Where have I been for the last month?

Wow. Missed an entire month of posting.

Here's a quick recap:

Finally settled the whole mortgage mess. I have a mortgage that I will be paying next month.

Got most of the holiday crap taken care of.

Cooked Thanksgiving dinner and got good comments all around from the diners.

Changed employers without changing jobs and got a nice raise while doing so.

Went to way too many children's school functions. More to come! :-)

Contemplated running away! :-)

Almost to the big 4-0

Ah yes, another year older. Got some gray in the mustache/beard to go along with it too. I can't wait until next year when I can go buy a motorcycle! :-)

Fatherhood is sneaking up on me...

I find myself enjoying the kid's preparation for Halloween way too much. I wanna go back to being the somewhat young curmudgeon I was...

Why me?

OK, so I still have not heard back from the Mortgage guy. Why is this so hard?

More fun for me.

Just great. I have another cold. Hopefully, this one will not turn into pneumonia like the last one...

At least that is sorted out

It looks like my mortgage is going to a different bank. My interest rate fell a bit, but my PMI went up. In the end it is a wash. Apparently this is all going to be sorted out by the end of the week. Hopefully it will work this time. The nice thing is that I apparently get another couple of months without paying a mortgage. I should be able to save up a bit of cash and go into this much better off that I expected.

Mortgage issues

Should I be concerned that I have no idea who currently holds my mortgage? As of right now, the mortgage broker I used has paid the money and is waiting for the bank to stop asking for silly things to get the money from them. I'm not sure why the bank keeps asking for more stuff, but seeing as how I was supposed to be making my first payment sometime in October, the fact that I am not sure who owns this thing and I have not received any information regarding who I am supposed to pay is making me a little nervous. Here's hoping I don't suddenly find myself with no mortgage and owing a truckload of money real fast or something like that...

Dread Maintenance

I went and got my hair cleaned up yesterday. I really liked the place. The people were nice, the work was good and they even threw in a free shave. While it wasn't cheap, it was not as expensive as the place I went to in MPLS. Nothing to complain about there! They'll be getting more of my money in the future.

Housewarming

Had the housewarming yesterday and it went well. The downside is that I now have a mountain of food left over. I really need to learn moderation when buying food one of these days. :-)

More housing crap

Not that this is a surprise to anyone, but Banks suck. The bank that was supposed to underwrite my mortgage keeps coming back and asking for more information, including classically stupid things like "Was the money you paid in your account before you gave the real estate agent that cashier's check?" given that I can not get a cashier's check from the bank without the money being in my freaking account, I would love to know why they are asking this question.

On the plus side, if they keep this crap up, the mortgage broker says they will simply take our loan to another bank and given that interest rates have dropped since we closed, we might get a better rate.

More fun with weight loss

Just to let you all know, I have issues with getting skinnier. I had to go and not only get a smaller pants size, I had to also get extra holes punched into my belt in order to be able to still wear my old pants (which look like tents on me now... I had no idea I was carrying around so much extra me. And the weird part is that I have only lost about 22-25 lbs. Kind of scary.

On the plus side, it means that I can get into t-shirts I have not been able to wear for years! :-)

Center of attention

It may just be my overinflated sense of self but I would swear that everyone in the house, including the cat, seems to want to be around me all of a sudden. I come home and suddenly people are yelling for my attention. Not horrible, but definitely something I would like to go away some days.

While I am happy to help them with whatever they want, I would also like to be able to come home and just be a bit of a vegetable once in a while. I have been on high alert for a month or more with house related stuff and I would like a chance to relax for a bit.

You know, maybe do something like unpack MY stuff now?

Finally!

The old house is empty and clean. We have repaired the minor damage that we caused, including the door J kicked in out of frustration last summer. That one was kind of fun and made me realize that I actually do know something about construction, though I am still learning. I should have fixed it long before now, but what do you want from me, I'm occasionally very lazy! :-)

Mom adventures

Finally told my Mom over the weekend that I had bought a house. She seemed happy about that but then gave me yet another lecture about how I should "make it legal" with J. This is a conversation we have had several times with no real change on either side. I guess it's just going to be one of those things.

New home stuff

I think we are getting settled into the new house. I keep finding things I need to do around the house, but it is getting closer and closer to being home. We have finally gotten everything out of the old house (except the grill. Tomorrow, I swear) and are finally getting this place set up in some semblance of comfortable and organized. My man-cave is still a colossal mess, but it is getting better. I just need some more shelving and some wiring done to get myself all set up.

I will also need a stand for my TV. That is going to be interesting...

I have a new address

Well, we've moved. As might be expected there is much cleaning up left to do at both houses, but we are pretty much moved. we sleep in the new house and all of my books and computers are there, so it counts as home for me.

If I have not sent you an email telling you the new address, let me know.

Nerdity!

