Coryisms

Andrea's 10 year old brother, Cory, is a very special little boy, and he drops little bombs of wisdom every day. We've decided to start documenting them in a blog affectionately titled "Coryisms". Check it out at coryisms.blogspot.com

- Jeff

Frogger always got hit on my watch

I had an interview today at Home Depot. What a waste. After waiting an hour to start (due to the hiring manager apparently unaware that doctor's appointments rarely run on schedule), I was informed that I was interviewing for a parking lot attendant position. 15 hours a week at minimum wage. Funny thing is I never applied for that position, though I did apply for half the supervisor positions. I guess that was their idea of a good slap in the face.

In better news, we made homemade salsa the other day. It's amazing, super cheap, and makes a lot. It might be the best salsa I've ever had. I've been looking for excuses to eat it ever since.

Well, back to watching Watchmen...

- Jeff

Testing 1,2,3

Apparently I can update this thing by sending emails from my phone. So now I can post things as I think of them, rather than trying to remember them later (and ultimately forgetting).

Cool.

- Jeff

No turning back now

Life is moving along. Don't think I'll be able to start school until January at this point. It was all just too quick to happen immediately. Better late than never.

I love my new phone. Incase you missed it. I have a new number. email me at jeff@stylsonrecords.com if you want it. If you have a Blackberry as well, let me know your PIN.

Andrea cut my hair off yesterday. Much better.

Methinks it's bed time. This was an utterly pointless blog. Oops.

- Jeff

I added a little last.fm thing on here so I don't have to tell you what I've been listening to. Cool?

Week 2...a little better than Week 1

Well, here I am in week two. I've yet to really get a hold on all of this and how it's going to turn out. I do my best to stay positive and hopeful, but there are definitely some rough times.

As Andrea's family will be staying with us for the foreseeable future now, we rearranged a lot of furniture to make it feel less "temporary" now. Previously, Cory (10 year old brother) was sharing a room with Shelley (their mother), Tim (19 year old brother) was camped out in our den, and Jaime (sister) was sleeping downstairs on the couch.

We took the two desks out of the den, turning it into a full-fledged bedroom again. My desk went into our bedroom, Tim's desk (really Andrea's but since she never uses it she's letting him borrow it) moved down into the living room. This has an added bonus - it forces Tim (who likes to hide out and sit in front of a computer all day) - to be around people and, as a result, be generally more social.

Now Jaime and Shelley are sharing a room (though Jaime only really goes in there to sleep), Tim and Cory share a room (though Tim likes the idea of sleeping on the couch so he only goes in there to get to his clothes), and our formerly spacious bedroom feels a lot more lot a small apartment again. It's a sacrifice I can live with though, it means we'll have a much easier time affording to live.

I'm trying to update/perfect my resume and get it out to as many places as possible. Hopefully I'll have good news soon on that front.

Last night we finished catching Jaime up on Heroes, the level of frustration she felt with the cliffhangers was extremely entertaining.

Anywho, back to work for me.

- Jeff

Sounds: Barenaked Ladies
Sights: The office I never got around to decorating.
Drinks: Coffee and bottled water

I hate having to do this

Asking for help is something I've never been good at, but I'll get to that in a bit.

We found out last night that the Saturn, our reliable car, has some major maintenance issues, and we were told, "trade it in while you still can". We were already planning on trading in the van, our non-reliable vehicle in October when it will qualify for the Cash for Clunkers bill, but now it turns out the van is the reliable vehicle. So we're now trying to figure out how much the Saturn would be worth as a trade, and we still owe 800-900 on it. The only problem is I have no idea how we're going to pull off replacing two vehicles in such a short time frame, especially now that our income situation has changed so drastically.

So here's the part that I hate forcing myself to do. We need help. Anything anyone can do to help us, even just advice or ideas we might not have considered, would be hugely appreciated. Please email me at jeff@stylsonrecords.com or call/text me from the phone number on my Facebook page (if we aren't friends on their that's my bad. let me know and I'll get that fixed).

To anyone who's been reading this, thank you. It means a lot that anyone cares enough to follow along, and writing this is already proving very therapeutic.

Speed Bumps

So more details have been fleshed out on the whole "Let's find out what happens when Jeff stops making money and instead starts spending lots of it" experiment.

Job at Hughes Properties
I will be remaining with Hughes for the next few weeks, as they find a suitable replacement for me. I don't want them to have to rush and get someone who wouldn't be good at it.

In the meantime I'm putting my resume out there for some sort of part time work. Ideally, I'd love to work part time in a lawfirm. It'd be good experience for me. I'd also be up for part time work for an apartment complex, since I already have that job down. Something around 20 hours a week.

