The Three-Legged Pig

a good luck charm

Several months ago I attended yet another meeting in Topeka. The meeting was same ole, same ole until the end when the presenters (basically our bosses for the state) presented us with little wooden three-legged pigs. The pig is a symbol in Chile's culture, where tradition holds that the three-legged pig brings good luck to their owners.I thought this was a pretty neat gesture for the state department to give us these little wooden wonders. It was mostly to pass on some luck to us as we worked with communities on their new planning grants. But for me is has become more than that.

I have been carrying this pig, I named him Hamlet, haha, in my purse ever since. I pull him out once in a while when I feel like I really need a big gulp of good luck, like when we trekked all the way to Indiana in our moving truck, when we dealt with a misunderstanding with the collections agency and now I ask Hamlet to wish me even more good luck as a search for a new career and as we still try to sell our house in Girard. So far he has been pretty good to me, so I will keep wishing for the good luck from him and hopefully he will keep delivering.

Beauty in an unknown place

what a view
We may not have the pond view that the tentants on the other side of our building have, but this beautiful flowering Cleveland Pear tree (at least that's what google told me it was) does it for me. It smells just like the Cotton Blossom lotion from Bath and Body Works and everytime the wind blows that lovely fragrance flows through the screen door into our little home. It is refreshing and beautiful.

Just wanted to share a little Hoosier beauty with you.

You have GOT to be kidding me

you are not going to believe this

So, here I am carrying in groceries from the store and I stop to open a piece of mail from T-Mobile, my cell phone provider. It says, and I am para phrasing here, due to the high amount of calls made while roaming we will be cancelling your service as of May 28. Apparently they have been "monitoring" accounts and if you have a high usage of calls made out of network or while roaming they are just going to cancel you and make you go to a new service provider. WHAT?

Well, my so-called "service area" they are referring to was Pittsburg. There was a strong tower in Pittsburg, but not in Girard where we lived. I believe I was operating off of a Cingular tower or something. I NEVER thought anything of it because I was 15 minutes away from Pittsburg and the purpose of a "MOBILE PHONE" is to be "MOBILE"!!!!

Well, now I am in Mishawaka, which has a T-Mobile tower and I have a strong signal.

The letter said I could take my number to another cellular company or just get new service all together. Well, I REALLY don't wanna have to get a whole new plan at a new place with a whole new number, especially since I am job hunting and have given my current number out to a lot of people. Eventually I will get a local number, but not yet. Secondly, I don't even wanna switch companies right now and have to pay additional fees to get a new phone, etc.

So, I made a call to this place called T-Mobile.

The woman was very nice and I completely understand that it is not her fault, it is T-Mobile's fault. She even said, herself, that she thought the new policy was hurting business and that there were thousands of people who were going to be cancelled. Once I explained to her that I had moved to a bigger coverage area she happily changed my account so that it WOULD NOT be shut off on May 28. Hopefully!

What about people who travel all the time like my dad? What about people that live out in the country and only have access to one tower but want a certain cell company? I am sorry T-Mobile, but I think it is bad business to tell a customer of 5 plus years that they are not worth your time anymore and just cancel them. Wouldn't it be better to have me as a customer on roaming than not have me as a customer at all? Apparently when it came to Great Business 101 and Customer Service 101, T-Mobile was asleep in a back of the classroom.I'll stick with you for a while longer just because I don't have the money to switch right now, but once my contract is up you can guarantee that I will be looking for a cell phone company that WANTS my business and APPRECIATES customers who travel and live outside the coverage area.

BOYCOTT T-MOBILE!!!!

Ah, an afternoon at the Indiana BMV

Tuesdays are, apparently, the busiest days at this place and guess which day we picked

Jared took the afternoon off today and we headed to the Mishawaka BMV (yes, that's BMV, Bureau of Motor Vehicles) branch to get our vehicles tagged and get our new DLs. We come to find out as we walk in the door that Tuesdays are the busiest day at any branch. There was a long line of people and even more sitting down waiting.

