Logjam breaks open

Whatever the logjam has been that has me sitting in the quiet basically doing nothing has finally broken free. I heard from my references that I am good to go now to apply for jobs. I applied for 5 this afternoon. I'll load the shotgun and send applications flying in all directions until I find a new job. Or until next month when I go on vacation. To Las Vegas. Woo Hoo!!!

The Jeep is paid off. So are the credit cards. I'm (almost) FREE!!!! The house is still a stumbling block, but so far it's one I can afford until it is sold. I'm packing things up in anticipation. Some things I pack, and then upon consideration decide to just donate them here. I should set a limit of 'if I can replace this for under $25 once I'm back, I just donate it here'. As much stuff as I have, both here and waiting for me in my storage units back in the States, it's not like I'm in any danger of doing without anything.

Onward!

It is a New Year

Ok, most every blog published today has stated that. Sorry, I just can't come up with anything more original. Quiet times still around here. No more excuses on getting on with looking for a way to get back to the States. Many reasons piling up as to why I need to, mostly because I'm stuck in a rut and growing moss and roots. I still haven't been paid this month's paycheck, so the Jeep is still not quite paid off. Tomorrow? I did some rearranging and packing up of loose stuff around here. I started packing the extra suitcase of stuff to go back with me in February to leave in storage, stuff that I don't need here. A good case could be made that I don't need most of it at all, but progress, progress.

I'm on late shift this week, covering for a vacationing co-worker. That means at least 2 hours of nothing to do except keep the light on and sit by the phone while at work. No reason not to get the resume out there. Here's hoping.

Hope you all have a great 2013.

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas

I wish everyone a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Joyous whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.

What is...

What do you call the day before Christmas Eve? I call it my birthday. I spent the weekend down in Tegucigalpa and just got back home. A nice, relaxing day. At some point I may get back into some kind of tradition again for my birthday, but for now just getting away a bit and relaxing is fine.

I may get some tape and tape the Christmas stocking I was given last year on the wall above my table again. That will be the extent of my decorating. I have to work tomorrow, but it will be slow. Sometime next week hopefully my presents to myself will arrive in the mail. When they do I'll show them here.

December has been a nice, slow month. I am starting to feel the stirrings of plans starting to be made in the depths of my mind. Still unsure what I want from this point on. Life down here is definitely easy. I would like to get back to the States, but even that is difficult to get fired up enough to do the things I need to do to get there. Maybe while it is slow tomorrow I'll work on shining the resume and posting it to some sites just to see what looks back at me.

Time Passes

Still not a lot going on. I'm ok with this. I'm getting little details done that I usually manage to put off as not having enough time to do them. In most cases it is things not high on my list of enjoyable activities. However, there is getting to be clean and clear space in my apartment. And in my mind.

I just got the first electric bill from the house in the US in awhile. $94 for less than 2 weeks. $60 of it charges for things other than electricity. Ok, so I get the $45 turn on fee. And I remember the almost $4 fuel surcharge. What is an almost $12 'customer charge'? I have to pay them extra because I'm one of their customers? I really don't want to own real estate again. I haven't heard much from anyone up there. The realtor had someone who was supposed to go give me an estimate on how much to get codes off my tail so we can list the house for sale. I'm thinking we could list it now, but I think the realtor doesn't want her name officially linked to the place right now. The codes lady tends to tell her how close to having a warrant put out for someone's arrest due to the codes violations we've come in all this. See the place 'as is' and I'll take the hit. Oh, well.

My plan for the Holidays is to knit my sweater. Remember the sweater? I'm making some slow progress. Like the rest of my life. Slow. But it is progress.

Quiet times

Given that Honduras is not a quiet country, I seem to be in some quiet times. Not a lot going on. I am cleaning my apartment and sorting. I pulled out my sewing machine today, but haven't gotten the courage to actually start doing the mending. In order to justify putting that off I have gotten a lot of cleaning done that I had been putting off. Since this is not a blog about cleaning and laundry, I just don't have a lot to say. Work is equally quiet. So, I'll enjoy this while it lasts.

Gratefullness

I'm in a kind of strange place right now. I'm constantly thinking how easy life is down here while at the same time so ready to get back to the US. I'm planning my next vacation for February. That ties in with the fact that right now, as I type, all credit cards are paid off. All balances at zero. I also made a large payment to the Jeep, hopefully the next one will pay it off. I will put the plane tickets on a credit card, but that will be paid off next paycheck as well. So, things are coming together. Finally. I'm giving myself December off in a way, no expectations, just enjoy the here and now. In January I start seriously looking for work back in the States.

I turned electricity on at the house in Nashville, talked to the codes folks who had been pretty much forced to condemn the front deck, and am moving along on the process of getting the house sold. That will impact the total debt free part. If I have to put mega bucks into the house to sell it (an oxymoron) I may not pay off the Jeep next month. Whatever, it is almost a done deal which ever way it goes.

No big decisions. I am trying to pace myself. I don't want to get too excited about being 'debt free' till I actually get there. For now, life down here is pretty easy.

Oops

In my previous post I mentioned 3 years in Honduras. What I meant is that I am in my 3rd year, 2 years and 2 months at this point. It is my 3rd Holidays here, 3rd time I've celebrated Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas in Honduras. So, it doesn't seem like it's been 3 years that I've been here because it hasn't... yet...

And, I have a report that the tenant is gone from my house and it doesn't look from the outside as if they did any damage. Woo Hoo!!!

Happy Turkey Day

I don't mean to be MIA. Just not a lot going on. I'm getting the apartment cleaned and sorted. I'm paying off debts. I'm just passing time until I am ready to start the process of heading back to the States. I'm ready. I can't believe I'm in my 3rd year here. The 3rd Thanksgiving down here. Soon, the 3rd birthday, the 3rd Christmas. This is a nice enough place to spend the Holidays, so I'm not complaining. I don't know any other way I would be this far along on paying off my debts. The tenant in my house in Nashville was court ordered to be out by midnight last night. No report yet if he actually left. I'll find out probably tomorrow. So, peanut butter sandwiches, Healthy Choice microwaved vegetable soup, and coffee is the food of the day so far. Works for me.

Back in school

I am actually enjoying my crypto class at coursea.org. I just watched two lectures on discrete probability. I probably haven't looked at anything close to that in over 25 years. And, I really did enjoy it. I'm not sure I learned anything I didn't already know other than the notation symbols.

http://openclassroom.stanford.edu/MainFolder/HomePage.php

This is a new-to-me listing of free offerings. I haven't explored them yet. The class on discrete probability was recommended in the forums of my current class. I'm bookmarking this. The Web Applications section looks like something I need to go through to do if I want to really do my own web-based blog.

The rest of my life is going ok. Got the apartment cleaned up. I have a 3 day weekend coming up for Veterans Day. I'm not traveling any until after the end of the year. Instead I'm doing on-line classes. :) What the heck, they are free and it keeps me out of trouble and away from the on-line shopping.