Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Year Four at Big Audit is in the books

I made it through Year 4 at Big Audit.  All this means is that I get to keep 60% of my vested 401K firm matched contributions.  It's no accident the way they designed the proration.

Years of Vesting ServiceVested Percentage
less than 20%
2 but less than 320%
3 but less than 4 40%
4 but less than 5 60%
5 or more 100%


Every year on my anniversary, I look at the email that was sent to my "orientation" class.  There were eight of us, including myself.  Only myself and one other person are still here.  Even the HR person who sent the email and presided over the class is gone.

I don't remember the stats for the previous years but I'm certain even after the first year the number diminished.  I know one person changed careers to become a teacher.  She looked like a Carrie Bradshaw clone and had actually led me to the conference room and babysat me during my in-person interview two months before.

To say it has been a rough 4 years is an understatement.  My Office Nemesis and I have been having more and more issues.  It has got so bad that my PML forced his PML to get involved and our director even got involved.  So far it has mostly been Kangaroo Court Retorhic but there has been some improvement so I'll take it.


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Thursday, April 2, 2020

Staying put literally and figuratively

Like most of the world, we are under Home Quarantine because of the COVID-19 virus.  I don't have any hot takes or thinky-thoughts that anyone else doesn't have though I will try to write more here and at ChicagoNow for future alien anthropologists that explore our post-apocalyptic planet to consume.

Before this all begin, we were getting ready to put the house on the market.  We were trying to figure out when Nightingale could quit her job.  In order to not burn bridges, she needed to give at least a month's
notice.

We also needed to do a few more things around the house before we could officially put it on the market.  Our realtors felt like we should have listed ASAP but hat's what realtors always say.  in their line of work it a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.  But there was no way we could have had everything ready by March 1.  And our house shows better in optimal weather, especially with the lack of central air.

Below is a list of things we need to address, more or less in the order of priority.  Meaning if we could only do one thing, start with number one, etc.

at the same time, our biggest need is the need to purge.  I started by selling things on FB marketplace and Letgo, with mixed results.  I did manage to get rid of some big items and make a little money at the same time.   But I also got ghosted and the usual freaks and weirdos.

My thought is that I don't want to move things into a local storage center.  Then transport things to a Memphis area storage center.  and then to our new home once we finally find it.  Also, everything has a cost: do I pay to move it or replace it?  Or do we really need it at all?

I thought that FIL could fly up on a Tuesday, load a truck with the first batch of stuff we know we are keeping but don't need here (NG family dressers, the spare grill I bought that is still in the box, our free weights, etc) and then he could drive off early the next morning, with NG.  They would get down there in time to drop it off at storage and return the truck to the local U-haul, or even if they did it the next morning that's fine.  Then NG would fly back that Thursday afternoon, or even stay until Saturday.

Decorative Railing:  This has two fixes, expensive or cheap.  The cheap easy fix is to remove it.  And I am prepared to do so.  However,  part of me feels like it could be repaired and restored with some help.  It might mean hiring a pro and spending more than I should or if my MIL truly can help, we could do it together.



New Window Treatment for middle bedroom, living room bay window, and kitchen windows.

Paint the Basement: one consistent color of white.  There is no point in doing this while the kiddos are still running around making a mess down there.




Replace carpet in the basement.  There is no point in doing this before the basement gets painted.

Repair Plaster ceiling in the living room.  This is also easy or hard.  I don't know enough about it but I think we can get it cosmetically repaired quickly.  Or do it the right way which will take longer and cause more dust and clean up issues.  I even think we might get away with not doing anything about it but it will be the realtor's call.

Attic Steps painting:  this one is just a nice to have.  Right now the stairs are white but very dingy looking.  I think a dark grey color will make it look better and hide dirt.

Pipe Dream:  I would still like to fix the basement shower.  The problem it doesn't' seem like a cheap fix and I am not gonna pay for a bathroom reno that I won't get to enjoy.

Also, the fence between our house and our neighbor to the North of us is falling down.  At least three posts have rotted through so its likely at the point where replace versus repair costs about the same.  I suspect that if I were to check the survey, my property line is a little more north than it is right now.  which could be an issue because I don't want to screw the next owner out of land.

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