Well, we took our place in line because we knew we needed to get them done (my tag was set to expire in 2 days and Jared's was past expiration). So we waited and in the wait time I realized I had forgotten to grab my birth certificate. I managed to get all Jared's stuff together in a nice envelope for him, but screwed mine up. Go figure! But, I found out quick that it didn't matter because I don't have a document proving residency yet (a bill sent to my new address), so I ended up having to wait on on my DL, but we did manage to get both our vehicles tagged and Jared passed his written test and was issued an Indiana DL. And all this only took us 2 hours to complete! haha. AND, get this... cheaper than Kansas!!!! Now, that's what I like to hear!!!

It was a long time to spend in the BMV. But everyone was surprisingly nice, not like the people I have met in the Pittsburg DMV and they did have a smooth process. So, I guess I will be heading back to the BMV within the next month to get my DL (hope I pass my test, haha)! Jared just had to rub it in that he had his new DL but I didn't. His goofy butt was even flashing his license in the back window of his truck to me when I was behind him on the way home. What an idiot! But, for some reason, I love him! :)

On another note, here's some photos from the last week and weekend in Kansas before we left!

Am I in college again?

the only thing missing is a couch on the patio and a keg in the dining room

We have started to get everything organized in our little two bedroom apartment and I have to say that it looks a little hodge podge. I might have mentioned in a blog before that Jared and I are sharing this apartment with the salesman for Jake’s. He will only be up here about 6 months or so, until season is over. He is a real nice guy and a lot of fun and it is saving me and Jared a ton of money. Plus it gives me and Jared a chance to get settled and save money before we go house hunting.

The downside? Hicks (our roommate… his name is Jared too so I just call him by his last name) has furnishings, kitchen supplies etc. and of course so do Jared and I. Before we came up here I figured we would move all Hicks’s things out and move all ours in. While our furniture is outdated, it does all match and is in great shape (before the move)!! Plus we have all kinds of pretty things we received when we got married.

Well, when it came down to it I didn’t really wanna mess with it, especially since we would only be here for a year (Hicks’ 6 months). So his couch which is straight out of the 80s art deco phase, his green recliner and our blue recliner now adorn our living room. We managed to salvage our corner entertainment center (which is pretty to look at, but not real stable) and we brought in our little end table that matches the entertainment center. Our multi-colored plaid couch, circa 1992, is sitting in the warehouse in Elkhart along with many of our other furniture items that either wouldn’t fit or we didn’t wanna mess with. It really does look like we are in college, haha. But, you know what? I really don’t care that much. Firstly because we haven’t made any friends so no one will see it but us and secondly Jared and I haven’t invested in nice furniture yet mostly because we would rather spend the money going on a trip, or paying down our debt, or just going out to eat and messing around.

Our thought is that life is too short to sit around a look at everything you bought for your house when there are so many things out there to do, learn and explore. Of course, we want nice things and eventually, within the next year, we will buy new living room furniture. It just isn’t a priority of ours at the moment.

By the way, this blog brought to you courtesy of Starbucks WiFi!!! And, what happened to FREE wireless at Starbucks... I had to buy a day pass on T-Mobile. Looks like I will be sitting in front of a random apartment building again cause this is crap! :)

Told you I would find a way

this has gotta be quick

I feel like I am committing a crime. I drove around our apartment complex with my computer in the front seat occasionally pushing "refresh wireless connections" list until one that was unsecured popped up. It took a while, but I found at least ONE person who doesn't know how to lock down their wireless. HAHAHA. So, here I am, sitting in front of an apartment building that is not mine typing a blog to you folks. Now THAT'S dedication!!!!

We got all our stuff unloaded yesterday, some of it in the house some in the warehouse. It's a real good thing we haven't invested in new furniture yet cause our stuff got a little banged up in the truck, HAHA. Now I can use it as a excuse TO get new furniture. :)

We were pretty pooped after that but we showered and found the energy to eat at Texas Land and Cattle Company... they have the BEST smoked sirloin ever! It was so good, especially since we hadn't ate all day!

Today we have pretty much been lazy. I keep looking at everything I have to do, but have no desire to do it at the moment. I guess I have plenty of time!

Sorry I haven't been able to share any pictures with you all. My batteries in my camera are dead and I keep forgetting to pick up more. :( Don't worry... I will do that soon hopefully. I want to take some photos of all the fat Canadian Geese in the pond at our complex. I think they are a little Over-Fed! HAHA

Until next time I feel like stealing Wireless (thanks linksys!)