It is not much fun to come home to an apartment empty of dogs and Jenny. Not much fun at all.

House hunting was not quite as productive as we had hoped; we saw about 20 houses on Saturday, revisited 5 on Sunday, and picked 3 we wanted to make offers on. Made the first offer on Sunday night, and Monday the fellow came back with an offer that was a) more expensive than his original asking price (?!) and b) wouldn't appraise anyway. People are weird about selling their house. To make a long story short, we passed on even trying to negotiate with him. Made the second offer yesterday; haven't heard back yet. Hoping for the best, but trying not to be too hopeful in case we get shot down. :-P

I had a job interview Saturday as well—a completely informal not-really-an-interview-but-really-an-interview lunch, anyway. Came out of it very excited about the job. I was the first person they'd talked to, as they had seized the opportunity to talk to me while I was in town anyway. Like I said, I would be delighted to take this job if it were offered. Again, trying not to be too hopeful…

Tonight I went and finally saw Matrix Reloaded. As for whether it was a worthy successor or not, I'm reserving judgement; I just don't think anyone can really say until the third movie comes out. It's possible that some of the slightly disjointed stuff will make more sense once some of the meta-mysteries get resolved (assuming they do). Overall it was reasonably enjoyable.

Okay, I have to respond to Lileks' post about M:R. I actually have two parallel responses to his criticisms, one of which spoils the plot twist and one of which doesn't (for the spoiler versions, hit this).

Well, Jen and I have sort of finalized the list of houses we want to look at in Austin next week. We have between 23 and 30 houses to look at, plus/minus any new ones that pop up or any that get bought in the next few days.

I'm actually really looking forward to it. The thought of having a back yard to hang out in and watch the dogs play in, and not having to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the front door, and not having to be annoyed that the neighbors have just left one of the grocery carts outside their door (and thus outside ours as well) again… well, it seems like a fantasy world, that's what. We have what seems to be a good realtor, though, so that probably helps. :) It amazes me how many people go looking for houses (or better, try to sell one) without the help of a realtor. Yeah, 7% of the cost of a house is a fair amount of money, but having observed my mother for years, a good realtor will earn that money.

Busy weekend… we went to Louisville and hit the infield for the Kentucky Derby… photos here. Lots of fun. The infield is a crazy, crazy place. We even managed to more or less break even, as I picked the winning horse in the Derby. Played Beer Pong with Jen's family, then street hockey the next day, ate brunch at Lynn's, and had a two-family cookout. Fun all around, though I'm a bit tired out and definitely sunburned.