Christmas

Christmas, overall, was good.

Kayla's uncle Steven (or is it Stephen?) is visiting Maryland, so he's spent Christmas Eve and Day with us so far. After we opened gifts yesterday morning, we went to Grandma's house for the usual gift opening there, and--something new--Christmas Brunch. I guess they decided not to deal with the hassel of a full-on sit-down Christmas dinner.

Mom, Dad and I left earlier than everyone else, and I spent the extra time between our getting home and dinner time finishing Dragons of Winter Night and reading the book Grandma wrote about herself. There was much distraction--I kept getting fascinated by Jason's Erector set. I've also decided that I'm not going to read Dragons of Spring Dawning, etc, unless I have nothing else more interesting or new to read.

Dinner was breakfast, since the brunch wasn't all that. Then, we all played Halo--well, Dad, Anna, Tim, Kayla, Stephen and I did anyway--Kimba and Mom don't do video games, and Jason's grounded until tomorrow. Around eleven, I decided to stop and take a shower before heading upstairs to relax a bit before bedtime.

Gifts I Gave (and the people I gave them to):

• Jason: Gryffindor silk tie and lambswool scarf set
• Kayla: Guitar Hero Aerosmith for PS2
• Anna: An authentic replica of Lucius Malfoy's walking stick/wand
• Kimba: A "teaching bag" (as she calls it) with her name on it, and Travel Scrabble
• Dad: A digital photo frame, with 13 pictures of the family and special occasions (such as senior class pics, Mom & Dad's wedding, and graduations)
• Mom: Two pair of jeans in size 10Long, since she fits my size jeans now

Gifts I Received (I can never remember who gave me what, but anything with a * is something that was on my list):

• Electronic Phase 10
• Sudoku the board game
• The Story of My Life by Grandma S. (the book about her that I talked about earlier)
• A book of wide-staff musical manuscript paper*
• What Would MacGyver Do?
• The Year of Living Biblically
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Musical Composition*

A Weekend

Friday was Anna's birthday, so I ditched the Haven to have dinner at Mom & Dad's. First, I went home to pack for the weekend though--no sense in going home Friday just to come back Saturday, after all. I didn't get my stuff back upstairs from the living room though, so I'll have to do that tonight.

I got to Mom & Dad's, then we did birthday stuff like having dinner (breakfast stuff) and Anna opening her presents. She got a pretty nice haul, and I can't remember it all, so I'm not going to list any of it except for the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map.

Saturday morning, I had a doctor's appointment at 9, so I woke up around 8. I went to the doctor, and she said that it was probably just a really bad sprain, but I should get an x-ray just in case. She also said that, if it is just a sprain, then I should keep doing what I'd been doing to help it heal--with more walking on it now--plus take 600mg of Ibuprofen twice a day even if it doesn't hurt much, since Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory medication and will help keep the swelling down. That's one $20 co-pay down the drain.

So, I went to the FMH center at Rose Hill (off of Oppossumtown Pike) and got my x-ray--another $30 co-pay down the drain. That was my last $50, which I was hoping to spend on a haircut and about $30-worth of essentials like food (I don't need much at the moment, and can get by on what I have, but would've liked to get some variety). Oh well.

The radiologist was going to call the doctor (who would then call me) within a couple of hours if they found any abnormalities--read: fractures--in my x-rays, so since I didn't get a phone call all day Saturday, I figure it's not broken. Thank goodness.

Not much else happened the rest of Saturday, but yesterday I woke up around 10 or so and Anna and I watched some TV before she, Kayla and I went with Kimba to her volleyball game. Every Sunday afternoon, Kimba plays volleyball at the old armory downtown with some friends from high school and such.

As we were getting ready to leave, Kimba says to me, "After victory ice cream, we're going to Master Cuts to get you a haircut, which I'm paying for." I had already been planning on getting a haircut eventually, but since it wasn't a priority and I'd just spent my last $50 the day before, I figured it would be at least another week (I get paid this Friday) before I got that haircut.

