Saturday.  Didn't get out of bed until 9 am.  Just didn't feel like getting up. The 2 days I did work this week were pretty long days, yesterday I didn't get home until 7pm.

Lots of thinking going on here.  My thoughts are of being at a job for 10 years and in less than 2, my vacation hours go up even more, by another week's worth.  What am I going to to do, quit and start from the beginning at my age? By the time I get any vacation saved up again, I'll be thinking about retiring.  I mean, many places give you a week off after being there a year, but that's not really that much.  I've got 160 hours of vacation per year right now, not including personal time, floating holidays and sick days.  It will go up to 200 as of January 3, 2018.

It isn't stopping me from looking for another job, though.  I just wonder if it's worth it to quit and start all over again.  I dunno, but it looks like I can potentially expect around 90 hours per week. I only had 88 as of yesterday but that only because of this week with Memorial Day off and 2 more days of vacation time after that.

My attention went to cutting costs. Can I get a phone plan for cheaper?  Can I get a better plan for both internet and satellite or cable at my house in Phoenix?  My home modification is going through through the HARP or HAMP program, i don't really know which, I just applied through my mortgage company and they do all the work.  Very much in love with the idea of cutting my mortgage payment by almost $300 per month, plus the $86 per paycheck deduction for 401k loan is gone and I am not thinking about doing another one now unless there is some dire emergency.

There are other ways to cut costs, but some of it I am not interested in.  Would be really nice to get a president that would be interested in cutting taxes, I for one am sick of the amount of money being automatically taken out of paychecks for taxes going to what I know are a lot of programs I consider beyond the Constitutional authority of the Federal government.  I dont want this nation to turn into a giant version of Denmark, which is what Socialist propagists are always referring to.  They are heavily taxed, well above and beyond anything we are currently at now, but what we are at now I think is far too much.

So what do I do? Keep putting in applications as I find places to do it with and see what comes up.  That's it.  The problem is, I want to do some traveling and to be able to do that, well, obviously I need plenty of vacation time to do so.  At the same time, I need to be able to afford it.  Anyway, the idea has been floated by one of my cousins to have a cousin reuinion at her place in Brisbane.  I searched out airfare from DFW to Brisbane and the common price for economy was $1, 287 with tax.  There was one that was cheaper at $1,060.  It's quite a distance so I don't expect airfare to be less than a grand, but I am looking at all kinds of sites anyway just to see.  She provides housing and food. Yup, she already guaranteed that, no-one - nobody that's coming - will have to pay for food or housing while they are there.  Obviously that cuts costs substantially.  But on a trip like that, I would want at least $500 spending money.  To be able to see the sights, whatever the Brisbane area may have to offer.  I'm all for the reunion even though I know none of them.

I'm quite comfortable with the idea that if it turned into a  family disaster, I could find other things to do over there, of which I would search out well in advance anyway.  I've already responded to a group email after she posted a quite lengthy statement about our family, the fact that our paretns are not going to be around forever and emphasizing the fact that we are just out there, no one really communicates with each other.  She is proposing a March, 2018 reunion, plenty of time to save up.

I'm getting a huge break this month - mortgage is due  but I don't have to pay it.  New mortgage starts at the beginning of next month.  Due on or before the 1st.  I have to make that for 3 months in a row and then the modification is permanently approved.  No problem on making the payment.  Not a great loss on the 5 years lost either, not to me anyway, as I would be very old by the time it was paid off either way.  I dn't expect to keep it forever, in fact I just plan on keeping it as long as I have the couple there that will deal with it.  They like the arrangement and have been doing a good job at it - but - who knows.  I would like to hope they could stay there at least a few more years and I am going to give them another decrease to help with their being happy with the deal they are getting - and they are getting a good deal.

I also now have a 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport.  For free.  It doesn't run. It has a new engine.  It's been sitting quite a while.  I am either going to try to find someone to come to the house that has the necessary computer equipment to diagnose it or I will have it towed to a shop.  I looked up Kelly blue book on it - $2,660 low end, almost $6,000 on the high end.  Body in good condition, the rear bumper is missing.  Good tires on it and the battery "was" brand new, but it's been sitting and the battery may be dead and if it is, it's likely going to have to be replaced. Putting my charger on it today to find out.  I don't remember the condition of the interior, going to check it out in a while.  It was free.  I even offered to buy it - they were going to sell it for $700 and then they decided that since I do all kinds of stuff around here - and the fact that they may be forced to move soon - they would give it to me.  It's a very nice gesture.  It used to run perfectly fine so I don't assume it's anything too expensive.  A computer sensor, perhaps, who knows.  I believe it's a 4 wheel drive.  It's not a gas friendly thing but at the same time, I would treat it as a recreational type of vehicle - or - I would sell or trade it for a pickup.  Again, not all news I have received as of lates has been all bad, just the bad stuff? Was really bad.

Well I'm off to the back yard to mow it and put the charger on the Jeep and get the battery recharged if possible.