So as you know I got a pickup. I got insurance. I gotta get it once-overed again by a local mechanic and go to the DMV, but basically I'm in business.

Here's the proof:

Thus far the effects have been that I've gone to the gym five times in a row, gotten groceries thrice, and cooked dinner twice -- all way up over last years numbers. Whether or not this will help me stimulate a localized social/romantic life remains a question of my initiative and will, but it feels immanently possible.

So much to do. Work is kicking back into high gear just as I'm getting settled and starting to hit my homezone stride for 2007. On the plate:

• FutureMajority.com
• Redesigning OJ as a three-fold combo of aggregator, autobio and wiki
• Getting Moammar registered, checked out by a mechanic, and getting into car audio
• Really finishing up my living/working space at home; a few days of hippie carpentry
• Flirting!
• Experiments with political video
• Continuing to run the drupal dojo, learning Jquery
• The list goes on...

It's my natural state to be overfull with things to do. I just need to buckle down, focus and flow.

January 13th 2007, the day I bought my first car. What did I get? A Taliban Truck, natch. I feel we've got a lot to learn (methodologically, that is) from global guerrillas, and their strong endorsement of late 80s Toyota pickups carries weight with me.

More info and pictures (obviously) soon.

UPDATE: Made it home. The truck, tentatively christened Moamar, performed beautifully on the drive up, although there's a non-critical leak in the coolant system. Good to be home: frigid night air and a hot tub an exotic turnip soup. Nice.

I'm at the bar at Rose City at PDX, loving the free wifi (every airport should do that; they'd see a bump in food/drink sales as a result) and I was just enjoying the scenery across the bar. Portland is a hipster capital, and I have to admit I do love that style on the women.

My "vacation," which has been roughly the past week and will run through the 1st, has been nice. I had big dreams of hitting the Y a lot, getting my body prepped for a higher level in 2007, but I'm more like my mom than I admit -- genetics is a real thing -- and so we spent most days perched across from one another at her high-tables working on our laptops, eating pizza and drinking beer into the night. I wish I had a picture. It was nice, but also sort of the antithesis of getting to the gym and hitting the stationary cycle.

On the upside, I did some good work on Chapter Three's first non-client project -- alpha launch coming in early Jan -- and I also started my open-source community service effort for 2007, the Drupal Dojo:

It's basically a place for up-and-coming developers to rub elbows with more experienced types in a less intimidating setting, to help be a middle-ground in the burgeoning Drupal economy. I launched it about 24 hours ago and already we have more than 100 members. Oh boy.

Back in the Golden State.

Well, it really does start to feel after my last visit that I might get sucked back into the NYC life. I don't know when or how, but it seems rather undeniable that the value of the peer community there is something I can't pass on in life.

For now, I'm happy to try and work out a bicoastal lifestyle. I don't want to move again; I just want to get back more often. I still want to continue putting down roots in the HC. It's got to be something beyond rambling this time.

That's a pretty lofty goal, but it's more real than owning land in the near to mid term. My ambitions are too impossibly large to be met in rural America. I can see a few ways this could all shake out, and I'm cautiously optimistic for now.

I've been running a Karma deficit for a while. I've been taking a lot from the world, leaning heavily on various connections. This is necessary at times, but after a while down in that k-hole you lose some self-respect, you start to worry about burning up all your social capital. You start struggling -- the most important thing is to stop struggling -- and you dig in even deeper. It can turn into quite the little negative feedback loop.

I think I'm back on top of it now though. I have done some contributing to my favorite open-source project, where my #drupal karma was waaaay off. I helped Mark out with the Sixto surgery fundraiser, which felt especially good as I was the one horsing around with the dog when he had the accident. I need to dig in and do some shitwork at the office, where I've been leaning too hard on my colleagues, but just knowing that I think I can get it right.

The world is a nicer place when you're a nice person. It's true: look it up.

Life, or at least life-well-lived, is partly about Service. Often times I take that word with demeaning overtones. My first thought is Wal*Mart and the condition of servitude implied by that which we call the service industry. My second thought is of the way I hate being with people who hassle waiters even when they're not paying us enough attention. But there's another side to this -- which would probably be higher on my mind if I were a religious sonofabitch -- in that humanity is not an ego-centric enterprise.

After posting that last bit from Bryant Park, fortune smiled and I got a call and my date worked out; good improv comedy + wine bar x good conversation = just what the dr. ordered.

Also, second round of meetings also went well, almost too good to be true.

I lead a charmed life.

I'm witting on the side of an ice-skating rink near Times Square, getting down with the big free wifi.

I've been seeing people I think I know everywhere, long-lost people. It's not really them, just similar humans, but something in my brain is making me think it's them. My dad in the little bar at LAX. Kayla Van Allen on the Subway. Rachel Goens skating around Bryant Park... who knows who's next.

It looks like my date for tonight is a no-go. I had dug up and old old flame -- one of those ones you wonder about forever -- on the myspace (once you start, it's hard not to keep going) and seen that she was back living in NYC and single. The last time I saw her she was leaving the state with a boy, and I made a bit of an ass of myself. So naturally I asked if she wanted to have a civilized cup of coffee while i was in town, and it seemed to be working out, but the thread went cold after settling on this evening as the time.

C'est la vie. I didn't expect anything, but it would have been neat to see.

My spirits are still high. My meeting went quite well and I have another tomorrow, and after getting a solid 7 hours of sleep I no longer feel like an alien in my skin.

Anyway, I'm loving the city energy. More than the 24-hour nature, more than the presence of hundreds of thousands of beautiful women, more than the art and architecture and culture, I miss swimming in ambition. This is missing in the HC, and I think it's part of what I missed in San Fran (where the only ambition is weirdo computer "get rich" ambition... not my cup of tea), or at least that's what I'm feeling now.

Anyway, public goods are good. It's good to be in the mix.

It's nice to be back in the land of ambition and public transport. I'm a little delirious from the over-night flight. It was some crazy United Luxury shit from LAX to JFK: a 757 with mostly 1st and biz-class seating with a little spit of 50 or so coach seats in the back, nowhere near full. They even gave out earplugs and eyeshades, but it still doesn't make 4 hours of half-sleep sitting up truly restful.

Damn. I used to be able to swing these things no problem. It's a little bewildering, makes me feel like a small-towner.

I made my way via the JMZ train to Atlas, an old haunt of mine with crazy wifi. I'm going to head into town shortly to check out the new Advomatic offices and maybe find a couch to nap on for 20 minutes.

Got the boys up here safe and had a productive Sunday doing finances -- expect a year-end report -- and some brainstorming for our big upcoming project.

I'm all packed now. Tomorrow we work the day on this stuff, then I get on an overnight flight to Nueva York. Got a lot to look forward to there, and I can't wait to dip my toe back into the swift city water.

Although there is big business on deck -- I'm getting my flight via a potential client -- I'm not bringing the Suit, but I am bringing all my new Humbolt Hipster/Edgy Biz-Cas stuff. I think that will work better for me.

I'm really stoked at how good the Sixto fundraiser is going. Really awesome to see how people are willing to help out, and that this stuff can totally work. I'll write more about why this is so good, maybe even on my work blog.