Living Situation
We've asked Andrea's family if they'd be willing to stay with us and contribute to the rent, utilities, cable, etc. Andrea's mother agreed, as it will save everyone, including her, a noticeable amount of $.

The big key here is Andrea/Jaime getting along with their mother. It'll take a concerted effort from all three of them, but I think it can be done.

Funding
Here's the big hurdle. We've figured out how to make our monthly bills and income balance, but so far paying for tuition, books, and gas is completely in the red.

Calhoun Community College (where I'm wrapping up my basics to begin with before I transfer to UAH) has a deadline of April for receiving a FAFSA. Futher, according to federal guidelines, I'm still considered a dependent of my parents when it comes to school, so it goes by my parents' 2008 tax returns. Even though my mom was no longer receiving income by fall of last year, that tax return essentially says the government expects my parents to foot the entire bill.

However, as many of you know, my parents quit their jobs, sold their home, bought a boat, and are about to start sailing around the world, so they don't exactly have an excess of money laying around.

My only shot with Federal Aid is to plead my case to Calhoun's financial aid department and see if I can be declared independent status by means of special circumstances, and hope that they can somehow work around that deadline.

Otherwise, I'm trying to get private student loans. I've already checked, and I don't qualify. I went by my current income, which more than qualifies, but my credit - though good for my age apparently - is still not quite good enough. I have to find a cosigner with great credit and at least $12,000 in annual income. It doesn't sound too hard, but so far I've found no one.

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out this cosigner thing, or get granted special circumstances. Right now it's playing out day-to-day.

In Other News
Because my previous phone was a work phone, I have gotten a new phone and number. Let me know if you want it.

- Jeff

Current Sounds - The hum of the office equipment
Current Drink - Code Red
Currently Reading - Rereading Harry Potter 6 in hopes will be able to afford to see it next week

I really hope I know what I'm doing...

Today, I made one of the most difficult (and probably smartest) decisions I've ever had to make. I am going back to school. I will not stop until I have a law degree. I will soon begin burying myself in so much debt that I will have no choice but to finish.

A few years ago, a decision like this wouldn't have been too life changing, but for all intensive purposes, these days I'm one of those full-fledged "adult" types, with bills, responsibilities, people depending on me, etc. With that in mind, there are many obvious questions, with what should have been - to me at least - obvious answers.

1) Why now?

For the last few months, I have been diving further and further into a stress-filled abyss that was my career (up until today). For awhile I thought it was just a couple rough and busy months, and that it would all subside. Then a week or two ago I started looking around me. None of us ever seem happy to be there. Sure, we're glad we all have jobs, and there are certainly worse jobs out there, but most days we get paid to be yelled at and respond nicely. Maybe I'm just not masochistic enough to be cut out for property management.

2) Why, of all things, a law degree?

The money is an obvious answer, but it's not my biggest one. For a long time now, law has always fascinated me. And, unlike numerous other things that fascinate me (science, music, wooden fruit, why candles burn unevenly, etc), I might actually be good at it (so long science, wooden fruit, and music that should be taken seriously) and I can make money doing it (candles, wooden fruit, and music).

I actually considered law a few times before, but up until now I've never really been a big fan of school. Which brings me to...

3) You're not dumb. You might even be smart. But surely you've noticed that you and school have never really mixed well. What are you thinking?

It's true. I haven't exactly excelled in the education system since around 7th grade or so, but I also know that all of my failures in school so far have resulted from laziness and/or apathy. For a long time, I really believed I could make something of myself without finishing college. I did surprisingly well at it, too, but I know I can do better, and I will not accept anything less this time around.

Anywho, there are a lot of details I haven't covered yet in tonight's entry. Some of that is because we're still figuring it out, some of that is because I'm tired. More tomorrow...

- Jeff

Style (The Band)

Starting now, you can stream or download everything Dan and I recorded as Style (The Band). For now it's only on last.fm, but when I figure out how to get everything up on other places, I'll get it there too. The mp3s that are available to download are high-quality, but if anyone's interested in CD-quality, I'll try and figure out how to get that up as well, whether it's through torrents or something else.

Anywho, Click Here to stream or download all the Style stuff.

New Place, Same Rambling

Well, our website has become a much more difficult task than we'd planned. In the meantime, I shall ramble here. Woohoo.

It's the 4th of July again. That translates to laziness and food.

Sarah Palin...that's really all I have to say.

Once I figure this out a little better I will find a way to post all the music that Dan and I made awhile back. I figure some of you might enjoy it. I say "you" like there's anyone reading this...

That's all for now.

Congrats to The Swellers signing to Fueled By Ramen.

- Jeff

Audio Stimulation: Me singing

Video Stimulation: Heroes Season 2

Liquid Stimulation: Root Beer till later, then Upside Down Squirrel