The continual decrease in freelance work (See "The Ups and Downs, The Twists and Turns"), the seizure (See "The Seizure" and "Doctor, Doctor give me the news"), and the upcoming move (See "Tick tock tick tock tick tock"), has certainly put a strain on my finances as of late. While I'm fortunate that I've not yet had to resort to desperate measures to make ends meet, I find myself worrying more and more that I may have to if something doesn’t change soon. Obviously paying the bills supersedes buying things on my list I would like to get for the new apartment. I'm quite determined to do both though even if it means at least 85 days of misery. Here’s a list of things I've already done or intend to do in order to make it happen.
Canceled my Blockbuster Online subscription: I enjoy watching movies, but I have not enjoyed doing so as much since I moved here, so I canceled it. I will now be saving $12.98 a month. I'm planning on eventually utilizing Redbox, but not until after the move at the earliest.
Selling my unused possessions on Craigslist and eBay: So far I've made $318 and hope to double that by week’s end (See "Gimme Your Wad" for more details).
Canceled my Go Daddy hosting plan: Since my sister and I both wanted hosting for our professional websites, I agreed to split a plan with her. She has never paid me for her half and I no longer want hosting, so I canceled it. I will now be saving $4.99 a month.
Froze my tanning membership: My inability to drive until I’ve been seizure free for six months has made having a membership a waste of $25.95 a month. Although I could have canceled it, I decided to freeze until after the move at the earliest. It costs $5.00 a month and accumulates as store credit. I will now be saving $20.95 a month. In the meantime I have been running shirtless, which yields tan lines, but a adequate alternative for the time being.
Getting rid of my car: My inability to drive until I’ve been seizure free for six months has made having a car a waste of $246.88 a month. I think turning it in when the lease is up on July 26, 2009 and walking and/or utilizing public transit to get to my destinations instead is the smartest decision I can make given my current situation. I made my final payment on June 26, 2009 and all that is left to pay is a $250 disposal fee. I will soon be saving $246.88 a month in addition to bi-annual insurance payments of approximately $382.50 (See "Think Progressive"), and a variable amount in gas and other maintenance expenses. I'm planning on eventually getting a car again, but not until October 5, 2009 at the earliest and only if I have secured a full time job.
Back in 2002 I purchased one melrose bed and two nightstands from one of my favorite stores, Crate & Barrel. While I still like my bedroom furniture, I've recently had the desire to replace it, because when placed on top of the box spring, my mattress sits much higher than the nightstands. This has recently started to bother me for aesthetic reasons. Although I scoured the internet from time to time in hopes of finding a solution, I never found one until last month when I came across this bunky board from Crate & Barrel. While it initially appeared to be the solution, when I went to a mattress store to look at a comparable alternative, I was informed that it is essentially a piece of thick cardboard, which is intended to be used in conjunction with slats, which my bed does not have.
I was determined to make my mattress sit lower though, so I purchased 2x4s to use as slats to supplant the box spring as I was unsure that standard 1x2s would offer enough support *grin*. While they made the mattress sit lower, tucking my bedding in became difficult as there was no longer a solid surface foundation underneath the mattress, which meant I still needed to get that bunky board after all.
I initially hoped to sell my box spring on Craigslist for the amount that a bunky board would cost so that I would essentially break even. That feat was proving difficult though, as I only received one offer for an amount substantially less than what I had hoped to sell it for. While I agreed to accept the offer, the transaction fell through as they discovered a squeaky spring. After they left I flipped the box spring over to delve into the cause of the squeaky spring. As I got to looking, I realized that I had everything I needed to make a comparable alternative to a bunky board. After pondering if I really wanted to dismantle the box spring, I decided to go through with it. I spent the remainder of the day removing staples to free the outer covering and springs from the wood frame. After reassembling the materials less the springs, my wallet and I are quite pleased with the end result.
Even though my 27th birthday is still one month away, it’s not too early to start planning the festivities. Although the time has yet to be determined, I would like to invite all Badpuppy members to my 27th Birthday Bash, which will take place on July 27, 2009. Click here for all the details.
Looks like Yahoo! finally unveiled their new homepage tonight. While I absolutely love the "My Favorites" section, which gives you the ability to add any site to it for quick access, I think the rest of the homepage is quite bland. Maybe I'm not as minimal of a person as I thought.
Update: Looks like it was temporary, but you can still check out the new homepage here.
