Living in TN for now (sigh) ... Politics ... birdwatching ....

I've been in the Memphis area for 2 years now, but I kept hoping that the next recruiter to call me would find me a job back home in Minnesota. Well, that simply didn't happen. It finally dawned on me after another unsuccessful job hunt in October 2008, that I wasn't a hot prospect anymore, at least not in Minnesota.

Shawnne kept up hope far longer, but I think she realized that things weren't getting better for either of us. We also realized that we could no longer afford to keep up 1 1/2 households.

So, I sold some more slide rules to get some money for the move and I started looking for a house to rent. I should actually say the Shawnne started to look. She used the web and pulled a bunch of addresses in the Memphis area. I ruled some out automatically but others I attempted to visit. Most of what I saw were unimpressive. There were all almost identical houses on postage stamp lots. No privacy.

One Wednesday Shawnne located a nice looking house on the outskirts of Memphis that we very close to work. It was also one of the cheaper places not in Memphis proper. I visited it, like it and made an offer.
We made a down payment and planned for a end of May move. It was quite a lot of work to pack, all of which was done by Shawnne. Shawnne also put a lot of our stuff in storage for who knows how long. Our neighbors (well not quite neighbors), Hans and Kelly helped us pack. The move wasn't completely uneventful. We broke some things along the way. Maybe a bonfire would have been better than moving all the stuff.

We are not completely settled in but we are making a start. Shawnne is only now realizing how religious these people are. It isn't quite home sweet home, but we are together again.

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http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/02/muslim.minister.defrocked/index.html
Episcopal minister defrocked after becoming a Muslim

One wonders at what lacunae in Ann Redding's education led her to believe that Islam and any other religion are compatible? A basic understanding of Islam will introduce the 'pillars'. Even those basic 'pillars' aren't compatible with Christianity. After all few Christians will accept the Mohammed as a true profit. Behind those pillars there are concepts that are implied. For example all Muslims believe that the scriptures of Jews and Christians are corrupted. Publicly Islam has the concept of 'People Of the Book' but if you read Muslim discussions (as I do for a laugh) one finds out that only those who follow Islamic concepts of God are accepted as real 'People Of the Book'. That leaves out most Christians. Many Muslims believe that many ancient Christians weren't trinitarians (and that is probably true) but they believe that those who weren't were usually following an Islamic concept of God (and that isn't true at all). Most Christians in the early days developed a theology that tried to explain Jesus. All of those that I have read about have Jesus as having a relation to the godhead far closer than what Mohammed had.

I assume that Ann Redding must have been a very modern Episcopal priest, one who probably had no particular beliefs in Jesus (if one reads Evelyn Waugh one would assume that a modern Anglican might be an atheist). So perhaps for the first time in her recent life Ann Redding felt a spiritual experience. Her reaction was quite normal. One wonders why she didn't accept her feelings and leave the church she has pledged her loyalty to? I guess a paying gig is all important.

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The Republicans have become the party of 'No' recently. I understand their dismay at the current budget, but I wish they had posted their objections when Shrub was placing the war costs off budget. Does anyone doubt the if McCain had won, that the budget numbers would be similar? The current administration has a mess to clean up and it takes a lot of money.

The party of the last 8 years is really over. The financial sector in the US has grown greatly over a generation. They have taken in massive profits, but given the mess that they have created one wonders if it was all worth it. Someone's profit is another person's cost and our country as a whole is paying for the cost for rise of the economic sector.

Getting back to Dr. No, I don't think the Republicans have any true alternative strategy. It's the Goldwater years again, just without the racism.

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Yesterday Shawnne sent me a listing for a house that is pretty close to work. The place looked a mess, but the listing said that one should ignore the front ('don't judge a book by the cover'). This afternoon I went by the place and it is the first place in Memphis that I really like. It is a older house on what was obviously a larger farm. (A barn is on the same lot.) In any event this is somewhere I could call home if the interior is in the least acceptible. Who knows maybe I have found our new home.

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