Y5 D23

Okay, I promised you two days in one so let's see if I can do this and not forget anything. Saturday morning started with me freaking out about what I was going to do with the car. I don't have $4000. It's that simple. I also can't really afford to buy a new car. I ran through every single number and option and buying a new car while still upside down on the old one is just stupid. I would stay in debt for another five years and worse, I would have to get something I really didn't want. It would be the only way to roll in the monies while still making the payment affordable. I would have to get like a Ford Fiesta or something. Want to really hear me bitch about how much I hate my car for the next 3-5 years? Didn't think so. In the end I had to do what I didn't want to do - I had to borrow $4000 from my work. What I am going to do is use my corporate card to pay for it, then they will deduct $150 per check before taxes to pay it back. They own me now. If I am able to pay more sooner, then it will get deducted obviously. I don't like this solution, but I have a solution and since they are going to do it pre-tax, it should hurt less. This definitely hurts less than if I had done something stupid like buying a new car. Because a new car also would have meant a change in insurance, higher registration, etc etc.

I had floated this by my boss Friday night when he helped me run through the numbers, but he couldn't make a decision without talking to the other partner. He promised he would talk to him Friday night and let me know first thing in the morning.

He was also supposed to let me know if I should buy an iPad for this training we are doing this week. The training we are at only work on idevices which I obviously don't have. He was going to see if his son would lend him one of his for the week. Smaller issue of course, but still something I needed to get done before leaving for down here. (I am down here safely by the way.) I texted him a couple of times once at about 8:30 and then again at 10. He FINALLY responded at 11:30 that he was awake and still needed to call the other partner. Talk about stressful morning waiting. At 12:30 I finally got confirmation everything was a go. I ordered the iPad online, grabbed the kid, and we dropped the car off. As we were dropping the car off, I got the email the iPad was ready at the Apple store. Her and I walked over together and picked it up. It was a good chance for us to just talk a while. She was working from 4-8 so we weren't going to see each other probably until I get back. In addition to the ipad and cover, I also picked up a new sportcoat for this week. I need to look good ya know. We stopped on the way back at a new little produce store that opened by the house. Farmer's market quality without the attitude or price. I like them. We got back about 2:30 and I started in on setting up the ipad with work stuff. That took forever. While I was doing that I was watching Alphas off SyFy. My new tablet (the one I wanted not the one I was forced to also have) gave me a one month free Amazon Prime membership. Because of that I decided okay, let's pick a show and see how this works out. I picked a good show. I am liking it. I got through about 6 episodes on Saturday.

I laid down around 5 to try and sleep. I managed to get in a good solid 90 minutes. For me that was incredible. I got up about 7:30 and packed. The kid came home and I said goodbye. Around 11 I hopped on the bike and headed off on a 427 mile adventure.

The ride itself wasn't bad except for the fact that I was freezing. It was colder than I anticipated. Mostly because of the wind. When I stopped I was fine, but while riding forget it. I tried stopping a couple of times and getting a hotel room but everyone was packed. I almost got killed by a bird flying at me, but otherwise the trip was uneventful. Only spent $30 in gas too. Suck that big oil!

Got to Disneyland around 7:30. Because I was on a bike I got to park right next to the guest of the day spot. Whee!! My first goal was pin trading. After making the rounds I managed to get about 20 pins total. Not bad. I bummed around the parks for a few hours and then finished off the ride. Another 75 miles to the final destination. Made if safe around 2:30. My room wasn't ready yet, but they gave me a free drink while I was waiting. This is a really nice yet affordable hotel. If I were on vacation this is the kind of place I would pick. $140 a night blocks from the beach for a junior suite? Okay. And free parking. That's a big one at most hotels for me. At home and down here everyone charges for parking because parking is a premium. The hotel I am staying at for Thursday and Friday charges $16 a night.

Got into the room a little after 3 and passed out until 7:30. I was tired. Headed down to the bar at 8 and hung out there until 10. Had some food, made a new friend, and enjoyed myself. B was having another non-stop day and we didn't talk until 10:30. Hit bed at 11:30.

Today I have to be at the office location at 6:00 for a 'reception'. Blah blah blah. I am not looking forward to this training if you haven't noticed. Tomorrow's 'fun' activity is to put us into teams and make us write code using their API. Um when does that sound like fun? Not to me.

There you go. Two days of stress and insanity in a nutshell.