* Stringham high: We got our stuff (well, the weapons) back from the sheriff's department today!
* Stringham low: M surfed for so much porn and downloaded so many TV episodes from the Internet these past couple of weeks that he's been unemployed that he drove us over our ISP's fair-usage limit. [It didn't give us a warning like it was supposed to when we got NEAR going over.] It'll be about a month before we have normal service again. (Hilarious side of this is that when we logged in to our account, it said "Last 30 Rolling Days (You are over your FAP threshold)" I laughed and told M he's definitely done surfing for porn. [If you don't get this, you can ask, and I'll explain. Or maybe it's explained on urbandictionary.com.]
* Stringham super-high: Our new modem may be good, but we'll have to make sure M doesn't exceed his FAP limit again.
OH, and while we were spending time together this evening (testing the limits of our new Internet service and how much we REALLY have to download to exceed our allowed downloads), we came across this article: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/dear-em-lo-whats-so-wrong-with-cheating-on-my-husband-432916/;_ylt=AvBjqwU4MAIs9RkHupwvJBWNb6U5
And we would like to say "Amen to that!"
That is all.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Spring Has Sprung. New Beginnings Abound
* Stringham high: We have sprouts starting in the peat-pellet trays. Leeks and cherry tomatoes are really taking off.
* Stringham super-high: The geothermal heat pump and zone controls (pictures to come soon, I hope) are fabulous! It's never been so comfortable in our house.
* Stringham super-duper-high: I'm now looking at a few job options. One of them is a possible position with the company one of my friends and former colleagues is now at. The second (though I don't really WANT to consider it) is the full-time version of the job I'm currently in. The final one is freelancing full time. I had a conversation with another former colleague, who is a co-owner of one of my customer presses, that was enlightening. In short, after crunching some numbers and showing them to M, I know that if this customer can give me what seems (to me) a very "do-able" amount of business at a steady pace, I could be able to do this full-time once my contract is up in May. I'm crossing my fingers and toes and arms and legs and hair and anything else (including the cats' tails, which they aren't so happy about)...
* Stringham super-high: The geothermal heat pump and zone controls (pictures to come soon, I hope) are fabulous! It's never been so comfortable in our house.
* Stringham super-duper-high: I'm now looking at a few job options. One of them is a possible position with the company one of my friends and former colleagues is now at. The second (though I don't really WANT to consider it) is the full-time version of the job I'm currently in. The final one is freelancing full time. I had a conversation with another former colleague, who is a co-owner of one of my customer presses, that was enlightening. In short, after crunching some numbers and showing them to M, I know that if this customer can give me what seems (to me) a very "do-able" amount of business at a steady pace, I could be able to do this full-time once my contract is up in May. I'm crossing my fingers and toes and arms and legs and hair and anything else (including the cats' tails, which they aren't so happy about)...
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Beware the Ides of March! (Just Kidding)
Quick update for the week. Nothing major has happened, but some upcoming happenings:
M's still unemployed, but he's got 2 or 3 jobs lined up to look into and apply for. Woo!
Four more mouse casualties, but I wasn't thrilled about them. M cut into a nest of at least one adult and three pups with the tiller the other day when he was tilling up a new area for the garden. So four more potential house invaders down, but this time, they were out where they belonged...
We're (I, and M's going to be a captive) starting a new "diet" tomorrow. It's based on the book The Fertility Diet, and we're going to see how it goes. It's designed for eating the correct (basically, natural) foods and in the correct proportions and for getting all necessary nutrients from the right sources. It's not meant to be a weight-loss plan, though of course weight loss is suggested for those of us who are above our suggested weights. M thinks I'll be hungry all the time on it, but it suggests a starting point for you to adjust based on your size and activity level. We'll try the recommended plan this week and tweak as necessary. It looks to me like everything will be good and tasty, and the point of the foods from this diet are to be naturally healthy and filling.
Also starting tomorrow is the installation of our geothermal heat pump. (We are incredibly excited!)
So here's to new beginnings.
* Stringham high: We have seeds in hand and our garden planned!
* Stringham low: It's almost spring. We don't have any real lows, except some short-term money grumbles.
* Stringham super-high: Woo, heat pump!
M's still unemployed, but he's got 2 or 3 jobs lined up to look into and apply for. Woo!
Four more mouse casualties, but I wasn't thrilled about them. M cut into a nest of at least one adult and three pups with the tiller the other day when he was tilling up a new area for the garden. So four more potential house invaders down, but this time, they were out where they belonged...
We're (I, and M's going to be a captive) starting a new "diet" tomorrow. It's based on the book The Fertility Diet, and we're going to see how it goes. It's designed for eating the correct (basically, natural) foods and in the correct proportions and for getting all necessary nutrients from the right sources. It's not meant to be a weight-loss plan, though of course weight loss is suggested for those of us who are above our suggested weights. M thinks I'll be hungry all the time on it, but it suggests a starting point for you to adjust based on your size and activity level. We'll try the recommended plan this week and tweak as necessary. It looks to me like everything will be good and tasty, and the point of the foods from this diet are to be naturally healthy and filling.
