A Chronicle of my Changing Times.

I'm here!

Hey everyone.  I'm safe and sound in Bulgaria.  I started my homestay last night in Semptemvri after a great week in Strelcha.  I can't believe I'm here.  I have pictures and write ups to share already after I figure out how to make this internet cafe take my USB drive.  Time is limited today, but many posts to follow soon.  Ciao.

Posted by: mjmarble at April 30, 2005 03:07 | link | comments (5)

Sunday Family Dinner

This week has been crazy hectic with pre-PC things and I'm not even close to being ready, (of course).  But I did want to mention the wonderful time I had this past Sunday with my family at my going away dinner.  Good times were had by all.  I had my favorites inculding Turkey, stuffing, mashedpotatos, carrots, homemade bread and homemade applesause - just to name a few things. 

Of course this was followed up with a game of Risk with my dad, Dan, and my cousin Matt.  All I have to say is that blood was drawn (yes, it was my own).  I still have a bandaid and am putting Neosporin on my hand daily.  And of course my Goddaughter Jenna was cute as a button - and can be seen here with my brother in law, Dan.

I also managed to get my family together for a photo of everyone together which I'm sure I'll treasure later on in life.  Let me tell you, that took some work - but I think the end result turned out nicely.  It really was a beautiful warm spring day.  What you can't see from the pictures is my all my mother's azalia's just to the right of the picture.

Finally, I managed to snag a picture of my Grandma, Great Aunt Dorothy with my Uncle Jack.  I lied - you can see the Azalia's in the background (kinda).  It's days like this I'll miss the most in the next two years.

Posted by: mjmarble at April 20, 2005 21:40 | link | comments (2)

Resourse Management Redeux

So a bit has changed since my last post on this.  When last you left me I was fretting about my financial state of affairs.  To understand this, you have to know I've had other friends decide to go into Peace Corps with more of a cushion then I have.  I hear tale of people with thousands of dollars saved up who get to travel and have their stuff together for when they return to the states.  So, whilst I'm willing to accept the life of poverty that lies in front of me - I'm more than a bit concerned regarding what comes aftereven there I must realize that the graduate school life is one of even greater abject poverty.  So this PC transition is actually good for me.

What's changed since I posted last is that my parents have made me an offer which I can hardly refuse.  Instead of my selling my Jetta to Carmax, they offered to buy it from me for the payoff amount.  They would then use it for the 27 months I'm gone and return it to me when I return for gradutate school.  The drawback to this was that I wouldn't even have the proceeds from the sale to fall back on to pay off these last minute bills.  No, instead I have to tap into my 401k to raise that cash.

Now, given I spent the last 5 years of my life working with 401k's and their distributions, I'm well aware of the ramifications of my actions.  But given my circumstances of being in the Peace  Corps and making next to nothing, this was the most opportune time to take some money if I ever had to.  And there are one or two other reasons why this is a good move for me, which I won't bore you with here.

Sufice to say, I'm now going to be able to pay off my debt, keep my car and still have some retirement saved.  It's all about money management and being comfortable with your decisions, which I am.  Not the way I would have liked to plan it, but it works.  Even when I had unexpected bills pop up.

This afternoon whilst beginning to pack I looked over my electrical needs and the coverters I had bought.  Honestly thinking about it I decided that two of my appliances would be better served if I got regular plugs for eastern Europe for them rather then the usual converters.  So I called up Dell (for my laptop) and Apple (for the wonderful iPod) and got the real plug adapters - which weren't cheap, mind you.  It ran me about $130 to get both.  But there's a difference between being a tourist and living in a place.  A tourist jerry-rigs things to make them work.  Someone who lives there does things the proper way.  Which is why I spent the extra dough.

Later today (it's 3am now) will be my final American church service for a while and then a family dinner with the usual suspects.  It'll be a day free from packing or cleaning.  I look to enjoy it.

Oh, and one last thing.  Using Ziplock bags to vaccum pack one's clothes doesn't work as well as one might suspect.  Is all I'm saying.  it works, just not as well.

Posted by: mjmarble at April 17, 2005 00:48 | link | comments

Resource Management

The love of money is the root of all evil, or so the saying goes.  I consider myself lucky not to be afflicted by the disease of greed.  Instead I place the value of money on what it allows me to do both for myself and for others.  I recognize it’s importance and necessity in life, but try and deny it’s power – at least over myself.  I actually enjoy being generous more than I enjoy having it work for me.

Interestingly enough, at least to me, this has led me to have financial problems in the past.  Now, being a reasonably intelligent person, I have managed to avoid getting into any of that anecdotal trouble you so often hear about.  Actually, even looking at the averages in America I’ve managed to stay away from even the normal level of debt.

