Oh, there it is

Finally, last night, my pay finally shows up. Well, kind of. It shows I will get paid next Friday. Which means the postdated check I have out and a few bills due today, I will have to call and have them hold off for another week. Of course the good news also is my travel voucher is pending and that should be paid within the next 3 weeks.

Today is Friday which means it is a halfday for my boys. This school district is a little odd. They start Aug 4th. They get out May 22nd. Every Friday is a half day. The hours are 7:50-3:10. I remember when I went to school at their age it was school started the day after Labor Day, ended the last week of May, hours were 8:15-2:45, and we didn't get as many weeks off as my kids get. Well, as long as it does what it is supposed to I guess.

Still no new movies. My bank account has been in the negative for over a week due to having to get food and put gas in the car. So I can't use my card until it is in the positive and I have to wait a week for payday. Which means I have limited gas right now...maybe enough to go back and forth to work for 2-3 days next week. And I'll have to make what food we do have stretch for a week as well. I am sure many people have the same issues so why complain?

My wife and I are having our ninth anniversary next Friday (payday). Don't know if I will have any money after filling up the car with gas and paying the bills, but then again the next payday will be a week after that and my travel voucher will drop a few days after that.

Enough rambling. Have a good weekend.

Show me the money

So I am sitting here, three days away from what should be a payday and nothing is showing. I hope it still drops as I have post dated checks out for when I am supposed to be paid. The good news is my travel voucher has been received, but I have to wait 3-3 and a half weeks to be paid. Then I can actually have furniture in the house. Other than all of that, I am just waiting for information that will probably not come until last minute on what needs to be done since my unit is going away. Still working on the Recruiting issue, but have to wait to take a physical. That is all for today.

Everyday is a Monday

That is what it feels like everyday. It seems like the next day off is still days away. This weekend had been hell with drill weekend. Today is the aftermath where I have the most paperwork and most work to do. All of this and anything I need help with, there is no one that will return a call or an e-mail. It is like being sent to a deserted island, told what needs to be done, but when something comes up that you aren't sure what to do, then you are truly alone as no one will help out or respond. Just another Monday.

Still haven't rented any movies lately. So nothing to review. I did watch a little of the Olympics last night. The synchronized diving and part of gymnastics. I just can't watch too much of the Olympics or I get bored easily. Still waiting on a travel voucher to come in so I can begin to buy furniture (mostly beds) and start furnishing the house. Right now all I have is my daughter's bed and our L-shaped couch. It will probably be a few more weeks before that comes in though.

That seems to be all that is going on now. I am sure there will be more grumbling tomorrow.

Friday feels like Monday

That is how I feel today. Although I have been working all week, it is that time of the month for drill. So I basically don't get a day off again until next Saturday. I have made arrangements with my Battalion to put me on orders through the end of December. After that, I will go into Recruiting. This way, I will be here to take care of things for the unit before it goes away, and I won't have to go to a 7 week school and miss 4 Birthdays; my son's, mine, my wife's and my daughter's. So in the long run, it will work out. Plus I will be here for the holidays.

This is a big step I will be taking and I am slightly nervous about it, but oh well. It is something I have been interested in doing and I won't know until I do it. Never had anything really handed to me so I guess I'll have to work at it to get what I want out of life. I have been in the Reserves for 10 years now with 3 years active duty. So if I stay AGR/Active Duty for 17 more years, I will retire the last day of my 20 years at 50 years old. It is a lot better than waiting until 62 to retire, because honestly, I don't think I'll live that long.

Haven't seen any new movies lately and probably won't rent any for another week or two. Still have a lot of other things on my plate right now that have to be taken care of.

Looking forward

Forward to what? Since finding out my unit is going away and I moved to this side of town to be closer to a job I won't have for much longer, what am I looking forward to? Well, as I continue to look into becoming a Recruiter, I realize I will have to start driving distances again as the two openings right now are 20 and 30 miles away. Sometimes I wonder 'why me'.

Yesterday I watched that JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME movie. It was called THE SHEPHARD: BORDER PATROL. Just as I imagined, it was a B rated flick.

