I Love Snow…

Snow rocks. Snow rocks my face off. I love the anticipation of snow, when the weathercasters start about 3 days before the snow with the warnings. I love sudden drop in temperature right the first flakes. I love the different kinds of snow, sideways and fast, stinging, big dumb flakes falling on air currents, making a big wet mess when they land, and then last nights snow. It was like Dippin Dots were falling from the sky and the snow gods had just forgot to add the Vanilla. Quite awesome. I love dressing warm (hides the body bulges) to go outside and play in the snow. I like that things close when there is a large amount of snow. I like getting out in my car and seeing if i can make it wherever i am going (which is usually nowhere important.) I love the smell right after the snow has fallen. I love the eerie quiet that snow brings. It seems to muffle everything and provide a dampener for all of the little sounds that go unnoticed until they are coverd in snow and don’t seem to make a sound, that is now noticed. I love the taste of snow. It is just simple fun and provides sheer moments of unadulterated awe when looking at the same scenery i see everyday, but now it has snow on it. Just awesome!

From point A to point B

Well, I’m back at work after a full week off for Christmas. Really enjoyed it. Nik got me some nice things. A wireless laser mouse that I’ve been wanting for months. A new hoodie. Anight out without the baby. And her presents went over well too. She loved the necklace. Gameboy Tetris was lukewarm. Will and Grace Season 5 was killer. And the knife and the cutting boards were awesome. All in all, I’d say it was a rousing success. We spent a lot of money, but we showed her sister and her sister’s friend a good time and we now have more great Seattle memories.

So I’m back at work, and I am thankful to have a job. It’s not that I have any new reason to be especially thankful. I didn’t almost lose my job. I didn’t see anyone lose their job. I didn’t see someone worse off than myself (…if that person exists!!!!). No. It wasn’t any of these things. It was a general realization that comes with thought. Over the holidays I had time to think about the situation I am in and reflect. I have a relatively low stress job where my work may not be vital, but I contribute in my own way. I may be guilty of under achieving (Nikki calls this the “15 pieces of flare” syndrome) at times, but for the most part, I do what is asked of to the best of my ability. I am compensated accordingly, and I shouldn’t expect to be rewarded for anything I haven’t done.

All this being said, I do feel like I would be more fulfilled doing something else. Maybe not a different company. Maybe so. Maybe not a different job role. Maybe so. But I do know I would love to be more hands on. I also know I would love to keep working in the tech industry no matter who I work for. And I also know that ultimately I want to work for myself. I want to set my own hours, work as little as possible and maintain a comfortable lifestyle, control my future and fulfill all my creative and familial endeavors. I realize this sounds like the ravings of either a madman or a man on the brink of retirement. But in actuality, I think these are the wishful thoughts of a 24 year old recent grad who knows there is more to life than “9 to 5”, more to life than help the company meet its bottom line, more to life than “help only you and yours”. Nikki would say I’m being “too vague”. I would say I spelled the entire story out just how I want it. I am at point A. I want to be at point B. The hard part is the middle. How do I make this happen? When will I have accomplished the objective? Who will help me get there? Is this best for my family? Am I nuts? All this will be fleshed out along the journey. Let’s just say for now that I really hope I make it to see the corporate bonus for my company in September. After that…..who knows? More to come as I find more out about myself and about the opportunities the world provides those who try.

Christmas is coming up

So Christmas is on its way and I am remiss to think about what I am looking forward to giving and receiving. Since my wife reads this (…I think) I can’t be specific about what I’m getting her. But I can say, seeing as how we are (kinda) poor, there won’t be lot of money being spent. However, I can say that not so subtle hints have been dropped and I have been getting the message loud and clear. When you are poor-ish, you have 2 options for Christmas: Finance it or be cheap. Ignoring it altogether has never been an option. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ve thought about just getting no one anything, but then I just look like a cheapass and a jerk, as opposed to getting the people I routinely give gifts to something I found at the flea market and just looking like a cheapass.

All this leads to our situation. We are poor, but we mean well. Most of our family is doing ok money-wise and don’t live close to us. So my thought was to upload a bunch of Youtube movies of our son and of us hanging out and send a link to those. I know, it’s a cheapass move. But I figure if these people already have 3 George Foreman grills, do they really need a fourth?

