Book Board Chat

SCROLL ALERT: Long post about Swifty’s Cross-Country Trip so some may just want to scroll on by.

Greetings from the middle of the night in Penn’s Woods,

Did the usual of early to bed and early to rise!

Swifty is home, safe and sound. He arrived just in time for supper! I had called him earlier in the day to find out what time he was arriving. DH had asked me if I had heard from him and since I had not, I put in a call. Had to leave a message and DH burst out laughing as he listened to me. ”Hi Swifty, your dad wants to know where you are. You know how he makes me make the phone calls.” hahaha! Yep, mom didn’t care, it was your dad forcing me to call! He called back and said he was in Salem and I asked what state. He replied, ”Massachusetts, we got lost.” ahahaha!

When he arrived home the first thing that I noticed was that he had lost weight. He has always been tall and thin but after years of living the high life in NYC where he ate out often he had gained a few. But now that he is a co-founder of a fledging start-up, money is tight and he has had to tighten his belt. He said that supper now is a question of ”Should I have rice or should I have ramen noodles?” and that instead of taking the subway to work, he now walks the 3 miles. He also said that he weighed even less before his trip and that after a diet of meals at Denny’s and Waffle House for the last 2 weeks, he and his friend were so hungry for a salad! Didn’t have a salad with dinner but we did have fresh sweet corn which he enjoyed.

Speaking of corn, LLB mentioned the other week that the corn we have in PA is so much better than what he can get in California. We were surprised about that, or maybe it is just that he is not near where it is grown and freshly picked. On Tuesday we are going to get corn that is picked while you wait. A friend of ours lives near some Amish or maybe they are Mennonites who have a road-side stand. Now not only do they sell corn and other fresh picked veggies, they have a sign which says if you are willing to wait they will go out to the corn field and pick it right then! Shades of growing up when we just went to our garden and picked corn for supper.

In New Orleans, Swifty and his friend stayed a very nice hotel for a great price (W for $90). In New Orleans, his friend was impressed that when he called the front desk to check-out, the front desk answered with, ”What may we do for you Mr. so-and-so.” And this kid comes from a well-off family so it is not like it is his first time around the block in staying in nice hotels. Oh and that reminds me, Swifty said that the friend of his friend who they helped move in LA must come from a very sheltered background (i.e. very monied) and that an example of it was that the friend just couldn’t understand why it was better for the server to receive a cash tip instead of placing it on a credit card. Guess it was his day for learning something new.

One of the funniest parts of the trip had to be after they left New Orleans and planned on staying overnight in Bristol, Tennessee. When they arrived they found it was NASCAR week and they cheapest place they could find was a Motel 6 for $200!! They decided to keep driving and driving and driving and finally found a motel for $80. Nothing like the place they had stayed the night before! This place had as my son said, ”Some good ole boys sitting outside at 3 AM with a case of beer.” When they pulled in, one of them asked to drive my son’s friend car which is a Mini. The guy said, ”I’m not drunk, promise.” They said no to the request. He also said that based on the sign at this motel, ”Internet Free” must mean ”Free of the Internet” not as they thought that you could get the internet for free since they couldn't get it!

The trip in the Mini was quite a trip from the very start. They had to make several trips to UPS just to take the boxes that were to be shipped back. It was packed to the gills and they couldn’t put the roof down because there was so much stuff in it and something might go flying out.

Swifty and his friend decided that if either of them ever does a cross-country trip again they would schedule more time so that they could take more scenic routes instead of interstates. He said the only time they knew they were in another state is when they would get off the interstate for gas or a meal and hear the accents and all the ya'lls. LOL LOL

So now Swifty has been to all the states in the continental US except for one; or in other words there are three states he has not been to: Alaska, Hawaii, and Arkansas. He said that he has no plans of ever going to Arkansas and that state can forever remain the odd man out.

Today he will visit his grandmother and then take the early train home where he has a lot of work waiting for him. He is still doing consulting work for his former employer as well as picking up new consulting work. Helps to buys food, pay the electric, bills and other things such as the Cobra while still being able to work on the start-up.

One of the best pieces of advice he ever received was from Win from Chicago and who used to post on the old ebay book board in the very early days. Swifty was 16 and had just gotten his first job at a bank doing networking and Win told him to start a Vanguard account or similar for his retirement. It is advice that the younger son took also. Although we would have advised both the sons about starting retirement funds, firs job at 16 would have been earlier than what we most likely would have done. We most likely would have waited for the first offical job after college but the early start got them into a good habit. hmmm wonder if Win would like to invest in the start-up – right up his alley! LOL

Things are so different for younger people now. The days of having a job with full medical benefits and fully funded employer retirement are long gone. Now medical coverage is often lousy and/or employees have to pay a large part and the same with retirement. ”It’s not your father’s Oldmobile” any longer. Even teachers and state workers no longer have the benefits and perks they once had when DH and I started out. I recently read that UPS is eliminating medical coverage for spouses who are insured under another job. Sounds ok on the surface unless that coverage is lousy. I once took at job and gave up medical coverage in favor of more money, but DH’s medical coverage was much better than what I would have been getting with the new job. I know at one time if you had to use it, your plan would kick in first and what wasn’t covered by the first plan, then the spouse’s plan would kick in. hmmmm I wonder how it will work with UPS and children…would they expect the children to be covered up the spouse’s plan or will they still provide that? And then the question would be which plan is best to cover the children?

I know when Swifty first graduated from college and before he went to NYC, his job had such crappy medical coverage that we paid out of pocket to keep him on our plan. At the time it as a lot more than what we later paid for the younger one. Something had changed but I forget what that resulted in the bill for the second son being less than the first.

stamphick/David Swifty said that New Orleans was rocking with music and places were open. He said the humidity wasn’t bad especially when compared with sitting in the Vegas traffic jam for 3 hours in 117 degree heat. He and his friend thought it was cool how you could just walk around with a drink in hand. They did wonder if that was permitted just on Bourbon St or if that was permitted in other parts of the city.

SCROLL ALERT: Long post about Swifty’s Trip so some may just want to scroll on by.