"You gonna get another job?"...

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Another day in the books. A quick snark and then an update:

One of the things about my friend that annoys me is that he is a multitasker. The best example is the day of surgery. They kept him overnight so I checked in on him as soon as he was out of recovery and then he asked me to come back later that night. Got in at 8. Front desk guy said visiting hours ended at 9. He wanted to watch a movie. So of course he ignored the 2 that I expressed interest in and picked maybe the one I was *least* interested in (nope, 2nd least interested in, now that I think about it). So I'm stuck there, watching a movie I don't even want to watch while he's responding to texts and facebooks on his phone and periodically looking up to ask what is going on in the movie. Pick one thing and do it instead of failing to do 2/3 of what you're trying--much of which isn't even important.

OK. That out of the way, things continue to go well. Over halfway through what I committed to and he continues to show marked improvement every day. Maybe best of all, he's got a personality and a sense of humor again. The first night he was home he was just a tired scared injured animal. He's back to being a human again. Having to cheat less and less on his rehab exercises, getting more and more independent and confident, walked 4x as far as he did the day after he got home--and with more strength and stability. Again, I'm too superstitious to make forward predictions, but to date things have gone better than I could've dreamed.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Tiring day. Friend is doing well. But that makes things more challenging in some ways. I've got to fit my life in along with his life. So I got up, got the animals fed and watered and cleaned the cat litter. Then we did his exercises and got him his meds and swapped in new ice packs. Ordinarily I'd have some breakfast but by now The Dog was so amped up that I had to go straight into the morning walk. By the time I got home, my friend had decided that he would also have breakfast. So instead of spending 2 minutes making coffee, pouring OJ, cereal and milk, I stood around the kitchen for an hour, getting out eggs and chopping peppers and tomatoes etc so he could make omelettes. And because he can't ever do anything simply, he had to make coffee with his French press.

I forget the exact timeline but I think we also went for a walk and did another round of exercises. He was settling in for a nap when a friend came to visit. The friend had brought him Italian takeout. Meanwhile, we had a Crock Pot of roast beef that was ready to go--except he wanted homemade biscuits with it. Oh, but first I had to do a load of laundry because he needed to clean his compression bandage. But before that I needed to fold his daughter's clothes from the dryer and move her clothes from the washer to the dryer and then fold those clothes and then eventually fold the load of laundry I needed to do in the first place. And clean up the huge mess he makes in the kitchen every time he eats.

By now I'm starving and waiting around for these biscuits to be done. But first we need to go check on a vacant house for a friend who is on a teaching assignment. And he needs come cough medicine. By the time I'm back from the drug store trip, I realize his reachin' stick is down in the kitchen so I bring it up to him. He's awake and...wants to go for another walk? Something. And I mention that I need some calories first. He's up for that--so I'm going to have to tell him I've already started nuking a plate of Spaghetti-Os, which, of course, appalls him. Ordinarily, after lunch I'd have a nap, but since lunch was at 5:30pm, I need to walk The Dog again. I get in, desperately ready for my lunchtime siesta--at 6:30pm--and he wants to do another walk. So I do. It's a walk around the block at a very slow walker-assisted pace, but he enjoys bringing The Dog, so I have to keep her in check while managing him. Finally got my noon nap at 7pm and then got woke up to do his evening exercises (he'd already had his meds). Needed another nap. So now it's 10pm, I'm enjoying a cocktail and deciding if I want to have dinner or not. 5 days down of a week I committed to. And at least he's showing good progress.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
My friend is exhausting. The decisions he makes annoy and frustrate me. But he is an adult and it is his right to make his own decisions. Watching one evening of his interactions with his daughter is certainly not the big picture. And as I do not have a daughter, perhaps I'm not the one to talk. But he had a good day today and he put in some work from home time in the afternoon. I went to pick her up from school and told her how well he was doing so of course when we got home he was napping on the couch because he really overdid it all day. Took my dog for a walk and when I got home he was up--and upstairs on the phone for...a work call?