I hope they appreciate what this has cost me. Then again, maybe I don’t care if they appreciate it or not. I think this sounds like a good idea. And I won’t be paying for it after my introductory rate on the new credit card I would have had to open up expires.

Do I really need brake lights?

I mean, do I? I guess they are useful, but it means another 120$ out of my pocket that i didn’t have in the first place. I bought the Hayne’s repair manual for My 1992 Mazda MPV, thinking I could do the repairs myself. Little did I realize i would have to start compensating for the previous owner’s “installation” of his crappy radio, that apparently rendered the brake lights inoperable. Now, when the brake is depressed, the console lights up at me. Mocking me. Telling me “Just one more reason you will stay poor!!!!!” I guess they went to the same school for radio installation and wiring as they did for routine car maintenance.

So now I have to 1) find a mechanic I am willing to let work on my car, 2) trust him (or her) to not inflate their estimate and try and gouge me and 3) find time to drop the car off and pick it up while not interupting (too bad) my daily work grind.

Thanks again, previous owner of my car, for screwing me over and out and causing not only a major headache to me and my family, but also a safety hazard for me (until it is fixed) and 120$! ….Gawd, I hate you.

Marriage is hard

…and don’t forget it. One of the hardest things about not having a lot of money is that you have to count on your counterpart (or family) to help. This means you rely on them for a lot of things (chores, help, support) and they rely on you for a lot of things (money!). Well when any of these little things being relied on do not meet any of the others expecations, well, a fight ensues. And when you live in a one bedroom apartment, fighting is bad. I mean, fighting is bad when you have a lot of space, but put two angry people in a very small space and the fighting is bound to be intolerable. So what, praytell, is the solution? I’m not sure yet. I guess we could just be nicer to each other and start being more considerate and meeting each other’s expectations. Ooooor….we could just get a bigger place. Yeah…that sounds easier. Definitely. Much easier.

Introduction

This is my new blog. Could be interesting. Could not be. We’ll have to see. I’m gonna give it a go and I have enlisted the help of my beautiful wife in order to keep posts coming and in order to increase the volume and variety of posts. We hope to post at least semi-weekly. I might get around to posting daily, but the rest of my life might get in the way.

The purpose
The purpose of this blog is to help. Help me express myself. Help me memorialize my thoughts. Help me have an outlet for anger, frustration and creativity. Help my wife do the same. Help us both work together to create something that might help others. And help mechronicle the journal of a “poor” family, so that i can inspire, assist, amuse and otherwise entertain anyone who might stumble across my humble blog in search of some solution to a comparable problem.

The title of this blog comes from the term “the Working Poor.” These are a band of people in America that are steadily and gainfully employed, busting their humps 5, 6, 7 days a week at sometimes thankless jobs and can barely make ends meet. They are below the poverty level and have probably been there for quite some time, depending on their age. I’m sure wikipedia has an article about “the Working Poor.” These are the people that comprise a stark amount of the population in America. They have huge debt, live paycheck to paycheck and have little to show for it.

This is where my “kinda” comes into effect. I have a college degree. I make money. More than minimum wage. More than the median income in my state. Not by much, but i do. I work 5 days a week on an entry level accoutant’s salary. I put in 45-55 hours a week. I am not technically poor. I am not below the poverty level. I don’t think, at least. But i do work hard. I bust my ass all day long from the time i wake up until the time i pass out, i am working and scheming for ways to make it through, ways to get on easy street, ways to get on the gravy train. I make due with what i can afford, for now, and hopefully, proper planning and the right opportunity allow for this. But in the meantime, i work, struggle and toil for the lifestyle that i have. It is meager, but hopefully it is temporary. This blog is to help those in similar situations.

I will detail examples and hopefully not piss anybody off in the process. I realize some would consider me rich, in life as well as in love. But to them, i hope a connect can be found, wherein they can find some piece that they can relate to, some piece of my story they can own, some piece of my “blog” that they can attach their own story and try to build upon it, make it their own and, eventually, exact some positive results. I know this is a lofty goal for a blog that very few (if any) people will read, but it is the noblest of intentions with which i start my journey of chronicling life as one of The Working “Kinda” Poor.