Adventures In Koopland

Got the final check from my old job. I am now officially making about 18% less for a job where I have to do nearly 100% more work. That said, it's not like it's hard work. I have a nice little cluster of people around my cube and the job will continue to get easier the more practice I get. So far I've gotten good feedback in both my reviews. One in particular they told me they were happy with my scores because there were many people from my training class doing worse. Everyone starts out as a temp for 90 days and then I've been told some people get asked to stay on either on the same or other accounts. If they are willing to keep me I think I'll stick with this for awhile.
 
I'm going to rant a little here cause I'm feeling a bit sad. I think typing my thoughts will might make me feel better. It will also likely make me feel all sorts of embarrassed when I re-read this in a day or two but what the hell, an emotional post is way down on the list of the most embarrassing stuff I've posted here over the years.

I'm spending the night at my Dad's and I think that's part of the reason I'm feeling down. I love hanging out with the old man and it makes me feel good to spend at least a night a week with him to do his (and my) laundry and various around the house chores he has. Recently he has been more serious about getting his affairs in order. Here I go again with the broken record thing about the old man dying, but I can't help it. Remember those bonds I talked about a few weeks back? Turns out the whole reason he's buying them is cause they will yield a monthly return of a few hundred bucks that he wanted to set up for me. He also wants to add me to his bank accounts so that it will be easier for me to have access when he's gone. Also, he asked me to set up an appointment with the estate layer to amend the trust he set up for me years ago. As it stands, I'm supposed to inherit it at 40 but he had it written like 20 years ago and now thinks that the taxes that would have to be paid on it in the 5 years before I turn 40 would be way too high. I read through the papers and it seems like there is already an out written in but I'm going to check with my Aunt about that before going to the lawyer.

And let me be clear here, we are not talking about a winning the Powerball type windfall here. I won't be turning into one of those Instagram douches anytime soon. It will be a nice supplement to my income that will help with some bills here and there. And I don't even know the exact numbers. I have a pretty good idea but he doesn't seem to want to get too specific and I'm certainly not going to push.

The way it stands now is that he set up those bonds for a monthly stipend, whatever amount he has in the bank accounts will just all transfer over to me and his stocks will all stay in tact for as long as possible and I'll get a dividend check every now and then. This all is really nice of him and is really touching. The fact that he has this whole plan is so sweet it make me want to cry. I'm kinda a fuck up of a son and he has been an amazing father for 34 year no matter what. Like I've done some shit I'm even too embarrassed to talk about here and yet it was never enough to push him away. Since my little jail stint last year I have really gotten my life together and I think he sees that and is proud of me so it makes me feel good that at least at the end I am less of a worry for him.

The reason I'm talking about all this financial stuff is cause he has never been so specific about making these plans before so it makes me think he finally may really believe it's close to the end. And besides the obvious sadness there, I'm also selfishly sad.

I've become more of a loner these days. Of course I have my friends but I've grown way more distant lately. Often I'm just not down for doing anything. And I'm single. What I'm getting at here is that when you have a wife and kids or huge group of friends and a loved one dies it's easier cause you have family around you. I know this from when my mom died. I spent a ton of time with friends after that and it really helped. Now since I have intentionally kinda isolated myself I won't have that this time around and that kinda scares me. Really that is what I was thinking about when I decided to begin writing this and I got a bit off track there for awhile. Idk.

On top of all that I now am making less money at a job where I really have 0 security. Like I said yesterday, they have been giving me good feedback and that is encouraging, but it really doesn't mean anything. If in 2 months they don't want me anymore I'll be back in the same position I was when I got fired and this time even worse off since I won't have checks coming to me for like 2 months. That is scary. I need to finish my degree. I need to think of some gig that only requires a bachelors that is something I'm interested in. I've kinda given up on the teaching thing thanks to my record but I still need to finish school in some area of study. I should have done that like 20 years ago, but like I said, I've been a big fuck up for awhile.

So in conclusion to this depressing post, I'm more or less moved to tears by how nice my father is to me and it makes me feel really good that he cares so much and is doing all he can to make things easier for me when he's gone. But that in turn makes me focus on him being gone and brings me down cause I have purposely grown more distant from my friend group and my only family beside him is 2 aunts and an uncle that live like 3 hours from me. Now look, I'm not so out of touch that I don't realize I have it really good. My father wanting to make sure my inheritance is in order is a fortunate position to be in. And of course, hopefully the old man will wind up living to 100 and all this worry will have been for naught.

