James Ashman

Moving time, such a lovely time. The worst offenders that could make the upcoming lack of apartment have been dealt with, namely a 5ft long 3ft high desk and a 6ft by 3ft bookshelf. All the electronics I can probably sell or giveaway, or even send to a recycling center.

But huge pieces of wooden furniture were definitely gonna be a problem.

Fortunately, a guy from a thrift store came and took them away to be donated. Whee!!!

And I sold a guitar, got some cash outta that. And another guy is coming to get my violin today. Still not a word on my electronics though. Kinda feel bad about the guitar, but knowing I won’t have room to keep it made that decision easier. When your going from a full house to needing everything to fit in a compact car, everything needs to be seriously evaluated.

I still have a huge oak dresser that’ll need to go, though I’ll let that wait another week. Or call the same dude up again.

What fun.

July: Car registration expired.

CA: Ha, ha. We need to make sure we get enough money, so we’re not sending out your registration till after it’s expired, so we can eventually extend the laws to keep it slightly more expensive. Don’t worry, cops won’t ticket you till September 1. Oh, and you need to go smog your 9 year old car. Cause we don’t want any old cars on the road.

Late July, Smog Test Station: You’re emissions in a single area are twice the legal limit. But if we rev the engine even higher, emissions go down. You got a low-speed problem.

Mechanic, August (couldn’t afford earlier): $100 inspection later: EGR control solenoid is broke. Pay $120 and a day off work to get a replacement and our labor to fix it.

Mechanic, next week: Well, it’s 50/50 on passing. We think it’s a computer issue cause the EGR isn’t firing for as long as it should. Take it to a dealer.

Dealer, September (couldn’t afford earlier, again): Smog issues? $160. Oh, your car has two recalls. That’s another $60 we’ll tack on. One of which is the computer.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, same day: $55 per day to rent a car. Oh, and it’s insured, just initial here to acknowledge that.

Dealer, same day: You’re wheels are too big. Replace all 4 17 inch rims+tires (due to prior owner changing them) to stock 15 inch tires, then bring it back to us so we can adjust the computer, and it should pass then. Oh, you still have to pay us 220, even though we didn’t actually do ANYTHING at all but tell you to change your tires. Ha. Ha.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, same day: $90 please, to return this care you rented for a total of 3.5 hours. Why so much you ask? $55? That’s before you agreed to use our insurance, that’s another $30. What do you mean the guy never told you? He only said sign here, he NEVER SAID there was an additional cost for the insurance? You thought it was just an acknowledgement? That’s shady, and we believe you. $55 please. Thank you.

Much internet searching later:

Next week, late September, a few days before CA DMV wouldn’t accept even the $180 late fees by mail (NOW I know you can pay the $105 fee upfront if the smog is gonna be late without penalty.) – Visit O’Reilly Auto Parts and pick up SEAFOAM, dump an entire can in gas tank $9. Drive across the street and get an oil change $35 (didn’t have the coupon), and they notice the air filter is old, so I opt to replace it with one they have for $25.

Next day, still September, Smog Test Station: Your car barely passed smog. Just barely. We’ll send the smog cert to the DMV electronically.
*Mail out DMV renewal with late fee payment a few days before 09/30, which would have been too late to send out by.*

First week in October, Phone the DMV: Yes, we got your renewal, it’ll be going out to you in two days.
One day later, today: Tags arrive in the mail!

Me: Ha ha, I get the last laugh, my car is legal to drive!

CA DMV: Keep deluding yourself. Mhmm, late fees, extra money towards various businesses, and the closest experience to a panic attack / nervous breakdown you’ve ever had. Har dee har har.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Lessons: Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the local mechanic who didn’t charge me for the third thing they had to do (yeah, there was a follow-up test that was normally another $100) get props. Dealers suck. CA doesn’t want you driving old cars. Living alone is really, really difficult when you start off heavily in debt.

/quits job (2 week notice)
/gives notice to apartments (30 days)
/disconnects internet effective end of October
/sets reminder to remove account from utilities when out of the apartment
/CLEANS LIKE HE’S NEVER CLEANED BEFORE
/makes plans to drive 2800 miles in a month to live with parents again, who themselves move from place to place constantly due to having no permanent address

*Starts writing again.*

Hi Again.
- James.

