11-08-15 (Sold!)

Hi!  Yep, another post.  I can hardly believe it too.  I’ve been somewhat inspired lately.  Jim has been real slow at work because he’s still in training.  To pass the time he’s been surfing the internet and had decided to read our blog from way back when.  As a matter of fact, he’s emailed me a few funny quotes or great memories.  At some point, he mentioned that I don’t seem to blog much anymore.  Reasoning? Lack of material, lack of time, lack of interest, etc.  Mostly lack of material.  I mean what can I write about unless we take a trip or something?

Speaking of trips…  We booked a trip to NYC for Christmas.  We fly out Thursday, Christmas Eve night after work, check in at the Hilton Garden Inn, Times Square and depart Sunday.  We have Christmas Day reservations for Radio City Music Hall.  We have brunch and dinner reservations as well.  We’ll also visit Rockefeller Center (+Top of the Rock Observation Deck), 911 Memorial, Statue of Liberty, etc.  We’re going to have a great time.

I lived in NY, Bayside, Queens for the first 18 years of my life.  I never went to the Statue of Liberty or Empire State Building.  Jim and I have been to the Empire State Building on a prior visit in October 2001, just after 9/11.  We stayed at the Hilton (not Garden Inn) in Times Square for a ridiculously low price since tourism was very low after 9/11.  As a child, I’ve been to Radio City Music Hall for a Rockettes show and have been to Rockefeller Center, Macy’s windows and FAO Schwarz.   

In other news… we sold the RV.  We arrived in Augusta Friday night, packed a few totes and then went out for a little bit that eve.  The next day, Halloween, we had the Jeep loaded up, signed the papers and then gave the new owners a run-down on everything inside and outside of the RV.  They’ve never owned an RV prior so they’ll probably have to ask friends in the campground to help from time to time.  I’m gonna miss that RV.  I absolutely loved it.  BUT, we’ll have more time available and definitely more cash flow.

We left a lot of the housewares and such as part of the RV sale deal.  We took home clothes, toiletries and the like which created many duplicates.  Jim and I spent a day integrating things into 1 residence.  Jim still has to deal with tools.  He’ll be busy. I have to deal with laptop cords, an ionizer, etc. 

Thanks for asking about my job.  It’s going well… I think.  I started 10/1 and it was 4 weeks of regular training and then 3 weeks of Authority Level training.  With the holidays in November they’ve extended it a little so I won’t finish up until the first week of December.  It’s been a lot of training.  My brain is full and I still have more to learn.

The leaves around town have been gorgeous.  The weather has been cold, then warm, then rainy, then warm, then cold, it’s just all over the place.

I feel like I’m forgetting something but I’ll hit the publish button and post in a new entry as needed.  Thanks for reading!

10-18-15 (Getting Smashed)

Wow.  It’s been a month since I last blogged.  I started my job on Thursday, 10/1.  The first 2 days were at a Marriot Courtyard.  They served us breakfast and lunch.  It was a day and a half of learning all about the company, who we are and what we do.  Several managers, including the site leader came in and taught/spoke about different principles that define our company.  The other half day we went over to our site for badges and to get trained on our company websites and such. 

The week after we were at my worksite and in a training room.  We’ll be in training for 7 weeks.

This weekend we’re in Augusta.  Last weekend we went to SCarowinds. 

So about that trip to SCarowinds…  It was Friday, 10/9, and we were in a fender bender.  Any type of accident sucks but this one was a no-one-was-hurt type.  Long story short.  There was a lot of traffic on the interstate.  We were going at about 30 in a 55.  The turn lane we needed to exit the interstate appeared.  We got into it and accelerated.  The Mustang in front of us, accelerated too and changed lanes into us.  In the photo below we represent the white car.  The cop got our side of it and there’s (separately) and said he couldn’t determine who was at fault so no one was getting cited.  I don’t know how he couldn’t have sided with us.  How does the other car get damage on the right rear quarter and us on the left front fender and it’s not their fault?????

