August arrives on Wednesday and I am reminded this Monday morning why I’m not usually fond of the weather in early August in Indiana…it’s hotter than Hades, mostly dry and often humid.

But luckily this usually only lasts a few weeks and by mid-September things get much more comfortable and it is quite enjoyable to be outside (until mid-November anyway).

But hey, training for the new football season is underway and the Indiana State Fair is just around the corner, so it’s not all that bad! Bring on the pig skin and pork burgers!

UPDATE

Within a few hours the weather prophets change their mind…

Is it just me or are “Home Owners Associations” (HOA) pointless for the most part, at least in “middle class” neighborhoods?

I think my biggest peeve with our HOA is the fact that our neighborhood is actually three neighborhoods AND the “covenants” all differ to some extent (according to a friend of mine who used to be on the HOA Board, that’s supposed to be resolved sometime) AND I have not seen a place that is easy to find the updated versions of the covenants (how about a PDF on a web site?).  That’s not very helpful at all.

My question is, what can the HOA actually do to a home owner that refuses to abide by the covenants?  Sure they can constantly bug the home owner, put their name in some sort of report and threaten some sort of legal action, but do I really want my HOA fees going toward that instead of snow removal in the winter?

Does anyone have a HOA that actually works AND has the backing of the home owners?  It would seem to me that you’d really need the home owners to care about home values and such for covenants to be effective.  For example, you’re not seriously going to sue the numerous home owners in the neighborhood that do not have the correct mail boxes installed.  Sure, it may look tacky for “Vinylville” to be so nonuniform, but how do you make people understand that AND make them want to conform to the covenants?

I seriously don’t know what would work, especially in what would be considered a “starter” neighborhood where people move in and move out like there’s no tomorrow.  Ideas?

Looking back at 2006 I’d have to say that it was an excellent year, though as always, it went by way too fast.

I’m sure that a certain thought is running through people’s heads right now, so I’ll address the whole unemployment/self-employment situation first…

Getting “RIFed” (”Reduction in Force”, a.k.a. “Layoffs”) was a blessing and what I was praying for AND what I instinctively knew was coming. In relation to my former employer, it is becoming more apparent as I stay in touch with my former peers that if it hadn’t been last year, it would almost certainly have been this year. But I feel the timing was just right in my case.

By now everyone has heard me mention that the job market, especially in my specialty, in Indiana is horrible at best. And in order to land a decent “day job” it may come down to knowing someone who knows someone. But I’m at ease with that as I know that I’m not the one in control. Bottom line, I’ll do what I have to do to support my family. Times may get tough and sacrifices may have to be made, but we’ll make it through God willing.

With that said, my heart is sold on pursuing Watershed Studio as long as God keeps the green light on. While I had the idea in my head years ago, it had to die for some time as I became more knowledgeable in the field. Once it was resurrected close to two years ago with a slower and steadier course charted, things really began to fall into place. And during the past six months (once the layoff kicked in) the pace began to pick up and God has truly been blessing me with business opportunities from all over the world.

Also, I must mention that the unemployment checks have been a tremendous help, as you are allowed to make money being self-employed AND are still considered unemployed in weeks that you don’t have any revenue since you don’t have a formal full-time employer. That surprised me a bit since that does actually make sense in regards to allowing people to be productive and not penalizing them for it.

So in a nutshell, that is the whole “job” situation. Once my unemployment balance is drained in about a month or so, we’ll definitely be stepping out in faith that God will continue to provide what is needed. While that part of being self-employed is a little nerve wracking at times, it is a great reminder that we are not in control and that there will be peaks and valleys in life.

Beyond all of the job specific stuff (which truly is the main event of 2006), it has been amazing to be able to be at home with my children during the day. Ole’ dad can be a little boring at times, especially when he’s trying to answer work related e-mails and phone calls (as you can imagine it is a little hard to work while watching toddlers…so many late nights are spent actually working on the programming projects that I have going on), but I hope the kids enjoy the time spent together as well (and I think that they do). If I had to make a resolution this year (I hate resolutions since they’re really something you should be doing anyway) it would be to do more fun stuff with my children during the day. While I’m loving the fact that my snow shovel has sat in the garage all year, I’m really looking forward to a good snow storm to take the kids out in and then to come back inside and throw on some sweat pants and warm back up.

Other than that, the other item that might be of interest would be in the church realm. Our “house church” gets together quite frequently for various activities (and more than just on Sunday). The community aspect is great and it’s been nice being able to help others out in major ways (by our standards anyway). I would say that we still have plenty of room to grow as a group and as individuals (I’m no exception), but we’re slowly moving along and are seeking after God. My prayer is that 2007 will usher us father down the path in pursuit of Him.

For those of you wondering how long an uncarved pumpkin will last outside in Indiana, somewhere around Christmas is the “deflate date” given the sort of weather that we’ve had this year. (If temperatures were close to normal, that might be a little longer, as long as it’s not too cold.)

And to answer the “Why did you still have uncarved pumpkins outside at Christmastime?” question…

Short answer: Procrastination that lead to my “creative” oddness (which I don’t think anyone else was into)…and more procrastination.

Longer answer: I never got around to carving the pumpkins at Halloween this year and thought they made nice Thanksgiving decorations. I was certain that they’d be mush or some neighborhoodlums would have done something to them by Thanksgiving, but that didn’t happen. So while sitting out the Christmas decorations I thought, maybe I could carve them for Christmas (like luminaries). And of course, that didn’t take place either.

With some nudging I threw them away this morning, which was a good thing as they started to *finally* become a little mushy. But now that the idea has came and past, maybe others can run with it next year and let the new “red, green & orange” Christmas tradition take on a life of its own.

Christmas is now over and I think that my world is starting to come back into some sort of order now that I had the chance to actually sit and stare at the oodles of new toys that everyone got for the little ones…we’ve managed to get *most* of them out of their packages, which is saying something for me, because, as I stated, I tend to just stare at the things. (While some toys these days are much cooler than what I had as a kid, why have they cheapened some of the old standards like “Blocks”?)

Anyway, I am a little glad to see December coming to a close and 2007 peeking at me from around the corner. While I do like December quite a bit, it does get a little overwhelming towards the end after the umpteenth event that is squeezed in, not to mention all of the traveling. But it is good. My only real complaint is that the older I get, the less it “feels” like Christmastime. Maybe that’s just me though since I have way too much going on “upstairs” and can hardly distinguish one day from the next anymore…maybe I’ll formulate a Cyborg conspiracy later.