Life Updates....

Well, my sister goes in for her test results Monday. The nurse seems pretty sure the growths are benign now.....big breath....fingers are crossed!!


On the jobs front.... as mentioned previously, I did get hired back at UPS after a month and a half of no checks. (It took that long to get clearance to work after the knee surgery).

Last week I got my first check. It was puny....I mean REALLY puny. Wondering what the oddball deduction on my stub was, I went and asked our payroll clerk. It seems that my pay is being garnished for tax evasion....TAX EVASION!!??!!! WTF?

Sooo....I called up the Virginia State dept. of taxation and got the schpeel about how I'd not filed in 2000 and owed $1200.00+. Bull*&%t!!! This is the third time the state has tried this scam with me, although it is the first time it went as far as a garnishment.

What they do is wait three or so years and then tell you you didn't file. If you can't produce documentation to the contrary you end up paying taxes again.

I have an appointment to inflict mean old mister paperwork on them tomorrow, but this really bit hard. I went a month and a half without pay and because of my mobilization I only made half of what I normally do last year. By the time I got the abbreviated check I had $0.17 in savings. ( All those stories of servicemen on food stamps revolve around, well the pissant pay the junior enlisteds get.) This caused cascading cash chaos. Note that I still don't regret enlisting in the least.

Anyway, I've avoided bankruptcy and not having power, but I still have no phone (I'd gotten extensions on utilities 'till payday on the assumption my check would be....whole) This is not crippling, just really irritating.

Now that I'm making money again, I'll likely be getting cable and therefore a cable modem. One advantage I do have is that I have finally gotten out from under my debt so I can now afford things like TV, and high speed access.....hmmmm.

The heat died again. It seems not to be so much broken as lazy, it only stops working if it gets REALLY cold.

As to activities that disract from blogging, I'm reading to blind students at ODU (actually reading textbook excerpts into tape recorders). I'm tutoring exchange students in conversational English. I'm still taking my classes and working fairly decent hours at UPS.

I'm also working out, having lost 15 pounds since December. Not much but it is a more than a quarter of the 40 lbs I put on after the injury. I am really hoping to be back on a boarding team in my reserve unit by summer.

Oh well enough of me, onto space and other stuff.......but as this is a blog, you've already read that.