of life

My parents have been brainstorming on ways they can help us get into a house of our own since we moved into Jay and Jennie's basement. We got close to doing something about that this last week or so.

There was a house in Kaysville and we were talking about my parents buying the house as an investment. Then, we would rent it. In the beginning we'd pay what we could, but eventually, we'd be able to pay the house payment so it wouldn't be a loss for my parents to own the house.

My parents got to the point where they were talking to the bank about mortgages and financing and discovered a much better interest rate could be had on the purchase loan if the house was going to be owner occupied. That would mean Christine and I would have to be the ones purchasing the house. My parents would co-sign to make it easier for us to get into the house.

I got real nervous when I began to consider this change of plans. Where I was excited about moving into the Kaysville home when we were going to rent it from my parents, it didn't sit right with me knowing it would be our house.

I think it's because the asking price for the house was about what I was figuring building a custom home would be and the custom home I was thinking would have 1,000 more square feet than this house and it would be everything we wanted (and/or could afford). And, it would be new.

So... we bailed on that.

Meanwhile, we started looking at apartments. If we've got money to consider house payments with, we can consider renting as well, right? Well, it's not so easy to find an apartment that will allow pets around here. At least, it hasn't been that easy so far.

We've also been looking at new homes in Herriman, Utah... again. We were considering Herriman a couple times when I was working at About in Orem last year and earlier this year, but never really did anything about it because our agenda was all contingent on selling our house in Hyrum, which didn't happen until after I was laid off.

Every time we drive to Herriman, though, it becomes a more appealing place to live in a lot of ways. Granted, with more growth, there's more vehicle traffic and congestion to deal with, but there's also a lot of businesses arriving in Herriman to provide the new residents with groceries, dining, and other services. It's a happening place.

I've often heard a saying that buying a house is all about “Location! Location! Location!” That would make a lot more sense to me if I had an office to go into every day (that wasn't in my basement). Because I'm not working for someone else right now, our location possibilities are not very limited. Well, they are limited, somewhat. I won't live somewhere where I can't get broadband Internet access. Christine won't live anywhere with crappy schools and where she can't get to a grocery store within 10-20 minutes.

And I'm not really even all that picky about the broadband Internet access. I know if I get into a house somewhere that has nothing better than dialup, I can get a T1 pulled in and share with my neighbors via wireless networking. So... Pretty much anywhere with decent schools... and electricity.

I think it's going to come down to us just saying, “Let's do THIS.” and going forward with it.

Update: Maya

Maya's enjoying kindergarten. She's learning a lot of cool stuff. It's amazing what a child can learn in a structured learning environment.

This last weekend, Maya tested and received her second-level orange belt in Tae Kwon Do karate. We're very proud of her.

Update: Eli

Eli's getting fat. I need to get some more recent pictures of him taken and get them online.

Update: Lucy

Not much is going on with Lucy these days. I think we need to work on getting her into a playgroup or pre-school or something.