A year ago yesterday, I made the largest purchase in my life. And one year later, I've paid off less than $2000 of the debt (because of money going to taxes, PMI, and interest). This seems strange to me.
A paper version of my 550 page textbook (along with a CD containing a PDF version) was placed in a FedEx envelope on Friday, and is (presumably) on its way to the publisher (Pearson). By next fall, there should be a stack of textbooks in the bookstore with my name on it, published by a real publishing company (as opposed to the print shop at the community college). This also seems strange to me. What's even more strange is that I published something in poker before I published something in math.
I'm starting the process of working on my third year review. This means that I'm coming close to being in Las Vegas for three years. I've enjoyed living here, and am looking forward to being here for as long as I get to be here. In theory, this also means that I'm four years away from tenure (at least, assuming that I manage to do all the things I need to do to get it at a high enough level of performance). It's strange how fast if feels like I've reached the almost-midway point, but also how far away the finish line seems to be.
One week from tomorrow, we're scheduled to do a crawfish boil. This means that later this week, a 40 pound bag of critters that are closely related to the cockroach will be flown from Louisiana to Las Vegas. And if all goes well, they won't die until we kill them. For some reason, this seems less strange.
Church stuff continues onward. I had a good chat with the church administrator, and I'm looking forward to seeing where we go in the summer months as things continue to settle out. I don't think my concerns have lessened at all in the last month (in fact, my concerns have gone up), but it sure seems that I'm staying put for at least a little while longer. There are some things that I need to sort out personally, including my view of Sunday morning services (which is fairly negative right now). I wish that things at church seeming not to be going particularly well should be a strange thing, but it's becoming increasingly normal.
