Home Ownership

Ahhh, the trials and tribulations of home ownership. You get pulled into a false sense of security and just when things are humming along…BOOM! Shit happens, and inconveniently at that. Your guard is let down and the funds that are usually spent on leisurely things are now spent on said broken item(s). It seems everything goes to hell all at once, and it's pretty much guaranteed that the fixes are expensive and you’re not going to have the money to fix them.

When I say that all my money goes into my house I mean it. I have about $100 at the beginning of every month to spend on ….gas, food, cat issues, house issues, going out….

The latest issues seem to be piling up just as I was getting used to not working a second job… (sigh)

1. Mortgage-I received a call from “some guy” from “some mortgage company” a couple of months back wondering if I was planning on selling my house or to rewrite my mortgage. He “noticed” that I have an adjustable rate ARM on the larger of the two loans on the house. WHAT?! I’ve been fairly calm until recently I pulled out my mortgage info and yep, sure enough I have an adjustable rate ARM that is due to adjust in August. So I have yet to sit down with my dad and discuss (calmly) what I’m going to do. I’ll most likely have it rewritten but I’m looking for another job just in case. I don’t want to lose my house due to foreclosure and because I was to stupid to completely understand home loans.
2. The Garbage Disposal- I was making dinner a few weeks back and it just stopped working. My folks indicated that it wasn’t that expensive, but I have to wait until mid-June to buy a new one. Thank god my folks-the great parents they are, bought me one and are installing it on Sunday. Now perhaps my sink won’t stink anymore…ish!
3. Carpet- I was hoping I could shampoo the carpet in the house since the carpet is white and in dire need of a good cleaning. I’m hoping that cleaning the carpet will also help in keeping Gabriel from breaking out. Yes, my cat gets acne too!
4. Ceiling Fans-The money I’m wasting not having a ceiling fan/light in the bedrooms is killing me. My last electric bill was $200. I did get an estimate and to put one in my bedroom will cost around $200-$300 including the fan/light. To install one in the downstairs bedroom/office will cost me a fortune because there is not a way to get above the room to install the electrical and I would prefer not to have the wires etc attached and blended into the wall and ceiling. Since the electrician will have to cut a panel into the ceiling of the closet and may possibly run into issues; it will cost approx $300-400 including the fan/light. Ugh!
5. Doorbell-So my dad and I figured out that the mechanism that is inside the house is broken, not the button on the outside of the house. This is great since most home owner’s associations only fix things that are on the outside of the house. Grrrr.
6. School- Ok, this isn’t directly house related but I attribute the fact that I don’t have a degree to be the reason I have issues making ends meet. I’ve made arrangements to transfer to The College of St. Catherine’s in the fall and for financial aid. I’ve done audits and with the credits I’ve earned at Normandale and U of MN-Mankato, approx 132 credits will transfer out of 135.6. To give you an idea of how many credits are needed to receive a B.A or B.S.; it’s approx 108. So I may just attempt to get a B.A. and B.S. since I’m very close to receiving both. However first thing’s first; I need to transfer, have the college do a degree audit, and have a schedule made for the next year so I can get an idea of how far the horizon is-so to speak. For now though, I’m stuck paying for 20% of the courses I take between then.
7. Gabriel- In the tireless quest to figure out what the hell the poor guy is allergic to continues. First it was red ears, then swollen lips, and since we moved he’s been pulling out his fur. He’s been tested, poked, nipped, and scanned. The only things they come up with are that 1. He’s allergic to his food and 2. That he’s got some anxiety/depression issues due to acclimating him too quickly to the house and with another cat. I previously had him on some hypo-food but it didn’t really do the trick or he didn’t like it. Now, that I’ve taken him to a specialty cat clinic, the really “hypo” hypo-food (aka bland as all hell) is going to cost me an arm and leg for I can’t keep Katie from eating it too. If it is anxiety issues, the vet wants to put him on Prozac. I know, I know, but she claims it will chill him out. I think I’m going to end up with a stoned cat that walks around bumping into stuff.
   