Eventually I went up to see when we were doing dinner and he said whenever [Daughter] wants. So we had a dinner together, sort of. Then he was going to go up to his bed to rest while he helped her with some homework. By the time I was done tidying up the kitchen and came up, he was on the phone with a financially challenged friend, counseling her on how to manage her limited finances. If I'd just had hip surgery and shared custody of a child I'd tell work "Look, I have to leave this call. I just had hip surgery and the doctor says I need my rest," so I could be alert and have time for my kid. I'd be like "look, I can't stop to try to help you figure your way out of the impossible situation you've gotten yourself into financially right now because I'm recovering from hip surgery" so I could spend time with my kid. You can help someone put their oxygen mask on, but make sure you put your own on first.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
It's like, "Man, your daughter doesn't need someone to study for history with, she just wants to spend some time with you."
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
OK. Interesting update. It's always delicate, offering unsolicited advice. But you need to take the risk for one of your 2 best friends. On a related note, 2 nights ago he spent a lot of the night trying to lure one of his cats up onto the bed. Last night he spent a lot of the night going nuts that that cat wanted to be on the bed.

So I gently broach the subject with him and he instantly concurs. And he explains that he cut out the opiates they basically forced him on that morning. Even after 5-6 days, the symptoms of opiate withdrawal are apparently nervousness, irritability, paranoia, insomnia, etc. And apparently quitting cold turkey exacerbates these symptoms. So yeah. Being old sucks. You have more time to screw things up and you have more experience to dwell on how badly you've screwed things up.

We don't get The Girl back while I'm here, so I don't get to see how things pan out.

***

It's an interesting place to be because, while I can totally surmise areas where The Ex is warranted in being The Ex, you dance with who brung ya. I've got to stand with my friend. And I have to balance this weird line where I'm not The Girl's friend, but I'm also not her Daddy. Even the Uncle Fox aspect gives me the heebie-jeebies, but that is another story.

Oh, one other thing: I prefer driving Ghost, (The Mustang), over my friend's Caddy crossover. In a stressful situation, you crave familiarity--a part of why I got a bunch of TV dinners and stuff even though he is a foodie that shops at the local Co-op--so I prefer to take and get her from school in my car. Which of course may have cause scandal fro the gossipy, that I secretly enjoy. Yesterday when I picked her up, I heard at least one whisper of "sports car" and when I dropped her off this morning, her "boyfriend" (possibly the "sports car" whisperer) asked her "So you ride in a Mustang now?" And because I'm stupid, I answered him, explaining I was her Dad's college roommate, in town visiting, instead of letting her answer.

There's another interesting area that may or may not be my business (SPOILER: probably not my business): She's his baby girl and isn't entirely ready for her to become a woman. He let her see "Dune," with it's strongly implied but not actually shown mass beheadings but won't let her watch nuBSG because there is sexual content. She has revealed that she wants to go to public school for high school, to experience being normal before college. And I'm pulling for her secretly, but there really needs to be a support group for people who know her Dad. Because he is a great guy, but can be tiring. Just like all the rest of us.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
More lighthearted. (Skipping the pathos): Wrapping up the night. As he finished up his exercises, my cat hopped between his feet. He was all excited by how he would freak out when he threw a blanket over him and I was like "we'll see." And of course he was completely content to be under the blanket. And immediately, his cat hopped on the bed and I'm like "This is awesome! Now your cat will hop between your legs on top of the blanket which is right where my cat is. And he's like "[my cat], [my cat], just sit over here."

OK, The pathos: I leave tomorrow. 11 is preferred. 2pm is alternate. He needs to pick up his daughter. Tried to get him to take the car out today and he refused. But his ex isn't being helpful at lining up an alternate driver. He's got a freaking automatic. It's freaking Knight Rider. I mean, this shitting car vibrates the seat if you get anywhere near anything or forget your seatbelt. I'm told it has cut gas once when someone ran a red light and saved him. He can use a combination of cruise and his good left foot on the brake and drive just fine. I've just got to use my Gandalf skills to convince him of this.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
I wasn't able to convince him to try driving. Didn't really have time anyway. I'm home now. It is really unbelievable how smoothly this thing went. I mean, literally unbelievable. Worst thing was lousy cell phone coverage. It's so great to be home. His house is much nicer than mine, but (whether his hip is to blame or other priorities) he's really let the maintenance go and it needs a lot of love. Some of the wood likely would've rotted anyway, but other stuff is going to rot if he doesn't get on top of painting. Pretty much ever tree or bush needs to be cut back at least 30%. And there's so much clutter. It's hard to talk to your friend's 13 year old. Because you can't gripe about him to her. You've got to be on his side. I was trying to do something in the kitchen and stuff kept falling out of cabinets and off shelves and she said "I swear this kitchen is cursed for as much stuff that breaks in it" and it was all I could do not to say "No, stuff breaks because there's so much shit everywhere that you have to move things around every time you want to do something and it is virtually impossible not to have something get knocked over."

