drumcorps, the ongoing saga of my job 2 Comments

Toledo Drum Corps

I’m crashing early tonight, so I’m going to keep it brief.

I don’t think I mentioned it here yet, but I got a new job within Sky Bank. As of today, I’m working in Loan Corrections, and driving 15 or 20 minutes to work across town instead of 30-35 minutes down to BG. So far, I have no complaints… except having to be at work at 7am this morning to unpack my desk and get everything situated. That, plus the fact that there’s very little beginner work coming in for me to work on. I think it’ll be cool once I learn everything I need to know, though. It’ll be a while, I’m sure, since there are so many different functions that Loan Corrections does.

On Saturday night, I headed out to UT’s Glass Bowl to watch the first drumcorps show of the season. Arrived early—was planning to meet Garza and his group at 6:45 by the ticket booth, and arrived at 6:20 instead—and got to schmooze with several people I hadn’t expected to see. A couple techs (instructors) from Northern Aurora, the first corps I marched; a couple alumni; a couple members of the LakeShoremen; and my high school band director. I shit you not. We must have talked for a good ten or 15 minutes or so. Very cool.

Oh, and the nice lady at the Bluecoats souvenir booth recognized me! Sure, she might have gotten help from the “Diana” embroidered on my jacket and the 1997 Bluecoats member shirt I was wearing, but hey. Even if she did cheat with context clues (which I don’t think she did), she gave me the best compliment ever: she told me that she recognized me because I hadn’t changed  much.

Bless you, Souvie Booth Volunteer Lady, bless your pea-pickin’ heart. Little did you know that I gained 50 pounds after I left corps, and only just recently lost it again.

photography

I Need More Toys…

So, after making pretty much an impulse buy on eBay (I didn’t mull it over for two days before bidding, which makes it an impulse buy for me), I’m contemplating buying myself a bigger, more premeditated camera toy: a new case. My current case just doesn’t have enough room for…

+ Minolta X370s (manual focus)
+ 28mm wide angle lens
+ 50mm lens
+ 80-200mm zoom lens
+ 2x teleconverter just purchased on eBay
+ macro filters (lets me get in reeeeal close)
+ polarizer (makes the sky bluer and water less reflective)
+ hotshoe flash
+ fresh and used film
+ various manuals, lens and body caps, notepads, and other accessories

The dilemma has been whether to just keep my current camera bag and pick and choose what I bring on any given shoot (a “shoot” for me being a trip to the Ren Fest, Fort Meigs, the zoo, the Apple Butter Festival, a drumcorps show, or other interesting local flavor) or get a new bag that can hold all my gear but that has the potential to be a touch cumbersome. The jury’s still out for me, I think.

Beth, Erk, other photo-types—any help?

randomness

Thunderstorms Lower IQ’s Exponentially. News at 11.

It should NOT take me an hour to get home to Toledo from BG. It should not.

Now, I’ll admit, I gladly drove 50 mph when I could barely see the SUV in front of me even with the wipers on high. But there were several places between the Lucas County line and home where traffic was slowed or stopped for no goddamned good reason.

As I was approaching the corner of Hill and Holland-Sylvania, just about 20 minutes after I would normally be home, I saw Aaron driving the opposite direction. I caught his eye—he was about to turn left onto the road I was on, and I was about to turn right onto the road he was on. We waved to each other, and as he turned left and drove past me, he warned, “Be careful—there’s deep water down Hill,” which was the road he’d just come from. I barely had time to yell “thanks” before he was gone.

And he was right. The most potentially treacherous part of my journey home was the least congested, and I felt perfectly fine going 15 mph or so through the almost-wheel-deep water.

But everyplace else—I-475, Airport and Holland-Sylvania, and my entire trip down Holland-Sylvania—WTF?! Get your heads out of your asses, people. It’s just a thunderstorm.

randomness

I’m gonna be old and broke…

I’ve always joked around that I’ll get my student loans paid off just about the time I retire. Sadly, it looks like that’s not far from the truth. When you consider that my education cost just about half of what our house cost, and we’ll have that paid off in another 30 years… If I keep paying $160 toward interest and $15 toward principal, that’s about when I’ll have my student loan paid off, too.

The good news, though, is that I have a pretty good start on my 401(k) plan. Just gotta stay with Sky for another three years to become fully vested and reap the rewards of the sweet, sweet profit sharing.

Not to be a financial evangelist, but considering that Social Security could well be defunct by the time we young’uns retire, I would highly recommend that you—yes, you—enroll in your company’s 401(k) plan, if they have one. It’s worth it to save early—I only put back $50 a month, and I’ve already got a pretty decent chunk of change in my plan. Might even keep Aaron and me sated for an entire month or two of retirement! 🙂

Points to ponder…