Two Weeks and a Day

Wow.  We have been here at Aggieland RV Park 2 weeks and a day as of today.  It sure seems like a lot longer to both of us.  That’s not a bad thing, really, it’s just that we have been busy.  The days seem to fly by and run together.  Dave has Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, so our days get a bit blurred; our “weekend” starts Monday night. 

Let’s see.  He survived Black Friday, although it sure was crazy, especially Thanksgiving evening and Friday, and he did work some overtime.  Crazy.  He’s getting a firsthand glimpse of the retail world during the holiday season.  Yes, he worked Thanksgiving, and so did I.  This was the first time in decades that I did not prepare a typical Thanksgiving dinner.  Oh well.  I did cook bridies while he was off that week, so we had a nice meal.  He is settling in quite nicely with his job, even enjoying it now, and we hope – but not expect by any means – that he will be kept on after the holiday season. 

Although I’m still in training on my MT job, I am making good strides.  It’s not the medical terminology/knowledge part, it’s becoming familiar with and implementing the specs, the software requirements, etc.  Things have changed re: formatting, punctuation, etc., since I was an MT 8 years ago, and the specs of the company/accounts are quite different from the “old school” way I was taught and used back when I worked before.  I am still not enamored with voice recognition and being a medical editor; I really still prefer straight transcription.  Well, I’m giving it a whirl, and it is getting better.

My virtual assistant job is percolating along nicely, and I am picking up some additional responsibilities.  I really am enjoying it!  Honestly, if I had a couple of long-term VA clients with ample work, I would seriously consider ditching medical transcription/editing.

I believe I mentioned my work laptop crashed and burned.  Yep, turns out it needed a new hard drive.  It had been in the shop but is home now, and this evening I have it set up to be put back into service.  I’m composing this post on it.  There is still some additional tweaking to be done – getting things back on it – but at least it’s usable again.  I sure missed my larger screen!

Our gray tank is being ordered, being delayed by some issues pinpointing with Keystone exactly what type of tank is needed.  Hopefully we will be having the replacement work done in the next couple of weeks.  They might be able to do it on-site . . . that sure would be nice, although they are only about 10 miles down the road.  We are thankful the facilities are nice here, so it’s a short stroll down to the showers near the front of the park each evening.  Each is a suite unto itself, so one has privacy when showering.  Nice.

Our allergies are finally getting under control.  Yay!  I was able to actually sleep prone in bed last night for the first time in a couple of weeks.  My recliner is comfy, I slept well in it, and I can watch TV from there if I want, but Maggie sure appreciated me being back in bed.  Me, too, I tell ya.  Dave was suffering equally, with the added frustration of plugged ears.  We both are much better with regards to our noses, and his hearing is much improved.

We are even having evening meals together twice a week, the 2 days Dave is off.  I had taken some Mexican lasagna out of the freezer the other day, so that was last night’s dinner accompanied by a green salad.  Tonight was baked fish, wild rice, and sweet corn. The rest of the week, we’re on our own, obviously because of work schedules.

Mr. Sun finally made an appearance today after being AWOL for 4-5 days.  We have had definitely chilly weather – highs in the 40s and 50s – with miserable, drizzly, nonstop rain.  Ugh.  Sure was nice to see sunshine today.  I made a run to a self-serve car wash and washed off a lot of mud from the truck.  It could stand detailing, but at least it looks presentable again now.

Last week I went over to Suddenlink (the park’s ISP) and purchased a modem and then to Walmart for a wireless router.  We now have a direct “pipeline” into the Internet service here at the park, and it is a secure connection via our own router.  Pretty darn speedy, too.  Yay!  We’re wireless and secure in the rig!  Woot!  This is wonderful, as my iPhone is getting a well-deserved rest after serving as a hot spot for a couple of months.   (Note:  The park WiFi is actually quite good, but not secure.  Getting one’s own modem and router is suggested by the park owner/manager if one wants a direct connection and secure network within one’s rig.  If I wasn’t working online from home or we were just here short-term, we would not have done this.  It is groovy, though, eh?)

We have had issues . . . gray tank, computer crashing, Internet and cable going out for 24 hours, miserable rain, allergies, yada, yada, yada, (yes, all in 2 weeks and 1 day) but we truly are liking it here and thankful that we are both working and have landed in a nice environment for our home.

