200

Wow, my 200th post in what, two years-3 years, don't really remember. Big deal.

Today has been surprisingly overwhelming with everything. I have had a lot of work to do to pick up the slack from the rest of my "co-workers". Not that they were on vacation or anything, but they are supposed to be doing things for all locations and they aren't. So I am learning to do their jobs to take care of my location, which is stuff they should be doing. Long story, not going to put you through it. However, I should ask for a raise.

Tonight I go to enroll my daughter for kindergarten next year. Yes, I am excited as I have been paying for her to go to pre-school all this year. Kindergarten will be free and....it is still full day in our district. I am excited about that. So does that mean extra money in my pocket since I won't have to pay? No, apparantly the IRS says I owe them money so what was going to pre-school, will now be going to the IRS. Greedy Obama lovers.

My car gets paid off next month and then all I have is another year and a half payments on my van. Do I get to save that extra money? No, put my oldest into braces. Greedy orthodontists.

I need to win the lottery. Or find the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. Or, well, anyways I can get money legally. I am sure you are all in the same boat, if not worse. Greedy Obama lovers. They did this to us.

Yes, I am a bit upset. It seems a lot of people have been brainwashed into believing that George H. W. Bush was a bad President and everything is his fault. Take a look at History you stupid hypocrits. Every President can not please everyone all the time. But listening to the current administration saying everything is his fault is ridiculous. He didn't do trillions in bailout money causing the bankruptcies, crashing of the home mortgages, etc. He did not put people in his cabinets or other federal jobs that were criminals such as the current administration has. He is not and has never denounced us as a non-christian country. You don't like it, get the Hell out of my country.

Another Monday

Well, at least I did better on my test for school yesterday than I did last week. I also had a paper due today, which I already turned in, so I am caught up for the moment. In between doing work and school stuff, it gets kind of hard. I have stuff for my job that needs done right away, but I also had stuff for school that was due. In the end, they both get done in time.

Watched MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS this weekend. It was alright, but not great. Also watched BROTHERS and thought it could have been done better. The first half of the money was just too slow. Also saw BANDSLAM, which actually was a prety good movie. I know SHERLOCK HOLMES is released tomorrow, but I may have to wait to get that one.

Nothing else to write for today. Kids are back in school, so that is a blessing in itself. However in two months they will be out for the summer.

Why me?

Sometimes that is how I feel. It seems like after doing everything I need to do to get ahead in life, something pushes me down. It's not necessarily a cost thing, but it is just the fact of something happening. For example, yesterday was just a tough day. I had two assignments to do that were due by midnight last night. No problem, I usually do it at work because I can not concentrate on school work at home due to the kids. Well, yesterday I actually was swamped with work I had to do for work. No problem. So I stay late to complete my school work. I go home, return movies to Blockbuster, pick up a few more and we head to Wal-Mart to do a little shopping. I return to my van and start putting the bags away when I notice I am missing the cover for my rear brake light (or whatever it is called). I didn't see any pieces so it is not like someone broke it. It looks like someone just came up and pried it off. So now I am driving around without this cover worrying if I might get pulled over. I now have to start looking for a replacement part and how much it will cost. Needless to say, I still need to come up with money to fix my car (water pump and timing belt) and the money for my wife's root canal that she needs done.

Anyways, i picked up BROTHERS last night with Jake Gyllenhal and Toby McGuire. I might watch it tonight or tomorrow, haven't decided yet. Also picked up MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS and something else I can't remember right now. So I should post about them next week. I was wanting to go search for the lost dutchman's gold this weekend, but don't really have the gas right now. So I will hold off for a bit. It's not like it is going anywhere as it has been hidden for over 120 years, but I have a good idea where it is anyways. Yes, I am still crazy. I need to just go out there, prove myself wrong, and stop thinking about it.

Kids go back to school next week (YAY!!). They didn't really bother me as I am at work when they are at school or home, but it does affect the wife quite a bit. So, if she's happy, I don't get yelled at. That's the way it works I guess. I am also going to start making the kids do chores and earn an allowance. Maybe this will enable them to keep the house clean and earn money for things they want. We'll see.

