The date for leaving the United States was going to be May 5th, 2005. There was no science or genuine project plan leading to that date. Certainly not the kind of exercise in wishful thinking and uber-process that helped lead us both to seek refuge from the formerly comforting realm of IT employment.


Maximilian - buddy of Napoleon III and puppet ruler of Mexico as part of the French empire.

That date - cinco de mayo - is associated with the defeat of the French at Puebla by the much smaller and poorly equipped Mexican army. This isn't the Mexican independence day - that day has the pleasing coincidence of being my own birthday, September 16th. The 5/5/05 date came to represent our own desire to flee exploitation and and domination by dark external forces, an optimistic savings target, and the fact that the house would show well around that time of year.

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