This is blasphemy...this is madness!

No. THIS...IS...March.

Leonidas isn't so mad now

That means it's no longer freezing cold and we can walk around outside without parkas. On one of our walks we found that our area of Houston appears to be part of a larger scavenger hunt.

Can you find it?

Well, it never really was cold enough to constitute parkas. Comparing a winter in Houston to that of, say, Odessa of '06 is really kind of silly. The Gulf of Mexico doesn't freeze, unlike the Black Sea.

Yes...we were standing about 20m from the shore.

Anyways, some of our new friends in the ward suddenly made the plunge into home ownership, right after Alison and I started thinking about houses. There's a bit of a trick to it, since I still have another year on the lease. Regardless, we went and started looking.

The Great Expanse of 2920

I had picked out a few new developments to poke around through some internet searches. Most of them are farther north of our current location. The first development we looked at was near the soon-to-be-completed Grand Parkway, for better or for worse. We stopped into a model house, where we were greeted by a salesman who assured us that by the afternoon we could have the house we want, financed and agreed upon. I decided this wasn't the way I wanted to go about it.

Not that it wasn't nice.

They were all semi-custom houses, and we could rearrange things however we wished. Problem was that it all cost about 50% more than I was even imagining. After a year of saving. I wasn't about to get myself in all kinds of trouble.

The salesman had to go, but he asked his assistant to collect our information so he could harass us further. I recommended that we sneak away and head over to Hufsmith-Kohrville. This was a bit farther off the beaten path, but I liked it much better.

The houses in the neighborhood were built by D.R. Horton, someone I at least had heard of. The sales guy was much more laid back and understanding of our situation. Plus it helped that he offered drinks and snacks while we looked about. He gave us oodles of information about the neighborhood.

I have to admit, I was almost sold on the first street we turned in on. "Knights Quest." There was a major medieval fantasy theme going on here, with other street names like "Magic Spell," "Maidenfair," and "Arthurian Dream." With some amusement, I wondered what it would be like to tell Bill that I bought a +3 house.

-$200,000, +8 reputation

Well, now that the house-hunting bug has bitten me, it seems like everyone and their dog are relocating. Everyone's talking about how Houston's house market is one the hottest in the country. And we're kind of stuck in our current place, at least for the next little bit. However, with the time we have to wait, we're thinking that maybe having a new place built for us would be the best option. It's all a bit much to take in, but I guess we'll have to grow up sometime!

It turns out USAA offers realtor recommendations, and I sort of impulsively called in. We've now got a nice lady running housing searches around our area. Her huge list includes some 100 properties, that are all quite attractive. We just can't buy anything yet!

Of course, our current place is quite nice. Sometimes we get cool looking sunsets.

Our ward can be pretty fun too. The Cub Scouts were doing a Pinewood Derby last weekend, and even though I had no reason to be there, Alison did, so I tagged along.

Ahh...the memories of graphite and having my dad do all the work

Maybe 10 years down the road I'll be doing this kind of stuff?

Well, time to get back to work. We're going to have guests.

The phone provides a worthy distraction while waiting for stuff to boil

FebRUary...everything seems so impossible!

Hey, so keeping up with this is kind of difficult! Of course, when there's errands to run and people to see, it can often be hard to break away and find some time to sit and write. It can also be difficult if I would rather be reading my Kindle or playing Civilization V. Yeah...

When we last spoke, we were getting toys and goodies from our various gifts. After a long and protracted process, we now have two more dining room chairs, a couple of lamps, a sideboard, a hallway table, a nightstand, and a vanity. Each item of furniture we obtain makes me wonder how we're ever going to move it all again...

Yes, I'd like to get a house.

No, not that one...

The place where you live and you're responsible for all that goes on...but it's yours. Where you can throw money into something that's useful, rather than just into someone else's pocket. Alison and I have been looking off and on. We've enjoyed our ward, and we wouldn't mind staying in it, but the geographical boundaries are pretty narrow. The home selection is fairly limited as well. It's challenging because I can't choose anything that has "garage face..."

Some are creepier than others....

Well, more like this...

Garage Man raises his eyebrow at you

We would like something with two stories, that isn't super old, and isn't super huge. Alison likes a good kitchen, and I'd like a good yard. It might take us a year to find something. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

I was trying to be a tricky dude and surprise Alison with tickets to

Well, the Monty Python version isn't coming to town for a couple of months, but the normal mode version did have a run at the Hobby Center downtown. My surprise failed because Alison's mom went and nearly bought tickets for all of us before I stopped her, tipping my hand. I had never seen the musical before, but I heard many of the songs on Dad's cassette growing up.

Before we went, we checked out this restaurant downtown called the Hearsay Gastro Lounge. It sounds like the kind of place you go when you have stomach cramps (or where you get them). Instead, it's a pretty neat old building in downtown Houston. We got a table on the top floor balcony...

Alison surveys the little people below...

My phace when you philch my phone

Occupying the second oldest building in Houston, the Hearsay is kind of like a trendy bar/restaurant. There were certainly a high number of young professionals here, so I didn't feel too out of place. As for the food, I'll just show a couple of pictures.

Hint: Yum

See previous caption

The play was pretty cool too. It made Alison cry, if you use that as a metric...

Later, we went on additional shopping runs.