I must be crazy

Well, the MIL has been over since Monday since the kids are on spring break this week. She finally left earlier today after I had already left for work. Monday night, I came home to my usual routine. Turn on the news, watch a few shows, watch TMZ, and watch CHUCK. The whole time she is sitting there wanting to watch a movie or something. I'm thinking to myself she has all day to do that while I am at work. I pay the rent, this my house, I'll watch TV if I want to. I thought it, didn't say it. So she told me Monday night she likes to watch AMERICAN IDOL. So, last night, I get off of work and go home. I go straight to my room and watch TV. I let her stay out in the living room to do whatever. The kids and wife continued coming into the room and I told them to go out and spend time with their grandmother/mother. Otherwise she'll wonder why she is even there if we are all in my bedroom. Oh, well, she finally left today and life can return to normal.

So yesterday, I started thinking I may be starting to go crazy. For about the past week, I have been thinking about something and researching it...a lot. I began thinking I must sound crazy...even to myself. The "something" is The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. I don't know how I started thinking about it, but I started researching it and writing down certain clues and stuff. I mean, heck, I live close enough, maybe I can go hiking on the weekend and stumble across it. Who knows. Too many people have searched over the last 120 years, what makes me think I could find it. I think it is just the excitement of trying to find it. Although mining is forbidden since 1984, I am not looking at digging or anything. Supposedly, in some places it is seen by the visible eye in plain sight. It is just a matter of where. So, yes, I may be starting to go crazy.

Other than all that, nothing new. I finally received my final grade for my last English class. I received an A. After freaking out about that test I took last Sunday, I realized it seemed worse than it really is. I can still finish with an A. I just have to stay on top of it.

Disappointed

That is how I felt for this whole past weekend. After finishing working for 12 days straight, I was looking forward to relaxing for the weekend. On Saturday, I did watch SHORTS. It was pretty good for a kids movie. I also watched EVERYBODY'S FINE. That movie made me ball my eyes out. I had to even stop it a couple of times just to regain my composure. Of course it didn't help that I did drink this past weekend. I also watched the new TWILIGHT: NEW MOON movie. I thought it was better than the first one. I like Jacob better than Edward anyways. I am already predicting how the next one will go. No, I will not read the book. I am not my brother, I do not like to read. Also watched NINJA ASSASSIN. It was pretty slow, but it did have great action scenes and a good story.

I am currently in my first week of a new class for school. Introduction to Cultural Anthropolgy. I thought I was getting a pretty good understanding of the subject. I did the required readings and the required discussion posts. However, yesterday I had to take a quiz on it. That's cool, because you can use the book on the quiz. I found almost nearly every answer in the text. However, once I submitted it, I was dumbfounded. I got 11/20 correct. Hmmm, hopefully that doesn't hurt too much for the rest of the class. So all in all, this past weekend has been a big disappoint to me.

My kids are on spring break this week. Joy joy. Hopefully this week and next weekend will show some improvement.

Settling Down

Whew, I tell you what. On the drive into work this morning, I was fuming and thinking about what I would rant about on my blog today. It all started last night when I was doing my schoolwork. I am taking this class called introduction to cultural anthropology. After reading other classmates posts, I couldn't believe how many ignorant people there are in the United States. Seriously. There were people making comments like we force our beliefs on other countries and talk about how welfare should be increased because people need help and everything else. I just couldn't respond to any of them last night because I probably would have been kicked out of the class for telling them how stupid and ignorant they are and how they need to stop watching and believing the news and get off their @$$ and work. And then, this morning I was following my kids to school. This past week I have allowed them to ride their scooters to school and I follow them to make sure they get there safe and look out for cars when crossing the street. As my oldest is in the crosswalk and the crossing guard is in the strret with the sign, a car kept driving right through without stopping. If I had reacted a little faster I would have pulled in front of the car, stopped him, and beat his @$$. Not just because it was my kid, but because the driver was a freaking idiot and not paying attention. Oh, I am just fuming today.

Last night I watched WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD. It was pretty good for the series. It definately was nowhere near as bad as CABIN FEVER 2. It was your basic thriller/horror movie. I still have two more movies to watch and then I have to return them on Saturday. I still have EVERYBODY'S FINE and SHORTS to watch.

No big plans for this weekend. Don't have money to do anything and don't really know what we would be able to do. I guess it will just be another lazy weekend.

