links for 2005-07-16

• HumaneText.service

Settling down in Dallas

I’m doing something that is unheard of for me. I’ve prequalified myself for a home mortgage and I’m actively searching with a real estate agent now. I’m going to need a little bit of luck to find something inside Dallas that’s affordable.

It’s not too long ago that the very notion of anchoring myself to some place so tightly would have sent me into hyperbolic fits. But this was the plan when I came back to Dallas and now I have a job that will let me continue that plan.

Professional Goals

This weekend I should wrap up the last of my freelance projects. This will be a marked difference from how I’ve been living for the last five years. Prior to this I’ve always had professional responsibilities to other people in addition to a regular job. It’s the end of an era for me and I’m planning on focusing my free time on DVDs from the various AFI lists, the 2002 Sight and Sound list and writing two applications in Objective-C/Cocoa on OS X.

links for 2005-07-03

• Web Only News

links for 2005-07-01

• OpenID: an actually distributed identity system

links for 2005-06-29

• Christian Alliance for Progress Blog: Christian Alliance for Progress Update

links for 2005-06-20

• perl.com: Perl Design Patterns

links for 2005-06-19

• Gothamist: John Vanco, IFC Center

The Income Gap

A discussion on plastic about the growing gulf between rich and poor started my thinking. I started to dismiss the notion until I saw the following quote:

The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself.Alan Greenspan quoted in the C.S. Monitor Incomes across the board have risen, why should I worry about the 145,000 people who make $1.6 million a year? Bush’s tax cuts are friendliest to the hyper-rich, while every other group sees tax increases their taxes will go down.

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Time to be Happy

I miss Em. While I had more free time than usual I was trying to squeeze in some time back in Huntsville with Emily but Em’s mom didn’t come up with anything. I think things are extra hectic over there since Emily is going to have a new brother or sister real soon now.

My unofficial vacation is about to come to an end. I start a 4 month contract-to-hire position doing perl development either this Monday or a week later. I have a plone/python project, a php/mysql and a unix admin project to wrap up. The company I’m going to work for is up in North Dallas right near where I lived when I first moved here in ‘99. Apparently insurance companies rarely pay all of their bills to hospitals and doctors. This company uncovers the difference in what the insurance companies owe and what they paid and gets the rest of the money. So it’s nice to stick it to the insurance companies for once. :)