Sat 25th Feb Wifey Leaving Me!!

[ROB OWENS]

Glad to say, not THAT kind of leaving me...
Eileen has just accepted a super job in Qatar. Offer came out the blue and is one we're going to take up.

I've been offered two jobs already when I get out there in the summer. E has to go in April. I've done 20 years as head at my school, so good time to go on a high. Her business on a good footing and her partner can run it for two years.

Had champagne for lunch with cheese toasty!!!

So, Anyone else out there facing a challenging 'challenge' in the near future????

[johnreardon]

Fried egg, bacon, black pudding and sausage. Real heart attack stuff

I'm just about to retire from the company and start again in the same company, just a different business unit. Role is at Telford, where I am currently working. Should only have to be there 3 days a week, so not too bad.

Also moving house. We have sold ours and bought another, so just waiting for legal stuff to go through. Should be moving, all of a quarter of a mile, in a couple of months

[SirPsychoSexy]

Fried egg, bacon, black pudding and sausage. lovely grub sir


2 x bacon sandwich, 1 handfull of "jelly belly" jelly beans, 2 x white russian

my challenge is a 2 parter: completing all work on my new house... soon its a new kitchen, then bathroom... some work on the stairs where a wall came out yesterday.... oh yeah an extension at the back... then time to decorate..... and to top it all of, revamp the gardens


2: make and assemble 12 tattoo machines by 4th march... then make more for march 26th... meanwhile i blew both 6mm drill bits, so they need replacing on monday... the trusty powerfile is deciding to snap a belt every 5 mins and im all out of grinding wheels...

oh and then the 10 machine frames i oil blackened on thursday need sandblasting and doing again... for reasons unknown the finish developed small bubbles.... im struggling to meet deadlines hahahahaah

[John LeQuire]

Lunch Today: Sausage + Pepperoni Pizza, bowl of Fruit Loops for dessert, iced tea to drink (school cafeteria selection on saturdays is pretty sparse).

The biggest "challenge" I'm facing will be meeting the candidacy requirements to make it into the Recording Industry program here at MTSU. They have you take 4 pre-requisite courses (Understanding Mass Communication, History of Recording Industry, Survey of Recording Industry, and Audio for Media), and take the grades you make in those, plus your overall GPA, and use some kind of formula to determine who gets in. The average student to get accepted into the program has a 3.4 GPA and has completed 86 Credit Hours. The way it works out, they end up accepting about 55% of the students who apply, whichs end up being around 60 or so in the Music Business concentration and about 45-50 in the Production and Technology side. My grades and overall GPA are good, but just a little bit below average. I'm re-taking a couple courses, hoping to pull my grades up before I apply, but it's still highly competitive, and a somewhat daunting proposition either way you look at it.

If I don't make it through this time, I can re-take some more courses, and apply one more time. If I don't make it in the second time, I'm basically screwed. I try not to think about that possibility too much though, but it is intimidating when you think how your entire life course could be affected by it.

[ROB OWENS]

Lunch Today: If I don't make it through this time, I can re-take some more courses, and apply one more time. If I don't make it in the second time, I'm basically screwed. I try not to think about that possibility too much though, but it is intimidating when you think how your entire life course could be affected by it.
Then you'll have to do what I didn't...cut out the guitar for a bit and make sure you DO get it.

Easy said I know, but best of luck anyway.

[bleujazz3]

Veal Parmigiana leftovers.


My music studio equipment.
1) Apple.com is no longer offering the laptop notebook I wanted on its website. The wait time for the Powerbook G4 would have been 5 days and shipping. Now the required wait time for the MacBook Pro (the one at the same price) is 3 to 4 weeks plus shipping.

2) Our family car insurance came due. The lady of the house thought she would be smart and try to negotiate for a lower rate based on her credit rating. This worked, and the insurance is about $100 less for each of us every six months.

What didn't work is that the insurance is now in her name alone, and she's the only one insured. I'm just a spare driver. If we have the insurance put back in both our names, they have to do a credit rating on us both. My credit is fine, but I'm about to blow $6K+ on the music studio, which destroys my credit rating. The only way I can get around this is to have the items ordered via a local music shop instead of doing it online, and pay cash (I have that) and wait a bit for the items to arrive to the store. This is the only way I can do this without destroying my credit rating, or I'll have to wait until the insurance company does their research and the music studio gets put on the hold for another 6 weeks.

What do you guys think? Should I wait it out with the insurance company, or go for it with the local music store, and hope they can get everything I need?

[Aldwyn]

Coconut Shrimp.

I think you should go, Rob, because Qutar sounds like Guitar.