Ingredients ■ 1 1/2 c. flour ■ 2 tsp. baking powder ■ 1/2 tsp. salt ■ 1 tsp. sugar ■ 1/3 c. melted butter or margarin ■ 1 c. milk ■ 2 eggs ■ 1 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring
Directions: Stir together dry ingredients adding melted butter. Add milk alternately with beaten eggs. Bake in preheated waffle iron. Bake until golden brown. Serve and enjoy.
As you're probably aware if you frequent my website, I experienced a seizure on April 5, 2009 (See "The seizure"). Fortunately I have since been able to contact an epilepsy clinic. I had my first appointment with them on May 15, 2009. This appointment was pretty much an intense question and answer session inquiring about all aspects of my life that may be used to help shed some light as to why I had a seizure. Upon disclosing all of this information, they requested that I have a CT scan and an MRI scan. The CT scan took place on June 8, 2009 and the MRI scan took place on June 20, 2009. For some reason I have to go back on June 30, 2009 to have another MRI scan done as they need "more images". I will probably not be made aware of what information these scans have yielded until my next appointment with the epilepsy clinic, which is scheduled for July 17, 2009.
On a positive note I was fortunate to quality for charity care, so almost all of my medical bills associated with my trip to the emergency room have been wiped clean, except for the ambulance bill, which was for $877.00. Although it is still a large sum of money, I am fortunate that I have been given the option to make interest free $25 payments over the course of the next three years until the amount is paid off.
I don’t quite remember when the whole flip flop trend reemerged, but I definitely was not an early adopter. Even though I’ve owned pair of Mossimo flip flops since 2006 as per a members request for a photo gallery, I never wore them, because I just couldn’t get use to the feeling, as I preferred regular sandals instead. It wasn’t until recently that I gave them another try. While the feeling still felt odd, I eventually got use to it and now begin to experience euphoria the moment the straps slide between my toes.
As you're probably aware if you frequent my website, I experienced a seizure on April 5, 2009 (See "The seizure"). Unfortunately the law requires that you can't drive until you have been seizure free for six months, which for me will be on October 5, 2009. This has put a hindrance on my once daily routine, but fortunately I have a great network of friends who have always been willing to help me out with getting around if needed. While I have been doing cardio by running approximately 2.8 miles several times a week, I miss strength training and I'm ready to start including that in my daily routine again.
Now that a majority of the tasks on my to-do list are complete, I would like to finally get myself back into the gym on a more frequent basis starting next week, since I will have a lot more free time. It will be a 2.4 mile trek each way, which I am certainly capable of doing as I have done a 3.3 mile trek each way to my new apartment and survived to tell the tale. Although I certainly wouldn't deem the picture below as "progress" towards my desired physique, it at least shows that I have managed to keep myself in shape given the hurdles I have had to overcome these past few months.
The last post I did regarding how my first post-college job was going (See "Deeper in the red") unfortunately failed to divulge any variation from the previous post (See " Scylla and Charybdis"). Fortunately this post will have some variation. My paychecks for work performed from February 21, 2009 through May 19, 2009 were in the amounts that they should have been based on the proposed arrangement by the firm. Unfortunately the amounts my paychecks from May 20, 2009 and beyond have been for have continually decreased. I've discussed the fluctuations with my boss, but to no avail.
After 8 months of tolerating these fluctuations I feel as though I now have no choice but to move on and find a new job, preferably full time with benefits, if I ever hope to get off this rollercoaster and have some financial stability in my life. This will no doubt be a challenging feat to accomplish in these times of economic uncertainty, but I am hopeful that it will eventually happen, if I remain flexible and persistent.
Gizmodo is one of several blogs I check out on a daily basis. Today I came across this post regarding the pricing for the upcoming Windows 7 operating system that's scheduled to be released on October 22, 2009. I was pretty surprised to learn that starting on June 26, 2009 Microsoft will be offering the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 for a limited time if you pre-order it. Since the release of Windows XP, I've always purchased a new desktop pre-loaded with the latest version of Windows. As much as I would love to continue that tradition, I don't think I will be, as I'm still pretty happy with my current desktop. Since I prefer to at least have the latest version of Windows, I think upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium will be a smarter decision financially in these times of economic uncertainty. My wallet thanks you Microsoft!
