It's Been A Long Time
2017 was a rough year. It's amazing how bad your head gets when everything you do, see, touch or whatever goes terribly wrong. I don't even remember when I posted last. Did I mention that Darlene passed away on 12/8/2016? I guess I did. Her memorial service was January 8, 2017 which started off a very bad year for me.
Darlene and I had a rough patch that started when I lost my job in 2014 and nobody in I.T. wants to hire someone in their 60's no matter how impressive the resume. "You're TOO experienced for this job!" Anyway I was planning on retiring at the age of 70 but I guess 63 was old enough. Not! So, been dipping into my retirement savings but, with this house and all, I didn't really have much saved up in the way of retirement savings. The stock guy says that I need to sell the house and move to somewhere like Idaho. Told him a better idea was for him to make me some money and quit apologizing for losing money. He did a lot better in 2017 but you have to annoy him like a rabid beaver.
So, what was 2017 like. Well, the memorial service was at sea on January 8th. Followed a week later by my dishwasher breaking and flooding the kitchen. Since it wasn't very new and was not energy star, I bought a new one but they found plumbing issues on the install so had to pay about $600 more for this nonsense. Well, I managed to pay off the dishwasher by the summer and the day I made the final payment, the A/C went out and they wanted to replace the entire thing (plus furnace) for...It doesn't matter. Out of work for years? No income? (Social Security at age 66 but that would come later) and still paying off the house at $1900 per month.
Hey, get this! I was three (3) payments away from the end in October, 2017. Three more to go! I get this letter from the mortgage company that they sold my loan to some strange outfit in Texas called NationStar that had SUCH a BAD YEAR, they were changing their name to "re-invent" themselves and a new name: d/b/a Mr. Cooper. Someone, writing a critical review of the company, suggested that might be in honor of cowboy/actor/singer Gary Cooper. Nice 1953 photo of him and I happen to be distantly related to him (had an aunt named Gladys Cooper who was a cartoonist/artist). Anyway, when I read reports of the executives at this NEW company selling off their options and retirement funds and ready to grab the money and bail, I sort of FREAKED-OUT! Let me look at that name again.... "D/B/a Mr. Cooper..." or maybe its D.B. Cooper? That's it, grab the money and BAIL! Being a skydiver, I appreciated that. So this was going to all happen on November 1st and I said: "NO! NO! NO!!!" and called the mortgage company. The only way to stop this thing was to pay off the mortgage IMMEDIATELY. So, called the stock guy to move money into my checking and ran to the bank to get a cashier's check and then the post office but missed the cutoff for express mail. Then I got all this info from the first mortgage company telling me that the loan was paid off and would NOT be transferred to Cooper. Well, I started to get mail from D.B. Cooper that they ALREADY HAD my mortgage and would be sending me a bill shortly and they told me to IGNORE the old company. the old company told me to ignore Cooper. After finally getting through to the old company that D.B told me to ignore their letters, I reached a great V.P. who personally took charge of the whole thing and I finally got it all fixed. (Nervous wreck, anyone?) Why do I always live with high stress. Family? Yup? I could go on for days about stupidity and how that killed both my parents. (Did I mention I was now an orphan? Probably not). Oh, and I paid off the house, but now the property taxes still cost me $4000 a year and the home insurance $1000 a year.
So, where was I? Ah! The air conditioner. I got the guys to refill the Freon in my a/c and put some sealant into it and that seemed to fix it and only cost about $600 (of course, money I didn't have). Then the kitchen faucet went out so, with a new faucet plus installation and the plumbers needing to replace the hot and cold valves in the kitchen, it cost almost $1000. Then the small bathroom sink in the 2nd bathroom decided to rust all the way through and was going to have to replace it after that flood but a friend of mine told be to just shove caulk in the overflow.... OK, I NEED to replace a LOT more expensive stuff. My electric bill was costing me, for this tiny house, about $550 per month during the summer (when Darlene was alive). What do I need to do? I need to get rid of her 40 year-old refrigerator (not exactly energy star either). We have around 3 UPS systems in the house for the computers and the Tivo systems. Lights are all floods. Can't even find the right LED lamps for the bathroom fixtures.
Well, what about 2018 so far? Gee, I just realized that my taxes were going way up thanks to the red-faced idiot in the Whitehouse. If you pay a LOT of property tax, regardless of state, you are going to be screwed! If you rent an apartment? Well your landlord will be paying more tax so guess what happens to your rent.
Anyway, when Darlene and I started having relationship issues, she was 8 hours away from moving out with ALL the furniture (taking my bed as well). Wound up in Kaiser couple's therapy with her (had to take separate cars) which did some good but the therapist said I was "ANGRY!" Me? Angry? Bull! So I checked with my shrink and she said I was angry. So, I went into individual therapy and was sent off to Anger Management Group Therapy. 8-week class but I'm at week 62. Keeps me sane among the felons and people charged with domestic violence. So, my wee usually consists of Anger Management and LUNCH. Other than that, it's just me and the cats.