So now, the insurance company gave us a choice of paying our $500 deductible but increasing rates or paying for the $2k repair bill ourselves.  WTF.

We really haven’t decided on what to do yet.  Stay tuned. 

Also this weekend, we went up to see the leaves.  We went to Mount Mitchell, Little Switzerland, and road along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Break taking as usual.  Pictures don’t do it justice but here they are.

In other news, I think I’ve figured out I have bad luck with electronics even though I love them.  Recently, we needed a new microwave at the RV, TV at the RV.  Laptops.  Router (the new one has issues and I’m awaiting a replacement from Linksys).  A cell phone battery kept shorting out my phone.  That was fun to figure out.  Not.  My digital picture frame plug was overheating and tripping off.  Another hard one to figure out.  Our 5 year old LCD big living room TV is intermittently getting lines in the picture.  Ugh. There’s more and as I remember them, I’ll insert them into the list.

7-6-15 to 7-12-15 (Fun Days)

We went to see Dixie Longate (as in dicks elongate) in uptown Charlotte on Wednesday.  We’ve seen her before on a cruise many years ago.  She was a hoot.  We recommended her show to my work wife, Jessica and her husband Cole.  They were game to see her, so off the 4 of us went.  There were so many hysterical zingers in this show, I had tears. 

She’s a he who is in drag and actually sells Tupperware.  That’s right.  During her show, she’ll demonstrate the product, give humorous alternate uses and provide you with it’s item number.  Theater goers are provided with a program, order sheet and Tupperware catalog.  She can be raunchy, which for me, makes it all the more fun.

 Above: Jessica, Dixie, Garret

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Rant about nothing of importance:

I’m not sure what prompted me to think of this but I wonder about our modern technology and how we seem to be going backwards in media at times.  What I’m talking about is CD’s and DVD’s.  Their fragile.  They scratch.  They get dirty.  Remember the 3 1/2 floppies?  They had a protective sleeve.  A built-in case I suppose. 

Why hasn’t this all switched to something more 3 1/2 inch floppyish or media cards? 

So now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, now what?

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Last week in the RV =

Above: Pretty elaborate breakfast for an RV huh?  It was yummy.

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We have a cruise booked for Hawaii in 2017.  We just booked one for January 2016.  It will be our 8th cruise.  Hawaii will be our 9th.  Anyway, we booked it with some friends.  I’ll publish their names once I make sure they’re OK with that.  It will be the 4 of us thus far.  This will be their first cruise and our first time on Carnival. 

It will also be our first time to Belize and Mahogany Bay.  The cabin we selected is very unique.  It has 2 windows in it. 

Research on-line shows this cabin area gets a vibration and is noisy when the ship maneuvers into a port.  What the heck.  We’ll give it a try.

Boring entry…  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

6-22-15 to 7-5-15 (Transporting Heirlooms)

Tuesday was my birthday (6/23 – mark that shit on your calendar!) so Jim took me out to Melting Pot to celebrate.  We had a cheese fondue, salad, small plates and chocolate fondue.  It was all wonderful.  Yum!

Nothing exciting this week at work to report.

Sam’s had a laptop on sale that seemed decent enough for me.  I’m so tired of my existing laptop.  It gets so slow at times.  I’ve run all sorts of cleaners and such but it only works for a few days at a time.  I realize there’s an obvious program culprit in the midst but sometimes these things just need reformatted and reinstalled.  I had to do that to Jim’s month’s ago and it’s been great for him.  My laptop is the main one that houses all our MP3, docs, videos, and tons and tons and yeah, tons of photos.  I back up all my docs using Carbonite (an online cloud type program) and have just regretted redoing the system.  This time I just decided on a new computer.  It will take days for Carbonite to restore all my docs and such.

The file restore took several days.  An unfortunate quirk of Carbonite (as a confirmed online) is that it wasn’t great at letting me know the restore status.  Many times it didn’t look like it was doing anything.  Very annoying. 

