Today is the first day this summer that it has actually been cool in the morning, even though it's only half over and I'm sure we'll see more hot days. But it's just so refreshing to finally have a cool morning and I'm hoping it will last even a few days. It wasn't so much cool in Chino as it was in Corona and where I work in Rancho Santa Margarita. And it didn't come with that ugly humid feeling that summer brings, it was actually COOL. So yes, I enjoyed it!
Other than that I've just been working away here at the signshop. I've been working OT just about every day cause we're getting busier, at least until we hire another person, which we've been trying to do but having a hard time because either they stayed at their job or found another job or just didn't call back, so we might have to interview people all over again. But we definitely need to hire another designer/production person in order to become more profitable here. So we'll see, hopefully it won't be too long.
Believe it or not, I've actually been writing music again. I used to write alot when I was younger and decided to pick it up again. Not sure exactly where that will go but I just ask the Lord to guide all that and hopefully someone will be blessed by it now or down the road. =)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Valuable Information
So, I finally, finally made an appt with a real estate broker to get an idea what I should be aiming for and how I can start planning to eventually afford a place of my own, preferably a condo or townhome. A house might be too much, and I'm done with living in apts! lol He's someone I aleady knew through my job. He has ordered some various signs through us, and I've been to his new office aleady, so I thought he was perfect to talk to. He's very easy to talk to and very friendly, and he was more than helpful in explaining and revealing some things to me. Although I still don't grasp all the info he relayed to me, what I DID understand gave me great hope in possibly getting something in the very near future.
One thing I did not know, that is pretty amazing, is that, for instance, let's say I want to buy a condo, and it will cost me roughly $1200 to $1500 a month. In the beginning, I'll be paying more interest than principal on the loan. That, I understood. I may not get the terms right here, but from what I understand, there are two benefits that can work for me at this point, that go hand in hand. In the early stages of paying my premium, I can call the payroll company that writes my check, and ask them, in this instance, how many exemptions I need to claim in order to 'offset' the $12,000 a year I'll be paying, mostly in interest. By their own calculation they can find that number for me. Yes, this is legal. What will happen is, by increasing my exemptions, this will, of course, increase my income to pay my premiums, and the best part is, at tax time, I can write all the interest off! Okay, is that amazing or what! lol The additional income I gain to pay for a condo, I can also write off (if that's the right word) when tax time if here. I never knew that, and I am glad I know that now cause it gives me greater hope and was pretty astonishing when I heard this.
What I don't necessarily understand however is, if I can aleady afford payments like that, and I can write that interest off already, what reason would I need to increase my exemptions, unless I just want a whole lot of money left over? I mean, that would be nice of course, but, I think I need to go over this again to get a better understanding so it's more clear to me. Nevertheless, I gained some valuable info on getting prepared for this (how long has it taken me?! lol) and hope to have a good plan of action going and working for me, and yes I pray, pray that the Lord will just guide me, help me to be disciplined and help that day to become a reality when I finally have my own place. =)
One thing I did not know, that is pretty amazing, is that, for instance, let's say I want to buy a condo, and it will cost me roughly $1200 to $1500 a month. In the beginning, I'll be paying more interest than principal on the loan. That, I understood. I may not get the terms right here, but from what I understand, there are two benefits that can work for me at this point, that go hand in hand. In the early stages of paying my premium, I can call the payroll company that writes my check, and ask them, in this instance, how many exemptions I need to claim in order to 'offset' the $12,000 a year I'll be paying, mostly in interest. By their own calculation they can find that number for me. Yes, this is legal. What will happen is, by increasing my exemptions, this will, of course, increase my income to pay my premiums, and the best part is, at tax time, I can write all the interest off! Okay, is that amazing or what! lol The additional income I gain to pay for a condo, I can also write off (if that's the right word) when tax time if here. I never knew that, and I am glad I know that now cause it gives me greater hope and was pretty astonishing when I heard this.
What I don't necessarily understand however is, if I can aleady afford payments like that, and I can write that interest off already, what reason would I need to increase my exemptions, unless I just want a whole lot of money left over? I mean, that would be nice of course, but, I think I need to go over this again to get a better understanding so it's more clear to me. Nevertheless, I gained some valuable info on getting prepared for this (how long has it taken me?! lol) and hope to have a good plan of action going and working for me, and yes I pray, pray that the Lord will just guide me, help me to be disciplined and help that day to become a reality when I finally have my own place. =)
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
My boss's quirks
Phone ringing.
"Hello, (Signcompany), this is Bob speaking,
how can I help you?"
