Well now that the wife is home and the European adventure is over it is time to settle in for the time and start to try and improve our financial situation. I didn’t realize just how different a single income household would be until it finally happened. When I was in the UK my food, gas, most of my entertainment, and other major expenses were covered. In fact my per diem left me with a small balance of spending cash too. But working remotely from home and having the wife back in the US has changed that. We recently sat down, as I think many people in the states are doing, and took a serious look at our debts, assets, and budget. After going over all of this I had to laugh and tell RG that we have some slight “cash flow issues”. Like many business we have a strong balance sheet but week inflow/outflow cash situation.
After a couple days of trying to figure out how to participate in TARP I decided we just had to live a little less extravagantly (though the wife will ask when we were extravagantly at all). The new budget uses an old system. Basically we determined how much we need to spend on food and gas, plus a little extra for fun. That money is it and that is all we can spend in those areas. Once it is gone, well we eat left over or don’t drive for a couple days. The bills are all paid on line, and now we almost never use the card. We still get to contribute to the 401k and savings but now we go out a lot less; probably 80% less. But that is ok. We get to entertain a lot more and RG is proving to be a great cook.
It also allows RG to look for a job she can be passionate about rather than one that just provides us with the means to buy stuff. It is very important to me that she finds something she likes rather than just something that pays. While I hope she finds something soon it is not for financial reasons. What really makes me wonder though is this, if I make a good salary, more than some families, how can they get by even with both people working? We aren’t living pay check to pay check but we don’t have much wiggle room, how do people that make less do it? Anyway I guess our budget was a long time coming, hopefully we will get a little more wiggle room in the future, but it isn’t that bad either.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
FORMS
I hate dealing with the Government, the wife hates dealing with the Government, I think most people hate dealing with the Government. We however get the triple wammy as we get to deal with so many different organizations due to the whole immigration dance we are forced to endure. The biggest pain is simply the number of forms we are required to fill out to do normal things. For example if we want her sister or parents to visit they require visas, this means paperwork. If we decide to travel outside the US RG needs a visa, again this requires paperwork. Or worse if I wanted to visit her for the weekend in Moscow I had to have a visa, and to come and go as I please I needed to obtain a multi entry business visa that of course requires a lot more documentation. And the big daddy of all the processes of course is the immigration paperwork. As you get to deal with 3 government agencies there is a lot of paperwork.
In fact to date I have a running list of all the forms, letters, and documents we have had to submit since before we were married. The current grand total is 49 give or take. This of course is not including all of the documentation that many of the visas require; such as proof of hotel accommodations, travel arrangement, financial security, insurance, etc. In fact the number of pages would be thick enough to be a Harry Potter novel! We have gotten so proficient at Visa applications that we can prepare a 20 page package in a matter of hours. It is pretty sad too that we are able to give other people advice that is more accurate than some of that given by the embassies. Now that isn’t to say we get everything we apply for. Many times we only get single entry visas when we would have preferred multi entries causing us to skip a couple weekend trips, and RGs name on her passport and green card are spelled differently than the marriage certificate due to a strange process called transliteration causing some confusion from time to time. But all in all we have managed. Even if most of my raise from last year went to fees associated with these forms, processes, and documents!
I have actually joked that if I get sick of consulting (which is more likely lately) that I might have a decent career as an immigration lawyer. Heck we have been through a good percentage of the processes and without any legal assistance. But then I have to wonder if I want to spend that much of my life chasing government forms and creating documentation. Maybe I will wait and see if we can get through the Citizenship process. Then at least ½ the requirements will cease as RG will get a US passport. One thing I can defiantly say to anyone is this, if you have a US passport, be very thankful, it opens more doors around the world than you can even guess!
In fact to date I have a running list of all the forms, letters, and documents we have had to submit since before we were married. The current grand total is 49 give or take. This of course is not including all of the documentation that many of the visas require; such as proof of hotel accommodations, travel arrangement, financial security, insurance, etc. In fact the number of pages would be thick enough to be a Harry Potter novel! We have gotten so proficient at Visa applications that we can prepare a 20 page package in a matter of hours. It is pretty sad too that we are able to give other people advice that is more accurate than some of that given by the embassies. Now that isn’t to say we get everything we apply for. Many times we only get single entry visas when we would have preferred multi entries causing us to skip a couple weekend trips, and RGs name on her passport and green card are spelled differently than the marriage certificate due to a strange process called transliteration causing some confusion from time to time. But all in all we have managed. Even if most of my raise from last year went to fees associated with these forms, processes, and documents!