And there is my Sunday night bummer post.

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The old man loves you.
Hopefully he is around for a long time, but he knows that none of us live forever.
I think it's wonderful that he cares about you enough that he's putting the extra effort into looking after you.
Like you said, it's not going to make you rich, but it will remind you of how much you meant to him.
 
Thanks for sharing, the parent thing is always tough; but I'd say bittersweet, because you've gotten to have him around for so long, and you know that he cares about you.

I'm assuming you don't have any siblings? And if you don't mind me asking; what's been keeping you from having a serious relationship with somebody?
 
Thanks for sharing, the parent thing is always tough; but I'd say bittersweet, because you've gotten to have him around for so long, and you know that he cares about you.

I'm assuming you don't have any siblings? And if you don't mind me asking; what's been keeping you from having a serious relationship with somebody?

Yea, I'm an only child.

That's a good question and probably something to get to the bottom of with a shrink (which is something I would have considered back when I had health insurance). I'm not sure. My last relationship ended a little less than a year ago now and the whole thing only lasted about 6 months. The longest I've ever had was still only about 2 years. And it's usually always my fault for ending it. Either I straight up end it or I become distant and kinda pull a fade away until she pulls the trigger. It's not really something I've put much thought into and an interesting question. I think the easy answer is that I usually don't mind being single so if I sense things are headed in a direction I don't like I just end it. But I'm sure there is a deeper cause I don't, or are unwilling to, realize.
 
Yea, I'm an only child.

That's a good question and probably something to get to the bottom of with a shrink (which is something I would have considered back when I had health insurance). I'm not sure. My last relationship ended a little less than a year ago now and the whole thing only lasted about 6 months. The longest I've ever had was still only about 2 years. And it's usually always my fault for ending it. Either I straight up end it or I become distant and kinda pull a fade away until she pulls the trigger. It's not really something I've put much thought into and an interesting question. I think the easy answer is that I usually don't mind being single so if I sense things are headed in a direction I don't like I just end it. But I'm sure there is a deeper cause I don't, or are unwilling to, realize.
Over the course of my life, I've come across people with just about every possible relationship scenario. Everything from never, to long-term no kids, to multiple times multiple kids. I was just wondering how things have played-out for you.
 
My van a/c trouble never went away...still no a/c. It's rough driving to work at 12 pm in a south FL july with no a/c and only 1 window that rolls down. I know I should do the junkyard thing but I kinda just want to buy a new (to me) car.

I've bought 2 cars now from old guys and ladies that live at my Dad's place. The first one died after I had it for about 4 years and the second one is the one I crashed during my little DUI incident. While I was in the midst of full on alcoholism, I let it get towed and just never attempted to get it back. Point being, it had plenty of life left in it, I was just a screw-up.

So I had my Dad put his feelers out and he came to me tonight with a 2001 Lexus GS300 with 58,000 miles for 4k. Now Kelley seems to think that's too high a price but when you go to buy one on autotrader it's very low. I went and took a look at it tonight and it has some issues (little paint chipping on the hood and the lights are foggy) but otherwise looks quite good for a 17 year old car. And the foggy headlights is an easy fix.

So I'm thinking I'll talk to the owner tomorrow before work and ask if he will let me take the car to my mechanic to give it a once over. I trust that guy cause he was very honest with me about the a/c in the van. I also think I can probably get the owner to come down a few hundo.

Spending a few grand+ on a car that old is not a decision I take lightly. I'll be thinking about this a lot over the next few days.
 
That's a bit high for a car that old, but I imagine it's hardly been driven. The big question is whether it was maintained, or left sitting to rust and dry out.

On one hand, it was quite a nice car at the time, and is probably still smooth, quiet, and luxurious. But it doesn't exactly seem to fit your profile.
Good luck. I hate buying cars.
I've always loved cars, checking them out, test drives, and having a new car. But I hate salesmen and managers. Most of them are shysters.

However, we've had good experiences with a couple of boutique-like dealerships for the BMWs and Volvos we had. The salesmen we dealt with had over 25 years experience selling the same brand. But we're done buying cars for a while. Mrs. Scotch has a Toyota Tacoma that really comes in handy.
 
