Thursday, close to end of school year

Finally found a way to get my youngest to do schoolwork without too much effort. I simple suggested taking apart a Duplo creation and counting its pieces. She did not like that idea but talking about saving it spurred her.

I got a 2 in 1 Hamilton Beach coffee maker. Flexbrew allows k-cups and 12-cup pots. It has an adapter for ground coffee in a k-cup sized filter, so I can drink coffee and not spend too much on the single serve k-cups.   

I'm pleased. Not sure how long it will last. It cost $80 at Sam's Club.

Still unsure of when I'm heading back to work.

Death of a coffee maker.

I drink a lot of coffee. I usually brew 2 pots a day. My wife and kids do not drink coffee.
I have had many coffee makers in my 20+ years of drinking coffee. I've only had one that wasn't replaced because it broke or was recalled... My first. It was a cheap white 12 cup Proctor Silex. I forget if it had a timer, but I think it was a single toggle switch.
Anyways, the machine that I got in July seems to have died. Mr. Coffee sent me the machine to replace one that died after 4 months.
I don't think it's worth trying to get them to replace the machine they sent me though it's not a year old.
I have an emergency coffee maker, but I don't like its features. Meh.
Perhaps, I should get a better machine? Or maybe I could cease enjoying coffee as much as I do?
I suppose I shall ween myself from craving coffee 24/7 and when my emergency coffee maker dies buy a new machine?
I don't like change.

magicJack

Remember the $115 question? Well, I took the plunge and ordered magicJack via Amazon to use $60 of the giftcard. Also bought a new coffee maker since my current one seems to take forever to make a pot. They both arrived via UPS around 1pm, but I was feeding D. I got around to magicJack around 2pm, I'm porting my current number so I had a fear that those idiots at Cincy Bell would cancel my internet along with my home phone once they got the request, so I called the idiots. I'm insulting idiots, but this is a clean blog that needs not to be vulgar.
Frankly, I am proud of myself for not utilizing profanities during my hour plus on the phone with Cincinnati Bell. While I was on hold, I tweeted them and replied to an email regarding my displeasure with the lack of customer service reps able to grasp the English language.
I had massive headache. Wonder where time goes for I go from breakfast table and to my day and forget time passes. It slowed while I was on hold.
Hmmm... B's dream hasn't transpired.
No idea when I'll get around to my new Mr. Coffee. Just know today is not the day.

dizzy.

just occurs to me that eating cake and coffee on a fasted stomach then mowing the lawn like a maniac to beat rain is dizzying. maybe i need more cake?

Monday- a day to ponder weekend events

*When I got work on Saturday, the shift manager told me that our assistant manager had given his two weeks. I was shocked. Sure, the guy was a horrible person in that he treated people poorly and couldn't fix anything, but he was the sort of guy that seemed to have plans to move up.
Since I started in January, ALL of my four supervisors have resigned. This latest dude was the one I'd have figured to have left first until the other three left allowing him to move up the pecking order.

Weirdest thing is that it's rumored that he doesn't have another job lined up.

*Saturday was a long day. It started earlier than normal with my be up and on the go with K to the camping grounds. I'm glad we didn't spend the night. Their breakfast was burnt and they only had instant coffee. 

After being there 6 hours, I was bored and tired. K was wanting to leave before we arrived so just putting forth the effort was something to be considered positive.

*I think I napped when I got back from Cub Scouts, but I don't remember.

*B spent the night with her grandparents since J was at work and I didn't feel B would be fun to bring camping.

I really missed B. Thankfully she came back before I left for work.

*Sunday, I slept until noon and got moving around 12:30. didn't feel up to doing anything but I forced myself to mow the grass and to get some necessities from Kroger. 

J baked an apple pie. I love her. Pie is something that reminds me of how lucky I am, but I count my blessings regularly.

*I did other things, but I don't recall. I do know that I didn't watch any football or baseball.