I have actually joked that if I get sick of consulting (which is more likely lately) that I might have a decent career as an immigration lawyer. Heck we have been through a good percentage of the processes and without any legal assistance. But then I have to wonder if I want to spend that much of my life chasing government forms and creating documentation. Maybe I will wait and see if we can get through the Citizenship process. Then at least ½ the requirements will cease as RG will get a US passport. One thing I can defiantly say to anyone is this, if you have a US passport, be very thankful, it opens more doors around the world than you can even guess!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Don’t mess with that!
One of the first things I did when I got back to the states was to take the truck to a Valvoline Instant Oil Change and get my oil changed. You know the little building you pull into, driving over an oil pit, and they have guys work on your car from above and below to get you in and out in 15-20 min. The funny thing is they are always trying to find new ways of attaching additional sales onto the deal. They have always done air cleaners, windshield wipers, tranny flushes, coolant servicing, “better” synthetic oil, and the like, but they have never performed any sort of automotive shop test on my car. These all seem to make sense – why not have them do other fluid related activities. So I wasn’t really surprised when they pulled out a cheap looking battery tester and started messing around with that.
Of course testing a battery is not rocket science. Anyone who can read instructions can do it. Turn car off, check, clip red cable to positive terminal, check, clip black cable to negative terminal, check, press test button. However there is a little thing that is not in the instructions. Running a test through the battery cables and not clipped onto the terminals will always make the battery look weaker than it is. But apparently no one told these guys. Because that is exactly what they did, connecting the tester to the brackets of the battery cable and not the battery. So of course the battery read weak. So this prompted them to come up and warm me about being stranded in the middle of nowhere when my battery died when it was cold.
I don’t know why but this always pisses me off. I know it is their job, I know that they are doing what they should be doing, but dang it, I do know a couple of things and I don’t want to be treated like a moron just because most people are ignorant about their cars. I only use the rapid oil places in the winter because it is too cold to do it in the driveway. Otherwise I take care of this stuff myself for the most part. So NO I DON’T WANT A NEW BATTERY and stop messing with that. Ok well just felt like ranting a bit. FYI I would suggest not letting the oil monkeys mess with your battery. Oh and I always buy a battery that could start the truck ½ dead so even if it were as bad as they said I would not be worried as the battery would only be down to the recommended strength once it had only ½ its capacity. I do live in a state where temps get well below zero….
Of course testing a battery is not rocket science. Anyone who can read instructions can do it. Turn car off, check, clip red cable to positive terminal, check, clip black cable to negative terminal, check, press test button. However there is a little thing that is not in the instructions. Running a test through the battery cables and not clipped onto the terminals will always make the battery look weaker than it is. But apparently no one told these guys. Because that is exactly what they did, connecting the tester to the brackets of the battery cable and not the battery. So of course the battery read weak. So this prompted them to come up and warm me about being stranded in the middle of nowhere when my battery died when it was cold.
I don’t know why but this always pisses me off. I know it is their job, I know that they are doing what they should be doing, but dang it, I do know a couple of things and I don’t want to be treated like a moron just because most people are ignorant about their cars. I only use the rapid oil places in the winter because it is too cold to do it in the driveway. Otherwise I take care of this stuff myself for the most part. So NO I DON’T WANT A NEW BATTERY and stop messing with that. Ok well just felt like ranting a bit. FYI I would suggest not letting the oil monkeys mess with your battery. Oh and I always buy a battery that could start the truck ½ dead so even if it were as bad as they said I would not be worried as the battery would only be down to the recommended strength once it had only ½ its capacity. I do live in a state where temps get well below zero….
Friday, January 30, 2009
The Best News Ever
Well after 16 months, hundreds of thousands of miles of travel, thousands of dollars, many sleepless nights, planning and re-planning, dealing with a dozen government agencies (US and Foreign), and so many forms it hurts, my lovely wife is finally coming back to the States for good!
