How many days from the election are we?

Yesterday, my parents decided to have a yard sale. And 12 hours later, we have half the contents of their garage arranged haphazardly around the driveway. There is a stunning, perhaps even admirable, lack of planning involved in this endeavor. Everything for sale has been literally dumped from the garage to a shelf, complete with cobwebs and bug carcasses. For most of the day, no one has actually been outside to greet the (very few) people who wander by. We just run out when we seem someone. They wander for five minutes, realize it's all junk, and leave. We have made a little money, but by and large, this is a minimal-effort endeavor which will be followed up by an unceremonious trip to Salvation Army.

Living here for a couple months has made me realize why I am absolutely terrible at household errands and chores--I come by it honestly. This is one of the many reasons I should never own a house (another comes from my fear of running over my own child with my car--probaby irrational, but I figure I can avoid this paranoia by never actually having a driveway). It is all I can do to keep up with an apartment. Actually, I think my wonderful wife might disagree with my ability to keep even an apartment intact. I'll work on that.

In other news, I have added Lis's lovely blog to my sidebar, in part because I saw her latest post in which she said the financial crisis has made her more fiscally responsible. Me too! I have been very frugal while in Ohio, and am slowly paying off my credit card debt. Nothing like a little fear to motivate responsibility.

Oh, and to Kim's "Cry" option...good point! I think that goes between #2 and #3 options for me. Of course, a post-doc is also an option, but since I was already planning on that, it doesn't really seem like a "back-up."

Speaking of which, back to writing my post-doc application...