Jaci in South Dakota / Lava Rock Relocation / End of PS3 Saga / Work for Ryan
Jaci's been in South Dakota for about four weeks now. From what I hear, it's been quite a harrowing adventure. To sum up, it sounds as if her sacrifice of giving up her job, house and friends in Boise is going unappreciated by her family even though it was their idea to have her move home to the midwest. It seems Jaci has become some kind of nanny; taking care of her brother's five-year-old child while he trudges through a messy divorce. Her job search hasn't turned anything up yet and she's fearful of losing what little savings she has left if she's forced to coast much longer. I've taken a few miserable phone calls from her and I've been fortunate to cheer her up but that won't be possible forever. I guess it was a bad idea for her to move back home without having a foot in the door with a new job, but I assumed her family would be more supportive than they've proven to be. It's such a shame and a slap in the face. I worry about her so much. Deep down, I wish there were some way she could move back to Boise. I wonder if that's even still possible.
It's summer so that must mean more pointless yard work. For months now, my dad has had this grandiose plan to build a short brick wall running a snake's path around the back yard. In order to see his dream realized, a lot of what's already in the back yard -- things we've spent years working on -- is going to have to come out. This includes a row of arborvitae along the back fence that, for some unknown reason, have nearly all died anyway. All around the arborvitae (And a potential cause of their deaths) is a bed of red landscape "lava rock". In order for the brick wall to be built, all that red landscape lava rock needs to come out. Naturally, the task was given to my brother, Ryan, and me. This rock is porous and not easy to shovel up, so we realized on the first day of work last week that it's easiest to just move it all literally scooping it by hand. It took us three days. Thank God for gardening gloves.
Half a year ago, Ryan bought a used Playstation 3 on Craigslist that could play Playstation 2 games. For months now, however, it's sat idle. The version of the console he got is prone to total failure, so it's a ticking time bomb waiting to die. Plus, the novelty of using a PS3 to play PS2 games is wearing off because there are a lot of PS2 games that the PS3 just can't play anyway. Bottom line, he's just not using it and it's a potential liability if it really stops working so he decided to get rid of it. Over the weekend, a local video game store was offering $200 in store credit for Playstation 3s. That's a little less than what Ryan paid to get it, but it's the best anyone is ever going to give him for it. He sold it to the store and immediately used the cash to get a brand new black Nintendo Wii. Quite a good deal, actually! Him and his long-distance-girlfriend-from-Ohio, Kim, will be enjoying that a lot more when she moves out here in a month and a half.
Ohh yea, have I mentioned that? Ryan and Kim have been together for several years now and they occasionally take trips to see each other. You may remember my journal entries last year when Ryan was away in Ohio for four solid months. Anyway, Kim's apartment lease is up on October 1st and her roommate wants to move back in with her parents, so Kim is gonna be homeless on October 2nd. Guess what that means? Yup, they're taking their relationship up a notch and she's moving out here to Oregon.
How is she going to afford it and where is she going to stay? Thankfully, the stars seem to be suddenly aligning for them. Today, Monday, Ryan starts his new job at a manufacturing factory in Beaverton, just a few miles down the road. The job sounds greatly lucrative. He'll be working graveyard swing, so 12-hour shifts Wednesday through Saturday overnight. Those crazy offbeat hours means he'll pretty much be making $15-$20/hour while having three- or four-day weekends. With that cash, he'll be able to afford an apartment for the two of them just in time for Kim to arrive in Oregon. At least that's the plan anyway.
It's going to be so strange having a guest room around here again. Relatives and friends may actually get the chance to sleep somewhere when they come to visit for the first time in two years!
It's summer so that must mean more pointless yard work. For months now, my dad has had this grandiose plan to build a short brick wall running a snake's path around the back yard. In order to see his dream realized, a lot of what's already in the back yard -- things we've spent years working on -- is going to have to come out. This includes a row of arborvitae along the back fence that, for some unknown reason, have nearly all died anyway. All around the arborvitae (And a potential cause of their deaths) is a bed of red landscape "lava rock". In order for the brick wall to be built, all that red landscape lava rock needs to come out. Naturally, the task was given to my brother, Ryan, and me. This rock is porous and not easy to shovel up, so we realized on the first day of work last week that it's easiest to just move it all literally scooping it by hand. It took us three days. Thank God for gardening gloves.
Half a year ago, Ryan bought a used Playstation 3 on Craigslist that could play Playstation 2 games. For months now, however, it's sat idle. The version of the console he got is prone to total failure, so it's a ticking time bomb waiting to die. Plus, the novelty of using a PS3 to play PS2 games is wearing off because there are a lot of PS2 games that the PS3 just can't play anyway. Bottom line, he's just not using it and it's a potential liability if it really stops working so he decided to get rid of it. Over the weekend, a local video game store was offering $200 in store credit for Playstation 3s. That's a little less than what Ryan paid to get it, but it's the best anyone is ever going to give him for it. He sold it to the store and immediately used the cash to get a brand new black Nintendo Wii. Quite a good deal, actually! Him and his long-distance-girlfriend-from-Ohio, Kim, will be enjoying that a lot more when she moves out here in a month and a half.
Ohh yea, have I mentioned that? Ryan and Kim have been together for several years now and they occasionally take trips to see each other. You may remember my journal entries last year when Ryan was away in Ohio for four solid months. Anyway, Kim's apartment lease is up on October 1st and her roommate wants to move back in with her parents, so Kim is gonna be homeless on October 2nd. Guess what that means? Yup, they're taking their relationship up a notch and she's moving out here to Oregon.
How is she going to afford it and where is she going to stay? Thankfully, the stars seem to be suddenly aligning for them. Today, Monday, Ryan starts his new job at a manufacturing factory in Beaverton, just a few miles down the road. The job sounds greatly lucrative. He'll be working graveyard swing, so 12-hour shifts Wednesday through Saturday overnight. Those crazy offbeat hours means he'll pretty much be making $15-$20/hour while having three- or four-day weekends. With that cash, he'll be able to afford an apartment for the two of them just in time for Kim to arrive in Oregon. At least that's the plan anyway.
It's going to be so strange having a guest room around here again. Relatives and friends may actually get the chance to sleep somewhere when they come to visit for the first time in two years!