was very nice...Layla just walked into this shot.
Monday, April 26, 2010
A quick story
Between my current "heavy workload" at my job and all the other stuff going on around here I haven't gotten around to blogging, but I did want to share something nifty that happened the other night. I had gone to Artz Rib House to pick up some BBQ for dinner and while I was waiting for my food I was able to enjoy some of the live music there. I don't remember who the group was, but it was three ladies singing and a gentleman playing an upright bass. They were singing old standards (and I mean OLD standards) and I thought, "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if they sang Goodnight Irene while I was here?" The current song ended and one of the ladies said, "We have a special person here tonight and she's requested a song. We don't don't really know it, but we are going to do it anyway." And damn if they didn't play Goodnight Irene! I don't know who the special person was that requested it (it sure wasn't me,) but it was pretty amazing to have a wish granted like that.
Between my current "heavy workload" at my job and all the other stuff going on around here I haven't gotten around to blogging, but I did want to share something nifty that happened the other night. I had gone to Artz Rib House to pick up some BBQ for dinner and while I was waiting for my food I was able to enjoy some of the live music there. I don't remember who the group was, but it was three ladies singing and a gentleman playing an upright bass. They were singing old standards (and I mean OLD standards) and I thought, "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if they sang Goodnight Irene while I was here?" The current song ended and one of the ladies said, "We have a special person here tonight and she's requested a song. We don't don't really know it, but we are going to do it anyway." And damn if they didn't play Goodnight Irene! I don't know who the special person was that requested it (it sure wasn't me,) but it was pretty amazing to have a wish granted like that.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
The change in EFT
EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer. I started paying my bills by EFT many years ago after an experience I had with a credit card company. Back then I paid everything via check and postal mail like most people, but the credit card company kept insisting that my payments sent by snail mail were late which allowed them to increase my interest rate and charge me some ridiculous late fee every month. The postal service had it's issues, but I seriously doubt it was taking more than two weeks every month to get my payment to a location that was only two states away. Once I started using EFT, I loved it and started using it for any bill that I could - no stamps, no checks, no driving to the post office and best of all, no waiting weeks for a check to clear. If a bill was due on the 3rd of the month, the money came out of my account on the 3rd of the month. Nice and simple. Until recently. These days I can no longer go by the due date on my bills. For example, I have a cell phone bill that is due on the 3rd of the month, but the money will come out of my bank account about a week before on a date that varies from month to month. It might be the 28th. Or it might be the 29th. Or maybe even the 25th. I find this highly annoying and would like to know who the hell is getting the use of my money for 5 or more days of "processing time". One of the involved parties, either the bank or the billing company is getting interest on that money for those extra 5 days or so. It's irritating even though it's not costing me, personally, a lot of money - after all, it's not like I'm earning very much interest in 5 days on $100. But back in the days of paper checks, the "processing time" was on the billing company side. The more efficient they were at "processing" payments, the faster they got their money. Under this new way of handling EFT, I'm the one paying for their processing time. I don't like it. I think I may go back to paying my bills in person. With cash. Except some places won't accept cash anymore. And that's another thing that really annoys me, but I'll have to save that rant for another day - time to go to work so I can make my electronic bank balance bigger next week with my electronically transferred paycheck.
EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer. I started paying my bills by EFT many years ago after an experience I had with a credit card company. Back then I paid everything via check and postal mail like most people, but the credit card company kept insisting that my payments sent by snail mail were late which allowed them to increase my interest rate and charge me some ridiculous late fee every month. The postal service had it's issues, but I seriously doubt it was taking more than two weeks every month to get my payment to a location that was only two states away. Once I started using EFT, I loved it and started using it for any bill that I could - no stamps, no checks, no driving to the post office and best of all, no waiting weeks for a check to clear. If a bill was due on the 3rd of the month, the money came out of my account on the 3rd of the month. Nice and simple. Until recently. These days I can no longer go by the due date on my bills. For example, I have a cell phone bill that is due on the 3rd of the month, but the money will come out of my bank account about a week before on a date that varies from month to month. It might be the 28th. Or it might be the 29th. Or maybe even the 25th. I find this highly annoying and would like to know who the hell is getting the use of my money for 5 or more days of "processing time". One of the involved parties, either the bank or the billing company is getting interest on that money for those extra 5 days or so. It's irritating even though it's not costing me, personally, a lot of money - after all, it's not like I'm earning very much interest in 5 days on $100. But back in the days of paper checks, the "processing time" was on the billing company side. The more efficient they were at "processing" payments, the faster they got their money. Under this new way of handling EFT, I'm the one paying for their processing time. I don't like it. I think I may go back to paying my bills in person. With cash. Except some places won't accept cash anymore. And that's another thing that really annoys me, but I'll have to save that rant for another day - time to go to work so I can make my electronic bank balance bigger next week with my electronically transferred paycheck.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Woo-hoo!
