Tag Archive for 'money'

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First day in Michigan

I’ve never been to Michigan, before. I drove very close to it on my treks between Woonsocket and Chicago, but never crossed the line. Today, I did. I believe our bed & breakfast is in about the second or third town over that line. Cute little towns with shops and restaurants and beaches. Not much in the way of urban civilization. We drove about 30 miles north-ish and found a movie theater in a town with a bunch of retail stuff. We saw Horton Hears a Who. It was cute and fairly well done. It gets the thumbs up. Our bed & breakfast also gets the thumbs up; nice sized room, friendly person at the desk when we got here… all the local restaurant menus in the “library” … wi-fi. Our first stop here was a brief one, we just brought our stuff up and took a look around and decided where we should have dinner. Red Arrow Roadhouse won, mostly due to having delicious sounding desserts and toasted ravioli as an appetizer. I had a full slab of ribs and it was yum. They had two different kinds of mudd pie, we each got one. The place was pretty full, especially for a Monday night, and it was getting even more busy as we were leaving. After food, we went to a casino in the New Buffalo (the first or second town over the Michigan border). I put in somewhere between twenty and twenty-five dollars, and cashed out at $85.75. Did a little video roulette, but won most of it on a video slot machine.

Hopefully, I’ll get some pictures of stuff tomorrow. The lake on the horizon seems unnaturally high to me. I told Sarah that it looked like a “lake mountain” and she laughed at me. We’ve got the Kalamazoo indoor flea market and other such antiquing/shopping on the schedule for tomorrow.

I’m diversified!

The sun is still only coming out on days where we sleep in or need to go to work. We got an old Polaroid 450 land camera working with a new set of batteries and a pack of 690 from the local Wolf Camera… Sarah tried to buy it at the camera store she works at, but they told her she couldn’t… something about needing it for passport photos. Pretty strange that she had to take her business elsewhere. Anyway, that’s a lot of film to use up in all these new/old cameras. So we need a sunny day… preferably one with temperatures at least in the double digits.

The adapter that came the other day turned out to be the opposite of what I needed, but I took a trip down to Micro Center while Sarah was at work. It took a really long time to get there, due to traffic/weather issues, so I didn’t get to wander around the store and bask in it’s full glory, but it was pretty impressive. Very big store, seemed to have a good selection and someone was there to help me within a minute or two of me walking in. They had the right one, so I’m closer to fixing the fish tank computer, though I still don’t know where or when I’ll tackle that.

In other news, I took some of the money in my ING account and invested it in some stocks, prompted by their eMail about acquiring Sharebuilder. I’ll never use the crazy stock strategies that I learned with Dad at those nutty seminars, but I did include some Food industry stocks in my little portfolio, in honor of his idea that “people will always need food.” I’m about 60/40 Technology & Food industry stocks, so I guess I could do another food stock or some other industry, but I invested about half of what was in the ING account, and I was kinda hoping to see the results of that savings account interest versus the stock gains over time. So I’ll probably just leave it how it is.

I took a window seat, maybe I should’ve taken an aisle

I’ve packed and prepared for my morning plane. This is the first of what will probably be my annual holiday visit to Mom’s. Been a while since I flew. I think I preferred the aisle seats to windows, but the allure of a window seat called to me and I chose one. I’ll just be chilling with my iPod for the whole ride, it’s a pretty short one, if I recall correctly. It’s an entirely different experience than driving out there. I miss seeing Mom; I miss some of my friends… but this definitely feels more like a visit, than a trip “home.” Here really feels like home, now. Sure, I don’t really have a desk of my own and the work situation is still a little more part-time than it should be… but otherwise, things are pretty darn awesome, here. There’s been some tension, but I think it’s related to gifts and the secrecy surrounding them. I’ll be relieved when all the gifts are open and everyone knows what they got and hopefully all the weirdness will blow over. I certainly spent way too much this year, and I know it. All year I spend stupid amounts of money on myself, I need to be able to make up for it during the holidays. I sent stuff to a few people, through Amazon, and got a whole lot for Sarah and her family. I might’ve gone overboard, but I hardly pay anything for my room and board here, so I don’t feel like it’s too much. Besides, I’m a damn good bargain shopper… it’s not like I paid full price for anything.

Anyway, planning on relaxing at Mom’s for a good percentage of my time at home, so I should be able to update a few times. Hope you all enjoy your holidays if I don’t see you!

get an amazon wishlist… seriously

After shoveling some snow the other day, I’ve decided that I want/need a new winter coat. I know I already have a giant winter coat, but I want something a little more plain, I think. The giant “zero xPOSUR” thing on it is just a little too close to wearing a giant POSER (poseur?) sign. It’s served its term as a jacket, time to hand it down or something. I have no idea what kind of jacket to get. I don’t know brands really well… I guess I used to like those three-quarter/parka length kinda things. I should probably get something with a liner or insulation made out of some cool new material with a funny name like Microfleece or Polartec or Polarguard or Windbloc or PrimaLoft or Gore-Tex or DriClime; I don’t understand them, but they sound cool. I also probably shouldn’t put a coat on my wishlist without trying it on… so gimme some suggestions. What kind of jacket do you wear? What’s good? What should I look at? I don’t need one of these, so don’t bother suggesting it.

