Posts filed under 'Money'
Big apologies for not posting regularly for quite a while. Things have been quite hectic at work.
My department used to have about 15 people in it, then a reorganization moved some people to other departments, cutting us down to about 12. Another reorg resulted in several layoffs, cutting our numbers to 8. Then, economic factors outside the organization’s control resulted in management making the decision to layoff 10% of the workforce. Because of federal, state and local laws governing our financial structure (we are a large public agency), the 80+ positions would be removed from departments that made up about 50%-60% of the organization. My department was hit the hardest, with half being laid off, including my infamous manager Ted. You can read more about Ted here (and here, here, here, here, here and here.) We were all not so surprised that Ted somehow managed to be the only laid off employee interviewed on the air by KOIN 6 news on the day the layoffs were announced (yup, it was that big a deal when that many people were laid off here, it was one of the top news storys on that day back in September 2004.)
So aaanywaaaay, at that point there were four of us, in effect doing what 15 people used to do, doing all the end-user IT support for an organization with close to 1000 users. Just recently, after our industry’s economy started picking up again, it was announced that we would be hiring another Technical Analyst like the four of us, as well as a supervisor, bringing our number up to six. We all applied for the supervisor position as well as many people from outside the organization, and one of my co-workers got the position. I’m not at all upset at the decision (you know I would have no problem venting my frustration here otherwise), and I’m really glad that management and HR decided to promote from within.
However, in addition to all that is happening at work, I have even bigger news: we bought a house. It is a three bedroom, 2.5 bath common-wall (one half of a duplex) here in Beaverton, with 1480 square feet. It sits right next to a greenspace that will never be developed, so the kids have literally acres of fields right outside the back door to run and play. It was built in 1995, and is in great shape.
Several things were found when the home inspector walked through the place. Most are pretty minor, like the garage door opener not working, but a few were pretty serious, like failing LP siding. So far, the seller has agreed to all of our requests for repairs. If nothing goes wrong, we will be signing all the paperwork in a few weeks, and we will pick up the keys on May 18th.
I’ll post some pictures of the place here as soon as I can, so keep checking back!
May 1st, 2006
No, I didn’t switch to Geico. I changed the brake pads on my van instead of paying a shop to do it.
The front brakes have been squeaking like crazy for a few weeks now, and I’ve been too busy to do anything about it. Kathy called Les Schwab to see what they charge for a brake job, and they quoted her $200 something dollars. That’s just completely nuts. I called around to auto parts places, and found the brake pads for as cheap as $13. Kathy picked up the next best pads yesterday for $20. Now, since they were going to charge me ten times this much to do it, I thought I was going to have my work cut out for me. I went out to the van today expecting to be working on it for hours. I mean, why else would it cost $200, unless it was really difficult, right?
30 minutes later, I came back in the house, greasy and dusty, with the old brake pads in my hands and the new brake pads on the van. So if an all-thumbs complete amateur, with only the stock spare tire jack and a basic socket set, and without benefit of hydraulic lifts and pneumatic tools, can do this in 30 minutes, how can they get away with charging $200?
November 19th, 2005
Many of our close friends know that we are moving Sept. 10th to an apartment. We want to save money to purchase a home in the near future.
Well, last week I called all of our utilities and what not to have it all changed to the new address. Except, when I called a very well-known “satellite company” that we have been with for the last 8 yrs to cancel service they tried everything in the book to keep us as customers. We have been offered a great deal with a digital cable company that also does our internet for the new apartment. This lady that I spoke to was getting very rude because I stated to her “we are moving to an apartment and they can offer cable for cheaper”. She proceeded to say this and that about the cable service and why they offer it so cheap, and the bad reception that we will get with the new company. I didn’t want to tell her how unhappy we have been about our service like having to replace the receiver 4 times in the last 3 yrs because there is a hard-drive malfunction with their systems. I also didn’t tell her how many times in a week that the satellite receiver locks up and we have to shut the whole system down and restart that can take up to 5 minutes. Needless-to-say at the end of the call she stated to me they couldn’t help me because their calendars only go out for a month and I would have to call back (even though I called on day 28).
Well, I called back this morning and they had to transfer me to an account specialist. He tried to start by saying the same things. This time I wasn’t as nice about it. I stated why I was so unhappy with the service that I received the previous week and why I felt their service stunk. He then proceeded to tell me that if we ever decide to come back they would install a new dish for free. AS IF!!!!!! Why can’t they just take “NO” for an answer.
August 13th, 2005
And I don’t mean incredible in a good way.
As you read in my previous post, Kathy was hospitalized last Sunday the 12th with a severe asthma attack. It was also the last week of school for the kids. They go to three different schools, at three different times in the morning, and get home at three different times in the afternoon. Needless to say, I was busy feeding them and shuttling them around, plus taking care of the two cats and six dogs (oops, I mean five dogs… more on that in a moment.) Between all this, I made sure I was at Kathy’s side at the hospital as much as possible, and that the kids got to visit her at least once each day.