She was all like, "It is too a priority," and made me get the haircut yesterday anyway--and even bought me some Paul Mitchell shampoo and conditioner, which is expensive stuff, especially when you consider that I haven't even come close to running out of the last shampoo and conditioner I bought yet. I'm not going to just stop using my current stuff--that would be wasteful--but once I run out, I'll use the Paul Mitchell stuff. I don't know if I'll be able to afford to buy more of it after that's gone though--brand-name salon products are insanely priced!

I'm currently using the Dove Go Fresh Therapy Cool Moisture Shampoo (25.4 fl. oz. Cucumber & Green Tea Scent--$7.99) and the Dove Go Fresh Therapy Cool Moisture Conditioner (same amount, also in Cucumber & Green Tea Scent--also $7.99). The Paul Mitchell stuff Kimba got for me was the Lavender Mint Moisturizing stuff (10.14 fl. oz. each of the shampoo and conditioner), and they cost Kimba something like $12 or $13 each! That's almost twice as much cost for less than half the product! It's ridiculous! I can barely afford to buy shampoo and conditioner at the rates (volume and price) I do right now, so I like to get as much as I can in one bottle, and it lasts longer.

Don't get me wrong--I like the haircut a lot, so I'm not complaining about that, and I'm grateful to Kimba for paying for the haircut and the shampoo/conditioner. I just don't think it's necessary to buy such overly-expensive shampoo and conditioner when there are probably generic brands (or at least less-expensive name brands) that would do the job just as well.

I don't know how to find those inexpensive yet effective brands, which is why I've been switching brands after every bottle to try and undo the damage that one does with the next while I try to find a good one--it's a vicious cycle. The people at salons are definitely not going to recommend any such products like that though. It's their job to sell the expensive stuff that's in their inventory, not recommend stuff that customers can buy elsewhere for half the cost and twice the volume.

Anyway, enough about hair care. I shall now briefly summarize my plan for the next few days.

Today I will be going to the allergist after work for my shots, and then I will go home and clean up the mess I made in the living room, since stairs are now nowhere near the problem they were a week ago, and I can confidently say that the extra weight of whatever I need to carry won't hurt any more than if I weren't carrying it.

Then, I will probably either read, watch TV (or a movie), or possibly do some writing while I do some laundry.

Tomorrow, I will go to the Haven after work (yay, school's out!) and have Gene catch me up on the Friday night D&D game, since I've missed the last two sessions. If I haven't done my laundry by the time I get home from the Haven tomorrow, I will do it then.

I have no idea what I'm going to do from Wednesday on, other than the usual stuff.

Ankle Update . . . Among Other Things

When my dad got to my house on Friday, he made me pack up to go to my parents' house. I had to crabwalk all the way up the stairs to my bedroom, get my clothes bag and my laptop case, as well as my backpack (to carry my research materials in), pack some clothes (I ended up forgetting my hairbrush), and then go back downstairs to get the computer and the books.

Dad got back before I was even finished with the clothes. So he helped me carry a couple of the bags back downstairs, and I packed those too. Then we went to my parents' house.

I didn't actually do anything with the astronomy paper on Friday evening. Instead, Anna, Kayla and I started watching season 4 of Red vs. Blue, and then Kayla fell asleep and she was going to watch Star Wars with Dad anyway, so we stopped RvB for the time being.

Saturday, I woke up extra late, then when I got up to go to the bathroom (I was on the crutches) Kimba was already in there, so I had to wait. For some reason, I started to feel like I was going to pass out. Luckily, I didn't before I actually got into the bathroom, but I did spend quite a few minutes with my eyes closed and my head leaning on the bathroom sink area. After that, I went into the living room as quickly as I could (I've never had to use crutches before, so using them properly and quickly took some getting used to) and flopped on the couch. That was around 9:30am.

I didn't fully get up again until around noon or so. Everybody was nice about getting things for me like food and the ice pack, which I wouldn't have been able to carry with the crutches.