The tickets are purchased, the plan is set, the documents are received. Next Thursday I fly out to Germany meet her, her parent, and her aunt, we then drive 2.5 hours to a hotel. The next day is the sister-in-law’s wedding. Then we have a day to rest visit and relax. Then of Feb 9th we drive 2.5 hours back to the airport board 3 separate flights, and her family goes back to Russia, I fly home via ATL, and RG flies home via AMS. We land within 20 minutes of each other, though she is going through customs so I will end up waiting a while for her. Then it will all be done.
We will be a more normal married couple. Living in the same house and everything. We have been here before but this time there will be no “living abroad” scholarship requirement hanging over our heads. We can get on with it! So I am ecstatic. Though there is still a week to go it looks like all the hurdles have been cleared. I don’t think we will do much right away in the manner of throwing parties or anything, but I am sure for months we will be busy making the rounds and seeing everyone.
So there it is. We actually know when it is going to happen. We found out only yesterday.
The tickets are purchased, the plan is set, the documents are received. Next Thursday I fly out to Germany meet her, her parent, and her aunt, we then drive 2.5 hours to a hotel. The next day is the sister-in-law’s wedding. Then we have a day to rest visit and relax. Then of Feb 9th we drive 2.5 hours back to the airport board 3 separate flights, and her family goes back to Russia, I fly home via ATL, and RG flies home via AMS. We land within 20 minutes of each other, though she is going through customs so I will end up waiting a while for her. Then it will all be done.
We will be a more normal married couple. Living in the same house and everything. We have been here before but this time there will be no “living abroad” scholarship requirement hanging over our heads. We can get on with it! So I am ecstatic. Though there is still a week to go it looks like all the hurdles have been cleared. I don’t think we will do much right away in the manner of throwing parties or anything, but I am sure for months we will be busy making the rounds and seeing everyone.
So there it is. We actually know when it is going to happen. We found out only yesterday.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Staffing
My job is not normal. There is no way around this. In fact it is quite strange. When people ask who you work for that is easy. When they ask what you do that is hard. Generally I just say I help large companies install software. At the Macro level this is true. As a company we help other companies transform their entire business. This may involve or may not involve technology. When a client decides it does center on a technology solution and that solution is SAP then that is when I may get called. The specifics of my day to day activities change from week to week. First I really only got to sit around taking notes and doing simple project manager activities. Later I was allowed to document what we were doing. Then I was allowed to coordinate testing activities. Then I led testing activities. Then I designed simple data migrations. And on my last project I led one of three sites on their data migration activities. Each project needs people to do different things. So I never know what is going to come up.
This makes things very interesting. I have been on literally hundreds of people, for 5 clients, on 6 projects, in at least a dozen different roles in the last 4 years. However the way you are staffed drives me crazy. Unlike many of our competitors that just assign people to projects our company is much less informal. We have a staffing manager who proposes us to a project. Then we have to interview with the manager and possibly again with the client. Then maybe you are on the project or maybe you aren’t. The other way of getting staffed is if a manager requests you. So when you not staffed you job is to get on the phone and start calling any project manager you know and to reach out to those you don’t that have new projects starting. Now while I still get paid fully during this time it is like looking for a new job. It can be very stressful. And you never know what is going on.
So it is by far the least favorite part of my job. The current economic climate has also really exacerbated the situation as well. One of the criteria’s they use for who to keep and who to trim is staffing level. So if you are not billing you are in a bad spot. So stress just doubles, so that has been what I have been dealing with since the end of November. But I am finally staffed again, though it is currently only for 5 weeks. So I suppose the same cycle will start over again in March. But I should have enough billable hours at the end of the year to still get promoted and not trimmed as it were, but who know it is a lot time until summer.
This makes things very interesting. I have been on literally hundreds of people, for 5 clients, on 6 projects, in at least a dozen different roles in the last 4 years. However the way you are staffed drives me crazy. Unlike many of our competitors that just assign people to projects our company is much less informal. We have a staffing manager who proposes us to a project. Then we have to interview with the manager and possibly again with the client. Then maybe you are on the project or maybe you aren’t. The other way of getting staffed is if a manager requests you. So when you not staffed you job is to get on the phone and start calling any project manager you know and to reach out to those you don’t that have new projects starting. Now while I still get paid fully during this time it is like looking for a new job. It can be very stressful. And you never know what is going on.