I’ve found a use for my old laptop.  We’ll use it in the RV for entertainment.  It’s got a VGA port so I bought a VGA to HDMI converter and it works great.  I can plug the laptop into the RV surround sound system.  I already have a “remote” that uses the mouse.   I use EasyTether (the best program ever) to get an internet connection via USB and then the new laptop gets a connection from the same phone via Bluetooth.  It’s awesome!  That all combined with a one time fee of $10 for EasyTether AND unlimited data with Verizon AND Netflix AND Amazon Video make this an extra awesome setup. 

On 7/1/15, a Wednesday, we went to see our first musical, Mamma Mia!  Yep, you read that right.  Neither of us have ever went to a musical.  It was OK but the venue was lacking.  It was at the Knight Theater in Uptown Charlotte.  We had nose bleed seats which were fine but the seats themselves were very tight/cramped.  During the second act it became warm in there.  Also people are annoying.  A few things.  I always though that once the show started, they wouldn’t let you in?  For the first 15 minutes of the show, late stragglers were being seated.  I call that selfish.  You ruin my experience so as not to ruin yours?  The next issue is that the program guide didn’t mention intermission but we asked an usher.  “66 minutes into the show.” we were told.  Why not publish that?  At least 2 people in our area, 1 of which was in our row (we had to get up), needed to use the restroom 30 minutes into the show.  Really?  C’mon idiots.  Then there were the 5 middle-aged woman in front of us.  2 had opera type binoculars.  All 5 of them spoke a little more frequently than I would have liked.  One took out her phone and filmed 15 seconds of one of the numbers.  That was against the rules and the screen light from phones is very distracting.  Maybe we’ll do another show sometime.

OK, so here’s what’s on my camera:

Above: Jim and I often find that furniture transported via pickup truck is usually fugly.

Above: I backed the golf cart into our neighbor’s pot several weekends ago.  Sorry Bob.  Sorry Warren.

Above: Along with huge air filled bubble plastic thingies, this box was sadly under-packed.  What a waste.

Above/Below: Jim saved a turtle crossing our street.

We spent the Fourth of July weekend in Augusta.  We were somewhat anti-social.  We just stayed inside most of the time, surfing the internet, watching Netflix “Everybody Loves Raymond” (so funny), a little pool time, some grocery shopping at that’s about all.  I never even saw fireworks.  It was just relaxing.

6-15-15 to 6-21-15 (Post Falls)

Unfortunately, I have no exciting vacations to report.  Unfortunately (again), our vacation to Niagara Falls ended and it was back to work we went.  A lot of my files had appraisals, titles, income verification and other docs to read through, approve/decline, and otherwise fondle.  Glamorous.  I had 92 emails and Jim had 40-50.  It took me a couple of days to catch up on everything.  In the meantime, it appeared I didn’t miss anything exciting at work.  It was nice to get home Friday evening and have 2 more days off.

I’ve stated on prior posts that I don’t want another pet.  I especially don’t want to replace Dasher.  There’s no replacing a loved one.  Jim, perhaps a little too soon, had an Italian Greyhound rescue organization come to our house on the Saturday prior to vacation to inspect our home and see if we were a good fit to foster.  I really wasn’t interested and got teary-eyed many a time through the “interview”. 

I used the words “too soon” above because maybe I’ll change my mind, but even now as I type this post up, the freedom is awesome.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d GLADLY give that “freedom” up to have my Dasher back.  Freedom?  Well, not worrying about who’s going to watch him, no worrying about him escaping, no limits on how long we can be away from home, no walking him in the 100 degree weather of the campground, no pee-pee accidents in the house, etc.  The list of what I miss about him is way longer than what I don’t miss.  I think about him a lot.

So, meanwhile, the rescue lady, Ginger, had a lot to go over.  You can’t really pick a dog that’s housebroken or friendly or whatever.  They may need to be crate trained.  That’s my number one pet peeve.  I get that it’s a necessary evil but I’m sorry, leaving a dog inside of a crate 17 hours or so out of 24 seems terrible.  I have many friends that do this and I understand the need.  Pets can be destructive, etc.  But again, all in all, crating feels cruel.  The other issue she brought up is that the gates need to be locked so that no one can steal the dogs.  We have a lawn guy that comes.  That would be a pain. There were some other “issues” for us that I can’t remember at the moment.

