the red tent and neverwhere

For some reason, the word that kept coming to me while I read The Red Tent is "cute". There's just something overly smooth and pat about the whole thing. Glad to have read it, anyway, I'd been curious about it for a long time.

Neverwhere is absolutely wonderful, I read it in a day. AK recommended it to me over my objections that I did not like the other Gaiman book I'd read, Good Omens. Will pay attention to her recommendations in the future.

what's happening at home

The Orlando nightclub shooting last night put another weight on the scales of wanting to work at home versus overseas. I'm really excited about the move to Pakistan, it's going to be amazing. But there is so, so much to be done here. Like banning assault weapons and handguns.

real estate

Kind of wishing that I'd gotten my act together this year to buy a studio or 1BR somewhere in DC. Not going to beat myself up about it because (1) that's silly and (2) everything this year has been up in the air so not only is hindsight 20/20, sight as it happened was like 20/400. But man, I could be paying off a mortgage and earning a bit of rental income while living abroad, and then have a place to move back into whenever I want to come back to DC. Blows my mind that colleagues and friends who make more than I do don't buy.

For example: At my upcoming salary I can afford up to $2000 or so a month in home ownership costs (mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc.). No need to pay that much, if I bought an apartment for $280,000 I'd be looking at $1100 or so per month. Add on $100 for a management company and $250 for maintenance and it's $1450. A nice 1BR in Columbia Heights or Lanier Heights rents for easily $2000, and it's normal to add utilities onto that, so that offsets. Conservatively, then, I'm covering the mortgage and management costs and probably earning a little bit extra. That may be overly sunny and I'm clearly not an expert but it seems like a no-brainer on paper. And it doesn't need to be a money-maker. Even if I'm just breaking even, it's appealing.

Might be something to consider once my feet are under me in Pakistan. Maybe in 2017. The only thing I'm really short on is cash for a down payment but I can save a lot in the next year. Then again interest rates will have gone up by then. Damn!

the sixth extinction

Deserved the Pulitzer it won, a masterwork of long-form journalism. Riveting, illuminating, sobering. Will recommend left and right.

aaaand i'm back

What a packed week. The meetings were a bit inconclusive, for the most part, but it was good to finally get in the room and spend some time with so many people that I'll be working with over the next couple of years. Most of them I'd met or at least worked with remotely already, but there really is no substitute for talking face-to-face, or for going out for dinner and a beer after the meetings are over. And I got some time with AI (new boss), which was great because he's hard to pin down over email.

Home now to the humid rain, so-far-moderate jet lag, and a need to go to the grocery store.