Organisational

Posted: Mon 5 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 2012/13, Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts, Work-related, Writing | 1 Comment »

This last week has involved getting quite a lot of stuff organised, and it’s felt pretty successful, to be honest.

Among other things, this week I’ve

  • Sorted out the Car Tax for the next 12 months
  • Paid a power bill that nPower had totally screwed up (and that’s the subject of an ongoing fight/complaint)
  • Halved the cost of my car insurance from the start of September (and raised a complaint regarding the amount I’ve been paying for the last six months)
  • Sent out CVs and organised interviews for the coming week
  • Organised myself (and a fair amount of my life) for the coming month
  • Started a couple of new projects, both techie ones and writing ones
  • Generally sorted out a whole load of things, most of which aren’t overly relevant to D4D™ or worth writing about, but are worthwhile for me to sort out
  • Even made time for lunch with the parents!

So all told, it’s been a pretty good week. In some ways the last twelve months has felt like being in Limbo, waiting for things to pass/happen, and that’s been OK. But with the changes of the last couple of weeks, as well as things that’ll be coming to pass at the end of this week, it’s now time to get my ass back in gear, and start figuring out what’s next.

August

Posted: Thu 1 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Welcome to August – which should be a good month.

D4D will be 11 – eleven, for fuck’s sake! – and on the same day my bankruptcy will be discharged. Apparently that’s an automatic process, so I don’t even need to do anything, it’ll just happen.

Along the way, I’ve also got to change/renew car insurance (it’s going to be a change, unless a *very* good deal is offered for staying), which should be entertaining.

Along with that little lot, it’s also a month for getting a new job – well, that’s the plan – and generally sorting out other stuff.

There’s a lot going on, but it’s generally feeling pretty positive right now.

Six Weeks Remaining

Posted: Fri 28 June, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances | Leave a comment »

Six weeks from today, it’ll be the start of the next phase. Not that I’m counting or anything…

Even better, it all happens automatically, so I don’t need to do any extra paperwork, fill in forms, visit courts, or any of that crap. It just clears.

 

Coming close

Posted: Sat 22 June, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Finances | Leave a comment »

This month is probably the tightest I’ve had (now there’s a search phrase that’ll come up trumps) in the last year, when it comes to finances. The fact that it’s still manageable is – in my opinion – worthy of some note.

It’s been tight primarily due to the need to replace two techie items – as written about previously, both Laptop and Kindle have needed replacing – but I knew I could get through it. That on its own is a revelation, compared to how things were this time last year.

And sure, I could have waited to replace the Kindle – although I’m also aware of other stuff coming up next month, so such is life – but it was the decision I made, and as always I knew the consequences and what the month would be like.

I’m still ok – just – and I know there’s an extra dollop of money hitting my account on Tuesday, so it’s all pretty safe really, but it’s still made things interesting.

The development and progress from this time last year is interesting though. I’ve been able to do this without too much stress or juggling, and that shows me how things can – and will – be in future. I can do this, so long as I’m not stupid. (Well, not too stupid) The light at the end of the tunnel finally appears to be a light, rather than another train coming the other way.

Equipment Failure

Posted: Sun 2 June, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Finances, Geeky, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, iPhone, Shopping, Technology, Thoughts, Weirdness | 1 Comment »

Don’t worry, this isn’t another post about the joys and pitfalls of getting older…

No, instead it’s about technology, and why the bastard stuff all ends up failing at the same time.

First of all, this post is being written on a new laptop – which I really could’ve done without having to get, but needs must when the devil drives (and/or you’re a web techie and wannabe-writer).  The old Dell laptop – which it turns out I bought back in September 2009, so I shouldn’t whine so much, I guess – had been getting flakier over the last six months, but I’ve been eking out the life of it since then, suffering the occasional (and then more regular) hard-drive crash, and the ropy keyboard with some keys that only worked intermittently.

This week though it’s been crashing every time it was in use, and was obviously getting to the point where I needed to a) pull all the relevant data off it like NOW, and b) replace it with something else. And with a trip up to Manchester this week where I’m *really* going to need a reliable laptop, this was the weekend for it.

So I’ve bitten the bullet somewhat, and the new one is a (dirt-cheap) Asus thing, running the already-much-disliked Windows 8. To be fair to Windows 8, the old laptop was on the much-loathed Vista, which I never really found all that annoying. Eight annoys me more so far, but I’ll get used to it.

The other two equipment failures are both iPhone related, allbeit power-related rather than device-related. (Although I did think one of them might’ve been the phone being fucked, which was a real worry)  First the Mophie battery case has failed. Again. (More accurately, the cable/charger for it, which will no longer charge) I love the Mophie cases, but they do seem to be somewhat crap, and only last about a year. And then the normal iPhone charge/sync cable also went kerfut and wouldn’t charge the phone.  So I’ve had to get a new cable for that as well – considerably less expensive than the laptop purchase, but still, why all at the same time?

Oh yeah, and the fridge in the house also played up this week, with one day where it didn’t appear to be working all that well. Fortunately it’s now back up and running.

But why the hell would four things, two fairly major, all decide to kiff out within the same week? Weird things, I tell thee, weird things.

Time for Change

Posted: Thu 30 May, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Insomnia, Thoughts, Work-related | 1 Comment »

Right now, life is (again) feeling like it’s time for some changes to start happening.  (Yeah, as if there hadn’t been enough of them already)

I’m not going to be diving into anything too much, but it’s safe to say that I’m at the point of having Had Enough of some stuff.

Work is the particular source of ire at the moment, with the feeling of being far too pressurised and overloaded, aided and abetted by an HR department that seems to think dealing with people isn’t in their job description.  I’m managing far too many projects – although keeping them just about on time and on-target, with only one glaringly delayed one that went out this week at long last – with too little recognition and acknowledgement. Additionally, for every project I close, two more come up, Hydra-like.

There’s other bits of life that are annoying me currently, but work is the main one – and the easiest one to change, I think. From there, I don’t know what’s next, but even if I increase my travel time, I suspect it’ll make life better just through the change happening.

Really though at the moment I’m just so fucking tired. I’m not depressed (or at least not massively so) just exhausted. I think burnout is just round the corner, and I need to address that soon, or it’ll happen.

Anyway, it’s just me whinging. Things will work out, change will happen.

100 Remaining

Posted: Wed 1 May, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances | Leave a comment »

From today, I have 100 days left of the official bankruptcy period. I’m two-thirds of the way through it already, which is pretty amazing.

I don’t know yet what the plans are once I’m done with it – rebuilding things slowly but surely, I guess – but from here on in I think I can at least start to figure out what comes next.

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