You can't get out of it. I like that expression. It applies to Seattle.
I think what makes a place act like a whirlwind
are all of its obstacles and pressures. Here, 11 hours are absorbed in preparation, work, and commutes. It takes me 10 minutes just to get to a bus. Most of the day is gone. If I have to get milk, another 2 hours is absorbed. Free time and sleep become a luxury that necessity erodes. I'm not complaining. This is just an observation.
I missed opportunities to call my friends.
Time was stretched thin. I didn't mean anything by that. Everything happened so quickly.
Friends are your gift in life.
New Years Eve is when you should remember them.
On the other hand, no one called me.
So I guess all is good. Happy New Years!!!
toot toot

Love you too buddy. I miss you guys. I still have the fall colors of that area ingrained in my mind.
My IPhone said it was 16 degrees in Louisville today, and it'll be back in the 60's by Friday.
It looks like we'll be wrapping up here in about 7 months.
That's unsure right now, but I can't wait to get back. I'll miss Seattle, but I won't miss the over crowded busses.
Maybe next time in Louisville
I'll sell Coney Hotdogs down by the river and Becky can be my lovely assistant! lol.
We've got lots of time to dream and plan, and that's a good thing! HNY!

And learning more about Homer and Plato, I get the impression we are all living in someone elses dream. Our values aren't really ours. They are projections from someone else, who long ago had the power to influence generations to come. Those values include possessions, love, sex, and death. Why I'm saying this is, your dreams can out live you, and other people can live in them.

I don't know if we'll be able to see all of Washington in the next 8 months, but we're going to give it our best shot.
The streets are tough in Seattle
I drove through a 6 way stop last night, and a one-way street magically turned into a two-way street when we were in the left hand lane. We had to dodge an oncoming car! Its a good thing that most people only drive 20mph here. The few accidents we've seen here look terrible, but you can tell they were head on collisions at a low rate of speed.
I tried to hop in the jacussi at 6am
They had it locked up =^(  awe. I had to take a shower instead, lol.
We toured Pike's Market today.
Its a big flea market by the Puget Sound, and it cost $16 to park there. Most of the restaurants were no larger than our kitchen. I'm beginning to realize the once fist-sized clams they sold everywhere in the 80's are now the size of a quarter. I have to wonder what is happening to our oceans?
Later, we went to the Northgate Mall.
I need to get a warm jacket.
I'm as blue as a Smurf when I get on the bus
We didn't get a jacket, BUT we bought a really cool blanket.
I can wear it on the bus. I think I'd fit in.
Renee~n~m all are going to stay over on New Years Eve
We bought the fixings for a really nice beef roast, YUM!

Ahhh, the bennies of owning a truck! I hauled a couple of end tables for Victoria.
We hung out with Jonathan, Renee, McKenzee, Victoria and Charles.
Renee gave us a rocking chair, so I'm all set for old age!

Please note: Anyone can reply to this.
Just click this heading "About per diem", then click Reply. Be sure to click Enter when your done.
I'm not really sure yet why all employers don't offer per diem to travelling salaried employees.
So I'm researching it. My example uses a fictional employer "Acme" and an employee "Wiley Coyotee".
I also use easy numbers, $20 per hour (or $160 a day) and a per diem rate of $80 per day.
The per diem rates are much higher. See IRS Publication 1542
Please Note: The per diem is not on top of the $160 a day, it comes out of it.
The way I understand it:
- If Acme pays $160 per day, and offers per diem using the non-accountable plan
Both Acme and Wiley pay Fica taxes on only $80 a day.
- If Acme decides not offer per diem, they still pay $160 a day.
Plus, Acme pays 7% extra in Fica for the non-taxable per diem they decided not to offer.
In this case, both Acme and Wiley would pay almost $6 a day (or $1,500 a year) extra in taxes.
Wiley he has to pay a tax guy to go through his reciepts to categorize them as allowable or not.
- I'd think using per diem, everybody would save on taxes. But I'm not a tax guy.
Set up might be a small pain, but I don't know.
It should be something an employer can set up in Quick Books.
Quote: To create a non-taxed per diem payroll item, follow the steps in this Knowledge Base Article.  However, you should be aware that not all per diem paid to employees is tax free.  The deciding factor is whether you are using an accountable plan (where the employee submits receipts for expenses paid) or a non-accountable plan (where a flat rate is paid to the employee and no accounting of the money spent is required). See  quickbooksgroup.com.
I've only seen the non-accountable plan implemented, which is a no-brainer.
The down side of it is, the employee appears to make $10 an hour.
Unemployment benefits, disability, and the income figures decrease.