Have I mentioned I really, really appreciate stepping out onto concrete and not mud?

Thanks for stopping by!

24-Hour Rollercoaster

Yesterday until early evening we were pretty darn blissful.  We have been feeling so relieved and grateful to be in this park. 

Our site at Aggieland RV Park in Bryan, TX

Dave was off, so we spent the day pretty much settling in here; he even managed a bit of a bike ride in the afternoon.  He cleaned off the mud and organized our storage bin, spare propane tanks and his fixed-gear bike.  They “reside” at the front of our rig in a tidy fashion, and they are clean once again!  With our work week commencing again today, we went to H.E.B. for a few items and I did laundry, vacuumed and tidied up the inside.

We had a nice stroll around the park in the early evening, feeling relaxed, grateful and settled.  We like our site and the park in general.

Then . . . my work laptop crashed.  Long story short, I was up until 5 AM this morning being extremely disappointed in the remote diagnosis/repair service by Geek Squad.  I have had very good service with resolution of issues in the past via telephone assistance (actually speaking with a tech who walked me through things) and dropping off machines at the location in Best Buy.  The first tech disappeared/disconnected after about 1.5 hours.  I hooked up with another tech, whose last action was performed a little over an hour into the session.  Five hours later, I terminated the session.

Both service notes I received today indicated there was something wrong with the Internet at my end.  I am simply not buying that, as I periodically checked my connection, and it was up and running just fine with no blips or hiccups on my end.  If there had been a connectivity issue, they should have contacted me; my phone number was in the records and I indicated I would be available.

So.  First chance I get I’ll drop it off.  In the meantime, much of today has been spent in a sleep-deprived and stressed state getting my personal laptop set up for work both as a virtual assistant and as a medical transcriptionist.  This laptop has a smaller screen with corresponding smaller fonts, and I am finding it much more of an effort to see what’s on the screen.  sigh

And . . . along about mid morning, I noticed a puddle of water under our rig.  Our bathroom gray tank had split and was leaking.  It will have to be replaced and, in the meantime, we will be showering in the facilities here.  Thank goodness they are nice.  I contacted a dealership/repair facility less than 5 miles down the road.  A mobile tech is supposed to come out tomorrow to check it out, do measurements, etc.  They will order the necessary tank and parts.  Once they have everything, we will roll the rig over to have the replacement performed.

The good news is, things could be worse.  No one died today.  That’s always a bonus.  These issues are worrisome and stressful but, in the big scheme of our life, they are bumps in the road.  Having them occur back-to-back like that just freaked me out a bit.  I’m really not complaining, but 2015 has been a tough one for us.  We carry on, though . . .

Today marks 1 month of being here in Bryan.  I think we have done very well to have both landed jobs and moved to a nicer park which is looking good as a long-term spot.

Thanks for stopping by!

November Mid Point

It has been a busy 2 weeks since my last post.  Here’s what has been happening:

• Dave is working his evening shifts after completing training last week.  He aced the 12 training modules (all training done via computer) and finished before the “youngsters” there for training.  Maturity rocks!  He has learned there is an entire universe of hair care products for us gals.  Ha!  He will have Tuesday and Wednesday off each week; that’s the schedule for now.
• My MT training has been going well, and I feel better about it, like I am getting the hang of how this company wants things done, account specs, etc.  Seems I have developed a cold ? allergies ? and have been somewhat under the weather, so my mentor decided it best to postpone my training until next week in order for me to get over this.  Plugged ears are not conducive to hearing at one’s peak performance.  I agree with that, as it gives me time to rest (and I have been taking cat naps off and on, and even conked out totally for one entire day) and turn my attention to some other things I simply had not the time to tackle since our arrival here.  I am looking forward to getting back to the training, though.
• On the virtual assistant (VA) front, I am having a grand time with this and have been given additional tasks.  Yay!  I am hopeful this will be a long-term relationship.
• Although yesterday was Friday the 13th, we had a bit of good luck.  We decided to cruise over to the other RV park (where we are on the waiting list) to see if there was going to be an opening any time soon, as our rent here is due next Thursday. Lo and behold . . . yes!  I will check back Monday morning, but right now it looks like we will be moving next week, hopefully Tuesday when Dave is off.  I simply cannot express what a relief that will be.  I really think the amount of dust and dampness here is a major contributor to my allergy issues.  Aside from that, there is no good/safe place to walk Maggie here and . . . well, you’ve heard me talk about this place.  It has served the purpose as a landing spot here, but it sure will look good in the rearview mirror.
• We have had only a day here and there with (perhaps) sunshine; the rest of the time it has been raining.  The ground has not had a chance to totally dry out; we are still stepping in mud to get to our kitchen dump valve towards the rear of our rig.  Ugh.  When it does dry out a bit, there is dust everywhere outside; this site is more dirt/mud than gravel.  We did have to hitch up and place another Lynx Leveler pad under one of our front landing legs; the bottom one had sunk into the ground.  Lovely.  It was lightly raining when Maggie and I were out just a bit ago, and there is more rain on the way beginning tonight through Tuesday.  Lovely, I say, lovely!  El Nino is supposed to bring us a wet winter, so being in a concrete site is really going to be a good thing.
• Yesterday afternoon was devoted to getting us signed up for health insurance in 2016.  Not a difficult task, but tedious and time-consuming.  I certainly can see how folks might struggle to do so with little knowledge of how insurance works, all the terms, etc.

Heart, thoughts and prayers go to the people of Paris and all of France. 

Ya’ll be safe out there, please?  Be alert.  Be aware of your surroundings. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Whirlwind Days with Good Things Happening!

Yesterday I had a 3-hour training session via phone and Go To Meeting on the transcription platform I will be using in my medical transcription (MT) job. It was good training, but – wow – was my head reeling afterwards! Meant to provide a walk-through of the process, it was certainly not expected for me to remember everything. Everything that was covered in the session is provided in the 29 attachments I received the night before. Manuals on company guidelines, specs for each hospital account, platform and computer setup manuals, etc. Again I say wow!

Taking today off (to gather what wits remain in my head, run a couple errands, get my workstation and “stuff” organized, do some cooking and chill a bit), I’ll enter the mentoring process tomorrow and get to work! Yoinks!

Good things happening? Yes, indeed!

Dave had submitted applications to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart and some other places. This was all done online, which seems to be the trend these days. Monday he received a call from Walmart to schedule an interview the following morning (yesterday). We drove out to that store Monday evening in order to locate it, as it was a different one from where we had shopped last week.

The next morning, in dense fog, he left for his appointment. When he arrived home, he announced that he was offered a full-time position! We talked about it a bit (no real discussion needed), then he called back and accepted the job.

Go, Dave! You rock, sweetheart!

Woot! I am sooo proud of him!

• This is his first application/employment process he has done on his own in the 10 years he has been in the States. Yes, he did work as a pipefitter in MN back in 2006-2007, but that was through the union local and pretty much a done deal from the get. (That’s not to dim the fact that Dave was an accomplished pipefitter, having entered that profession as an apprentice in his youth back in Scotland. He worked for the Royal Navy aboard nuclear submarines, carriers, and the like. The safety of naval personnel aboard those vessels was literally in his hands. Shoddy work could result in the loss of lives. Yep, he was good.)  The union was a brotherhood. Other than that, we have secured employment and worked together on a team basis. His landing a full-time job would be an accomplishment at any age but, especially at age 63, it is awesome!
• He laughed, saying he used to work aboard nuclear submarines and now he will be working at Walmart. You know what, though? At our age and with our life priorities, we’re not building careers; the nature of our work is not pivotal in our lives. Our focus is on our life together and enjoying that life. Having a sustainable income that keeps us from dipping into our savings on a monthly basis until pensions become a reality in a few years is all we need.
• Our work hours will mesh nicely, as he will be working 2 until 11 PM and I will be working 3 until 10 PM once I’m out of the mentoring phase.

I think we’re doing pretty darn well. In two-and-a-half weeks, we have both landed jobs with income that should meet our needs. Next up is moving to the better RV park, which could happen at any time; however, not likely until at least later this month or possibly into December. Still lots to do . . . settle in with our jobs, review health insurance options for 2016 and get us enrolled, schedule doctor visits, get my scan, wash/wax the rig once we have moved (impossible here, as we’re basically in a mud pit), etc.