Yes, I'm excited. At this moment, some things in my life are actually going quite well. Specifically, tonight, I'm excited about things that are job related. I have the opportunity to get more hours at the job I love. In order to do this, I should quit the other job because there are only so many hours in a week and I can't realistically do both for more than a week or two without collapsing from complete exhaustion. However, the hours at the job that I love are not guaranteed to be permanent and I felt that it was too risky to just quit the other job with no notice and burn bridges so I was going to attempt to some how, some way, juggle the two for a while. The problem with that scenario (aside from complete exhaustion) is that I have to do the extra hours at the job that I love and do them well in order to get those hours on a permanent basis. And I realized that might be a bit hard to do while juggling the other job, but I was going to do my best. Ah, but then the other job that I don't like as much changed dramatically which caused me to have get trained on something new and as it turned out, that made it the perfect time to resign with no notice needed and no bridges burned. And so it all worked out that I could comfortably accept the extra hours at the job that I love and painlessly exit the other job. Pretty awesome.
Yes, I'm excited. At this moment, some things in my life are actually going quite well. Specifically, tonight, I'm excited about things that are job related. I have the opportunity to get more hours at the job I love. In order to do this, I should quit the other job because there are only so many hours in a week and I can't realistically do both for more than a week or two without collapsing from complete exhaustion. However, the hours at the job that I love are not guaranteed to be permanent and I felt that it was too risky to just quit the other job with no notice and burn bridges so I was going to attempt to some how, some way, juggle the two for a while. The problem with that scenario (aside from complete exhaustion) is that I have to do the extra hours at the job that I love and do them well in order to get those hours on a permanent basis. And I realized that might be a bit hard to do while juggling the other job, but I was going to do my best. Ah, but then the other job that I don't like as much changed dramatically which caused me to have get trained on something new and as it turned out, that made it the perfect time to resign with no notice needed and no bridges burned. And so it all worked out that I could comfortably accept the extra hours at the job that I love and painlessly exit the other job. Pretty awesome.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
I THINK I REALLY MUST BE GETTING OLD
Once upon a time there was this little baby girl that I could almost fit in my hand.And then suddenly she was a bright little girl , full of energy and filled with the imagination of a child.And then she was a teenager...and dark days would follow.
I was there for most of it...the good and the bad , and even though she wasn't really mine I felt I owned her , she was my kid.
and yesterday my girl got married...a beautiful thing. And I remember thinking how lucky I was to experience this twice. First time around was my son , another dark story with a bright finish and a brilliant future. Two happy endings for very important people in my life.
You could feel the love in the air...
And I spoke out to them (you know, pass the mic around and say goofy things during the reception) and I don't remember exactly what I said but it wasn't because I was out of my mind...well I was, but I was out of my mind with joy for her and her man.I remember saying at the end "Richard , you scored".not exactly genius , but right on the money.
I miss that energetic little girl and that sullen teenager...they are memories from long ago left in the back of my head.And they had to scoot in for a new memory , a glimpse of a new life starting to happen.
And I smiled to myself and said yeah , a reason for being.
Once upon a time there was this little baby girl that I could almost fit in my hand.And then suddenly she was a bright little girl , full of energy and filled with the imagination of a child.And then she was a teenager...and dark days would follow.
I was there for most of it...the good and the bad , and even though she wasn't really mine I felt I owned her , she was my kid.
and yesterday my girl got married...a beautiful thing. And I remember thinking how lucky I was to experience this twice. First time around was my son , another dark story with a bright finish and a brilliant future. Two happy endings for very important people in my life.
You could feel the love in the air...
And I spoke out to them (you know, pass the mic around and say goofy things during the reception) and I don't remember exactly what I said but it wasn't because I was out of my mind...well I was, but I was out of my mind with joy for her and her man.I remember saying at the end "Richard , you scored".not exactly genius , but right on the money.
I miss that energetic little girl and that sullen teenager...they are memories from long ago left in the back of my head.And they had to scoot in for a new memory , a glimpse of a new life starting to happen.
And I smiled to myself and said yeah , a reason for being.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Two jobs, sort of...
I have two jobs; both are part time with varying hours and days. One of them had a sudden increase in work this last month and I have been running myself ragged to keep up. The other job has been very slow and I'm only working about 10 hours a week there right now, but I still have to get ready, log in and hope I get cut early at that one so I can get the extra work done at the other one before midnight. Having two jobs with varying schedules and hours requires a bit more coordination than I expected. I've worked two jobs before, but they were both set days and hours; this is something very different. And although it's sometimes a challenge to coordinate the two, I find that I like it better than the old 8 to 5, M-F routine where nothing ever changes.
I have two jobs; both are part time with varying hours and days. One of them had a sudden increase in work this last month and I have been running myself ragged to keep up. The other job has been very slow and I'm only working about 10 hours a week there right now, but I still have to get ready, log in and hope I get cut early at that one so I can get the extra work done at the other one before midnight. Having two jobs with varying schedules and hours requires a bit more coordination than I expected. I've worked two jobs before, but they were both set days and hours; this is something very different. And although it's sometimes a challenge to coordinate the two, I find that I like it better than the old 8 to 5, M-F routine where nothing ever changes.
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