So food costs much. Especially when you don’t want to prepare food, and it’s gotta be tasty. Except the easiest option is neither good for you, nor cheap. I’ve been evaluating what I’ve been eating the last couple months, living along for the first time in my life. I gotta say, I mostly eat well, but definitely stray off a good path quite a bit. And am spending too much in the process.

But then I saw an interesting article, a guy was doing a hypothetical on the cheapest you could live with foods that’ll keep you healthy. Instead of going the absolute cheapest, he went a bit higher. It ends up around $3 a day. What was interesting was his description of finding a calorie filler, and the food he settled on: Sunflower seeds.

That stayed in the back of my mind, pushed away, until yesterday. Browsing the 7-11 at lunch, a bag of sunflower seeds (3.5 oz, about 500 kcals), only cost 1.49. Now if that’s how cheap it was in a convenience market… yep, turns out Winco has them for the exact same price… a pound.

I did some other research, and I think I’m going to try this. Noticably, there’s no meat. There’s also NO PREPARATION involved! That’s the biggie. No mess either. So this is my shopping list. It’s gonna be an interesting couple weeks.

Spinach
Carrots
Broccoli
Potatoes

Apples
Bananas
Tomatoes
Oranges

Pumpkin Seeds
Sunflower Seeds
Walnuts
Almonds
Other nuts
dark chocolate

And as needed: Orange Juice, Red Wine, a little bit of protein powder, and a few eggs.

that are looking to hire quality employees that are already currently employed but seeking another job to advance their career:

ADVERTISE THE PAY. No matter how good the description is, no matter the benefits, the requirements, etc., if your looking to hire someone, list the payrate. Yes, it does cause an increase in “trash” applicants who only apply because they see the payrate. But a person who is currently employed, is highly skilled, and is looking for a career change or advancement, isn’t going to bother applying if you don’t list the pay, and of course, if it’s lower than their current employment that doesn’t offer advancement, but has a higher payrate.

Yes, it’s unfair all around. But please, list it. The “quality” applicant DOES work for job enjoyment. But if they are going to make $4 less per hour for it compared to a job they don’t enjoy as much but still don’t mind working for indefinitely, then the cash wins out when they are in debt. For the love of all that is righteous, always list the pay.

I simply don’t apply to anything that doesn’t list the pay. I like my current job too much, even without its advancement opportunities. Sure, there are ups and downs. But It’s made me a great employee. Don’t you dare miss out on someone of my quality simply because you think the job description will attract the “right people”. I really wish that was true. And in a perfect world, it’d be fine. But in today’s incredibly flawed and frankly, stupid, world, risk is high, chances are rare, and we’d like to work for the place that is both tolerable and pays well. Sometimes I wish my current job would promote me, if there actually was a place to promoted to. Failing that, sometimes I wish my job had advancement. Failing that, I wish it’d be more enjoyable. But though that happens from time to time. I just wish that employers seeking really good people would realize they need to do more than think we’d jump for a dream job just because it sounds good. I have bills I NEED to pay. I’d love to work for you. But I can’t if you tell me I’ll make less money. My current job knows my value. And that’s why I’ll stick with them. I’ll learn to enjoy them. And by the time you learn that you need someone of my caliber, my company will have provided a new perk I didn’t see coming that makes working for them far better than I previously thought. Don’t get me wrong: I need something that either offers a career or provides experience that’ll lend itself to a variety of job positions, something which my current employer sadly lacks. But the current guy knows I’m good, pays me well, and sure they annoy me from time to time, but I’ll stick with them through thick and thin….

as long as new employers refuse to list their rates. Sorry, job enjoyment is definitely first. But compensation is such a close second that it can easily overcome any possible description. List it, please. No point in me applying if you’re going to pay less. Job satisfaction still takes a backseat to keeping the bills paid.

I just had my first sip of Maker’s Mark. Now, finally, the cost of more expensive whiskeys makes sense. Amazed it’s as cheap as it is. Fantastic.

Doesn’t require anymore words than these: Drink it.

And now that it has, I can see exactly how my books look on it. Formatting is a bit off, but overall it’s another good place to sell stuff. Also, you CAN set books to free, by setting the price to 0, however, it still requires you to “purchase” with google checkout. Don’t like that. But it’s a temporary solution.