I'd just assumed most companies pay their travelling employees per diem.
Never assume anything! I'll learn one of these days.
My little article mentions a savings of $1,500 a year...
Wiley Coyotee could get himself a really nice rocket launcher for that pesky Road Runner with that.
Gosh, one of these days I'll fix the reply entries to this blog...yuck...its all out of order!

Recently, I wrote a note about the Olympian Casino in Washington. Now I can't find where I got that information from. OOPs. I usually post in the wee hours of the morning.

<= Our Christmas Tree, aye.
This year, it will just have to do.
Thanks so much! I really miss you guys.
Being in an unfamiliar place during the holidays is always tough.
You know that Christmas works backwards
Its the most depressing holiday of the year.
But I've got more memories stored up from this last year than most people get in a life time.
Thanks for being part of them and Merry Christmas to you all: 
Becky, Sonny, Rod, Reese, Jesse, Peter, Susan, Preacher Scott, Gma, Jennifer, Dustin, Paul, Robert, Emily, Renee, Jonathan, McKinzee, Jess,  Ricco, Jeffree, Mikey, Andy, Ashley, Tim, Jari, Loff, Lewis, Jerry, Jennette, Chuck, Charles and Renee, Ida, Allen, Cheryl, Kelly, Tass, Emilio, Cyrus, Paula, Mark, Frank, Ruth, Warren, Lisa, David, Leann, Kevin, all the people at Fourth Street Live, all the people at Kentucky Towers, all the people we hung with at the Pub and TGIF Fridays, Don, Curtis, Erich, MS. ===> Thankyou ===>
To those who are in heaven now: 
My Dad, Squirt, Rob, Mom, Dave, Grandfather, Skip, Uncle James, Jim, Chris and Chris, I'll never forget you.
You all touched my heart.
And at sometime, you gave me joy this year. You guys are GREAT!!!

I'm not happy in Seattle.
I hate the cost of this apartment.I hate the cost of cigarettes and food.
I hate the bus. I hate having to pay to park everywhere. I hate driving in this city.
I hate that cops police the streets, and not the sidewalks.
I don't like the people here, they're unfriendly. I hate that bums can get away with anything.
I think their entertainment sucks.
I didn't like rushing into this contract. I didn't like taking a pay cut after I started.
I didn't like having to take out an insurance policy for $300 to work here.
I don't like the people at work. They have no manners, are nosey, and they are introverts.
I don't like the nature of my job. You only get noticed when things don't work, and nothing every works.
I don't like having the training I've had for this system. I am not using any of my skills.
I don't like the vagueness of this job. I have no clear job description.
AND THAT...is a lot of things to dislike.
I like the scenery at times. I like that Renee is right up the road. I like the view from our apartment.
So, thats it...I'm looking to get out of here.
-2m

4 moves in three weeks have made me palid.
I've had to push myself to the limit, I haven't been feeling well, I'm tired and confused.
52 hours of driving, rushing through moving, and finding an apartment have all made me feel very cranky. My atm/credit card being hi-jacked didn't help either. I'll feel much better when I have some cash.
But none of these are an excuse for my bad attitude.
I've been distant, obtuse, in a very bad mood, and now I'm paranoid for good reasons.
I love you all. I'm just exhausted.

