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[LordBucket]

we need to start exercising, is there a track closeby where we could run?

Exercise sounds good. It's healthy, legal, and lets us train skills we need.

Yeah, We should start exercising.  Probably running and Some sort of Upper-Body Strength thing would be good.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

You wake up around noon the following day, and spend an hour laying in bed collecting your thoughts. Stan and Clara made everything they did look effortless. And the way they handled it and talked about it really left you with the impression that it genuinely was effortless for them rather than them trying to impress you.

Curious, you hop onto youtube where surprisingly quickly you find that there are actually quite a lot of people demonstrating the basic chainlink fence vault that they showed you last night. You even find some people literally hurdling chest high fences and climbing 10-15 foot walls in seconds.

Apparently there's an entire "sport" called Parkour, and you immediately find hundreds and hundreds of videos of Joe Random nobody in particulars doing crazy Jacki Chan-esque stunts, climbing walls, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, diving off buildings into acrobatic rolls, hopping over fountains, running up 3 inch wide stairway handrails...it's really pretty amazing, and you kind of wonder how you didn't know about this.



You send Stan a text message asking about it and he responds within minutes that yes, there are a few semi-formal groups that meet from time to time and that he's been to a few, but that mostly it's just people doing it on their own or with a couple friends, goofing off after school and so forth.

You put the phone down and stare into space in mild shock. You've seen this kind of thing in movies, but to be told casually that it's a hobby for some people no different than skating or bicycling...it takes a bit of time to sink in. But after watching the videos you understand why Stan and Clara treated hopping the chanlink fence as no big deal. It really wasn't a big deal compared to some of the things you've now seen.

You're not sure whether this is something you want to do...but maybe some basic running and weight lifting or something would be good to start. That evening you head to your college and run a few laps around the track. It's disappointingly exhausting, and you kind of want to stop after about the first thirty seconds. But you press on and make yourself do two full laps. That's a half mile, you think. It's also more running that you've done in years, and you feel terribly winded when you're done. This is going to be a long road.

Janaury 16 to January 18, 2013

You spend the next few days catching up on schoolwork and trying to force your self into a physical training regiment. Your college has a free weight lifting gym and you make good use of it. Unfortunately you make a very common mistake and overdo it on the first day, reducing your arm and chest muscles to jelly for the next few days during which even putting on a shirt is painful. At least your legs are ok, and you do a half mile run each day. It's noticeably easier than your first run was on Tuesday, but even so you're really just jogging for the first lap and walking the second one. By the third day your arms are still sore, but at least it doesn't hurt to move them.

Around 7pm on Friday night, Clara send you a text message asking what happened to you and why nobody's heard from you.

Clara (Text): "wht happen to my elfie?"

You (Text): "working out. sore. wanna keep up with u 2 next time"

Clara (Text): "lol cool"


Friday, January 18, 2013

Current status (New section: physical status and abilities)

You're mostly recovered by now, but getting into any kind of shape is obviously going to take continual effort over the next couple months.

What do you do?

[GreatWyrmGold]

I just noticed something. Most of our money is in a checking account. Should we transfer some to a savings account, for a little extra income?

Aside from that, keep up with schoolwork and exercise and try not to overdo it again. Objections?

[LordBucket]

Should we transfer some to a savings account, for a little extra income?

Interest rates on savings accounts are trivial. Using Wells Fargo as an example, even with assorted qualifications and a $25,000 minimum balance, they're only paying .3% per year. That's point 3 percent, not 3 percent. And it's also annual yield, with compound interest already calculated into it. So if you were to put your entire $43,315 balance in a savings account at that APY and not touch it for a year, you'd collect a grand total of $129.95 in interest. Which, incidentally, would be less than our current estimate 1.7% annual inflation.

It's not worth the time to do the math.

[Dracken]

I just noticed something. Most of our money is in a checking account. Should we transfer some to a savings account, for a little extra income?

Aside from that, keep up with schoolwork and exercise and try not to overdo it again. Objections?

+1

[Thecard]

Should we transfer some to a savings account, for a little extra income?

