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One of the first tasks I’m going to have before I move in will be the mitigation of all the pink.

For example, the wallpaper in the dining area is just too busy for me.  I’d prefer something with less pattern (and in a different color, although I haven’t figured out what yet).

The living room isn’t too bad, since the pink is more subdued.  However, it just doesn’t suit me.

I was digging around to see whether I could do the change of address for my driver’s license and CHL online.  It turns out that it’s possible to do both online, so I don’t have to go stand in line at the DPS office. 

A long time ago when I first got my driver’s license, I remember that there was a space for organ donation on the back.  Somewhere along the way that disappeared and I never really noticed.  However, I found this in the DPS FAQ.

The Department no longer collects organ donor information as part of the Driver License renewal process. Should you choose to participate in the “Live and Give” program, donor cards are available to the public at any driver license office. For more information about being an organ and tissue donor, you may contact the Texas Medical Association at (512) 370-1300 or visit their website at http://www.texmed.org/.

I may look into this at some point in the future (I used to have it indicated on my license that I was an organ donor).

As usual, our esteemed legislature has been very busy this year.  Another new law (registration required) passed this year affects those license-plate frames that most dealers like to put on cars.

About $10,000 worth of brass and chrome license-plate frames will stay in a box and off the stylish backsides of Aston Martins at John Eagle’s dealership in Dallas.

“I’m sending them back,” said a flustered Sonny Morgan, managing partner of the dealership.

Like dozens of area dealers, Mr. Morgan this week learned about a new state law that may render most license-plate frames illegal. Although the law affects anyone whose automobile has frames, lights and film coverings that obscure a license plate, it is hitting car dealerships especially hard.

Many dealerships automatically attach license-plate frames touting their stores to every vehicle they sell, and all of those frames – hundreds of thousands of them in this area alone – may now be deemed illegal by police, said Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas. The law went into effect on Sept. 1.

The result could be a ticket and fine of up to $200, and some area cities are already “vigorously enforcing” the new law, said Mr. Campbell, who also represents area dealers in Austin.

“If you drive around, about half [of the frames] out on the street are illegal as I interpret the law,” he said. “That includes Texas A&M frames, University of Texas frames, Mothers Against Drunk Driving frames and ‘I’m a Grandpa’ frames.”

Why am I not surprised that certain cities are already “vigourously enforcing” this law?  That $200 fine probably looks like a T-Bone steak to some revenue-hungry police departments.

So why was this law passed?

The bill, written by State Sen. Jon Lindsay and co-sponsored by State Rep. Peggy Hamrick, both Houston Republicans, was intended to assist toll-road authorities in their use of optical scanners to read motorists’ license plates, Mr. Campbell said.

It would seem to me that stopping and seizing the cars of toll-booth runners might make more of a dent.

I’ve always wondered where the “practical” in practical joke comes from.  What’s so practical about it?

I just saw that USA Network is planning to air “D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear”, a movie about the D.C.-area snipers.  I can only imagine what kind of nonsense we’re going to be subjected to.  Let’s hope this movie doesn’t turn into the usual anti-gun drivel that Hollywood types love to spew.

ThinkGeek has a variety of interesting items (at least if you’re the geeky sort).  I bought a Powerball last week, which arrived yesterday.  It helps build wrist and arm muscles through the force of the gyroscope.  You start it spinning and then through wrist motion you impart more energy to the gyro.  As it spins faster it takes more and more force to make it go faster.  It’s kind of addictive because you end up trying to beat your own speed record (it includes a digital readout that records your highest RPM). 

I’m not sure how helpful it will ultimately be, but it’s fun to play with.

We’ve set the date for closing.  It’ll be on Thursday at 10:00am.  It’s kind of hard to believe that I’ll be a homeowner by the end of the day Thursday.

Of course, this whole house experience has me doing stuff I’d never dreamed of doing before.  For example, I’m reading a home design book in preparation for figuring out what to do with the pink wall panels and pink wallpaper.

Now that I will have the space for a real gun safe (and a concrete slab to support one), it’s time to go looking.  I’ll probably stop at Bass Pro one day this week and look at their selection.  However, I’ll also be going to the Dallas Market Hall show this weekend to check out the show specials.

It looks like we may move the closing on my house up a few days to the 26th, which is only eight days away.  That would be good, since it will give me more time to get the house ready for the move.  But it finally brought home just how much stuff I’ve got to do.

• Arrange insurance (in progress).
• Submit approximately 1 million change of address cards.
• Arrange mail forwarding.
• Transfer utilities to my name.
• Arrange phone, cable, and internet service transfers.
• Purchase and arrange delivery of a new gun safe (finally, I’ll have enough space for something suitable, rather than the dinky one I’ve got now).
• Paint living room panels some other color besides pink (!).
• Replace pink (!) wallpaper in kitchen and dining area (the previous owner really had a thing for pink).
• Replace bass wallpaper in hall bath (yes, the fish; I’m not sure how this fit into the pink theme, though).
• Remove Looney Tunes border in my new office (it apparently used to be a little girl’s room) and possibly paint.
• Acquire and arrange delivery of new office furniture (I’ll be working from home a lot more towards the end of the year; fortunately my company has a discount program with one of the big office supply companies).
• Get some new bookshelves so I can tame the riot of books I’m living in now (although I have hardly any books compared to this guy).
• Go through all my stuff and throw out anything that I don’t need (not a simple task, given my normal packrat nature).

Looking at all the stuff I’m planning to buy perhaps I should just arrange to have most of my pay direct deposited to Home Depot, Lowes, and the furniture stores.  It’d probably be simpler.

I’d been expecting to have to replace the tires on my Avalanche soon, since it is approaching 40,000 miles and the kinds of tires it uses generally have a life of 45,000 or so.  However, this morning I noticed that one of the tires had some kind of mass that appeared to be protruding from its shoulder.  The local Goodyear dealer found that two others also had this problem once it was put on the rack (although those had it to a lesser degree).  He advised me that they could replace them and give me a small discount on the new ones (since the old tires were down to about 20% of their life).

Even with the discount, the price per tire was still $149.75.  When you add in mounting/balancing ($39.00) and taxes ($47.51, soon to be higher thanks to DCTA) it came to $699.51.  I mention this as a cautionary tale to those of you contemplating the purchase of a truck or SUV with large tires (Goodyear Wrangler AT/S in P265/70R17 in this case).  Expect to spend quite a bit for new tires at or before 50,000 miles.  I was expecting it to be around $600, which was correct for the tires themselves.  As always, I tend to forget the other frictional effects of labor and taxes.

That giant sucking sound was the money being hoovered out of my wallet and into Goodyear’s pockets.