New house, new job, same crazy schedule

Well hello there! Let me get you current. We got the house I mentioned last time, and we got it for an even better deal. I can't help but think the hand of God was on this one. I locked my mortgage at the absolute lowest rate available (4.875%, can you believe that?) and then this crazy wrinkle with the appraisal happened. The house listed at 187.5K and we offered 195 with the seller paying 5000 in closing costs (so the actualy price is really 190). That was a payment we could afford, and still 5K less than we were budgeting for. So far so good. We did the inspection, and given that the house was bank-owned it's in great shape (probably better than the one we just sold). Still looking great. Then the appraisal came back at only 180. What? I thought I was getting a good deal, not screwed. Well, you can't get a loan for more than the value of the house, so 195 is now out of the picture. It turns out there was a short sale in the neighborhood for 175, a very comparable house, and the most recent and overpowering comparable the appraiser had to look at. So all he or she could stretch it to was 180. OK, so we went back to the seller and told them the situation. If they wanted to sell to us, it had to be at 180, not 195, or we wouldn't be able to get a loan. And the thing is, no one else would be able to either. They'd have to wait for that short sale to get ouside the six month window that appraisers use and then cross their fingers that the market went up or another comparable sold for more and who knows? Well, they took the sure deal, so we ended up offering high and getting it low. How's that for a deal? And the loan approval went through with no problems. I closed Thursday and we moved in Saturday. Already, Jaime (my wife, if you don't know her) has the house half unpacked. We put in new, stainless steel appliances and a laminate hardwood imitation floor in the dining room and I'm starting to love the house. There's less closet space, but the master bedroom is bigger and the laundry room is on the top floor, which should be very nice. The picture for this entry is our kitchen, pre-appliances. It's the best I have at hand (sorry).

So yesterday I started my new job. It's nothing too exciting; I just moved from one casino to the other. The thing is, business had gotten very slow at the Lodge. In fact, it was so slow that they were cutting schedules like crazy. I, and everyone hired after me, had been sent back to our sister property, the Gilpin. The money isn't in the same category over there. They pool tips which means nobody's working for their own money and the tips in general go down, both in frequency and amount. There was no way I could work there for very long and expect to make my bills. Even if I'd stayed at the Lodge, though, business was so far down that I wouldn't make my bills that way, either. So I bailed. I got hired by Ameristar, the company I used to hate, the looming, 32-story hotel tower that casts a shadow on the whole town (not literally; it's on the northern side of town so it casts its physical shadow on a mountain). I can't say a whole lot about it because I don't fully understand the company's policy on communication via blog about your job, but I like it so far. I made as much last night as I did in my entire week at the Gilpin (I only did one week there before I got out), and if I make that much again tonight my bills are met for the week. They're on the gravy train there right now, which is a place I've been before (last summer and fall at the Lodge), so I'm going to ride that while it lasts. I'm not going to sleep a lot, since they're working everybody 40+ hours per week, but if I can get some solid savings established from here to the end of the year, I think it's worth it. I think.

Side note: How bad does it suck to be a Cleveland sports fan? It's like their sports teams only look at recently fired coaches and managers to fill their vacant positions. I guess you have to get them from somewhere, but isn't there a reason these other teams fired them? Well, at least they have LeBron. And the Big Aristotle. And the Rock'n'Roll hall of fame. And.... Lake Erie?

My final grades in Science Foundations I and Drug Information turned out to be B+ and A-, respectively. I'll take it. Now I get a fresh start on Science Foundations II, which is mostly biochemistry, and I am killing it. No points missed so far, although we haven't had many. We just took our first test and I feel good about it. I may have missed a point or two, but I feel solidly in the A range. The other new course, taking the place of Drug Information, is Public Health and Economics. That should be easy but boring.

I think I'll stop here for now. Thanks for stopping by, and come back soon.

Well this all blew up in a hurry

A lot has happened since I last posted.

We got a house. It's in Thornton, which is closer to several of our friends and also (a little) closer to school for me. It's also not much further from work. It's a great balance, and it's a lot smaller payment than we used to have. That was the entire object of this move, after all. We're getting a nice house of the same size in a good neighborhood for something like $70,000 less than we sold the old one for. And if the real estate market turns around like everyone says it will, that house will go way up in value. So that's all good news.

Now the loan approval is tricky. In the last month we've seen business levels at work drop from near-record highs (largely due to the novelty of 24-hour gaming and higher bet limits) to all-time record lows. My paychecks are half of what they used to be, and still going down. I believe we'll recover, and if we don't I'll find a different job to get the bills paid, but the loan underwriters may not agree with me. So at this point I feel like I'm holding my breath and hoping. I should find out at some point this week, which is good, since we have to be out of our house by the 26th. (If you live in Denver and want to help me move, that'll be the morning of the 24th.)

Yesterday I took the last exam in Science Foundations I. That class is done. I will pass it, although not with an A. That's OK. Your GPA doesn't show up on your pharmacy license. I'm thinking I'll probably have a B in the course. It feels good to have finished something already. That was quick, wasn't it? Tomorrow is the final exam for Principles of Drug Information. I've already earned a C in that class (if I skip the final) so no worries there. The potential sad news is that we could lose people from our class this week. Actually, I think they let you finish the semester first, but you can't continue in the curriculum if you have one F or two Ds, or a GPA below 2.0. So anyone who fails one of those classes, or gets a D in each of them, it's no more pharmacy school for that student. I don't want to see my class shrink. We've already dropped from 161 to 158 students (I don't really know what happened to those three, but they were gone after the first week - probably accepted somewhere else or realized that pharmacy school wasn't the way for them) and I know we'll lose some more along the way, but it still breaks my heart to see someone put in that much work (and tuition money!) just to fail out.

The ethics committee met for the first time last week. I can't discuss anything that was said in the meeting, but it looks like it's going to be a busy year for us. I dig it.

How about those Bears? That week 1 loss was a little bit of a fluke there, but JAY CUTLER is lighting it up. Now imagine what he could do if he had some real receivers! Maybe the Bears can sign Brandon Marshall in the off season, or trade for Calvin Johnson.

It was cool to see the Rockies make the playoffs. It was heartbreaking to see No-clutch Troy Tulowitzki make the last out of two home games with runners on first and second. But the Rockies are for real, and everyone important is under contract, and if ownership forks over a little bit of money in the off-season, the Rockies will contend for the National League West next year. We can talk about the Cubs later. I like to stick with a winner.

And thankfully, basketball season is soon upon us. I'm sure the Nuggeys will be a frequent topic for me in the near future. Plus, I'd like to see more of those cool NBA ads on my blog. They look more professional than the little text ads that pop up normally.

We've been calling this week "hell week." We had two tests (Science Foundations I, Law) yesterday, one tomorrow (Drug Info), and one Thursday (Professional Skills Development). My case gets especially fun because I had a training class (Advanced Customer Service) at work yesterday and I get to go in to pick my new, less money-making schedule this afternoon. So that's two of my days off that I go up to Black Hawk for instead. I'm going to make a total of nearly 22 dollars for those two days. That will at least cover my gas for the trip. I'll have to make sure I stop off at the Golden Gates casino to enter their football pick-ems contest. It pays $250 to the weekly winner, and I was close two weeks ago (13-1, but three people were 14-0).

I don't really want to overload you any more at this point. I'll try to get a picture of the new house up and talk a bit more about it next time. Thanks for reading, and come back soon.