Just another day

Ahhh...where to start. Nothing new to write about, just don't know what to type. I came into work today with a lot to do to include some homework that is due today. I am all caught up with everything now. I have to take the wife to an appointment later this afternoon, but nothing really planned tonight. Maybe watch another movie.

Last night we watched OLD DOGS with Robin Williams and John Travolta. It is a Disney movie and it is Reverand Mother approved. Which means it is safe to watch. It was pretty funny and worth a watch. Still have a few more to watch before I turn them back in on Saturday.

Nothing new has been coming up. Still waiting to hear back from the VA and waiting for the bill the IRS is supposed to send me. Other than that, I am still caught up on bills and still surviving. I go to CA next month for drill for weapons qualification. After I return from that, I head out to Wisconsin for a week. Hopefully it will be warm there by then. Other than that, the only training I have scheduled is for two weeks in Wisconsin in August. No word on next year's missions yet, so I don't know if I'll be heading back to Germany or maybe even Korea this time. Japan already came up and I turned that down. I don't mind pulling my weight and working, but the Japan missions are always 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. If I am going to go somewhere, I want a chance to have time off to go see some sights.

Well, that's all I got today. Until tomorrow.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Really doesn't mean much to me except it is my little sister's birthday. Not too much going on lately. I did contact the IRS about the amount I owe them and I set up a payment plan. It should be paid off by tax season next year. I also sent a letter to the VA department about their supposedly overpaying me. I have to wait back to hear about that, but I am sure they will see they were wrong as I submitted all documentation that they owed me.

Tonight I figure I'll cook steaks on the grill and watch a movie or two. Not sure which ones yet as I picked up 4 the other day. Finally caught up with all my work from this past weekend and everything that came up since then. Just finished my last class on Monday, but I am still waiting for the final grades to come out. I am sure I still got an A.

I also started my next class yesterday. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Kind of worried, it looks hard. Won't know really until after I finish the first week. Maybe it is just my fears. I still need to set up when to take my SAT as well so I can get the ball rolling for my Direct Commission. I still don't expect to get everything done for that and pinned until sometime next year, but we will see.

Busy Monday...again

It's always busy after drill weekend. I had so much stuff to be done and only one computer. But we did get everything done. I was so beat when I got home both Saturday and Sunday.

Watched BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY last night. It was awesome. The only bad thing about it was this actress in the movie, she kind of ruined it because she wasn't that great. Other than that, it was a great follow up to the first one.

Too busy to really write too much right now. Still have a paper to finish as today is my last day for this class. Tomorrow starts the next class and it already sounds difficult. We will see. Maybe post more tomorrow.

Life is a rollercoaster ride

A rollercoaster has ups and downs and twists and turns and dropoffs and more. That is how life is. It seems at times I will have good moments and then bad moments, sometimes both at the same time. No wonder people get so stressed as they can not control everything. I am still dealing with what I owe the IRS. My car is acting up and the shop says about $1000 to fix it. It appears it is the water pump and timing belt they want to replace. Whatever.

Went to the Parent/Teacher conferences last night. Both of my boys made the Honor Roll!! The oldest had all B's and one A, the younger boy had all A's and one B. On top of that we return home to find out Child Protective Services wants to come to our house to meet us to close a case. That was news to me. It seems a couple of months ago, my younger son was laying on the floor and I came by and rubbed my foot on his chest tickling him. He had been mad at me about something at the time. Well two days later he goes to the nurses office saying his chest was hurting and I had stepped on him. The nurse asked if it was by accident or on purpose and he said on purpose. He came home that day and told us. I didn't think anything of it as I did not step on him. Well the school notified CPS. Yesterday CPS showed up at the school and called both of my boys down to the office to question them about things. They both informed me yesterday before we had the call. When we returned from the conferences I heard the message and called them back and left a message. They called back this morning and basically said not to worry, they just needed to see us with their findings and close the case. Ok, whatever.

I finally was enrolled today for two classes that I need for my civilian job. I'll be gone for my step-father's birthday for one class and my mom's birthday for the other class. Oh, well, these classes were supposed to be done before June, but the people I submitted the requests to obviously didn't know how to do their job. But I am ok with that because one of the classes will allow me to input my Soldiers into schools and I won't have to rely on these people anymore.

