This can’t be good. And I haven’t gotten my other 1099-R yet.

Courtesy Christopher Penn and the Student Loan Network:

See if you can figure out this interesting package log from FedEx:

I didn’t think one could get from Lakeland to Tampa (which takes itself 60 - 75 minutes by truck), then to Newark NJ, in under two hours, even under the best of conditions. Is there a Concorde they failed to mothball?
Listening to:
Breathe On Me from the album “Shout To The Lord 2000″ by Hillsong

[posted with ecto]

Yesterday was another day of expressing goodbyes to a lot of people that I have spent the past four to seven years with in Lakeland as I complete the move to Plant City.

I made a final visit to FBC @ The Mall for the 8:00 AM service and then to attend the 9:30 AM F.A.I.T.H. Riders Bible Study to say goodbye to friends and fellow riders. While I do plan to continue showing up at the monthly Bike Nights and on the rides as I’m able, yesterday was my last Sunday morning trip into Lakeland since I’ll be changing churches with the move. I realized that the new Free Riders Fellowship is less than a 1-1/2 mile stroll from my new apartment, so I may be attending there for a while until my financial situation stabilizes and I can find a job again, so I can consume as little gas on the scoot as possible.

I am quite literally out of money; the move drained what little resources I had left. Of the two checking accounts, the joint account is overdrawn nearly $150, and my new individual one has $7 available after covering the overdraft on the first one and buying groceries for the week (as well as a small pot-and-pan set so I can at least boil water). I cashed out my Linden Dollar balance in Second Life®, but that doesn’t leave me with much after I pay the increase in my scooter’s insurance rate that resulted from the change of ZIP™ codes. I’m just hoping to get the divorce matter settled in the next few weeks so I can receive that money and be able to pay the rent and catch up on the bills and credit card payments I’ll miss between now and then. I also reapplied for unemployment, which will help pay for the basics until I have a job, but won’t pay any other bills. Then, there’s the matter of child support.

After church yesterday I made a final trip to the house to pick up the rest of the clothing that I had left in the dryer when I moved out. There have already been a lot of changes made since I left: the garage is reorganized, the locks on all the doors were rekeyed, Princess is now outside in a doghouse instead of her crate in the bedroom when no one is home (although she seems to be enjoying the freedom of having the run of the backyard). After getting the last of my things (including my hiking stick for geocaching), I packed all my keys and a couple of pieces of mail that were inadvertently forwarded to the apartment, along with my wedding ring, into a padded envelope and put it on the grill tray next to the garage door, then added my garage door remote to the pile after hitting the button to start its closing.

So, the garage door lowers and closes, and with it closes everything from the past that needed resolution. It’s officially over now; the rest is just legal process. I start again, with nothing.

I haven’t taken the time yet to start exploring this new neighborhood. All I can say is this:

Man, I thought Lakeland was laid back…

I’ve been asked more than once lately where I’ve been in Second Life®—or more specifically, why I haven’t been around much online in that community.

The main reason: I honesty haven’t had much interest in the SL platform since most of the activities that I used to be involved with—The Sanctuary, The Gin Rummy (which went female-avatars-only and then closed not long after), other places—shut down and fellow avatars that I used to hang out with decided to pursue other endeavors both inside and outside the community. Given the amount of activity in-world that is mainly “adult-oriented” in nature, there just hasn’t been much for me to do that isn’t “clean” in nature, except to hang out at The Shelter in Isabel or attend services on Sunday mornings at ALM CyberChurch (which I haven’t been to in a very long time).

I have kept my premium account active, mainly because I got in early enough to keep the L$500 (roughly US$2.00) weekly stipend before Linden Lab started dropping the stipend amounts for new premium subscribers; but otherwise, I sold any land holdings that I had and have pretty much put Second Life® on the back burner, dropping by The Shelter every now and then or logging in to see a live show.

Morning fog

Originally uploaded by swbuehler

The view out of my balcony on Saturday morning, before I left for Tampa to pick up the rental car.

I went on Hotwire.com at 3:00 this morning and booked a Budget car rental at the Tampa Airport instead of letting my friend come with his truck to help me move. I had been looking at furniture ideas online and came across some tables on IKEA’s web site that I thought I could use for work space, but when I saw the $100 they wanted for shipping, I decided to spend a bit less by driving out to the IKEA in Orlando to get what I needed to start the apartment. I eventually paid the additional $4 to be bumped up from an “economy” car to a late-model Chrysler PT Cruiser, which has a lot more cargo space with the seats folded down. It took four or five trips between the house and Plant City, but I got everything moved that I wanted to move, and left a lot behind. I tried to separate out anything I received from the soon-to-be-former in-laws and spouse, except for a few items, so nobody could say I took advantage of anyone.

I ended up making two trips to IKEA in Orlando. The first was for two 39-inch-long Vika Amon table tops in white with matching Vika Curry legs to use as workspace for the computer equipment and extra space to be able to lay things out that I’m working on—a total of about 6½ feet of workspace, along with a cable tray to attach underneath to keep my computer and equipment cables out of the way of my feet. I also bought an inexpensive set of bowls and dishes (I’ve become amazed how easily these ceramic bowls clean up!). On the second trip I bought two narrow Lerberg metal shelving units in dark gray, a set of document trays in the same color, and a keyboard drawer to attach under the computer side of the table to create more workspace on that side. I also bought a few of their 59¢ large blue shopping bags—I figured they would come in handy for carrying things up the stairs to my apartment on the upper floor.

