On the Move (Again)

So the end of this month our lease is up on our current apartment and it looks like we're finally going to be able to move out of there. We had a line on a very nice, slightly smaller and cheaper two bedroom a few weeks ago but the albatross around my neck I laughingly refer to as my credit report put the keebash on that. Oh, well. Then we got a line on a one bedroom that a member of our church had to move out of to get into supportive care and our bishop was kind enough to intercede with the landlord to get us in there without a detailed credit history. (The last two years have not been kind monitarily, you see.) This is fortunate in that we'll be saving around $400 a month on rent, but a challenge since we're moving from 1200 sq.ft. to 700 sq.ft. - and MLM is claustrophobic anyway.

Luckily, the bedroom and living room are good sized; which means, of course, that the kitchen is tiny! Ack! Just off the kitchen is the "dining area" which is just 7' x 7'-9" - you could swing a cat in there I suppose but it would be a tight squeeze. So, I have christened this area the Kitchen Annex. In it we will place our small upright freezer, the pantry shelves from Ikea, and the computer desk - then hide it from the living room with a screen or two. Actually, that will be living/dining room now. It's a 12' x 17' space so we're putting our nice dining set at one end and then just a sleeper-sofa and a chair or two at the other end. We're definitely going Japanese here - any clutter will just add to the instanity. Pray for us.

Anyway, with the money saved on rent and the reduced van payment mentioned earlier, we will be able to get out of this hole we're in. Shouldn't take more than two years.

Oh, and Kelly is getting married in October! Yea! Congratulations to her and Jason! I just hope we'll have the money to get to Boston for the service. It looks like it's gonna be close, particularly since I won't even be able to make plane reservations until the middle of August and who knows what they'll cost by then. Right now paying the current price will be like passing a kidney stone (so I'm told - never actually done that), and they probably won't be going down. Again, fingers crossed and pray!

Last night I gathered up all my spare computer equipment, a Lionel car and assorted accessories and other things I was really hoping to hold on to, photographed them, and am now putting them up on eBay to raise cash for the move. Wish me luck there. Thanks!

Just finished watching the anime series NOIR - wow! Really good! Gotta share that with MLM soon. Am now working on Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig - very good too. Watched the first season of Stand Alone Complex last month and really enjoyed it. The series has so much more depth than the two Ghost in the Shell movies. Oh, and next time I need to talk about the wonderful world of FanSubs, so don't let me forget. Special stuff there.

Well, I better knock off for now and head home to pack.

"Nowhere to go but up."

New Wheels

Well, after just a few weeks we were able to replace the van we lost in the accident. MLM located this one on the CarMax website. It was up in Waukegan but they transport to different CarMax locations free of charge. It's the same make, year and model - KIA Sedona - as our old van, only it's the higher-end model loaded with accessories including a DVD player. It looks brand new as you can see below and only had 13K miles on it! It's even the same color as our old one. The best part is that since it's two years old, our payments are going to be around $200 less than what we were paying for the Sedona we bought new. Could not have done it without the help of Dave, my father-in-law, doing a co-sign on the loan. My credit is still in the toilet from last year's period of unemployment and I'm still working to catch up a lot of credit card debt. The fun never ends. Anyway, here's the new rig:

Looks good don't it? Slight difference on the seating compared to our old van which had six captain's chairs - this one has a pair of wide seats for the back row that make a bench so we can conceiveably seat seven people. I was hoping we could move the bench seats up to the middle row so MLM could have a place to lay down and we'd have the rear of the van for her cart and luggage on a trip. However, the anchor tracks in the floor are different widths apart from the bench seats to the captain's chairs so this will not work. MLM says then we'll take out the two middle row captain's chair and leave the bench available in the back and put the cart and luggage in the mid area. While I salvaged the electric chair lift from the old van, we're going to wait before installing in this one to see how the seating thing works out. At least her current cart breaks down a lot easier than her old one so I can load the parts in the van pretty easily.

