Excuses.

So first of - I appologize for disappearing into the black hole of no communication for the last month. I've not written or talked on the phone other than brief calls to the folks for about a month now. That includes reading any journals. Hell, I've just started catching up on comics this week. I never feel bad about it until after it happens. When I look around and realize I've probably been offensive to folks who I care about. So again, Sorry. I feel much better now.

This bought of quiet was generated by a)travel followed very quickly with b)sickness. It was a very quiet Easter that went something like this:
1. sit on couch
2. get up and make ham
3. collapse on couch

We did get out to the rockin' Lutherans [insert guitar riff] though honestly I was kind of out of it when we were there. Most of Good Friday I spent huddled on the couch watching movies. I watched Life of Brian at some point. I did not make any rabbit of Inley cookies. I did get our taxes sent in. Two weeks later, I'm finally not so sick that I can't do anything. Of course, guru is now looking flu-y. :/

I read a few books since my birthday - the Hallow Hunt by Bujold and Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Ving. I've also discovered a library branch on my way home from work, so I now have a whole new fiction section to go through. For my birthday, Guru fixed and upgraded our G4 so we now have a good computer to play Civ IV on. He's started to play more, which makes me feel like less of a game hog. Beyond that we've just been trying to stay above water.

Tax wise we came out even, which is just the way I like it. I've got to do some banking soon, but at least I know there's no hugh payment waiting out in the dark for me. We've been chatting more with our lender and now have some numbers based on our inflow/outflow. She's saying we can afford what I've termed as a "standard house" instead of of a condo or a townhouse. Guru is *highly* sceptical. We go for a second opinion sometime in may. Not just another lender but a friend in missions work who has lived abroad and state side. If anyone has a decent perpective, it will be him. Basically I'm looking to answer two questions about buying a house:
1. Are we selling out to the american dream of keeping up with the jones? Families live in apts all the time.
2. Conversely, are we squandering the bounty God has given us by not investing it wisely? Could we help more people if we weren't renting.