We’re off to a good start, though, and are very grateful for the good things being manifested in our life.

Thanks for stopping by! Ya’ll be safe out there, okay?

Yesssss!

I am thrilled to be able to share with you that I have accepted a part-time (for now) position as a remote Medical Editor/Medical Transcriptionist! The company I will be working with has a good reputation among MTs. I am awaiting scheduling for training on the transcription platform and then will be under mentoring for a while as I learn the platform, the specifications of my assigned accounts and the dictators on those accounts. Even with prior MT experience, this is the process that takes place.

It was weird/scary thinking about doing MT work again. After refreshing my transcription skills through an online acute care (hospital dictation, which I did before), I felt fairly confident; however, applying for employment and going through that process was a bit nerve-wracking. After all, I haven’t interviewed for a “real” job in 8 years. Narrow that down to a technical/professional position and it has been 9 years. Yoinks!

I always enjoyed MT work. It is fascinating, one learns something almost every day and there is a dark/silly sense of humor that one entertains working in the medical field. I’ve missed that.

You should have seen how excited and hyper I was the other evening after receiving the offer earlier in the day! Dave rode the wave with me in such a supportive and joyous fashion. He’s a good guy.

The profession of medical transcription has changed since I was last working in the field.  Back then, one listened to the dictation voice file and typed the document (known now as “straight typing”), sculpting it into a medico-legal document – correct not only in medical terminology, but in grammar, punctuation, etc. Typing, typing, typing.

Voice recognition – where the voice dictation is interpreted by a software program into a document – was pretty much in its infancy regarding widespread use when I worked in the field 8 years ago. Now, however, VR (or SR for “speech recognition”) has infiltrated to the point where the “medical transcriptionist” has become the “medical editor.” This is exactly that – editing the VR-produced document to match the voice dictation file.

This “old dog” will be learning some new tricks!

So, this week so far has been brimming with activity. A second interview, pre-employment testing, today the tech support guy tweaking my computer (installing the platform, etc.), paperwork, emails, phone calls . . . whew.

The result is one goal realized – land an MT job. Yay!

I continue to work my virtual assistant job, which is also part-time. I am learning new programs and very much enjoy working with my boss.  My vision has been to have 2 revenue streams with 2 part-time gigs, and that is what is coming to pass. We’ll see how that goes. It will be a while before things settle down and I get in a groove; both schedules are flexible to a point, so I see that it may be a really nice thing.

There have been moments of, “My brain hurts.” Bwahahaha!

This is a different type of thinking. With security work, the thinking was more physical (?) or action-oriented. “A strange car just entered the gates and headed towards the back. Better check it out.”  I could expect a phone call from the alarm company when an alarm would activate; we would then need to enter the building and check it out. Those are just some examples of the thought processes involved. Action-oriented. My thought processes are now of a more technical nature, i.e., learning software, reading/understanding written procedures . . . more of an intellectual process, if you will.

Yep, my brain hurts.

I am actually enjoying all this. Yes, in a perverse way, eh?

The focus so far – because it is happening so rapidly – has been on my securing MT work. We have yet to put the same time and energy into finding something for Dave. We are hopeful just the right part-time or full-time gig will come along for him. We know it will. In the meantime, he is enjoying the heck out of cycling here. He deserves that, as he took the brunt of the work load in South Carolina and did not sleep well at all there. In fact, he got very little sleep and was exhausted pretty much from October 2014 until now.  Yes, he is sleeping well now, thank goodness. All 3 of us are!

Hey, it’s early days yet. We haven’t even been here 2 weeks! I think we’re doing pretty darn good to be accomplishing so much in so little time.

We are managing to have some “together time” during the days/evenings, and that is important. I whipped up one of our favorite meals of chicken noodle casserole this afternoon, so we had a nice dinner with leftovers for tomorrow. Yay again!

Maggie is doing well and enjoys looking out the windows

I was working up until almost 10 PM and needed some decompression/fun time, so here I am blogging. It’s a hair past 11 PM now. I’m winding down and so is this post.

Thanks for stopping by! Ya’ll stay safe out there, okay?