Last landline in America

So I have a thing about being thrifty. I hate spending money. If I weren't married, I'd have died years ago from lack of food or something silly. I think my wife's willingness to share trivial things like her leftover Papa John's is why I fell for her. I'd never would have bought something that luxurious. $5 for a mere meal seemed too much when I was used to living on 1)rice, 2)oatmeal, 3)Brita water, and 4)coffee, where $5 would get me through a week. I actually may have only went grocery shopping once while in grad school. My parents brought foodstuffs when they visited a few times. A six pack of toilet paper lasted me the entire year.

I may be exaggerating, but I seriously didn't eat anything that could spoil. I was lactose intolerant after a year from not eating anything dairy. I remember thinking I was going to die from gas around my birthday, and it was because of an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. I had a borrowed mini-fridge, a microwave, a toast-r-oven and a coffee maker. My kitchen was a card table in the corner of a 12 by 12 room that used to be part of another apartment but since had a private entrance to a hallway and its own bathroom, the connecting doorway to the main apartment was boarded over.

Rent was $249 a month, including utilities except for phone and water. My neighbor paid my electric bill since he had the main portion of the apartment from which my was sealed off. I had free dial-up internet and I got a few stations with the rabbit ears. I didn't own a car. I walked everywhere. I don't think I had my bike there.

Not much to remember. Makes me wonder what J was thinking when she said yes to my proposal.

Anyways, I've adjusted to spending money on things deemed reasonable by J. We don't spend much on frills when you consider we spend less than $40 a month on DSL, Netflix, and Sunday Paper. We have a landline that is roughly $31 month after having gone up a few times in the past 6 years, but we bundle our dumb phones and DSL to where we don't pay a too hateful amount. We need phones. With children, it's best to have a landline in case of an emergency.

I frequently get the urge to shop around for cheaper plans, but  I usually find myself saying I HAVE the cheapest plans without going a flaky route like StraightTalk or whatever those Walmart phone plans are.  I will check out Clark Howard and see what he says, but he says some sketchy things at times.

I remember him saying something like there's an app that turns a iPod into a phone through Google Voice. It was a while ago, but it popped into my head the other night and I looked into Google Voice and set up my own number.

I was really bummed that it appears that you have to OWN a phone to use the damn thing, though they give you a number that can be used for forwarding to any phone. I might be missing something but I was hoping to just use wi-fi to make calls like I saw a guy use a MagicJack app on his tablet.

Regardless, the Google Voice number is local which got me thinking, and I figured that I could forward to my parents phone thus making a call to their house a "free" local call and not use minutes from my cell when I call them. It works, so I can call them guilt-free whenever rather than only on weekends(they are asleep well before peak hour end).

Hmm... I wonder what I would be like if I'd never married. It's a scary thought.

Wednesday, finally a day that starts before eleven.

It's 9am, and I'm up. B is now up and watching Bubble Guppies, but I was shaved before she did. Once I'm shaved, I'm not going back to sleep. I did get up on my own with a bit of a start, about 6 minutes before my alarm to get K ready went off. Had a weird dream feeling that I now can't recall, so I wasn't quite sleepy when I made sure K had his breakfast and lunch ready. Sure, I went back to bed, but I really don't need to be up until a half hour later. Besides, I can't stand watching SpongeBob. K always watches dvds in the morning, and I'm usually not in the mood. After my half-hour back in bed, I was more alert and shaved.

