East High Voice Mail
Wednesday, September 6th, 2023 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Early this morning, around 4AM, we had a lightning & thunderstorm... so, it did rain afterall. Prowly had actually been upstairs when I went to bed, which is pretty unusual, but an hour later, the storm made me realize why he was up there.
And it must've rained again right before I got up, because the shopping bags for my grocery delivery were wet... and that probably came around 10AM.
It's partly cloudy now, and 79F, going up to 84F... and the rest of the week is going to be at or below 80F.
This is also garbage night, because of the Monday holiday, so I have to get those bins out to the curb.
For the storms I'm gonna need at least four 1X3X8s ($17.00)
And four 1X2X8s ($6.00)
And eight of the 1/2in sq. dowels ($20.00)
Plus some 4in screws ($10.00)
And some 1in brad nails ($5.00)
And some wood pegs ($8.00)
So... that comes to $66.00... or, call it $70.00 after sales taxes.
I already have wood glue, preservative and paint.
The clear construction adhesive is $13.00 per tube, and I'll need two, so that's $26.00, there.
Three tubes of window glazing would be around $30.00.
So that brings the total up to $126.00.
I did buy a dowling jig and a vise, but I never count tool expenses because I'll use them for other things in the future.
So... without the acrylic glass, the two storm frames look to be 126/2= $63.00 a piece!
That's not bad at all!
Now, worst case scenario, I have to buy two 4X6 foot sheets of acrylic, at $75.00 a pop, and have them both cut to size.
That still makes each window $138.00... and $276.00 for the pair of them.
So, like I figured last night, under $150 per window.
The best information I can find out there says to completely replace the windows, they'd be $250.00 a piece.
That would almost be worth it for good, new, double hung, argon filled windows I could open on a nice spring day.
Until you realize that to install them, will mean damaging the plaster on the wall inside... and the easiest solution for that, would be to knock it all down and replace it with drywall.
But if I'm gonna do that... I may as well gut the other three walls and the ceiling, and do all the drywall!
And now you're talking about way more expensive project that would take me months!
And I don't have months!
The fact is, those windows can't sit there without storms through the winter! It would lead to the whole house being freezing cold, and huge gas bills.
It also looks bad from the outside, and exposes the exterior of the sash windows to deterioration from the elements. And if the glass comes out of the sash windows... then there's no choice but to replace them.
Replacing the front and back windows upstairs makes sense... because they're too high up to measure and fit for storms, or to paint and maintain... and the upstairs can be converted into a little apartment, so it should have nice windows.
But downstairs, replacement storms are good enough.
Like I said last week, I can recreate the look of the original storms...
Giving the house back a touch of it's 19th century flavor.
And then on the inside, the original 1875 sash windows are also still there, with their original glass.
There's no real reason to have screens and open them up, because there are only about two days in May, and two days in October where you can even do that!
So... all of this, is my justification for this storm project, here in September.
It's a relatively cheep, relatively quick solution, that easily buy me 10 or 20 years to get around to renovating the livingroom.
Because that's the thing... there are way more important projects that need to get done sooner.
The side porch needs it's south enclosure redone.
The back door area desperately needs attention.
And the downstairs bathroom needs a complete overhaul.
So, if I can slap some storms on the livingroom and forget about it until the rest of that stuff is done, it's worth it.
Well, the big news tonight is that I got a voice mail from a man named Jessie over at East High, asking me to call him back and let him know either way whether or not I was still interested.
He said the hours would be 2:30PM to 10:30PM... which is odd because that's exactly 8 hours... and most jobs force you to take a 30 minute unpaid lunch.
So... is this one of the rare few that lets you take lunch on the clock?
I didn't call him tonight, because Chantele was on site, doing the four hour area with Angelisa... both complaining about how difficult it is to stay on top of things right now, because GeoStaff is down so many people!
I felt it would be more than a little awkward for them to walk in on me talking to some guy about when would be a good time to come in for an interview.
And by the time they cleared out, I figured it was too late.
But I'm calling him first thing in the afternoon!
I mean, I'm fine with working at Cloud... especially now that Rosa's gone. But the pay is pretty shit, so if East High can offer a dollar or two more, I'm totally doing it!
