Just a couple of ordinary days has past. I've been working hard on the software contract and put in a hefty invoice yesterday. Some political b.s. got in the way of getting things done, but that too shall pass. My attorney called me with instructions to stay by my cell phone on Monday--some sort of settlement conference with a judge. ROFL. That's not going to happen. Lawsuits are a PITA.
I took my friend Marie to a birthday lunch yesterday, then came home and puked my guts out. We ate at a place called "Cooking from scratch". I should have known. I'm a vegan and a frugivore and all they had on the menu was Southern fried stuff. I got the fried okra, cole slaw, and green beans. The fried okra may have been fried in lard, one sniff told me not to eat it. The green beans had a slice of pork in it--I gave it to Marie. The cole slaw was not delicious and hindsight tells me it was a bit off. I ordered the onion rings because I was hungry and the side dishes weren't up to par, and that was after making sure they fried them in vegetable oil, at least. They were OK. But I'm not used to bad eating nowadays. I popped the whole lunch within a few hours. I woke up today feeling a little better. I'm sipping a cool herbal tea and will baby the tummy for a few more hours.
The usual morning routine sets in, though I plan to read a couple of chapters on C# to get my head wrapped back around delegates, handlers, callbacks, sockets, and threads. When I design something I always have a handle on all that. This weekend I have to remediate a project that was poorly designed by someone who was still new at the job. I'm trying to understand what that last genious did so I can make surgically precise corrections.
Then I do all my personal stuff first, because you should always start your day dressed all the way to your shoes. It prevents obstacles to progress later in the day and you should always put on your own oxygen mask first. For me, personal stuff includes good eating, good grooming, good exercise, and good meditation. Chores are next, so they don't hang over your head...all the animal care, housework, remedial cleaning. With the boring stuff out of the way, I then concentrate on anything to do with immediate money, making jewelry to fill eBay orders, listing new jewelry, wrapping items to mail, then sending invoices or following up on past invoices for the software business. Then I get any errands out of the way. By 10:00 am I'm at work on my projects where I can get 8 hours of work done in about 5 hours. Then the rest of the day is mine.
So there won't be much posting here until I hear something significant about the lawsuit, the work, or the van. The van is being scheduled for basic work next week. I hope they only keep it for a few days. Henry is due for some basic preventative maintenance, mechanicl work that we may identify, new generator and electrical system, roof vents, and a discussion on who might be best qualified to prep the inside for real living. I'm popping $4000-$5000 for the first bit of work, it may be a lot less. I'm expecting engine work and perhaps a new transmission. I've got another $2500 ready for extensive work. The body and chassis is in excellent condition, but it may have had some hard driving in the past. I don't want to be a van dweller who finds out in a remote corner of Georgia that I have to put my house in a shop for a week. The backup plan for that is preventative maintenance and mechanical work now, plus a small trailer which will be used for storing my items if the van is getting repairs. I could camp out in a tent, or spend cash on a motel room. I have to have Henry back within a few weeks because I'm traveling to a few places for work, then I'm heading back to Pennsylvania to get my stuff.
Today, I'm just going to chill out.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
This is the life!
To think that just a year ago I was worried about getting my own place to live and downsizing so that I could afford to work less and play more. I struggled with my situation, made lists, schemed, and prayed for miracles. But what finally helped me in the end was just doing it. I worked at a job I didn't like, saved money, got out of "the job", went on unemployment, and just did it. I took a few detours along the way because we humans are like that sometimes. The safe and familiar is more dear, and the promise of better circumstances can be quite a lure. I thought I had a "real job" waiting for me, but that did fall through. It is HARD to change, one of the most difficult things that we can do. You have to be willing to throw your hat into the wide open ring and just do it.
So I did it. After a few painful months of downsizing, I was able to put all my interminable boxes of stuff into a small storage room, load up a tiny Ford Escort with the stuff I considered my most basic requirements, and then I hit the road. Yes, I had a real destination, but it was just a stop to allow me to execute the rest of my plan. I spent my savings on a used Sprinter van which is mechanically sound. Without modifications it serves as a bedroom and kitchenette on wheels. I've already used it for camping, for retiring to after a night of babysitting, and for accessing my jewelry supplies and tools to keep up an online business. I've even gotten back into the software contracting business, also from out of my van. I still have a room in a tiny trailer I share with an old friend. Our goal was to downsize both of us in preparation for an early retirement--two old birds giving each other a hand. But she got sidetracked by her own life and we are essentially keeping up two places between us. Until her son gets out of prison, she's stuck with her grandsons and in her current job.
