On a windy day...

...you either feel REALLY slow, or that you are exceptionally fast.

I kept thinking of this adage as I rode to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I felt stronger than usual, and noted that I was using higher gears than I usually do when riding to work.

On the way home, I felt like I was riding into more wind than usual--I was--but I still did well on my speeds and times.

On Tuesday, Jenn showed up at the store a bit before closing time, so that we could do some drive-by house inspections. She's pushing to buy a house while we can get the big tax credit, and I have agreed with the prospect--as long as we can get a house we can afford to buy AND maintain.

In my work with New Directions, I saw a lot of folks who bought houses based on their ability to get credit, but who didn't think in terms of having enough room in their credit rating or budgets to allow for repairs and maintenance of those houses. Decades later, the houses are in disrepair and they don't have the money to get things done. I don't want to put myself in that position.

On the other hand, houses that I think are in a reasonable price range tend to be well outside my commute range from work. The effective cost of living in such a house would be unreasonable in terms of additional commute time/costs or other values. It's tough to find a house that meets both sets of needs, especially since we didn't get started on this process until late in the tax credit timeline.