I was so sad by the end of the interview that I made Ginger tear up as well.  After she left, Jim apologized and I needed that.

Fast forward to Father’s Day weekend.  We came to Augusta.  Jim hasn’t been here since before Memorial Day and I since Memorial Day weekend.  We got our permit from the campground owner so we can get the roof over built.  The issue now becomes seeing if the people we want to hire can make it per the engineered drawings we supplied at the price we agreed on.  Then problem #2 is that we’ll need to take a day off work to be here. 

Unrelated:

Above: Baby Praying Mantis on the car mirror.

5-31-15 Sunday (Stars And Cracks)

The previous weekend we were in Augusta, our quest to obtain a permit failed.  This kind of screwed up our Memorial Day weekend plans.  I couldn’t get Friday off but Jim did so he was going to come to Augusta Thursday night and get the roof over installed Friday (or as much as possible) and then I’d arrive Friday night to take over.  He’d move on to Atlanta to visit family.  I was bummed I’d miss seeing our nephew Colton for his birthday but I was also thrilled to have a weekend to myself.  In addition to being home together, Jim and I work together, and have lunch together nearly everyday.  So this would be a great getaway.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder. You know, all of that stuff.  Well with no roof over build and at the last minute I was able to get a half day off Friday, Jim asked if I wanted to go to Atlanta.  I declined.  I really had my heart set on me time. 

So how’d me time go?  Well, I left Charlotte at about 12:30 on Friday, arrived in Augusta, unpacked (not very much) and vegged a while. 

Above: Of course, I managed to get a boulder or asteroid or something hit my windshield and leave me with a very pretty star shaped crack.  Yay. 

I hopped on the golf cart and socialized.  I attended poolside cook outs, campsite cookouts, lunch with a friend, sleep, TV time, played video games, cooked (a little), and just in general had a wonderful weekend.  There were times I got bored and those times I got through by taking a ride to the store, or watching TV or seeking out friends to hang out with it.  I even had plans to do some deep cleaning in the RV.  Oddly, I was never bored enough for that to happen.  Laziness won out.

We won’t be going to Augusta for a few weeks.  I have to work this next weekend and then we have a Niagara Falls vacation and then Jim is going to a concert.

Oh look, it’s the next week.  We celebrated our 16th anniversary.  We went out to eat.  Nothing spectacular, just Long Horn.  Jim was in the mood for Prime Rib.  I was too until I got there.  Then I ordered fall off the bone need a tractor to pull the ribs off the bone ribs.  They started off tender but as I made my way toward the other end, they got tough.  I asked the server to reduce the price to a 1/2 rack which he did without hesitation. 

It’s Saturday, the 28th and I had to work.  Yuck.  After work (1 pm), me, Jim and Beth went to Tupelo Honey for lunch.  Damn good food.  We came back to the house and chatted for several hours.

A boring entry.  BUT stayed tuned for the next couple of entries since another weekend is upon us and we’re going to Niagara Falls!

5-17-15 Sunday (Aloha?)

Saturday (5/2/15) in Augusta was about shopping, lunch out, dinner with friends at the campground and picking up Dasher’s ashes.  We went into Banfield, said one of those sad toned “Hi.  I’m here to pick up Dasher’s ashes.”  “Ashes” is definitely the keyword.  If I hadn’t said that she would have paged something like “Dasher is ready to go home.” or started searching the computer for him.  Either one would be a very uncomfortable situation.  Anyway, I was totally fine until I placed his remains in the trunk and then it started.  I balled, and Jim stood strong for me.  I know he was hurting and he kept it together. 

Sunday we attended Erik’s service at Riverwalk Park which is where Robert and Erik were married in November.  It was a nice service with one of Erik’s close friends delivering his eulogy. 

It was a sad weekend…  We’ll skip to the next week.