Almost, but not Quit , Umm, Quite

Grrrr, I just sent an e-mail to a co-worker, about invoice payment and the regulations that her group should be following. She immediately jumped to the defensive, and sent me a nasty e-mail back about cc’ing “others”. (The “others” being our boss and her employee.) You know, it's this sort of response I’ve been getting a lot as of the last 5 months and the idea that someone has the nerve to e-mail me that sort of a response, well, left me shocked for a moment. My immediate inclination was to e-mail her back and tell her to stick it. I instead walked away, came back and addressed it in a “professional” manner then let my boss handle it from there. My thought is, “What gives anyone the right to speak to anyone in that manner-EVER?” The President’s assistant is starting to wear on my nerves as well. The “you have to do what I say because I’m the President’s Assistant” is just high school-ish to me. As an Assistant to someone you are only as good as who you represent. You have no power, just the power of the person you represent. So to say that the rest of us have to ask your “permission” to use an Executive room when you represent an Executive, is just egoistical to me. I’m just a peon though…

The "official" policy at work is all “technical issues and payment issues” are to be handled by the Assistants, for the sake of having one person for other depts. or divisions to contact. The unofficial policy is, "If you do it, you do it yourself." So most let the Assistants handle it. Now, “under the table”-most Assistants have contacts all around the company, in different depts., floors etc and I’m no different. I have “special” ways to get things done quickly and primarily efficiently. It tans my hide when people do their own thing, get caught up in the red tape and then ask me to bail them out. I end up spending half my day “cutting them from the net” and the other half getting the task done. This seems to happen a lot with the newly acquired groups we’ve taken on. All of them at this point have been bucking the system and looking to me or my boss to bail them out. After several months of doing this and receiving the “nasty grams” as my boss calls them, I’m done-completely spent.

This came to head last week and I told my boss I was considering transferring out of the dept or quitting the company altogether. “What a waste of time” and “I’m a person-not a position”, I found myself repeating to her. She confessed that she would “be fucked” if I left and told me to hang in there for 30 days. She is going to “tighten the screw” on a few people and then if I still feel the same she’d do whatever she could to assist me in getting into a position that would make me happier. She also mentioned that perhaps I was taking on too much and burning myself out. “Your schedule is pretty relentless” she commented. I’m fine with the workload, actually it’s been quite slow for the time being, which is much appreciated. So, in the interim, I’m holding tight for 30 days and it has gotten better even though it’s only been 2 weeks. We’ll see how long it lasts.

What to do with all the Free Time?

Well I will start this entry saying that I now have more time off. I was fired from the airport because during a fit of boredom I wrote an entry, a list and printed it all in Word. FYI- I also swore in it… Apparently that was so horrible it merited termination.(insert rolling of the eyes). At first I panicked. What about the extra money?! The ceiling fans, patio furniture, picture frames etc I was going to buy for the house. What about money for school? Money to have my legs done? (more on this in a bit) Then I thought, “Hmm, fuck that. I can spend more time concentrating on my health!” Therefore, I am. I’m having a friend- a police officer, who also runs marathons help me run 5 miles a day-every day, on a consecutive basis. We start next Tuesday. I also have decided to lift everyday for at least an hour on top of it.. I really would like to possibly run a 3 or 5K this fall, and I’m figuring the last 20lbs will just fall off. I have my 20 year high school reunion coming up, I’m going on vacation in August, plan on fitting my fat ass into a couple of sweet outfits and a bikini for the first time since college!!! Keep your fingers crossed!!! For now, though I plan on resting a bit, reading many books, and watching a lot of bad TV.
My year is coming up for my “diet”. So far I have lost 80lbs the old fashioned way; eating clean and exercising. So much for Jenny Craig!! I have my annual check up coming up at Meadowbrook in May and am hoping to be closer to goal so my Oncologist can really see how hard I’ve been working at it and hopefully come away with a cleaner bill of health. I’m a tad frustrated that I didn’t lose as much as I wanted (I have another 20 lbs to go) over the winter but I figure that still quite a bit for one year. I’m hoping to reach goal before July.

In lieu of all this weight loss etc. I have noticed that my right leg has just gone to hell. Since getting fat etc. the circulation in my right leg has been horrible and I have tons of spider veins. I’m planning on going to a clinic and having them salined and getting laser hair removal at the same time. I’m also planning on getting a bit of Lipodissolve on the interior of my legs and lower abdomen which seem to be my “difficult” spots. It’ll probably cost me about $2,000 which I’ll end up getting another job for….(sigh)

School starts May 29th and this will (hopefully) be my last semester at Community College, then I’m off to St. Kate’s to finish up. I’ve been eyeing the music program at McNally Smith College of Music since I have already taken more than half the required classes, I could technically go there and finish up, but St. Kate’s is a more renowned school and I’m not too sure if I’d feel comfortable redoing a Junior recital and then completing a Senior recital at McNally. I am thinking of taking guitar and piano lessons there though or maybe at McPhale, perhaps get back into drumming again…

My younger brother graduated from Chiropractic College on April 14th. He becomes certified on May 1st, then is in practice, so if your in the need of a chiropractor….. Welcome to the working world!!!! Your gonna hate it!!!!

