8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC #15 /Life After the PC

[m&m's mom]

Wow Pamela - That stinks! No other way to say it. Sorry!

I am pretty sure we are going to end up booking the August 7th Mediterrean cruise. When I mentioned the ports to Bill, they appealed to him more than my St. Petersburg.
I have to admit the Mediterrean is more diverse.
So looks like almost exact time as our cruise this year but w/ the added bonus of no missing school.

 

[pdarrah]

We went through the same thing with our 1998 van, just took delivery of a Toyota Prius....

Not happy about payments, but 1/2 of that will be saved in gas savings....

Congrats on the Prius! ALthough I would love one, I don't think it is worth the premium prices their getting here for them...

Certainly anything will get better gas mileage than my poor van! However, I only drive about 15 to 20 miles per day on weekdays (all "city" driving) and probably less than 15 total over weekend so the savings wouldn't be quite as dramatic for me. I currently get around 15-16mpg. I'm guessing it would be less than $100 per month savings in gas. Given my amount of driving, I'm not sure it is worth the premium price for a hybrid. I'll probably go with a small SUV (CR-V, RAV4, etc) or a small sedan which will certainly be better than I have now. (I think most of the small SUVs and sedans get around 20-25 for "city").

 

[micmse2003]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been missing for a few days. Lots of bummer stuff here. Dan & I went through a nasty head cold - first him, then me - which wiped out about a week for us. Then we just started having tons of stupid breakdown type problems. A fan on our furnace is making really bad noises so we had to shut it down until we can schedule the repair guy (fortunately it isn't too cold yet, so we don't have to do an emergency call). Then my parent's sludge pump broke (got that fixed right away!). Then Dan's office laptop suddenly died - he backed up about a week before, so its not a disaster but it is a pain to get everything loaded on the new one (and he is in all day meetings this week!) This culminated in the worst problem - my car overheated on Monday and is now officially dead! The head is warped (either the emergency light came on too late or this is a problem that has been slowly building up that we didn't know about) and they can't tell without pulling it if the engine block is cracked. It could cost anywhere from $2200 to $8000 to fix and it is a 2001 minivan, so not worth throwing that kind of money into it.

We had planned to buy a new car in the spring (Dan's car will be paid off in March). This is just a really carpy time for this since we still have a little debt from the TOAL on the credit card (at least it is at 0% - special offer from Discover with a very low transfer fee!) This puts a kink in having much of a downpayment (plan for spring was to have at least a couple thousand to put down) and if we have 2 car payments from now till March it's going to be that much harder to pay off the debt. We also have to figure out what to do with the van - see if a junk/salvage place will give us anything for it or maybe donate it. Having this hit out of the blue was a real shock. The car had seemingly been running just fine.

Sorry for all the griping. Between all this and all the bad news on the economy, I'm just pretty down in the dumps right now....

Pamela

Oh Pamela.........so sorry to hear of all the illness issues. Maybe you had the DCL crud and just fought it off longer.

My son had to pay $6000 for a new motor when his car was just 4 years old. A year later it got totaled in an accident so he was a big loser on that one. We put soo many miles on each year that is why we buy a new car every three years.

Our furnace last spring made a funny squealing noise and find out it was the fan motor for over $200. I hope it is something minor for you.

Things will get better...........it just seems like it happens all at once. We still have to talk next week. You call me when you have the time. I never know your schedule. Say hi to everyone for John and me.

We went through the same thing with our 1998 van, just took delivery of a Toyota Prius....

Not happy about payments, but 1/2 of that will be saved in gas savings....

So how many miles to you get to a gallon of gas??? We have a 4 cylinder Pontiac Vibe and get 32 miles city/highway. Our gas just started coming down and we are at $3.89.

Thanks for working on the videos!! We are in no hurry. I am just glad the Post Office did not lose them.

Wow Pamela - That stinks! No other way to say it. Sorry!

I am pretty sure we are going to end up booking the August 7th Mediterrean cruise. When I mentioned the ports to Bill, they appealed to him more than my St. Petersburg.
I have to admit the Mediterrean is more diverse.
So looks like almost exact time as our cruise this year but w/ the added bonus of no missing school.

At least it will be warmer in that direction Coral. Jealous but I think I will get my Disney fix just at WDW.

 

[m&m's mom]

At least it will be warmer in that direction Coral. Jealous but I think I will get my Disney fix just at WDW.

OK, at least there is a positive. I will have to see what Monica and other Med veterans have for advice.
The cruise itself is not too bad- the airfare is almost the same amount as the cruise. We were going for a veranda but that added $2500.00 over a cat 10 so we settled for a cat 9 on deck 2. We'll see what we end up with though.

