Hello, world
Despite reports, I am not dead. I am quite alive, although some days that seems like a difficult thing to keep doing.
Okay, that was a little dramatic. Really, I'm okay. I know it's been about forever since I've decided to sit down and write some thoughts in a digital format (that wasn't a log for ACTD or Echoes), but I thought maybe I could do it tonight.
So what's new? Last time I wrote, I told about my new house. Well, I'm still living there, and things are going about as well as they can, given the circumstances. A single income sometimes seems like it's not going to be enough, but somehow it's been just enough to get by for the past six or seven months. There was a couple months in there where I was working ~50 hours a week to get the overtime and pad the bank account. Thankfully, it was actually necessary for me to do so at work, and they thought I was being a go-getter - which has been rewarded with a mid-year raise! I saw my first bill for property taxes this week (an INSANE amount in my mind), and last month brought my first HOA "notice" from spring inspections. I've hopefully fixed up the "deficiencies" noted sufficiently that they leave me along until next year.
But it has really been tough at times, financially. Rachel spent time with me over the winter, especially when she had off from school, and we'd be sitting around in sweatshirts or under blankets with the heat on only enough to keep the pipes from freezing. I've only run the AC a handful of times, and then only for an hour or so at night. I keep a lot of things unplugged (TV, microwave) during the day. It's really made a difference - my electric bills are amazingly low. I just hope that my good luck continues. I've heard people claim that others say the first year is the hardest. I mean, this is certainly the year to feel the squeeze with the economy in a leveling off or slight downturn (not sure which it is today) and the prices of basic commodities - food, gas - rising on a daily basis.
I took some time off last week. In traditional fashion, my family rented a place down in Ocean City for the week of July the 4th. I haven't gone in a few years, but with that week coinciding with Rachel's summer "vacation" from school, we figured we'd take advantage of it. We drove down on Monday, dropping her car off at her sister's house, and then to the condo on 5th Street. I've never been there before, so it was a little different from where I was used to. Overall, the place seemed nice enough. It was an independently owned place in the midst of all the buildings now owned by the Parrot company. In fact, of the four condos in this building, the two eastern ones were owned by them. Given that it was in the midst of senior week, it was no surprise to find underage kids as our neighbors. Our first night there, I was banging on the door telling them to keep it down... and on the second night. The cops were there on Tuesday and took one of them off in the wagon for underage drinking, and by Wednesday night they had managed to get themselves evicted. It was the one decent night of sleep that I had; the next day, another group was in there, and they were rather loud themselves, although they wouldn't start until 3 or so at night.
But the weather was good, and Rachel and I had a good time. The fireworks for Independence Day were a bit rushed for an incoming storm, and the wind was blowing enough to shower us in ash and debris even from 2nd Street. I beat Rachel quite soundly in mini golf while slightly tipsy (last year's competition ended with my two stroke come from behind victory in the final holes; this year I was ahead pretty much the entire time and ended 9 or 10 up).
Well, since it's July, those of you who monitored my journal in the past know that I used to post Tour de France results here. I won't be doing that this year, but maybe jot down some notes. I think I watch just as much from tradition as excitement. It's exciting at times, but there are of course slower down periods during the days. The exclusion of team Astana, which is really just the Discovery Channel team in new colors, is still a bit of a shame, and the recent decision against Landis to uphold the stripping of the 2006 title means that this year started off again without a previous winner in the peleton.
Well, I'm going to finish watching today's individual time trial and close off this entry. Maybe I'll find time to write again before another half year goes by! In closing, here are two random thoughts:
Okay, that was a little dramatic. Really, I'm okay. I know it's been about forever since I've decided to sit down and write some thoughts in a digital format (that wasn't a log for ACTD or Echoes), but I thought maybe I could do it tonight.
So what's new? Last time I wrote, I told about my new house. Well, I'm still living there, and things are going about as well as they can, given the circumstances. A single income sometimes seems like it's not going to be enough, but somehow it's been just enough to get by for the past six or seven months. There was a couple months in there where I was working ~50 hours a week to get the overtime and pad the bank account. Thankfully, it was actually necessary for me to do so at work, and they thought I was being a go-getter - which has been rewarded with a mid-year raise! I saw my first bill for property taxes this week (an INSANE amount in my mind), and last month brought my first HOA "notice" from spring inspections. I've hopefully fixed up the "deficiencies" noted sufficiently that they leave me along until next year.
But it has really been tough at times, financially. Rachel spent time with me over the winter, especially when she had off from school, and we'd be sitting around in sweatshirts or under blankets with the heat on only enough to keep the pipes from freezing. I've only run the AC a handful of times, and then only for an hour or so at night. I keep a lot of things unplugged (TV, microwave) during the day. It's really made a difference - my electric bills are amazingly low. I just hope that my good luck continues. I've heard people claim that others say the first year is the hardest. I mean, this is certainly the year to feel the squeeze with the economy in a leveling off or slight downturn (not sure which it is today) and the prices of basic commodities - food, gas - rising on a daily basis.
I took some time off last week. In traditional fashion, my family rented a place down in Ocean City for the week of July the 4th. I haven't gone in a few years, but with that week coinciding with Rachel's summer "vacation" from school, we figured we'd take advantage of it. We drove down on Monday, dropping her car off at her sister's house, and then to the condo on 5th Street. I've never been there before, so it was a little different from where I was used to. Overall, the place seemed nice enough. It was an independently owned place in the midst of all the buildings now owned by the Parrot company. In fact, of the four condos in this building, the two eastern ones were owned by them. Given that it was in the midst of senior week, it was no surprise to find underage kids as our neighbors. Our first night there, I was banging on the door telling them to keep it down... and on the second night. The cops were there on Tuesday and took one of them off in the wagon for underage drinking, and by Wednesday night they had managed to get themselves evicted. It was the one decent night of sleep that I had; the next day, another group was in there, and they were rather loud themselves, although they wouldn't start until 3 or so at night.
But the weather was good, and Rachel and I had a good time. The fireworks for Independence Day were a bit rushed for an incoming storm, and the wind was blowing enough to shower us in ash and debris even from 2nd Street. I beat Rachel quite soundly in mini golf while slightly tipsy (last year's competition ended with my two stroke come from behind victory in the final holes; this year I was ahead pretty much the entire time and ended 9 or 10 up).
Well, since it's July, those of you who monitored my journal in the past know that I used to post Tour de France results here. I won't be doing that this year, but maybe jot down some notes. I think I watch just as much from tradition as excitement. It's exciting at times, but there are of course slower down periods during the days. The exclusion of team Astana, which is really just the Discovery Channel team in new colors, is still a bit of a shame, and the recent decision against Landis to uphold the stripping of the 2006 title means that this year started off again without a previous winner in the peleton.
Well, I'm going to finish watching today's individual time trial and close off this entry. Maybe I'll find time to write again before another half year goes by! In closing, here are two random thoughts:
- Do want.
- Did you see the mini series on Discovery titled "When We Left Earth"? It was an amazing six hours of television, especially the last episode which dealt with the "modern" space flight of the shuttle system. I cried during the Challenger portion, watching the shuttle blow up, and was a bit emotional during the Columbia as well.