Thursday, March 5, 2009

Thursday

Week's just flying by - working all day every day is just plain wonderful. Seriously, it is. I got to work this morning, left and was driving, delivering, moving all day long until I got back just in time to leave. Work owes me yet another half hour break. 30 minutes automatically deducted from my time every day when I log out - whether I take the break or not.

My last delivery? It's a retirement resort that's been around for something like 30 years. It's a square mile of houses that have limited access through 24 hour security guards. It contains two 18-hole private golf courses. I got in there - the lane to go by the security house was JUST wide enough to fit the truck without wiping out the building, taking down the gate and taking out the stop arm.

Anyway, I followed the instructions - ended up having to back out of that mess - almost 400 feet worth with retirees riding bicycles and golf carts and paying absolutely no attention to the fact that this large truck is backing up and could run clean over the top of them if they weren't careful.

But - you learn to expect people doing mindless and or stupid things. I went about 1 mile an hour, I think, in order to be on the safe side.

My dad sent me a $100.00 check today out of the blue. That was nice - a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks, I'll take it. Figure to buy 3 rolls of sod, put it in the back yard and see how it does. That won' cost more than $15. The rest will either go to pay the upcoming satellite bill or dump it onto the eletric card reader.

Writing another ad for Craigslist - another temp roommate. This one is leaving soon - has the electricity turned on in her new house and the home inspection I think is done. She said the inspector told her it has a brand new roof and the water heater is only a year old. That's good info - especially about the roof. I plain need the extra money to get things done around here. I want to get that rock in, I want to get those windows fixed and other things. The awning? Out of the question. Just plain too expensive. I will take out another 401k loan in July if there's any money left in that account. It's dropping every day. Hundreds of dollars a day just disappear out of my 401k account. I switched to a guaranteed fund - which probably isn't REALLY guaranteed, but it's the lowest risk available. I didn't have a lot in there - almost 7k - it's down to $4,600 since this s*** began in - last year sometime I guess. It almost seems to me it would be better to just cash the thing out and pay the huge fines to the government than to lose the entire amount to - this chaos we call an economy right now.

Really - I check that account almost every day, and just about every day, I see it shrink by a hundred, two hundred, whatever. I'm not putting ANY money into my 401k account right now. Well, take that back, my loan repayments go into that fund, I wish it would just go into a savings account. It's a total waste. Instead, I'm putting it into my online savings account. Anyway, I owe a little over $200 on the second loan. It's paid off in July - or I could pay it off early and get another loan. But I don't think I can take out that much, maybe $1,500 max. I'm not fully vested yet and the amount I can borrow isn't as much as I would like. PERHAPS I could get a good used awning for that much money, dunno.

What I do know is the new tenant came up with a GREAT idea: Get some of those camping/recreation canopies/gazebos and set those up in front of the western side of the house. Same effect: keep the sun off the house. Hmm, maybe that's what I should spend my dad's money on. Money spent will save a LOT in electricity.

Anyway, I don't want to go on forever - though I know I'm forgetting something here. LOTS of sick people all over the place. I'm trying my best to wash my hands often and just not touch my face in an attempt to NOT get sick. I have no scratches or cuts on my hands right now - a good thing. I was at a construction site today - a worker was sneezing and coughing all over the place, directly at people, didn't put his hand in front of his mouth, didn't care I guess. I kept FAR distance from that freak.

That's it - for now - if that "thing" pops back into my head, I'm back on here writing it up.

C'ya later.
ben

5 comments:

Kashew said...

I cringe every time I look at broker statements. They keep telling me to hold tight, but will there be anything left when the dust settles??

Hope you stay healthy!

Anonymous said...

Hey Ben! Just stoppin in to wish you a grand weekend.

Fin said...

Hey - you are gonna have some company next week. Check it out .......

http://www.bigrigtravels.com/gallery/5887451_UGyaU

BenB said...

Kashew: Hold tight for what? To lose everything? I checked my 401k again today, down another $150.00. I don't have a lot of money in there - and right now I'm glad for that, cause' the losses would have just been greater. Hope you come through this alright.
Thanks!

Shannon: Nice to see ya! Gave a great weekend, too!

Fin: Tolleson is a suburb of Phoenix, basically. That guy gets a lot of viewers going at any one time whenever he's out trucking and not parked somewhere!
ben

Fin said...

He has expanded to include some gifts and now he has a blog as well. I guess at some point in the next few days, his out the windshield view will be within a few blocks of you. Who knows, your truck might even be in his field of view. He is limited to 62mph, so many trucks pass him by, some taking quite awhile to do so.

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