So, that was 2017. Hope you all had a great new year and I will try to post more often. Maybe if I get out of the house...
Howie
Darlene and I had a rough patch that started when I lost my job in 2014 and nobody in I.T. wants to hire someone in their 60's no matter how impressive the resume. "You're TOO experienced for this job!" Anyway I was planning on retiring at the age of 70 but I guess 63 was old enough. Not! So, been dipping into my retirement savings but, with this house and all, I didn't really have much saved up in the way of retirement savings. The stock guy says that I need to sell the house and move to somewhere like Idaho. Told him a better idea was for him to make me some money and quit apologizing for losing money. He did a lot better in 2017 but you have to annoy him like a rabid beaver.
So, what was 2017 like. Well, the memorial service was at sea on January 8th. Followed a week later by my dishwasher breaking and flooding the kitchen. Since it wasn't very new and was not energy star, I bought a new one but they found plumbing issues on the install so had to pay about $600 more for this nonsense. Well, I managed to pay off the dishwasher by the summer and the day I made the final payment, the A/C went out and they wanted to replace the entire thing (plus furnace) for...It doesn't matter. Out of work for years? No income? (Social Security at age 66 but that would come later) and still paying off the house at $1900 per month.
Hey, get this! I was three (3) payments away from the end in October, 2017. Three more to go! I get this letter from the mortgage company that they sold my loan to some strange outfit in Texas called NationStar that had SUCH a BAD YEAR, they were changing their name to "re-invent" themselves and a new name: d/b/a Mr. Cooper. Someone, writing a critical review of the company, suggested that might be in honor of cowboy/actor/singer Gary Cooper. Nice 1953 photo of him and I happen to be distantly related to him (had an aunt named Gladys Cooper who was a cartoonist/artist). Anyway, when I read reports of the executives at this NEW company selling off their options and retirement funds and ready to grab the money and bail, I sort of FREAKED-OUT! Let me look at that name again.... "D/B/a Mr. Cooper..." or maybe its D.B. Cooper? That's it, grab the money and BAIL! Being a skydiver, I appreciated that. So this was going to all happen on November 1st and I said: "NO! NO! NO!!!" and called the mortgage company. The only way to stop this thing was to pay off the mortgage IMMEDIATELY. So, called the stock guy to move money into my checking and ran to the bank to get a cashier's check and then the post office but missed the cutoff for express mail. Then I got all this info from the first mortgage company telling me that the loan was paid off and would NOT be transferred to Cooper. Well, I started to get mail from D.B. Cooper that they ALREADY HAD my mortgage and would be sending me a bill shortly and they told me to IGNORE the old company. the old company told me to ignore Cooper. After finally getting through to the old company that D.B told me to ignore their letters, I reached a great V.P. who personally took charge of the whole thing and I finally got it all fixed. (Nervous wreck, anyone?) Why do I always live with high stress. Family? Yup? I could go on for days about stupidity and how that killed both my parents. (Did I mention I was now an orphan? Probably not). Oh, and I paid off the house, but now the property taxes still cost me $4000 a year and the home insurance $1000 a year.
So, where was I? Ah! The air conditioner. I got the guys to refill the Freon in my a/c and put some sealant into it and that seemed to fix it and only cost about $600 (of course, money I didn't have). Then the kitchen faucet went out so, with a new faucet plus installation and the plumbers needing to replace the hot and cold valves in the kitchen, it cost almost $1000. Then the small bathroom sink in the 2nd bathroom decided to rust all the way through and was going to have to replace it after that flood but a friend of mine told be to just shove caulk in the overflow.... OK, I NEED to replace a LOT more expensive stuff. My electric bill was costing me, for this tiny house, about $550 per month during the summer (when Darlene was alive). What do I need to do? I need to get rid of her 40 year-old refrigerator (not exactly energy star either). We have around 3 UPS systems in the house for the computers and the Tivo systems. Lights are all floods. Can't even find the right LED lamps for the bathroom fixtures.
Well, what about 2018 so far? Gee, I just realized that my taxes were going way up thanks to the red-faced idiot in the Whitehouse. If you pay a LOT of property tax, regardless of state, you are going to be screwed! If you rent an apartment? Well your landlord will be paying more tax so guess what happens to your rent.
Anyway, when Darlene and I started having relationship issues, she was 8 hours away from moving out with ALL the furniture (taking my bed as well). Wound up in Kaiser couple's therapy with her (had to take separate cars) which did some good but the therapist said I was "ANGRY!" Me? Angry? Bull! So I checked with my shrink and she said I was angry. So, I went into individual therapy and was sent off to Anger Management Group Therapy. 8-week class but I'm at week 62. Keeps me sane among the felons and people charged with domestic violence. So, my wee usually consists of Anger Management and LUNCH. Other than that, it's just me and the cats.
So, that was 2017. Hope you all had a great new year and I will try to post more often. Maybe if I get out of the house...
Howie