Waking up at noon

I hardly call my current situation a rut, but yet I find myself lacking motivation in the morning to tackle the day. I got up at noon today. I was up late, but nothing to merit so much sleep. I am frankly surprised that I was allowed to sleep so much. J and the kids were on their way out the door to Target, regardless.
Not sure what I normally do, but I usually am motivated to get up to look at job postings whether in the paper or online. I'm at the point that I know that being excited about job prospecting gets as far as applying for things later.in the day or week. Meh.
I'm not saying I'm indifferent to job hunting, I just happen to have a job which makes the need different. I had a half-court press going with regards to my applying for things. I wasn't cold calling or going about places and filling out random applications, but I was scouring the internet and various job boards for things a person such as myself could do. Frankly, I'm amazed I have the job I have, for it's nothing that anyone would associate with me. There are worse things.
Anyways, I got up at noon. The family left me. I ate their left over breakfast and wondered to myself what I felt like doing. The fish tank looked a little dirty, so I cleaned it. I put on some Pavement and scrubbed the sides of the tank then siphoned a few gallons of water as I cleaned the rocks. I have been mindful of the tank since our Betta has been living towards the top, but he's gotten better. That fish has been close to death a couple times, so I'm not sure if he'll completely recover or not.
J bought me a coffee grinder. I had text her to look at them since I got a bag of beans from my mechanic that didn't remotely grind in our food processor. Good coffee, but it's decaf. I doubt that the lack of caffeine is my adversary with regards to being motivated int he morning. I simply think I 'm mentally adjusting.
I was productive today. In addition to getting the tank cleaned, I got my hair cut and went to Sam's.

Grill shopping

Hard to believe that it already has been 4 years since hurricane Ike ventured into Ohio and knocked out our power for NINE DAYS, but getting older distorts time as events blur with the accumulation of experience thus dulling ones' recognition of not-so-significant events.
I mention Ike because it was Ike that made me truly appreciate our propane grill.
To me, food is fuel, thus eating is a necessary event. In the grand scheme of things, food devoured becomes waste excreted regardless if it's baked, boiled, grilled, or frozen prior to consumption. Enjoyment of food is so temporary that it is low on my personal priority list when I consider spending my funds. Quantity outweighs quality as general rule, but for the occasional indulgence which sparks life into mundane events such as consumption of food.
Our propane grill was a gift from J's parents. They like to grill so they got us one. I saw the grill as an object that performed redundant duties given that we had a kitchen.

After Ike, I decided it wise to have a means to prepare food without being dependent upon public utility companies. I used the grill to boil water to make my coffee.
The grill has now come to a point where it's needing to be replaced.
Grills come in so many varieties and prices that one has to consider durability. Cheap grills rust out regardless of where and how they are stored. Heat from propane destroys surface integrity of places in contact with flames, so the innards of grill need to be more than pretty to the eye to hold value.
Char-broil has a series of grills that seem to meet my desires accordingly, even with replacement parts that cost less than replacing the grill unlike our current grill that seems to be a brand that is akin to Craftsman.

Don't forget your Pepsi when you go to Holiday World

A few weeks ago, J and K were watching PBS show a series on amusement parks. They featured a park called Holiday World that was in Santa Claus, Indiana. Not sure why, but they were intrigued, and they thought it a good idea to go there this summer.

We went today. Spent most of the time in the water park portion, so I didn't take any low quality pics or vids.

No one likes roller coasters in the family but me, while everyone likes water play, but me. The kids had a good time, so I won't say anything bad. I especially can't complain about the price of admission.

Check out their site. They don't charge for PARKING! They have a FREE PEPSI oasis almost every twenty yards. They have FREE sunscreen as well. Ample places to relieve oneself after drinking a gallon of Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sierra Mist, Gatorade, or other Pepsi friendly product.

Admission was discounted with the presentation of a PEPSI can. Family of four admission cost less than $150. Only had to pay for food, carny games, and souvenirs.

• Food stands were mostly outdoors, which sucked with the heat index being over 100 degrees.
• Food selection indoors was limited. They didn't have chicken! Burgers, Pizza, and hotdogs were what they pigeonhole you into liking. But beverages are essentially FREE. I had rancid coffee, but only a person like myself would drink coffee when it's 100 out side.
• They had build your own stuffed animals! So we had to get a Penguin and a Poodle, since the carny games were rigged thus making those stuffed animals unattainable.

Kids had fun, but wanted to go home rather than stay another day ( adding a second day was a very reasonable option that could have been decide upon leaving for the day). We got home around 11:40 tonight. We left around 7:30 in the morning, so it made for a long day. It's almost a four hour drive, but it's in a different timezone, so we gained an hour of fun!

Holiday World, a place in the middle of nowhere that is great for kids like mine.

Wednesday, a day for rest.

