Well, I've been out of work for over two years now. The tax bite on your IRA should "only" be 10% penalty, plus the income tax you didn't pay when you earned the money.

I know because that's what's keeping me going at this point.

Yeah, but I brought part of that shit on myself, since I had a permanent job and quit due to dissatisfaction. I'm only fortunate that it worked out in the end. You on the other hand are a victim of circumstance.

Just keep yourself level-headed, realistic and positive. It'll keep you from losing your mind.

Question, El. Since you've been unemployed, have you found yourself becoming a news junkie?
In the early 80's I was mostly home for almost 2 years, and having no internet to keep up, I found myself watching every newscast on TV. After a while I even got hooked on news radio that just repeated every 20 minutes, now how sick is that.
After I started working a real job again, I immediately stopped but not as a conscious thing, it just happened. When I realized that I'd stopped, I rationalized that at work if something important happened, someone would tell me.
I know unemployment sucks and you can't help but worry, but someday you'll look back and be thankful for the time you had with your family, both blood and Cellar. ;)

You know, being unemployed for the first time in 2000 is what made me a news junkie. I didn't watch or read a whole lot of news before then. Enough to keep me relatively well-versed, but nothing compared to now.

Shortly thereafter, I became a talk-radio junkie too.

I've always been a news junkie. Job status didn't enter into it...

New Ride
 

Well, this is about as good as it is going to clean up, with me doing the cleaning. Anyone have any experience with those little tubes of factory touchup paint? Is it functional at all, or is it just a grotesque waste of time given the amount and quality of overall appearance improvement?

And one more...
 

I need to learn how to put multiple pics in a single post. I'm not very html savvy; perhaps you've all noticed?

Elspode's neighbor on the phone- well he hasn't worked in a while and her got this fancy new car so I thought the DEA should know......:D

That touch up paint will keep the water from the metal. A very good thing.;)

Re: From Bad to Worse, but a Good Day...
 

I sympathize--my wife is very frustrated with her job (for good reason) and feels the aggravation and time away from family it's requiring has become more than the $$ is worth, and a year of looking for something better hasn't yielded any results. We've pretty much decided she'll work till the end of the year while we save up as much as possible and she continues to look for something else and, if nothing materializes, she'll give notice. It's true we'll save money on child care, but not THAT much compared to her salary, and we're all budgeted on having 2 incomes like we have ever since we moved in together in 1989. And frankly, I'm a bit scared of the prospect. Theoretically we can scrape by, but it'll be tight, and it'll mean eliminating what financial safety net we have (not much).


What kind of camper do you have? And where do you take it? My wife & I went tent camping a few times BK (before kids) and want to try it again (with a bigger tent of course) when we're ready to brave it with the kids... not quite yet, after our experience in the Poconos, but maybe next summer. No heavy wilderness survival, just a nice out-of-the-way campground. After seeing my boss's camper that he's got parked year-round at a place up in Bucks County I've even toyed with a small popup camper at some point.

I think once the DEA guy looks at the odometer reading, he'll walk away laughing quietly and shaking his head...

Re: Re: From Bad to Worse, but a Good Day...
 

We've got a Coleman Sea Pine popup camper, vintage 1998. You can see a good part of it behind the Explorer in that first pic.

I've been camping since I was a lad. I love it. If I don't get to go camping enough, I become very difficult to live with. If I don't get to go to the mountains a couple of times per decade, I get weird in ways I can't even quite explain.

The camper went to Colorado the first year we had it, but mostly we camp at Missouri State Parks, Corps of Engineers campgrounds, and out at the area Pagan camp which we work to support.

We bought it brand-spanking new for $6,500.00. It is still in very, very good condtion, and let me tell you, it really beats tent camping. No air mattresses deflating beneath you as you sleep, no stinking sleeping bags, and NO GETTING WET in the rain. You can stand up to change clothes, you can store and use a porta potty, and some of these things even come with *showers*.

We've been through some simply incredible storms in this baby, and nary a damp spot to be seen afterward. In fact, at the large Memorial Day Weekend Pagan Festival we attend each year (an event widely known for the stupendous deluges which traditionally occur), we once had 13 people in our camper riding out a major storm. We've had refugees from the weather beg to be allowed to sleep in one of the unused berths on more than once occasion on dark and stormy nights.

Good used popups are around all the time, at least in the Midwest, and at reasonable prices. The things tend not to get used all that much in the grand scheme of things, and so they can be very old and still look and work very good. In fact, I saw a 1973 Starcraft at Fest this year that I would have classified as a B+ condition, which the owner had purchased for $500. This thing was nearly show quality, if they actually *had* camper shows.

Keep in mind you'll need a suitable vehicle to tow with. Although popups tend to be very lightweight (ours weighs just under 1800 lbs. before we load all our crap into it), I recommend nothing under a big six-cylinder for towing. My recently deceased van had a 3.8 liter and the Explorer has a 4.0. The great thing about the Explorer is that the step bumper hitch is adequate for towing my loaded camper (3500 lb capacity with the camper coming in at no more than 2800 lbs), so I don't have to have an expensive hitch installed...although I do have to get a light connector put on tomorrow.

Can't go too far wrong with a decent popup...

I was towing a buddies pop-up over I-80 at about 70mph with my full sized '74 van. A trucker came on the CB to tell me one of the trailer tires was blown out. This thing towed so easily, I had no clue to the problem with the tire. Nice rigs.

The next time I go back to St. Louis, I definitely have to take 2 days to drive to KC and hang with Ep.

Anyone on The Cellar is cordially invited to drop by the Chambers hovel anytime you're in KC or anywhere nearby. We're pretty simple folk around here, I'm afraid, but we're honest and we'll feed you.

Hmm thanks for the tips... towing could be trouble... I kind of assumed my minivan would be enough to tow a popup, but the manual suggests a max towing weight of 1350LB if you have "3 - 5 people and luggage".. course who knows what they're assuming for the weight of the people and the luggage, and I'm sure there's some CYA factor in there too.

But it's academic, any such purchase is a LONG way off. For that matter, I don't ever recall seeing any kind of RV around where I live. For all I know the township has an ordinance against parking them. Still, it would be great... my idea of a fun vacation is getting away, period. I don't really care where I go, and sitting out in the middle of the woods with a pile of books I haven't read yet is as perfect a use of my time as I've come up with.