Busy First Day Here

Gosh, I’ve been blowin’ and goin’ all day! Sorry . . . no photos today.

Spent quite a bit of time throughout the day sending out cover letters/resumes to various medical transcription companies as a start to my job search. That has continued into the evening, actually.

Dave plotted a bike ride and took off for a while this morning. After he returned, we went over to another RV park to check it out. No, we’re not enamored with our current situation. Looks like for an additional $20 a month, we could be in much, much nicer and better surroundings.  There are no monthly openings at this time (it’s Aggie football season, after all), but we put ourselves on the waiting list. We’re third on the list and are looking at mid December for a possible opening. We have pretty much decided we will move if we are still in this area.

Got back into my virtual assistant job this afternoon/evening. More duties coming along with it, so I’ve spent some time this evening doing preliminary reviewing of that prior to hearing more about that and training tomorrow.

Dinner, a couple of walks – just the two of us and then with Maggie – in the areas where we are comfortable strolling and wowsers it’s almost time to think about shower and blankies.

Let’s see . . . there was a phone call with a friend in there somewhere and a few odds and ends around here.

The day just flew by, and I feel like I could use about six more hours to do stuff. Oh well. There’s always tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow, looks like the rains are going to be moving in starting then. It has become cloudy and breezy this evening, and a bit cooler.

Okay. That’s it. I’m going to have a bit of Words with Friends with Dave and then toddle off to The Dreamtime before long. My brain is tired, but I got a whale of a lot accomplished today!

Hope you’ve had a productive day . . . or enjoyed a day of chillin’ out. Whatever you’re doing, do it safely, okay?

Thanks for stopping by! Seriously. I appreciate you taking the time to visit!

It Must Be a Totally Awesome Door . . .

First, I’ll take a minute to answer Susan’s question in the comments from my last post. An RV park in Bryan, TX will be our initial, and perhaps long-term, landing spot. I would really like to be closer to Brenham, but there is only 1 park there, and the most recent reviews on it were less than stellar.

Brenham really could use a decent RV park. I believe there would be enough business from overnighters, sightseers to the area and snowbirds to keep a good park ticking over. Anyone out there interested? Let us know if you want to put one in; we’ll run it for you! (In my dreams . . .)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have believed for many years that when one door in Life closes, another opens. Actually, I have known this to be true from personal Life experiences. I also know that everything happens for a reason in our lives. These are two concepts I pass along to my Reiki students.

One could easily say these two beliefs are being tested these days. I was notified today that my virtual assistant job is ending due to the project coordinator leaving the company. 

That was just a wee bit of a bolt out of the blue.

So . . . our security work ends October 1, my VA (virtual assistant) job of 2 years is gone (at least for the moment; I’m sure I will be contacted should they have projects in the future) and we’re being forced back to Texas so we can continue to have health insurance coverage.

Must be one heck of a door that’s gonna open, eh?

I had decided not to begin the job search for medical transcription employment until we land in Texas with the reasoning that I want to be available to begin work immediately upon receipt of an offer and to arrange for cable Internet service if needed. I think what I may do is follow the same path for the VA work, too. We have only a bit over a week before we depart this location and then 12 days of travel. I think I’ll take this time to rest, recharge my spiritual and creative batteries and enjoy our trip back to the Lone Star State.

Well, I actually do have an interview for another VA gig tomorrow, a possible opportunity that arose a few weeks ago. We’ll see how that goes. If it’s a match, I will, of course, jump on it.

These two job endings could be seen as setbacks and/or negative happenings and I could be very discouraged.

I am, however, hopeful.

“Really?”

Well, yeah, really, when I get in touch once again with my core beliefs.

I can see – envision – our new direction. I can see me doing medical transcription again, making a decent living and our having a laid-back and pleasant life, perhaps with Dave eventually doing some work for our site/pay somewhere. Yes, an enjoyable life, even in Texas.  (gasp)

I did it before, and my original plan (when contemplating going full-time as a solo back in 2003/2004) was to take my job as an MT on the road. At that time, I was a home-based MT living in Brenham. Sure, I put in a lot of hours at the keyboard, but I paid my bills and had enough left over to attend yoga classes once a week, have an occasional lunch out, keep my hair cut regularly, etc.  My critters never went hungry and neither did I. I also did more than just sit at the keyboard. Much, much more – cycled, camped now and then, did volunteer work, walked, took care of my yard and home, attended drum circles, taught Reiki on weekends, hung out with friends . . . you get the picture.