I've always found it amusing when all of a sudden a member that I am doing a private show on iFriendsV2 for informs me that they have to go, because someone is at their front door (or something to that effect). While I certainly appreciate the kind gesture of letting me know they have to go, regardless of the validity of the statement, I've always found it interesting that sometimes these members will continue to chat with me for a few additional minutes before ending the session. I don't know about you, but if someone is at my front door, I highly doubt they are going to stand there waiting minutes upon minutes for me to answer it, unless of course they know for a fact that I am there. What do you think?
Considering that I once again appear to be getting my way, I am going to refrain from divulging all the details regarding my most recent interaction with Dell technical support. If you are also a Dell customer though and have a technical support issue, I would highly advice that you try to resolve it online utilizing their chat with technical support feature instead of calling them. I don't know why there is such a huge difference in customer treatment among these divisions, but there is, and it's unfortunate.
The upcoming move has me pretty stoaked! Although I am certainly looking forward to moving into my new apartment (See " Tick tock tick tock tick tock"), I would really like to heighten the experience by adding and/or replacing select houseware products. Upon compiling an extensively detailed list, I determined that a substantial amount of money will be needed to do so.
For starters I have once again taken to Craigslist in hopes of selling some items, which in my opinion, were just taking up space. I've managed to sell a majority of them, however, just like last time (See "Going once, going twice… SOLD!"), some are just not in demand and/or an interested buyer has yet to discover the listing. I will continue to remain optimistic in hopes that one day, in the not too distant future I will sell the remaining items. The remaining items that I did not list on Craigslist will eventually be listed on eBay, which I am planning on doing sometime over the course of this upcoming weekend if all goes according to plan.
While I certainly won't generate enough money to diminish the substantial amount of money needed to add and/or replace select houseware products for my new apartment, I think it will put me off to a nice start.
Update: Since this post somewhat deals with decluttering you might find this article on Time an interesting read.
I think disappointing is probably the best word I could use right now to describe how I personally feel regarding the variety of content updates that I have been posting on my website lately. I have increasingly become less passionate about my website over the months and it has shown. My passion is back though, as I recently finished reading this short, but inspiring book called 5. It has given me a new perspective on life and made me realize that nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. With that being said, I'm ready to turn my website into the website I dreamt it would become, but in order to make that a reality, I could use your help.
Regardless of if you have a membership or not, I welcome any and all ideas for future pictures and videos in addition to any other suggestions that you feel would make my website more enticing. While I have plenty of ideas of my own that I intend on implementing in the near future, I am curious if there are any additional ones that I have not thought of yet. Feel free to leave a comment by clicking here or contacting me directly by clicking here.
I was really looking forward to Apples WWDC this year, which took place on June 8, 2009. There was a lot of speculation floating around regarding the third generation iPhone. I was actually considering getting an iPhone last year (See “iPhone 3G”), but eventually decided against it due to AT&Ts data plan pricing. With a then rumored $99 model as well as a rumored lower priced capped data plan, I was thinking that this could finally be the year that I would take the plunge and become genetically superior to everyone else. Although the then rumored $99 model turned out to be accurate, it unfortunately is only for the 8GB iPhone 3G, which lacks some features that the iPhone 3GS has that I would prefer to have if I am going to be subjecting myself to a more expensive monthly bill. Unfortunately the rumored lower priced capped data plan appears to be just that. So just like last year the phone and the data plan pricing have both remained unchanged. Now if someone wants to buy me a white 16GB iPhone 3GS and take care of the monthly bill, I am certainly willing to make that offer available to anyone interested, but I don’t think that’s going to happen, so I will therefore continue using my Motorola Razr until it has breathed it's last breath.
On June 8, 2009 I had to go to the hospital to have another CT scan done, due to a recent seizure I had (See “The seizure”). I was fortunate to have a friend give me a ride there as it was scheduled for quite early in the morning (7:30am) and I wouldn’t have felt safe making the five mile trek that early, but I decided to walk the five miles home.
Surprisingly, I don’t think I have ever done a blog regarding how miserable I have been at my current apartment complex, but trust me I have been. After about two weeks of moving here I was ready to move out, but for financial reasons I felt that paying an early lease termination fee would be a mistake, so I decided to tough it out until my lease is up. Although September 30, 2009 is still over three months away I decided that it was about time to start looking for alternatives, since I am required to give at least a 60 day move out notice. I’ve already done lots of preliminary research and narrowed my list down to five. My top pick was a small deviation off the route home, so I decided to stop and check it out. My biggest concern was the availability of the floor plans I was interested in for the time frame I needed to move. Ironically the floor plan I wanted at this particular apartment complex would be available the first of September and could be held for up to three weeks.