"Okay...the uh...which direction...the uh...are
you coming from? Okay...the uh...you want to take...the uh...
242 north and...the uh...exit santa juan, okay?
Okay...the uh...see you soon!"
It's not just 'uh'...it's 'the uh'! lol
I just don't understand how someone can start a
conversation with "Hello, the uh.."
The uh? hehe Eh, at least it makes me laugh instead
of being really irritating. =)
"Hello, (Signcompany), this is Bob speaking,
how can I help you?"
"Okay...the uh...which direction...the uh...are
you coming from? Okay...the uh...you want to take...the uh...
242 north and...the uh...exit santa juan, okay?
Okay...the uh...see you soon!"
It's not just 'uh'...it's 'the uh'! lol
I just don't understand how someone can start a
conversation with "Hello, the uh.."
The uh? hehe Eh, at least it makes me laugh instead
of being really irritating. =)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Too Much To Tell...
Today is one of the first Saturdays I’ve had off in a long time since I started working at Pizza Hut Part-Time at nights. My manager called this morning and asked me if I’d like to take today off, so I told him ‘yes’ so I can take a break from driving down there as well and save some gas! In fact, I might start working there only once a week now because at SignsNow my boss needs more help, since it’s only the two of us working now. There’s not enough work at this point to have more than us working right now. In the near future, however, if the workload picks up, then we’ll go ahead and hire another designer. So from this week on, I’ll be working mainly at SignsNow again and one day at the Hut, which actually takes a load off of me, cause I was closing Tues – Saturday and I would hardly get any sleep at night during the week, which was bad, I know. So this helps mucho! And praise God, my boss even offered to give me a raise to compensate for the extra money I’m making at the Hut! That was so awesome that he even offered to do that for me, so praise the Lord for giving me such a generous boss! Well, hopefully things will pick up there so I won’t have to move on anywhere else, at least for awhile.
I really started working PT mainly to pay off all my medical and credit card debt, and it’s getting paid slowly but surely. It just seems like forever right now. lol And yes, the drive can take it’s toll on me in several ways: more gas, toll road fees, and just being on the road a lot driving to and fro. But my goal is to eventually make my move down in that area someday soon so the drive isn’t too far. And if in fact my boss ends up closing the store, most likely I’ll be looking for a job down in that area again, because for one, I’ll still be working that the Hut, so I’ll have a little income coming in for a bit. But honestly, I just like it down there, where it’s a bit cooler.
Other than working, I haven’t had a lot of time to do much else, but now I will have time again to work on some personal designs again and get more involved in ministry as before. I miss having that fellowship with the body, and I can feel that that’s been missing in my life. I’ve been thinking of some new concepts lately for shirts and another project I might start (sort of a series of digital paintings that I thought about even marketing), but the Lord will reveal whether or not they will be worth investing into. I found that there are times when I think of some great idea, and either it will just be ‘chaff in the wind’ or it will indeed come to pass and bless others. So when that happens, I lift it up in prayer and just ask the Lord to guide it and reveal whether it’s a great idea to pursue. And even if it blesses just even a few people, I think it’s all worth it! Cause maybe just those few needed to be blessed or touched in some way by the gift He’s given me, so who am I to judge whether I really did anything with a certain idea or project. I might start some project and get a few shirts printed or what not and feel like I didn’t have much impact, but behind the scenes I might have touched lives in an incredible way or made it possible for others to be a witness with those designs, so I just trust that the Lord is doing the work through me, whether big or small, and I don’t worry about it.
I remember one day I was selling my shirts at the swap meet in Chino, and the whole day I didn’t sell one thing! And it was hot that day and almost kind of miserable sitting there. And I remember being sooo bummed by the fact that I didn’t have any customers that day, just a few passerbys looking and going their way. But now that I look back, just because I didn’t sell a thing, doesn’t mean I didn’t have any impact at all. Was it a failure because I didn’t sell anything? It was in most people’s eyes I suppose. But as a believer, how do I know if I didn’t have any impact in someone’s life, someone who was the messages, someone who was searching for truth, someone who was down and found hope in the message on the shirts, someone who was inspired by the designs, someone who’s spirit was lifted up when we gave them a smile. I mean seriously, I could have impacted more lives than I could ever know, and the Lord could have had me there on that specific day to make a different impact in people’s lives – a spiritual, meaningful impact, which really is more impactful than making a few dollars. Where’s my heart? Am I more concerned with making an investment through my shirts, or making an investment in someone’s spiritual life? Sure I want Onoma to succeed so I can impact more people in more places, but I also know that my heart needs to be in the right place as well, cause when it is, I’ll become more excited about sharing the gospel and investing in someone’s personal life, than I will making a few dollars and counting my money at home. If it’s God’s will to be there, He will put me there and He will make the business flourish…but in His way. Cause as His Word says: “My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than yours.” If that’s true, then I just need to trust in Him when he does it His way, and not mine, cause His ways are better than mine, and hopefully I will find out what I temporarily don’t understand on that Day when I’m with Him.