So I'm rattling around the little trailer, the RV I like to call it. It's a good thing, because it would take a lot of diesel or even propane to keep Henry the van warm right now. We got a hard freeze last night and I tried to sleep in the van, but it was just too hard to function. I think my tv froze and my feet definitely froze in spite of two pair of socks and my thermals. The problem with the van as it is with the bare metal and no real insulation is that it was probably colder inside than outside. The plan has always been to get the van outfitted more like a real home inside, but that does take time and money. Realistically, if I had to live in the van full-time as it is, I'd be farther south by now. Or, parked at a friend's house. But then I'd be spending my spare time insulating. Now I'm working on the practical matter of completing work on the software contract to get some money to stashed. And because it makes more sense to stay in the RV and be comfortable I've been working on winterizing the RV.
Winterizing, you say? Oh, yes. All over the country, wherever it might get cold, poor folks are gathering newspaper, plastic bags, duct tape, staples, nails, and hammers, even old blankets, old sheets, old mattresses, old pillows, you name it, all for valiant attempts to seal up the holes that run rampant in older homes and trailers. I've even lived in a fairly new condo in New Jersey where I would swear that the wind was whistling through the drywall, not the cracks, the drywall itself, right through the coating of paint! I nailed quilts to that wall that went up two stories. I also closed the upstairs bedrooms and moved my children down to the dining room where we lived that winter, with their bunk beds and my full-size bed. I moved in the TV and the VCR and the computer and their toys. We wouldn't have been able to financially survive that winter if I hadn't. If you don't know how to winterize, you'd better pay attention now. Sometimes you have to be ruthless and often you have to be creative.
Winterizing the RV is still in progress but I've gotten a lot done. The two air conditioners are covered with heavy plastic and winter grade plastic tape. They are covered both on the outside, around the window openings, and inside. Windows have been covered on the outside with heavy plastic and tape, while I took a lighter plastic and wound it around the screens, reinserted the screens (where there was no storm window to insert), then taped plastic around all that. I left one window in the hallway untaped, in order to get air when needed. Then the doors, oh my, the doors! I think these doors have never seen a gasket or a weather seal, so I cut strips of felt and glued them to the sides, shut the back door and hung four $1.00 quilts found at the thrift store in the recessed opening of the "back door". The front door has a heavy quilt hung in front of it, plus there is a baffle set up with quilts on either side of the opening. It won't be fun getting in and out, but the quilts can be moved out of the way during the day. I set the propane heater on 62, and use a couple of space heaters when I'm awake. Two quilts on the bed and I don't need heaters at night. I even turn the propane heater down to 58. Then you wear sweaters inside, stay dressed in clothes, and keep your socks on. That completes the winterization of a less than cosy place to live.
So I did it. After a few painful months of downsizing, I was able to put all my interminable boxes of stuff into a small storage room, load up a tiny Ford Escort with the stuff I considered my most basic requirements, and then I hit the road. Yes, I had a real destination, but it was just a stop to allow me to execute the rest of my plan. I spent my savings on a used Sprinter van which is mechanically sound. Without modifications it serves as a bedroom and kitchenette on wheels. I've already used it for camping, for retiring to after a night of babysitting, and for accessing my jewelry supplies and tools to keep up an online business. I've even gotten back into the software contracting business, also from out of my van. I still have a room in a tiny trailer I share with an old friend. Our goal was to downsize both of us in preparation for an early retirement--two old birds giving each other a hand. But she got sidetracked by her own life and we are essentially keeping up two places between us. Until her son gets out of prison, she's stuck with her grandsons and in her current job.
So I'm rattling around the little trailer, the RV I like to call it. It's a good thing, because it would take a lot of diesel or even propane to keep Henry the van warm right now. We got a hard freeze last night and I tried to sleep in the van, but it was just too hard to function. I think my tv froze and my feet definitely froze in spite of two pair of socks and my thermals. The problem with the van as it is with the bare metal and no real insulation is that it was probably colder inside than outside. The plan has always been to get the van outfitted more like a real home inside, but that does take time and money. Realistically, if I had to live in the van full-time as it is, I'd be farther south by now. Or, parked at a friend's house. But then I'd be spending my spare time insulating. Now I'm working on the practical matter of completing work on the software contract to get some money to stashed. And because it makes more sense to stay in the RV and be comfortable I've been working on winterizing the RV.