On Friday (5/8/15), we took off a half a day so that we could go to the county office in Augusta to get a permit for a roof over.  Of course, they wanted engineered plans which they neglected to tell Jim about the 1400 times he spoke with one of the inspectors.  So we wasted some PTO time and accomplished nothing.  This delays our install dates.

Saturday, the campground celebrated Cinco De Mayo with a potluck.  We brought ground turkey, onion and cheese sauce.  All of the food was delicious.  We had a great time!

Sunday was dinner with Jamie and Ruby.

So, that brings me to this current week.  I’m writing this on Saturday, May 16th.  Toward the end of last week, Jim started looking into vacations to use up so air miles with.  These are miles we got from opening credit cards.  We started researching Hawaii.  Cruises and hotel vacations.  We researched.  We talked to our AAA travel agent and friend Ruby (see above) about pros and cons of different types of Hawaiian vacations. Since we love cruising and it’s the most economical, we settled on an 11 night cruise.  11 nights?  Yep, but a good portion of it is at sea days. 

So let me explain about all the “at sea” days.  First off, probably 99.9% of the large cruise lines are internationally registered to avoid US labor laws and probably tax/fee advantages. So the big cruise line leaders register elsewhere in countries such as Bahamas, Panama, and Liberia.  Norwegian cruise lines has 1 ship, Pride of America, that is registered in the US.  US law is that an internationally registered ship must have at least 1 international port of call.  The Pride of America cruises can start in Hawaii and end in Hawaii with no international stops make them a 7 night. 

Meanwhile, the other ships sail to Vancouver, BC or Ensenada, Mexico.  We really prefer to stick with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity (they’re related) where possible so that we maintain and also grow our points.  Points give lots of perks.  We’re also willing to try a cruise that keeps us on the go for several days in a row and then just turns into 5 days of nothing but poolside, nap-tastic, hot tubbing, eating everything in sight, relaxation.  The 11 night cruise and the 7 night are virtually the same price too.

OK, so the point?  We booked a cruise for April 2016.  Yay!

BUT, then we realized Jim only gets 18 PTO days next year.  Using 10 for a cruise, leaving only 8 for the remainder of the year wouldn’t be a good idea so we’re going to book for another year out.  Hawaii 2017.   In 2017, Jim will get 23 PTO days.

We’ve set up a partial payroll transfer into an extra account just to save for the trip!  We have plenty of time.

5-1-15 Friday (Erik And Stars)

Week of the 20th.  It’s been a rather rough week.  As I last blogged, Dasher died on Sunday.  We stayed home from work Monday.  That brings me to Tuesday.  I had intentions of going to work but when Jim and I woke up, he said he didn’t want to go in.  I stayed home too.  I worked on laundry and some other stuff that’s pretty much a haze for me now.  Jim and I had our tear jerker moments through out the day.  Jim worked from home on his work laptop.  I think we just didn’t want to be at work for fear of public cry outbursts.  On Wednesday, it was a little easier to deal with the emotions.  I still didn’t want to talk about it so I even messaged my work wife, Jessica, not to bring anything up and just act like nothing happened.

Jim wants to hold on to all of the pet stuff in case we get a new family member.  We’re both in agreement that we’d prefer not to get anew but Jim’s “just in case” personality forbids him to part with all of those leashes, pet beds, bowls and other investments.  Fine.  We’ll label a box, and get rid of it in 6-12 months.  Even before Dasher died, I said I didn’t want another pet.  We like to travel and do so at least twice a year.  It’s tough to find a sitter.  We only kenneled him once.  Then there’s the issue of housebreaking a new dog.  Then there’s the awful kennel experience.  I understand the need for it but can’t bear to think of an animal caged for 9-10 hours a day, free to roam for a few hours in the evening and then either caged again at bedtime, or sleeping with us but either way not really interacting with anyone.  I just can’t do it.  What if our new pet is once of those yappers?  Or perhaps a chewer?  Ugh.  Maybe a cat?  Nah.  I think I’d like to spend our future years pet-free.  We’ll enjoy our friend’s pets.

