This photo was taken on the Caribbean Cruise I went on in January. It was the E.O.Y trip from work and we were treated like royalty both by our company and by the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.
I work for a Home Improvement Company (Kitchen Cabinet Refacing) this was at the karaoke bar, we called ourselves the countertops.
So many lifetime memories were made on that trip.
*** Coy ***
¶ 8:27 PM 5 comments
March 27, 2004
Hey, I see that quite a few people are stopping by, and no one leaving a comment. I know that this is not the most exciting page on the web, but leave an " I just stopped by to say hi message " to let me know you were here.
Oh yea, please read older entries, even though I have only been journaling for less than a week, I have added so many entries and no one has read them yet. I'm sure I'll pace myself, I just have a lot to say right now.
Thanks, Coy
¶ 5:01 PM 6 comments
March 26, 2004
They're changing companies to handle our 401K plan at work, I hate change. They have someone comming next week to get us settled in. I'm betting that what ever company they are choosing won't carry our company stock. We don't get stock options in any other way, we have been fighting to keep stock in our own company with our 401k.
Saving for retirement is pretty mind boggling even though it's 20+ years away. I would immagine no matter how much I save it's never really going to be enough. If I plan to live an additional 30 years after retirement then they say that I can only withdraw 3% of my savings per year.
The statements I get from Social Security say that if I continue earning the same amount I am earning now I'll only get about 900.00 per month from them and that's if they are still around by then. With inflation and taxes figured in I will have to have an enormous amount of money saved up in order just to get by on the national poverty level.
I would hope that social security will only be a small percentage of my retirement income so chances are good that I will have to work until I am really old unless I find some way to save very aggressivly over the next 20 something years.
I don't think about these things very often at 41. Guess it's just on my mind a lot right now because we are going to be going through these changes next week.
I think people like me with only a 401k, as a rule are pretty passive regarding their investments. I do know that allocations should be split 40% bonds, 60% stocks and should be adjusted accordingly each year to ensure buying low and selling high, but I do not always take care of that like I should.
I do have a goal of increasing to saving 17% of my income in 401k and I do increase some each year with my annual salery increase. I still have a ways to go before I reach that goal.
I am also a little slow jumping in to open a Roth IRA that I keep telling myself I will open. I know that they are not tax deductable or tax deffered. I would be investing after taxed dollars. I am pretty sure that I would qualify to open a Roth and that my money would compound tax free for as long as it remained in the account with the added bonus of neither the money or the gains being taxed upon withdraw unlike the 401k where both are taxed. 401k's could also possibly inflate your income so much that you end up paying higher taxes on social securitie benifits but I guess that would be for someone with a lot more income that I could possibly hope to generate between now and then.
Grrr ... I do hate change and I do hate thinking about this kind of stuff.
*** Coy ***
¶ 4:59 PM 2 comments
Ok today is Saturday, my only day off. I was happy to run across this opportunity to journal on line. I have a lot of questions about AOL journaling and it looks like it's going to take up a lot of my day off trying to get it figured out.
I tried to IM an entry that didn't work, I tried reading other peoples journals and found one I liked and never figured out how to get back to it. I haven't added all about me yet, I guess I can figure out the linking process when I find something I want to link to. How am I going to figure out how to use a RSS and which one should I use?
I have seen journals with large photos and multimedia added to them, I want to get that figured out today too.
Oh well it wasn't going to be a nice beach day anyway. Much to windy and undertows are way to strong. So, just me and AOL Journals today.
It's 12:51 and I found that journal that was looking for, " Slow Motion Life " figured out how to add it to my favorite journals and figured out that I do not really have to have an RSS today.
"Slow Motion Life "has such an awesome journal I want mine to look awesome too so ... I still have a lot of Saturday left.
*** Coy *** ¶ 7:49 PM 1 comments
March 26, 2004
I spent about 3 hours studying at the FAU Library at Barnes and Noble after work today. It is one of my favorite places to learn something new. Right now I am pouring over Dream Weaver and Photo shop 7.0 manuals. It helps me to get away from the computer when I am trying to learn something like that.
For years I've been going in and curling up in one of their big cozy oversized chairs with a stack of books, it's so easy to loose all track of time when I do that. Lately, I've been doing most of my reading in the FAU reading room instead.
FAU and PBCC are right across the street so the kids come in to study. It is always filled with interesting people having the most interesting conversations in a very quiet atmosphere, not like the conversations you would overhear say, in a bar.
Besides the beach, the gym, sitting at my computer or hanging out with Mandy, the book store is one of my all time favorite places to waste some time.
*** Coy ***
¶ 6:50 PM 1 comments
March 26, 2004
Morning traffic has been good this week because the kids are out of school. Speaking of "Spring Break", my niece Brittney (18) and many of her friends have taken the campers and all of the equipment to the Keys for the week. They have been going all of these years for Spring Break and this year decided to go by themselves.
They didn't get to take the boats and jet skis this time, guess they have to prove themselves first. Theresa, (my sister) and Pete did go down for one day with the boat. Good thing they did because it seems a few of the kids got a little rowdy and ended up getting kicked out of the park. So ... she spent her whole day in the Keys helping the kids pack up and move to another campground. I'm not sure that's the decision I would have made but that's what happened.
It's just as well that Mandy has no Spring Break from Beauty School. It would have been a fun experience to go to the Key's with the kids, but I would have been pretty upset with her for getting kicked out.
*** Coy ***
¶ 5:21 PM 1 comments
3/25/04
<-I'm thinking about you at 16.
My son Joey called today, he's 20 years old and lives in Louisiana. He went to the dentist today and they are going to have to do a tooth extraction, the dentist wants to charge him $350 to extract the tooth, guess it has to be surgically removed.
