Leelanau Whippersnapper

Finally, I’ve had a reasonably relaxing weekend.  Of course tomorrow I head back in to hell for what will likely turn into a 6 day work week.  We begin a major re-set in my department tomorrow morning, there is a ton of work to be done and only 1 week to do it.  I’m going to have to be a cheerleader most of the week and that is indeed exhausting work.

Today I packed up the dog and headed out to the lake.  The sun has been out for the past few days, something exceedingly rare this time of year and I figured I would take advantage of it today by bringing my camera along.  I ended up going down to a beach I had not been to in quite some time.  It was further south than I usually go but still on Good Harbor Bay, just down the road further.  It was quite nice.  There were a few people out today but because of the Super Bowl and my complete lack of interest in sports, it was pretty quiet overall.  Gavin was able to run around off the leash for a while and I spent some time trying to capture a few good pictures.  I’ve uploaded a new gallery at leelanauphotography.com, just click the picture below to check it out.

The folks are off to Iowa for about 6 weeks tomorrow morning.  They’ve decided to spend some time away from here this winter since it’s easy to get really stir crazy this time of year.  We still have a good 3 months of shitty weather before spring starts to hit, I really hate this time of year up here.  Luckily, my job keeps me quite busy so it’s hard for me to care much.  Mom and Dad will be staying with Sarah, Brian and Christopher and I’ll be interested to hear how that all works out.  I love my folks to death but given the choice, I would not choose to have them live with me for any extended amount of time.  I’m pretty sure my folks would say the same about me. Our family dynamics are a bit much to tolerate day in and day out.  And, at my age, and their age, that’s the way it should be.  Christopher will be spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa for 6 weeks, and, that’s the way THAT should be too!  He’s a lucky kid, even if the only words he can say are “doggie” and “LOOK”.  We’ll see if Grandpa can teach him a few words during his stay.

I have made a new purchase since my last entry in this blog.  Last week, I broke down and bought a Wii so that I too could join the ranks of 30 something’s who are sick of being out of shape but who don’t want to join a gym.  I have always enjoyed video games even though I suck at them and I like the concept of being more involved in them rather than just sitting on a couch with a controller.  The Wii promises to at least get me off my ass for a little bit each day.  Eventually I’ll buy the Wii balance board and Wii Fit Plus game so that I can actually start getting in shape.  Sadly, they are sold out nearly all over the country and it’s going to be several weeks before they get back in stock.  Oh well, I’ll be busy enough at work.

Bonus time at work is fast approaching.  Profit Sharing checks are handed out Feb. 16th and my Managers bonus is due in mid March.  Crazy thing about my job is that I make more in the first 3 months of the year than I do the next 8 months of regular work just because of bonuses.  It’s nice to get big fat checks but it’s also dangerous because it’s easy to just go out and spend it.  If I had this job at any other time in my life, I’d be broke all the time but fortunately I’ve learned how to manage my money in much healthier ways so I’ll be able to save what is necessary but I’ll also be able to go out and get a few toys to play with.  This year I am buying a keyboard and I’ll write more about that when the time comes.  So for now, enjoy the new gallery.

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Tonight I rented Milk because I was too cheap to see it in the theater.  If you’ve not seen it yet, you should.  This was the story of openly gay SF Supervisor Harvey Milk that chronicles his influence on the gay rights movement.  To a large extent, his influence is still felt and many of the battles he fought are still being fought today 30 years later.  What struck me the most was once again the influence of the misinformed church which I talk about quite a bit here.  Back then, even as we see today, religious leaders use their bully pulpit to spread lies about anyone who might be different from them.  It is a small world they live in, it’s a shame for them that it isn’t reality.  I won’t spoil the movie though, rent it.