 

[goofyforlife]

Sorry for all the griping. Between all this and all the bad news on the economy, I'm just pretty down in the dumps right now....
Pamela

Gee P..... Your news is just up there with mine.... :hugs:

We were undecided if we were going to cash out one of DH's 401K's or just roll it over and take a loan from the current account...

We decided to roll it but they wouldn't accept or process the loan paperwork until the money was transferred. In the two days since i gave them the paperwork we've lost close to $1,500 of it.....

If i would've known that. I would have just cashed it out....

...................................................................................................

I did get a temp position today. Nothing great (only about 1/2 my previous salary) but it beats $0. (and no I don't think it will lead to anything i want to do for the rest of my life either. )

So at least we'll be able to pay back a few bills and keep the house for a few more months...


Ok , I'm off to figure out how to apply for a couple federal jobs... Wish me luck.

 

[bellelinus]

OK, at least there is a positive. I will have to see what Monica and other Med veterans have for advice.
The cruise itself is not too bad- the airfare is almost the same amount as the cruise. We were going for a veranda but that added $2500.00 over a cat 10 so we settled for a cat 9 on deck 2. We'll see what we end up with though.

Coral, the Med cruise last summer was the best cruise I have ever been on -- and yes, the PC cruise was great! -- so I really believe that if you go for it, you won't regret it.

 

[rillsung]

We never plan anything this far in advance, so we're not planning on going on a 2010 cruise. I would LOVE to do the Northern European Capitals cruise though. It kills me that we have to pay airfare for Sydney after Jan '09! But mostly it's really hard to commit to something that huge with the current economy...

Some of you have asked me to keep you updated on Sydney. During the cruise, she did so well with eating (especially dinner from mom's lap!) that we mostly stopped her tube feedings. She is still doing pretty well with eating, but she still doesn't eat quite enough. In fact, she lost about 1/2lb in the 3 weeks after coming home from the cruise.

After 6mo of trying to get into a feeding clinic in Albuquerque (2 hours away), we finally had our evaluation appointment last Friday. We saw a GI, occupational therapist, speech therapist, med student, and nutritionist. These things are always hectic, with different people asking us questions or discussing things with each other! The speech therapist picked up on our concern of Sydney's lack of words and questioned us on that (Like does she use 10 words... Well no, not really). They decided Sydney is a good candidate for their more intensive feeding clinic program.

The last week in October, we'll go in for gym time, breakfast and lunch for 5 days and work closely with them. Hopefully they'll come up with some useful tips and I'll pick them up! They were also encouraged that she only lost half a pound in those 3 weeks!

We almost had them talked into a "clinic cruise" since we had such good luck! We said we'd be guinea pigs for that one! How do we get the insurance to cover that?

Fall around here starts off with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Here are some photos from last Saturday:

This one's for Coral!

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

I hope everything works out for your family! And BTW...nice pacifier holder!

 

[tom31b]

So how many miles to you get to a gallon of gas??? We have a 4 cylinder Pontiac Vibe and get 32 miles city/highway. Our gas just started coming down and we are at $3.89.

Filled up today for first time, cost me $19.00 and averaged 48 mph

 

[jship210]

Ate the last of the "Sleepy Dwaft" pillow chocolates tonite, now what?

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Ate the last of the "Sleepy Dwaft" pillow chocolates tonite, now what?

I still have 45 of them..where do I send them..

I couldn't believe that we didn't eat any of them....just packed them up and here they sit..

 

[dahuffy]

Our gas just started coming down and we are at $3.89.

I saw $2.79 yesterday!

 

[m&m's mom]

Coral, the Med cruise last summer was the best cruise I have ever been on -- and yes, the PC cruise was great! -- so I really believe that if you go for it, you won't regret it.

Thanks Julie- Please send me your best tips- I'll need them!

Terri- Great pictures! Sydney is just so adorable. I missed seeing her and Ian at dinner for the 1st couple of weeks back.
Keep us updated on Sydney's progress. That is good that they are finally kicking her up to the next level. Seems like they should have taken it more seriously a long time ago.

 

[m&m's mom]

I saw $2.79 yesterday!

Might be worth driving up to fill up.
Guess not since I only fill up once a month whether I need to or not.

 

[dahuffy]

Everyone who booked with DU onboard will be contacted by me (hopefully tomorrow!) about the possible 2010 itineraries. Just thought I'd let you know.

I'm feeling left out Tracy! I haven't heard from you

 

[winotracy]

I'm feeling left out Tracy! I haven't heard from you

Check your spam filter, it was from my work email Tracy@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com. If you didn't get it, email me and I'll send it back.

 

[rillsung]

I still have 45 of them..where do I send them..

I couldn't believe that we didn't eat any of them....just packed them up and here they sit..

