Got Gas?

I think I am the only sane one in Atlanta. I haven't waited in 2-hour lines to get gas. I haven't waited in any lines. I haven't driven from station to station looking for gas. I've cut back on my driving, and made a mental note of which stations have gas and when they have it. That way, if this doesn't resolve in the next few days, on Friday when I do need to get gas, I will know where to wait.

Some stations have imposed a max purchase--that seems wrong. They should set a minimum purchase, to keep people from putting 3 or 4 gallons in their tanks at a time. The pipeline doesn't accommodate keeping all however many million of us that drive around here with full tanks, and so the frenzy of topper offers, and fill up our 5 gal gas cans. . .they're exacerbating the situation.

Idiots.

If by Friday, I haven't driven past a station that has gas for less than $4.00 and has a minimal, well-organized line, then I will--wait for it--use teh internets to find stations with gas, and call them to see if they expect to have enough to fill their present line. But I have enough gas to get me to work for the next 3 days, so there is no reason to do anything else before then. If I am wrong, so be it. But if the situation decompensates between now and Friday, it's the end of the world anyway.

I have to say I'm not so nonchalant about my Wachovia accounts, although Clark Howard says he's not worried about his money. But he has much more than I do, and doesn't spend as much.

Maybe I made the wrong choice?

Note: if you are an attorney or have any part in the judicial process. . .I'm joking. I am not planning to commit any act of violence against anyone. Not even my son, who was threatened with a rear end alignment if he got out of bed once more this evening, because he's already asleep.

But I swear, I'm still having to deal with NoNick about a billion times more than I want to, and if he could just drop a pair and deal with reality. . .but that statement alone shows that I need to deal with reality. Reality means acknowledging that NoNick lives in some other reality. Not mine.

So, I got the kids Friday. Except we had never gotten through the chore of dividing up the clothing, so I asked him to leave them some clothes on the back door. He agreed, and even said he had. And he did, but they were a bit. . .bizarre.

And there were no pajamas, let alone clothes for the next day.

So we had to meet at his house that evening for the kids to get pjs for their first night in my house. And for whatever reason, he chose to work until 7 and then run errands. So my kids and I were still at his house at 8:00 waiting for him to get there so we could get clothes for them.

Way to transition, right?

Next bits were similar. He said he'd meet me there at 4pm today to go through kid stuff. He wasn't there until 4:30.

Just wait until he's late dropping the kids from dinner on Tuesday. We've agreed that the latest should be 7pm. I dropped them off at 6:50 last week. Any takers on 7:30?

Eight?

Should we set an over/under?

Got Kids?

Tonight, I am sitting in my hallway of my very small house. Without getting up, I can see all four exterior walls. I can also see into the bedrooms of two small children who are having a difficult night.

Neither one of them is good with changes and transitions. My daughter has always been that way; it's part of the potpourri of Asperger's that she got. I think my son's difficulty is primarily the age he is. Both of them had a hard time this week, maybe not harder than mine but they act it out more honestly.

My son is begging me to sleep in the same bed. Unfortunately, I have a couple of hours of chores to do before I can sleep, so that can't happen. If he were to relax and stay in bed, I could get started. But right now I'm having to guard the door to keep him in the bed.

The hardest part--the only hard part, really--of this transition has been seeing them have to adapt. I hope they do better than I did. I was my son's age when my parent's divorced, and it wasn't fun.

I went wild last night. No, really.

Or maybe not.

But I did go blow through $170 at Target. Yeah, just like you wish you could right now. I bought the pillows--including the neckroll--that match my bedding. I bought the pretty hanging file thingie. I bought the extra phone. I bought socks. I bought hangers. I bought things to put on the bathroom door to hang towels on. I didn't buy the towels, because they didn't have ones that were the right color. I bought the nice set of cooking utensils, you know the stainless ones? Rather than the Teflon (I got the stainless steel cookware) or the cheap ones.

See, I found a gift card with $180 remaining on it. In my name, so there was no residual guilt. Makes me feel better about all the gift cards for Home Depot my family had given over the years, that I know not how they were used.

I don't mean everything I say

That would be a good thing. More than once in the first 10 years of my marriage, I said "Murder, yes; divorce, never!"

I reconsidered, though. I don't look good in orange, for one thing. (Plus, orange is the color of the Florida Gators, so I don't want to look good in orange.) And I just never was convinced of the safety of the kudzu hiding place, not since my sister had the nerve to up and move to Houston.

She is fine, by the way.

I don't know why I bothered to put that, since anyone who would care to read this blog already reads hers and knows that even though she has no power, and she is getting somewhat cranky (how could you tell?), she is fine.

I, also, am fine. And I do not mean that in the therapeutic sense of "F-- up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional." I mean I am better today than I was yesterday. And I plan on being better tomorrow. The day after, I plan on slightly stumbling, but then on Tuesday I'll be doing better again.

So, in order to bring the four readers I hope to entice back to reading a blog by me back up to speed, here is 2008 in a nutshell. Ready? Go!

January
Guy that needs a new nickname drops bomb that he has intercepted some emails and Yahoo chats (note: a violation of federal law) and put the worst possible interpretation on them, so therefore wants divorce.

February
Sign collaborative agreement with new nickname guy.

March
Start new job with IBM. Get shingles. Decide to fire lawyer. Get talked out of it.

April

Did anything really happen in April? Or May for that matter?

Let's skip to June.

June
Find out that half of all contractors in my department of IBM are getting laid off. My last day is scheduled for 7/15.

July
Morning of 7/16, I call the only former client of mine I'd consider working for. End up talking to the #2 in the office. Email her my resume, get a return call in less than 5 minutes telling me I'm a "godsend". Something tells me I have a job.

August
After family reunion July 31, start work on August 3. Am not going to blog about work. Suffice to say, t0tlly pwn! the job. Find house, make offer on house. Close on house on 8/27.

September
Spend about $20,000 putting new roof on and new bathroom in house as it had been in less good shape than needed to be. Fortunately the money for this was transferred into cash from investment funds at the end of August, as the other funds which remained in Vanguard will have to stay put until some sort of bounce. Since the Motley Fool and Clark Howard both still like Vanguard, I have hope. If it doesn't recover, I've already lost too much of it to worry about getting out.

Today
Even though I have a case of the common cold, aka "Hacking Death" I rent moving van & move with help [sic] from my dad & less help from new nickname guy. Plus two neighbors who saved my bacon. I am currently ensconced in new bed, in new room, in new house. Same neighborhood.

I think that's the basics, but if I've left anything out, my sister will tell me.

Now to go tell her that I can has new blog.

What happened to the old blog?

Nothing.

There's nothing there that you haven't seen. It was all quiet and minding it's own business when I realized. . .Guy who needs new nickname reads it.

I didn't want to tear it down and trash it, so I just made it private. I never added to it, so never gave anyone reading privileges.

Don't worry. If anyone had reading privileges, it would have been you. I promise.