It's not a big kitchen. And then he's got cookbooks up on top of all the cabinets. Then he's got probably 1/2 of the counter length with more cookbooks. Next to the sink are clay vases full of utensils--spatulas, tongs, etc--as well as salt and pepper, olive oil, etc. The top of the refrigerator is stacked full of...God knows what--flour, pasta, etc. The 1/2 of the countertop that doesn't have cookbooks has mixers and blenders and toasters and a fish tank that desperately needs a pump--and some attention. WHY IS THERE A FISH TANK ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER?!?! Oh, and the counter in front of all this is piled high with single serve oatmeal, jars of tomato sauce, boxes of...fuck, I don't know, rice? And every cabinet is full to overflowing. So is the fridge. There's even a spice rack behind the kitchen door for the spices that won't fit in the cabinets.

Then throw in the bad cell service, having to make your life fit in someone else's setup--oh, the shaving kit was absolutely necessary too because the bathroom vanity is just like the kitchen counters--completely full of shit. And there's exactly ONE towel bar--on the back of the door. Oh, and one for a hand towel next to the sink--MAYBE (I forget). And he's got these weird towels that look more like shawls or tablecloths or something. I don't get it at all. But I got sidetracked. Also, my water is more on the hard side and his is more on the soft side, and I didn't have my usual soap either, so it was great to take a shower in my own bathroom again and sleeping on my own bed is something I'm really looking forward to.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Tired. Drove a car for 9 hours straight yesterday. 1 refill midway. Worst bit was getting through Chicago. You couldn't pay me to live there. The one good thing is crime is so high there that I've decided they don't have time to come after people for unpaid highway tolls (and they don't have tollbooths anymore--you're just on your honor (and the cameras) to pay what you owe. But yeah. And since The Cat should've been neutered probably a month ago and I was able to get an appointment for today, I had to get up early to drop The Cat off at the vet. I also had to pay the bills that came in while I was out, mow the lawn that grew back while I was out, and wash all the laundry I dirtied this week. And since I work tomorrow, instead of taking a day off to chill and unwind, I basically worked my ass off today.

On Monday they're changing work to run 3 shifts. I forget if I mentioned this above. But since a standard full-time shift is 8 hours and there are 24 hours in a day, they've had to do away with the unpaid 1/2 hour lunch. So instead of 3 breaks with 1 unpaid, we get a 10 minute break and a 20 minute break--both paid. Now I have some reservations about this and was contemplating quitting, but I decided not to put in notice before leaving to take care of my friend and as I think about it, I think I'll give it a shot. I really don't believe I can sustainably do work at the speed the production line runs at more than 2 hours at a time without a break, but for some time now, to allow for mandatory overtime, we work 2.5 hours, have a 10 minute break, work 2 hours before our lunch, work 2.5 hours before the second break, and then an hour when we don't have mandatory overtime. So we're almost working this schedule already--with 30 minutes more unpaid time there and often mandatory overtime. And I usually run out of things to do on lunch by 20 minutes anyway. So I'm going to give it a shot.

If my business was cash-flowing better, I might take the leap and quit--or if I had something else lined up--but I guess I'll gut it out. Paying someone to manage my properties insulates me from annoying renters, but it also insulates me from my income. Along with their commission, they hang onto my money for 30 days before paying it to me. And since I wound up springing for (not unexpected) new HVAC at one of the properties, it's been awhile since I've seen any income. No, I didn't have to cut a fat check to the HVAC guys, I basically got the HVAC paid for by my renters, but it's hard to swallow, not seeing any money coming in. Ah well. It is what it is. Things should start moving now that both places are rented and ...yeah, I'm too superstitious to complete that thought.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Today has been...strange. Ideally, The Dog gets two 1 hour walks. Since I work in the afternoon today her afternoon walk would usually be closer to 30 minutes. She wanted less than 30 minutes for her morning walk and about 15 for her afternoon walk. So I've actually got a little time today that I'm not used to having.

On an unrelated note, The Cat got fixed and it turned out he had tapeworms so he got a topical squirted on his neck this morning.

Finally, I've decided I'm going to give the new work schedule a shot. Cash flow from the rentals has been stalled due to the HVAC that needed installing and I'm too lazy to look for something else. Finally, the more I think about it, the more the deal makes sense.