I intended to work on the tiling today, but my back said it needed a rest. Been in a funk from stooping the last few weeks, now with the end in sight, I need not rush it.

I'm not what I used to be, but I have my moments.

Thinking back to the days of being within an 54' trailer and unloading for 90 minutes straight, five days a week, I know that I could do things without feeling pain the next day. (I only remember one day of waking up too sore to move and I called off.)


The thing is, I got paid the same as if I was on the line where I could stand around BS and drink coffee. I only got in the trailer so I had leverage to get more hours. I had a schedule that worked around J's so that I could be home with baby K. No one said anything to me about it, I just requested the days off weekly and I got them while having a full-time schedule. I usually got Wednesday off since we didn't get trucks Wednesday and Sunday. I worked every Sunday for two straight years. I liked Sundays, I worked mostly alone.


I don't miss working retail, but it was work that I didn't have to think about while home. I didn't have to think much while working, either. It was pretty simple and cut and dry what needed done. I always longed to be done and to go home. I had a lot more energy since I never sat during the workday or stared at a PC, so I got a lot of the initial remodeling done on the house during that time.

Aside from the back, my mind has been mush looking at things online.

Internet speed has greatly reduced my overall productivity. Information is compiled as such a rate that I should be come an infovegan or at least give up following sports. Watching overpaid athletes is a waste of time, but yet so hard to give up.

Being nostalgic, reminds me of my dad saying he worked every summer when he first started teaching. He never worked in the summer as long as I can remember. Hopefully, K and B will have a memory or two me actually fixing something. I believe that B will definitely remember my orthopedic procedures to reattach limbs to her dolls.

The closer I get to finishing the tiling, I think about what will be next. Of course, the more work I do, the more inclined I am to feeling the house could be marketable. We need more room for our cars, and Ohio hasn't been a great place for me to find work.

Coffee Vindicated!

• Coffee buzz: Study finds java drinkers live longer By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

The above article was an interesting read this morning, but I'm sure it will be contradicted in a few years.  Regardless, nothing will get me to stop drinking coffee unless my stomach disagrees with it like it did back in '97 when EVERYTHING BURNED. I'm a simple man with a simple palate. I'm frugal so I don't need fancy coffee, but I don't go for store brands, for they make everything taste as though DISH WATER was used. I like Maxwell House over Folgers. I like my coffee dark and strong, but luke warm. I've been buying 11 oz cans of Vanilla and Hazelnut coffee and adding a scope to the normal master blend that I buy in 34 oz cans. Nothing is as good as freshly opened coffee, but a can lasts a month, hence the flavor additions.

Too much Steak'n Shake is catching up!

I have a closet of shirts and pants that I have worn sparingly the past ten months. The clothes were loose on me last I wore them, but they were a bit snug this morning as I got myself presentable.

Have I gained weight? Not really since my weight has been about the same since I got my thyroid situated, but even then I carried the weight well. I wore the same pants even when I gained forty pounds within a six month period. Of course I had lost about thirty pounds from having a funky work schedule that meant I napped  a few hours a couple times a day and never ate a real meal, which meant I really only gained a net ten pounds. Once the thyroid was regulated, I dropped 30 for a net loss of 20. I was very active running up ladders and unloading trailers, so once  I got a desk job, I settled on my natural weight between the two extremes. I weigh that now 8 years later.

I am craving Steak'n Shake, and Steak'n Shake always leaves me feeling full. I like feeling full.

There was a time when I didn't eat much and lived on coffee, water, rice and oatmeal. My apartment in grad school wasn't even a studio, so my only sink was in the bathroom. I had a coffee maker, mini fridge, a microwave, and a toaster oven to utilize food. So if I ate out, I went with Dingo to Ponderosa to get full and enjoy American Spirits and listen to his exploits.

We eat weekly at SNS for about a year now because a family of four can eat ridiculously cheap on weekends. I guess that I should start running or something, but I've been saying that for years and have the unworn shoes that mock me. My feet aren't changing size, so I will wear them one day.

Hopefully I get out of my jobless funk and get a structured schedule again, as long as it doesn't take away from my weekly SNS.