Interest rates on savings accounts are trivial. Using Wells Fargo as an example, even with assorted qualifications and a $25,000 minimum balance, they're only paying .3% per year. That's point 3 percent, not 3 percent. And it's also annual yield, with compound interest already calculated into it. So if you were to put your entire $43,315 balance in a savings account at that APY and not touch it for a year, you'd collect a grand total of $129.95 in interest. Which, incidentally, would be less than our current estimate 1.7% annual inflation.

It's not worth the time to do the math.

Yeah, my church thought about doing this to pay rent, few people realize how little interest actually is these days.  And most of those people work with money for a living anyway.  It's not really common knowledge, which makes me a little sad that it isn't always obvious how we're in a poor situation.  *sniff*
Anyways, we should keep going to the gym but take it a lot easier.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Should we transfer some to a savings account, for a little extra income?

Interest rates on savings accounts are trivial. Using Wells Fargo as an example, even with assorted qualifications and a $25,000 minimum balance, they're only paying .3% per year. That's point 3 percent, not 3 percent. And it's also annual yield, with compound interest already calculated into it. So if you were to put your entire $43,315 balance in a savings account at that APY and not touch it for a year, you'd collect a grand total of $129.95 in interest. Which, incidentally, would be less than our current estimate 1.7% annual inflation.

It's not worth the time to do the math.

...I was right about "little..."

Alright, anyone have a better investment plan?

[Wrex]

Should we transfer some to a savings account, for a little extra income?

Interest rates on savings accounts are trivial. Using Wells Fargo as an example, even with assorted qualifications and a $25,000 minimum balance, they're only paying .3% per year. That's point 3 percent, not 3 percent. And it's also annual yield, with compound interest already calculated into it. So if you were to put your entire $43,315 balance in a savings account at that APY and not touch it for a year, you'd collect a grand total of $129.95 in interest. Which, incidentally, would be less than our current estimate 1.7% annual inflation.

It's not worth the time to do the math.

...I was right about "little..."

Alright, anyone have a better investment plan?

We've already invested money, about 100k.

[Llamainaspitfire]

How about a JOB?  Wouldn't that get us some money?
Maybe if we can get an important, high-ranking job, we can suddenly turn corrupt and take over through those means?
Can we try and get a job as a Cop, or If it comes to it, a Security officer?

[GreatWyrmGold]

That probably requires more training than we have, but the idea's sound. We could check into it.

Don't let Clara or the others hear about it, though...

[LordBucket]

...just to quickly clarify a few points:

few people realize how little interest actually is these days.  And most of those people work with money for a living anyway.
It's not really common knowledge, which makes me a little sad that it isn't always obvious how we're in a poor situation.

More to the point, you're actually losing value by keeping money in a savings account at 1% interest because the value of money is declining faster that that. This is why I linked inflation in my previous post.

Imagine that you have $100 in a 1% APY savings account, the inflation rate is 1.7%, and a gallon of milk costs $4. You have enough money to buy 25 gallons of milk. Or, you could wait a year, after which you'd have $101 in the savings account, milk would cost $4.07, and you'd only be able to buy 24 gallons of milk.

Putting money in a savings accounts is not an investment strategy. It's a way to lose value in your money.

We've already invested money, about 100k.

The CD is $150,000, actually. Plus you have the Dayton property.

From Current Status:

"Certificate of Deposit: $150,000 @ 10% APY, matures Jan 8th, 2014"

So in ~11 months you'll collect the $150,000 you invested, plus $15,000.

"2 bedroom house in Dayton Ohio, appraised at $27,000
$350/month rent from Dayton, Ohio rental property"

After relevant expenses, rental income on the Dayton property is about $234/month. For your original investment of $17,500, that works out to about a 16% annual return.

[LordBucket]

I'm heading out to dinner. If anyone has further input for the next update, get it in within the next few hours.

[Wrex]

See if we can find a job, get soeme contacts, that sort of thing. Also work on keeping in shape, and maintaining our friendships.


