Sup?

As Candice has pointed out, I've been a bit neglectful of the blog. You'd think that since I don't have a job anymore, I'd be updating this on a daily basis. Apparently not.

Let's see if I can get a few updates in one long post...

The Plan
I want to spend less time working in a crappy, faceless cubicle and want to spend more time traveling. I don't want to live in the southwest anymore. And while I could completely change careers, I'd like to still be able to earn a respectable living.

So, as of now, the working plan looks like this:
1) Get 2 specific technical certifications that should make my services in demand.
2) Fix-up the house and find a management company to lease and manage it for me.
3) Find a consulting company that will give me a job (using the skills learned in #1) that has me traveling as much as possible.

I don't plan to really limit where I look for a job (except for TX, OK, KS, etc..), but I'll probably focus in the Chicago, D.C. and Seattle / Portland areas. Where I finally land will probably be determined on where I can get a job.

Fam
Last week, my brother's family came to stay with me for a few days. 5 women and me in my house and running around Houston. That was an experience.

My sister-in-law has the drive and energy that I wish I had. Anytime you travel with her, you see a lot of stuff, but you'll be wore-out by the end of the week. (a good thing as far as I'm concerned)

One of my sister-in-law's travel goals is to visit all of the Presidential Libraries. I'd already been to President Truman's outside of Kansas City. This time we went to President Bush's (Senior). It was pretty good, but I think one of the highlights for me was seeing (and touching) some sections of the Berlin Wall.



After a few days of running around the Houston area, we headed over to San Antonio. While there, we saw Sea World where I got to feed / pet some dolphins and watched Shamu do his show. It was more impressive than I expected.



And the entire family managed to get soaked more than a couple of times. I felt like a little kid.



We also stopped by the San Antonio River Walk (and ate at Dick's--the most vulgar restaurant I've been to), saw the Alamo and some old Spanish Missionary sites.

But the real reason for the trip was Lackland AFB for my nephew's BMT (Basic Military Training) graduation.



If I was younger, I'd give serious thought about joining the military. The exactness and discipline really appeals to me.

What Now
Well, I'll probably spend the weekend studying for those certification exams. I think an old friend is in town, so we'll probably grab some dinner. And it looks like dad is coming into town sometime soon to help me work on the house.

Nothing exciting, but enough to keep me kinda busy.


BTW: never make pancakes from the mix. You can make buttermilk pancakes from scratch without much extra effort and they will be as good if not better than anything you've ever had. Yum!

Update

Well, it's been a somewhat busy week or two.

First, I just want to say that if you ever have a chance to camp in south Texas in July, don't. Not unless you want to punish yourself.


This is the gator that I almost tripped over. Neither Adam nor I saw it until we were about 8 feet away. That will really wake you up.


But, all in all, it was great to spend a couple of days living a simple life. When I get to a cooler climate, I gotta do more of this.


We also got to look through the telescopes at the George Observatory. We got to see globular cluster M13 and the Ring Nebula. It was darn cool to see them in person.

Secondly, and on the same theme, if anyone asks you to help roof in Oklahoma in July, don't do that either.

Oh man, that was hot. I had to keep remembering to take lots of breaks and I've never drank that much water in my life. (but because I did those two things, I didn't have any problems)


The heat was unbearable. But it was great to spend time with family. I'd loved to have stayed for longer, but I needed to get back home.

Now I've got to kick it into gear and get the house prepared to go on the market. It's been too easy for me to get lulled into not getting much done during the day. I'm still in "work mode" where my time at home is relaxation time--not work time.

Up next...

Ok, so I'm sure most everyone knows by now that I got laid off. I can't say that it was a bad thing. In fact, I'm convinced that in the long run, this will have been the best thing that's happened to me in a while.

But that doesn't mean it's not scary as hell right now. I got a severance package and some savings to float on, so there doesn't seem to be any immediate danger.

So, the question is: what now? I've got a ton of options, and I think I've settled on a basic plan.

I've never felt particularly attached to Houston or Texas. Yeah, the people are generally nice and the cost of living is low, but it just doesn't seem to "fit" me.

So I'm heading out of the southwest. I've been thinking about a few places, but the two top contenders right now are Chicago and Portland. (but I welcome any other suggestions)

I've been to Chicago a couple of times and really enjoyed it. And it doesn't hurt that I've got Adam to guide me on the lay of the land.

