On the Move

Cross-posted on the Shock Family Circus Blog.

We announced our move to Austin early last month. With that came a job search for me and house hunting for the family. I'm happy to announce that we've found both - a new job and a new house. I started my job search at the beginning of December. After three weeks I had four job interviews and received two offers. I actually cancelled one of the interviews as my schedule wouldn't allow for it and I had already received the offers. I'll be working for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as a web developer. It's the same job I've been doing for the past 13 years, just with a new employer in a different part of the country.

We are renting a four bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, two car garage, 2400+ sq ft single family home on a corner lot on a cul-de-sac in the Round Rock suburb of North Austin. It's an awesome house. It's over a thousand square feet bigger than our condo in Virginia. We need the room as the family had outgrown the condo. The house has a fenced in backyard so the boys have a safe place to run around. There's also an outdoor fireplace and built in grill, so the adults can enjoy the backyard and we can entertain outside all year long. The garage is detached, which totally fascinates me but I don't know why. It'll be nice not having neighbors who share "common area". I'm planning on commuting by bike because public transportation in Austin isn't as robust as it is in DC, I need the exercise, and I want to maintain our single car family status.

In other good news, The Mortgage Debt Relief Act was extended through 2013 as part of the Fiscal Cliff legislation. That means we won't be taxed on the forgiven debt of our short sale. We were hoping to close by the end of 2012 so as to avoid the taxation, since we didn't know if the MDRA was going to get extended. We haven't closed yet due to circumstances out of our control, but with the extension, the pressure is off.

I was hoping to ride all this good fortune into a fantasy football championship, but that didn't happen. I have the highest winning percentage in my league over the last 5 seasons, I've been in the playoffs six straight years but have a 1-11 post season record. In the 12 years I've been playing in the league that I'm commissioner of, my best finish has been third place. :(

Fantasy Football and Relationships

Fantasy and Relationships: "You know fantasy football is no longer a niche hobby when it's a major topic of discussion in Carolyn Hax's online chat, which by the way was the most viewed article on the Web site by late Friday. For those who missed it, a woman from Reston [VA] wrote that her husband e-mailed to ask if the couple could switch the appointment they currently have to induce labor to accommodate his fantasy football draft. For emphasis, accommodate was in all capital letters. Then she wrote she's not in jail at the moment and very proud of herself for it.

Carolyn's witty retort: "Hey, isn't that the beauty of inducing? You can schedule it?"

One commenter had this to say on the matter: "From today's chat I've learned that: (a) women don't understand why you would congratulate a friend for dating a hot chick; and (b) the importance of fantasy football. Is there any better metaphor for understanding the sexes?

Sounds about right to me."

Football

It's about time I blogged about football. The season got underway three weeks ago, and this is my first post. My Redskins are off to a 2-1 start under rookie head coach Jim Zorn. They didn't look so good the first game of the season on the road against division foes and defending Superbowl champs the Giants, but looked like a playoff team in home wins against the Saints and Cardinals. They face the Cowgirls this Sunday in their last regular season game in the rust bucket Texas Stadium. The Cowgirls are arguably the best team in the league, but like the saying goes "On any given Sunday." The pic says it all. I had a VA Redskins license plate on the Z [RIP]. Gots to show my love to my team everywhere I go. The Redskins are in the toughest division in the league. The NFC East is a combined 10-2 after 3 weeks.

My season ticket upper bowl pair were upgraded this season, so we are not in the nosebleeds anymore. Chronic appreciates that. I love going to the games. I redeemed some of my Redskins credit card points for a new Redskins waterproof windbreaker and a polo shirt I can wear to work. I also redeemed points for a 19" LCD HDTV. It's great getting this stuff for "free". I was shooting for a free pair of Superbowl tickets, but they are 300,000 points. I'll be dead before I could earn enough points.

I'm fantasy football league commissioner for the 7th straight year. We changed fantasy websites from Yahoo to Flea Flicker this season. We've retained the league name "All Killer No Filler" for consistency sake. Flea Flicker is a free keeper league, neither of which Yahoo offers. The core group of players are back. We have one new player this year, another female, putting the league chick count at 3. Lots of girl-on-girl action. My team, "Reefer Sutherland" is 3-0, ranked 1st in the division and 2nd in league. I was the #1 seed and scored the most points going into last years playoffs (thank you Tom Brady), but lost both playoff games and ended up 4th overall. After 5 years of mediocre seasons, it's nice to be one of the dominant teams.

Hail to the Redskins!