Not much to report on the work front - the new Global Campus Initiative will be giving me more work to do in the near future and the first employee for that arrives this Friday. So I'll be a lot busier soon. MLM is going in for surgery in August to have her left shoulder joint replaced. That will hopefully help her with some pain and give her a little more mobility (once she recovers) - then they do the same thing with her right shoulder about six months later.

I am back studying for my Network+ exam and am getting ready to enroll in classes here at the U of I - been here almost a year now so I can do this. I just have to pay for fees and books as the tuition is waived. Yea! That's it for now. I will report soon on other fun things. Oh, I just learned that Fred Thompson is maybe going to run for president since no other Republican seems able to capture anyone's favor. Interesting, I think. Reagan was an ex-actor too, of course. Maybe a Zaphod Beeblebrox type is best for the job after all. Douglas Adams wisely wrote that anyone who can be elected president under our current system should be congratulated and then in no way be allowed to actually do the job! I like that idea. Let's just hire a good office manager with diplomatic experience who has to keep the board of trustees and the accounting department happy. Could work.

Be optomistic.

Just Let Go and Think... or not...

"Ever felt an angel's breath in the gentle breeze?
A teardrop in the falling rain?
Hear a whisper amongst the rustle of leaves?
Or been kissed by a lone snowflake?
Nature is an angel's favorite hiding place."
~ Carrie Latet

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

Thinking about the news of the day, I ran across this rather interesting bit of poetry:

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier." - Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Or as George Santayana (1863-1952) said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Please note that I chose my blog's subtitle with direct reference to the current administration. I hear radical liberals accusing them of all kinds of conspiracies, but, frankly, I just don't think they're that smart. Just read the papers or watch the news if you doubt me.

Enough for today - let's go watch Anime!!

T-K

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop...

Oh, it's a sad, sad story.

Tuesday evening, March 27th, I'm driving home from a meeting at church when an idiot kid in a Mazda of some kind left turns into our van at about 30 miles per! The whole side of the van is crunched in, but I'm okay at least. MLM picked the KIA Sedona because it was the only minivan with an overall five-star crash rating - that means five-stars for front, back, and side impacts. Thank goodness. So the kid gets ticketed for failure to yield, his passenger has to go to the hospital briefly, and both cars get towed and totaled. I begged State Farm to fix the thing and they tried their best to justify it, but on closer inspection at the KIA body shop they found motor mounts and suspension parts that had to be replaced (I was pushed into a curb which I hit at about 40mph) and that made the cost of repairs exceed the value of the van which means "totaled." Luckily, MLM also insisted we purchase Gap insurance on the loan, so we are covered for the difference between the settlement from State Farm and what is still owed on the van - almost five grand. Whew! So, the good news is we don't lose any money; the bad news is we have no van and no money to get another one. Also, you'll recall, the Aspire is not running right now.

So at the scene of the accident I called everyone I could think of but no one was home except my old Home Teacher, Trevor. He drove right to the accident sight to give me a lift home and when he learned I was without wheels promptly offered his car for my use (they have two)! Whatta friend! I have a rental car rider on my insurance but it only allows for $25 a day (that gets me a compact car from Enterprise), and a mobility van costs $85 a day for two weeks or longer, so that's $60 a day I would have to make up and later sue the other driver for which would take months and probably cost more than it was worth. So I went without the rental car for the time being. Meanwhile, my in-laws were kind enough to help with getting my Aspire back on the road – paid to have it towed to my local mechanic and then for a full tune-up. This enabled me to get Trevor’s car back to him when he and his wife returned from a vacation trip – good timing for a change. We’re going to cook a turkey dinner for them I think to say thanks. And, as soon as I can, pay back my in-laws for their help. This Saturday I’m going down to the salvage lot where the van is and pull out MLM’s wheelchair lift. When we get another van we’ll need it, so at least we’ll be that much ahead.

