cultural disjunction

bolson(cslounge:abortion@AND)» [21:34:35 Brian]
if you want to be angry, read this:
http://www.tfp.org/TFPForum/TFPCommentary/pro_death_march.htm
…
scu(cslounge:abortion@AND)!!!» [22:06:50 Hippies & Weirdos & Nerds, Oh My!]
I didn’t find it terribly anger-producing. Some sadness. Mostly at the cultural disjunction, and the failure of just about everyone involved to see it without rancor.
bolson(cslounge:abortion@AND)» [22:09:03 My mind is going, I can feel it.]
yeah, that’s true. that event didn’t do much to bring the two sides together. I didn’t like everything that was said for ‘my side’.
bolson(cslounge:dailykos.quote@AND)» [22:09:39 A kinder, gentler]
“In a holy war liberals are a serious annoyance to both sides.”
scu(cslounge:dailykos.quote@AND)!!!» [22:10:04 Hippies & Weirdos & Nerds, Oh My!]
I strive to live that principle.

further commentary

A budgetary analysis of moving costs.

Moving van: about $1660 in rental fees alone (for the minimum size truck, not including gas, hotels, food, pain and suffering, etc). Even split 3 ways, that’s $553. Fees increase by a relatively modest $200ish dollars up to 17′. And there is a large price gap between that and 24′.

About 2000 miles according to mapquest, assuming 10 miles per gallon, that’s 200 gallons, or about $400 in gas. lodging probably adds an additional $40/night for a room Assuming 65 mph on average and 12 hours/day driving, that’s 780 miles/day, and thus three days, so two nights. Add $80. Food costs might increase, but I’ll be eating no matter where I am, and so I’ll assume that any increase is comparatively negligible.

so, adding it all up, I’m looking at roughly $763 minimum as my personal portion of a threeway split of a rental plan.

Flying would run me $85, if I left the first weekend in June. (bless you Sun Country Airlines, though it’s unavoidably a redeye — Curse you, Sun Country Airlines). Given 7 boxes of books at media rate, (filing box size, something like 15x13x12) at about 50 lbs, that’s about $16/box * n boxes, where n is in the 5-7 range (I’m paring down my collections. Quite a bit). That makes $80-$112. Plus two big boxes full of clothing & stuff, which should run about $100 bucks each. Max total: $397.

Price difference: $366. I think for that quantity, I can find satisfactory replacements for my unimpressive bed, desk, chair, and shelves. In addition to being able to sell the aforementioned items. And I save myself the misery of a cross country drive in a uhaul. (though I do miss the joy of seeing lots of places I’ve never been. Win some, lose some.)

final report and L.A.

So, as it turns out, the project which was stopped in mid-march, they attempted to restart in mid-april. We declined further work, and wrote an abbreviated report of the efforts to date gratis, as a company (Ro is still paying me for it, thankfully). That is what has been eating my soul. Only not. It’s kind of fun. And my writing problems have indeed greatly diminished.

I have alot of mixed feelings on this. I like Ro, and I like working with him, and I’m sad to see that coming to an end. This has been my longest lasting job to date. It was good to feel smart again for a time. Not so much to feel smart, but to have my brain actively engaged in an inherently challenging, and rather valuable, activity. It’s a shame that the results of my work will likely be lost in a dark, dusty, dungeon somewhere, but at least it is unlikely that I will suffer pangs of conscience when I hear about the actions of drones.

I should be staying with while down in LA, which will be fun. Haven’t seen Ken since October. And I anticipate that his collection of gaming systems may give a run for his money, but we shall see. =)