Bill Roper's Journal

So I did a thing.

Back in early March or thereabouts when I was still employed and figured I was going to start collecting Social Security in May, I said to myself that I was going to have a bit of surplus cash and that I wanted to buy myself a retirement present even if I wasn't planning to retire for some time yet. And I put a deposit down on a pinball machine, because -- although I have a Flash machine in the basement that is *almost* working -- new pinball machines do a lot of things that older pinball machines didn't do.

The pinball machine arrived today and is now installed in my office.

It looked smaller in the woods.

K's goal is to get the walls of her room repainted in some color that is not the current really *bright* yellow that has been there for some years. This means that she is packing things up and finding things that she wants to donate to charity. I made the first run to Goodwill this morning, which mostly got rid of books that she had outgrown.

There was a lot of deferred cleaning downstairs that needed to be taken care of. Gretchen loaded and ran the dishwasher, while I swept up an enormous pile of debris and dog hair that needed to be disposed of. Then Gretchen and Julie potted some seedlings for their windowsill garden, which means that the potting supplies can be put away for a bit.

I started assembling the new side table for the patio and quickly realized that -- given the available work surfaces -- this was really a two person job. Gretchen was good enough to come hold things together while I bolted the parts into a whole. The only real problem was that the mini-wrench that they sent was not a great fit for the nuts, but it could be made to work and eventually did. The kids have carried the table out to the patio, the mess has been cleaned up, and one more thing is finished.

Yay!

I am getting more things moving, but less things have been moved than I might have hoped. On the other hand, there's that annoying problem of needing to do your research.

I have one form left to fill out before I can go apply to get Gretchen and me on Medicare A and B. Then I need to handle the D and G parts, but I have someone helping with that -- but before I can do that, I need to figure out the exact rules for getting the kids on COBRA, preferably without me. This will require a call to the COBRA administrators. Apparently, there is some possibility that the kids could get 36 months of COBRA coverage -- or maybe even until they are 26! -- but the rules around this are all maddeningly complex. I suspect deliberately so. :)

There's also the possibility of signing them up for a marketplace plan, which *looks* like it might be cheaper, but there's the question of whether you've actually got anything better than a catastrophic plan in that case, given some of the deductibles. I need to pick some brains on this. And check and see which doctors the kids are currently using and whether I would have any coverage in that case.

On the other hand, I have managed to use GoodRx to get a prescription that Gretchen needed refilled at a substantially better rate than I would have if I'd taken it to Walgreens, even with the coupon that the pharmacist was ready to apply. That's a good thing.

And my computer has been returned to Oracle, so they have released my severance. About a third of it got bitten off for taxes, which is not a great surprise. I was already going to make estimated tax payments to land in a safe harbor for next year, but all of that will have to be adjusted in some way that is not yet obvious.

I need to apply to start my Social Security in May, but the website is being a bit stubborn about that, or at least it was when I was trying last week. Maybe it will be different this week since I've been officially terminated. It's hard to say, but I can go back at that. The worst case is that I'll drop the application in on May 1st.

Meanwhile, Gretchen has arranged a dog sitter for the day that we're running down to pick up K from school, so that's good. She's also set us up with a quote to get the asphalt driveway replaced when the neighbors are doing it, which will result in a small discount. They also quoted fixing the front step, but that is not going to happen, because it is way too expensive to fix a relatively small problem.

Things are getting done. I'm just getting tired of spending all of my time sorting these messes out when I *should* be not working. :)

I used to bowl. I could probably bowl again, but my knees would comment on it. So for the moment, we'll content ourselves with knocking down metaphorical pins.

My previously scheduled -- and now vital -- meeting with my financial advisor was this morning at 10 AM. I had planned to get up at 8 AM, giving me plenty of time to get ready and get out the door, but my body had other ideas and I finally gave up trying to get back to sleep around 6:45.

The meeting went well. We sorted out a number of items. He shared with me the contact info for a guy that they use to help sort out Medicare issues who *may* be able to give some advice on how to get the kids insured. Or maybe who will know someone *else* who can give that advice. In any case, the steps are in the right direction.

