Back to School?

No, this post has nothing to do with gold!

When I got the email on Sunday night informing me that the office was closed and that we would be working from home the following day, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the remainder of my schedule. About halfway through the morning about half of the items on my schedule had either been cancelled or moved with a few more being altered during the first few hours of the day. Thankfully, there was one appointment that held and just as my son was waking from his afternoon nap, I was heading out the door on my way up the highway to Reading.

This was not work related. This was something extra on my calendar that I wanted to take a closer look at. After all, I have already been out of school for nearly 8 years and the academic itch is becoming unbearable once again. Not being one to rest on previous accomplishments or, in this case, degrees, I reached out to Alvernia University a few weeks ago to inquire about their PhD program focusing on Leadership. On Monday afternoon with resume in hand I met with the Chair of the department and had a great conversation about the program and why I had taken an interest in pursuing my doctorate.

Me, a doctor. Kind of a scary thought isn’t it?

Understand that this is just one of the things that I am looking at to satisfy that academic hunger that I feel. But it was a nice feeling returning to a campus and being in that atmosphere again. I actually really like the program as it was outlined, the school seems to be on the upswing, the cost is very reasonable, and the proximity to home is ideal. There are a lot of things going for it but I also hesitate knowing what the program entails.

In the end, I think it is all going to come down to the time element. This would be a five year commitment of at least 10 hours per week. That is time away from my family, my job, and the other things that I enjoying doing. You know me, I already have so much free time in my schedule to take on another long term project and I enjoy the things that I am doing now and would not want to have to sacrifice any of them. But this might be as good a time as any to start this. Time is a tricky part of the decision but also the main part of the decision that my wife and I will have to consider. Until then, I have plenty of other things that I can work on!

Investing Again

When I started at my current company there were many things that were discussed. The firm was newly formed when I first walked through the door in September 2013. In fact, the owner of the company was still waiting for the cable company to arrive later that afternoon to set up the internet. It was an interesting experience and much different from the previous conversation I had with her.

It was during that initial discussion when we talked about the clients, my role in the company, and many of the other benefits that would be part of my employment including healthcare, profit sharing, and a 401K (among others). Every salary position I have ever had, and then some, have offered healthcare so that was not a surprise to me. However the other two piqued my interest and were really bonuses to the position that I was not expecting.

Since that time over a year and a half ago, she has been true to her word. While none of us expected any sort of profit sharing at the end of 2013 we weren’t really holding out for 2014 either. After all, we are a new company. However, we were all pleasantly surprised at the end of the year when we each received an extra deposit into our accounts (which was particularly useful at that point in time).

Toward the end of last year we also continued our conversations regarding setting up a 401K. It had taken some time but things were progressing and as the calendar turned over we all started contributing to the future. While we don’t have much extra at the moment, I started with a small contribution from each pay check.

While I have had investment accounts in the past, this was my first time having a 401K. Previous accounts have long since been liquidated to pay for graduate school and other expenses. Many would consider this a tremendous loss but given the fact that I finished graduate school in the spring of 2008, it wasn’t a bad way to use the funds.

Since that time, my ‘investments’ have been on a much smaller scale and consisting of hard assets. I honestly can’t recall how many times I bought silver (and a tiny bit of gold) over the past decade but it is safe to say that I didn’t lose money or break even. A coin here and there can add up especially before the market shifted and the prices began to spike.

All the small items were nice and served a purpose when we needed that little extra. Now, it is a great feeling to be contributing to our future even though it may be one small deduction from my pay every couple of weeks. It may not seem much at the moment, it never does, but it will certainly add up in the end (especially when I start decreasing my take home pay). And it sure beats flipping coins.

Transformation

We have now been living in our townhouse for over a week and things are starting to come together. The move was smooth, the boxes are slowly disappearing, and new furniture (mostly for the baby at this point) is showing up at our door every other day. I am pretty sure that FedEx is hating us right about now. It is all coming together piece by piece and starting to feel more like a home with every day that passes.

While we haven’t had much time to talk with our neighbors, we have met most of them and their friendliness is something that we have been seeking for some time. More importantly, the people that we have met enjoy where they are and have no plans on moving anytime soon. While there were a few like that in our previous place, the door kept swinging around with people moving in and out on a regular basis.

Of course, compared to our apartment, it is nice to have some breathing room. We have more than doubled our living space with the move and it has been nice to be able to have a little separation at times when we need to get work done, talk on the phone, or simply sleep. Even with our son on the way and the mountains of stuff that will come with him, we are still looking at a much more comfortable living situation.

Even the commute has been better for both of us with my wife only about 10 minutes from work and mine consisting of a few quick turns and letting cruise control take over for about 30 a half hour. I don’t mind the time in the car but at least now it is much less aggravating (I don’t have to take the perpetually congested roads) and much more consistent. Heck, even my gas mileage is enjoying the change.

It finally feels like we are going to be able to turn this place into a home. It has been a long search and a number of years, but we are finally making some progress in this area. It is a transformation that we have yet to accomplish and we were beginning to see the process as some kind of alchemy. Sure there have been places that have served us well on the surface but once you peeled away the plating, the lead core was clear. While I don’t expect everything to be golden, it would be nice to at least have something consisting of silver or bronze.

Coffee Is My Friend

This is the 50^th blog that I have posted since beginning this stream of rambling in May. It’s the golden anniversary. Of course the only thing golden on this blog is when I piss people off.

So far, I have already been asked numerous times about how I am able to post every day and the answer is very simple… I am full of crap and I’m willing to share it with everyone what cares to have a sniff. This isn’t a government health care bill, this blog is very simple. I’m just recording what rattles around in my head before it has a chance to escape.

This blog is my everyday life, the boring and the interesting (at least to me), the random thoughts, the observations of things happening around me. Fueled by coffee (lots and lots of coffee) and a time card, I have been writing posts in the middle of the night while all sane people are asleep. Sometimes I get a random thought or two and it makes its way to my fingers while other times I can look at a blank page off and on for hours.

All it takes is some determination and a commitment to write no matter how many or how few read a post. For me, if I try to write for a specific audience nothing happens but if I just write and let life dictate the prose I don’t have a problem. As I like to say, it’s fine to have your head in your rear as long as it’s out of the way of your writing. Basically, apply the same rules that a politician applies when speaking to a large crowd.

But, overall, have fun. Entertain yourself and everything else will fall into place. Bring some balance to your day by blogging.