back from the road trip
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Got back at around 8:30p. The Sony is all settled in at its new home. We took a copy of Trophy Hunter 2003 in case my dad's old version (the very first one, I believe), won't run on the new system. He asked if his Jack Nickolaus(sp?) golf game would work on the new computer.. I told him I wasn't sure, since it is also an older game, and sometimes older software just won't run on the new OS (winXP).So, if it won't run, and he doesn't get himself a new copy before Christmas, that is something I will probably put on my list to buy for him as a gift.
The temperature up there during the day wasn't too bad, I guess. It was around 94 degrees, I think. But that is only two degrees cooler than it was at our house before we left. (we're basing the temps off of the digital thermometer in our truck). It was at 2:30p, when we got there. When we headed back home at 6:30, it was down to 73 degrees according to our truck. Niice. :o)
And what was the reading when we drove into our driveway when we got home? 94 degrees. Woot! It dropped a whole two degrees since we left Phoenix! Bleh.
It was a pleasant trip, I think. A little stuffy in their house since they didn't have any A/C running, but other than that, it was good. Got there, set up the computer, then took a tour of the house (since the last time I'd been there was before my parents had moved in and I'd only seen parts of it from the outside looking in windows). Also had my digital camera (whose battery, I found, is going bad.. it said "full" after I charged it last night, but it only had 60 minutes on it, where it used to have twice that at full charge. grr...), and my mom requested I take some pictures of some various faults here & there about the house to record what was already broken before they moved in. Cracked tile in the kitchen, a nick in the countertop by the kitchen sink, some burn marks in the carpet near the fireplace, bleach marks on the carpet in a bedroom, pictures of how the closet doors (the folding kind) won't close properly, the gates outside either broken or set so far from the fence they won't even latch.. and a few places inside the house that appeared to have some water damage, as well as a crack running down a wall in the living room, which appeared to be "repaired" but it was still obvious the crack was there.
She wanted to record them as proof that they had not caused this damage, in addition to recording them for the land lady in case my parents ever need to have them repaired, which would be done by the rental management company, and charged to the landlady. She also asked me if I could try to locate the land lady in California so my parents can have her direct contact info in case the mgmt company tries pulling the wool over her eyes with inflated repair charges.
Anyway, we had dinner (pork chops in a home-made shake-n-bake type breading consisting of oats, cornmeal, and various spices; baked potatoes; white rice; and cauliflower-leek puree (potato substitute, for me and whoever else wanted any)), and then afterwards I showed a couple of programs on the Sony to my parents... Quicken & Trophy Hunter 2003.
I also had worked on a "bills budget" plan for them last night before bed and showed them the file I had typed up, how the income vs. bills compared, and how to break up the amount paid to the bills monthly between my dad's Social Security check and my brother's income (VA check for school, which can be used for school stuff as well as general living expenses).
I didn't quite get to launch into the "You'll do it my way or else" speech, mainly because my brother was not present. Well, he was, but he had Reserves yesterday and was suffering from what we assume to be heat exhaustion, today. He spent nearly all the time he was there either laying down on his bed, or in the bathroom with dry heaves, since he can't keep anything down. If he doesn't improve by morning, his girlfriend is going to be taking him down to the VA Hospital.
So all I could do was show my parents the basics of using Quicken, and the bills-breakdown file I typed up in Notepad. However, the only way this setup will work, is if my brother gets control of how he spends his damn money. He needs to realize that his name is on that lease. My parents are just listed as "residents", they could not be applicants because of their recent bankruptcy. And to even qualify for the place, my parents' neighbors back at their old house agreed to co-sign with my brother in order for them qualify to be able to even rent the place. So, if he doesn't put forth his share of the bills (his percentage equals the rent and car insurance, when they get it), not only will he be making his own credit worse, but he'll be screwing with someone else's credit. People who went out on a limb for my family by co-signing with him.
I'm sure they'll just love it if he defaults on his share of things and puts a big fat red mark on their credit rating He's gonna be living there once the semester is overwith, and his daughter may be living there if he is able to obtain custody of her, and he signed that form knowing he'd be responsible for part of the bills at that house. The sooner he realizes this, the better.
Sure, my parents will do their best to make sure the rent gets paid if he can't fork it over so they don't lose the place, but since my dad's work is sporadic (self-employed auto-body repair), their sole steady source of income is his social security check, which by itself barely covers the rent. My mother's stress levels need to come down before she can get a job she'd be a reliable worker at. My sister is living up there as well, but until they can get a second car running, she's stuck at the house like my mom when my dad is down in Phoenix finishing up work on one of his last jobs here.
It's not like my brother didn't agree to help cover expenses, so he needs to reign in his impulses, which include being a sucker and paying his girlfriend's car payment when it was overdue and the car about to be repo'd. I'm sorry, since when is he responsible for her car? He may be using it to get around when she's in town, but that would constitute maybe gas money, or part of the car payment, at most. Not the whole of it. It's her car, in her name, she is responsible for it. If she can't pay for it and it gets repo'd, that's her problem. Just means that he may be stuck on campus during the school week, but big whoop. That's why his dorm room is on campus. Duh. My dad can pick him up at the end of the week when he's back in Prescott if my brother doesn't want to be confined to campus over the weekend.