Sometime in the evening, Jason, Kayla and Anna decided to play some games, but I had to write my paper. So they played Electronic Banking Monopoly while I wrote my paper on quasars. I'll post it in the same place I'm going to post my school newspaper articles later.

I think we might've played some video games after that, but I can't remember very clearly. I know we at least did some video game bowling and played Halo 2 sometime this weekend.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. More games and stuff. Anna and I watched Gilmore Girls on the projector for a while before everybody got home from church, then I think we finished up the Star Wars movies.

Monday, Anna took me to work, and then Dad picked me up so we could both get our allergy shots. Then he took me back to their house, and Anna, Kayla and I finished watching Red vs. Blue season 4. Only one more season to go!

I got home around 10:30-ish on Monday night, and basically just read the book I'd borrowed from Sister G.

Yesterday, I drove myself to work; it was uncomfortable, but nowhere near as painful as it was on Friday. After work, I went to take my astronomy final, and turned in my paper and night sky observations. The final was a cinch.

When I came home, I finished the book while I started my laundry (after dragging the basket from my room as I scooted downstairs) and then tried to watch the shows I'd recorded on my laptop. But alas, apparently my laptop is not able to read DVDs that I've recorded myself. So I had to go back upstairs and watch them on my TV. That wasn't too bad; all I had to bring were my pillows and the DVD.

I watched the Bones from May 5th, the Smallville from May 8th, and the Numb3rs from May 9th. When I went to delete that Bones episode, I accidentally deleted the second Robin Hood episode I'd taped, so there will be no watching it "just to see if it's really as bad as it seemed the first time."

Before I left the house on Friday, I'd forgotten to set the DirecTV box to autotune to Fox for Monday's Bones episode, so I dragged my carcass (and my pillows, as well as the DragonLance Chronicles novels) downstairs again and found this past Monday's episode on Sidereel. I finally finished watching it around 2:30 this morning, so I am officially caught up on all of my shows.

SPOILER WARNING!!!!!

But holy crap, Booth got shot at the end of the episode! There were no previews on the Sidereel video, so I tried to find the trailer video online for next week's episode (it's the season finale on the 19th). I didn't find any trailer videos, but I did find spoiler pictures in which Booth is up and about, seemingly without trouble from the bullet wound, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

END SPOILER WARNING

Now, here I am typing this up, and I have almost nothing else to say. After work, I'll probably watch a movie before reading some more. I might even fold my laundry, even though I won't be taking it upstairs until after my foot is feeling good enough to actually walk up and down the stairs. The swelling went down considerably yesterday, but it actually hurts slightly more now than it did when it was all puffy. I think the swelling must have helped to dull the pain or something.

I also have bruises on my foot that aren't really in the places that my foot hurts. One of them is on the complete opposite side of my foot, on the instep side of my heel. The other is on the outside of my foot, and runs from my heel to the ball of my foot, just below my ankle. The truly tender part of my foot--the part that actually hurts--is my ankle itself, and the only bruise there is just above the actual bone and slightly heel-ward. The top of my foot on the outside is also a bit tender (although not much at all), and has some light-greenish bruising on it. Maybe I'll post some pictures later.

Ah, refreshing!

Last weekend was pretty normal for a weekend at my parents' house. Dad actually played Halo with us though--that was kinda fun. Anna, Kayla, Jason and I have been playing the same characters all the time, and they're characters from Red vs. Blue, but Dad made up his own character. Anna plays as Tex, Kayla plays as Church, Jason plays as Caboose, and I play as Tucker. Dad's character's name is Chef, and has the same color armor as Church.

We watched The Princess Bride on the projector screen on Sunday night. That was fun.

I also talked to Dad about my financial figurings, and how I might get money for downpayments and such. Not very many options there. I thought about refinancing my car (I found out I'm paying 10.9% APR), but with only 2 years left to pay it off, getting a lower interest rate would actually cost me more per month than I'm paying now.