Winterizing, you say? Oh, yes. All over the country, wherever it might get cold, poor folks are gathering newspaper, plastic bags, duct tape, staples, nails, and hammers, even old blankets, old sheets, old mattresses, old pillows, you name it, all for valiant attempts to seal up the holes that run rampant in older homes and trailers. I've even lived in a fairly new condo in New Jersey where I would swear that the wind was whistling through the drywall, not the cracks, the drywall itself, right through the coating of paint! I nailed quilts to that wall that went up two stories. I also closed the upstairs bedrooms and moved my children down to the dining room where we lived that winter, with their bunk beds and my full-size bed. I moved in the TV and the VCR and the computer and their toys. We wouldn't have been able to financially survive that winter if I hadn't. If you don't know how to winterize, you'd better pay attention now. Sometimes you have to be ruthless and often you have to be creative.
Winterizing the RV is still in progress but I've gotten a lot done. The two air conditioners are covered with heavy plastic and winter grade plastic tape. They are covered both on the outside, around the window openings, and inside. Windows have been covered on the outside with heavy plastic and tape, while I took a lighter plastic and wound it around the screens, reinserted the screens (where there was no storm window to insert), then taped plastic around all that. I left one window in the hallway untaped, in order to get air when needed. Then the doors, oh my, the doors! I think these doors have never seen a gasket or a weather seal, so I cut strips of felt and glued them to the sides, shut the back door and hung four $1.00 quilts found at the thrift store in the recessed opening of the "back door". The front door has a heavy quilt hung in front of it, plus there is a baffle set up with quilts on either side of the opening. It won't be fun getting in and out, but the quilts can be moved out of the way during the day. I set the propane heater on 62, and use a couple of space heaters when I'm awake. Two quilts on the bed and I don't need heaters at night. I even turn the propane heater down to 58. Then you wear sweaters inside, stay dressed in clothes, and keep your socks on. That completes the winterization of a less than cosy place to live.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Still Catching Up
Basically catching my breath and working on the new project. I want to stash as much cash as possible before I go back to Pennsylvania for the Christmas holidays.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Catching up
Now, back to catching up on my postings. Before getting back to the backpacking adventure I want to take a few moments to explain the long gap in between postings. I'd recently signed up with the Red Cross and during the wildfires in California we were involved in helping those displaced. I didn't leave the area but it was pretty busy with collections activities and providing general support to those who did travel. It didn't feel like I did much but the feeling of being part of a group effort was the highlight of the past two weeks. We just hope that those who were displaced will receive the help they need to rebuild their lives.
In between responding to emergencies and working on the latest contract I helped out with babysitting. Brock's boys and a new friend's newborn kept me occupied with not much time to dwell on the fact that my youngest son is going to Iraq next year with his Pennsylvania Army National Guard unit. That's going to weigh heavily on our minds until he's there and we have a whole new set of problems to contemplate. I just hope that the idiots in office give up on this made up war that was dreamed up to line their pockets. The economy is imploding here and I'm sick of the Re-pub-licken party. It's almost time to change my party affiliation but not before I cast a negative vote in the primaries. I hope that many other registered republican voters do the same. Vote for the weakest republican candidate and then at election time vote for ANY Democrat put forward. I hope the independents will do the same at election time. I'd vote independent but its a wasted vote until the bad party is weakened. The only reason "it" got elected the second time is because many of the older folks won't change their vote during the time of war, even if it's a made up war.
In between responding to emergencies and working on the latest contract I helped out with babysitting. Brock's boys and a new friend's newborn kept me occupied with not much time to dwell on the fact that my youngest son is going to Iraq next year with his Pennsylvania Army National Guard unit. That's going to weigh heavily on our minds until he's there and we have a whole new set of problems to contemplate. I just hope that the idiots in office give up on this made up war that was dreamed up to line their pockets. The economy is imploding here and I'm sick of the Re-pub-licken party. It's almost time to change my party affiliation but not before I cast a negative vote in the primaries. I hope that many other registered republican voters do the same. Vote for the weakest republican candidate and then at election time vote for ANY Democrat put forward. I hope the independents will do the same at election time. I'd vote independent but its a wasted vote until the bad party is weakened. The only reason "it" got elected the second time is because many of the older folks won't change their vote during the time of war, even if it's a made up war.
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