Why not have all that again? Well, not specifically those things perhaps (although I sure would dig hooking up with a groovy drum circle and I do miss teaching Reiki), but a well-rounded life with a profession I enjoy.

Indeed!

So, no, “Oh man, why is this happening?” but instead, “Wow. This is a whole new beginning!”

I can’t wait to see the reason for all this.

It’s going to be freakin’ awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Plans Are Coming Together

After speaking with the owner of the security company this past week, we know that there is simply no work going forward. We also know we will get a phone call should something become available.

Okay.

When I first spoke with the manager of a possible landing spot (RV park) in Texas, she indicated there would be no long-term availability until mid November. After looking at some possible parks, including that one, Dave and I both decided it would be the one. I spoke with the manager again this week to indicate our interest. She indicated that since our initial visit, a couple of spots would be coming open in October, one of which she thought would be nice for us.  I put down a deposit to hold the spot. Now we have a place to land.

This means that we can head straight to Texas and I can begin looking for work as a medical transcriptionist; this eliminates that awkward month in limbo. We can establish care with local doctors and I can handle health insurance research/enrollment without the added craziness of traveling while doing so.

Alrighty then!

My wee cozy office nook in our RV

Dave removed our dining table this week and brought over the desk, filing cabinet and chair. This arrangement is comfortable and functional for now, although I will still be tweaking it a bit once we are landed in Texas. I like having a side window for natural lighting; there is an LED 12-volt light above my laptop. The filing cabinet, wee desk and chair are freebies from our work site. Score! I am no longer in the office building at night during my shift, but here now. I was somewhat concerned about keeping Dave awake (he sleeps from 10 PM until 2 AM), but he runs the A/C fan in the bedroom and is actually sleeping quite well. He says he doesn’t hear a thing with that overhead fan running. I am really enjoying my cozy work nook.

Yay!

Right now I’m thinking we’ll head south on I95 when we roll out of here on October 1. We can hook up with I10 in Florida and head west to Texas. Neither of us have been in Florida, so at least we can say we spent a night there, eh? I might plan a couple of nights in Florida so Dave can add another “cycled in” state to his list. I have not traveled that southern route of I10 since I was a kid and this would a first time for Dave. It adds another day of travel, but we both agree we would like to see something different instead of retracing our previous routes across Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Been there, done that. More than once this year, actually. I can wait a loooong time before I travel I20 again, thank you very much.

This is indeed the “end of an era” for us and a change in our lifestyle. We are, however, adapting and planning with a hopeful outlook.

Thanks for stopping by!

Changes Coming

Our gig here is a temporary one, and we’ll be rolling out the gate October 1.  We have been working with the security company since 2010, really the entire 5.5 years we have been full-timers. We like everything about the work – the people, the work itself and the income. In view of my body’s “new normal” following my surgeries in 2012, we are thankful for the nature of the work, the conditions, lack of stress, everything about these assignments. We would like nothing better than to have another following this one; however, we are realists and will be pleasantly surprised if that develops. Whatever happens, we are grateful for the time we have had with this company and its owner.

Back in July my Little Voice whispered, “Medical transcription.”  I was a home-based MT for several years with a bit of time before that in the 1980s in-house at a hospital, was good at it and made a decent living when I was on my own. I continued in the profession after Dave and I married in 2006, up until the time we relocated from Minnesota back to Texas.  When I first had the dream of becoming a solo full-timer back in 2003, I planned to take that job with me on the road. Dave and I talked about my getting back into it. It will give us a source of income that will allow us to be independent and one that we can take with us when the time comes that we want to hang up the keys and come off the road. (We talk about returning to northern Minnesota at some point in the future, but not living in our RV.) Even if we happen to get another security gig, I can do the MT work part-time, as I am currently with my virtual assistant job. I reactivated my professional organization membership and am making my way through an acute care (hospital dictation) self-paced online course through the continuing education branch of that organization to refresh my skills. I always enjoyed being an MT. I find it fascinating. It’s fun! I’m quite pleased that the “lingo” is returning easier than anticipated. Apparently MT work imprints repressed memories. Teehee!