Tomorrow I get to go and spend another $600+ on my pathetic car.  Last time it was new breaks, tomorrow it will be new wheel bearings.  HOPEFULLY, this will be the last of the major expenses that have nearly drained my entire bonus this year.  I won’t complain because I do need the car and these extra funds are designed precisely for this sort of thing, they are, after all bonuses not necessarily fixed to my annual income but in addition to it so it’s not like I could not survive without them.  Anyhow, I don’t expect to have much left this year for too many more ‘fun’ things like I’ve had in the past.  I did get a few toys this year but I justify those as a gift for having survived the previous 12 months without losing my mind.  I still miss Jirar a great deal but my life (and his life) are moving on.  Shit happens.

Nothing else much to post tonight.  Looking forward to a busy weekend at work.  It’s supposed to be decent weather and that will draw people out of the wood work looking to get going on spring projects.  Time to sharpen my game, motivate my team, and prove that even with a horrible economy, I can still make money for my company.

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Happy Friday the 13th!  Today was an expensive day but it also happened to be the day that I received my yearly ‘big’ bonus at work.  I was looking over my pay stub and comparing it to the memory of my first job.  Including my profit sharing bonus from last month, and my manager’s bonus from today; in the first 10 weeks of the year I’ve grossed nearly 4 times what I made in a year’s time working 20-25 hours a week as a bagger at the grocery store when I was 16.   I am going to be 35 this year after all, I should be at this level.  Anyhow, my economy is doing just fine despite the nay-sayers that claim we are in a recession.  I’ve had more disposable income in the past 2 years than at any point in my life.  I’m nearly debt free (except for the still massive school loan that won’t ever go away), I’m single with no dependents, I have no social life, and I spend almost all of my time either at work or sleeping.  Guess it makes sense right?  It stands to reason that I would have money if I don’t have time to spend any of it.

So anyhow, thank God for the bonus.  For the past week I’ve been driving my car listening to this horrible grinding coming from my worn out breaks.  I pulled in to Midas today and told the guy at the counter that as soon as they remove the lug nuts from the tires, I fully expect the tires to shoot off the axle and for my breaks to throw up on his floor.  Not far from what happened really.  I had to replace both front rotors and both front calipers because everything I had was completely gone.  My previous break job lasted me 3 years and I had them replaced 3 years prior to that.  In short, history suggests that on this car, I can expect my breaks to last at most 3 years.  I’m still on the original set of rear breaks but for a front wheel drive car, that’s not unusual.  $500 bucks POOF.  And I’m not done yet.

The other problem I have with the car is a loud humming noise, almost a grind but not really.  Turns out I am going to have to have both of my front wheel bearings replaced.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve had to do that before but I won’t be able to wait on this one too long.  They are both shot and the noise won’t go away and my ABS light won’t go off until I fix them.  Another $300 bucks each including labor POOF.  I’m going to try and get that done this next Thursday.

So, out of my pocket and then into someone else’s.  I work AND spend to make other people rich.  My life in a nutshell.  It’s impossible to live in this part of the country without a car.  In Grand Rapids, I could get away with it, especially because Jirar had a car that was in good shape and I lived on the bus route.  Up here, I can’t even walk to a store and I certainly can’t walk 30 miles on rural roads out to the Cottage.  I’m going to have to start considering the long term here.  My car is a 1999 so it’s 10 years old this year.  I’ve got 150000 miles (almost exactly) on the thing.  The engine still works well but I know it’s not too terribly far from death.  Anyone care to bet me a down payment on a new car that I can push this baby for 200000 miles?  I need to.  It will be that long before I can save enough to buy something decent.  I can’t complain too much.  Aside from my beloved VW Fox that I had during most of my 20’s (I will forever be partial to VW’s), this car has done well for me.  In the 6 years I’ve had it, I’ve put on nearly 71000 miles (mostly due to 3 years of driving 65 miles round trip to work at least 5 days a week) and I’ve had fun driving it.  We’ll see what the future holds.

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Well I finally made it.  A month now where the money will just keep flowing.  This is the only time of year when I get three big bangs all within 3 months.  Tax returns, Profit Sharing Bonus at work, and Management Bonus at work.  The first wave this year went to pay off my folks for being ever so generous in helping me keep my head above water this fall and winter.  I seem to have this problem of every time it rains it pours.  It spent a LOT of time pouring this winter.  Today it was profit sharing time at work.  I can’t elaborate much but employees of my company get a certain percentage of their gross earnings back each year as a bonus IF the store you work at is profitable.  We were so I got my bonus.  By the time you get to be a manager this bonus can add up to several thousand dollars.  I got Three.