Last night I watched UP IN THE AIR. It was not that great. No real action, mostly drama, with a lot of foul language. Almost fell asleep watching it. We also watched PLANET 51. This was a great kids movie. All three of my kids were entranced watching it. I still have BOONDOCKS SAINTS II to watch, maybe tonight, but not sure yet. After all, I have drill this weekend and have to be up early.

So Tired

I don't know why, but I have been so tired all week. I get up at 7am to take my boys to school and then head on in to work. This week I have had a lot more work than usual, and that does mean my job as well as school. I go home, watch tv and I'm in bed by 9:30. I just don't understand it. On top of that, I am working 12 days straight as I have drill this weekend and have to get up at 4am all weekend. I just need a day of rest...with no kids.

My oldest is only 10 getting ready to turn 11 in May. It seems he is already getting into the teenage attitude problem phase. Sometimes I feel like I just want to snap and tie him hup and stuff a sock in his mouth. I just let the wife try to take care of it or wait for him to calm down. Now I know why I used to drink. I don't even crave it...at least these past few days I haven't. Don't know about the whole direct commission thing. I still have to set up to take an SAT since I only have 60 credits it is required. If I had my degree, I wouldn't need it. I don't think it is too hard or at least as hard as it sound back in High School. I have never taken it before, so I don't know.

Watched WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE last night. I never read the book, so I can't compare the two. However, I thought it was a waste of money. It was boring and stupid. My kids didn't really like it either. Don't know if I'll pick any other movies up or not until next week because I have drill I won't have that much time to watch them. But on the other hand, I need to drop this movie off so I may pick up some new ones.

Tonight is Parent/Teacher conferences for my boys. The oldest is telling me his grades are ok, but we'll see. Everytime progress reports come out he has at least one F. The last couple of quarters he did bring the grades up in time for the report card. Tonight we get his report card for this quarter, so we shall see.

Big Decision

Well, I think I made a pretty big decision this past weekend. It seems last week I found out that I am now non-deployable, which means I can not go overseas for deployment with the military. Well, that is not entirely true. I am not allowed to volunteer for deployments, I should say. See, because I am a MilTech, a civilian working for the government, and I am in the Army Reserves, I was told if my platoon gets pulled for mobilization, I will not go. If I do volunteer for a deployment, I am not gauranteed my job when I return. It appears too many MilTechs have been volunteering for deployments (we make more money on the military side) and the government struggles to hire replacements. Once the MilTech returns, they want their job back and they have to find somewhere for the person they replaced to go. Just too much of a hassle I guess.

I did have a plan for what I wanted to do before finding out this information. I had decided I wanted to wait until I get my BA, which is in two years, before I decided to do this. I was planning on going for my E-8 later this year until I found out last week i would be transferred to another unit if I did. If I were to get transferred, I would have to find another job. I have decided to put in my packet for Direct Commission and become an officer. Before last week, I didn't want to as new officers get pulled for deployments and I wanted to complete my degree instead of putting it on hold until I returned. With the new information I have, I can still become an officer now, not worry about being deployed, and still finish my degree on time. Plus, I can still keep my job because I would become an officer in this unit.

So, I have started the process of direct commissioning, but probably will not receive it until sometime next year. I am in no hurry and I have a lot to do to get to that point. I just discovered I will also have to take an SAT or ACT since I do not have my degree yet. The pay is not an issue as it is only about $50 more a month than my current rank. The big picture I am looking at is what I will receive at retirement age. That is the big difference.

So, since I am deciding to become an officer, I have had to eliminate one thing that I do in my life that I foresee could cause problems. I have decided to no longer consume alcoholic beverages. I am not the type to just have one and I could see it as ruining my career in the future if I continue. So this past weekend was the last time I have consumed alcohol. I quit on March 7, 2010 to make March 8, 2010 my first day of no longer drinking. March 8 would have been my father's 62nd Birthday and he had passed away 25 years ago. I feel this is a good way to honor him and to help me stick to my plan.

I finally was able to get WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE from Blockbuster yesterday, but probably will not watch it until Wed or Thursday. I did watch TAKING WOODSTOCK and TENURE this past weekend. Not really any good, either one of them. I am still trying to get EVERYBODY'S FINE, but it has been out of stock since last Tuesday. Which reminds me, Blockbuster is starting to tick me off. A little over a year ago, they no longer did the "extended viewing" fees if you were late. Instead they said if you didn't return it after ten days, you would be charged for the movie (a set sale price). Now they have brought the fees back, but they no longer honor the "Gauranteed in stock or it's free". It seems every business is trying to find a way to get a bailout either from the government or from the taxpayers. Anyways, that's all I got today.