Dad told me that when he bought that house he didn't have money for a downpayment--he borrowed money from my aunts and uncles, as well as my grandpa.

After that discussion was well and truly dead, he told me about an idea he'd had for a business, which was sparked by my current housing search and the brochures he'd gotten from the Fleetwood dealer (I'll explain later).

Yesterday, I got my allergy shots after work, and I meant to do my laundry while I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but I got about six chapters read (and dinner eaten) before I decided to take a nap instead. So I set my alarm for 9pm (or was it 9:30?), which would have given me an hour and a half to sleep, while Bones recorded. The alarm went off; it was on my cell phone, so the ringtone for "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" played instead of a beep. I was still sleepy, so I went back to sleep. I "woke up" sporadically (2:30am, 4-ish, 6:45, maybe other times too), but didn't actually get up until my alarm went off at 7:30 this morning. I feel very refreshed now. Turns out, I needed that, because of all the stress of house-finding I've had lately.

Anyway, here's Dad's idea.

Most builders are caught up in building these houses with costs somewhere in the hundreds of thousands--or even the millions--these days, but that doesn't help people like me who are just starting out on their own, or young families who can't afford much.

So, his idea was to revive Dutch Master Builders--Grandpa's old house-building company--only, he would stick-build small houses which would be sold for about the cost of an equivalent-sized mobile home. And instead of spacing them out like regular houses, he'd get about two acres of land and put 30 of those houses (of different models and sizes) close together in groups. Each group would have space in the center for a playground, a basketball court, a tennis court, a pool, or whatever, and each house would have 5 feet of land on each end and in the back, and twelve feet in the front (for a driveway and some green space), with an unfinished basement underneath. There's definitely a market for cheaper housing that doesn't require monthly lot rentals as well as the cost of the house, so I think the company could really take off.

Considering the trouble I've been having finding somewhere to live on my tight budget, I think it's a great idea. It won't be started up right away (Dad says he could begin in a year or so, after some research and a lot of planning and stuff), but we can start planning for it right now, and I would totally quit my current job to do something with this. We figured out that the largest of the houses we'd build (about the size of a smaller double-wide trailer, with three or four bedrooms and two bathrooms) would fit into 1/30 of an acre, with the extra space around it, and room to spare.

Before the company can get started up, however, we'd have to do a lot of stuff like draw up plans for each of the models we're going to start with, plan out the first two-acre community, find investors to fund the company, get land and permits for building and subdivision, get employees (contractors, accountants, secretaries, etc.), and not to mention find office space.

It's an exciting prospect though, and I'm raring to get started.

Another Weekend, Gone

Saturday, I gave Jason my arrows. He was playing a Nintendo DS game with his friend William at the time, so he didn't say much except, "Thanks."

Then, I talked to Dad about the roommate/place to live situation. For those who don't know, the situation stands thus:

• Kayla's old room has been vacant since January or February.
• I have looked in many places, and posted many ads to the effect that the room is available. I've had a few interested parties, but they were either a) not currently in Frederick (I won't offer the room to someone unless I've met them face-to-face, for safety reasons) or b) didn't get back in touch with me after seeing the house.
• Our lease is up on June 30, 2008, less than three months away.
• I don't know if Jenn, Amit and Stacie want to renew the lease or not, but
• If Kayla's old room doesn't get filled, the point is moot anyway and we're all screwed.
  
• If they don't, then I'm pretty much screwed unless I find somewhere to live by mid-June (so that I have time to pack up and move out before the end of the lease).
• I can only afford to pay a total of about $550 per month total for rent, internet, water, power, heat, cable, and phone (if I have a land line).
• Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Frederick does not go any lower than $750 or so, and if I go to where rent is only $550, I won't be saving any money, because then I'll have to pay even more for gasoline.
• I can afford to buy a house which costs up to about $60,000 or so, but none of the houses in Frederick cost less than $150,000.

