After staying up with David listening to cool international music after the movie last night, slept in, put Getz/Gilberto on the record player, and had just the best bagel-and-smoothie breakfast thanks to Andi!! Then got detectives.com on the case of the possible apartment scam.

“And the stone walls of Harmony Hall bear witness
Anybody with a worried mind could never forgive the sight
Of wicked snakes inside a place you thought was dignified.”

Yesterday it was Damien Jurado’s beautiful “Over Rainbows and Rainer.” We went bowling with Andi’s coworkers last night, the nicest crew. “They’re helpers” was Andi’s explanation for their abiding kindness. We woke up this morning to a message from our new landlord in Manhattan who said we needed to send more money via Bitcoin ATM if we wanted him to turn away another couple who was looking at the apartment. Andi tried calling him out on his scam, telling him to give it to them and send our money back, and he relented. But he still has our money, so I’m gonna hire a detective to see if this guy and our apartment checks out. The place is small, maybe 350 square feet, but $1050/month seems too good to be true for its location.

The apprehension I felt after deciding to quit Emergent has been replaced by a sense of liberation and excitement to once again be in an environment where there’s lots of learning to be done. Including learning about online apartment rental scams! It’s all good.

David is back from school and is coming over with Willa this afternoon. Then we’re heading downtown together to see The Irishman at the Michigan Theater.

Last night was normal and so enjoyable, a dinner Andi made, some wine, and good conversation with Natalie. After a routine walk with the Bruno up to the schools, I booked my first trip to New York City. Today, news of my leaving Emergent becomes public and Gordon Sondland testifies before the House Intelligence Committee in the impeachment hearings.

Yesterday it was Wilco’s Reservations. “I’ve got reservations, about so many things, but not about you.” It was actually Andi who made this song perfect, playing it for me over a shared AirPod as we woke up together on her 42nd birthday, snuggled under the covers in Josh and Annie’s guest bed in Covington Kentucky. The song captured the moment perfectly. Just two days before, she was considering not even coming along because of what I’d been putting her through as I agonized over my decision to take the job with Rocket. I’d accepted that job the Monday before, hitting send on an email just as easily as I might’ve pulled a door shut behind me, before suddenly realizing I’d accidentally locked myself out. I felt trapped by the decision, and the flawed process that led to it, with almost no consideration given to timing or the possibility that other options might exist. The agony was real. On Wednesday night in Gaithersburg, I decided for the first time in all my travels that I might go to Firebird’s bar and drink alone because I was so worried. And who should be standing there by the bar but Emergent’s whole executive team. Adam Havey gave me a nice greeting and asked why I was there, and I told him about my mission. His face pulled back in surprise and his eyes narrowed a little bit, and he told me how feeling guilty was some Chris Bell shit, and that I need to get over it, and go out there and do a great job, as if he were a football coach sending me onto the field. I was super thankful for the intervention and words of encouragement, but they weren’t enough to stop the screaming in my head. So the very next night when I returned home, I unloaded all of my fears and regrets on Andi, even suggesting that I might withdraw my acceptance. This after she’d already told family and coworkers of our decision to move to New Jersey, after so many ups and downs in the interview process, all the while making the whole ordeal about me. It was just about the last straw and I think she barely even slept that night. Somehow though, she relented and at a bar in Cincinnati the next day, Josh told us how much he believed that moving was great for a person’s character (“I’ve seen people who haven’t moved and they’ve become too comfortable”) and he correctly pointed out that we would have great adventures, knowing we could always return home. It was hearing Andi the next morning, singing the Wilco song softly, that made me realize that my home was laying next to me, and that everything was going to be all right.

Yesterday it was Boom Bye Bye. Diplo and company for like two months now at the end of this long winter.

Two days ago, Notre Dame burned. The best take I saw acknowledged the tragedy but asked why we don’t shed tears for the destruction of a natural world that has taken millennia to build.

Great weekend!! Yesterday morning 4 miles with Bruno in Pinckney on what turned out to be the first nice day of the year!! After a workout, the washed car got vacuumed in the driveway with the Tigers game in the radio, sunshine, shorts, beer, and happiness!! Then some really great tennis with Natalie, with a good soundtrack of familiar tunes coming out of the speaker at the net. Veggie fajitas by Andi for dinner and final four basketball into the night, with Michigan State losing to a withering Texas Tech assault. This morning: coffee for the family in the kitchen, grape nuts cereal with Natalie, then she went off to study while Andi went to Mari’s baby shower and I did a few hours of work on the EM guidance. A walk up to the school with Bruno, a trip to the gym, checked in with Andi on finances, and made a Korean-inspired noodle dish with Andi and Nabs courtesy of Green Chef. I want to be a park steward for Miller Woods, a part of Pete Buttigieg’s election campaign, or both. It was a perfect weekend.