Denver

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• 1 cup beef bullion
• Peel a couple of potatoes and cube them
• Peel carrots and make them bite sized as well
• Add a couple of chopped hunks of celery
• Dredge the beef "stew meat" in flour/salt/pepper and sear it in a hot frying pan
• Pour on chopped tomatoes
• Cubed onion
• Garlic
• Salt/pepper
• Bay leaves, oregano, taragon, cilantro?
• Red wine

Pour it all in the crock pot, with veggies on bottom, and cook for 2-4 hours until the meat is really tender.

We like our house. But we are realizing it will not be exactly what we want in the long run.

So, long run, here is what we really want and/or want to do in our new house shortly after we move in:

Features Of The House

• Somewhere between 1600 and 2000 square feet
• A single large kick it room
• 2-3 kid bedrooms
• 1 master bedroom
• Kitchen that opens onto the dining room/living room
• "Office"
• Garage

Existing Features or Things to Tweak Right After Movein

• Steam shower
• Compost pile
• Energy Efficiency review by Dirk's friend Jay
• Fireplace with wood pellet stove insert

So, I'm outfitting my office which has me thinking back to all the great articles I've read over the years about offices. There's Joel on Software's 12 Steps to Better Code which is largely just common sense of developer types explained using traditional business language. And Jason Calacanis about how to save money running a startup which is largely more of the same.

Cheap tables and Expensive Chairs (like... Aeron chairs)

Jason's tip that really resonated with me was this one:

Buy cheap tables and expensive chairs. Tables are a complete rip off. We buy stainless steel restaurant tables that are $100 and $600 Areon[sic] chairs. Total cost per workstation? $700. Compare that to buying a $500-$1,500 cube/designer workstation. The chair is the only thing that matters... invest in it.