We were mostly preoccupied yesterday with watching the coverage on TV of the big storm - Sandy. It is incredible that a storm that is barely classified a category 1 Hurricane can do so much damage. Actually, it was more a situation of coincidences that resulted in most of the damage. The main problem, of course, was that the storm came on shore at the same time as the high tide. The stories and pictures of the damage were sad. The size of the storm was also amazing and the effects were far reaching into the Midwest and also north into Canada. We saw pictures of the shore at Seaside Heights where Josie always visited while growing up in New Jersey, and the beach is gone. There seems to be no question that our climate is changing and the weather in that part of the country appears to be getting more severe as time goes on. I'm sure we will be hearing much more about climate changes and the areas that are impacted. It was indicated during one interview yesterday that the entire Midwest is also affected by these climate changes with more frequent and more severe tornadoes in the last few years. We are thankful that we are "westerners" now and just pray that our families and friends are safe from all the severe weather.
There wasn't much else that happened yesterday except for a trip to the fitness center for our daily workout. I did more research and configuring of computer options and have pretty much decided that I can't afford - or should I say justify - the added costs for going to the Apple platform. Actually, another consideration is that I don't use the computer for work as much as I did previously, so many of the benefits aren't significant for the general, everyday applications that I use now. I just have to be more diligent in how I allow outside access to my data from unknown sources.
We still have to do the resumes for our search for work. We are waiting on the letter of recommendation from Jackson Hole to use along with our resumes. It has been sent to our address in FL, but we haven't received it as yet. We have only had 1 mailing from FL since we arrived, so we expect that letter to be in the next one which will be early next week. We are enjoying our free time and aren't looking forward yet to buckling down and getting some of our required tasks completed...
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Drive to West Side
Another area that has had some appeal to us over the years is Tonopah, AZ. It is, basically, the last town of significance as you leave the Phoenix area to go west. There is nothing but hills and desert beyond Tonopah. It is the town where the projected population explosion was to take place before the economic downturn and before the real estate bubble burst. I did some business out there selling lots, including a 5 acre tract to Patty's friends, Mike and Angel from Naperville, IL.
Needless to say, the property looks almost the same as it did back in 2005 or 2006 when they purchased the property. It is frozen in time. We stopped by the real estate office in downtown Tonopah on the way back, and picked up a flyer on properties that were available in that area. Wow! The real estate in that area has taken a big hit in this downturn. The same properties are selling for about 1/3 of the price before the economy went south. I'm sure they will all bounce back, but for now, there are some great deals there. It will take many years - perhaps 5 to 7 - to rebound to the prices of 6 or 7 years ago.
On the way home we wanted to stop in Goodyear to visit the Cotton Lane RV Resort where we stayed for a year back in 2003-4:
The Resort has changed some since we were last there and they have added many homes and improved the overall appearance of the Resort:
The golf course is the biggest change as it was closed for renovation. It is going to be a very nice little course when they are finished with the improvements. You can also see the old Harness Race Track that is still standing behind the Resort on I-10. It was a nostalgic visit, to be sure.
The trip home from there was totally different as the construction on the new Loop 303 is taking place on the entire stretch from Goodyear to Surprise. It is going to be one beautiful highway when it is all done, but it will be several more years before that happens. In the meantime, it is a good area to avoid. Bridges are being constructed over every cross street on that stretch, and there are many.
It was fun visiting these old areas that were very familiar to us. We also drove past the development in the desert called Sun City Festival, and, although it has grown, it looks like the economical impact has slowed its growth tremendously. It still requires a 20 mile round trip to do any grocery shopping from where it is located. The only thing that has been added is a Shell gas station with a mini mart that is located at the entrance.
Today will be one where, if we don't do anything else, we are going to update our resumes for some serious job hunting. It would be real easy to stay in this mode of relaxing every day but there are other priorities. Also, we will begin thinking about the details for consolidating our 2 storage locations. That will not be a pleasant task...
Needless to say, the property looks almost the same as it did back in 2005 or 2006 when they purchased the property. It is frozen in time. We stopped by the real estate office in downtown Tonopah on the way back, and picked up a flyer on properties that were available in that area. Wow! The real estate in that area has taken a big hit in this downturn. The same properties are selling for about 1/3 of the price before the economy went south. I'm sure they will all bounce back, but for now, there are some great deals there. It will take many years - perhaps 5 to 7 - to rebound to the prices of 6 or 7 years ago.
On the way home we wanted to stop in Goodyear to visit the Cotton Lane RV Resort where we stayed for a year back in 2003-4:
The Resort has changed some since we were last there and they have added many homes and improved the overall appearance of the Resort:
The golf course is the biggest change as it was closed for renovation. It is going to be a very nice little course when they are finished with the improvements. You can also see the old Harness Race Track that is still standing behind the Resort on I-10. It was a nostalgic visit, to be sure.