Since they're doing 3 shifts it will be impossible for them to schedule any mandatory overtime. I'm *at* work a half hour less and I'll be working 40 minutes less (by my reckoning) for the same pay. (Nah, that's probably wrong, I'm probably only working 10 minutes less for the same pay, I'm doing some double-counting here.) And we already work two 2 1/2 hour stretches (along with a 2 hour and a 1 hour) (OK, they're probably more like 2 hours 20 minutes)--along with another hour. Now it'll just be three 2 1/2 hour stretches with 2 breaks between them and then go home. We'll see if my body can handle it or not.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Yeah... I think I'm done with this job. Which is too bad, because I could still use the money and I really don't feel like looking for another job at this point, but it's Lando Calrissian: "I'M ALTERING THE BARGAIN. PRAY THAT I DON'T ALTER IT FURTHER." Last Friday night, after lunch, they sprung this change of hours and shift length on us. Monday was Labor Day so there's nothing you can do until Tuesday. I decided to sit on it and see how it worked. So today, after lunch, they sprung a mandatory 1 hour overtime on us. So...I don't even know how that works. I don't think they can legally work you 9 hours on 30 minutes of breaks. I don't care. I'm done. It's BS that they pull this on such short notice. It's too bad because I like the people I work for and I don't want to burn them, but I'm tired of being burned by the people *they* work for. So right now I'm planning on coming in Monday morning, scheduling vacation for the next 2 weeks, putting in my notice, and then calling in to take a personal day.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
How to say this concisely? I figured out the thing that annoys me about my friend: It isn't that he wastes my valuable time. I waste plenty of my valuable time myself. It is that he wastes my time in ways that I don't decide; I'll allocate my time for the day and then I get bogged down with him.

Getting ready for lunch today but first I had to stop to wind up The Cat's ball of string. As I'm doing that, the phone rings. It's him. We haven't talked since I left so I figure I'll answer it. It's basically about how, since I was there for a week all of the sudden he's getting marketing from my cell phone provider. Kind of interesting, but that's about it. A little about how his surgery recovery is going.

Now, we talk on the phone differently. He talks on the phone when he's doing something else--cooking, driving, watching television, etc. I talk on the phone. This is partly because he has practical ways to talk on his phone hands-free and I have a tiny phone that I have to hold, but it is also partly because he is a relentless multitasker and I do one thing at a time; I feel like it is rude to not give someone my full attention.

So I'm sitting there, looking at the partly wound ball of string that The Cat is now unwinding while The Dog lays at my feet to be petted (because they heard me talking and came over for attention). Meanwhile I'm thinking about how hungry I am and how much shit I have to get done today. Eventually I extract myself from the call so I can get back to my day. But while we were talking, I mention my headaches with work and my plan to quit. So I sit down to put calories in my face-hole. And that is basically all it is: find a can of something with enough calories to keep my alive for 7 more hours, nuke it, and put it in my stomach. Now this IS one time that I will multitask. I'll usually read something while I'm eating. I like something light and enjoyable, but since I didn't have that around and I wanted to take another shot at getting through "The Complete Works of Shakespeare," I'm reading "Henry VIII." (I decided to start at the back of the plays when, theoretically, his writing should be better and work my way forward to the clunkier stuff. Unfortunately "Henry VIII" isn't one of his classics.) I get a text beep. Then another. And another. And another. My friend has been looking for jobs for me and is sending them--along with his commentary.

Now I get it. He's trying to help. His heart's in the right place. And one of the things he found is actually a little interesting. But I have my own plan. And I don't want to be trading my time to someone for money for a bit. I've got some savings. While I had it earmarked for my next rental property, the other part of that financing was a HELOC that will have a variable rate after November. And the job I'm quitting (along with the one I was doing for my friend and have already quit) was a factor in securing the line of credit. With what the economy is doing, all that got a lot riskier so for now The Plan is to focus on getting my indoor parking spaces ready and rented out. In a perfect world, that's $600 a month of income that just comes in for minimal work and time. I was going to do that after I got my next rental, but plans change when reality changes.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
"WHY AM I SO TIRED!?" Oh. Yeah. Because I spent 9 hours on the road Wednesday, started mowing an overgrown lawn Thursday, worked at a factory Friday, and finished mowing the lawn Saturday. Add in an early morning trip to the vet to get The Cat fixed on the day after the drive, 9 hours of dog walking, and assorted other chores and I'm beat.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
I've never had to kill someone.* I've never seen someone killed. Closest I came was on the way back from Iraq. Iraq has freeways just like the US. Where we where there was desert all around them, but they're normal freeways just the same. Well there was a bit of a traffic jam to get onto the southbound freeway back to Kuwait and some Iraqi took that as an opportunity to grab a case of MREs out of a Humvee. He got...we'll say 50-100 feet before the gunner swiveled the big "Ma Deuce" around in the roof turret and he wisely decided to drop the box. I regularly feel like the Marine who stomped over to where the dropped box was and brought it back. The look on his face and his body language are my mood on many a day. 85% of me is happy to not have seen what a burst of .50 BMG would do to a human, but there's that part of me...