The first few nights, I sit with Lexi as she cries herself to sleep because she misses mommy, and she knows that mommy won’t be there to wake her up in the morning. I explain that I will be there in mommy’s place each morning this week. This does not make her stop crying, which makes me feel even worse. At least she likes the breakfast I make for her.
Some friends from church brought me and the kids dinner on Wednesday, which was a wonderful relief. I didn’t have to cook anything, and we didn’t have to go out for fast food. Again.
Then comes Thursday. I get the kids off to school, the adult dogs are brought in from the backyard, the two puppy’s kennel is cleaned, and I notice that the smaller of the two puppies (the apricot colored one) is barely able to stand on his own. I put him by himself so he can eat as much as he wants before his brother pigs out, but he barely touches any food, and doesn’t seem to want to drink any water either. His eyes are closed, and his hair is starting to fall out (poodles don’t have fur that sheds, they have hair that continues to grow, just like people.) I go to the hospital to have lunch with Kathy again, then rush to make it back home before I have to pick up Lexi at school, not knowing that her school let out an hour early on that last day. When I get home, she is already home and is having a snack; she had walked herself home. It is only 1/2 mile or so, but she is only seven, and has never walked it alone. She is mad at me for not being there waiting for her. I feel like a monster.
Billy has already arrived home, and is giving the apricot puppy a bath because he stinks. We think it is because he has been wetting himself, but we will soon find out otherwise. Billy, Lexi and I take the puppy to the vet. He is 11 weeks old, and weighs only 1 pound 1 ounce. His temperature is ten degrees below normal. He is skinny and dehydrated, and he still stinks. Since the other two dogs from the litter are fine (one was sold a few weeks ago, and the other is active, and weighs almost twice as much), the doctor thinks this one has some sort of congenital liver and kidney problem that is not uncommon in small breeds. When the organs start failing, the body in effect starts secreting through the pores the toxins that are normally filtered through the kidneys. Basically, the puppy is sweating urine, and he is dying. I pay the doctor $25 for the office visit, $35 for euthenasia, and $1.12 for the cremation, based on the weight. Lexi is hysterical, wants me and the doctor to make the puppy healthy, and is mad at me because we can’t just take the puppy back home. She cries again for hours.
Kathy slowly got better towards the end of the week, and she came home yesterday morning. She was in the same tiny room for the entire seven days, leaving only to be wheeled to the X-ray lab a few times, and to walk around the nurses station the last couple days when she started getting better. She was going crazy being cooped up. Most of the nurses were great, but one of them was straight out of school, literally (this was her first nursing job, and she had been employed at the hospital for just two weeks.) Kathy had to actually tell her how to administer one of the medications into her I.V. (”NO! WAIT! You have to flush the line first! FLUSH THE LINE! Then you can inject it!”) She is now on twelve different prescriptions, at a grand total of $185 out of pocket. I shudder to think how much all of this would have cost if I didn’t have good health insurance.
I missed work every day last week, but everyone at the office was really great about everything. I have a bunch of forms I have to turn in to HR, some of which I had the doctor fill out, and I can charge the 40 hours against my sick leave. I went back to work today. Duirng the week I was out, I guess I kinda forgot how completely swamped my department is. By the time I left today at 4:00, I actually had more things outstanding than when I first got there at 7:00.
Still, just about anything’s going to better than last week.
June 20th, 2005
So are you kinda nervous ’cause today is Friday the 13th? Then you’re kinda dumb.
It’s just another day of the week, like all the others that came before it. I happen to have absolute proof that not only is Friday the 13th not unlucky, it is actually (for me at least) very lucky indeed.
Back when I was a teen-ager (decades ago, back when cars could still run on leaded gasoline), my uncle had a construction business. He bid on a construction clean-up job on a Nordstroms being built in Glendale, California. He loaded a bunch of us nephews in his van, loaded the trailer with equipment, and we drove the 1000 or so miles for the job. We were there for a couple months, and it was a pretty incredible summer.
One Friday at the job site, Friday the 13th to be exact, I was walking along from somewhere to someplace else, and came upon a huge ladder setup in the middle of the floor. I was about to walk around it, when I thought “what the heck * “, and started to walk under it. I figured that since I was walking under a ladder on Friday the 13th, I’d better think good thoughts to counteract the bad luck. So, I thought “good thoughts”. Literally. I was saying the words “good” and “thoughts” over and over in my head as I walked under the ladder. I didn’t really know any other way to think good thoughts.
And what did I find on the ground on the other side of the ladder? A crumpled $5 bill. Which, to a teen-ager in the early ’80s, was like finding a chest o’ gold. I pocketed it and spent it all on slurpees over the coming week or so.
I swear this is a completely true story.
* “Heck” wasn’t the actual word I thought. I was a teen-ager. You figure it out.
May 13th, 2005
Last December, we donated one of our cars to charity. My ‘92 Chevy Cavalier (you can see a few photos of it in the snow and ice here) had more than 190,000 miles on it, and the engine was finally starting to go. On the highway, it still ran OK and had plenty of power, but it was really hard to start (I had to crank it for more than 30 seconds before it would finally fire). Also, it idled really rough (though it never did stall at any stoplights or anything), and it was starting to spew steam out of the exhaust pipe.
