What Relief?

The Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels aka “My Man Mitch” has a new plan for the property tax crisis that is mainly afflicting Indianapolis and it’s surrounding counties.

I’m mad as hell, because I voted for this guy.  He’s not “my man” anymore.

Let me outline this tax crisis for those of you not aware of the situation.  This year, many peoples’ property taxes increased significantly.  So much that it makes it almost impossible to own a home in some areas around Indianapolis.  My sister-in-law lives in the extreme southeast corner of Marion County and has some personal knowledge of some of these increases.  A co-worker of hers property taxes went from $2000 a year, to a whopping $10,000 a year.  No this is not a mansion, this is a “standard” home, on a lot between 1/8 and 1/2 an acre.

The Plan:  The Governor proposed a cap on property taxes to 1% of the assessed value of the property, plus a 1% increase in sales tax.

This may be a good deal for many in the Indianapolis area, but not for me.

This plan in effect would theoretically increase my property taxes by as much as 35%, plus I would have to pay 1% more for most of the items I purchase!  How does this help me?

This is by no means a done deal yet.  It has to pass through the legislature, and an amendment to the Indiana Consitution has to be made before it is law.  As we all know, the beginning proposal and the end result can be completely different.

As a person commented on the Herald-Times website about this story, “They call this a 1% cap making you think that is all you will ever pay, the truth being as your property value goes up so do your property tax. According to my property tax a 1% tax is about what I’m now paying, so now I get to pay 7% sales tax? We need to do away with personal property tax and raise the indiana income tax. As people make more income the state receives more income, should never have to raise taxes again. The State needs to live within their means as all the private sector does. If you don’t have the money you don’t do it.”

Either way, I’m mad as hell.

A Time of Reflection

As a special day in my life, today being my birthday, I have thought about some of the events that have occured in my life that have made me, well, me.

Here is a summation of my life thus far, all 27 years of it.

October 25th, 1980 – I was born at the Bloomington Hospital.  I have heard stories how I was trouble from the word go, as I was a breech baby.

Summer 1985 – I ran away from a daycare center and walked a couple of miles down 3rd street to The Crescent Doughnut Shop.  After having some doughnut holes and a sprite on the house, I was taken back to the center by Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputies.  My family was upset, but I got to ride in a police car.  The main thing I remember is what I was singing in my head on that hot day, “On the road again,” by Willie Nelson.  The Herald-Telephone, now called The Herald-Times had a story about the situation which mentioned new fangled tracking devices for kids at the time, it’s currently used for pets.

Summer 1986 – A hearing-impaired neighbor told my dad about me stealing a cigarette from his truck.  So I rode my bike all the way to my memma’s house, which was almost a 10 mile ride.  Not bad for a 5 year old.

Labor Day 1987 – My just divorced father marries Kathy Howe.  This starts a period of darkness for me.  I become a bully in school.  She physiclly and mentally abuses me, even wants to charge me rent to live in “her” home.  It all culminates in 1992 with an altercation with a rifle, she threatened to shoot me and I dared her.  Just as I was trying to remove the weapon from her hands my father showed up and held me down to calm down the situation.  I immediately moved in with my mother, who had been in Lubbock, Texas for several years.

October 1992 – I bring a BB gun to Templeton Elementary School with plans to at least hurt everyone in the 6th grade class, and the principal.  After making it on the grounds I chickened out and hid it in a bush.  The BB gun was found and I was expelled and put on probation.  I was passed on to 7th grade with only 2 months of 6th grade education.

1993 – 1995 – Those were very trying years for me.  I learned to appreciate many things we all take for granted.  Most of the time I didn’t know where I would sleep for the evening.  My mom’s husband was on the run from the law and I was abandoned in a trailer by Lake Monroe.  I did not have any electricty, running water or heat.  Sometimes I ate, sometimes I didn’t.  Once I got a hold of my father, things got better.

1996 – In the middle of the night I stole my mothers car (which was soon to by mine when I received my license), and her money, packed my clothes and took off.  My destination, Round Rock, Texas.  I was on-line, a new and expensive thing at that time.  I met a girl via a BBS named Metropolis.  She and I talked for hours upon hours, on the computer and on the phone.  Her username was “Swisser.”  Everyone had thought I drove to Valpo to see another girl, but that was just a ploy.  After driving 20 hours straight due to an error on my part, I ended up at my aunt Beth’s house in Westville, Oklahoma.  She immediately called my dad.  They decided that I stay with my grandfather until something could be worked out.  I spent a week with him, and I will always cherish that time I had with him.  I was the only grandchild he really knew.  He passed away in 2000.

November 1996 – I have a seizure while bagging groceries at the westside Kroger.  Later that month after a battery of tests, I’m diagnosed with epilepsy.  I don’t realize for years what responsibilities this condition carries.

October 1997 – I drop out of high school for good.  After being bounced around the 3 high schools in the county, I was lost.  The same day I dropped out, I took the General Education Diploma test.  After nervously waiting, I passed and received my GED.  I only went to high school 1 and a half years.