My work area is now set up, with a few pieces of equipment (my shredder and the laser printer) yet to put in their places, but I still have a big pile of stuff to sort through on the other side of the living area and two bags of clothes in the bedroom to sort through—since I didn’t have moving boxes, I grabbed the roll of large contractor trash bags I had and just threw stuff into those. I’m sleeping on a featherbed spread out on the floor in the bedroom, which is actually more comfortable than you might think, until I have the money to go back to IKEA for a proper bed.

IKEA is an interesting store to visit. The customer starts out by picking up a brochure and a small pencil to make notes before taking the escalator up to the Showroom where they can see everything in use and try things out. If a customer sees something s/he likes, s/he writes down the aisle and bin number of the item on the back of the brochure as a reminder. From the Showroom, one then goes downstairs to the Marketplace where one can buy the smaller items for the home, then onward to the self-service furniture area, which is basically a giant warehouse, where one uses the aisle and bin numbers they wrote down to find the location where their desired items are available to put in their cart or on their large-item cart. From there, it’s off to the registers, most of which are self-service stations with the typical counter scanner plus handheld barcode scanners so one doesn’t have remove the large stuff out of the cart. They charge 5¢ per plastic bag that a customer uses to bag their purchases, in order to keep down their use and “help the environment,” but they also offer much larger shopping bags (and I do mean large) for 59¢ apiece that one can reuse many times over. There is also a bistro (fast-food joint), a full restaurant, and a staffed child care/play area where parents can leave their kids (kids have to be potty-trained and meet certain height requirements to stay in the staffed play area) while they shop along with other kid-friendly activity stations scattered through the store. The prices are very reasonable, much lower than a typical furniture store, and it’s easy to mix and match items and parts of items to come up with your own unique design. If you are looking for more classical furniture, though, with more classic design, this isn’t the place for you. We’re talking Swedish design here—modern, highly geometric design with strong lines and shapes and edges. You also had better be ready for a night of construction—you have to put the stuff together (they offer assembly services, for a fee); nothing comes preassembled. One does get simple instructions with each individual item, and for items that need a special or unique tool like an Allen wrench instead of a flat or Phillips-head screwdriver that one already has, that tool is included in the item’s hardware package (for example, the shelving units needed a hex driver, and each unit came with one; the table legs that used Phillips screws assumed you already had an appropriate screwdriver in your own tool box).

So, I’m fully moved in, sorting out the pile of items, getting settled in to start looking for work again this week.

I received the keys today to what will be my new home. It’s a small (556-square-foot) one-bedroom apartment in the Walden Lake subdivision of Plant City, Florida. The entire apartment probably fits in the living room of the house I’m leaving. Not that I can complain—the view of the wooded preserve out the screened-in balcony and the bedroom window is breathtaking. I can see myself having my quiet times out on the balcony in the mornings. I took some pictures on my iPhone and posted them in my Flickr stream. I literally went for this apartment sight unseen, because I wanted to vacate the house as soon as possible so my soon-to-be-ex-wife can move back in, so it was beyond expectations that everything was in great shape.

We’ve reached mutual agreement on most everything related to who gets what, so the attorney should hopefully have it written up into a formal dissolution agreement for us to sign in the next week or few. I’m still working on compiling all the documents and records that I’ve been asked to provide.

There were more e-mails exchanged between my soon-to-be ex-wife and me concerning the practical matters of who will get what.  She will take the house and assume the mortgage. I’m preparing to move out of Lakeland to a much smaller apartment in nearby Plant City—a bit more central to Brandon and Lakeland where I will be serving Celebrate Recovery groups, and a bit closer to potential jobs in Tampa while still having the feel of being “out in the sticks.” The apartments share an association with the Walden Lake community, which is a very nice neighborhood and will allow me to use their lakes and trails and such.  The rent is such that even if I had to rely on unemployment compensation it would still be more than enough to pay the rent and keep food on the table.  I’ll be looking forward to being able to smell the orange blossoms even more strongly in a couple of months.

I’ll be leaving behind my large printer and the large scanner so she has something she can use with the laptop I bought for her and her studies and work, since I just bought the portable Canon printer and will be getting a more portable scanner that’s powered by USB.  I pretty much plan to take my clothes and my equipment, and leave the rest behind. It’s a good time to simplify things and jettison those things that are nice to have but that I don’t really need to be “happy.”

I should finally have the papers in my hand tomorrow so I can respond. If there’s nothing really in dispute I could simply file a paper agreeing to the petition and waiving the final hearing, and it’ll be over.

It was a great day today getting to do the multimedia for the first Advanced Leadership Training Seminar of the year for Celebrate Recovery at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, FL. It was great to have the opportunity to meet some of the people that until the seminar I had only known through testimony videos and names on the covers of Step Guides and on the pages of web sites. I was especially blessed to meet Tina Davis, the national training coach, who shares a similar testimony of sexual addiction, and Johnny Baker, the son of CR founder John Baker, who co-led the ALT portion of the day.

The day was valuable for me in that it gave me some good guidance in conducting the open share group that I am responsible for at CR on Monday nights, as well as helping keep the main focus on the newcomer—those who are there for the first time exploring the program, helping them feel like they are in a safe place where they are free to share their hurts, habits, and hang-ups.

I left the “high” of the ALT and returned home in the early evening to find the latest reminder of the reality that is ahead. Apparently a process server had visited the house while I was gone and left his card in the door.  I returned the call to let them know when I would be home.  There’s no sense in dragging out the inevitable.