In no particular order:

1. Hiking up snow in Yaktrax = the sh!t. Hiking up snow, alternated with pristine sidewalks, in Yaktrax = the suck.

(1a. Detaching muddy Yaktrax from shoes = impossible.)

2. Buy the best possible winter coat you can. Every time you open the closet and see it, you'll be all "why did I drop so much cash on this?" ... and then 15 minutes into the weather outside, you'll remember and thank yourself.

I'm DJing again!

It's been almost three months since I've played music for tango dancers, and while it's been really nice just to be a spectator (read: show up, dance, have fun, go home), I've missed watching people in funny shoes and interesting clothes walk around backwards to music I've picked out.

I'm in! And so are all my belongings. It got a little hectic for a while, viz:

But after a few days of sorting and organizing it looks like a real home. Pictures hung on the walls and everything!

I had such fantastic help with the moving, particularly since I apparently have a surfeit of Real Furniture that includes a lot of wooden, heavy objects. I owe a crew of folks some very nice dinner sometime soon.

Moving day is in four days. FOUR DAYS.

Woo-hoo!

Well, barring any major catastrophes, I should be moved into the new condo in a few weeks. Which means I am officially broke, and officially proud as hell. Somehow I've managed to cram a bunch of big life-altering changes (moving, new job, new digs, etc etc etc) into the space of a few months, and as long as I can hold it all together for a few more weeks, it should all turn out just fine.

Hang on, did I just buy a house?

OK, I didn't, not yet. But I think I found a place. Very exciting ... here's hoping it all works out! While I've been involved in the whole homebuying rigamarole before as a friend/girlfriend/occupant of someone's new place, this is the first time it's been my own home at stake. What a strange mix of utterly fun and totally terrifying.

Wow, so I've been working out at least five times a week for almost the last month now, and I've been busy buying (or at least trying to buy, it's not exactly easy) a condo, and I've been all over town dancing and getting to know lots of new dancers and ...

I. Am. Exhausted.

Spent the weekend working on the Cabeceo visualizer app idea I mentioned in my last post ... the end result is really, really hack-y and not really something suitable for giving to others (unless someone actually asked, which a few folks have). But it works. Can't wait to have a DJ gig on which to try the new system out.

On the "DJing more gooder" front: Enough people have asked me where they can get a copy of my tango DJ iTunes visualizer (which displays current orquesta, song name, type of dance and a spiffy Lawrence Tango logo) that I figured it was time to get serious and try to make a standalone version that didn't (a) rely on my convoluted way of setting up tango music in iTunes (b) lean on a third-party piece of software (I'm running the visualizer on Bowtie, which is a great little app but it's still someone else's app.)

One week into Boulder. New job starts tomorrow; I'm excited. Living situation is splendid for a temporary arrangement; I have a nice basement to stay in with a fancy steam-room shower, two friendly kitties and a very nice landlady.