But I have carried my own debt and fought with it.  It has long been the albatross around my neck, holding me back.  One of my major goals this past two years in preparation for the Peace Corps was the elimination of the majority of my debt (I still hold Student Loans and consider them long term debt).  About two months ago I was all but completely debt free.  The credit cards were gone and all that remained was the loans I’d taken out off of my 401k.  There were even considerations of having something extra in my bank account for travel in Eastern Europe .

But then came purchases of things I ‘need’ for my service.  And this is where I started to unravel.  I couldn’t settle for a refurbished Laptop.  I had to get a new fancy one.  I couldn’t use bags I already had, I needed to buy new ones from REI and LL Bean.  Don’t get me wrong, I made these purchases with a mind to getting things that would last for a long time to come.  But I quickly spent more than I had coming in from work.  I also made trips to New York City and Ohio – which were wonderful and I wouldn’t trade them.  But they cost money.

And then on Monday I went to Carmax to get an offer in writing for my car.  Kelly Blue Book placed the value around $7,000 for trade in, not purchase.  But, alas (and there often is an alas) I have fairly high mileage on my car – around 94,000.  Suddenly the fair market value of my vehicle is $5,300 – or a full $1,700 less than I had hoped for.  And compared to what the VW dealership offered, this is a generous amount.

What this all means to me is that I’m suddenly flat broke.  I have $50 worth of gift certificates in my pocket and enough in my checking account to get a haircut today, but otherwise I’m stuck.  And of course there are still some things to buy for Peace Corps, things I ‘need’ or have been led to believe I’ll need.  Now decisions have to be made as to what I really need vs. what I want.  It should be an interesting week.

Of course this goes to a larger issue of money management.  I have fought for years with this, and will have to fight with it again in Bulgaria .  Just when you think you’ve learned your lesson, something pops up to show you that you haven’t.  I was mentioning to James the other night that I hope that I marry a woman who is good with money because otherwise we might be screwed.  But in the mean time I head off to the poverty of Peace Corps with the lesson of money management and not spending until you have it saved drawn fresh within my mind.

It’s just another battle I’ll face over there.

Posted by: mjmarble at April 13, 2005 22:03 | link | comments (2)

Youth

Anyone who has read this blog for more than a few weeks knows that I became involved with the Youth of my Church over the past year or so.  I have to say that I count myself blessed to have had the chance to get to know them all.  All are different and bring their own special things to the table.  And as I get ready to head over to Bulgaria to teach High School age students they gave me much more in the way of friendship and confidence then I could ever repay.

This past Sunday they gave me a going away party which included loose games of Soccer, catch and PIG and just hanging out for a bit.  And after being the PIG (for not being able to hit a branch of a tree before having the basketball go in, mind you) I was ready to just settle down and hang out a bit.

 
But this was not in the cards.  A hasty trip to a nearby park was thrown together in order to play a rather spirited game of capture the flag.  Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t counting on such activities and had worn my buckskin shoes which were not what most Orthopedics would recommend for such rambunctious activities.  Thus I ended up in my bare feet running through fields of green and getting caught on a regular basis.  The cuts on my feet and my slightly twisted ankles will verify the fact that one should always wear tennis shoes when hanging out with youth. 

Upon returning to church, we settled in for some burgers, many cokes and a bit of the Princess Bride – which, if you haven’t ever seen you simply must.  It’s one of the funniest and most quotable movies ever.  I find the fact that anyone hasn’t seen it inconceivable.

After a while they paused the movie to give me some going away presents which included a utility tool/knife, a pair of four leaf clovers for luck, a picture frame with a photo of me and many of the kids at the Ski trip (a before picture they emphasized for my benefit), and a roll of toilet paper asking me if I wiped.  Yes, Ellie, I did.  Finally I also received my own person top ten list which I’ll share here in a moment.  I will truly miss Sunday School lessons that weren’t in loo of trips to Mac&Don’s Golden Rainbow Room and talk about Prom shoes and who wasn’t dating whom.  My only regret is that I didn’t get involved with them sooner.  I certainly hope that God keeps and blesses all of them.

 
And without further ado, my Top Ten List:
 

Top Ten Reasons Why We’ll Miss Mr. Marble:
 

10. Who else would take us to McDonalds during Sunday School?

9. Because he has the best hats!

8. Because of the Jetta and the crazy driver behind the wheel.

7. Because of your ever present bottle of Coke.

6. Because of your willingness to listen to the girls talking (mostly Lauren) when they interrupt your lesson.

5. Because of your “Gracefulness” on the slope which is forever captured on film.

4. Because you actually enjoy chaperoning us.

3. Because you know the quotes from The Princess Bride too.

2. Always able to make us laugh.

1. Because of the whole “Phat” thing.

Posted by: mjmarble at April 12, 2005 22:31 | link | comments (2)

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