Dad suggested I might be able to live in a mobile home park. There are four or five in the city that we know of. We went to see if there were any vacancies at four of them on Saturday, but the offices were closed for the weekend (where we could find the offices anyway).

The way I figure it, if the site rental, plus the monthly mortgage payment on the mobile home itself (the model I like would be about $24,000 total), and utilities such as I've listed above is less than $550 a month, then I can afford to live there. I could also do without the phone (I have a cell), and even the cable, if my family will TiVo shows for me. Since I mostly watch the shows that Anna watches anyway, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Dad said he would go to the offices today and ask about costs and stuff like that. He also said he would ask if there were any of the mobile homes available for rent, or if I'd have to purchase one myself to put into one of their vacant lots.

After the trips to the mobile home parks (to see if there were any vacant lots and look at the quality of the "neighborhoods"), which was during a grocery trip, Dad made dinner. We didn't do too much after that though, except watch Sydney White and What a Girl Wants on the projector screen.

Yesterday, Anna, Kayla and I woke up, then we played Halo on the projector for a bit. After that, Anna broke out the Clue boardgame I'd gotten her for Christmas but she hadn't opened yet. We played two games (with Jason)--Anna won both times.

Then I setup my old desktop computer for my dad to check out and possibly fix. It wasn't fixable, since it's a Pentium III reporting as a Pentium II. So, we cannibalized it for parts, and I'm going to take the harddrive, the zip drive, the ethernet card and the memory sticks back to my house to see if I can use them there. I might be able to add the first three to Kayla's old computer so that it will run faster, and I might be able to put the ethernet card into my laptop dock. I'll still need to purchase more memory for my laptop though.

After the computer mayhem, Anna, Kayla and I watched the first season (plus some of the second) of Red vs. Blue, which I had never seen before. It's hilarious so far; we got to the part where Lopez and Sheila have decided to make their own army, and the Blues are supposed to be surrenduring both to them and to the Reds at 0600, but by then it was 12:45am, and the second season had been going for about an hour and a half. I thought it would only be an hour, so I asked to watch season two at 11:15. Turns out, it was longer, and since I had to work today, we turned it off before I started to fall asleep. I didn't want to miss any of it, so I was trying to stay awake as long as I could.

Not Catching Up

It's been almost a week since my last entry and I'm kinda tired, so I'm not even going to try to catch up on what's been happening since then. I'll just start at yesterday instead.

Yesterday was Jason's 13th birthday. After work, I went to Mom & Dad's house, and Jason, Anna and Kayla were playing Halo on the projector screen (that was awesome--I could actually sort of see the other players against the background, and didn't lose as badly as I usually do) when I got there. I joined in for a little bit, then it was time for Jason to open his presents. I won't have any money until payday (tomorrow) so I just told him what I would be getting him on Saturday evening: new arrows for his bow.

He also got a Nintendo DS with four or five games (Code Lyoko, Pirates of the Caribbean--can't remember which, Lego Star Wars II, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and possibly one other that I can't remember the title of), plus a large Magnetix set, The Waterhorse and Teen Titans seasons 3 and 4.

Next, it was time for dinner, so we went to Ruby Tuesday (Jason's choice, of course). I was so full by the time we left, I thought I'd burst.

We had to go back in two cars, and Kimba ran a few errands with Kayla and Anna while Jason and I went back to the house with Mom & Dad. Jason played a few of his new games on the DS, and I played Super Mario Bros. on the old Gameboy Color I'd given him a few years back. Then, when Anna and Kayla got back, we all played more Halo until it was Jason's bedtime (taken to 10:00, since he's a teenager now, and usually wakes up before his alarm if he goes to bed at 9:30 anyway). At that point, I went home too, and bummed around on the 'net for about four hours.

I started to get ready for bed around 2am, was actually in bed and trying to sleep by 2:30, and the last time I saw the clock, it said 3am.

Oddly enough, I'm not as tired as I was earlier this week when I went to sleep between 11:30 and 1.