Speaking of wishlists, if you haven’t received a gift from me in the mail, it either means that I’m gonna see you when I’m back east and have something specific in mind or you don’t have an Amazon wishlist and I have no idea what you want, or some kinda combination of those two things and just plain forgetting about you because we don’t talk enough. I love my wishlist. I updated it and rearranged stuff today. Every time I have a little computer glitch, I move the Macbook up on the priority list. It was almost a year ago that I originally mentioned switching to a mac. The Dell was given a new lease on life, but it’s just a lease, and I’m an own kinda guy. I don’t actually expect anyone to buy it, but I added a note about Apple gift cards. So, yeah, make a wish list on Amazon. It’s fun and they have almost everything. If there’s a new wish list system that’s cooler than Amazon’s… one with unbiased comparison shopping and coupons and referral links built-in or something like that … let me know about it.

shopping

After a short day of work, Sarah and I made a holiday shopping tour of several stores and the mall. We bought stuff for a lot of family and friends and got some supplies for Sarah to make her own wrapping paper. I got some ideas for some of y’all, so you might be receiving something from me this year, either in the mail or maybe when I’m back east for those few days just before Christmas. If you’re thinking about returning the favor, I have combined my immense and confusing Amazon wish lists into one enormous list so that anyone who happens to search for me gets to see everything.

Shopping for other people really does cause some neat warm-and-fuzzy feelings. I have a fond memory of an extreme example of that phenomenon. My dad took this guy named Danny, who did odd jobs for us because he needed the money, and his kid, Phillip to the mall and had them pick out everything they wanted to get for each other. Then Dad paid for it all. I took the kid around and helped him get over the urge to just stare at and touch things he wanted and think of things his mom and dad would want. It was really nice.

back east trip journal; entry no. 2

Today was yard sale day. It was also in the 90s and the heat index made it close to unbearable outside. We didn’t have as many customers as we’d hoped, but at least a bunch of the sorting and lifting is already done. There’s plans for a bigger, better yard sale in early October. I don’t think I’ll be out here to help, but I feel like I’ve done my part. It may not have been an immense amount of work, but the heat over the last two days has made it feel like an extremely immense job.

After the sale, I took a much needed shower and then headed off to Worcester. I explored a little, to rekindle some Worcester memories, mostly of the times when I lived out there, which is really getting to be a long time ago. My final destination was the Java Hut, where Mark and Raianne were playing tonight. The place was pretty crowded and kinda warm. I got a milkshake on the way in, and it didn’t settle very well… too sweet or something. The opening performers were pretty decent, but in the middle of Raianne’s set I got a phone call from Sarah (about this awesome all night flea market she was attending) and some douchebags stole my seat while I was outside. I stood for a few more songs, but the combination of the heat and the milkshake eating my insides and the fact that I was standing after a ridiculously long day out in the ridiculously hot heat was just too much… so I got in the car and headed back to Mom’s. It’s past my bedtime, anyway.

Plans are starting to dwindle.
I think tomorrow’s itinerary includes sleeping …maybe some eating …possibly getting dressed.

tires are expensive

I put the mazda in for routine service today and the tires, which have been making noise for about 4-5000 miles, were at the point where they had to be replaced. Tires are ridiculously expensive, but they seem to be quieter and the suspicious noise is completely gone. I probably could’ve gotten a better deal somewhere else, but I like the guys at this dealership.

The car is all set for this week’s roadtrip: Kansas City and St Louis! Chicago public schools are off this week, so I have no work until Saturday… pretty sweet, eh? So, do I know anyone I haven’t already contacted between Chicago, Kansas City and St Louis? Speak now or we’ll just drive on by. The laptops and the cameras are all coming, so we’ll not be out of touch and we promise to take some pics.

new vision, again

My Lenscrafters visit didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped. They would not put lenses into either of my old frames. The black plastic ones were “too dry” and might snap, or something like that… and the older ones were “too hard to trace.” I find this one harder to believe, since I had the lenses in those replaced a couple weeks after buying them, due to a giant scratch from a car door to the face. I’m gonna do a little research and see if this is some sort of scam by Lenscrafters. After shelling out the big bucks, I have some new frames. I’ll try to get some pictures up, soon. They’re all metal, so I shouldn’t get that “too dry” line again, and there’s no wire/nylon, the frame goes all the way around, so the “tracing” shouldn’t cause a problem, either. Of course I’m concerned about breaking them, since I broke just about every other pair of all metal frames I’ve ever owned, even that pair that felt heavy and unbreakable. I also keep getting the nose pads stuck in my hair when I pop the glasses up onto my head for a sec. I got too used to the plastic frames, I guess.