I might meet Adam in Portland in a week or two and check that place out. It sounds like a good fit for me, but I'm worried that I won't be able to find a job there.

Oh yeah, as far as jobs go, I think the general plan is to go ahead and get another programming job so I can get a semi-regular paycheck coming in and some benefits.

I've got a whole other plan that starts at that point, but I'll post that later. The focus now is to figure out where I want to go and get stuff closed-up here in Houston. (I'll probably see about getting a management company to lease my house)

Lastly, I wanted to give a big "thanks" to Adam. He's been hanging about my house since I got laid off. (strange timing) He had to listen to me gripe and moan about all of this stuff for almost two solid weeks. He had to listen to me lament no longer having a paycheck. He had to endure countless rhetorical questions about what I can / should do. And the man was a trooper--he never complained once. (although I'm fairly sure that if I had a gun in the house, it would have been a very different story)

So, thanks Adam for helping me through the (hopefully) worst part of this process. And thanks to everyone else for their ideas and advice. It's more helpful than you imagine.

That was close...

Ok, so the CT scan came back clear. No more cancer. (at least yet)

They still have no idea why my liver function tests were that far off, but they don't seem too worried now that they've ruled-out cancer. I'll go back in a month and re-do the tests.

And, to make sure everyone gets a bit of a laugh, I'll also be going back in for another ultrasound. (yes, with the wand and gel) It's just another standard precautionary measure.

Man, that was easy

I just saved $30K on my house.

How did I do it? Fire the staff? Close-off the third floor? Rent-out the theater room for teenage birthday parties?

Nope. This one was even easier. My mortgage holder has a plan where they will pull half of my mortgage payment every two weeks.

So, right after I get my paycheck, they automatically get half of what I usually send them. I don't have to do a thing and don't even really have a chance of accidentally spending that money.

But the bonus is that since it's every 2 weeks instead of twice a month, that means that they pull 26 payments instead of 24. That means they apply an extra payment every year.

That means that over the remaining life of my loan, I'll pay it off years earlier and save almost $30,000 in interest. (and before you imagine that I've got some unholy interest rate, I'll go ahead and confess that it's a fixed 6% loan)



So, let's recap:
1) Mortgage payment is pulled a little from each paycheck automatically. I don't have to worry about forgetting to send it in.
2) Same payment as before
3) Save tons of money
4) Pay off house years early

Total time spent to save this money:
- 10 minutes: reading the plan specifics online
- 5 minutes: signing-up online

I'm having a hard time seeing any real problems with this plan.

Grrr...

I went to MD Anderson this morning for my regular check-up. The good news is that my primary cancer marker has stayed-put. The bad news is that my liver function is whacked. (I'm not sure if that's the *exact* medical term they used, but that should suffice)

They don't know what that could mean, so they want me to come back in next week for a CT scan to see if there's anything funky re-growing. (that's one possible answer--and they one they are obviously pre-disposed to worry about)

A little Googling (and we all know that Google is as good as world-class medical specialists) indicates that this *could* be caused by my time at the gym. Intense physical exercise can cause liver function tests to look bad.

So, this could be anything, or nothing at all--they don't know yet. (or aren't saying)

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't sweat this a bit. One funky liver function test isn't something that I would let bother me. But with my history, I can't seem to help from freaking out a bit.

Fun fact of the day: because of my type of cancer, one of the blood tests I have done is a pregnancy test. (I am now prepared for the onslaught of jokes...)

Sore

I've been putting it off for longer than I care to admit, but I finally found a way to get me in the gym on a regular basis. I hired a personal trainer. It's not nearly as fancy as it sounds, but knowing that I'm paying someone to get in shape effectively is enough to make sure I go in for every appointment.

Man, and those guys know how to make you hurt. 30 minutes is enough to make me wish I'd never seen that gym before. But it's good. I don't know if it's a placebo effect or not, but it seems like my metabolism is already kicking-up a bit. I must have had 4 or 5 meals on Saturday.

Bonus: sometimes they page employees over the speakers at the gym. Twice now, I've heard "Robert Paulson, please come to the front desk."

Every time I hear that, I stop what I'm doing, look up and say "his name was Robert Paulson." (and then I giggle for a second)