But today – finally – I can go online and see how cold it is outside. Whew!

We found a house to rent. It’s a small house, but it has some good qualities, not least of which is that it is actually in Paonia. We were concerned we wouldn’t be able to find a place near where our lives are. But everything has worked out, and the biggest issue is cramming ourselves into a smaller place.

Moving date is 11/2. We’ll send out a call for help, but we’ve already had several people volunteer (yes, that is the coolness level of the people who live in Paonia) to partake in the event.

We expect our home phone to remain the same, and the same goes for our business number (my cell for now). We’ll let people know the new mailing address when we get our P.O. box (no street delivery at the new place)

Background: For those who wonder WHY we’re moving, our landlords are moving back to their house in November. They’re really nice people who started the Haystack Goat Dairy over in Niwot (near Boulder). Now that the dairy and the goat cheese business is doing well, they’re retiring to Paonia.

So we got the boot, albeit very thoughtfully and generously.

There are still several important things to work through, but we have a mission statement and a vision statement we both feel good about. This is a noteworthy improvement over Informify.com, where we never really got behind the point of the site. Which meant it would never really feed our souls the way it would have to if we expected to spend 16 hours a day on it.

I’m still not back on the productivity train I’d planned to catch this week, but I’m improving. Right now my to-do list includes

• stuff for clients (paying work)
• stuff for the house (Fixing a banister, a lamp, and brushing dog teeth)
• lots of stuff so we can make money again
• selling a truck (Interested in ’97 2WD Ford Ranger? Anyone?)
• getting in shape again

On the last item, I can proudly say that got up and took a bike ride this morning. I fully intend to do the same thing tomorrow morning. Hopefully I’ll have cut a couple pounds by the time we attend the San Francisco wedding of some friends of ours we knew in San Luis Obispo, which occurs on the 20th. (The bride-to-be is sharp as a tack, and rarely passes up the opportunity to point out my shortcomings — albeit playfully). It’s not so much a need to impress her as much as a need to offer as small of a target as possible.)

We’re looking forward to getting back to SLO for awhile. It’s been 3 years since we left, and there are definitely some places and peeps that we sorely miss.

I guess it must have to do with the transition away from Informify to whatever it is we’re doing next. Don’t get me wrong – we have some GREAT ideas for the next site, but the ideas are so vague that I get anxious about how to take the next steps. I’ve always been susceptible to fears of the unknown. One of my least-liked weaknesses.

And the money’s gone now. With only small injections of income in the meantime, the money we made from selling our house in California lasted us 3 YEARS. In no way to I wish I’d invested the money or saved it and kept working. I actually did some living during the past few years, learning much about myself. My relationship with Thea is stronger than ever. I have good friends. Life has been great. But reality is in our face now, big time.

If different people had been running the show, Informify probably would have turned into something. But we’re us, and we’re both relieved to get out from under the yoke of that project.

The new project (still nameless after hours of discussion) will be very cool. Of course, it will be demanding, but we now know better what kind of work schedule works for us; it will be easy for us to build the new business with this in mind. There will be some major technology challenges in this project – perhaps even challenges that will need major money to overcome. But the promise of the project overall is very encouraging.

So that is what I’ll try to focus on as we pull ourselves out of this malaise. Monday I want to get back to work so I can feel productive again – even if I don’t know what’s coming down the road.

Today we did some work on the new business, met with Laura, and ran errands. I just watched both the American mens’ and womens’ 4 X 100 meter relay race teams drop the baton. What better time to start a blog?