Move ahead one week. May 3rd I’m called into a meeting with my boss, his new boss, and an HR person to tell me they are moving me to another department and building on campus. My reporting structure has changed and I am no longer supporting the people I was – it’s a whole different group of folks in a mostly empty building. Now, the word is that a new university initiative will be moving their offices here and hiring a bunch of people so I could be real busy then, hopefully. Mary Lynn thinks this is just the first step in ushering me out the door. If there’s too little work then they can let me go. So, since her insights are almost always right, I reactivated my account on Dice.com and started putting out feelers for another possible job. God, I hate this! I thought I had a nice, secure position, but it looks like not. My new boss told me they have had IT layoffs in the past so there is nothing more certain here than at any other company. Crap! At least at the new assignment I have a nice office – not a cube – and the people here are very nice, so it could be a whole lot worse!

Last Friday, then, Mary Lynn had three doctor appointments and I had two (got my eyes checked – need new glasses). So we rented a van with an automatic rear ramp for the trip into Chicago. It worked out okay, although it was a Dodge minivan and it drove like a truck! Not at all like our lovely KIA. Mary Lynn saw an Orthopedic surgeon about her shoulders which have been really giving her pain for some time now. He said her cartilage in the joints is pretty much dissolved! That her arthritis is that virulent. She is going to have her shoulder joints replaced – the first one in the first week of July, the next about six months later. I pray this will go well and will give her some relief from her constant pain and perhaps a little more mobility. It surely can’t get worse. A good thing is that shoulder replacement is not nearly so invasive and traumatic as knee replacement, so hopefully this will be a good thing overall. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers, please.

So, we have another doctor trip to Chicago this coming Wednesday and that’s it for a while. I figure we can rent a van up to three times a month and still be money ahead over what we were paying on the loan for the KIA, so maybe we can get some cash ahead for a change. We’ll just have to keep on keepin’ on.

Oh, MLM did a cool thing for me. She checked on Neopets for any MegaTokyo presence and found none, so she immediately created a MegaTokyo guild in my account so I can maybe attract some like-minded individuals who want to have fun on Neopets as well as being fans of MegaTokyo. Sweet, huh?! Anyway, if you’re a Neopetter you won’t see the guild yet as it is still private until I do a little decorating, then start advertising.

Spring is coming too. It got nasty cold here for a few days last week, but there is definitely a warming trend – and I see leaves starting to pop.

Well, that’s enough for now I think. I won’t wait so long to post next time. Promise. ;-)

My Car Is In A Coma

So I drove home from the train station on Friday in the rain. Parked my little red Ford Aspire in the garage and when I went out on Saturday she wouldn't start! Bummer! Now, I've had trouble with this car when it got wet in the past (shorted out the ignition or something I guess), so I left the hood up to let things dry out and took MLM's van. Anyway, after several hours still no dice. It cranks and cranks but there is no discernable spark. Poor car. It'll be the middle o next month (payday) before I can get it worked on.

This car has been fairly dependable for the most part considering the rough life she's had. Smashed into a Chicago cab in the second year of ownership and then drove around for about eight years with the front bumper mashed and tied up with wire on the left and only one headlight working on the right. Mary Lynn christened it "Smashmouth." Great nickname, eh? It may have hurt its feelings though. There then appeared an issue with the ignition switch - when it got really hot outside it wouldn't start - again it would crank and crank but no spark. Many times I had to leave it somewhere and come back after sunset to drive it home. Never had the money to get it worked on, just kinda dealt with it. Then, sadly, Kelly borrowed it for a college scouting trip to the East Coast and it died on her there. At least she got it diagnosed as a bad ignition switch - a $40 part that would cost $400 dollars to install! Well, about three years ago I finally got the ignition switch fixed. Then about two years ago I got a warning ticket from the Rolling Meadows police because of a new ordinance that required vehicles to be 'roadworthy.' Of all the nerve! So I had to take out a loan and got some minimalist body work done at Maaco so Smashmouth no longer had a smashed mouth. I renamed her Fireball! Oh, well.