I grabbed lunch, got home, and decided it was time to take a nap, which I needed pretty badly.

This afternoon, I got hold of my life insurance company and have modified the policy so that it will not increase in value as much, but also so that I stop having to pay for it for the next 20 years. That change won't take effect until the anniversary date in August, but that's fine. It is a done item.

I looked over some stuff for FKO, but recording scratch tracks for that needed to wait until tomorrow, because time was running out. I also checked out Xfinity, where I need to get some statements to submit to work for reimbursement and determined that I am paying *way* too much for my current plan. I just need to sort out what plan I need to be on. That will be a mission for tomorrow.

I took Gretchen out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse so we could use the free appetizer coupon that I'd received via email. This meant Gretchen got a nice steak which is a welcome change from the usual dinner courses at home. (There is nothing *wrong* with dinner at home, but it is not a nice steak.)

When we got home, K pinged me, as she's having difficulty sequencing some audio files in the Java program that she's writing for school. I checked some references and gave her some ideas to try. This sort of thing is easier when you're looking at the source code. :)

And then Gretchen and I watched tonight's episode of "Will Trent", which was a wonderful thing. We have preserved it on the DVR and will be going back to watch the sequence that begins with the ceremonial firing of the cannon that was put on the mantel in Act II through the end of the fight scene.

Seriously, unless you do not like police procedurals *at all*, you should be watching this show. It took about four episodes in the first season to get us hooked, because the beginning is a bit of a slow burn, but the writers and actors here are doing a great job.

I'm making progress on knocking things off my lists of things to do. None of them today had anything directly to do with the layoff, because it's Saturday and no one that I need to talk to is in their office.

But it was good progress.

Today's big development: I got a haircut. I now officially look employable again. This is not so much a concern at the moment. Call me in a few weeks and we'll see. :)

But I had a couple of good phone calls this afternoon with friends, one of whom was a former co-worker.

And the garbage has gone out, because you've got to keep these things moving.

Tomorrow, I have my previously scheduled eye exam. I'm hoping we can get along with a dilation this trip, since both eyes have been dilated in January and the eye with the vitreous detachment was dilated and photographed again two weeks ago (so was the other eye, but no dilation there). In any case, this will get me another year of contact lenses ahead of any deadlines.

I *need* to file a Medicare application for me and Gretchen, but I can't do that until I get the form from Oracle, which they do not seem to plan to give me until April 10th, at which point my current health insurance will expire. I may have misread this, but it seems, well, bad. Non-optimal. Vaguely punitive.

But maybe I've misread the paperwork. I will be going over it again tomorrow along with my tax return, which still needs to be filed. After I check it again...

*sigh*

I learned some new things at work today, which is always good.

And today, the ginormous box that the new mattress came in went out with the recycling and is no longer decorating our living room. :)

I am trying to figure out what I am going to forget when I leave for Thing tomorrow.

If I'm really lucky, the answer will be "nothing".

We'll see how I do. :)

Tomorrow I drop K off at the bus to go back to college. It's been fun having her home, but there are nearly two months remaining in the semester and they still need to be navigated.

We had some of the ginormous brisket for dinner tonight. We will be having more of the ginormous brisket for dinner for quite some time. I have purchased some lovely Turano French rolls for making sandwiches, which will be the first step in the process.

And I sat down with K and we got her income taxes for her summer job filed, which is a good thing.

I've started looking through the APBA cards in preparation for the upcoming draft. I have a bit more scouting to do, but the end is in sight. This is good, because it will allow me to pass them along to the last manager in the league who needs to see them in advance of the draft.

Tomorrow, I will get to go find all of the clocks that don't automatically reset themselves and make the necessary adjustments for Daylight Saving Time. And then I will happily enjoy the extra hour of sunlight at the end of my work day. :)

The treadmill left for its new home today and the library looks a good bit less crowded. This is good.

In keeping with the theme of moving things, today at work was largely spent rearranging things so that I could combine two classes into one. I think that's done and I can move on to the next bit of this project tomorrow.

Yay, me!