Ergonomics are essential in MT work. Dave added on a keyboard shelf to my wee workstation. The black ergonomic keyboard sits on the shelf; it’s just off in the photo to show the extension. My new work area will go in the rig where our dining table currently sits. Maybe that will happen this week?

I can do the job, but the trick will be finding the desired opportunity. I have been away from the profession for a few years and its nature has changed somewhat; however, I have solid experience in acute care (which is a higher level of technical expertise). I also performed QA and mentored new MTs in my final position. These are all factors in my favor.

Turns out my Little Voice was prophetic yet once again, as Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas recently announced it will not offer individual PPO health insurance plans in 2016. Only HMO plans will be available. Since BCBSTX is the only carrier available in our zip code (Livingston / Escapees), we are once again losing good (although significantly inferior to the insurance we had prior to the enactment of the ACA) insurance. Our PPO covers us out of Texas. The HMO will not. BCBSTX currently has an add-on option called Away from Home Care; however, under one HMO network it covers emergencies only for a period of less than 90 days out of Texas and provides no coverage at all under the other HMO network.

Well.  #*()#& <--- insert your favorite expletive deleted. I once worked for a minor league baseball club, so I have several choice ones in case you need suggestions.

I have avoided HMOs my entire life and am now forced into one. Okay. I’m not going down the road of talking about this. I fought the good fight when the ACA was coming with letters, emails and phone conversations with my legislators, all to no avail. The things I predicted with the ACA are coming to pass. At this point, I am simply focusing on survival for us.

Even Warriors get tired.

So.

More information will be available from BCBSTX in October (supposedly), so we’ll know more (hopefully) and can make definitive plans at that time.  Plans set in Jell-O, of course.

Everything is happening in October.

That in itself is a source of stress these days. We roll out of here October 1. We originally planned on landing somewhere in The South (probably GA or AL) for the winter, hopefully with Dave working for our site and my getting into MT work. That idea is history. We won’t know anything about health insurance until October or November. Somewhere in that time frame I need to start applying for MT positions.

Right now the probability is that we will be returning to Texas for the long term. I have been researching the availability of healthcare services in different areas based on current available information, the towns and areas in general and different options regarding long-term RV sites.

Again I say, “So.”

Timing will be the tricky part, and we are still grappling with that. Head straight to Texas? Sit elsewhere for the winter months? Don’t really want to start a new MT job and then have to take a break to travel. Same thing goes for Dave landing a workamping gig. Oh well. I have to trust The Universe that all will work out as it should.

The ideal scenario would be another security assignment in Texas and I could work part-time as an MT, setting us up for the long term and our dream of eventual return to Minnesota.

If that does not develop, what I envision is making a sustainable living as an MT, our home set up in a comfortable park, Dave finding activities to keep him occupied and fulfilled, perhaps even hanging out my virtual “open for business” sign to The Universe and teaching Reiki again, being able to move with the seasons within Texas (i.e., down to the beach for winter) or maybe even a bit into Arkansas where it might be a tad cooler during the heat of the summer months and . . . well, simply comfortably enjoying ourselves.

It has the potential to be a totally groovy existence!

In Other News

We have started playing chess again on the weekends.  Yay us!

The ants are still with us and will be until we leave here. It’s just a fact of life at this location. I have felt better about our intruders after seeing this news article about seed bugs in California. One woman says in the article the only light she has on in her home at night is the television. Yikes!

Dave was run off the road today when he was cycling. Thank goodness he is a very proficient and talented cyclist. He managed to stay upright as he went off the road into a ditch to avoid being struck by a car. A woman out in her yard called over to make sure he was okay.

I’ve been listening to quite a bit of Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson and others on Pandroa lately when I work at night. I remember my parents playing a record of El Paso by Marty Robbins. What I never realized until recently is he has another song about that cowboy’s love Faleena. Crazy. Me? Listening to that? Yeah. Well . . .

If you’ve made it this far, all I can say is I do appreciate you taking the time to read what’s going on. Lots happening, eh?

Thanks so much for stopping by!