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| Sunday, July 22, 2007 |
| Endings and Beginnings |
I had a lovely 27th birthday party, and have come to understand that my favorite kind of get-together/party involves about 3-10 of my friends. I'll have to remember that when we have our housewarming party in about 3 weeks.
A beginning: our time here in this apartment is coming to an end, and we're doing it the right way: giving ourselves a week and a half to move. The new place is a duplex with covered parking right outside the door, and enough room for a basketball hoop and a garden in the back yard. It also has laundry machines, thank God.
An end: I picked up the seventh and final Harry Potter book at midnight on my birthday. I didn't go to sleep - I stayed up until about 10am reading, slept for four hours, and woke up to finish the book. I'm still recovering, a bit, but my impression is favorable. Before judging it properly, though, I'm going to re-read the entire series once we've moved (the other books are packed up already).
A beginning: I bought an expensive PDA/phone, the Treo 755p. It replaces my old phone, a Sanyo SCO-7200, which I will honestly miss (still have to donate it to a recycling service). It was a beast, and survived more falls than I care to think about. I'll have to be much more careful with my new phone. The idea with the new phone is that I will be able to keep myself organized, and also have directions on me while traveling (it has Google maps).
An end: we're not slackin' anymore, and finally starting to keep proper records. We're going to take an inventory of everything we have for our insurance. Believe me, it's amazing how much stuff one has, especially all the ancillary stuff. Imagine how much it would cost to replace just the stuff you use in the bathroom (razors, shampoo, scrubber, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.). This also involves keeping track of important receipts and warranties.
A beginning: I'm about halfway through organizing my photo archive. Once I'm finished, I'll be posting them onto various stock photo websites and hopefully I'll make a couple bucks here and there.
An ending: the process of getting the truck all fixed up is basically over, now that it's re-wired, if Saguaro Auto gets the thing to pass emissions (we'll find out tomorrow). At this point, we've pretty much redone everything. Of course, there's a lot of glaring problems: the passenger door doesn't lock, the dash is completely torn apart, and it needs to have the rust blasted out of the bed. But these things don't have any effect on how it runs, and that makes me very happy. Or it will, if it passes emissions...
A beginning: Rachel and I now have full insurance (dental, visual, medical) and an active 401k from Bookman's. It's the first time I've had that since I was a military dependent, and even then, because I had no car, I never took advantage of it because I couldn't get clear across town. I'll be getting a physical soon, and go to the first dental appointment I've had in ages.Labels: apartments, birthday, friends, Harry Potter, insurance, moving, party, photography, slacking, Treo, truck |
posted by Steve @ 11:26 PM  |
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| Friday, July 13, 2007 |
| Like the Sun |
I've had a lot of exposure to my in-laws lately -- because I'm still stuck in Prescott. I like my relatives a lot. I'm trying to get the damn truck running... but it's not going well. I'm trapped here, and that is what I have a problem with.
I'm leaving on Sunday, either in the truck or on a shuttle. I have to get back to life. My taxes aren't paid, I'm supposed to be moving into a new place in 2 weeks, my birthday's in there somewhere and I wasn't planning on hanging around Prescott for 11 days. I also miss Rachel terribly. I want to go home.Labels: birthday, in-laws, Prescott, Rachel, truck |
| posted by Steve @ 11:46 PM |
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| Saturday, July 07, 2007 |
| Wires & Games |
This whole 'working from home' thing is proving to be terribly convenient: I don't think I've ever had the freedom to simply visit a relative without major concern for work. Something I could get used to.
Yesterday, we stripped the wires from the truck today and posted progress on the Dodge forum I visit (link).
Then, I went with Jordan and did some Star Wars role-playing. I refused pretty much flat-out to play someone else's character, and played a 'one-off' NPC. It was the first time I'd played a one-session character, and the first time I'd gamed in about two years.
The party was stuck on a planet and more or less at the mercy of a young man who owned the planet through gambling at Sabacc. My character wasn't a gambler, but a businessman who was at the table. The rich young man who owned the planet (Henry) had broken the heart of my character, Rigel, four years previous. Rigel determined to make money by slowly earning the trust of Henry and taking key parts of his business, which was primarily in mining the type of crystals used to make light sabers. The planet was uncharted and the only planet with these crystals not under the control of the Sith - making it very valuable, and also making it important that it be kept off of the Sith's maps.
Before the game, Rigel uncharacteristically poisoned Henry, and sought to make the game last as long as possible, knowing the young gambler wouldn't quit unless he had lost or won. Of course, Henry wasn't nearly as skilled as a gambler poisoned; the party and Rigel fleeced him fairly thoroughly before the party realized why the famed gambler was doing so poorly. Unfortunately for Rigel, one of the party members sensed that Henry had been poisoned, and successfully used the Force to prevent his death.
Having already won 25% of his profit, and realizing that Henry wasn't going to die, Rigel framed
the party for Henry's poisoning, but bought their safety in exchange for their (impressive) winnings. In exchange for Rigel's support in mining the crystals, ships to get off of the planet, and Henry's 'mercy,' the party was required to give 50% of their profits and charged with keeping the planet anonymous. They would also have Rigel's small spy network to help them.
