Author: Lee

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.

And There Was Light

Today I’ve been working on removing our old entry chandelier and replacing it with a new one, more suited to our tastes.  Our old one is on the right.

It is similar to our dining room chandelier, but much larger.  We purchased it months ago, but the height of our entry was too high for my ladder.  Our entry is only 6′ x 4′, but it’s about 15′ tall!  I left early to rent a ladder, but decided to stop and see if my neighbor Gary could help, and help he did.  I asked him if he had a ladder taller than mine, and his works!

After about 3 hours of interesting work, I finished, and the most important thing, it works!

Now I just need to finish the walls.  Our house is begging to look more like a home.

I Got A REAL Job!

Today I accepted a position with IU!

It’s with the Center for Survey Research as a Production Staff member.  My job duties will be as follows.

Survey packet assembly
Opening/Sorting/Batching returned mail and surveys
Formatting addresses in databases
Scanning surveys
Correcting scanned surveys
Occasional data entry
Other office tasks

I am excited about this position for several reasons.  First and foremost, it’s in Eigenmann Hall – where my wife works, just on a different floor.  Second, it’s an office position which I have desired for a long time.

I have to go back tomorrow to fill out paperwork, ect.  I was told that I will be starting within the next couple of weeks.

The job is very flexible, as I get to set my own hours.  There is only one downside though, as it is mainly an academic year position, meaning the position is out when the kids are.  It’s something I’m willing to live with, only if the boss is.

When It’s Feast or Famine, I Try To Feast As Much As Possible

This year so far has been somewhat of a growing year for my business, LML Video Services.

I have added new services, and I’m currently planning a commercial.  If you have any interesting ideas let me know, as I’m always open for suggestions.

Last weekend I delivered some Cassette tape to CD transfers (the first ones I have done).  The client gave me 24 more tapes to transfer!  They have all been Sherlock Holmes sets that are not available on CD.  I have completed 12 thus far, hopefully I will have the rest completed by the end of the week.  I do know copyright laws, and anyone owning copyrighted material can make a “sole backup” copy of any work they have purchased.  Each of these transfers has a disclaimer on them stating, “Transferred to CD for backup purposes.”

My New York client is sending me some more video transfers as well.  Thanks Marc!

I have also organized everything.  I am now using QuickBooks, keeping track of expenses and income, and making backup copies of reciepts.  I have everything saved on my PC and a binder.  I will use a new binder for every year.  This will help when the tax man cometh, and should the time come, business loans and credit cards.

My new plan is to save, instead of spend.  I have been spending every dime I have on improvements since the word go.  Since I believe I have adequate equipment I am cutting back the spending.  The next step for me is bigger and better everything.  These items aren’t cheap, so I’m working on starting a business savings account to help save for future expansion.

UPDATE:  Interestingly enough, one set of the Sherlock Holmes tapes was manufactured and distributed by a company in the same town as my New York client.

Jealous

This weekend is a big weekend for my wife.  We will be going to her 10 year high school reunion.  Rachel (my wife) comes from a very small town, in a very rural area of southern Indiana.  They don’t even have a flashing light!  I do love where she’s from though, as everyone knows, germans know how to have a good time!

I’ll always love her though, no matter how much she looks like our rabbit Gil! 🙂

I feel quite a bit jealous of this event.  I took the “easy” road and got my GED when I was 17.  So I will never have a reunion to go to.  As I’ve gotten older, these things have hit me quite hard.

Some people think persons with GED’s are the people who aren’t intelligent, and just didn’t want to go to school.  It isn’t always true.  My reason you ask?  I was shuffled between 3 high schools in just under 2 years.  I was between a rock and a hard place, either graduate when I was 20, or get a GED at 17.  Which would you choose?

My plan was to go back to school no matter what if I didn’t get the GED.  I went to Ivy Tech, on numerous occasions.  I seem to always find a way to leave.  I have a certificate from Indiana University for Managing in the Life Sciences Industry.  I just don’t learn well in a structured environment.

My wife has many accolades that makes me wonder why she loves me so.  She is currently 2 classes away from achieving a Masters degree from IU in Higher Education.  I guess opposites really do attract?

So I may be jealous, but at least I’m in love.

 

A Little Fishy

I applied for a position listed in the Herald-Times and got it!  The bad part is something just seems a little fishy.  I did some exhaustive research regarding this “industry,” as there are many other companies that do the same exact thing.  I couldn’t find any pending litigation, or scams relating to this.  So I’m taking a chance.

The “official” title is, Online Store Administrator.  When it comes down to it, I’m just scanning pre-paid online game cards and sending them to “My Boss.”

Here are the instructions I was given regarding the position:

I was not given any further instructions, including an important step in the process.  Where to send it to.

When I ask questions, I’m lucky to get a response I understand.

Although everything doesn’t seem to be on the “up and up,” this could be a very lucrative venture.  I will supposedly be paid $23 for each card I scan.  I asked how many I will receive per day, week, etc. and got this as a response, “usually it’s about 5-7 per once.”

WTF does that mean?  I sent another email asking for clarification, and I’m still waiting on a response.