Sidestep
Today was my last day at my job.
To clarify: not my last day at work, or even at this company. My long-term project is being phased out, and I’m moving to a different department. The change is an ouch in the wallet because it means no more automatic overtime. On the other hand, my body will thank me because no more mandatory overtime! At least, no more mandatory OT after the last raggedy strings of this project are cleared up, and starting tomorrow even those should be drastically reduced.
I’m happy with the move. Ecstatic, in a lot of ways.
1) I’m still gainfully employed, moving to a job with more authority and not a terrible pay trade-off. (Base pay is identical but it’s got a better bonus structure.)
2) I get to wave buh-bye to one part of the job I positively loath.
3) I’ll have the same days off. For the next few weeks I’ll start an hour later than before. Part of my being-phased-out job is time sensitive, and I’ve still got to do reports for one location, on a tight time clock. I’m hoping to move to an earlier schedule after that. The new job really kind of lets me pick my own schedule.
4) My scheduled vacation days next month are also untouched.
A Step Up
Our home ISP (Internet Service Provider) is also going away, and good riddance. We’ve had the same service for years. They’re cheap. They’re also… cheap. Our DSL service tops out at 40mpbs, which is downright anemic for “high speed” these days. And DSL by nature tends to bog down, no matter what the “speed” is.
When the big-name cable company finally ran service to our area a few months ago, G and I talked about switching. We knew it would cost more. Crappy as our current provider is, we haven’t had a price increase in years. Unfortunately, our modem is old. We can’t buy our own modem with the OG company: using one of theirs is mandatory. And the second we replace the modem we have now, they’ll hike our price by at least $15 a month. Given the age of our current modem, we’re on borrowed time already.
In the end, we agreed to make the jump. It’ll take us from 40mbps to 500mbps download speed. The price difference for such a huge increase, including the modem, is (drumroll please)…
$14.99 a month.
Once we found out what we’d be paying, we cracked up. Switching is a slam-dunk. The final number is no-contract, includes the modem, includes free installation, includes taxes/fees, and is guaranteed for two years. If their modem needs to be replaced, we can replace it with one from Amazon. Fingers crossed before the two years are up, I’ll be retired and any price hike here will be irrelevant.
The One-Step Limit
The map at the top of this page is a photo I took. It’s part of a vintage map that hangs in our hallway. The red pin (added in Photoshop) marks where we live; the blue pin is our first mini-cation stop; and the green pin is our nothernmost stop on the Devil’s Highway, aka Route 666, aka the Coronado Scenic Highway, aka Highway 191.
We had planned to spend the last night in Springerville or Show Low.
We could technically rent a cabin in Alpine. I was astonished to find cabin rentals low as $107 a night for up to four people, and rustic lodges offering rooms low as $65 a night. The cabin pictured at left is a whopping $135 a night for up to four people. However, they require a minimum two-night stay, which is longer than we can do this time around. Definitely something to keep in mind for the future, though. My other concern is stairs. I might be able to manage 2-3 steps to enter a cabin, provided it’s no more than once or twice a day. Even then, it’s not a sure thing.
All the shorter-term lodge rooms are on the second and third floors, no elevators. So they’re unfortunately a no-go.
Stepping Out With My Baby
We did drive out in the boonies last weekend, and plan to do it again this weekend. Arizona has more ghost towns than you can shake a stick at, roughly 20 minutes from… well, most anyplace.
This photo isn’t from this past weekend. It is one of my photos, taken in what I’d call a ghost town. It’s a cluster of ruined houses and buildings, sitting along Highway 60 in northern Texas or New Mexico — can’t remember for sure. I’m happy with how the picture turned out, wherever it’s from.
I absolutely love that B&W photo at the end. Kudos on that one, and I really mean that!
Good luck with the new position (bet you haven’t heard that in a few decades, huh?) 🙂
Thank you, thank you very much.
I’ve gotten better – both at my photography and at my Photoshop skills.
That photo’s older but it needed to be cropped and monochromed. In color it was blah. We have pictures from the most recent trip too but haven’t had time to do much with them yet.
I hope the new department will make you happy and more rested. Good luck on the vacation. Love the photo.
You and me both. I’ll be glad when I’m fully moved onboard – right now I’m doing ALLL the jobs, just not getting the overtime pay to partly make up for the headaches, lol