I’ve been told I’m pretty good with computers and electronics (no comments from you, Gabe), but I’ve never been known for my mechanical ability. Still, I’ve read enough to know that steam coming from the exhaust pipe is bad. Like, you might as well start shopping for a new engine kind of bad. With a car this old and used, we didn’t want to go through the trouble. For the tiny amount we might get for selling the car (it had a reconstructed title, and I was going to remove the stereo before we did anything else), we didn’t want the hassle. So, we donated it to Goodwill.
We did a bit of research to see which would be the most deserving recipient, but no one seemed to want it. Even when we explained that the car still ran under its own power, they were all turned off by the age and the high miles. Goodwill, however, said that as long as we could get the car to one of their stores, they’d take it. So, mid-December, off to Goodwill it was.
Fast forward to late January. The family and I were driving down SE 82nd, and something in the corner of my eye caused me to whip the van around at the next intersection and drive back a block. There, sitting in a crappy used car lot, was my old car, being offered for sale. I got out of the van to check it out, and saw that my old car was virtually untouched. The dash still had a big hole with wires sticking out where my stereo used to be. The fabric on the driver’s seat was still torn. The carpet hadn’t even been vacuumed. I popped the hood and saw the same engine, unrepaired and still dirty and grimy. And the sticker on the windshield said they were asking $1900 for it.
$1900 dollars!
May 9th, 2005
We got our federal income tax refund deposited into our account today. Woo hoo! Time to go buy a new refrigerator! Yup, nothing but excitement at the Hayes household.
February 11th, 2005
I swear this is exactly as it happened:
THEM: ”Thank you for calling Generic Car Loan company, this is Brenda.”
ME: ”Hi Brenda, I hope you can help me with several things. First, I haven’t received my bill for this month, but I know the due date is approaching soon. I need to find out where the bill is so I can get a payment in the mail to you.”
THEM: ”Well, the bills aren’t sent from this local office, they are mailed out from our headquarters, so I have no idea why the bill hasn’t been mailed yet. You can still just mail the check in, you know, you don’t have to wait for the bill.”
ME: ”I understand that. That brings us to the second item I need your help with. I need to get my account number so I can write it on the check.”
THEM: ”Alright, what is your name?”
ME: ”Bill Hayes.”
THEM: ”And what is your due date?”
ME: ”I’m not sure exactly.”
THEM: ”Lovely. Hold please.”
<click>
<elevator music>
<click>
THEM: ”Bill, your account number is ####, and your due date is the 8th of every month.”
ME: ”Thank you. One last thing: Can you add my wife’s name to the paperwork, so in the future she can call and get this same information?”
THEM: ”That has to be requested in writing. You will need to indicate exactly what information she can have access to. You will also need to include some way that she can be identified.”
ME: ”Why is that needed?”
THEM: ”So that we can be sure that it is truly your wife calling, and not someone else just trying to gain access to your personal account information. It has to do with new privacy laws.”
ME: ”So, how did you know it was me just now when you gave me the account number? All I gave you was my name, I didn’t even know my own due date.”
THEM: ”You know, that’s a good point, what’s your social security number so I can verify it?”
ME: ”Never mind, I got the information I needed.”
<click>
January 31st, 2005
We’re moving next week-end. After plenty of thought and a long discussion with Kathy, we have decided to give up our manufactured home in Lafayette. We still owe more than $54,000 on it, and it is worth less than $38,000. Some of our new neighbors have cars that are more expensive than their houses. The gal across the street paid $30,000 for her house. Didn’t finance it, she wrote a check for $30,000. There’s no way we will be able to get out of this for a long time.
We started looking in Portland last week-end, and narrowed our search to places with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms or more, and that would allow us to keep our pets. We looked at two houses Sunday. We were almost immediately denied for the first one, and were waiting to hear back on the second one. Kathy found a place Tuesday in Beaverton, and went to look at it Wednesday night. She faxed the application to the owner Thursday morning, and Thursday afternoon we were approved. The second place we looked at in Portland called us on Friday to approve us. We decided to go with the house in Beaverton.
It has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a small office area between the two upstairs bedrooms. It has a fireplace, a huge fenced backyard, and an attached garage. 1700 square feet.
Here are a bunch of pictures (Kathy took them, so blame her for the fuzziness of some of them)
September 19th, 2003
I’m filling out the forms the bank sent to me. They want me to list all the disputed charges, which, if all the non-bank ATM fees and balance statements are included (and I am including them), total more than 15 items. They gave me two (2) blank lines on the form, with instructions to fill in the rest on the back or on a separate sheet of paper if more room is needed.
Would it be so hard for them to just include another form with all the necessary columns ready to be filled in?
May 20th, 2003
I really hate low-life criminal dirtbags. Our primary checking account was drained of $1060 over the week-end. Somehow, four withdrawals were made from ATMs in the Los Angeles area. Someone must have manufactured a card with my debit card number encoded on the magnetic stripe, and had my PIN number as well.
The bank is crediting our account the full amount, and reversing the insufficient funds charges this caused as well.
May 15th, 2003