I think the reason this money thing with my brother pisses me off so much (and my dad, too, is kind of bad about handling money), is because I used to be the same way, once upon a time. But I was able to get it under control (with a little help from Josh, of course. ;o) ), so why can't they?
Grr.....
Wow, leave it to a mention of my brother's irresponsibility to turn this into a big, fat, rant! hehe.
That's all, folks...
And what was the reading when we drove into our driveway when we got home? 94 degrees. Woot! It dropped a whole two degrees since we left Phoenix! Bleh.
It was a pleasant trip, I think. A little stuffy in their house since they didn't have any A/C running, but other than that, it was good. Got there, set up the computer, then took a tour of the house (since the last time I'd been there was before my parents had moved in and I'd only seen parts of it from the outside looking in windows). Also had my digital camera (whose battery, I found, is going bad.. it said "full" after I charged it last night, but it only had 60 minutes on it, where it used to have twice that at full charge. grr...), and my mom requested I take some pictures of some various faults here & there about the house to record what was already broken before they moved in. Cracked tile in the kitchen, a nick in the countertop by the kitchen sink, some burn marks in the carpet near the fireplace, bleach marks on the carpet in a bedroom, pictures of how the closet doors (the folding kind) won't close properly, the gates outside either broken or set so far from the fence they won't even latch.. and a few places inside the house that appeared to have some water damage, as well as a crack running down a wall in the living room, which appeared to be "repaired" but it was still obvious the crack was there.
She wanted to record them as proof that they had not caused this damage, in addition to recording them for the land lady in case my parents ever need to have them repaired, which would be done by the rental management company, and charged to the landlady. She also asked me if I could try to locate the land lady in California so my parents can have her direct contact info in case the mgmt company tries pulling the wool over her eyes with inflated repair charges.
Anyway, we had dinner (pork chops in a home-made shake-n-bake type breading consisting of oats, cornmeal, and various spices; baked potatoes; white rice; and cauliflower-leek puree (potato substitute, for me and whoever else wanted any)), and then afterwards I showed a couple of programs on the Sony to my parents... Quicken & Trophy Hunter 2003.
I also had worked on a "bills budget" plan for them last night before bed and showed them the file I had typed up, how the income vs. bills compared, and how to break up the amount paid to the bills monthly between my dad's Social Security check and my brother's income (VA check for school, which can be used for school stuff as well as general living expenses).
I didn't quite get to launch into the "You'll do it my way or else" speech, mainly because my brother was not present. Well, he was, but he had Reserves yesterday and was suffering from what we assume to be heat exhaustion, today. He spent nearly all the time he was there either laying down on his bed, or in the bathroom with dry heaves, since he can't keep anything down. If he doesn't improve by morning, his girlfriend is going to be taking him down to the VA Hospital.
So all I could do was show my parents the basics of using Quicken, and the bills-breakdown file I typed up in Notepad. However, the only way this setup will work, is if my brother gets control of how he spends his damn money. He needs to realize that his name is on that lease. My parents are just listed as "residents", they could not be applicants because of their recent bankruptcy. And to even qualify for the place, my parents' neighbors back at their old house agreed to co-sign with my brother in order for them qualify to be able to even rent the place. So, if he doesn't put forth his share of the bills (his percentage equals the rent and car insurance, when they get it), not only will he be making his own credit worse, but he'll be screwing with someone else's credit. People who went out on a limb for my family by co-signing with him.
I'm sure they'll just love it if he defaults on his share of things and puts a big fat red mark on their credit rating He's gonna be living there once the semester is overwith, and his daughter may be living there if he is able to obtain custody of her, and he signed that form knowing he'd be responsible for part of the bills at that house. The sooner he realizes this, the better.
Sure, my parents will do their best to make sure the rent gets paid if he can't fork it over so they don't lose the place, but since my dad's work is sporadic (self-employed auto-body repair), their sole steady source of income is his social security check, which by itself barely covers the rent. My mother's stress levels need to come down before she can get a job she'd be a reliable worker at. My sister is living up there as well, but until they can get a second car running, she's stuck at the house like my mom when my dad is down in Phoenix finishing up work on one of his last jobs here.
It's not like my brother didn't agree to help cover expenses, so he needs to reign in his impulses, which include being a sucker and paying his girlfriend's car payment when it was overdue and the car about to be repo'd. I'm sorry, since when is he responsible for her car? He may be using it to get around when she's in town, but that would constitute maybe gas money, or part of the car payment, at most. Not the whole of it. It's her car, in her name, she is responsible for it. If she can't pay for it and it gets repo'd, that's her problem. Just means that he may be stuck on campus during the school week, but big whoop. That's why his dorm room is on campus. Duh. My dad can pick him up at the end of the week when he's back in Prescott if my brother doesn't want to be confined to campus over the weekend.
I think the reason this money thing with my brother pisses me off so much (and my dad, too, is kind of bad about handling money), is because I used to be the same way, once upon a time. But I was able to get it under control (with a little help from Josh, of course. ;o) ), so why can't they?
Grr.....
Wow, leave it to a mention of my brother's irresponsibility to turn this into a big, fat, rant! hehe.
That's all, folks...
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