Win-win. I had a lot of fun coming up with all of that in-game. Plus, the GM now has several extra tools with which to move the players: my spies, their debts to me, their obligation to keep the planet secret, and the fact that their vehicles are now 'on loan' instead of their own (barring sale and meaning they have to pay for them if they are destroyed).Labels: games, in-laws, Jordan, role-playing, truck |
| posted by Steve @ 10:10 AM |
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| Monday, July 02, 2007 |
| Prescott for the 4th |
Yay! Rachel and I are going to Prescott for the 4th of July. We'll eat great food, see the in-laws, help build their new house, and rewire the truck. It's going to be great to see them and get so much done. I know that a working vacation is just what I need.
Meantime, I'm going out in a bit to check out where our next place is. I'm sad that we're moving, not because I'm particularly attached to this place, but because I've yet to live in the same place for more than roughly a year since I moved out to college - in 1998. That means this will be my 12th place in 10 years, including Okinawa.
Still, we've got enough money to be able to rent both places for a week or two, and so will be able to catalogue every last thing we own (!), partly to get rid of things we don't want or need, partly because getting rid of things will make the move easier, and also for home insurance purposes.
Oh, and this time, I have a nice camera to bring!Labels: apartments, family, holidays, in-laws, moving, Okinawa, Rachel, truck, vacation |
| posted by Steve @ 2:00 PM |
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| Monday, June 18, 2007 |
| Edelbrock = Sexy |
The truck now has an Edelbrock intake and 4-barrel carburetor. It was installed by Saguaro Automotive, who aren't cheap (the labor and parts were close to a grand!), but the truck now purrs like a very, very large kitten.
Thank God.
  Though, there was one small thing that happened: the fuel line was set too long, and got pinched off, so that the next time I tried to start up the truck it didn't work. This is pretty unsettling after spending a thousand dollars on getting it to work.
I found the pinch, clipped the excess line, put it back on and voilà! I'm awesome.Labels: Edelbrock, truck |
| posted by Steve @ 2:09 PM |
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| Thursday, March 30, 2006 |
| A Funny Thing Happened Today no. 11: Phoenix Traffic |
So for those of you who may be unfortunate enough to drive in southern Phoenix anytime soon, you should know that there are two freeways called the 202, which goes around the bottom of Phoenix. They run parallel. Why didn't they name the second (more Southerly) one the 303? I got lost today. Thoroughly lost - like, wandering through neighborhoods while trying to find a freaking freeway lost. And as I came through the suburban Hell, we randomly went across what turned out to be the 60 ... but there was no obvious way to get onto it. No on-ramp, nothing. It was just taunting me. This is already after like 3 hours of driving in rush-hour traffic. I wanted to kill someone, preferably whoever decided 303 was a bad number. As I drove over it, I turned to my wife (who was also in the truck at the time though much more amused by the situation) and said, "You know, if this truck had better suspension, I think I'd just drive right off the bridge." And I was completely serious.  | Currently listening :
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
By Bright Eyes |
Labels: driving, joke, Phoenix, truck |
| posted by Steve @ 10:11 PM |
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| Monday, January 30, 2006 |
| Random Thought no. 18: Everything I ever wanted. |
My job search goes poorly. I'm headed to the unemployment office after this, and have my few last tricks up my sleeve. This is tremendously frustrating, though, because I don't really want much. I can't claim I wouldn't like having a few billion dollars to toss around, but I want to be middle class. And actually, I know that Rachel would refuse point-blank to be rich. At the moment, middle class is being defined as somewhere between $35k and $65k per year. I'm fine with about $50k. If I made that much money, I'd have everything I ever really wanted. This is why:
Per month.
$250 Groceries
$180 Dining Out
$330 For the truck and VW
$1200 Mortgage (30-yr)
$300 House decor/repair
$250 IRA
$350 Savings*
$400 Utilities, bills
$300 Spending*
$1000 Children
$0 Debt payments
$4,560 per month
$54,720 per year.
*~1/3rd used on monthly trip, 1/3 used on annual trip.
This is more than enough for me. We'd have trips monthly to a rollercoaster or off-roading or whatever, and annually could afford a trip just about anywhere. And have a big, fat IRA account when we retire. Of course, sometimes I'd use some of the car budget for the house repair (or whatever) - or maybe go out more one month than usual and pare from the grocery budget. But this really would be all I needed, I'm sure of it. I mean ... after 2 years of this income, I'd be able to do pretty much everything I'd wanted to do to my car, and make some improvements to Rachel's truck as well. After 5 years, I'd definately finish, and we'd probably get our third (and final) car - something like a '55 Nomad to drive the kids around with.
And this all makes me really wonder about the middle class and how I always hear about them trying to live above their means. From where I am, their means are plenty. Why are they killing themselves with debt?
Anyway, this is all wishful thinking at the moment since I'm unemployed. But there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I know that very few graphic designers just start out making $50k a year, but that doesn't bother me. That's fine. Rachel is making about $10k from Bookman's, and we don't have kids. We live in a duplex and so don't need the $300 for home repairs, really, or a mortgage (rent is half what's budgeted there). Actually that whole list is a bit inflated just because this is a fantasy world, and the title of this blog is "everything I ever wanted." Between the all that, we're taking $30k out of the above budget per year - leaving me to get an entry-level job at $20k per year. If I can find one.
Am I really asking for something unreasonable? A $20k per year job for a college grad, with hopes of eventually making about $40-55 in about a decade? Or is a college degree worth that little now?
Edit: heh. Even though it's best if you're listening instead of reading. I'll be singing it on the way to DES. Edit 2: Everything enumerated.
Labels: cars, debt, idiots, jobs, money, rant, To-Do, truck, true |
| posted by Steve @ 12:54 PM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
About Me: I like to think about things, and I occasionally like to write what I think.
See my complete profile
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