November 1997 – One month after purchasing a 1992 Dodge Daytona, I totalled it and shut down Highway 37 for 4 hours by running it into a propane tank at an estimated speed of 60mph.  I was unconscious almost from the time I left my home in Ellettsville to after the collision.  Fortunately I was unharmed.  This collision makes me reconsider driving with my condition.  It also shoots my insurance rates to over $1000 every 6 months.  It is now affordable, only 10 years later.

August 26, 1999 – I become a father!  Weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, Taylor Marie Nicole Lawmaster is born.  Two years later, her mother and I split up.  As an afterthought, my daughters’ own name was a sign.  We couldn’t agree on a middle name, so she has 2.  Her mother wanted Marie, and I wanted Nicole.

2001 – Life is coming more into focus.  I start a job I have been applying to for 3 years, Baxter.  I thought I would work their until I retired but was canned after 5 years.  I also meet someone very special, Rachel Christine Lee.  I didn’t know or even think at that moment, but she would soon enough be my wife.  We also met on-line.

2002 – Rachel and I move in together on Valentine’s day.  We start with nothing, not even a bed.  Eventually our apartment is overflowing with the love we have for each other and furnishings.

2004 – After years of almost no control of my seizures, I have a VNS (Vagal Nerve Stimulator) implanted.  It eventually works better than any medication I have ever taken at controlling seizures.  I also get married at the First Baptist Church in Bedford, Indiana.  The same church where my parents were married in 1981.

2006Rachel and I become homeowners.  It’s an ongoing adventure that I can’t get enough of.  Three months later I become unemployed, which scares the bejesus out of us.  This starts a period of unknown for the both of us, when will it end?  I really don’t know.

2007 – I started a new job at IU, which might open some doors for me.

Here’s my history, what’s yours?

Droppin’ Like Flies

I just learned that 2 more homes will be for sale in Sunrise Estates.

As you can see from this illustration.  It seems a disproportionate amount of homes are for sale here, and I can’t get my fingers on it.

The home across the street from me must have just been sold, as it is no longer on homefinder.org and all of the signs were removed today.

Sadly, my next door neighbor Gary will be moving to West Virginia soon.  So his house is immediately for sale.  Rachel and I will miss Gary and his wife dearly, as they have been good neighbors to us.  They have also been our first “real” neighbors since becoming homeowners.  Gary got a new job with Xerox.  It is a good location for them though, as they have sons living in Ohio and Maryland.  That will put them in the middle.  He starts within the next 2 weeks.  I offered to do whatever I can to help them in this transition.  We will miss you two!

The home 2 houses down from me really makes me wonder.  We share only one thing, and that is our neighbor Bill.  He’s a character, very particular about property lines and I’m about to the point of shooting his dog.  They recently spent a lot of time (and money I’m sure) building a brick mailbox enclosure.  There are many on our drive, it seems to be a popular accessory if you will.

So what’s next?  This instability is starting to make me wonder if buying here was a good idea.

Why don’t you put an offer on a house here Kelly?  You have 4 to choose from 🙂

Time For a Little Something “On The ROX”

I am now with no constant clients for my business, so I’m starting the daunting task of saving my favorite little show from B-town from dust.

I have a new game plan now which I think will be better for the long run, but I still need YOUR help.  Yes I mean you!

Many episode masters have heat damage, and I can do no better than getting a copy of the already damaged master.  If you have ANY episodes of ROX, formerly J&B on the ROX email me, I’m begging you.  It doesn’t matter if you only have half of an episode, please send it!

Without help from the public, I will need to start looking into alternatives to possibly restore these damaged episodes.  The only drawback is that restoration costs money.  If I have to go this route, donations to ROX would be most helpful.

Another way to help is to buy Season Zero which has been available on DVD for over a year now!

The new plan is to burn each episode to DVD once it is to a good standard.  This will save space on my hard drives and save my work.  Once I have a season completed, it will be released to DVD for the world to consume.

Forgetting the past is just like destroying the future, so help me save ROX’s history!

Brain Drain

Over the past year, I’ve forgotten how much mental energy an office job takes.  My stamina has long gone away.  Most of this week, I have been exhausted by this new job.  I’m not complaining, just explaining.

We have been “address cleaning,” as it’s called.  To put it in layman’s terms, we are sent database tables which have names, addresses, citys, states and zipcodes.  Sometimes they have more information, such as a student ID numbers or e-mail addresses.

The purpose of address cleaning is to format the addresses to the USPS standard, which can be very interesting if you haven’t had to do that before.  Did you know that there is a way to shorten almost every street name, IE drive, road, lane, etc.?

The tiring part is these tables, some were as small as 300 entries, but others were as large as 6800!  When we thought we were done, they were checked, and the remaining errors were shown to us.  Nothing bad, just constructive criticism.

Thursday night after work we went and picked up Taylor in Louisville, Ky.  My mom helped us out and took a half day off of work and drove to Clarksville, TN to pick her up.  They then drove back to Louisville where we met at her house.  We then had to drive back home so I could make it back to work in the morning.  We left as soon as we left work, and got back home around 11ish.

Lets just say I was of no use to anyone on Friday, and luckily my new job is very flexible and I was able to work only 6 hours.