The trip home from there was totally different as the construction on the new Loop 303 is taking place on the entire stretch from Goodyear to Surprise. It is going to be one beautiful highway when it is all done, but it will be several more years before that happens. In the meantime, it is a good area to avoid. Bridges are being constructed over every cross street on that stretch, and there are many.
It was fun visiting these old areas that were very familiar to us. We also drove past the development in the desert called Sun City Festival, and, although it has grown, it looks like the economical impact has slowed its growth tremendously. It still requires a 20 mile round trip to do any grocery shopping from where it is located. The only thing that has been added is a Shell gas station with a mini mart that is located at the entrance.
Today will be one where, if we don't do anything else, we are going to update our resumes for some serious job hunting. It would be real easy to stay in this mode of relaxing every day but there are other priorities. Also, we will begin thinking about the details for consolidating our 2 storage locations. That will not be a pleasant task...
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Different Mall
Our closest big Mall and the one we used to go to more than the others - Arrowhead - was where we went yesterday. It is just down Bell Rd from us, about 10 miles, and I wanted to visit the Apple store that is located there. There were many changes that we noticed as far as stores and some store locations, but it still had the mass crowd of people. We thought that was unusual for not being close to Christmas, but the area is so populated that it is probably normal for any day.
My visit to the Apple store was just to do some research on prices, models and conversion from PC platform to the Mac platform. I really like the systems, but don't like their prices. It seems that you pay twice as much for half the computing resources than the PC platform. There is no question, in my mind, that that is the way to go, but I am having a hard time justifying the extra cash. There is still no rush to make a change, but I will need to decide pretty soon. My frustration level is growing with the system I have now.
We also visited the JC Penney Home Store near there while looking for a toaster oven - didn't find the one we are looking for - and to Costco, which is around the corner from the Mall. While at Costco, I found one of the HP systems I had been looking at for about $200 less than I was quoted online from the HP site. It is awfully attractive and I have until the offer ends on Nov 7 to decide on that option.
It was an otherwise quiet day for us. Carole came over to visit for awhile and she is attempting to empty the storage shed on this site. It is an overwhelming amount of stuff that is stored there and we feel sorry for her and that task ahead. We would like to use the shed to help us reorganize our own storage, but we will not have access until her work is done. We renewed our offer to help her any way we can.
There are lots of things to do around our rig, so today may be the day we begin those tasks. Our hunt for the perfect "winter" job will probably also begin today...
My visit to the Apple store was just to do some research on prices, models and conversion from PC platform to the Mac platform. I really like the systems, but don't like their prices. It seems that you pay twice as much for half the computing resources than the PC platform. There is no question, in my mind, that that is the way to go, but I am having a hard time justifying the extra cash. There is still no rush to make a change, but I will need to decide pretty soon. My frustration level is growing with the system I have now.
We also visited the JC Penney Home Store near there while looking for a toaster oven - didn't find the one we are looking for - and to Costco, which is around the corner from the Mall. While at Costco, I found one of the HP systems I had been looking at for about $200 less than I was quoted online from the HP site. It is awfully attractive and I have until the offer ends on Nov 7 to decide on that option.
It was an otherwise quiet day for us. Carole came over to visit for awhile and she is attempting to empty the storage shed on this site. It is an overwhelming amount of stuff that is stored there and we feel sorry for her and that task ahead. We would like to use the shed to help us reorganize our own storage, but we will not have access until her work is done. We renewed our offer to help her any way we can.
There are lots of things to do around our rig, so today may be the day we begin those tasks. Our hunt for the perfect "winter" job will probably also begin today...
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Revisiting Familiar Places
One place that we always enjoyed visiting while here is the Outlet Mall in New River. Since we both still needed some things for the winter, yesterday was the day for that visit. It is so much easier and faster to get there now with the new highway, Loop 303, completed from just up the road from us to the I-17 just down the road from the Mall. We parked by the Food Court as we wanted to grab some lunch before walking around. We noticed the huge tree that we saw featured on the news the night before where they cut off most of the (lower) branches because it was too heavy to hoist into place:
The work crew was busy preparing the branches to insert back into the tree trunk to prepare it for decorating for Christmas on November 17:
We spent several hours walking around the Mall, shopping and stopping for some frozen yogurt. The strangest thing happened while watching the activity around the tree. A woman walked up to Josie and recognized her from working with her at Cactus Flower Florists back in 2001 or 2002. She actually recognized her voice, of all things.
Following our fun trip to the Mall, we decided to take an early evening trip to our pool at the Town Center here in Happy Trails. It is the main pool in the Resort and Josie felt like using the hot tub to help relieve some muscle strain from our workout at the fitness center in the morning and the walk around the mall in the afternoon. The hot tub felt great:
followed by a dip in the pool:
We were the only ones using the hot tub and pool at this hour and we noticed a huge party across the fairway in the back of one of the homes:
Maybe there weren't any people at the pool because they were all at this party - who knows. It is still a little early in the season though, so many more people will be coming into the Resort over the next several weeks.