My mother-in-law gave me a Hummingbird feeder for Christmas and we’ve had a lot of activity.  Jim put it up on the kitchen window.  Many times while at the sink, I look up and see one at the feeder only inches from my face.  I try to remain still and watch as long as its there.

  

We made it to Augusta this weekend.  I immediately cleared out Dasher’s stuff here to take home.  Once again, we had a few moments, but nothing too severe.  As suggested by so many people, I’m focusing on the good times, the great memories and not so much about his absence. 

Week of the 27th.  Wednesday (4/29) was my follow-up appointment to last month's diabetes diagnosis.  This time I saw the doctor rather than the PA. 

The time line:

• 3/16/15 A1C = 6.7.  Told I had type 2 Diabetes. 
• 3/18/15 I started Weight Watchers
• 3/24/15 I started Metformin. 
• 4/29/15 A1C = 6.0.  I've lost 15 pounds.  I've been taken off Metformin. My doctor says he'll consider it that I'm in remission. Huh? Either way, woot woot. Go me! I'm still going to continue Weight Watchers.  I’m extremely proud of myself, hence the gloating.

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On Thursday night, 4/30, we received horrible news.  Our campground friend, Erik, died.  He was a funny and nice guy.  I’m not at liberty to share the details but he’ll be so missed.  I knew it would be a somber weekend here at the campground but we came anyway to share our support for Erik’s husband, Robert.  They were together for over 10 years (I’m not sure of the exact number) and were recently married but just a few months ago.  Just as we pulled in on Friday evening, we spotted Robert, jumped out of the car and gave him big hugs.  I could see the pain in his eyes.  It may have been the first time I’ve even seen such pain honestly.  What a crappy month. 

Obituary for Mr. Erik R. Moen

Mr. Erik R. Moen, 47, beloved husband of Mr. Robert L. Turner, entered into rest on Thursday, April 30, 2015.

Born in Evanston, IL, he was a son of Betsy Dereby Moen, Kennesaw, GA and the late Clifford Moen, Sr. He was Lead Teller with Wells-Fargo, Daniel Village, Augusta, GA. He had been a resident of Savannah, GA, where he was a Personal Banker at Ameris Bank, prior to relocating to the CSRA. Erik loved music.

In addition to his husband and parents, family members include siblings, Frank Moen, Cocoa Beach, FL, Jennifer Marsden and her husband, Bob, Napersville, IL and Clifford Moen, Jr., and his wife, Jackie, Kennesaw, GA; a niece, several nephews, as well as many beloved friends.

In accordance with his wishes, Erik will be cremated and a private memorial service will be held.

If so desired, please make memorial contributions to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (www.afsp.org)

I was told Erik loved stars so hence the borders above and below.

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On Friday, I received a voice mail from the District Attorney’s office asking me to appear in Superior Court for a case I witnessed.  I kind of remember it and had to search the blog for info (see why I like my blog/diary)?  Here’s the entry:

After all that excitement for the day, we went food shopping. First stop, BJs.  We passed a Mercedes Benz SUV parked in a handicap spot (it had a placard) with a screaming infant.  There was no one in the front seats.  We took a closer look, like real closer, like when you have to cup your hands to see in because of the glare, and saw a 5 year old with an infant.  The kid rolled down the window with one of them fancy switches, and I asked where his mom was.  He replied, “in the store”.  I asked what his mom’s name was to which he replied “Ebony”.  I tracked down a BJ’s employee who radioed a manager and agreed to page this woman.  In the meantime I called 911.  The first of 2 cops arrived.  He asked for my name, address, phone, DOB.  He talked to the kid who turned out to be 6 and agreed that was too young to be left alone.  I went inside but noticed a woman running toward the exit.  I had to follow.  It was the mother.  Glad she could run with that handicap placard and all…  Anyway, that was it.  Just another thing to make my day fabulous.

That was 2 years ago!  3/12/2013.  I’m not sure how much I really remember although the post itself reminded me of some details.  Anyway, the voice mail said that she’d want me for this week.  Short notice.  I’ll call her back on Monday to get the details.

I’m just wondering if May is going to suck too?