Moving again

Last year when we decided to move to Vacaville we thought we had a solid plan. Keep our jobs in Concord, live in Vacaville, use 2008 to find jobs in Sacramento, then leapfrog Sacramento and find a place to live in Auburn or Placerville. Bullet-proof.

We didn’t count on the economy turning on us. So no jobs in Sacramento. And no leapfrogging to Auburn or Placerville. I also didn’t count on my job in Concord being moved to Livermore.

But Vacaville to Livermore is 65 miles. I can’t drive that distance twice a day, AND pay $5 to use the bridge. And we can’t continue to pay $1600 a month in rent here in Vacaville. That’s just silly.

So the plan has changed. Hunker down. Ride out the recession. Keep my job with Comcast (the one that’s moving to Livermore). That means moving closer to Livermore.

Right now that’s looking like Manteca, which is 35 miles away (and no bridge toll). We like Manteca. It’s quiet. It’s strategically located between highways 5 and 99, right along 120.

120, which is the road to Yosemite. Awww yeah!

Our new location will put us about 2 hours away from Yosemite Valley. I’m liking the sound of that a lot.

We’ll also be very close to Yum’s favorite highway–88, which is the road to Kirkwood. It’s also our favorite way to get to Tahoe.

Our lease is up at our current apartment on May 1st, and that’s right around the time that my job is moving from Concord to Livermore. So far, so good.

Everything is going according to (the new) plan. And I love it when a plan comes together.

The New Palm Pre

The New Palm Pre mobile device / cellular phone. I’m suffering some serious technolust right now. This thing completely blows me away.

I remember when the iPhone came out. I wanted one. But, I refused to go back to AT&T. I thought if I waited long enough, AT&T’s exclusivity would end. It’s been almost two years now–still exclusive to AT&T. Then the Google Android G1 came out. T-Mobile only? Bleah. I’ll wait for a different carrier. I was briefly interested in the new Blackberry Storm for Verizon. That is, until I actually tried to use one–hated the interface.

Sigh. What’s a gadget geek like me to do? And then Palm comes out of nowhere and introduces the Pre–and knocks my socks off.

The Pre’s hardware design and UI are top-notch. It makes the iPhone look old and clunky. The concept of ‘synergy’ is revolutionary–all your info, from all your sources, all in one app on the Pre.

Drops on Sprint soon. I can’t wait! I’ll be one of the first in line =)

Ahhh, Truckee…

Just got back from Truckee–our first trip of the year. It’s only been three months since our last trip, but it seems like forever. We really need to spend more time in the mountains.

We drove up Sunday afternoon, spent the night, and drove home this afternoon. It’s pretty nice being a two-hour drive away. And it was sooo relaxing. There was snow everywhere and it was very quiet. And very cold–last night it was around 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

I barbecued some ribeyes and baked potatoes last night for dinner. For midnight snacks we had some napoli pizza. This morning we had leftovers and some nice English Breakfast tea.

It’s always nice to spend time at the cabin. Even if you don’t do anything but lounge around and chat, like we did this trip. The minute you set foot in the door you can feel your stress melting away…