That didn't sound right to me so I called Louisiana and found another dentist that is only going to charge $150. I knew exactly which dentist he went to when I heard how much he was going to charge.
A tooth extraction at 20 does not sound good. He's no longer under my insurance and I'm sure that like most kids health insurance and dental insurance seems about as important as starting a 401K plan. I worry about my son, it's not easy with him being so far away. I hope he takes good care of his teeth they have to last a long, long time.
*** Coy ***
¶ 2:54 AM 3 comments
3/25/04
This is my daughter Mandy. She's 17 years old, in beauty school and is one of the people that I love most in the world.
What's best for Mandy is normally what is most important to me and that makes my job really hard. I'm so proud of her and watching as she grows into a strong independent young woman is big pay off after all the effort I've put in over the years.
Of course like most kids at 17 she has her own agenda and often needs to be reminded to stay on track. Learning to let go and relinquish control, isn't going to be easy. Trusting that as she spreads her wings she'll be able to make the right decisions for herself is something I'm going to have to work on.
I am sure that most mothers struggle with this as their kids become teenagers and then young adults.
I love Mandy and feel that to be a better mother to her I need to shift some of my focus off of her and begin to focus more on myself and becoming a better me. That's where I'm at in my life right now, and ... I'm beginning to realize, the journey might not be as easy as it sounds.
I love these seagull pictures they were taken this past New Year's Day on Hillsboro Beach near where we live. We often spend New Year's Day together at the beach and I hope we always will. Have I ever mentioned how much I love living in South Florida?
*** Coy ***
¶ 3:02 PM 5 comments
Those of us holding out in J-Land to see what AOL was going to do about the banner ads, finally have an answer. Bill Schreiner, VP for AOL community programing addresses the situation in Joe's Magic Smoke Journal.
In short he says that the banner ads are staying and that they're sorry if putting the ads in our journals that we pay for, changes the way some of us feel about AOL. He also says that those of us that have chosen to move on will always be welcome in J-Land ... " J-Land" !!!
He says we will always be welcome in J-Land like he coined the phrase or something.
This community VP that we've never even heard of before has no idea that the members of this community that are upset and moving on (ARE J-LAND).
As I recall, it was Slo Mo in correspondence with Free Peace that came up with the name J-Land as a term of endearment towards the close knit members of this community that we have formed here. This has "NOTHING" to do with AOL.
I suggested to Mr. Schreiner that he get permission from Slo Mo before he begins shaking hands, kissing babies and calling himself the VP of the J-Land Community.
We have demonstrated time and time again that we the people ... the writers, the poets, the artists, the photographers, the online as well as real life friends found here, are J-Land. NOT THE CORPORATE OUT TO MAKE A BUCK ANY WAY WE CAN OVERLORDS OF AOL. The Vivi awards are a perfect example of this.
AOL has left me no choice but to reserve myself a Blogspot and move out into cyberspace with the rest of my J-Land friends. I don't know how everyone else feels about it, but I'm thinking that no matter where we end up journaling, it will be J-Land to me as long as we all stick together. AOL overlords will never have anything to do with that.
Now, about Blogspot ... I did reserve a Blogspot for Dancing in the Rain about a week or so ago. I've got a little time on my hands this month and would like to move all of my archives there before I fully move in and start posting daily.
I'm already having problems. When I view my blog, I'm only seeing the first entry that I posted. The others are there ... I just don't see them. Anyone have any advice on getting started with blogger without getting frustrated?
Of course my choice for J-Link du jour is called a message from above, it's the one written by "Our Community VP???" over in the "Official AOL Journals Blog???" Magic Smoke, found HERE.
¶ 5:58 PM 4 comments
So often I direct most of my time and energy to taking care of what's best for the people that I love the most. It can become all consuming and sometimes I forget to take care of what’s most important me.
I want my daily rounds to become more motivated to making necessary choices that will bring more health, joy, love, creativity, passion and contentment to my own life.
Today my journey changes direction as I begin to reclaim my life. I'll be searching for the knowledge and determination to make the crucial changes that will allow me to become the best me that I can be.
This reminds me of a song that Chris, (one of the closest friends that I've ever had) wrote over 25 years ago. The song is called "Just like a Light House." The lyrics included a part that said ... “I’m just like a light house on a stormy sea, if your boat gets lost you can depend on me. When it's cold as the rain and it’s black as the night, look for me and I am always in sight. But all I want to know is who, who looks out for me when I'm looking out for you?”
The truth is ... no one. No one looks out for me. I have spent so much time looking out for everyone else, when I should have spent more time looking out for me.
The journey begins.
*** Coy *** ¶ 5:51 AM 1 comments
In search of me
I am 41 years old, a single mother in South Florida, and have fewer responsibilities to others than I ever have in my life. My life is finally becomming my own and sometimes I dont take full advantage of that freedom.
I am in search of me. I am learning that every day I am given the opportunity to reinvent my self and the sky is the limit.
Finding adventure and pleasure is becomming a driving force in my life. Creative liberties for my future are compleatly in my hands. No one is going to pave the way for me.
I do have to remind my self sometimes to let love in, I forget that love like life is not a constant state of being. It is made up of ordinary moments and incredible moments. Being loveable is the first step to being able to love.
When I care enough to listen to a friends thoughts, truths and new ideas they will often care enough to listen back and then I feel loved and less alone.
I can remember the day that I wrote this ... at that time, I had no idea what an adventure writing Dancing in the Rain would become and how many friends I would find along the way. Most of them have moved to blogspot and I'm following them here. ¶ 7:30 PM 4 comments