I don't expect anything short of an entry level position in a field, which is totally fine. Maybe an entry level position in the auto repair industry, give us valuable practical experience for when the time comes.

[Llamainaspitfire]

That probably requires more training than we have, but the idea's sound. We could check into it.

Don't let Clara or the others hear about it, though...

We don't have to Get a job as a cop exactly, it was just an idea to get a Job where we could have some sort of control.
We should look into jobs in general, though.

[LordBucket]

So, slightly unusual update today. This mostly ended up being an info dump based on general suggestions, and you can decide what do to in upcoming weeks. Might be some dry reading here, but this is what you guys said you wanted.

How about a JOB?  Wouldn't that get us some money?

See if we can find a job

We should look into jobs in general, though.

You decide to look into the possibility of getting a job. You do vaguely remember hearing something about being in the middle of a recession and the worst employment market in 60 years, but you don't let that deter you.

Can we try and get a job as a Cop

Hmm, yes...if you worked as a police officer that would put you in a position of power to flaunt, while simultaneously giving a lots of very useful hands-on experience with police methods so that you'd be better able to evade them at a later date. This could be very useful. How does one go about becoming a police officer, you wonder? Well, time to start researching online:



It appears that different positions in different departments have different qualifictions, but the basic minimum legal requirement appears to be to complete 664 hours worth of Police Officer Standards and Training coursework. "Police Academy" if you will. There do appear to be a number of online multimedia courses that will qualify for some of the requirements, but others will need to be via in-person training. Basically...if you really want to do this, the most practical way to approach it would be to take your next semester off school and go to police academy for 3-6 months instead.

Additionally, there appear to be an extensive list of physical requirements: being able to run 3 miles in 24 minutes, bench press your own weight,  164-pounds dummy drag over distance...a bunch of things, and most of them you're pretty sure are things you wouldn't be able to do right now. Of course, you're already planning on subjecting yourself to a physical training regiment anyway, so it wouldn't be that difficult to keep the physical requirements for becoming a police officer in mind when designing your training schedule.

Maybe an entry level position in the auto repair industry

You hop on criagslist and immediately find a number of job openings for auto mechanics:

Autobody Technician

"Autobody Technician - We have an immediate opening for an experienced Body Technician for the Mission Viejo Lexus Certified Dealer Collision Center. Must have a minimum of 10 years in collision repair, be capable of any size repair, own your own tools, be quality minded, and have the ability to work in a team environment. Certification training offered. Background will be checked."

...10 years experience? Must own own tools? Ok, you're pretty sure you don't qualify for that.

Automotive Technicians Wanted

"The Lexus of Westminster Service Department is accepting applications from automotive technicians for Service Department expansion. The right candidate is a high achiever who enjoys working with people, possesses excellent technical knowledge and diagnostic and repair abilities, and is passionate about working in the automotive field. Toyota or Lexus experience as well as mulitple ASE certifications will help you stand out above other applicants"

Experience? Well, you certainly don't have that. What about the ASE Certification? You've never heard of it, but maybe you could get a repair job if you had a relevant certification in lieu of experience. Fortunately, ASE offers a information on their tests online.



...and yeah, you don't know anything about any of those things. The closest you've ever come to fixing a car was putting new oil in your mother's car. You are taking an engineering 101 course now, but it seems to focus mostly on mechanical forces, friction, fulcrums, etc. and you've just been introduced to MATLAB in the past few weeks, but honestly...you've mostly been focusing on getting the general ed requirements out of the way, and nothing you've done is very relevant to automotive repair. If this is something you want to do, by the end of this semester you'll have most of your general ed requirements out of the way...maybe you could switch from engineering to automotive repair. You're pretty sure your school offers internships as part of the coursework, and by the time you graduate you could have the "experience" they're looking for as well as probably a couple relevant certifications.

or If it comes to it, a Security officer?

Well...both police and auto repair work look like they'll require some preparatory work to get into. Maybe a security job? Ok...back to craigslist. Once again, craigslist has quite a few job listing. In fact, they have an entire section devoted to security jobs:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/sec

Browsing through several of them, they generally read about the same:

"APPLY IN PERSON
Full & Part-Time Positions Available
All Shifts Available

Must Bring:
-Current Guard Card
-CA Driver's License
-Social Security Card
-CPR, AED & First Aid Certifications a Plus!"


