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Life is going pretty smoothly for me so there's not much to report or document right now. I did enroll in Park University last week and I'm taking a public speaking class at lunch time starting 19 March… ONLY BECAUSE I HAVE TO! Yuck! And worse yet, my 25% contribution cost me $92.25. That's highway robbery in my book… But that's the only class keeping me from an Associate's Degree and I need that to fill one of my squares for the military if I want to pursue another promotion. I figure I'll fill one square at a time and see where it gets me.
MARCH 4, 2001
I purged my memories of John today... meaning I deleted 3 separate email accounts full of years of correspondence. Tis been 4 months since we officially broke it off and have only corresponded with him once and that was just to say "happy holidays"... he replied with equally generic words. Life goes on...
MARCH 10, 2001
I've been doing a lot of thinking and planning lately and I can't remember if I've expounded on this type stuff before, but even if I did, I seem to change and alter my plans for living life every once in awhile so this will be an update if anything else.
My strategy for less consumption of alcohol, food, and money is:
I took my paycheck and budgeted for the bills and SAVINGS first. This way the bills are covered no matter what and my savings takes care of unexpected or long-range expenditures and/or my retirement plan. I even have a credit card reduction plan going where I’m paying double or triple the minimum in order to get rid of the higher interest cards. I concentrate on one card at a time. I have 3 right now and will be down to 2 next month. My goal is only having one that I use which is keeping me from using them if at all possible.
Then I took what was leftover and divided it by 4. Out of that comes out food, gas, household needs, and alcohol. I go out once a week (Friday for me) and get the designated amount of CASH and then I proceed to get everything for the upcoming week all in one outing. I plan all my meals for the week and get just what I need, I feel up my gas tank no matter how full or empty it is, I go to the cleaners and/or the BX and get just what I need for the household for that week, and then I buy ONE six-pack of beer or ONE bottle of wine depending on my taste buds. If I drink it all over the weekend then I go without until the next Friday. I started out with a 12-pack of beer or a 1.5 L bottle of wine and now I’m transitioning into the one 6-pack or one 1 L of wine. Basically, all I want or need is one bottle of beer or one glass a wine a day while I’m fixing my dinner. Knowing this and knowing I only have so much on hand keeps me from drinking more. Most of the time I do go without for at least two to three days. Any leftover money for the week I put in my secret stash box and save it for my monthly adventures ;-) I’ve been doing this since the 1st of the year and so far it is working great. And my reward for all of this is two-fold: I’m getting healthier and I’m able to plan my adventures while reducing debt and planning for my retirement.
I didn’t mean to get carried away, but I’m feeling good about my plan and wanted to share it ;-)
And now for my retirement strategy ;-)
I’m actually flip-flopping still between ideas… I have 8 to 12 years left before I retire, but once I do, my plan is to be able to live off my retirement income which won't be a whole lot, but should provide for the necessities of life until I start getting social security which would be 10 to 14 years after that. Until I decide what I want to do, my goal is to save as much money as possible for the purchase and/or down payment of one of 5 choices.
1) Travel trailer or fully-equipped van where I can travel here and there and only pay for the lot rent.
2) Mobile home on 1 acre of land. Stay put and travel once a year.
3) Log home on 1 acre of land. Stay put and travel once a year.
4) Apartment with a paid off vehicle for travel
5) Small house. Stay put and travel once a year.
Each has its pros and cons which makes it difficult to choose. I have decided that I want to be near the ocean though so that has at least limited my choices of where to live. I figure my next assignment will help determine that too.
Speaking of my next assignment... I'm trying to find the perfect job for my next assignment... location is important... has to be somewhere warm and preferably close to a beach. I've narrowed my list down of where I'd like to go. Of course, it will all depend on what job I'll be doing and whether the base has openings for my rank. Here's my list as of right now:
STATESIDE
Vandenburg AFB, CA (Near Santa Maria CA)
Tyndall AFB, FL (Near Panama City FL)
MacDill AFB, FL (Near Tampa FL)
Patrick AFB, FL (Near Cocoa Beach FL)
Eglin AFB, FL (Near Niceville FL)
Hurlburt Field, FL (Near Niceville FL)
Beale AFB, CA (Near Sacramento CA)
Travis AFB, CA (Near San Francisco CA)
Lackland AFB, TX (Near San Antonio TX)
Charleston AFB, SC (Charleston SC)
OVERSEAS
Hickam AFB, HI (Hawaii)
Anderson AFB, GU (Guam)
Lajes Field (Azores)
Spangdahlem AB (Germany)
MARCH 17, 2001
Finally set off on my St. George's Island adventure with my mother. We were hoping for great weather so that we could spend a lot of time on the beach either walking or just sitting gazing out to sea. We also wanted to catch a sunset and sunrise; however, none of the above occurred as it rained the whole weekend. We did manage to have a decent time though despite the gloominess. The hotel we stayed in was in a great location... It was called the Bucanneer Inn and it was right on the beach. We had lunch at a Pizza place and our first toast to Christopher. We didn't want to eat too much since we were going out for a grand dinner. Afterwards we found a quaint little coffee shop and sat there for nearly an hour talking and reminiscing. It was a cozy place and you could see and hear the rain falling. Once we left there we did a little exploring and ended up at the St George State Park entrance... we said what the heck and paid the $4 entry fee and found a pavillion where we could sit and gaze out to sea without getting wet. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long as it was pretty cold and the wind was chilling us to the bones. Dinner was nice although the restaurant we picked didn't have quite the atmosphere I was hoping for... too crowded and too lit up for my taste... under other circumstances we could have dined outdoors which would have made for a more pleasant experience. Oh well, we made the best of it and look forward to our next visit under better weather conditions.
MARCH 25-31, 2001
Headed to Keesler AFB for a week long short-notice TDY for PERSCO training. Stopped by my Dad's house for Sunday lupper. He had all kinds of completed projects for me to discover. My favorite was the fishless pond. The course itself was pretty boring but I made good use of the after hours by going to the library and researching my speech topics... common cancer treatments and organ donation. I was also able to keep up with my email since they provide that service as well. Friday I headed back to Pensacola and spent the weekend with my dad. We went to an RV fair and I spotted quite a few possibilities. My dad came real close to buying one too until he looked at a road atlas. Apparently the thought of driving long miles didn't appeal to him. Instead he wants to concentrate on going kayaking as he recently purchased two kayaks and a trailer to pull them with. I still can't believe he did that! However, we are both looking forward to the new adventure. In fact, that's what we did all day Saturday... we scouted out the rivers and the possible launch sites for our first kayak adventure on 5 May. Life is definetely not boring with my father ;-).
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