Over Due Update
It's been too long
I couldn't even tell you the last time I posted anything here or on my
tech blog. Life has been passing me by and there is in no way enough
time to get everything done. I was hoping to be looking for a place
out near work by this time, but without a second income source,
there's no possibility of making that a reality.
A few bad decisions over the years has created a monetary bind, some
related to joint decisions (Pymatuning Resort), others that she made
against my wishes (HHR -> TrailBlazer). Pymatuning cost us in the
neighborhood of 5k if memory serves. I'm usually more level headed
than I was that day. I should have seen the warning signs immediately,
high pressue sales tactics with a demand for an immediate decision.
Needless to say, I have dropped the annual maintenance fees for
Pymatuning. Tina may not be very happy about the decision, but
$400/year plus another $30 minimum for each visit just doesn't sound
like a great deal when we're only able to make it once a year (if
we're lucky). As for the Trailblazer, I did everything I could to
convince Tina not to trade-in for the Trailblazer, short of walking
out of the dealership...which looking back I wish I would have. The
HHR would have been paid off last year. That would have been a full
year without a car payment. Now we're back to two car payments
totalling about the same as our mortgage (combined, not individually).
I started writing and went off on a tangent there, it's important and
constantly on my mind. I thought I was done having to watch money from
paycheck to paycheck like this.
Onto other topics.
Kyra's Gifted program hasn't started yet. Tina had an appointment set
with coordinator a week and a half ago which was cancelled by the
coordinator due to illness. No contact since then.
Work is progressing although haltingly. The Web Development team I am
on has another 2 weeks before the new site is launched. I have not
played a part in the design, programming, testing, or debugging. It
wasn't expected that I would make an impact on the current project.
I've worked on a few minor issues with the existing site and codebase,
all of which have passed muster. It's a completely different world
moving from desktop application to web-based applications. The
principles are not that different, but the building blocks on which
the applications are built, are much more advanced than the technology
with which I am familiar. I knew coming in that the learning curve
would be steep, but it's a jump I needed to make now. There's a future
in what I was doing at US Steel, but its potential is limited as well
as the number of employers looking for those skills.
I feel I'm on the right track, but just passed through the mouth of a
dark tunnel with no visible end in sight.
I'm not sure why the drastic change from when I originally accepted
this position. My schedule really hasn't changed. I'm still at work or
travelling to/from work for about 55 hours a week. It seems to be
dragging on me more than when it was only a contract...despite the
fact I'm making more now with benefits than as a contractor.
I'm going to try to get back to writing more often, but that will
largely depend on how much if any free time I can find at work.
I couldn't even tell you the last time I posted anything here or on my
tech blog. Life has been passing me by and there is in no way enough
time to get everything done. I was hoping to be looking for a place
out near work by this time, but without a second income source,
there's no possibility of making that a reality.
A few bad decisions over the years has created a monetary bind, some
related to joint decisions (Pymatuning Resort), others that she made
against my wishes (HHR -> TrailBlazer). Pymatuning cost us in the
neighborhood of 5k if memory serves. I'm usually more level headed
than I was that day. I should have seen the warning signs immediately,
high pressue sales tactics with a demand for an immediate decision.
Needless to say, I have dropped the annual maintenance fees for
Pymatuning. Tina may not be very happy about the decision, but
$400/year plus another $30 minimum for each visit just doesn't sound
like a great deal when we're only able to make it once a year (if
we're lucky). As for the Trailblazer, I did everything I could to
convince Tina not to trade-in for the Trailblazer, short of walking
out of the dealership...which looking back I wish I would have. The
HHR would have been paid off last year. That would have been a full
year without a car payment. Now we're back to two car payments
totalling about the same as our mortgage (combined, not individually).
I started writing and went off on a tangent there, it's important and
constantly on my mind. I thought I was done having to watch money from
paycheck to paycheck like this.
Onto other topics.
Kyra's Gifted program hasn't started yet. Tina had an appointment set
with coordinator a week and a half ago which was cancelled by the
coordinator due to illness. No contact since then.
Work is progressing although haltingly. The Web Development team I am
on has another 2 weeks before the new site is launched. I have not
played a part in the design, programming, testing, or debugging. It
wasn't expected that I would make an impact on the current project.
I've worked on a few minor issues with the existing site and codebase,
all of which have passed muster. It's a completely different world
moving from desktop application to web-based applications. The
principles are not that different, but the building blocks on which
the applications are built, are much more advanced than the technology
with which I am familiar. I knew coming in that the learning curve
would be steep, but it's a jump I needed to make now. There's a future
in what I was doing at US Steel, but its potential is limited as well
as the number of employers looking for those skills.
I feel I'm on the right track, but just passed through the mouth of a
dark tunnel with no visible end in sight.
I'm not sure why the drastic change from when I originally accepted
this position. My schedule really hasn't changed. I'm still at work or
travelling to/from work for about 55 hours a week. It seems to be
dragging on me more than when it was only a contract...despite the
fact I'm making more now with benefits than as a contractor.
I'm going to try to get back to writing more often, but that will
largely depend on how much if any free time I can find at work.