Anyhow, so tonite I finally found some time to sit down and write and reflect on all these things. Right now I’m just sitting by the fountain in the courtyard of my church with my laptop here. It’s actually really nice at this moment, nice and cool. It’s going to get dark in about 10 minutes or so, so I’ll end it here. Tomorrow I’ll probably take Isaiah to go see Wall*e. Him and me have been waiting for it to come out and go see it! This is one of those movies that would be nice to see on the big screen, with all the special effects and all. Sometimes I’ll just wait for other movies to come out on video, more of the dramas and such that really don’t have much impact whether at the movies or at home, not that way anyways, but more of a nice story that would be nicer to see at home where I can relax better…and eat for free! lol =)
I really started working PT mainly to pay off all my medical and credit card debt, and it’s getting paid slowly but surely. It just seems like forever right now. lol And yes, the drive can take it’s toll on me in several ways: more gas, toll road fees, and just being on the road a lot driving to and fro. But my goal is to eventually make my move down in that area someday soon so the drive isn’t too far. And if in fact my boss ends up closing the store, most likely I’ll be looking for a job down in that area again, because for one, I’ll still be working that the Hut, so I’ll have a little income coming in for a bit. But honestly, I just like it down there, where it’s a bit cooler.
Other than working, I haven’t had a lot of time to do much else, but now I will have time again to work on some personal designs again and get more involved in ministry as before. I miss having that fellowship with the body, and I can feel that that’s been missing in my life. I’ve been thinking of some new concepts lately for shirts and another project I might start (sort of a series of digital paintings that I thought about even marketing), but the Lord will reveal whether or not they will be worth investing into. I found that there are times when I think of some great idea, and either it will just be ‘chaff in the wind’ or it will indeed come to pass and bless others. So when that happens, I lift it up in prayer and just ask the Lord to guide it and reveal whether it’s a great idea to pursue. And even if it blesses just even a few people, I think it’s all worth it! Cause maybe just those few needed to be blessed or touched in some way by the gift He’s given me, so who am I to judge whether I really did anything with a certain idea or project. I might start some project and get a few shirts printed or what not and feel like I didn’t have much impact, but behind the scenes I might have touched lives in an incredible way or made it possible for others to be a witness with those designs, so I just trust that the Lord is doing the work through me, whether big or small, and I don’t worry about it.
I remember one day I was selling my shirts at the swap meet in Chino, and the whole day I didn’t sell one thing! And it was hot that day and almost kind of miserable sitting there. And I remember being sooo bummed by the fact that I didn’t have any customers that day, just a few passerbys looking and going their way. But now that I look back, just because I didn’t sell a thing, doesn’t mean I didn’t have any impact at all. Was it a failure because I didn’t sell anything? It was in most people’s eyes I suppose. But as a believer, how do I know if I didn’t have any impact in someone’s life, someone who was the messages, someone who was searching for truth, someone who was down and found hope in the message on the shirts, someone who was inspired by the designs, someone who’s spirit was lifted up when we gave them a smile. I mean seriously, I could have impacted more lives than I could ever know, and the Lord could have had me there on that specific day to make a different impact in people’s lives – a spiritual, meaningful impact, which really is more impactful than making a few dollars. Where’s my heart? Am I more concerned with making an investment through my shirts, or making an investment in someone’s spiritual life? Sure I want Onoma to succeed so I can impact more people in more places, but I also know that my heart needs to be in the right place as well, cause when it is, I’ll become more excited about sharing the gospel and investing in someone’s personal life, than I will making a few dollars and counting my money at home. If it’s God’s will to be there, He will put me there and He will make the business flourish…but in His way. Cause as His Word says: “My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than yours.” If that’s true, then I just need to trust in Him when he does it His way, and not mine, cause His ways are better than mine, and hopefully I will find out what I temporarily don’t understand on that Day when I’m with Him.