We didn't eat ours either since we were sooooo full from dinner at bedtime! They're going to be Christmas gifts....

I hope everything works out for your family! And BTW...nice pacifier holder!

Thanks. I forgot to point out the pacifier holder! Hehe best one I've found yet!

Terri- Great pictures! Sydney is just so adorable. I missed seeing her and Ian at dinner for the 1st couple of weeks back.
Keep us updated on Sydney's progress. That is good that they are finally kicking her up to the next level. Seems like they should have taken it more seriously a long time ago.

Yeah we missed everyone too! Did you see the photo I posted of you guys? If not, I'll post it here

Unfortunately, we live in NM. This is the only real feeding clinic in NM. I didn't even know about this one till we switched pediatricians in January. He contacted the GI about us doing the feeding clinic in about Feb/March time. It only took this long to actually get into it. Partly because the paperwork part is insane and partly because they took 3 mo off during the summer Oh and they only do the initial visits on the first friday of each month... This is why we took her all the way to Chicago last May to a feeding clinic. But that was only a 1 day thing that offered a little bit of help, but not enough long distance follow-up.

We've also had Early Intervention (Birth-3yrs old) for the last year+. But they never had a speech therapist for us. Honestly I don't think EI has made any difference at all anyway! I think that Sydney growing bigger and stronger and me working with her has made the difference... Also doing things like the cruise made a difference

 

[dahuffy]

Unfortunately the dates are not feasible for the repos but the price is right and for the Med/Baltic the dates are right but the price is wrong for us. May be in 2011 on a new boat or if the Magic/Wonder come to LA/Hawaii/Alaska.

Kev and I will be with ya'll on this one Roger!!!!

 

[bellelinus]

Thanks Julie- Please send me your best tips- I'll need them!

As you get closer to time and are seriously planning, PM me and we can either email or talk on the phone about the Med trip. I didn't do a single DCL excursion, did it all on my own, and it was wonderful! Now of course, some of the ports are different on this one (Malta, Tunis, and Corsica in place of Palermo, Sardinia, and Marseilles). But the big ones are the same.

 

[micmse2003]

Gee P..... Your news is just up there with mine.... :hugs:

We were undecided if we were going to cash out one of DH's 401K's or just roll it over and take a loan from the current account...

We decided to roll it but they wouldn't accept or process the loan paperwork until the money was transferred. In the two days since i gave them the paperwork we've lost close to $1,500 of it.....

If i would've known that. I would have just cashed it out....

...................................................................................................

I did get a temp position today. Nothing great (only about 1/2 my previous salary) but it beats $0. (and no I don't think it will lead to anything i want to do for the rest of my life either. )

So at least we'll be able to pay back a few bills and keep the house for a few more months...


Ok , I'm off to figure out how to apply for a couple federal jobs... Wish me luck.

Glad you found something to keep you out of the bars!!! Seriously, I am happy you have found something til the great job comes along.

Ate the last of the "Sleepy Dwaft" pillow chocolates tonite, now what?

I just gave 60 of them to my DGC. I hate the mint and we got 4 every night. I wish I would have known.

I saw $2.79 yesterday!

Can you bring a tanker full up here??

Some of you have asked me to keep you updated on Sydney. During the cruise, she did so well with eating (especially dinner from mom's lap!) that we mostly stopped her tube feedings. She is still doing pretty well with eating, but she still doesn't eat quite enough. In fact, she lost about 1/2lb in the 3 weeks after coming home from the cruise.

After 6mo of trying to get into a feeding clinic in Albuquerque (2 hours away), we finally had our evaluation appointment last Friday. We saw a GI, occupational therapist, speech therapist, med student, and nutritionist. These things are always hectic, with different people asking us questions or discussing things with each other! The speech therapist picked up on our concern of Sydney's lack of words and questioned us on that (Like does she use 10 words... Well no, not really). They decided Sydney is a good candidate for their more intensive feeding clinic program.

The last week in October, we'll go in for gym time, breakfast and lunch for 5 days and work closely with them. Hopefully they'll come up with some useful tips and I'll pick them up! They were also encouraged that she only lost half a pound in those 3 weeks!

We almost had them talked into a "clinic cruise" since we had such good luck! We said we'd be guinea pigs for that one! How do we get the insurance to cover that?

Fall around here starts off with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Here are some photos from last Saturday:

This one's for Coral!

I am so glad you finally had Sydney evalutated!! She is such a little darling. Please tell us more when you go again.

Saw the balloons on the news last night. What a beautiful sight.

Filled up today for first time, cost me $19.00 and averaged 48 mph

Wow!!!!! Guess your new car will be paid for in a year with all the gas money saved.