This is Why I Wouldn't Mind getting a B.S. in Nanotechnology!!

There is still hope...We are getting closer to a cure!
To view the actual article click ->here

Scientists Directly Target Cancer Cells

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian biotechnology firm said on Thursday it had developed a means of delivering anti-cancer drugs directly to cancer cells, which aims to avoid the debilitating toxicity associated with chemotherapy.

The method uses nanotechnology, which involves molecules far smaller than a human cell.

Direct targeting of chemotherapy drugs would allow dosages thousands of times lower than that in conventional chemotherapy and be more easily tolerated by patients, said the firm.

Writing in the May issue of U.S.-based Cancer Cell journal, the biotech firm EnGeneIC said it had developed nano-cells containing chemotherapy drugs.

Via antibodies on their surface, these nano-cells target and latch on to cancer cells. Once attached, the nano-cell is engulfed and the drug is released directly inside the cancer cell.

The firm said the bacterially derived nano-cell, called EnGeneIC delivery vehicles, had proven safe in primate trials and resulted in significant cancer regression.

It hoped to carry out human trials later in 2007 if it gained approval from Australian, U.S., European and Japanese regulatory authorities.

"For the first time there is a real possibility that this technology could lead to the use of multi-drug combinations and eventual custom-made therapies in cancer patients," research scientist Jennifer MacDiarmid said in a statement.

"In terms of tumor therapy, most late-stage cancer patients carry tumor cells that exhibit various forms of drug resistance. Our technology may provide the first in-vivo (inside an organism) solution to this serious hurdle."

Why Do We Always Expect the Grass to be Greener on the Other Side?

My mind has been turned to some current goings on with one of my friend’s at the bank… her name is Jennifer. Jennifer’s been married for about 6 years and they have two beautiful boys together. He treats her like absolute shit- and she takes it…no matter what she tells people. He’s done everything a person can do to violate the whole POINT of being married in the first place- he’s narcissistic to the point where it borders on insanity and psychological suicide. The ass actually had the nerve to verbally mention that if his wife died during the difficult birth of their second child, he’d benefit greatly from the life insurance. She goes to work and this slug-of-life sits on his duff, looking up porn and information on how to pick up chicks, instead of watching his kids. So she has to spend a great portion of her paycheck on daycare. Jennifer found out about all of the porn etc when she received bills for his e-mail and phone. Niiice. She’s been ignoring it for about 2 years and I’ve been pressing her to finally file for divorce. I stopped bugging her when she told me about 8 months ago and that he approached her about reconciling. Jennifer agreed and stayed with him. (Insert eye roll here) Somewhere within the same week, he was back at the same old shit. She feebly complains about his latest greatest crap he’s perpetrated on her and the kids… and we are all tired…tired of the excuses she gives him, tired of her using her kids as the excuse for not leaving or at the very least: kicking his sorry ass out. She claims that she took her vows seriously and that as a Christian, she is not allowed to give up so easily. I quickly informed her that because she is a Christian doesn’t mean she’s allowed to become a psychological door mat either. She kept her end of the deal. The guilt???!!! I mean, wasn’t it over when she stopped wearing her ring? In her mind, she’s already divorced his ass…. In speaking with her yesterday, it sounds like she’s finely had enough. She’s kicking him out and in lieu of all of this conversation she informed me that she reconnected with a man from her past that happens to be 5 years younger. I indicated that this guy should be the catalyst to break free of the shitty husband. She says that going forward; all men are eye candy and nothing more. That she will never remarry, that marriage sucks. I suggested that if she find a great guy etc.. Which she promptly cut me off and with “ain’t no such thing…” That got me thinking…. It’s people like me who are single, in their mid to late thirties that have a good job and home but are just missing that last piece of the puzzle and it seems in most cases we’ll do almost anything to experience it, to hold it for just a moment. Then there are individuals like my friend Jennifer who had it, lost it, hurt it etc and are convinced they know what it’s all about because they experienced it and had a hold of it by the tail. Both sides wish they had what the other had…. Hopefully she’ll kick his ass to the curb!