Pick a town, any town

(sung badly to the tune of "Oh Holy Night")

Oh neglected blog,
How long ere I have been here
It is a day to post something new.

A ne-ew post is gladly forthcoming
for yonder sits a new and glorious life
Where, oh where
will we live this summer? The answer comes
but not for us today... Oh where?
Where will we live?

========

The second trip to Dallas (third for James) was good. We explored an area called Oak Cliff south of the Trinity River. It's much grungier and more eclectic than Dallas proper. I don't have a better word for most of Dallas than 'sparkly' and I'm NOT a sparkly person, so I've just felt like I couldn't see myself there. Oak Cliff is definitely not sparkly. There's an area called Bishop Arts District that's full of funky little art shops, coffee houses and the best Mexican breakfast/lunch place ever. We had brunch there the day we flew home. I was able to order Mexican hot chocolate (not listed on the menu, but they were happy to make it for me) and Jrex had a veggie omelette with chorizo on the side. FANTASTIC. Looking at the people in the restaurant we saw workers in paint smattered overalls, a gay couple, a lesbian couple with their adopted child (or a very sweet biracial child they were babysitting...), two wealthy Hispanic groups, an older well-dressed African-American couple and a lots of other family groups. We both took a deep breath and thought, yeah, we could live here.




Poor Mom K, she'll never get the impressive home she'd prefer for us. We have friends in Dallas who bought a HUGE 5-bedroom house in North Dallas with a pool for $450,000. We're just not drawn to that style of life. Personally, I look at all that and think about having to keep it clean. I'm too lazy to own a big house with a big lawn.

Jrex got his preliminary written offer from S0uthwestern. He's going to have to counter them (no fun, but necessary). At the end of this week he's going to Portland by himself to evaluate the equipment and see what their written offer looks like. The director there said he'd get an offer he couldn't refuse. We'll see.

On a personal level, no matter how much better Dallas seems each time I visit, there are lots of reasons I'd prefer Portland. For Jrex, it's similar. The appeal of mountains and the outdoors is very strong for both of us. (All thoughts of family and OTRmama and her daughter aside) It's good to know that if Jrex picks Portland it won't be just for my sake (since that could lead to what-ifs and regret--which neither of us want for the other). On the other hand, if we pick Dallas, it's good to know that I could get excited about the little slice of Austin/Baltimore/San Francisco that we seem to have found.