Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

One of the things I've been doing to stay busy during this time of unemployment is to go through and discard old financial records (bills and receipts) from past years. Last week, I went through receipts I had from 2004. This week, I'm doing the same for 2005. Now is a good time to be doing this, as I collect my tax records for the previous year and prepare my annual tax return.

A few weeks ago, I asked on Facebook, "How many years of tax and/or financial records do I need to keep?" Most people answered "7 years, but keep tax forms forever." I've been trying to follow a 5-year rule with most of my stuff at home -- if I haven't looked at it or used it in the last 5 years, I no longer need it and can part with it. There are some exceptions -- high school yearbooks, my old Boy Scout stuff, etc. So I'll keep my financial records for the past 7 years. I won't go through 2006's records until next year.

I had been storing the records in cardboard #10 envelope boxes I obtained from local mailing services and print shops. A couple of years ago, the folks at Really Useful Boxes (US site) came out with a plastic #10 envelope box. I now have several of these boxes, which contain my financial records for the last several years, and will be reused for upcoming years as I get rid of the old records.

( So, here's what I've observed while looking through these old receipts. )

One good thing about not working in January is that I have the time to clean my condo, and the desire to sequester myself at home and not go outside.

There's still plenty of work to be done, but in the last few weeks, I think I've made some good progress.

One of the things that works against me is that I tend to not put things back where they belong, so everything is spread out among the various rooms of my condo. I'm visually-oriented, so I like to see what I have. If something is covered up by a sheet of paper, I'll think it's lost and react accordingly.

And so, I've tried consolidating my computer equipment, my office supplies, video tapes, audio tapes, paper files, and so on. And when the stuff's all together, it seems to take up lesss room.

Some of the next few items on the to-do list are to inventory the contents of my freezer, inventory the contents of my pantry, and organize my nearly 300 audio tapes for eventual conversion to digital format. Honestech had a separate product for audio conversion, but it's since been rolled into their video conversion program.

Last fall, I noticed that my dryer wasn't working well. It was taking two dryer cycles to get my clothes dry after washing them.

Then a couple months later, I would push the start button and hear an odd buzz, as if I answered incorrectly on a game show. Then it stopped working altogether. So I called my appliance repair guy (I use Mr. Appliance), and he diagnosed the problem as a burnt-out motor. Sure enough, when he popped open the panel (which I didn't know how to do), there was lots of lint that hadn't been trapped by the lint filter. I had about 14 years' worth of accumulated lint in there.

So, about $300 later, and a little wiser, my dryer is working again.

The scary part is that I had enough dryer lint trapped inside the dryer that it could have started a fire. (Note that dryer lint makes for great tinder, if you're intentionally trying to start a campfire.)

So the lesson is: Vacuum out your dryer at least once a year (as a minimum). The dryer and the life you save may be your own.

A recent post on one of the Facebook groups I'm in was about colognes and perfumes. What scents did we wear when we were younger?

My dad was an Old Spice user. So naturally, that became my first cologne. In college, I discovered Canoe. In the early 90s, I wore Windquest. (Then the manufacturer phased it out.) I thn discovered Woods (by Abercrombie & Fitch) and EBTek (by Eddie Bauer). But it's been a while since I last wore cologne. I don't wear it to events at the UU Fellowship because there are some folks who are scent-sensitive.

What were the scents the girls wore? Chris, my high school sweetheart, liked to wear her mother's Windsong. Erin, the girl I dated after Chris, wore Love's Baby Soft. I don't remember what Rebecca wore, but I remember we both tried Realm, which contained pheromones.

There are some scents that rub me the wrong way. Calvin Klein's Obsession just rankles my nose. And Opium is a bit too strong for me as well.

And then there was Owen. He was a student from Nigeria. He used to drench himself with Jovan's Sex Appeal cologne.

Rule of thumb: Use scents lightly. If I can smell you coming or going, then you've put on too much.

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly has an ongoing campaign about the "War on Christmas", how it's politically incorrect to wish people a "Merry Christmas".

To which I say: War? What war?

I wish people "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because I know that not everyone around me is Christian and/or celebrates the Christmas holiday. I try to accommodate, show respect, and honor people as they are by acknowledging their faith or belief system. It would be presumptuous of me to assume otherwise.

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With less and less people on LJ, it doesn't seem worth it to post things here anymore. But I still prefer posting my longer posts here on LJ thank on Facebook. I still have a list of posts I want to make here.

Thu 11/22: Slept in. Was invited by a couple at my UU Fellowship for Thanksgiving dinner and conversation. Thank you, Bob and Alice, and all the other attendees!

Fri 11/23: Observed Black Friday by not going shopping. Went to Bob Evans for breakfast, and got my hair cut. Continued work on the house cleanup. The bathroom sink got clogged, so I went to Kroger for some drain clog remover. So much for "Buy Nothing Day."