Digging into the moneys for glasses didn’t hurt too bad, since the money right now is constant. It’s only like this for about another month and a half, though. It’s March, almost April, and I don’t have a summer plan yet. The last time I waited this long was when I left the Woonsocket Y for Hockomock. That was a great switch, but was only possible because Bill Lawrence was a kind and generous camp director who saw a guy with 6 years of camp counselor experience and decided to give him a chance. I did find a Y to work for out here, so I don’t lose the retirement fund money… but I don’t know if their camp offerings really have a good fit for me, and they haven’t begged me fill one of their slots, yet. I’m pretty much a legal Illinois driver, now, though, so I could offer myself to the climbing or skate camps. My boss at Adventure Ed runs some sort of camp in the summer, too. It probably pays better than the Y, and almost definitely pays better than the resident camp up north with the Outdoor Ed Director position, simply because it’s a residence situation. I also haven’t heard anything back from them. Another co-worker mentioned working for him with Kayaks and Canoes… it’s different, but he’s a cool guy and I wouldn’t mind that kind of work, even if it’s just to broaden my horizons a bit.

Life otherwise is good! I saw Body Worlds 2 yesterday, at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was a little creepy, but pretty interesting. I was intrigued by the weird back muscles that seemed to overlap each other. We found it funny that there was a lot of intact genitalia, especially on some of the people put into very strange [and very revealing] poses. There was a lot of stuff written on the walls on the way in about confronting death and accepting it and not making it taboo… perhaps there should’ve been a panel dedicated to being ready to see a lot of genitalia, as well. The rest of the museum was pretty cool, and fairly genitalia-free. Our tickets included an OMNIMAX film. While we were waiting to get in, we talked about how much better than IMAX those three little letters could possibly make the experience. We were fairly awestruck by the theater itself, which was like a cross between an IMAX and a planetarium, the screen was rounded and went up over our heads and out about as far anybody’s range of straight-ahead vision. When the first full-screen image came up, there were a lot of whoahs and ooohs.

Flea Market tomorrow… and maybe a picnic if the weather is good? Looking forward to it.

conferences, trainings and flea markets

Lenscrafters in North Attleboro called me about an eye exam I had scheduled. I found it kinda humorous. I had to politely explain to them that I was halfway across the country and wouldn’t be able to make it. Then I found a lenscrafters down the street and made an appointment for tomorrow night. I figure I’ll have a new prescription, so I gotta decide which glasses to wear full time. Should I switch back to the other frames and use my current black ones as the new sunglasses… I will resist the urge to buy new frames of any sort.

We did some glow-in-the-dark mini-golfing the other day and Sarah took some cool pictures. check ‘em out. It was a darn good time, topped off by a visit to Dairy Queen. Yum.

Day trips to the ropes course with the adventure ed kids are going well. The staff there seems really nice, they hinted at coming to their training this weekend… another training scheduled for this weekend isn’t going to happen, so I might go for it, unless my boss can pull some strings and make these day trip observations count towards most of my training. Everyone I talk to also mentions the AEE conference next weekend. That costs money and it’s on our “traditional flea market visit” weekend, but I might try to attend the Saturday workshops. I’ll talk to my coworkers about it and see if just the one middle day would be worth the money.

Watching Raising Arizona, now, with Sarah. She’s never seen it, unbelievable, isn’t it?

I’ll probably change my mind

… so far, Dish Network sucks. I haven’t seen the “no signal” symptom that the cable companies show you on their anti-satellite ads. But I’ve had some issues setting up HD service, which required one phone call and $0 back on cable, in Woonsocket. First we got delayed, due to some sale price not being offered until Feb 1st. I’m not sure if we actually got the sale price or not, since I haven’t seen the bill and it’s not in my name, but I won’t pretend to understand the way Dish bills us anyway. Then, when we finally did make the call, the installation was scheduled for 6 days later. On that day, the installation of a new box was charged to the account before the tech ever showed up. The tech did show up that day, though, and spent a good deal of time fiddling with the old box and setting up the new one and making sure the dish was pointed in the right direction to get the right satellites and such. Then he turned it on the HD Discovery channel, and left. When I attempted to change the channel to another HD channel. I got a black screen… several other channels were showing the same behavior. Some of them loaded, but it took 20-40 seconds, in most cases. A couple days later, the channels just weren’t there anymore… if I tried to turn to them by pushing in their channel numbers, it would load the next channel down that it did still have in the guide. So we called them up and they had me go through a bunch of diagnostic stuff on the box that led them to believe that some piece of hardware was bad. So we scheduled a tech to come out. That was supposed to happen today, but apparently, Dish techs are allergic to snow, so they just called and rescheduled to Friday. I hope they don’t expect us to pay for this week and a half of HD without getting more than half of the channels.

If I ever get the service, I’m sure I’ll be pleased with it, it seems like there are more HD channels than I had on cable, especially considering the local channels, but I can’t believe how much hassle and extra money this has taken, compared to one phone call and a minute or two wait time for the cable box to reset and Zero extra cash for installation or service.

I’m just ranting. Everything else is going really well. Work’s just starting to get rolling. I got some of those replacement parts for the Dell, but not enough to get started on it without giving up the use of the laptop until the rest come. We may be getting lots of snow dumped on us, but at least I’m inside for now… maybe some shoveling later… but, I’m and dry and comfortable and I think I’ll go eat a bagel and relax.




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