I thought the issue this time might be the ignition again so I tried all the tricks that we had as a workaround for that to no avail. The problem is definitely with the electrical to the spark plugs - they just aren't sparking. Money is still very tight so pray with me that the repairs will not be too expensive.

It never rains but it pours, it seems. Meanwhile I have to drive the van which gets half the gas mileage as the Aspire, so that REALLY helps.

At least the weather today is fabulous! It's going to be in the upper 70s and sunny and clear. I see leaves starting to bud on the trees. Spring is definitely on its way. So that's a good thing. Love the changing seasons! Also, fun omake in MegaTokyo the last couple weeks (an omake is a 'bonus' short story often added into a manga that features the same characters but in a different setting and plot line). Fred just finished chapter 8 to be included in the new print book out next month and did this omake for us as a bonus - then chapter 9 starts later this week.

That's it for now. Gotta go flush a virus off a user's PC. Later.

As I Was Saying...

So, time for a change I think. It’s been nearly a year since I posted to this thing, and I think I need to get back in the habit or give it up entirely. And, since I like the idea of blogs in general, I think I’ll work on (there is no ‘try’) getting back in the habit.

It’s been a busy year for me and mine. When last we spoke I was working at RSM McGladrey you’ll recall as a contract desktop support tech. It was a nice job with really great people, but being contract I had no bennies and had to maintain health care via COBRA for just under a Grand per month. Ouch! Plus the COBRA coverage ended the end of March ’06, so we incurred some hefty med bills for a few months there that we are still having to pay down.

Then my miracle happened! The second week in June I was cruising my daily email from Dice that listed jobs culled by my search bot and applying for any and everything that was (a) permanent, and (b) a close match for my skill sets. One of these was for a Network Analyst at the University of Illinois at Chicago. On Tuesday a couple weeks later I got a call saying their ‘search team’ was going to be in Chicago on Thursday and could I come for an interview. Naturally I said ‘sure!’ I searched back through my email for the job listing and read it over again to realize it was a perfect match for me. Perfect match means I can do the job, I have the necessary skills, there is sufficient challenge to keep it interesting, the work environment is pleasant, etc. These are the kind of jobs I never seem to get – not since Douwe Egberts anyway, (which was enveloped by Sara Lee who then laid me off). The interview went great! I had a little prayer beforehand and it was smooth sailing. I really liked the people and we seemed to hit it off. After the interview my soon-to-be boss took me downstairs (2nd floor) to show me what would be my office – which I took as a positive sign. Two days later they made me the offer and I started on July 5th. YEA!! I’m working for the State of Illinois so I have state bennies and retirement etc. So glad. So relieved. Chance of a merger or takeover which would result in layoffs: nil. Whew!

Jeez, so much to report – but maybe not that interesting. Let’s do a Cliff Notes: we were much in debt after our medical bills from April through July and the two periods of no-work I had in 2005 and early 2006. All cards maxed and I stupidly took out three, then four payday loans which were leeching us every month. I sold all my Lionel I had been acquiring the last couple years on eBay and sold everything else I could let go including Lord of the Rings collectibles and my Don Quixote Lladro (sniff). Then I had to turn to family for help and they really came through! Then turned to the Church who came through even more. Thank you, God. Also, thank you, God, for the November elections. I was pleased to see most of the country returning to conscienceness and waking up from the monumental snow job the Bushites have been perpetrating. (The 2004 election reminded me of the old saw that, by definition, half the people you meet have an IQ below 100; and they apparently tend to vote Republican.) Continuing: went to Tennessee the second week in November (for reasons too complex to go over here) and had an early Thanksgiving with Mary Lynn’s family there. After returning, I applied for a part-time job at Wal*Mart for the holiday season and got hired as a night stalker, I mean stocker. Worked three nights a week which just about killed me – been a long time since I did an eight-hour shift of manual labor! But we needed the money which came in handy. Christmas came and we were still broke so it was going to be a sparse but peaceful and loving affair. Then daughter Kelly showed up and played serious Ms. Clause! She’s been working pretty steady doing contract legal work so, being the excellent money-manager she is (no, she sure didn’t get that from me!) she had some serious coin to spend for Christmas and pretty much brought it to us. I still tear up when I think about it. She was generous to a fault, I’d say, and really made Christmas morning fun. My funnest gift from her was a new EDGE™ wristwatch that has a 1-gig flash drive built in! I’ve have it loaded with useful utilities and fun files that I can drop on any PC I’m working on with the special retractable USB cable. Wheee! I got Mary Lynn the Lionel elf-driven handcar that complements the Polar Express, and I got the latest car in the series – the chocolate car that included a replica golden ticket! My Polar Express is now six cars long and is quite impressive. Kelly brought lots of other cool stuff too such as the new Star Trek Season 1 special edition dvd set - way cool!

