This is not my beautiful house.

Imprinting. It happens to ducks. It happens to Humans.

We're deep in the process of looking for a new place. Every place we look at we gauge by how close it is to where we presently live, and how close it is to what we presently have.
It's not a good thing, but has been difficult to avoid.

We go into a place and look it over wondering, can we make memories here. Will it work? Will the office desk fit over there? Will this room be okay for our bedroom furniture?
Where's the yard? That's what they were talking about?

The fact is that we have found several nice places. The minus is that they have gotten a bit more pricey since we last looked. Thankfully, not as bad as purchase prices of homes.

I have discovered that Altadena is a major secret of the Los Angeles area. The prices really aren't bad, and besides the fact that it's hotter than hell, the homes are stunning... and it's a suburb - with trees and backyards, and lawns, and pools. If you can deal with being twenty or so minutes further east than Silver Lake/Burbank/Hollywood, it's not a bad place at all. Of Altadena, I will now officially coin the phrase - Topanga of the foothills. With the San Gabriel mountains looming behind, it makes for quite a stunning place.
If only it weren't so damn hot.

Our hope is to stay in this area - it being the Silver Lake area. I fear that it has become a bit too trendy, which translates into pricey - something old timers were bemoaning five years ago. The real artsy feel is being replaced by a certain corporate artsy feel. Kinda getting a westside vibe. It does still has plenty of coolness to it though and who knows what will happen if the economy reverts to sanity. Still, it's disconcerting to see all the BMW's and Mercedes being driven by lousy drivers.
Damn near like being in Beverly Hills.

Hey, I saw something in the news which really bothers me -- and I can start this with: Those FRICKIN republicans. What is up with doing nothing but evil these days???

Okay - The FCC decided that phone companies no longer have to share their Internet lines with rivals. This was done as a 4-0 ruling from the commission (which has an open seat)

The chairman is Kevin Martin; a proud Bushie.

What this means is that the large companies win - we're going to be at the mercy of the people who own the phone lines for our DSL. I have a great price and great service through a company called dslextreme. Basically, they'll be screwed and SBC will win. I see this as a sanctioned monopoly. Their argument is that this is the only way that cable can compete.
Uh, NO.
If there's only two bullies on the block, they'll eventually get together and bully everyone together.

I leave with this question...

WHY MUST THE GOVERNMENT BE SO EVIL?

If I have baffled you with this, learn more... Google -- FCC DSL