FIGMO's Follies

Last Wednesday I was at the house, supervising the cleanup crew. Somehow they actually finished that day but didn't bother to tell Warren or me until Thursday morning.

The insurance company put pressure on me to get a plumber out ASAP, so I spent half the day looking for a plumber. Oh what fun....

After getting treated like garbage by Plumber #1, I tried another company that was highly rated on both Yelp and Angie's List. Plumber #2 came by yesterday morning, looked in the crawlspace, decided they couldn't do the job because the space was too small, and left. The only bright spot was they didn't charge me for the visit.

I called Plumber #3. It turns out this was the company that redid the plumbing in Warren's house a few years ago. This was also the company the insurance people recommended. The guy came over, looked at things, and then broke everything down into what had to be done. The total: $7700. Yeouch. At least this company was willing to let me pay it in three installments, giving me time to figure out where the rest of the money is going to come from.

This means I now get to decide whether I want to take a loan or a hardship withdrawal from my Lenovo 401k. I would normally prefer the withdrawal, but there's a little thingie in the laws that may make it better for me to take a long-term loan. Specifically, when you turn 59.5 years old, you can start sucking money out of your 401k with no penalties. I hit 59.5 years in 366 days. If I take out a two year loan, I'll have payments under $200/month. I can handle that. Once I hit the one year mark, if I decide I would rather not pay back the rest of the loan, I can do so without incurring a penalty. This would be A Major Win.

I also realized it'd be best for me to wait till mid-month to take out that loan because I'll have a larger pool of cash I can withdraw. It may only be a couple of hundred dollars more, but it'd be nice to have it. I figure it'll pay off the rest of the plumbing and a few bills I need to pay off.

Yesterday was Lady's 15th birthday. She got to eat "people food" all day. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, turkey Canadian bacon, grated cheddar, and spinach. Dinner was chorizo, with half an apple for dessert. This also had the advantage of stretching out her dog food supply one more day. I need to get her more food, but the pet store across the street didn't carry what I normally give her. The next closest thing there was overpriced. I have more food for her at home (I normally have a bag on "standby"), but I need to replace the "standby" bag anyway.

Meanwhile, I need to get my butt in gear soon. The hotel is doing its annual carpet shampooing, and since I thought I'd be checking out today, we set things up so I'd have it done at noon today. This means both Lady and I need to be Out Of The Room. It also means Lady might be going to my Toastmasters meeting tomorrow (that building allows dogs).

The plumber also said it's going to take till at least Thursday to get done, and very nicely asked me to "clear a path to the master shower." Cleaning without water sucks. dimakoi was nice enough to help me, making it go much faster than it would had it bee Just Me. I brought her back for free dinner at the hotel afterwards.

The extra days of plumbing means I've got a few more "fun filled" days of hotel stay in my immediate future. I keep telling myself "Free Breakfast! Free Breakfast! Free Breakfast!" My morning routine has radically changed. I crack my eyes open, and if it's early enough before 9am, I throw on whatever I wore the night before, walk across the hotel property to where they serve breakfast, then make my "course" through the buffet, starting with coffee, staking out a table, then getting everything else. Afterwards I go back to the room, sleep a bit, then do whatever I'm going to do with the day. Right now I'm obviously typing this instead of sleeping, but since I took half a day off Thursday, I felt I need to get an extra early start.

Still, I am really sleepy. Warren was here late last night futzing around on my computer. I couldn't rest because I charge my iPhone and iPad off that computer. Today I need to explain to him that when he's done, he needs to put the computer back on my night stand so I can charge my devices (I did have a USB charger, but it recently broke). This meant I had to go to breakfast without my iPhone, which had me unnerved. No, I'm not "addicted" to it. It's just that ever since someone broke into my dorm room in NYC while I was in bed, I have not felt comfortable unless I had a phone within arm's reach (as I did that day in NYC, where I was able to call for help).

Anyhow, I'm rambling. Sometimes writing in LJ helps me "warm up" for work, but today I'm just spewing stream-of-consciousness because I'm too groggy to think straight. I'd normally take a nap, but again, I have to be ready to go in less than two hours.