So it is by far the least favorite part of my job. The current economic climate has also really exacerbated the situation as well. One of the criteria’s they use for who to keep and who to trim is staffing level. So if you are not billing you are in a bad spot. So stress just doubles, so that has been what I have been dealing with since the end of November. But I am finally staffed again, though it is currently only for 5 weeks. So I suppose the same cycle will start over again in March. But I should have enough billable hours at the end of the year to still get promoted and not trimmed as it were, but who know it is a lot time until summer.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Registered Trademark
One of my favorite sites to read, I even have an RSS feed link to it, is www.techdirt.com a site that deals with current technology related issues that pop up at any given time. Their most consistent topics concern Copyright and Trademark issues and the goofy going concerns of the various entertainment industries. Of course they also write about new things coming out, things being hyped, and a wide range of topics, but you will not go a day without multiple posts on the above topics. So it was quite amusing to me that last month I felt like I had a reason to write into them about a strange occurrence that happen to me.
Before I can get into though I have to briefly mention that when I write my blogs I try not to mention people’s names, the company I work for, clients of mine directly, or 3rd parties my company deals with. Basically I am just applying a simple CYA algorithm to my writing.
So I had planned on breaking my above rule in a recent post of mine. I was rather impressed with a third party I had dealt with. They made our work a ton easier. I even learned their toolset and methodologies and was quite impressed. So originally my plan was to write about them and use one of their marketing tag lines as the title of the post. While writing the post turned out not to mention them by name, I just couldn’t break the habit, and I did not even write anything specific about what kind of project I worked on or any of that. But not really thinking or caring I left the title the same.
Not two days after posting the article I got an email that someone had posted a comment. Normally comments come from my wife, siblings, or parents so I went to read it. Instead it was posted by this unnamed third party I had worked with. By the CEO of that company no less. Essentially the email was a cease and desist notice to not use their trademarked phrase. I found this rather humorous for a number of reasons. One it was the CEO, who I had met at one point, taking the time to do this. Two the phrase is just a few common words strung together and was not being used to promote any product (making it technically not a trademark violation from my limited understanding). And Finally the speed at which I was requested to no longer use the phrase. I assume they use an automated search to find its use and my blog is indexed and therefore searchable.
Now even though I don’t think I was in violation of trademark, I had not really written about the company, at least buy name. So I changed the title of the post just to avoid any further animosity. I may work with this company again and I don’t need to have them upset at me. And of course I understand them going after this aggressively, trademark law requires that you actively defend your marks or you forfeit them. So I think no Harm no Foul. But still it was funny. Now I wonder if Techdirt will even notice that I linked to them. I am pretty sure they won’t care; they seem to encourage such behavior.
And no I won't say what the trademark was and deleted the comment on the previous post.
Before I can get into though I have to briefly mention that when I write my blogs I try not to mention people’s names, the company I work for, clients of mine directly, or 3rd parties my company deals with. Basically I am just applying a simple CYA algorithm to my writing.
So I had planned on breaking my above rule in a recent post of mine. I was rather impressed with a third party I had dealt with. They made our work a ton easier. I even learned their toolset and methodologies and was quite impressed. So originally my plan was to write about them and use one of their marketing tag lines as the title of the post. While writing the post turned out not to mention them by name, I just couldn’t break the habit, and I did not even write anything specific about what kind of project I worked on or any of that. But not really thinking or caring I left the title the same.
Not two days after posting the article I got an email that someone had posted a comment. Normally comments come from my wife, siblings, or parents so I went to read it. Instead it was posted by this unnamed third party I had worked with. By the CEO of that company no less. Essentially the email was a cease and desist notice to not use their trademarked phrase. I found this rather humorous for a number of reasons. One it was the CEO, who I had met at one point, taking the time to do this. Two the phrase is just a few common words strung together and was not being used to promote any product (making it technically not a trademark violation from my limited understanding). And Finally the speed at which I was requested to no longer use the phrase. I assume they use an automated search to find its use and my blog is indexed and therefore searchable.
Now even though I don’t think I was in violation of trademark, I had not really written about the company, at least buy name. So I changed the title of the post just to avoid any further animosity. I may work with this company again and I don’t need to have them upset at me. And of course I understand them going after this aggressively, trademark law requires that you actively defend your marks or you forfeit them. So I think no Harm no Foul. But still it was funny. Now I wonder if Techdirt will even notice that I linked to them. I am pretty sure they won’t care; they seem to encourage such behavior.