I remember when VAN DAMME and STEVEN SIEGAL movies used to be good and now all they do is make B rated movies. JET LI and JACKIE CHAN do a heck of a lot better and do not make B rated movies as they do.

Well, I am just taking everything day by day now until I figure out exactly what it is I will be doing. So in the meantime, I just have to go with the flow.

As if things couldn't get worse

Just when you think you are finally making progress, things go down hill. So, I just finished getting a house and moving closer to my job to save on gas and everything else. Around 1PM yesterday, I get a call that I need to start looking for somewhere else to work by October 1st. Basically everything I have been doing up to now was good enough, but because my Battalion lied to me, I have to find somewhere else to go. It has come to my attention that my unit is being disbanded all together and there will not be a position for me as a Unit Administrator. I would have to find another unit that would have that position open. Well, needless to say, I am tired of all the BS and I do not want to start all over with a new occupational skill or with a new unit. I decided to become a UA for this unit because I had been with these soldiers for a while and deployed with most of them. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't get screwed over. Now that they are getting disbanded, there is nothing I can do.

So, it is time for me to take care of myself. Yesterday I went down to Retention and had a talk with them. I have made a decision to become a Recruiter. I will just finish out my last ten years as a Recruiter and be done with it. At least as a Recruiter I know I won't be deployed again. I have already been twice. I wouldn't mind going again, but my kids are getting older and they need me. So, I will be finding out over the next two months if I can do it. If so, I will leave to go to South Carolina to learn how to be a Recruiter.

In the long run, it seems things get worse, but this may actually be a better move for me. As a Recruiter, I am Active Guard Reserve, which means I am Active Duty and get all the benefits. Full Medical and Dental for the family, Basic Allowance for Housing (pays my Rent), and additional perks. So we will see how this little journey will go.

After a long weekend...

Well, I am finally moved. Not unpacked, but moved. Needless to say U-haul messed up again. Instead of a 14' truck, I ended up with a 17' same price. To make it all short, as many times as they messed up, it cost me $50 for the truck and 231 miles thrown in. I didn't get to start moving until noon on Friday and had the truck back by 7:30. Spent all day Saturday cleaning the apartment and packing up the last of our things in the van. Of course on top of the U-haul charges, I spent about $200 on gas for the truck, the van and my car for going back and forth. I do not want to move again, but I know I will have to next year. I am just renting this house for a year to build up my credit and then I will be buying a house in the same area next year. At least I won't have as big an ordeal as I did with this move.

This weekend I watched a couple of movies. HAROLD AND KUMAR: ESCAPE FROM GUANTANOMO BAY. It has the same humor as the first one. It cracked me up. I like the whole concept of a bottomless party instead of topless. The next movie I watched was an Independant Film called WRISTCUTTERS. The only star in that movie is SHANNYN SOSSAMAN from A KNIGHT'S TALE. It is about people that commit suicide still live, but in a parallel world that was worse than the first. If you continue to commit suicide, each place is worse. It had some slow points, but over all, it was good. Definately something to watch when there are no other movies to watch. I have a JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME movie at home I will probably watch tonight. It probably won't be something to talk about as most of his movies since TIMECOP have been B Rated movies.

Today is the first day of school for my boys. Of course, they didn't want to get up. We waited with them until school started and they just got into their teachers lines to go into school. It seemed like they were ready, but I am kind of worried for them as it is their first day, at a new school, just moved, and not knowing anyone. I hope it goes well for them.

Until tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the day

Well, tomorrow is the day. Hopefully I get the U-haul truck I reserved and I can move in one trip. Saturday will be all day cleaning on the apartment. I will be staying at my sister's Friday night so I don't have to drive all the way back to Queen Creek. She might be having Poker Night that night, but we'll see. After this weekend, I should be completely done with Phoenix. All of the kids appointments are done out there. The only reason to go back is for family get togethers/holidays. The only real friend I have in that city I can't see because he is with a psycho. He at least calls once a month.