Hmm. Well, you do have a driver's license and a social security card. You're pretty sure you've heard about guard cards, but you don't know much about them. Fortunately the internet provides:

http://www.guardcardcourses.com/



So...pay $60 and take an 8 hour course, then go to the sherrif's office and pay them $15 to take your fingerprints  and do a background check...and at that point you're eligible to apply for guard card. Once you find a job, you pay $130 for the remaining 32 hours worth of coursework, which you have several months to complete.

If you want the CPR and First Aid Certifications also, in order to make yourself more hireable, that will be an additional $85, and that looks like it will be a single 8 hour course.


It only takes a few hours of research, and you see that you do have a few options, but all three of the fields you looked at appear to require some preparation. You're not really surprised. You didn't really believe that active college students get jobs working part time as police officers, and...oh. Right. "Part time." Most of your classes are during the day. If you were to get a full time job, that would sort of conflict with your school, so it would either to either be a night/evening job, or part time on weekends or something. Or you could drop out of school.

Well, some options to consider, anyway. If you're in a hurry, you're pretty sure you could get the requirements for a guard card out of the way in a few weeks. You could get a job working nights or weekends. Though that might cut into your social time with your perhaps-future-minions.

Also...you wonder about how much money it would actually bring in. The security jobs you see mostly seem to pay about $10/hour. If you were working part time...say, 20 hours a week, at $10/hr, so $200/week. And even after a full year of $200 week, that's only $10,400. Quite a few thousands less money than your CDs will bring in over the same time period. But on the other hand, experience with the police, knowledge of auto repair...and even working with security, might all give useful experience that could be valuable later on.

So...you could probably do any of these things if you invest the time and energy into them. But do you want to?

keep up with schoolwork and exercise and try not to overdo it again

+1

we should keep going to the gym but take it a lot easier.

Also work on keeping in shape, and maintaining our friendships.

In the meantime, you have a physical training regiment

Saturday, Jan 19, 2013 to Friday, Jan 25, 2013

Taking it a bit more casually, you spend the rest of the week alternating between classwork, working out, job searching and research. By the end of the week you definitely feel stronger, and you're not as tired after working out or running. It actually kind of feels good, in a way. The first time you timed your half mile run it took you 6 minutes, and you were walking for a lot of it. After a week of doing a half mile a day you can comfortably jog the entire distance in 4 minutes. You're pretty confidant about going into the next week running three quarters of a mile, and you're hoping to be able to do an 8 minute full mile by the end of the week after that. That's a little better than you were doing during your senior year in high school, and you're feeling pretty good about the idea of it only taking three weeks to get back to where you were after almost two years of being completely sedentary.

You are, however, spending a little bit more money on food. Strangely though, you feel like you're actually eating less. You learned early on that it's difficult to run with a full stomach, so you've been eating less at meals and finding that you're not really hungry afterwards. And you've been substituting out some of the pasta and soda that your mother feeds you with protein bars and bottled water (-$24). It's probably a lot healthier, but it occurs to you that this trend of paying for things like food yourself is likely to continue.

While at the gym at noon on Friday you get a text message from Gilbert:

Gilbert: "Hey, you want to hang out this weekend? I don't have any plans."

You're all sweaty from working out so you don't type out an immediate reply. about ten minutes later as you're finishing up and toweling off you get another text message from Clara:

Clara: "wears mai ELFIE!!! wanan see ma elfie k?"


So, looks like the gang wants to get together this weekend. No message from Stan yet, but you're guessing he'll probably be around too. Question is just...what to do?


What do you do?

 

[GreatWyrmGold]

First off: Work =\= Good money. Maybe we should consider a mortgage so we can invest some more.

Second off: I suggest we go see Gilbert and Clara to see what's up. We are supposed to be their friend, after all, and it's not like we have anything to do either.