Igster's Inklings

We’re officially NJ residents again. I’m not going to say it was easy. Well easy to leave PA. Didn’t really have to think about that at all. Also we did all the packing and loading. Thanks to my dad and brother, we got the truck unloaded here. My dad was a really big help in that regard. It will probably take 30 years err a year to get everything put away somewhere. We went from 3/4 of a duplex to approximately 1/2 of a duplex. But it’s worth it. We went from a mediocre school in pa to one in the top 30 here.

Now, I need to find a job. It’s not easy given several factors. We have one car and the kids go to different schools. The furthest from here is about a mile one way, the other is slightly closer. It’s really too far for me to walk with my kids. Plus, my wife’s job is about 20 minutes up the parkway. There is public transportation, but due to the layout, she’d have to go to Newark switch trains and go to her job. It’s also a 2 hour train ride to go 20 minutes. Makes no sense. So, drop off the kiddos and take her to work. They get out at 2:50 she gets off work at 6.

So, I need a job where I can start at 9:45ish and get off no later than like 2:30.Or find something that starts at like 8:00 pm and never sleep. I’m thinking there aren’t a lot of jobs like that out there. Even if we had 2 cars, I’d still need to be able to pick the kids up from school. I don’t know of any after school programs around here that would pick them up from school.

Aside from that, this town may yet turn out to be my favorite place to live in NJ. It’s got so much to do, unlike hell err Hazleton was. No driving 20 miles for a book store or decent restaurant. We’re within a few miles of almost any store I could think of needing. We’re also within 10 miles of my sister and mom. No more 5 hour trips to come here, see the family and drive back to PA in the same day (TY for doing that baby).

So, we’re settling in and I’ve sort of got my pc hooked up for now. Just need a desk and place to put it(out of the way).

I’ts been a few weeks since my last entry and I missed it.I’ve also missed my twitter buddies.

We are in the process of packing up to move for a new job. I’m looking at boxes we never unpacked since the last time we moved about 2.5 years ago.

Why do we still have this? What is this? These questions fly fast and furious around here. To be fair, we have condensed quite a bit. However, that still leaves a metric crap ton of stuff to move to the new place (which is smaller than here). We are moving into 1/2 of a duplex, but here, we have 3/4 of the duplex.(See 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag).

What is it that makes us hold onto things? Things we haven’t used or even looked at in years. Yet faithfully almost, we move these things from house to house time after time. I don’t have an explanation for it, we just do.

So I’m weighing do I need it vs do I really want to move it again. So far the garbage pile is winning out in many cases. Now if I didn’t have to move 568788776 books, I’d be happier.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t use the George Carlin line “their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff” See the video

I’m sure by now, most of you heard about the tragedy in Haiti today. Our hearts and prayers go out to them. A friend of mine from Twitter, lives here in PA. He’s a poker guy. He’s also a very cool and nice guy. He’s using his Poker game to make a difference. Click the link to see what I’m talking about. While you’re there, take a minute to check out the rest of his site. You’ll be glad you did.

See this, to see what I mean, or here for great poker info.

It’s been quite the decade. Although, I’m not sure I agree with the decade thing. To me it’s a 10 year period. So, that would be 2000-2010. But, others are saying 1999-2009. I also don’t agree the millennium started in 2000 but rather, 2001. Anyway, it’s not the crux of my post.

Since 1999(since that’s the theme) we’ve had a son (second child).Moved 4 times. From Miamisburg, Oh to Bloomfield, NJ from there to Irving,Tx Irving to Grapevine almost a direct line move from one side of the airport to the other. To a much better apartment and neighborhood.

Grapevine was a great place, great schools, lots to do etc. I was also diagnosed with and beat testicular cancer. Some day that will be a post in itself. I couldn’t have asked for a better medical team. Again, Texas was a good place. God made sure I had the exact people to detect and help get rid of the cancer.

I sometimes regret moving from there. But now it’s a 2 hoour ride to see my family versus 2 days in the car.

My sister had her first kid, my nephew will be three soon. Time really does fly. I love him to death. ON the other hand, I screwed up when it comes to my niece. Even though I wasn’t around;ie out of state for most of her life, I should have done more to be closer to her. I plan on doing that this coming year. I love her and need to make sure she knows it. I also want to be closer to all my siblings and in laws.

I’m also starting a new chapter with the new year. My wife and I will be starting a business. I already own the domain name and have started building the website. We’ll be filling out the various and sundry forms for forming an LLC. Gotta be all legal, right?