*This was going to be a FB post but I decided it was too long and heavy.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
I risk being overly smug. 3 weeks from now I could be wearing a barrel and holding a cardboard sign by the freeway BUUUT......

I think I mentioned it before. My college friend that I babysat is "Poor Dad." I'm a big believer in Robert Kiyosaki's opus, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." In it, the author's Dad is the Poor Dad. He had a great job that made a lot of money. But he had an expensive lifestyle and was just hoping to put in his 30-40 years of loyal service to get his gold watch and pension--with nothing else to show for it. Rich Dad, on the other hand, was his friend's dad, who had a much less nice house and lifestyle, but also had a bunch of businesses and rental properties.

Another book is "The Richest Man in Babylon." It's from the early 1900s and was a bunch of parables to educate people on financial independence. It is public domain so you can find it online free. The quote from it that sticks in my head is "make your money your slave (and have it make you more money)." You don't want to make a pile of money and then blow it on a ton of crap. You want to make enough money to buy things that make you money. Mutual funds. Real estate. Hell, vending machines (although I know nothing about vending machines).
But I'm rambling. The point is, my friend makes piles of money. But he has literally repeated to me the catchphrase "I can't afford to quit my job--I make too much." Yes, he has a kid and a less than amicable divorce that are factors in that, but he certainly makes a lot of money. And he spends it on things that don't make him money. And he's worked for the same company for over 20 years. He has no idea how to take a risk or stick your neck out.

I ponder all this because tomorrow I am scheduled to work. But instead I plan to go to the office, schedule vacation/personal time for the next 2 weeks, and then put in my notice with HR. I am not at all certain that I am in a sound financial position to do this. But I am absolutely certain that it is the right thing to do. I even consecrated my decision with a trip to the Outback Steakhouse tonight. This is my "crossing the Rubicon" ritual.

One of my powers has been to do the John Paul Jones/William Tecumseh Sherman/Douglas MacArthur thing of cutting loose from my base and going to a new position when things aren't working. I understand it is a little bit a super power, but except for the times when I'm looking at my friend or my brother, I probably don't really understand how much of a super power it is. A lot of people would rather go down with a sinking ship than form a boarding party and transfer your flag to a better, stronger ship that you've wrested from your foe.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Of course the temptation grabbing my brain right now is to just walk away. So much simpler and more elegant than fucking around with scheduling vacation time and putting in notice. Just stop coming. They'll get the message. Of course I'd be burning a bridge, but it is alluring nonetheless.
 

Lanzman

No-one of consequence
If your employer does "exit interviews," make sure to let them know why you're leaving.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
The Rubicon has been crossed. Put in my notice. Unfortunately, I was not able to schedule any vacation days for the duration of September (and I made sure to try before I submitted my resignation in case they locked me out of vacation somehow). I did accidentally say Oct 3 was my last day instead of the Sep 30 I planned on. Luckily, I was able to schedule *that* as a vacation day. Had a little less than 2 days of personal time on the books as well, so I can use that for Sep 30. Already burned a couple hours today because I had to come put in notice (when I was thinking I'd be able to not actually work today) and still needed to have lunch and walk The Dog. Inclined to take a few hours off Friday and Monday too. Only having a 10 minute break and a 20 minute break doesn't suck so bad when you're only working 6 hours. And if they're unhappy about me using my personal time that way, what are they going to do, fire me?