I am currently looking for a job myself... but being very picky since I am currently employed.

So no real challenges other then that.

[ROB OWENS]

Hi,

Go with music store...only nice people work in music stores.....hahaha...mmmm!!
Lots of decisions there...go with what you thought of doing first....first impressions are usually the better ones...GO FOR IT and good luck.

Aldwyn......thank you..I'll be taking your advice....http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif hahaha

[bleujazz3]

Hi,

Go with music store...only nice people work in music stores.....hahaha...mmmm!!
Lots of decisions there...go with what you thought of doing first....first impressions are usually the better ones...GO FOR IT and good luck.

Actually, I have figured out a way to do this...both Apple and the internet company I'm planning on buying from do accept cashier's checks as payment! This way I won't need to put anything on my credit card and ruin my credit rating.

Downside is, the transaction isn't as safe as a credit card, but I think I can live with that. Hadn't thought of it until last night after I posted, then did a bit of research to confirm with the two companies.

Saves my patoot BIG time. :D

EDIT: P.S. Good luck in Qatar, once you get situated there be sure to check out BaM so we know you made it safely.

[irwcustom]

Great stuff Rob - I wish you all the best mate! If I had that kind of offer -seriously, I'd go and not look back.

I think the challenge for me lays in picking a challenge. Quite a few strings to my bow, but unsure as to the direction to take. Certainly no hope for my dying industry and no concern from the powers that be. There seems no challenge in anything like just being a domestic electrician for example. Don't mind doing it for friends and myself though. Maybe I took too many different directions and found them all interesting and am quite good at them, but don't want to throw any one of them away and just do one thing. I want to use my technical polymer knowledge more that I specialised in.

People keep giving me guitars and amps to fix and I am going to build a valve amp. I want to get in a gigging band with people who are as passionate about music as me.

Sir Sexy's targets sound interesting - I could help out ...maybe we could set up in business and export to Nigeria!

Oh sorry, the last thing I ate was some spicy Welsh cheese - very nice! Very good question Rob.

[grego7]

Actually, I have figured out a way to do this...both Apple and the internet company I'm planning on buying from do accept cashier's checks as payment! This way I won't need to put anything on my credit card and ruin my credit rating.
I guess I don't understand how charging something on a card immediately destroys your credit rating. I could see if you failed to pay something off, or missed payments, but doesn't responsible use of credit improve your credit rating? Case in point - my old college roommate never bought anything on credit, had no cards in fact, and so had a tough time buying a new vehicle as he had no credit rating. Even if he had a single card, and charged one or two things on it (and paid it off in a timely manner), he would have had a better credit rating. Now, having said that, I may just be being naive, so if I am truly missing something here, please let me know. I'm hoping to buy a house in the next year or so, and while I (luckily) have no credit card debt, I am paying off a vehicle. This is the first time I've heard something like this.

Meat loaf, rice, green beans (leftovers).

By the way, I had to ask my wife (sitting here reading a magazine) what I had for lunch yesterday. Knowing that I'm surfing the usual guitar haunts, and that my lunch menu was part of this particular thread, she now thinks that I am one hopeless forum geek. :o

By the way, I guess my challenge is to now leave my job of 4 years and go back into training for the next year, making roughly 25% of what I made this year. We've tried to save up the past year or so, knowing that this was coming, but we also have had 2 beautiful kids since I started this job. And damned if those little tykes aren't expensive! Should be interesting...

[digisequencer]

Glad to say, not THAT kind of leaving me...
Eileen has just accepted a super job in Qatar. Offer came out the blue and is one we're going to take up.
And I was already fearing another Sterling-case...

Good news then Rob ! Congrats !

Hmm, no new projects really, but I am right in the middle of one really demanding big one: I took over the website of Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich (http://www.davedeedozybeakymick-tich.com) last October - actually started a completely new one since the old was absolutely crap.
So now I continously face the challenges of keeping in contact with a still very popular band (BTW they are just on tour with the Solid Silver 60s all around GB !), trying to get all necessary information, especially for a full biography, plus checking back with them what we all want to add, and what changes to be made etc etc etc.
Plus the task of visiting the concerts, doing a bit of PR work for the site, and taking lots of good pics for the website concert reviews....

It´s quite challenging and I put most of my hobbies aside since last October, even my guitar praticing has gone down a bit.
Yet I enjoy it and would - of faced to choose again - make that choice without a second´s hesitation again.

Oh and just to keep you from asking: no I´m no professional regarding webpage design, it´s all learning by doing, all in my free time, and no, I don´t get money for it.