Talked to the owner of the car this morning. I'm going to go check it out with my Dad tomorrow morning. The guy said his son told him it's worth 4.5k. I don't see how that is possible. Using Kelley, if I say it has all the features and is in excellent condition (which it's not) it tells me it's worth 4k. Now of course trade in value is different from the buying it as an individual value but still. Trying to bargain with a 90 year old man I don't know feels wrong, like I'm taking advantage. That's why I'm bringing my own 90 year old along with me so I'll have good old Dad do my dirty work and leave me with a clear conscience.

I'd really like to talk to this guy's son. I wonder if he's just bullshitting or if he really saw a valuation of 4.5k somewhere. My guess is he is mixing Kelley price with the Autotrader/Carmax type sites to get that number. Like I said, that same model with over 150k miles still goes for around 5 grand on those sites.

I'm thinking I'll offer 3.5k and be willing to pay 3.7.

But it doesn't exactly seem to fit your profile.

My profile is anything I can buy up-front that will run for at least a few years w/o any issues. I really did want to turn the van into a camper but it's not worth the effort to get that a/c fixed. Also when I think Lexus my first 2 thoughts are luxury and Toyota. Even though it's old, this would def. be the most luxurious car I've owned. And Lexus is Toyota and Toyota has a reputation of running forever that that makes me feel good.
 
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I looked at 2001 GS 300 private party value on KBB and it shows $4,210. That's in "good" condition in my zip code. Where do you see a lower value? Are you looking at trade-in value or private party value?
 
I looked at 2001 GS 300 private party value on KBB and it shows $4,210. That's in "good" condition in my zip code. Where do you see a lower value? Are you looking at trade-in value or private party value?

Good call. I was looking at the trade-in value.

But it's all a moot point now. About an hour into my shift today Pops called and said the guy had sold it out from under me to someone else. Kinda a dick move considering how we had a set appointment to view the car tomorrow but also I get it, take the cash you can get as soon as you can get it. Good news is as long as there are old people giving up their licenses at my Dad's place, there will be cars with very few miles on them for sale. One seems to pop up every few months. However it is a bummer. I was excited about owing a Lexus.

In other news, I've been at my job for 7 weeks now and I got what can't be called a promotion cause there is no raise but definitely a job security boost today. They added me and 4 others to another branch of the company....in an ancillary way. The 5 of us will now handle the overflow for another department. I asked the main floor boss if this meant extra cash and he said no so that sucks but he also said that this is a sign that I will very likely be kept on after the 90 day temp period. This other department that I am now technically a part of makes 8.6% more than I so a raise would have been nice, but I was worried about the 90 days quickly approaching so knowing that I'm probably safe is very good news. He said that of the 40 some odd people from the first wave of training I am one of about 5 or 6 they are strongly considering keeping. This isn't the best gig in the world but the people are nice and compared to most jobs (except my last one) it is pretty easy work. I'd like to stick with it for awhile.
 
Sounds good Koop.
If they keep you on past the 90, it might put you in the running for a raise in the not too distant future.
 
I had a contractor on a job complaining about wanting to get paid extra to seed some lawn that he had messed up. (The drawings clearly said it was his responsibility to do it.)

Anyway, he was complaining that ""he couldn't make a dollar" as he was climbing into his Hummer H3.......Right.
He wound up seeding the lawn.
 
Maybe the guy needed gas money for his gas guzzler.

I can’t stand asses who are greedy for more money that drive in luxury or nice cars. Where the rest of us average joes who work hard for a living and drive normal cars.
 
I always take a weekend day and go hang out with Pops and do his laundry. It's symbiotic because I also throw my own stuff in with his and save the $3 a load costs at my condo.

Today the old man needed his nap and asked me to wake him after an hour. I guess in some circles this could be considered elder abuse but I decided a good way to wake him would be to dump 2 full loads of freshly dried laundry atop the 90 year old man.

He got a kick out of it and so did I.

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One of the guys from my old work swears he has a guy that can fix my a/c. I set an appointment with him for Saturday. I hope this works. If it does I plan to take all the money I would have spent on the Lexus and put it into fixes for the van. It would be nice to keep the van for awhile cause I still have that camper dream and it only has like 50k miles on it. The a/c may cost 1-2k but that will leave me with 2 or 3k left for upgrades like tires, fixing the windows, better headlights and fixing the stereo. I'm also going to take it to that mechanic I trust and have him look over the engine and let me know if there is anything I should worry about. I'm hopeful, but I've been down this a/c road before. Who knows how it will turn out.
 
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