After taking a tour of the complex and looking at three floor plans the leasing agent and I came back to the leasing office. As much as I wanted to immediately take care of all the paperwork ensuring that the floor plan I wanted would be mine, I decided to sleep on it. My preliminary research was good. I knew how much the deposit, administration fee, application fee, and pet deposit was at all five alternatives on my list. When it came down to it, the fees at this complex were significantly less than the other four. Additionally I was offered $500 off my first month’s rent, which if divided by 12 and subtracted from the rent, it made the apartment $1.33 more a month than I am currently paying. Unfortunately utilities are not included as they are here at my current apartment complex, but I was willing to add an additional bill to my monthly expenses given all of the features and amenities.
The next day I woke up and made another five mile trek and took care of all the paperwork. Although I cannot wait for September 23, 2009, I am kind of glad I have over 3 months to wait as there are a lot of things on my list I would like to get for the new apartment.
Apparently I am behind on the times, because this site Txts Frm Lst Nght was just brought to my attention yesterday. I have no idea if some of these texts legit, but regardless they sure are funny. I am particularly fond of the “RAWRRRR IMA PURPLE DINO” text at the moment. Have you heard about this site? Or are you like me and behind on the times too?
iFriendsV2, the webcam site I work for, has recently introduced a new feature called Welcome-Wagon Sessions. As an experienced chathost star on iFriendsV2 I am eligible to host Welcome-Wagon Sessions, and have decided to do so. If you do not already have an existing iFriendsV2 membership you'll now receive 15 FREE MINUTES of Welcome-Wagon sessions when you join iFriendsV2. Although you can use these 15 FREE MINUTES with any host that has elected to host Welcome-Wagon Sessions I would love it if you would spend the time with me, so click the button below to join iFriendsV2 and lets have some fun!
OK, so I have no idea if this has anything to do with what happened (I ran it by the hospital when they called me Monday to check in on me, but I have not heard back from them yet), but the night before I had the seizure, I had a total of 4 shots of Bacardi 151. There was never an instant when I felt like I had consumed too much alcohol though. Regardless, I don't think I want to take my chances, so I have decided to abstain from drinking any alcohol from this point forward. *sigh*
I should have known something was wrong when I woke up the next day. The first warning sign occurred when I was in the bathroom. I fell down and hit the door. When my friend asked what happened I brushed it off like it was nothing. The second warning sign occurred when I was locking up my apartment. I dropped my keys. The third warning sign occurred when I was getting into my car. I dropped my keys again and didn't even realize I had done so until I had got into my car and went to start the ignition and couldn't find them, because they were still lying outside on the pavement.
I eventually composed myself and headed home, but not before stopping by the grocery store first. The seizure occurred at some point afterward. Although I did hit a vehicle, the speed at which the impact occurred was not great enough to cause any damage to either of our vehicles, so I have no idea if I was stopped or moving when it occurred.
The next thing I remember was waking up in an ambulance and being informed by the EMTs of the events that occurred. I had a blood pressure of 180/120. I was so out of it that I was unable to answer simple questions like what day it was. My inability to answer those simple questions left them no choice but to take me to the emergency room.
Upon arriving there a CAT scan was done to see if I had a brain tumor, which fortunately I don't. They also took a blood and urine sample, which I am guessing did not provide them with any additional insight as to why I had a seizure, as I eventually left the emergency room with the cause unknown. I am now to follow up by contacting an epilepsy clinic, which I have tried to do, but have not had any luck getting through due to heavy call volume. I'll keep trying though, as I really would like some type of explanation as to why I had a seizure.
My life post-seizure is pretty depressing. I'm now taking Phenytoin Sodium, which should hopefully prevent this from happening again. I'm not sure if it's something I will have to take the rest of my life or not. I'd imagine I will know more once I follow up with an epilepsy clinic. I can't drive for 6 months, which makes me completely dependent upon other people if I want to go somewhere. I'm having a hard time coping with this, because I don't want to be a burden. I'll definitely be making shopping lists that create minimal trips throughout these 6 months to avoid doing this as much as possible though. Not sure what I am going to do about going to the places that are not absolutely necessary, e.g. gym, but I will eventually figure something out. The most depressing thing of all is probably going to be the hospital bill, as I do not have health insurance. I will just have to deal with that when that time comes though.
I can’t help but be angry at the world right now. I'm starting to feel like no matter what I do, nothing good will ever happen to me. Karma? I didn't think I was that bad of a person...