Anyhow, so tonite I finally found some time to sit down and write and reflect on all these things. Right now I’m just sitting by the fountain in the courtyard of my church with my laptop here. It’s actually really nice at this moment, nice and cool. It’s going to get dark in about 10 minutes or so, so I’ll end it here. Tomorrow I’ll probably take Isaiah to go see Wall*e. Him and me have been waiting for it to come out and go see it! This is one of those movies that would be nice to see on the big screen, with all the special effects and all. Sometimes I’ll just wait for other movies to come out on video, more of the dramas and such that really don’t have much impact whether at the movies or at home, not that way anyways, but more of a nice story that would be nicer to see at home where I can relax better…and eat for free! lol =)
Monday, January 21, 2008
One moment at a time...literally
Well, 2007 was an interesting year. I was off work for almost half the year because of both my dislocated elbow and eye surgery. Yes, I admit having that time off was nice at times, but miserable at others as well. My eye is healing very well and I won't see the Dr. for another 6 weeks. But here I am, back to work and actually doing just fine and thank God for that and getting me through it all. You know, the more trials I go through in life, the more my confidence grows in knowing that everything is going to be okay, that God is going to get me through it. He always has, and He always will, I just know it. There's been times in life when I've had NO money at all, whether I lost my job or just came up really short, and yet the Lord has a way of getting me through. In the midst of it, yeah I'm freaking out! lol But I look back and realize that He knew it was coming and was ready to provide for me and for me to learn something in the process. He's awesome! Only by His wonderful grace do I even deserve that kind of treatment.
So, my boss went to an all-day seminar today so it's just us three. (His wife is actually asleep right now in our little break area. lol) Yeah, not too much happening here right now. My other coworker is out to lunch. He usually goes running or exercises during lunch. Not a bad idear. I usually take a walk around this lake nearby, which is nice when I'm sitting down all day, but it's not always like that. We have a few little jobs this week but not too much yet. We've been discussing ways of getting more business in lately. Sometimes I almost feel guilty (not that I sit there in shame or anything) that I'm even getting paid what I get paid when the owner isn't profiting as of yet or even breaking even. But, that IS the risk you take when opening a new business, and it would be awefully hard to get to that point without a designer such as myself in the picture so, we're just crossing our fingers. lol No we're working hard to get business and I myself am praying that we'll get more work in. Hopefully it will all come together this year.
Speaking of crossing your fingers, did you ever stop to think how silly that sounds? When someone says 'I'll cross my fingers', what exactly does that mean? Like crossing fingers brings some kind of mystical, magical spirit of favor or help. I mean, have you ever said 'Guess what! I got the job! Thanks sooo much for crossing your fingers for me!' lol I'd rather hear someone say 'good luck' than tell me they're crossing their fingers for me. Anyways, I could go on and on about how silly and absurd that is. Perhaps it's superstition, but I think I'll do a little research on that term and post it later.
As a side note, we went to Vince's Spaghetti on Sunday for lunch to celebrate my brother's and his girlfriend's birthday. It was nice, only about six of us, just family. And it was pretty good too. In fact, I ate so much for lunch that I wasn't hungry for dinner that night! lol And I wasn't even that full either. I guess spaghetti does that. =)
So, my boss went to an all-day seminar today so it's just us three. (His wife is actually asleep right now in our little break area. lol) Yeah, not too much happening here right now. My other coworker is out to lunch. He usually goes running or exercises during lunch. Not a bad idear. I usually take a walk around this lake nearby, which is nice when I'm sitting down all day, but it's not always like that. We have a few little jobs this week but not too much yet. We've been discussing ways of getting more business in lately. Sometimes I almost feel guilty (not that I sit there in shame or anything) that I'm even getting paid what I get paid when the owner isn't profiting as of yet or even breaking even. But, that IS the risk you take when opening a new business, and it would be awefully hard to get to that point without a designer such as myself in the picture so, we're just crossing our fingers. lol No we're working hard to get business and I myself am praying that we'll get more work in. Hopefully it will all come together this year.
Speaking of crossing your fingers, did you ever stop to think how silly that sounds? When someone says 'I'll cross my fingers', what exactly does that mean? Like crossing fingers brings some kind of mystical, magical spirit of favor or help. I mean, have you ever said 'Guess what! I got the job! Thanks sooo much for crossing your fingers for me!' lol I'd rather hear someone say 'good luck' than tell me they're crossing their fingers for me. Anyways, I could go on and on about how silly and absurd that is. Perhaps it's superstition, but I think I'll do a little research on that term and post it later.
As a side note, we went to Vince's Spaghetti on Sunday for lunch to celebrate my brother's and his girlfriend's birthday. It was nice, only about six of us, just family. And it was pretty good too. In fact, I ate so much for lunch that I wasn't hungry for dinner that night! lol And I wasn't even that full either. I guess spaghetti does that. =)
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