So today I am doing some home remodeling and it goes much smoother with my lil helper!  I’m re-installing our stair hand rails to a much more comfortable position, with new hardware.  And I’m patching the rest of the holes in the drywall.  We also picked out our paint colors, which hopefully will be done before Thanksgiving.

What a Lovely Saturday Evening

Yesterday we spent a wonderful evening with my brother and sister in-law.  She works at the IRT (Indianapolis Repertory Theatre). One of her benefits is free tickets to each show.  Last night it was Our Town.  I have to say it was quite moving.  The play revolves around life and death in a little town named Grover’s Corners.  The cast was great, I really enjoyed the performance by the “Stage Manager.”  If you haven’t seen the show professionally done, please do so.  It’s one of the best shows I think I’ve seen.

 

We then capped the evening off with dinner and drinkx at the Oaken Barrel.  A nice microbrew pub/restaraunt.  It makes me think of Btown’s own Upland in a way.

Rachel and her sister got to do a lot of talking, as sisters often do.  I believe a lot of issues on their minds were finally resolved. 

We haven’t had a night out with them in around 2 years.  I hope we can do it more often.

Green Power For The Masses

Finally electric consumers in this area have options when it comes to how the power they consume is generated.

The Herald-Times had a story on October 4th that blew me away.  All of the local electric utilities (Duke Energy, UDWI-REMC and SCI-REMC) have an option now, where you can ensure at least parts of your electric consumption are from renewable sources.  They lised biomass, wind and methane from landfills as examples.

It is purchased in 100 kilowatt blocks, which in my case cost $4.  This is in addition to your normal usage bill.  We are UDWI-REMC customers, according to their form, you can purchase as much as you desire.

Our average electric bill is around 1200 kilowatts.  We are discussing purchasing around 400 kilowatts to lower our carbon footprint.  We might purchase more eventually.  I do want some proof before I commit though.

That’s only $16 more a month!  True, we will still be using coal produced electricty primarily, but we will be using 1/3rd less “dirty power.”

The other options aren’t cheap!  A whole house solar array starts at around 20k, adequate wind turbines are about 50k.  Smaller systems are not that much cheaper.  That’s not in my budget right now.  When the time comes for a new water heater, we are still considering solar, which could save thousands in the long haul.  Solar water heating systems are only around 3k though, much more feasible.

With our new heat pump, our electric bill has been reduced significantly, but I know we can do more.  This is one step in the right direction.

If only the rest of the country, or heck 10% would get out of their Hummers and give it a thought, Earth might be a far better place in the future.  Don’t even get me started on these college students with the Uber-SUV’s that they don’t need.

Won’t You Be, My Neighbor?

This is where I live.  It’s a small neighborhood named Sunrise Estates.  It’s quiet, peaceful and very unique.  We’re not a very social neighborhood, but we are neighborly!  The best part is being away from the “hustle and bustle” of town, but being close to everything.  Not to sound like a redneck, but Wal-Mart is only 2.5 miles away!

Although most of the homes are bi-levels, this is by no means a “cookie cutter” subdivision.  The lots range in size from 1/4 to 1/2 acres, I have .47 to be exact.

Something seems very strange, as we now have 3 homes for sale.  That’s almost 10% of the total homes in our neighborhood!  It was a big deal when we bought this place, it seemed like everyone was in “shock and awe” that the guy sold his home.  More information is available on homefinder.org, just click on property search and type Gillham in the street field.


The house across the street from me has been in foreclosure for almost a year.  Someone recently bought it and is trying to “flip” it.  This house is very similar to ours.  It has a nice covered entry.  We are discussing adding one to our house.  If you’re interested in this house, let me know, as I know what was paid for this home if you would like to bargain your way down.

The second house is owned by former neighbors of ours.  We all lived together at Basswood Apartments.  Sadly they have seperated and are selling the home.  Great people!  They will be missed.

The third house is being sold due to a move.  It’s currently a FSBO (For Sale By Owner).  The owner is the former Bloomington Fire Department Chief Jeff Barlow, his wife Pam and their 2 sons .  He recently stepped down and accepted a Fire Chief job in Kentucky, I read that he has family there as well.  There was always a feeling of safety knowing the fire chief was my neighbor.  We’ll all miss you!

Won’t you please?
Won’t you please?
Please won’t you be my neighbor?

Not Level, But Smooth

I’ve spent the vast majority of this week preparing our living room, dining room, hallway and entry areas for paint.

This has entailed a lot of drywall patching, sanding and even texturing.

The final picture is enhanced to show the joint compound.

I patched 4 problems like this, plus we had 2 holes in our walls due to an earlier installation of some type of intercom or home speaker system.

The major problem was our ceiling, as there were many cracks.  There were also several places where the “tape” as it’s called came loose from the ceiling.  I had to remove the sections and replace.  The best part was making it look nice, which required the purchase of a new tool!

The only part I am not completely satisfied with is the ceiling texture, as I have no way to perfectly match it..  I purchased some spray texture, but it looks more like a popcorn ceiling than what is there.  I think after we paint it will be less noticable though.

Not bad for someone who doesn’t have much experience in drywall.