catching up

The week following saw sissy's birthday and then the niece's senior and final dance recital/going away to college celebration. Or in other words there was more planning, running around town, and executing said plans on the event days. This was on top of completing my parents honey do list in which I'm happy to report that things are going as planned. Many changes/fixes have taken place making their day to day lives easier again. This was a busy month to say the least and I'm glad everything is done and winding down.

It's been three weeks back in the city (one I happen to care little for) and I think I'm just about ready to leave. I've still got about three to four more months before I depart and I'm hoping they'll pass quietly and without incident. 

Financially I've seen money go out at an alarming pace but this was expected in part from my trip and all the family related events. I've been reviewing my options for short term employment but am not sure what exactly I want to do at this time. Here are a few of the options I'm considering.

• IT work - This is the least desireable to me because I kind of want to distance myself from tech work and move into other areas. The reason it's still on the table is because of how much I can earn in a very short amount of time. 
• Retail work - It's easier compared to what I used to do, and there are plenty of jobs available. The main drawback is how managers in this genre generally treat you poorly, and the pay is low. I'm just not sure if I'll make enough to save for later. 
• Amazon - I'm seriously considering taking a seasonal position at a fulfillment center. The rate of pay definitely allows me to save despite how physically demanding (I've read) the work is. However this is still a plus given my historically high lipid profile.
• Cash out the 401k - I know, I know, I know. Everyone says to leave it where it is. Here's the thing. Despite paying taxes and a penalty for early withdrawal, it would allow me to pursue work at a very very relaxed pace. The other thing is those penalties get washed out at tax time because I earned less this year than the year prior. I still managed to collect a tax return to boot. I learned this from the last couple of down turns.

Now that I've got some time to myself I'm going to finally reconnect with some friends.

nine days

... since I arrived back in CA. The last week has been differently busier than the nine days prior. After getting past the initial welcome back crush of family and friends I turned to unloading, unpacking, getting moved in, and everything stashed away in a matter of two days. 

The relaunch of Bistro Chienne was a success!

The first order of business was getting my sister's dog (Oreo) onto Bridgette's feeding schedule and brand of food (Acana). Not a difficult task since Oreo is a tubber that eats anything at anytime. She gets smaller portions since the food is healthier/richer and is finally losing all the leftovers weight my parents put on her. 

Samsung Tab 2 7"

Second order of business was getting a (late) Mother's & Father's day gift for the folks. Sissy and I decided to bring them up to date tech and got them both tablets this year. By decided I mean that we took them window shopping to find the ones they and our wallets liked. Luckily they're fairly tech and internet savvy so the learning curve wasn't too steep. It also hurts none to have a tech support pro as a son whose living under your roof and ready to help on demand. The grandson expidited the presentation of the gifts, and unwrapping before devouring a bowl of rice at our Father's day lunch.

Om nom nom nom nom!

We didn't even get a chance to catch our breath before we moved onto the next piece of family business. My niece's graduation from high school was in two days. Clothes were dry cleaned, hair was done, and presents were prepared for the big day. I don't think any of us could be happier or prouder for her at this moment. She even gave the farewell speech and rocked it! We've got about 15 years to prep for the next one which should be just enough time.

Little brother is watching you, always.

We had our celebration dinner at the niece's favorite restaurant. The Melting Pot. My father had never had fondue before in his life. I pee'd myself when he almost tried to use two of the fondue forks like chopsticks. During dinner a video played of my niece's pictures and dance recital videos throughout the years. It was kind of surreal eating really great food while crying at the same time. I would do it again though. I'm seriously so proud of my Silly Silly Sabi's accomplishments.

Familia!

Now I'm getting caught up with personal pursuits and more importantly seeing all the friends I've held at bay since returning. Odd, but I'm busier now that I'm not working than when I was.

take the long way home: part four

Not a single elk was seen

We were treated to some of the prettiest scenery on our way down the mountain. Matter of fact it was so pretty that I tried to find another RV park to spend more time up there. All we found were seasonal RV parks which were all booked months in advance and filled to capacity. We did manage to find several mostly unoccupied state parks without hookups. I really regretted my decision (the week prior) to hold off buying a portable generator for the sake of saving money. As cool as it was up there I still needed the extra power my  now 3 year old deep cycle battery was incapable of holding long term. There were a few other reasons we had to have hookups as well.

View from the Mogollon Rim

We pressed on and landed in Payson for the night. The park we settled into was on the edge of town and not as close to the wilderness as we were hoping for. This was made up for by the quaintness and good food the town had to offer. We went for a nice walking tour of the place and then picked up some dinner to go at Gerardo's Firewood Cafe. The pasghetti and meatballs was so worth it! After being at this for almost a week now we both settled into our new routines. A glass of scotch while I watched another episode of Kitchen Nightmares and the beagle .... well she had found an enjoyable yet peculiar way in which she repeatedly ended the night.

I saw this every freaking night

Our last stop before finally making our way into Phoenix to visit with some friends was Camp Verde, AZ. This place is at about a 3000 ft elevation and we definitely felt it's lack of effect on the heat compared to where we had just come from. Most of our time there was spent either inside the truck or trailer with the AC running full blast. The park we stayed at had some rather colorful locals residing there, but none who were life threatening to us. Just slightly off in a fun way. We found this out when we hung out and had lots of beers as we hoped around from RV to RV in a kind of full timers version of a pub crawl. In the morning, while I was trying to fight my hangover, I made a discovery. Well ok, it was really more of something I had missed completely. When I left TX one of my stops was to be the Gila cliff dwellers site in NM. I had to scrub that because the Park service had closed it to the public from the 3rd to the 7th. The worst part came when I learned that even if it wasn't closed I, the beagle and her kind are not welcome there. Montezuma's Castle was not only just a ten minute drive from where I was staying, but they also Welcomed dogs there. We packed up, drove in, and spent most of the morning there while I got my Anthropological geek on! Bridgette was treated to a couple of bits of steak again that night.

A slight fixer upper

The next three days were spent down in Phoenix with a catching up with childhood friend and his family. A nice benefit was that his house was built on a one acre lot so I didn't have to find a place to stash my rig. He was also generous enough to provide power to keep the AC running and everything inside from melting. We stlll also slept in it during our stay despite his offer to put me up in the house. It was more out of convenience that we did that than any other reason, and the beagle had to her hind legs on back of the couch thing or else she wouldn't get a good nights rest. Our stay with them was Great, but long overdue. The last time I had visited was ten years ago and I reazlied then that I need to be more diligent with keeping in touch. I will most definitely make plans to visit my friend and his family again. Only this time it will be in the winter when we can enjoy being outside a bit more and I also plan to cook for his clan as a Thank You!

On Monday evening we made our final destination in southern CA to stay with my family. We're staying here for the summer'ish before moving on again. Our timetable depends mostly on getting some work and adding to our savings. This was a fun yet hectic nine days for us. I'm looking forward to doing it again but at a more relaxed and stationary pace.