Also starting tomorrow is the installation of our geothermal heat pump. (We are incredibly excited!)
So here's to new beginnings.
* Stringham high: We have seeds in hand and our garden planned!
* Stringham low: It's almost spring. We don't have any real lows, except some short-term money grumbles.
* Stringham super-high: Woo, heat pump!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Singing (Emo Songs) in the Rain
M has been officially unemployed for a week now. Last Saturday, he got in a full day of overtime, so that helped the final paycheck not suck so much.
So far, he seems to be handling unemployment pretty well. He's doing a good job at doing things at home so I can focus a little more on my freelancing projects, and he's been looking into a job position in Indianapolis. No interviews yet, but we think there will be one very soon. (Keep your fingers crossed for us.)
On Friday, work took a drastic downward turn. It was strange when I first started but evened out. But in the past few weeks, we've had some change pains because of a new program manager and a move to a new area of the building. I was riding it out, but it has turned into a not-so-pleasant experience for me. Our little team moved into a new area of the building with the larger team, and it turns out that a lot of things that I was able to mostly ignore before aren't so easy for me to ignore in our new location. On Friday, I was ready to walk out of the place and give it the finger all the way out the door. But I didn't. I stayed and sucked it up. I get paid well to be a contractor there, after all, but I wonder if it's worth it, the way we are now being treated (more like 5-year-old children than 20- to 40-something-year-old professionals). I had happily forgotten about most of the issues over the weekend, but the subject came up in a phone call this evening, and now my stomach is churning. Something's got to give, but Lord only knows what. Apparently, I'm the only person of the contractors who is willing to speak up and put my neck out by doing so. But I can't sit quietly by and take the crap. Well, I can, I suppose, if I channel my mother's personality, but I have too much of my father in me. I'll bring it up, but I'm waiting for the right time, the right place. We'll see what Monday brings.
If I speak up, the worst thing that can happen is they let me out of my contract immediately. No worries (aside from Mike's monetary ones). I'll still get a good recommendation from my immediate boss and my team members. The best that can happen is that things change for the better (when pigs fly). If nothing changes, I work to the end of the contract and move on. As for applying for the job they've tried for months to get me into...I don't think I'm interested anymore. I'm most definitely looking seriously for another job now.
But anyway, what does all of that have to do with our house? Not very damn much, actually. But I had to vent (again, for about the 9th time, and it's not really helping me feel much better).
* Stringham high: Turns out that my visits to the dietitian aren't turned in to the insurance company, so I can keep going to my wonderful dietitian, even without our health insurance, which M was providing.
* Stringham low: See above.
* Stringham super-high: M and I have had a good weekend, spending pleasant time together and planning for the summer and dreaming about our geothermal heat pump being installed next week. And some of our seeds and supplies were delivered this week; we are going to start some seedlings indoors next week!
So far, he seems to be handling unemployment pretty well. He's doing a good job at doing things at home so I can focus a little more on my freelancing projects, and he's been looking into a job position in Indianapolis. No interviews yet, but we think there will be one very soon. (Keep your fingers crossed for us.)
On Friday, work took a drastic downward turn. It was strange when I first started but evened out. But in the past few weeks, we've had some change pains because of a new program manager and a move to a new area of the building. I was riding it out, but it has turned into a not-so-pleasant experience for me. Our little team moved into a new area of the building with the larger team, and it turns out that a lot of things that I was able to mostly ignore before aren't so easy for me to ignore in our new location. On Friday, I was ready to walk out of the place and give it the finger all the way out the door. But I didn't. I stayed and sucked it up. I get paid well to be a contractor there, after all, but I wonder if it's worth it, the way we are now being treated (more like 5-year-old children than 20- to 40-something-year-old professionals). I had happily forgotten about most of the issues over the weekend, but the subject came up in a phone call this evening, and now my stomach is churning. Something's got to give, but Lord only knows what. Apparently, I'm the only person of the contractors who is willing to speak up and put my neck out by doing so. But I can't sit quietly by and take the crap. Well, I can, I suppose, if I channel my mother's personality, but I have too much of my father in me. I'll bring it up, but I'm waiting for the right time, the right place. We'll see what Monday brings.
If I speak up, the worst thing that can happen is they let me out of my contract immediately. No worries (aside from Mike's monetary ones). I'll still get a good recommendation from my immediate boss and my team members. The best that can happen is that things change for the better (when pigs fly). If nothing changes, I work to the end of the contract and move on. As for applying for the job they've tried for months to get me into...I don't think I'm interested anymore. I'm most definitely looking seriously for another job now.
But anyway, what does all of that have to do with our house? Not very damn much, actually. But I had to vent (again, for about the 9th time, and it's not really helping me feel much better).
* Stringham high: Turns out that my visits to the dietitian aren't turned in to the insurance company, so I can keep going to my wonderful dietitian, even without our health insurance, which M was providing.
* Stringham low: See above.
* Stringham super-high: M and I have had a good weekend, spending pleasant time together and planning for the summer and dreaming about our geothermal heat pump being installed next week. And some of our seeds and supplies were delivered this week; we are going to start some seedlings indoors next week!
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