East High is only a mile from the house. I could easily walk there, if I had to, and driving will be like three minutes tops.
So, if he's serious that the job is really from 2:30 to 10:30, I could leave here at the exact stame time I do now... 2:20PM.. clock in on time, and then also be home an hour and fifteen minutes earlier than I am now!
That's less stress on the pets, and a little more free time for me!
And if I were doing that, and also making a few more bucks an hour? Hell yes!
And then there's also the fact that it's a high school... WHICH MEANS IT'S AIR CONDITIONED!
Tonight it cooled off fairly quick outside, down into the mid 70sF... but inside that damn building?... I was sweating more than I did during the heat wave.
Because they kept the air on for the heat wave, but when the high is only 80F, like today... well... no need!
But that building stays hot and muggy LONG after dark!
Back in the spring, when I called about a GeoStaff opening at AquaDale HS in Naperville, I was worried the cosmos might frown on it... because, how dare I question the path it had chosen for me?
But things have changed, Cosmos!
A year ago?.. yes... I got Snoop & Prowly out of the blue, which lead me to look for a job, and I found one the next day, and that part time job with GeoStaff, at Grape, was the ideal fit!
But then the tree fell over, and a few months later Dad died, and things were in chaos, but that same job was flexible enough for me to immediately go full time... when I was ready.
And because I was full time, I had the confidence to go for the PNC loan that took care of the dead & dying trees, and was intrumental in helping me survive through the spring and into the summer.
It seemed like things were gonna be fine, but THINGS CHANGED in June, when the hot working conditions forced me back to part time, and the zombie HELOC hit me out of nowhere with a 13G balloon payment!
So... I'm back to full time, and planning to go for some kind of home loan as soon as I make it to the one year mark, next week, but...
This is no longer the job!.. and I think the cosmos knows it!
Truly, I had forgotten that I even applied with East High, when my phone rang today, while I was cleaning a bathroom.
That was three weeks ago... when I was freaked out that my cart had been stolen!
I wanted to quit over it, and had recalled seeing a job opening at East High, but it had expired.
And then a day later another one came through, so I moved on it... then forgot about it, because of a giant hatch door project sandwiched between two heat waves as the new school year got underway.
So... I am taking the whole, disguised janitor cart, folly as a cosmic impetus to apply at East.
And I am taking the trial by fire installation of the hatch door over a 90F Labor Day weekend as the way I proved myself worthy... because you know... with the cosmos, you always have a little of that...
And I am thinking tonight, that Jessie's call today, IS the course correction I've been waiting for.
Jessie's looking at a resume' I created in August of last year, before I started with GeoStaff.
And he sounds like they need somebody.
So when I tell him I've been working as a custiodian for a neighboring school district, for a year now... and that I'm all work hardened up to 14,000 steps per night... and that I live one mile from East High...
I'm thinking it's a done deal!
As long as it's more money, of course, but I think it will be.
So far as I can tell, District 313, hires it's employees directly. They don't use a contractor like GeoStaff.
And from what I've gleaned... city jobs in this town pay pretty good!
Are they union or not?.. I think they actually are, but I don't think that matters, here.
GeoStaff is union, but what I've learned over the year is that the totally free health care they offer is basically the Faustian bargain the union has made, in exchange for extremely low pay, and no air conditioning.
The union is renegotiating right now, and pay, and AC, are not on the table. All they're quibbling about is maybe a little more PTO.
My town's jobs, on the other hand... I think, do strive to keep the pay in step with Chicago, and with the times... union or not.
We'll find out soon enough... but... the $14.50 per hour I'm getting now is such a LOW bar... it seems a guarantee they can beat it.
A few final thoughts here...
Because it'll be Thursday by the time I talk to Jessie... and assuming I take the job... I'll definitely cross the 1-year mark with Geostaff before I make the switch.
Because that's a week from Friday... and these things take longer than 8 days to happen.
So, when I talk to a bank about a home loan, I can say not only that I worked for GeoSTaff for a solid year... but that while still employed, and with no gap... I moved over to a higher paying job.
And I will have done that in the same month that my credit score jumped up 10 points!
So... this can only help, not hinder my chances for that loan.
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