Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.

It was my dad’s birthday last week, so he suggested that I come down to the Taste of New Orleans event in San Antonio at the Sunken Gardens theatre where his company was providing security. The event itself is put on by the San Antonio Zulu Association, and this is their 20th year as a part of Fiesta. It was my dad’s second year working the event, and he beat out sizable competition in the bidding process. I learned a lot about how he runs his business by asking a lot of questions, and I had a great time riding around with him in his golf cart and meeting all kinds of people. I forgot how good he was at jawboning with people and making jokes. I also forgot how cool San Antonio could really be. It’s not a youthful and pretentious hipster enclave like Austin and it has a real feel of community to it for such a large city. When I first moved to Austin, I was stunned at how white it was. This is in part due to its de facto segregation into East and West Austin. You could say the same thing about San Antonio, but it is certainly more obviously diverse.

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Absent last minute alterations, I’ve decided to leave NCSoft at the end of May after we finish everything we need to do for E3. It’s the best decision since I won’t have to leave the team hanging and I’ll have ample opportunities to earn overtime. Between now and then I will need to curtail any extra spending in order to be in the absolute best financial position to launch the business on a full-time basis.

• Jody took this adorable photo at her apartment complex of an inexplicable stuffed bear with a sign that read “Take me home”. A boy there explained that it was broken in a few places so they were throwing it out. I had to reign in the kitsch impulse to keep from taking it home.
• Sarah got to go to a cable television trade show and made a hilarious Weather Channel video. Check it out on her site.

Freelance web design is something I fell into courtesy of a friend named Phil. It is not something I ever planned on doing. When he referred my first client to me over three years ago he unwittingly changed my path in life. That one chance circumstance taught me three things: that it was possible to work for myself, that the client / provider relationship is more satisfying and egalitarian than the employee / employer relationship, and that if I could work hard and provide something people needed I could live without depending on a “boss” or anyone else for that matter. For that I will always be indebted to him.

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Jody and I spent the weekend moving. It was hard work. All I can say is that I’m glad it’s over. I think I’ll pay for movers next time. It’s just too much work, especially since my plan to get rid of anything non-essential was a colossal failure.

I’m excited about the new location, but I’ll miss a lot of things about the old neighborhood like the greenery, the quietness, and the proximity to Barton Springs Pool where I love to swim.

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Saturday I officially turned 28 years old. Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate. I was surprised and humbled that so many people remembered. I’m very lucky to know such great and caring people. I hope I can return the favor. 

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I’ve been reading this book about marketing techniques since I am in the process of designing an actual, finished website for the business. I’ve been putting it off somewhat because I want to do a good job on it. Before I can start work on the website, I need to determine what I’m trying to communicate and how to go about it. I’ve learned some useful tips and information that I’d like to share with you.

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1. I’m moving to north Austin near the Arboretum soon. I’m very familiar with the location since it was my route area for 3 years when I worked at Fedex. I took some pictures of the new apartment and I will post them soon enough when I get a chance. It is suprisingly difficult to find one bedroom apartments with washer / dryer connections that are affordable enough, but I think I did really well tracking one down.
2. I generally don’t use locators because they make higher referral fees for promoting less desirable apartments. What I did do this time was sit down with a sheet of paper and the telephone, open up Google maps to my city, and then click “local search”. You need to click “local search” from Google maps rather than using Google Local. Just drag the map around with your cursor until you find the areas you are interested in living in. When you find a desired area, just type in “apartments”, then clear the “where” input field and hit the “Search” button. This will search for “apartments” in the area you have shown on the screen. Then you just use the map flags to get the phone number and address and call the complex to ask about their prices. Here’s a screenshot.
   
3. You can change your address online. I have done this before, but it may be news to you.
4. Something else I learned, Uhaul charges different rates for different types of the same vehicle. For example, if you’re moving in town, be sure to ask for the in-town only vehicle, which amounts to a $10 price difference in most cases. They charge a rate of $19.99 for the 14ft truck in town for a 24 hour period plus mileage. It is helpful to know that the mileage rate is $.59 per mile Sunday – Thursday, and $.89 per mile Friday – Saturday, so if you need the truck to move on a Friday try to make your reservation for Thursday evening so you lock in the $.59 per mile rate instead of the $.89 per mile rate.