The last week or so has been good for my Nerd self. I went to a birthday party over the weekend for a friend of J's and it turns out that it was a house full of Nerds! I spent plenty of time talking about various movies, books and related things. Just about the only thing we didn't get into was D&D. Oh well, it can't be all perfect!

I also discovered that one of my co-workers is a comics nerd as well. It's a good thing to be able to stand around and chat about comics with someone again.

It ain't quite Nerdvana, but it's getting better.

The final countdown!

Tomorrow is the walk through for the house. Can you tell I'm a bit nervous that I am getting this close to the final commitment. Wow, major life choices are scary! :-)

House stuff

Looks like the house is a go. We've got all of the paperwork filled out, we are looking to buy a new fridge in a week and the closing is next Friday. God, this scares the holy living crap out of me. Maybe I will be happier in 30 years when this loan is paid off.

Weight

By the way, I am down to 190. I haven't been this light since the end of my freshman year in college. Now on to going back to my Senior year in high school weight, before I discovered abundant free beer!

My life is stress.

I think the universe is out to get me. I'm suddenly poor. Apparently the kids suddenly need the world bought for them. J's brother is now a money pit. And this house thing is going to inspire a full blown stroke in me if i do not get it resolved soon.

I figure the reason for all this stress is that I am now responsible for people other than myself. My life was nice and simple before I had to worry about what happened to anyone but me. While there have always been people who would have been affected if I suddenly dropped dead, now there are people who will be greatly affected if I simply fail. This is a problem for me. I'm way too old to have to suddenly have to start working other people's issues into my own.

There's a reason I said I was never going to be a parent.

Even more holy crap!

I think we've found the house we're going to buy!

Holy Crap!

I'm trying to buy a house.

Weight loss update

It's almost a crime that it has taken me this long to lose only 10 pounds. I was doing fine until the barbecue in MA. I came back from that 5 lbs heavier. Not quite sure how I did that, but there you have it. :-)

I'm doing better now, losing 1-2 lbs a week, which means that I will take another 12 weeks to get to my goal weight of 170.

Weight loss efforts

I am being more active but I am still not going to the gym. I really need to change that. Despite that, I am still slowly losing weight. We'll see how much this weekend's trip to New England for the annual barbecue impacts my progress!

General status report

1) I am starting to get into the swing of things with my job. I still have along way to go because this place, technologically speaking, is just huge. I get to ask dumb questions every day. Fortunately, I don't have to ask most of them twice!

2) This parenting thing is really starting to get to me. I am discovering that I get to play the hard man all the time. J and her mother do not really seem to understand the concept of "This is the way it is going to be kiddo!" when dealing with the two three year olds. While I do not enjoy being mean to a small child, I also realize that if you want said child to grow up into a decent human being who has respect for other people and the rules of their environment, you have to enforce those rules pretty strictly early on or there is no hope of enforcing them later. I feel like the one lone good cop in a totally corrupt precinct.

3) My health seems to be cranking along nicely. I finally went in for my transplant clinic appointment and it went well. They seem to be of the opinion that I am exceedingly healthy. While I don't doubt that I am, I am a little nervous about the sort of glib attitude. I have had too many things go wrong in the last two years to take it on faith that everything is going to work out. We'll see how it goes in the next few months.

4) I actually appear to be losing weight. I've already dropped 6 pounds as of my official weigh-in last Saturday. I appear to be on track to lose another 3 pounds or so this week. I figure I'm doing well for now. I also know that I will have to get off my butt and start hitting the gym now if I want to continue this progress. Reducing caloric intake can only get you so far when you're not grossly obese. I'm going to have to make my body start working harder soon. Especially since I have noticed that my knees aren't quite as strong as they were when I was playing Rugby. I need to build up those ligaments and tendons again. I don't want my knee to start popping out of joint again!

New Comic Book Day

As yet another Wednesday rolls around, I, having been up since 3am, feel the need to bitch about the lack of a decent equivalent of The Source Comics and Games here in St Louis. I have discovered a decent comic shop (Star Clipper Comics), but it definitely seems designed to appeal to a different comics buyer then me. Though I have no desire to be in a shop full of overweight, socially inept, basement dwelling trolls, I would like a shop that caters more directly to the comics nerd, rather than to the comics hipsters. Unfortunately, Star Clipper seems to be doing the latter. When I walk into a comic shop, I expect to be able to talk comics with the people who work there. The folks at the store are nice enough, but there seems to be some sort of gap between me and them. Not sure what it is, but it is there. It might be my growing curmudgeonly nature, but I don't think so.

Anyway, I miss The Source because on Wednesday, there was a palpable, electric thrill in the air because the new books were out on the shelves. The staff was there in full force and the comics geeks were too, debating the merits of everything out on the shelves, new and old. Star Clipper has a much more sedate feel that doesn't seem right to me on new comic book day.