Sat 11/24: Got up early and did some shopping in the morning. Ended up at the 2nd Street Market in Dayton, where my friends John and Jenn have an olive oil and balsamic vinegar stand. Went home and took a nap. Then went to Buffalo Wild Wings for Dinner. Candy and Michelle showed up. We then ended up at Starbucks.

Sun 11/25: Went to UU services. Picked up M. After watching about five minutes of The Phantom Menace, she wanted to watch episodes IV and VI again. I was happy to oblige. Had dinner at Archer's Tavern, and dessert at Starbucks.

Late last week, I received both a phone call and an email message from a recruiter in New Jersey, who has a Java developer opportunity in Columbus, OH. Yesterday, I returned the call and responded to the email, thanking her for her consideration of me, and that I was currently working a 6-month contract in Cincinnati. Most recruiters would stop at that point. But this one wouldn't. She wanted an updated copy of my resume. I asked "Why?" And she responded, "So we can take it forward!"

What makes her think that I'm going to jump ship and start working for her client? Even though I just started this current gig in July, and that it's a 6-month contract, it's likely to go temp-to-hire in January, provided there's still work to do, and funding to pay for it. I am not a mercenary, leaving jobs only for a higher pay rate. To me, leaving my current client in a lurch and working for another company is tantamount to treason in my book. And I refuse to play the "I'll waste your time and mine" game by going through the motions and say that I'm interested, get an interview, and an offer, only to turn it down, which would be my plan all along. Why doesn't she understand this?

I seem to notice that the recruiters who employ this tactic are usually of Indian descent. I don't know of any American-born recruiters who do this.

BTW, according to the job description, the position is for a technical lead, and it looks like their client is looking for someone who has more Java experience than I have to offer. Once she reads my resume (and I sent the most recent version I have), I think she'll see that. And if they still want to interview me after that, I'll just dig in my heels and say "No, no, hell no!"

[Parts of this were originally written on 6/28/12.]

One of my friends -- Julie -- is quick to suggest ways for me to save money. From doing my own car maintenance, to getting get reduced-rate dental care from the local community college, or selling my excess things on Craigslist, to getting free boxes, she's suggesting things for me that she's done herself.

And frankly, I'm starting to feel that I'm being manipulated by her and her suggestions.

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The Ex doesn't own a computer. (She does, but it's not assembled as there's no place to put it.) ANd thus, she has no high-sped internet connection. So I blogged offline. ANd now that I'm back home, I can upload and share some of these posts.

[Originally written on 8/19/12.]

As mentioned previously, I'm been taking care of my daughter's dog while my ex heals from her injury last month. (To recap, she broke her albow and her ankle while walking her dog, tripping over a hole, and falling.) My duties include taking the dog out for walks and potty breaks every few hours.

Kefi is a rescue dog, that they adopted from an animal shelter about 3 years ago. She's a medium-to-large sized dog, about 50 pounds. She's a mixed breed, but we suspect there's some Lab in her. And when she's determined to go somewhere, she will pull at whoever's walking her. She's a good and fast runner, as I've seen from the times I've taken her to the local dog park. (As for the name, it's Greek for "joyful abandon". It most certainly fits.)

The apartment complex that the ex lives in has a grassy area near her apartment. It's not fenced in. We put Kefi on a leash when we take her outside. And we pick up after her after she poops. (Those are both community rules and local township laws. And it's one I can agree with, because I'm usually the poor soul who ends up stepping in it.) There have been times where she go out with out a leash, and it would take at least a half hour to catch her.

But what I find annoying are the dog's demands to go out every couple of hours. If I'm reading, watching TV, or sleeping, she'll bark at me and "demand" to go out. And I have to interrupt what I'm doing oe watching to take her out. I don't like being interrupted. If I'm watching TV, I'll end up missing part of the program I was watching. (No, I don't have a DVR, as I can't afford one right now.) And if I have to wake up in the middle of the night to let her out, it takes me a while to get back to sleep again.

I grew up with dogs. But my parents had a house, and a fenced-in backyard for the dog to play in. They never too the dog out for walks. And my mom would always wipe the dog's feet and "private parts" when the dog came back inside. Thankfully I don't have to do that with Kefi.

Bottom line: I like animals. I like dogs, but they're too high-maintenance for me. I'll stick to cats instead.

On Sunday, The Ex asked if I could take car of her cat, Pippin, for a few weeks. Apparently, he's been getting out of the apartment a lot, and her apartment manager has put her on notice -- corral your cat or risk being evicted. So, kind-hearted soul that I am, said "yes", and brought him to my place on Sunday night.

Pippin is a tuxedo cat, with a stub for a tail. Right now, he's very skinny and lost some of his hair due to fleas. I know that he and Kefi (their dog) don't get along very well. If I could afford to do so, I'd take him to the vet for a check-up.

So far, Pippin has been perched on my kitchen counter. I try to pet him and he hisses at me. I've given him some dry food and water, which he'll eat and drink. And I just brought out a litterbox for him. It was in my bedroom, but he didn't know it was there, and thus left me "presents" in the hall.

He hasn't encountered Mercury yet, as Mercury has been camped out upstairs.