I also discovered twitter this year and through it, made a ton of friends. Thank you all for making it a great year, despite all the bullshit.

And a speedy full recovery to Rush Limbaugh.

So, it looks like Christmas Spirit was saved in an 11th hour move yesterday. Between seeing the kids reactions to spending time with my family at my brothers house. Somehow my heart grew 3 sizes that day. Sorry, too grinch? Perhaps I overdid the metaphor?

Im looking forward to 2010 with great anticipation of all the awesome things to come. I hope you are too. God Bless and Happy New Year.

I got an awesome gift this year,and they didn’t even know they gave it to me. Is that clear as mud? Let me clarify, if I can.

I’ve been moping around for the last few weeks, all but dreading the ever approaching Christmas holiday. I get to spend it with my family tomorrow, which is pretty cool. One brother and his wife won’t be there, which is not cool.

Back to the “gift”. I have a lot, well 500+ is a lot to me, of twitter followers. I’m not close to all, but the ones I talk to on a regular basis, mean the world to me. We are fortunate, we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies(and pantry) and heat to keep our toes warm.

They constantly encourage,inspire and lift me up.They make me think and laugh and with out sounding all emo they break my heart, when they are hurting and I can’t do anything to help.I wanted to list all of you, but I’m afraid I’d inadvertently leave someone out, and that would suck. So, I hope you all know who you are.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. (if you celebrate these things)

Im busy reading “the complete idiots guide to creating a website and blog” . I don’t need it so much for the blog part, but more like a refresher in HTML and css reference. So far it’s an excellent book. You can find it here.The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Web Page & Blog, 6th Edition
Yes, it’s from my amazon associate account. I wanted full disclosure on that.

As an alternative to my normally witty funny doesn’t suck too badly posts, I offer the following from a friend of mine on Twitter  @digitalfemme

Enjoy!http://whatsupandroid.com/2009/12/23/merry-android/

Like G*D DAMN IDIOTS?

Where to begin? With the hard to navigate website, Where things are placed in such a way you have to follow convoluted, ill conceived pathways to find simple things? Or the lack of support for affiliates? How about the generic website cobbled together by a crack team of “designers”? Nothing says unique like having a website that looks just like everyone else’s. Right?

After many months I’d had enough. I tried all I could think of to generate traffic. Screw it, I’m done throwing good money after bad. I was going to cancel last month, but was a day late and they’d already charged my card for another month of great service nothing.

Finding the link to cancel was a task in itself. I finally wound up doing a search under support. After all who would want to cancel such an awesome service,right?

Finally find it and have to wait until 8 am Pacific time. Tick tock. As if this wasn’t all fun and games as it is, there is no 800#. How cheap must one be? I can’t believe that I have to pay you to cancel. Maybe it’s a dollar or two. The point is, it’s a shitty thing to do and bad customer service. Don’t be so damn cheap. I get that I have to call, it’s for my protection. So, put me on the phone with someone whose first language is NOT English. I don’t stutter, but had to repeat things several times. No I did not say im a giant as my domain name. No I do not want two free months, just cancel my damn account already. Also, thanks for making me wait on hold 8 or so minutes. That’s classy  too. High call volume my ass. You opened at 8 am and were immediately inundated with calls? Right?

Anyone considering getting a .ws domain or working with GDI, stick the credit card back in your wallet and run quickly in the other direction. You’ll thank me later.

This is a guest posting from @sloppymccheese.  The management takes no responsibility for it’s content. Read at your own risk lol.

<rant>

Here is the published story that got my goat: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4758848.  OK, Did you read it, did you read between the lines.  Are you a fucking moron!  Who puts themselves out there for some dudes girlfriend cause she couldn’t get a loan, and then helps her buy a Land Rover.  And 500 a month isn’t much? WHAT!(PS, go try and find a Rover for that).  And, if you are not a USC fan or booster, what the fuck is your connection to the teams star player’s girlfriend? And what is with the cryptic acronyms?  Hiding much?  And can we call a trend a trend.  USC and scandal seem to be a regular thing these days.  Like ND and lack of integrity!  When does accountability ever come into play. Can we all sit here for much longer and continue to allow the NCAA to operate w/o any oversight?  This is a group of old white men who are in it to win it(read, they want $) and could give less than a fly shit about the kids!  I don’t want to place any blame on the student athletes without knowing the whole story, but i feel it is fair to rail on the NCAA at any juncture! Anyone who feels otherwise need only research the # of bowl games being played this winter without a single knowledgeable person feeling that it does the National Championship any justice.

</rant>