There are no plans yet for today which is OK for us. It's nice not to have everything planned out for the day and is a welcomed change from a work schedule...
The work crew was busy preparing the branches to insert back into the tree trunk to prepare it for decorating for Christmas on November 17:
We spent several hours walking around the Mall, shopping and stopping for some frozen yogurt. The strangest thing happened while watching the activity around the tree. A woman walked up to Josie and recognized her from working with her at Cactus Flower Florists back in 2001 or 2002. She actually recognized her voice, of all things.
Following our fun trip to the Mall, we decided to take an early evening trip to our pool at the Town Center here in Happy Trails. It is the main pool in the Resort and Josie felt like using the hot tub to help relieve some muscle strain from our workout at the fitness center in the morning and the walk around the mall in the afternoon. The hot tub felt great:
followed by a dip in the pool:
We were the only ones using the hot tub and pool at this hour and we noticed a huge party across the fairway in the back of one of the homes:
Maybe there weren't any people at the pool because they were all at this party - who knows. It is still a little early in the season though, so many more people will be coming into the Resort over the next several weeks.
There are no plans yet for today which is OK for us. It's nice not to have everything planned out for the day and is a welcomed change from a work schedule...
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Perfect Timing
The word from Jackson, WY is that they have been getting some snow the last few days. There are about 3 inches on the ground as of yesterday and it is beginning to get very cold. The timing was perfect for us to leave there and arrive in AZ in mid October. Also, the temperatures here in AZ are predominately in the 80's which is also a pleasant change from the 100's that are common for the more than 5 months in the summer. We will remember the perfect timing in the future when we leave our summer location for the warmer winter location.
The computer issues over the last couple days have quieted down until I hear back from PayPal on resolution of the charge for the useless software. I have started to look at computer alternatives and I am still up in the air whether to make the change to an Apple platform or stay with the PC. The problem I'm having is that if I stay with the PC, I will need to get the new OS - Windows 8 - which is too new to try, and the Apple systems mean more money. Will it be better to bite the bullet and spend the extra money for a better platform? Decisions, decisions.
The results from Austin's first 8A high school playoff game are positive. They won the game, 38-6, over a pretty good Proviso West team. Austin had 172 yards rushing and 1 TD. That brings him within 4 yards of 2000 for the season. What a record! They head to round two next week when they will play a very good Oak Park team. It's one game at a time at this point and we're sure his great team will go far, if not all the way to the championship this year.
There are still several places we wanted to go when we arrived here, and some are critical - like eye exams, Doctor's appointments, license renewals, etc. - but some are also fun things, like going to the Outlet Mall, hiking in the White Tank Mountains and driving to familiar areas to see the changes. What will be the destination today? I vote for something fun...
The computer issues over the last couple days have quieted down until I hear back from PayPal on resolution of the charge for the useless software. I have started to look at computer alternatives and I am still up in the air whether to make the change to an Apple platform or stay with the PC. The problem I'm having is that if I stay with the PC, I will need to get the new OS - Windows 8 - which is too new to try, and the Apple systems mean more money. Will it be better to bite the bullet and spend the extra money for a better platform? Decisions, decisions.
The results from Austin's first 8A high school playoff game are positive. They won the game, 38-6, over a pretty good Proviso West team. Austin had 172 yards rushing and 1 TD. That brings him within 4 yards of 2000 for the season. What a record! They head to round two next week when they will play a very good Oak Park team. It's one game at a time at this point and we're sure his great team will go far, if not all the way to the championship this year.
There are still several places we wanted to go when we arrived here, and some are critical - like eye exams, Doctor's appointments, license renewals, etc. - but some are also fun things, like going to the Outlet Mall, hiking in the White Tank Mountains and driving to familiar areas to see the changes. What will be the destination today? I vote for something fun...
Friday, October 26, 2012
More Computer Issues
Most of the day yesterday was spent trying to recover one of my applications that was wiped out by the PC Cleaning software I purchased. My application for the weather station and the entire 4 years worth of (daily) data was eliminated by this worthless and destructive software. I know it doesn't seem like a major application to most folks, but it is a hobby of mine and means a lot to me. I submitted a dispute with PayPal and will await reimbursement from them once they fail to resolve the issue. Part of the claim is that the company hasn't returned my call for tech support in order to resolve the issue directly with them.
While trying to restore older versions of the system from checkpoints taken a few days ago and failing to locate the data, I tried locating the files on a backup disk I created a month ago. They were not part of the backup as the backup instructions were to only copy data that has changed. Another lesson learned. All backups should be total backups, and not incremental. All the older "full" backups were cleared from my backup disk to make room for new backups. As a result, I went to Best Buy and purchased a larger backup drive - 3 TB - to use for complete backups. That's another story.
