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[Mommy]

Yeah, it is a hard adjustment. Shane kept being switched from day shift to night shift at the hospital, and I would try and keep the same sleep schedule as him. OMG it sucked. He had like 5 weeks of nights, 2 weeks of days, then another 3 weeks of nights. Finally, he is back on days, but starting next week, he has to be there at 4 a.m.... which isn't too far off from the 5 a.m. he has to be there on days he has PT (like today) but still... I just felt bad for him when he was working nights and he had to be there for formation or flag duty during the day. He would get home at like 8 a.m., sleep for a couple hours, do the hour drive to work, do the deed, drive an hour back home, sleep a little more, eat and relax, then leave at 10:30 p.m. to be there at midnight to do it all over again. Night shifts suck ass. Just be warned. In my opinion, it's hard the first couple days, then it gets easier. Then, like 2 or 3 weeks into it your body starts to feel it again for about a week. After that, you are usually good though.

[Jim]

Yeah, it is a hard adjustment. Shane kept being switched from day shift to night shift at the hospital, and I would try and keep the same sleep schedule as him. OMG it sucked. He had like 5 weeks of nights, 2 weeks of days, then another 3 weeks of nights. Finally, he is back on days, but starting next week, he has to be there at 4 a.m.... which isn't too far off from the 5 a.m. he has to be there on days he has PT (like today) but still... I just felt bad for him when he was working nights and he had to be there for formation or flag duty during the day. He would get home at like 8 a.m., sleep for a couple hours, do the hour drive to work, do the deed, drive an hour back home, sleep a little more, eat and relax, then leave at 10:30 p.m. to be there at midnight to do it all over again. Night shifts suck ass. Just be warned. In my opinion, it's hard the first couple days, then it gets easier. Then, like 2 or 3 weeks into it your body starts to feel it again for about a week. After that, you are usually good though.

When I was working for Blizzard I was doing 9pm-8am Tues-Fri for like... six months. I can handle it and I'm used to it, just need to actually ween my body back onto it.

Not sure how Shellana will react to this, though. She knows I'm doing Graveyards but she's in Cambridge right now, so it's not like we're sleeping in the same bed right now anyway. Come July 29th, though, who knows.

[chook]

Jim, you should complete a degree or at least goto a good trade school.

[Spectatrix]

100% agree. I see nothing wrong with no down on a house. Now a down on a car is a different story.

Houses are generally an appreciating asset, so if you have better things to do with your money (investing) than saving on interest, you're right. I'm looking at it as being bad mainly from a lender's standpoint. Zero-down is appropriate for some individuals, but certainly not those scraping by living paycheck-to-paycheck... which are probably the majority that seek out these kind of mortgages.

I thought about it some more this morning and, while I certainly wouldn't want to dump all of our savings into a down payment, I would want to put in:

1) At least 20% (to avoid PMI)
2) Enough so that the mortgage payments could be very affordable on a single income in case one of us loses our job (unlikely) or goes back to school full time (more likely).
3) Possibly a tad extra if it would make a difference on the interest rate.

[Dogmeat]

pee on a realator's shoes day is today!

[impala454]

fuck realtors that's all I got to say

[Spectatrix]

Guh, yeah. The house we're leasing now is leased/managed through a realtor. Haven't actually met her. Instead, we were shown the house through *another* realtor (a buyer's/leaser's broker) who I about wanted to strangle when I was first talking to him on the phone. By the time we actually met in person, though, I think he'd twigged to the fact that I wasn't just some ditzy housewife.

[Jim]

Jim, you should complete a degree or at least goto a good trade school.

Maybe after she finishes law school and we can afford the nicer things in life like food.

[Spectatrix]

Maybe after she finishes law school and we can afford the nicer things in life like food.

I thought you were going to community college?

[Jim]

I thought you were going to community college?

Working full time, going to school full time, and performing 90% of all errands, tasks, and other day to day activities required to operate my house has pulled so much stress onto me I said fuck school, let's just wait 'til she's done.

[Mommy]

Do you mind if I ask where you are working, Jim? I'm just curious. It's definitely not to say "nananebooboo I have a degree so I'll get a good job" because I have yet to work a job that I actually wanted or intended to get when I started going to school. I just was wondering how you were doing without a degree.

[Jim]

Do you mind if I ask where you are working, Jim? I'm just curious. It's definitely not to say "nananebooboo I have a degree so I'll get a good job" because I have yet to work a job that I actually wanted or intended to get when I started going to school. I just was wondering how you were doing without a degree.

Well, when I was working as a Game Master, I was making about 12 an hour. But, after moving up here to Valpo, I've been floating around at jobs (third job in a year, all significant raises). I first started working at a gas station, then moved to JC Penney (where I was inline to be management until they started fucking around with my hours), and now I'm at Wal-mart on a fast track to the management positions.

Also, this is in no way limited to what I can do without a degree. Plenty of sales positions and computer tech positions available up here, but all require a lot of travel and time away from Shellana. Not willing to do it simply because I can't imagine what she'd be like during the school year without some sort of moral support.

[Mommy]

See, everyone keeps pressing you to get a degree on here, and I don't see it as all that necessary, especially if sales management is something you want to do. I have a friend that has been working at Walmart (remember, they are dropping the dash lol) for like 3 or 4 years, and he has a good position and good pay. He wastes a lot of that going to school full time though for a degree in management. Management experience goes a hell of a lot further than a degree in management. Plus, later on down the line, if that degree is something you really want or need, most companies that you work for will give you tuition assistance, and you can do it online. Just my 2 cents.

[Jim]

See, everyone keeps pressing you to get a degree on here, and I don't see it as all that necessary, especially if sales management is something you want to do. I have a friend that has been working at Walmart (remember, they are dropping the dash lol) for like 3 or 4 years, and he has a good position and good pay. He wastes a lot of that going to school full time though for a degree in management. Management experience goes a hell of a lot further than a degree in management. Plus, later on down the line, if that degree is something you really want or need, most companies that you work for will give you tuition assistance, and you can do it online. Just my 2 cents.

This is exactly how I feel about it. If I want a serious job, I'll need experience. So, why not get experience, get decent pay, and then go to school on the company's bill? Number one reason Shellana was unable to get a job this summer (externship/internship/clerkship) was because she had zero job experience. Thankfully, a professor gave her a research position, so it was fine, but everytime she sent in her resume and transcript, they all came back with the same reply.

On a side note, I hear Walmart (lol) is a good company to work for. And I'm making as much as a supervisor at JCP as a regular floor associate in the Electronics department.

Apparently, it was a good thing that I've been training myself on my new schedule, because even though I've only had one day of training, they already want me on the sales floor tonight doing 10-7 :S I feel that I'm not ready, but oh well.

[impala454]

nobody is saying you can't make money without a degree. you certainly can do much better with one though. it may be hard to see when you're right out of college and only making low 30s, but look at degreed vs non-degreed at age 30. age 40. age 50. short of becoming some kind of district manager, I would imagine retail management tops out around $50k (depending on where you live).

and I'm not saying Jim won't get one, but the chances that you get a degree I'd imagine fall off dramatically the older you get.