I have also found a small local shop. I don't think that one will work for me because:

a) The place is pretty small. Accordingly, the selection is a bit limited. Not a problem for your average Marvel/DC fanboy, but not so good for me.

b) The stock and the owner's mindset seems to be aimed squarely at the mainstream comics reader. Nothing wrong with that, because that is what sells, but I like the more offbeat stuff. Hell, the books I am looking forward to the most these days is the Virgin Comics reboot of Dane Dare and most of the Warren Ellis/Avatar comics (especially Gravel!). Not something your average comic book fanboy would say I think.

Anyway, I am going to stop now because I am bumming myself out. Hopefully, I will resolve this issue sometime soon.

Father's day

I found Father's Day to be a very weird experience. While I am not an actual father, J and family have definitely adopted me as such. It was odd to have small children climbing on me in bed and asking me what I think of the gifts they got me. I'm not sure quite how I felt about the experience.

Ah well. We'll see how I do next year.

That was unexpected

I've decided to start doing the Jenny Craig diet thing so that I can lose a few pounds on purpose this time. While I have managed to drop weight in the past, it was usually associated with a visit to the hospital or at least the need to go to a hospital. :-)

If I can pull this off, I will be lighter than I have been since my freshman year of college. It's a weird thought.

Finally!

I got my employee badge and parking permit. This will make life easier because I can now go into work without having to stop at the front gate and get my car searched by the armed security guards. This will make my morning commute a little easier! :-)

Moving continues

Got the truck unpacked and a bunch of stuff moved to where it is supposed to exist in the house. Unfortunately, there is a much larger chunk of stuff that is not where it its supposed to be. Life is going to be real fun for the next few days.

I hate moving

OK, the house in MN is packed up. Complete nightmare. I'm in St Louis and waiting to get it unpacked. This is so much fun I don't know how to deal with it.

The second week begins...

and I still do not have a logon for the network, a parking pass or an emplyee badge yet. At least I am getting paid! :-)

First day on the new job

Just finished up my first day. Ultra boring. They were really kind of unprepared for me. Hopefully they will get some of this stuff sorted out tomorrow and I can get down to doing some serious work for them.

Life is not cutting me a break...

OK, I get out of the hospital and I'm all ready to head back up to MN to collect the rest of my stuff. All good right? Well, it was until I got a call from the folks that hired me, asking me if I could start a week early... Since I want this job and I don't want to make any waves, I said yes, but this is throwing a serious monkey wrench into my planning here!

I guess my possessions will have to wait a couple more weeks...

Out and about

I'm out of the hospital and wandering the great wide world once again, hoping that I can manage to get myself together enough to actually get moved in time to start my new job.

Since I was already committed to being in St Louis this weekend, going back north is out of the question until at least Monday. Then comes a furious packing period and a long drive with a U-Haul back down here. Here's hoping my Iowa driving curse doesn't hit with the big truck!

This one's a bit late...

Sorry if anyone has been trying to get hold of me for the last week, but I have been pretty incommunicado. I have a great excuse though: I've been in the Hospital, recovering from pneumonia again.

It's nowhere near as bad as my last bout with it. I actually expect to be going home in the next day or two with a batch of antibiotics and possibly some new doctors.

More on my medical adventures in Saint Louis later.

Recruiters, Ahoy!

Apparently, something on the various job sites clicked with recruiters this week. I keep getting random phone calls and emails from recruiters. I wish I knew what it was so that I could add more of it to my resume! :-)

That was fast

I got a job offer yesterday. I took it.

Saint Louis Bound

Well, I may as well admit it. I am going to be moving to Saint Louis. I have already started to transfer stuff down to Jen's place and I am packing up more of it as we speak.

Hopefully, I will get myself organized and out the door in a reasonable fashion. My problem is that I have discovered that I do not like to move. I get myself all settled in in a space and I like to stay there for a while. In that while, my packrat sensibilities usually get the better of me. Back when I was moving almost every year, life was easier. I had no time to build up all this crap.

Unfortunately for me, I have been here for almost 4 years, making the task of clearing out the junk just a little intimidating. I actually have a room that seems to be nothing more than the place where I put all the stuff I don't know what to do with. Gonna be fun to clear that one out...

Current Job hunt status

I had a phone interview this week and it appears that it went well. The recruiter called to say that the client seemed happy with me. There are some more interviews, but as of right now I appear to be the top choice. I should hear more on Monday or Tuesday.

Job search condurndum

I seem to be in some gray area between being a Regular Joe and being a Senior Joe. It is making job searching kind of irritating. I keep getting contacted by recruiters and consulting companies that want Senior guys but then they say I don't have enough experience. It's kind of irritating.

Change of focus

Since I seem to be alarmingly healthy these days, I have not had a lot to say in this blog for a while. I think it is time for this to focus on something else for a while. That something else is going to be my quest for a new job in lovely Saint Lois, MO. Hopefully, this will be a short change in the blog. Whether it takes a week or six months, I try to keep this updated on my quest for employment.