My oldest was seen last week for an eye exam. It is apparant that he will now be wearing glasses and we will probably get them within the next week. Tonight is meet the teacher night for the boys new school. Aug 22nd I take my 3 yr old daughter to the district to get tested if she can go to pre-school for whatever they call it. My two boys went to preschool early because of speech and they are good now, so we are trying the daughter. If she gets accepted, she will go to a different school than the boys because they don't offer preschool at their school. The good thing is the schools are only like a mile apart.

This weekend after I finish moving, I am going to try and at least rent HAROLD AND KUMAR: ESCAPE FROM GUANTANOMO BAY. It looks pretty good and the first movie was hillarious. We'll see what else is out at that time. Didn't really do much last night except watch COPS, CSI:NY, and another crime show before that. Can't remember the name of it.

Well, that wraps it up for today.

Hump Day

I remember when I was a kid, "hump" had a whole different meaning. Last night I watched the two movies I had. The first was MARTIAN CHILD. It stars John Cusack, Joan Cusack, and Amanda Peet. It was actually a heart felt movie about a child trying to fit in.

The next movie was OVER HER DEAD BODY starring Eva Longoria. It's the movie where she dies on her wedding day and haunts his next girlfriend. A lot of funny parts in the movie. This is a good one to watch.

Can't wait to get paid Friday. Have to finish the move on Friday, clean the apartment Saturday and turn in the keys and I am done with the back and forth. I am looking at getting furniture for the house right now, but may have to wait another month until I come in to some money before I can make those purchases. I wonder if Rent A Center is any good. I would rather pay in full instead of payments because they get you on interest and late payments. I can't wait until I am caught up on everything.

I have been bouncing around at times actually reading other peoples blogs that I don't know and some seem funny. Maybe someday I can learn more on how to do this whole blog thing and be able to add blogs on my screen for other people to read. Of course, I am pretty sure there are only 2 people that actually read this minus the occassional 'oops, how did I get here?'

Well, let's see how tomorrow goes.

U-haul sucks

So here is the story. Last Monday, I reserved a trailer, enclosed, 10ft from U-haul that was within 3 miles of where I was moving from. I reserved it for Saturday. They told me not a problem, they had 5 or 6 of them. Friday, I get a call from a U-haul about 15 miles from where I am moving from saying I have to pick it up at their location. Ok, whatever. I go there Saturday morning, pay for it and the ball connection and everything and they tell me to go check it out for dents and scratches. Needless to say when I went out to look, I was baffled. These yahoos were giving me a flat open trailer. I told them I am moving from an apartment to a house and this would not work. They then told me they didn't have any enclosed trailer. So I drive to the one that I made the original reservation. They told me that most people get those trailers for one-way. That's what I reserved it for. He then proceeded to tell me there were none in the valley--yeah, right, try to cover your ass and make me spend more for a truck. Needless to say, I caused a scene, threw in the whole 'I need to be out this weekend' and 'I am in the military' bit. So I scheduled for a 14' truck for Friday this week and he gave me additional mileage at no cost and also lowered the rental by about $100. Which isn't bad as I left the place there was a sign that said reservation guaranteed or you get $50. Didn't want to press my luck.

I have 2 movies at home right now. MARTIAN CHILD with John and Joan Cusack. I plan on watching that one tonight. I forget the other one, but I may watch it tonight as well.

Most of my weekend was spent going through crap at the apartment. I still had stuff in boxes from when we moved out of our last house while I was deployed and stuff I had in storage. So, it was kind of useful as we consolidated and threw crap out. Going through that stuff it was like, why do we still have this? I mean old phones, printers, kids school papers that are outdated, trash and crap. Probably threw out 7-8 big boxes of useless crap. Including about 50-60 VHS tapes. I have them all on DVD now anyways and a lot of them were either cracked and busted or the tape from inside had been messed with by the children. My next biggest task is getting furniture for the house and finally get settled in. We have been sleeping on the floor for the last week and a half and it looks like I won't even be able to get a bed until about early September. It will be a posturepedic bed so I guess it will be worth it by then.

Well, that be it for now.