Bill Roper's Journal

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!

I should have mentioned this a few days ago, but the iSense folks have accepted the warranty claim on our leaky mattress and a new mattress is going to be on its way to us as soon as they build one. I'm not sure exactly how long it will take, but I am certainly looking forward to it!

Now that the taxes are out of my hands, there were other things to do today. Happily, none of them was laundry.

I took a box of stuff to Goodwill over lunch, getting it out of the house. Then it was off to Sam's Club, where I restocked a great many items. I have been intending to hang the GAFilk quilt that Gretchen won in absentia out in the hallway for a while now and *that* is finally done. While getting that sorted out, I put away the old CPAP as a backup, which cleaned that mess out of the chair in the bedroom that it had shared with the quilt.

I am filing a warranty claim for our leaky iSense mattress. They requested photos of the stripped mattress and the platform that it sits on, so I got that done (with a bit of help from Julie to stand the mattress on end so I could easily get photos of the platform) and sent them off. We'll see what they have to say, but the answer should be "let us fix this now". If it is not, there is going to be a problem.

And I ran the next-to-last session for the computer division in our APBA league, so I just have one more to get to the end of the year. All of the adjustments are made for three of the four teams, so this should be pretty straightforward once the fourth manager reports in.

Meanwhile, Gretchen made a lovely pot of beef stew using the stew beef that I picked up at Sam's Club earlier in the day. And then we went back and watched the recording of the Olympic women's free skate, which was a lot of fun.

Now it is time to go put the bed back together. Happily, the mattress is sitting on the platform, not standing on end...

Today, I finished off the sixth load of laundry in the six days following Capricon, which means that I am caught up on the laundry, at least momentarily. Yay!

I also went to the post office where I filed an extension for the Dodeka tax return so that should the IRS open it late again this year after I mail it on a timely basis, they won't try to charge me hundreds of dollars in penalties for late filing. I also mailed the Capricon sales tax, because the State of Illinois has changed the rules and no longer collects event tax from us when we file our sales tax for the year for reasons apparently unknown. Neither Gretchen or I recall having been notified about this change, although we seem to have been notified about all sorts of things that don't actually matter to us.

And I mailed a gift to one of Julie's friends. That cost $22, which is a painful amount of shipping charge and explains why paying for Amazon Prime shipping looks so good.

Meanwhile, I ran another 13 games of the second half for the computer division in my APBA league, so there are only two more rounds to go there.

And I finished making the adjustments to the Dodeka taxes, which means that I should be able to start putting numbers on the forms tomorrow.

After which I can try to get *our* taxes off to the accountant.

Whee!