The first grand went to uncle sam.  It seems that you can’t avoid the luxury tax on this type of bonus.  The second thousand has been set aside and earmarked specifically for credit card debt and car related expenses.  The third thousand is MINE.   I didn’t get to spend any money this year on myself or Jirar at Christmas because money was so tight.  Everything I had went to gifts for other people.  No biggie, that happens a lot.  I buy for everyone else before I buy for myself.  This is my turn.

Today I purchased a new camera that I have been looking at now for a few months.  I take a LOT of pictures and after Jirar dropped our Sony Cybershot into Crystal River last summer, its never worked the same so this is the replacement.  It’s a huge step up as far as features and quality and it will NOT be going canoing with us this summer!  We’ll save the Sony for that.  There is a story to this but it’s likely only interesting to me but I’ll post it anyhow.

Like I said, I’ve been looking at this camera now for a few months.  I’ve researched it on-line, I’ve gone to Best Buy and played with it, I’ve asked other photographers I know what they think of it.  Everything I read and everyone I talk with has said this is a great camera.  So today after work, I went to Best Buy to purchase it.  Now, if I were not so damm impatient, I could have purchased this camera on-line and had it shipped to me for less money than what I paid today but I’m impatient.  I went into Best Buy and waited for a sales person to help me.  I waited, and waited, and waited, and…

Clearly Best Buy was not interested in my business.  Multiple employees passed me, not a single one of them asked if I needed help, not one of them appeared to be doing much at all.  Since I’m a sales manager by trade, I never miss an opportunity to test our competition.  My actions were obvious, I made eye contact, gestures etc that would have suggested to any attentive sales person that I was at the very least in need of some help.  I tend to make people work for my business.  I don’t think it’s rude and in fact the residual payoff for YOU the sales person is quite great if you give me the time of day.  Too bad Best Buy, you didn’t and YOU lost a sale today.

I strolled out of the store, got in my car and left.  I headed over to Ritz Photo in the mall.  I had done my research you see and Ritz was the same price as Best Buy.  I didn’t go there initially BECAUSE I HATE THE MALL.  I’ll be going to Ritz now for my photography needs.  I was greeted, asked how I was doing, what I was looking for, etc. etc.  Because I already knew what I wanted the guys there didn’t have to work very hard at all.  They knew I had done my homework and they were eager to help.  I purchased the camera, a new memory card, and a new set of rechargeable batteries and a carrying case.  I also purchased something that I don’t normally purchase.  I got a SERVICE AGREEMENT (EKKKKKSSSSSSS!!!!!!).

I am usually very hesitant to purchase service agreements or extended warranties.  In fact, nearly everything I read about these for digital cameras said DON’T buy them, you won’t use it.  This one is a little different though and it takes into consideration how I use the camera.   This agreement actually covers normal wear and tear from NORMAL AND ABNORMAL USE including UNINTENTIONAL abuse, shock, or trauma!  That means that if I am hiking pyramid point this summer and drop the camera down the 500′ vertical cliff and it comes apart in the sand, I will get a new camera.  I purchased a 2 year plan because in 2 years, I intend to go back to Ritz and purchase a D-SLR camera as I increase my knowledge and skill level as a photographer.  The next step in equipment is the big leagues.  This camera will teach me how to use the manual settings and it will prepare me for the challenges (and big pay-offs) of the professional level D-SLR cameras that I will eventually purchase.  See what I mean about residual pay off?  The sales person at Ritz has a customer who will come back because he took a minute to give a shit about making a sale.

Anyhow, this was a LONG post to not really say much.  Here is a photo take with the new camera and slightly edited in Photoshop.  The detail and closeness of this picture was not possible with my other camera.  There will be plenty more to come and there will be more posted at www.leelanauphotography.com as well.  This is Pooh.

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