Today is a great day...so far

Here I was yesterday worrying because I had talked to a Broker/Lender about my credit. Pretty much although my score will be where it needs to be withing the next 30 days, I am being told I probably will not get a home loan for about 9-10 months. This is because I have had a lot of late payments recently and banks want to see 9-10 months of on time payments. So, I will probably try again next year. I was also told I need to build more credit. I have paid everything off in collections and I will only have one thing that reports to the credit agency every month that I still pay on. It was suggested to get a secured credit card. But, that's not the good news. This is just the, well it's not really bad news, but not good news either.

The good news is I am sitting here worrying as I have been broke since paying off collections last month and spent all of my tax return. Now I have bills piling up, my son is getting into braces, I am still paying for my daughter's school, evrything is just starting to come all at once. I checked both of my bank accounts, as I knew I was in the negative on both anyways. To my shock, the second account had a positive. Not just a positive, but a very good positive. It appears my GIBILL finall came through and I was backpaid for all the time I was in school and not getting the proper amount.

I believe that this is a sign. Even with my tax return and me paying off my debt, I also gave my sister money (that I owed her), let a friend borrow money (which I will probably never see again as he still owes me over $1500), and let my FIL borrow money to last a couple of months. I believe that by me helping others even when it put a damper in my plans, it comes back eventually. I could have done a lot with that money I let people borrow or paid back. I still want a big screen tv, but it is not a necessity. Sometimes when I get money or know I am getting money, I start making plans and my eyes get wide and everything...kinda like the Gollum on LORD OF THE RINGS. It takes me time to convince myself that I don't need whatever it is I want. Just do the right thing and pay bills or whatever. I am not rich.

Anyways, I did watch SORORITY ROW last night. It was kind of lame, but what do you expect with your normal college aged horror movie. It did keep me guessing as to who the killer was, but it was one of the four guesses I had. Also in this movie was Rumer Willis, the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. I was amazed by her. She looks so much like Demi and even sounds like her. I can't wait to see her in more movies.

Well, that's all I got today. Hope everyone has a good day as much as I have so far.

Getting closer...

Well, I went ahead and checked my credit score again. I jumped nearly 70-80 points between each of the three credit places. However, I am still around 30-40 points below where I need to be. So it looks like it will take either another couple of weeks or maybe even next month to be where I need to be to get this home loan.

Watched a couple of movies this weekend. First was THE BOX. It was kind of stupid for the first part of the movie, but the second half got better. I would actually rate it as an average movie. Watch it if you want to. The second movie I watched was THE VAMPIRES ASSISTANT: CIRQUE DE FREAKS. Or something like that. It was comical, but again, it was an average movie as well. I still have SORORITY ROW to watch.

Still doing well in school. Two weeks left for this class before I start the next one. Still waiting on money to come in. I received an e-mail that my school was raising their tuition. Not too bad, just an extra $18 per class. Because I get the miltary grant discount, they are upping it $18 to cover the increase. So overall, it doesn't really effect me. That's about it for today.

Busy Monday

Well, today has been a very busy day, at least busier than a usual Monday. I had a lot of work to do today, for once. Of course, Mondays are also the last day of the week to submit school assignments, which I had two assignments to do today before midnight. I started them earlier today, but just finished it. I found out I have a rough draft of my final paper due next Monday, which I haven't even started yet. Writing is not difficult for me, however doing a reference page is what I despise. And unfortunately, this class requires to have a certain number of references used. I just can't win.

I've got two weeks left of this class, English II, and then I begin Introduction to Cultural Anthroplogy. When I finish this class, I will be at 62 credits and more than halfway to my BA. I found out today my TA was submitted to the school so now I have to wait for them to receive it and then wait for them to send me a check. I can't wait until the GIBILL starts back paying me. So far it will be around $2000. I'd rather them catch up now as I could really use the money right now.

I haven't checked my credit rating yet. I figured I would wait a few more days and then check it. I am hoping that a miracle happened, but we'll just have to wait and see. Nothing else to write about right now.