And here we are in 4/12/2010, getting ready to move again. Nothing has felt normal for a long time, which is both good and bad.
We've made friends here in Pittsburgh easier than any other place we have gone.

This should cover it. HA HA!
I just wanted to let you know just how important you are to me, Becky.

---

Its been rough, moving 4 times in 3 weeks, driving 3,200 miles, credit card being stolen, finding an apartment, and your hair turning green. But there's nothing we can't do when we are together. I love ya!!! We've almost made it through the hard times. I'm hoping everything will feel normal by New Years (which is coming up in 2 weeks).

---

Chicago, Nashville, Kentuckiana, Vegas, and the trip out here...
doesn't it all seem like a dream? The only remnants we have now are the friends we made, the pictures we took, and some fading memories.
Did you know Christmas is just next week!
Now that is just so scary!
We are just so unprepared. We just got through unpacking our stuff.
Kiss me me and tell me this is all really happening.
--- These are the good old days ---
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. :^)

Frys was really nice. I wanted to load the basket there (I always do).
We passed a huge Boeing building. It really wasn't that far from Frys.
I don't know if it was really bigger than the one in Vegas, but its parking lot certainly was.
I wonder if Vegas every finished its other Frys stores.

What a life! Too much too quick.
I can't begin to describe the feeling in my back.
But that's the bad things.
The good things that have happened so far.
We got moved in Friday, but everything was such a mess. We needed junk furniture.
But Seattle doesn't have any Walmarts. There's a KMart 6 miles away, which in Seattle Speak equals 1 hour.
The traffic is a killer here. I'm ready to learn the bus system at any time.
Why not be chauffeured around while I read the paper?
I hopped into the roof Jacuzzi yesterday morning at 6:30am,
and found a really cool cell phone. I called "Dad".
He told me daughter lives in my building and gave me her address. I tried, it was early, but eventually she called me.
I came up, and she answered the door in her T-Shirt and underwear (who does that?). I about fell over. Her eyes were a red as eyes can get, but she had a pretty smile, and said thank you.
Later, we went shopping at a Target.
It was 6 stories tall, with a parking level on each floor! When you want to go to the next floor with you card, you take the escullator. It has a cart escullator in the middle...very different.
Everybody we met was friendly, and more than willing to tell us everything they knew about Seattle.
That about says it, everybody in Seattle is very friendly.
Today, Becky went to the jacuzzi with me.
Her hair turned GREEN!!! Its a pretty color of green though.
We were supposed to get internet, phone and cable today, but nobody was here to let the cable guy into the electric room.
We'll have it by Wednesday.

Another tough day!
Five hours of sleep. Had to get renters insurance, they wanted to rewrite my auto insurance and my house insurance for Seattle, which would take me days of effort to spring back from. sheesh.
We got our apartment.
So we had to move all our stuff downstairs, again, and pack up the truck. Its cold and wet out there.
I am so tired.
We will have moved the equivilent of 5 moves, and driven 52 hours, in 12 days.
We've been apartment hunting every day and every night.
And to top it all off, my credit card info was stolen from one of the places we used it at, enroute.
What a week I'm having!!!

This happened in Seattle, on  Monday, 12/03/2007. I've heard this isn't normal for Seattle. I rarely snows here too. Doesn't it seem like the weather in the last three years has gone awry? Between New Orlean's Katrina, Louisvilles drought's/record highs and Seattle's snow/flooding, we've been around the national news everywhere we've gone.

A girl in front of me decided she wanted to parallel park...
Right next to where I was. We were on a steep hill. I couldn't back up, but she persisted.
She waited for 4 lights to cycle, and nothing changed. She caused a backup for at least 5 miles.
Finally, a guy behind me gets out, yells at her
"HEY, we can't back up. None of us can back up! You just can't park here mam".
He was kind of smiling as he walked by. I said thank you. There was a parking garage on the next block.
The drivers here aren't really bad, but they just seem kind of stupid.