Even though I came in late, I wound up working a lot anyway. I was kind of hoping since the line had been running for around 2 hours they really wouldn't have anything for me to do. They wound up having me help a relatively new employee with a fairly difficult job. And that gave me a chance to fix something someone else has been fucking up for weeks. But that's another story. It's a story I'd kind of like to talk about, but it probably has to wait because it would derail this too much. Then I got moved because we were doing a run of a model that has an extra step that I know how to do and the n00b they had on it did not. Late coming back from lunch because it isn't possible to microwave and eat a TV dinner, drink a can of cola, and go to the bathroom in 20 minutes and none of those steps were negotiable.*

Back for a bit and the n00b I replaced came over and said [team lead] said to show me how to do this because she needs you. When the guy I was working with at the start of the night actually understood what the schedule was...well, he didn't come back from lunch. But hey, that meant I finally got to do a whole job that got broken up when the guy who used to do it quit.

After lunch I came up with the perfect metaphor for the whole situation: There are 2 rates of fire for automatic weapons: The cyclical rate and the sustained rate. The cyclical rate is how fast the action will operate when you hold down the trigger. It's generally around 800 rounds per minute for man-portable infantry weapons. But when they had an auto setting on the M-16, it still had a 30 round clip. And most of the time the most you're going to be carrying in readily accessible clips is around 200 rounds. There are fancy 100 or 200 round drum mags for the M-16, but they aren't very practical. If you're carrying some kind of actual automatic weapon, it'll be fed from a 100 round belt. And you can link belts together. But even if you're in a defensive position, you probably aren't going to link 8 belts together. Finally, if you somehow manage to hold down the trigger for a full minute and expend 800 rounds, you're probably going to overheat the barrel to the point that it warps. Infantry machineguns come with a spare barrel that can be swapped out if the first one overheats. But of course this takes time too. Which brings me to the sustained rate. That is the rate of fire that a person can realistically maintain for any length of time. I don't remember what it is, but it is likely much more like 100rpm--less for an M-16.

And that, IMO, is what they're trying to do with this factory line. They're trying to hold down the trigger and operate at the cyclic rate. You can do that. For a bit. But then you break your tool and it doesn't work at even the sustained rate. It won't even work at all. And all you need to kill an entire assembly line is 1 less employee than you have work stations. :/

*Well, it is possible, but you have to go to the bathroom while your food is nuking, which risks pissing off someone else who is waiting for the microwave, or drinking your beverage on the way to and from the bathroom. And I didn't do either of those things and instead went "Shit! We go back to work in less than 2 minutes and I have to pee!"
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
So. That song Carly Simon wrote about me.

I look at Facebook and my older relatives look like my Gramma. I look like my older relatives, and my younger relatives look how I think I should look.

Not quite ready to spring for a plastic surgeon, but I feel like a bottle of whisky and a competent seamstress could carve a "T" in the back of my scalp with an X-Acto, take out a little excess, and stitch it back up and I'd look 10 years younger. Then I just need a Chinese quack to break my shins and put me in traction for a month or two and I could be 6' tall to boot.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
In a weird place tonight. You know when you're dreaming you're some place and you wake up and you're confused by where you are? Kind of like that. Only not as intense but more prolonged. Did I jump tracks and wind up in an alternate reality without noticing?

On an unrelated note, I've got things in the wrong order. The Plan was to buy another rental so that I wouldn't need a day job and then when I have some time, rent out my excess enclosed parking spots in my outbuildings. An indoor parking spot goes for around $150 a month in my town. And I've got 4 of them. (Or I will, once I get concrete in the carriage house.) If I buy a house, I'm paying interest because I don't have enough capital to pay cash out of pocket. I've got renovations I'll have to make. Time lost making the renovations and finding a renter. Right now I've got 3 empty parking spots and a 4th once I get a concrete floor poured. No real money, no time, no work, know loan. Just cash in the pocket every month.

Then I plant a garden and get an air rifle so I can save on meat by eating all the rabbits that eat my garden. And I get some goats and then charge Arabs to have sex with them. I'm on easy street.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
...and this is the blind spot most Americans have. I mentioned this to my friend with the bionic hip and he was amazed. But in the end he came back to the tour guide job he found for me. Dude. You don't want to trade your time for money. You want your money to make you money. And use your time to find new ways for your money to make you money. Then if you want to be a tour guide, fuck it, be a tour guide. But not because it pays $15 an hour. You do it because you've got free time and you enjoy educating and entertaining people. For that matter I could get in with a local theater and help with backstage--set design, construction, lighting, etc. I actually have a degree in that but when I was starting out I was in a union town and it's very hard to get started when you're at the bottom of the hiring list in a union town.
 
Top