I really wanted to upgrade my computer with more memory and more disk space to help gain speed. I discovered that the costs for doing that were more than if I purchased a new computer. That's the way I will go, but only after these current issues are resolved. It's not suppose to be this tough to use your computer everyday.
Josie is bored with my total attention to the computer. She did some laundry and some outside cleaning to pass the time and I know she hopes the problems get fixed - now! I hope so too. We did go to Famous Footwear yesterday for her to buy a new pair of tennis shoes. We have started our daily trips to the fitness center to try to get our bodies in shape again - if that's possible...
While trying to restore older versions of the system from checkpoints taken a few days ago and failing to locate the data, I tried locating the files on a backup disk I created a month ago. They were not part of the backup as the backup instructions were to only copy data that has changed. Another lesson learned. All backups should be total backups, and not incremental. All the older "full" backups were cleared from my backup disk to make room for new backups. As a result, I went to Best Buy and purchased a larger backup drive - 3 TB - to use for complete backups. That's another story.
I really wanted to upgrade my computer with more memory and more disk space to help gain speed. I discovered that the costs for doing that were more than if I purchased a new computer. That's the way I will go, but only after these current issues are resolved. It's not suppose to be this tough to use your computer everyday.
Josie is bored with my total attention to the computer. She did some laundry and some outside cleaning to pass the time and I know she hopes the problems get fixed - now! I hope so too. We did go to Famous Footwear yesterday for her to buy a new pair of tennis shoes. We have started our daily trips to the fitness center to try to get our bodies in shape again - if that's possible...
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Enjoying Time Off
We are certainly enjoying our respite from work. It can almost be considered retirement - but it isn't. The gears are getting oiled to begin the search for work and that effort will begin today. Resumes are being updated and places of interest are being identified so the mass assault on the HR departments can begin. Progress with that will be continuously updated.
Our first visit to Kohl's was yesterday and we believe that the attraction to that chain of stores is waning. It seems more and more that their super low prices are getting more in line now with the more expensive stores like Macy's, Penney's, Dillard's, etc. Kohl's used to stand out with their low prices, but not anymore - unless we're going to the wrong Kohl's, which I doubt. We need some clothes that we were not able to find at the outlets in Laughlin, so we may try the outlets in New River - or the new Tanger Outlets that are opening in mid November that are near the stadium in Glendale.
I was also dealing with some computer issues yesterday and while trying to make it more efficient, I purchased some software for both our computers. As always, I regret those decisions. The software is called Spark Trust PC Cleaner (don't buy it) which I read about in online reviews. I downloaded the software and called the 800 number to have it activated and, of course, a tech answers and tries to sell $500 more of support and software. It is very dissappointing and has caused more problems by eliminating some of my shortcuts and other data that I use. It will be awhile before I recover totally from that mistake. The goal was to not have to take the computers into Best Buy or some other computer repair store to have the systems "cleansed" and to save the $200 cost for that solution. There are many computer "sharks" out there ready to steal your money. Maybe the best solution is to just get a new computer rather than spending all this money on fixes. I was going to upgrade my computer with more memory and a larger hard drive, so a new computer may be the cheapest. Hmm.
By the way, we had out transponders installed and now we can use the gate that is right behind our space rather than drive all the way to the main gate out front. Much better.
Our first visit to Kohl's was yesterday and we believe that the attraction to that chain of stores is waning. It seems more and more that their super low prices are getting more in line now with the more expensive stores like Macy's, Penney's, Dillard's, etc. Kohl's used to stand out with their low prices, but not anymore - unless we're going to the wrong Kohl's, which I doubt. We need some clothes that we were not able to find at the outlets in Laughlin, so we may try the outlets in New River - or the new Tanger Outlets that are opening in mid November that are near the stadium in Glendale.
I was also dealing with some computer issues yesterday and while trying to make it more efficient, I purchased some software for both our computers. As always, I regret those decisions. The software is called Spark Trust PC Cleaner (don't buy it) which I read about in online reviews. I downloaded the software and called the 800 number to have it activated and, of course, a tech answers and tries to sell $500 more of support and software. It is very dissappointing and has caused more problems by eliminating some of my shortcuts and other data that I use. It will be awhile before I recover totally from that mistake. The goal was to not have to take the computers into Best Buy or some other computer repair store to have the systems "cleansed" and to save the $200 cost for that solution. There are many computer "sharks" out there ready to steal your money. Maybe the best solution is to just get a new computer rather than spending all this money on fixes. I was going to upgrade my computer with more memory and a larger hard drive, so a new computer may be the cheapest. Hmm.
By the way, we had out transponders installed and now we can use the gate that is right behind our space rather than drive all the way to the main gate out front. Much better.
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