(By Lazlo) Everything's pretty much official now: we're moving back to Austin in less than a week. I interviewed with a nonprofit org associated with a denomination named after a MAJOR REFORMATION PLAYER (think major), and they liked me. I'll be doing tech support for people who take care of orphans, old people, and disaster victims. Honestly, it's more than I was hoping and praying for. My mental template for the organization I wanted to work for was Mennonite Central Committee -- and this is as close as you can get in central Texas -- but I thought I was going to end up working someplace more like SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLY. (Yes, I applied for a tech support job at Sally.) So December 14, Baby and the girls will be flying and CHET/BARTON and I will be driving from Los Angeles to Austin. Chet is flying in from Austin just to help us pack our stuff into into two 6'x7'x8' "cubes" (really rectangular prisms) and make the arduous drive through the deserts of Arizona and west Texas, and therefore wins the coveted FRIEND OF THE DECADE award.

We have a place to live, too. We'll be renting an apartment within walking distance of several Austin institutions, including fixture of my junior high and college years DART BOWL (formerly CAPITOL/CAPITAL BOWL -- I remember it being spelled both ways), a fancy newish HALF PRICE BOOKS, and GINNY'S LITTLE LONGHORN. It's going to be the baddest.

I never imagined when I started this blog -- childless, bored, overburdened with free time -- that almost four years later I'd be writing it not primarily for the people we left behind in Austin, but the people we're now leaving behind in Los Angeles. So if you're our friend and you live in LA, expect some features gearing toward your demographic soon. Feel free to make suggestions.

If you're used to calling me on my work cell phone (the number that starts with 487), you should get out of the habit. Call Kate's cell phone instead.

Also, I submitted my real last assignment for school yesterday at lunch. Woo hoo!