And no I won't say what the trademark was and deleted the comment on the previous post.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Vista isn’t that bad
Vista isn’t that bad… Those were the words from my company’s CTO over a year ago pleading with people to bring their laptops in to be “upgraded”. I found that really amusing. I was also one of the hold outs. Lucky for me my client did not allow Vista on their network so I was put on an exception list not to be up graded. Good. No annoying emails to ignore for a year. But then the project ended, and worse yet my computer needed servicing. Well that next thing you know I have to go in. And that means I get the “Upgrade” to Vista. Whohooo. This is something I had actually been dreading.
Funny as I work with technology I am certainly not what you call an early adopter of things. More like I have to be brow beaten into believing there is a reason to use a piece of new technology. I normally want to know what it is, what it does, and how affective it is. Then I avoid it for a year or two. Why, I don’t know this is just my way. I figure I am getting along fine the way things are why mess with them. Basically if it ain’t broke don’t fix it…. That is unless you are adding more power, then by all means fix the crap out of it. But new un-tried, un-needed before today things, nah forget it, when I absolutely need it or I have to replace something and only the upgraded version is available then I will get into it.
Some examples are as follows: I did not buy a GPS because google maps and mapquest worked fine for me. Or I could just get out the huge atlas I keep in my truck. But then I was going to England to work and I didn’t want to be distracted figuring out where to go and how to drive so I broke down and purchased a GPS. Now I love it. Hardly use it, but if I go somewhere new it comes along. Windows 98, I skipped both Windows ME (except on a laptop that came with it) and Windows 2000, and did not upgrade until XP. This turned out pretty good for me. I had a stable set up I reused on a dozen of machines and it worked great. Until wireless and some new apps why did I need to change? So I didn’t. I wouldn’t use Vista right now if I had the choice either.
Now last fall I did end up dealing with Vista long before I had planned. I bought the wife a laptop of x-mas and her birthday. I didn’t want to go through the trouble of rebuilding the thing and it came with Vista. Fine I didn’t have to use it, she did! Of course she really likes it because it is pretty but that was never my concern, in fact even on XP I would always run in classic mode. But now I have to upgrade. I have no choice. It is work’s laptop and they want it to run Vista. So I have been “side-graded” as I don’t really consider Vista to be an upgrade. It is prettier and I like the integrated search the rest of it I am not impressed. It is slower, crashes just as often, and now I have to search for things that I used to know where they existed. But it is not that bad, there was just no compelling reason to switch.
Funny as I work with technology I am certainly not what you call an early adopter of things. More like I have to be brow beaten into believing there is a reason to use a piece of new technology. I normally want to know what it is, what it does, and how affective it is. Then I avoid it for a year or two. Why, I don’t know this is just my way. I figure I am getting along fine the way things are why mess with them. Basically if it ain’t broke don’t fix it…. That is unless you are adding more power, then by all means fix the crap out of it. But new un-tried, un-needed before today things, nah forget it, when I absolutely need it or I have to replace something and only the upgraded version is available then I will get into it.
Some examples are as follows: I did not buy a GPS because google maps and mapquest worked fine for me. Or I could just get out the huge atlas I keep in my truck. But then I was going to England to work and I didn’t want to be distracted figuring out where to go and how to drive so I broke down and purchased a GPS. Now I love it. Hardly use it, but if I go somewhere new it comes along. Windows 98, I skipped both Windows ME (except on a laptop that came with it) and Windows 2000, and did not upgrade until XP. This turned out pretty good for me. I had a stable set up I reused on a dozen of machines and it worked great. Until wireless and some new apps why did I need to change? So I didn’t. I wouldn’t use Vista right now if I had the choice either.
Now last fall I did end up dealing with Vista long before I had planned. I bought the wife a laptop of x-mas and her birthday. I didn’t want to go through the trouble of rebuilding the thing and it came with Vista. Fine I didn’t have to use it, she did! Of course she really likes it because it is pretty but that was never my concern, in fact even on XP I would always run in classic mode. But now I have to upgrade. I have no choice. It is work’s laptop and they want it to run Vista. So I have been “side-graded” as I don’t really consider Vista to be an upgrade. It is prettier and I like the integrated search the rest of it I am not impressed. It is slower, crashes just as often, and now I have to search for things that I used to know where they existed. But it is not that bad, there was just no compelling reason to switch.
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