The week after Christmas Wal*Mart laid off all the temp help so we were back to one income. In the meantime, however, Mary Lynn applied for disability status with the Social Security Administration and was classified as disabled. This is definitely a mixed blessing since we don’t want her to be disabled, but at least she gets a monthly stipend from SS now and will qualify for Medicare later on. This was due to the year she worked at Sears which did two things: hammered her physically so much that she went over the edge to full disability, and also pushed her over the edge as far a quarters worked paying social security to qualify her for benefits. Another mixed, but sucky, blessing.

Last month Mary Lynn got real sick one Friday evening with a cough, sore throat, and fever. So we called the doc and he said get to the ER. They admitted her for possible pneumonia and she was in the hospital for five days! It was close. She is still recovering and does daily lung treatments – her doctor said recovery would take a least six weeks.

Meanwhile, Kelly gave up looking for that perfect job in D.C. (wasn’t there apparently) and moved back to Boston. You can read all about that on her blog – see link on the right. She’s doing contract work again but there is a much better chance of a permanent position there. Plus she’s closer to her main squeeze who is doing a fellowship (I think) in Providence. Here’s wishing her all things good and wonderful!

Let’s see, back in December I kept noticing a link on some of the anime websites I visit to a thing called MegaTokyo, so I finally clicked through to check it out. It’s a webcomic, about two American PC gamer and anime geeks who end up stranded in Tokyo and have to get along as best they can until they get enough money to fly home. Meanwhile they meet several cute and interesting women and the relationships start to develop in interesting ways. Fun characters and story overall, so I really enjoy it. Fred Gallagher, the guy who writes it, lives in Michigan, I think, and the fan base is phenomenal – he started back in 2002 so it’s been growing that long. Comics get posted about three times a week and after each post the discussion forums light up like a Christmas tree with everyone discussing what the latest episode means, commenting on the artwork, and predicting what will come next. It’s really fun. Fred has compiled the strips into manga-style books (volume five coming out soon), but the entire run of the strips from day one are all available on the website. I have a link on the right so check it out if you’re interested.

Switched from Netflix to Blockbuster. We can take the movies we get in the mail to the store and swap them for another film – pretty sweet. Plus they get checked in right there so I see on my email that my next set of movies are being mailed to me a day or two before they receive the old movies. Still referring to Netflix for my series anime since they have the best detail and most complete listing of such. Blockbuster rarely has a complete series in stock and they do not differentiate the volume numbers, they just list titles. Complete series I’ve collected so far include Master Keaton, Love Hina, FullMetal Alchemist, and Rurouni Kenshin – working on Ah! My Goddess, Noir, Lain, and Naruto. Check ‘em out.

That’s pretty much it for now – too much info for a single post. Am starting to look for a new apartment closer to downtown since that’s where I work now and where Mary Lynn’s doctors are. Sorry we had to leave the place at Michigan and Roosevelt but the rent was just getting ridiculous. ‘Course, it’s getting ridiculous where we’re at now, too. Anyway, lease is up in July so we will definitely be moving then. Oh, joy (can you feel the sarcasm?)

Okay, let’s keep it rolling now…