Alison carefully weighs the merits of each alarm clock

While I weigh a wastepaper basket

Suddenly, we were well into February. That means Alison's birthday! Unfortunately gentle readers, I am not nearly as creative nor thoughtful in my birthday merrymaking...especially when it falls on a weekday where Alison has to leave at 5:45 in the morning and gets home about the same time in the evening.

What do you mean the gift hasn't arrived yet?

Yeah, I'm in trouble

Well, I managed to scrounge up a signed copy of The Phantom Tollbooth. I think she liked it.

The plan the next day was to go to see Catch Me if You Can, the musical based on the early life of Frank Abagnale. The tickets were for the wrong day. Alison jumped on the phone...

Happy Birthday!

And I guess tickets can be caught.

She won't let me go

The musical was fun, although at times the music seemed a little inconsistent, like it was trying to be too many things. I personally found the FBI agent dude's numbers to be the most interesting. I guess I've always been a sucker for the comical noire detective stuff. Must be why I like Tex Avery...

I like skyscrapers

So a good time for all.

Until I ripped my pants.

Guess it was one cycle too many...

I'll see you later, after I've gone clothes shopping. Yippy skippy.

Ring in the New Year (and let the old one DIAF)

Since it's been nearly a month since our last update, I figured it's time to get up with the Times, New Roman.

Alison and I spent our Christmas in the Snorin Sonoran Desert. Well, actually, this time, it wasn't so boring. There's something about bringing in a new person to an area that gives you an excuse to be a tourist in your own home town.

We kicked this sucker off with a traditional trip through Winterhaven, The Premier Tucson Christmas Lights Experience. Seriously, it seems to be getting more popular every year. The standbys were there: karaoke, the big-legged Santa (you just have to be there), the endless streams of horse-drawn carriages, the thinly-veiled political statements, and the light shows coordinated to 120 dB MIDIs. A nice way to spend part of Christmas Eve.

I'm so excited to be here my eyes are devilish

Even the sacred holiday of Christmas isn't exempt from the holier pasttimes

We had our usual singings and storytellings that evening. We then opened ALL THE PRESENTS. I got probably the most dangerous device I've had yet--a Kindle Paperweight Paperwhite. I ended up spending 40% of my time on it, reading 2.5 books over the 8-9 days HP allowed me to be away from work. For those of you who are curious, the first book was A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II. It says it all right there on the tin, folks, it's very good. The second book was the first Hungry Games book (I know it's old). The third is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. I'll be chewing on that one for a while. Somehow I managed to see the Miserable movie during these readings and saw the most people crying in a room outside of sacrament meeting.

I somehow convinced the kids to come with us to visit the Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley. I had known for some time that there used to be missile sites scattered around Tucson, but I never really knew much about them. The museum is quite interesting if you're in the area.

Missiles are serious business. Except to Alison.

They take you down into the secured silo, which is isolated from the surrounding earth by large springs. Blast doors are purported to withstand over 200 PSI overpressure, which means that the silo could pretty much take a direct hit from a Soviet nuke and still be running enough to make sure the Commies get some too. They also tell you how the world could have ended.

What the lady doesn't know is that she could doom us all from where she sat

Namely, they tell you how the nuke would have been fired.

The last Titan

The missile rocket motor was good enough to have been used by NASA as recently as the early 2000s.

Apropos of nothing: beagles!

The whole family (including the animals) made the trek to Windy Point on Mt. Lemmon.

Yes, it gets cold, even in Tucson

It Rocks

We made a brief visit of Tohono Chul Park. It's really close to the Reese home, but it wasn't that impressive. A lot of desert plants arranged in a garden, essentially.

Eric was so bored he yawned sideways

This is Tucson, if you ever wanted a summary picture

And no visit to Tucson is complete without a trip to the Sonoran Desert Museum. We happened to pick the coldest day to visit. Still, we managed to seem some cool things like a birds of prey demonstration and Tucsonics in parkas.

The owl contemplates its existence

The kids are fascinated by what lies beneath the plaque

WINTER IS COMING

Where does he keep that tongue?

"Oh goodie, more tourists"

My attempt at photography...apparently I need to do stuff with my corneal stop focus cone before I'm "good"

The kids convinced me to go see a Royal Teeth concert in Scottsdale. I hadn't heard of them before, but they seemed pleased that I came anyways.

How they celebrated their victory in getting me there

Alison just went with the flow...weird inlaws

COME CLOSER TO THE SPEAKER YOU CAN'T HEAR US

Here Eric finally learned the name of his band's singer

My take on the concert

In exchange, I got to request that we go to the Boneyard. I hadn't been there in several years.

Pics so it happened

Dad likes the F4

Of course, who doesn't like the Tomcat?

The DOOM TRUCK of the air, the Thunderbolt II

If a Warthog shoots you with this gun, you will not be driving today

Guess the Titan Missile Museum went to his head

This B24J was gifted back from the Indian Air Force

And of course, the iconic Flying Fortress

As you can see, there was more than we could get to. The Boneyard is where the Air Force goes for spare parts.

We rang in the new year, with families old and new.

Mom and Dad

And our grainy outdoor photo

I'd tell a little more about how we started to spend all of our gifts, but that might be enough for another post...

Just some pine...

Also, Alison got a full-time teaching job at Caney Creek High School shortly after we returned home. Guess we're going to be that much busier from here on out!