The salary for april just got to my account. I went forth and moved money around to pay off the remainder of the mortgage, but then the number they show is only an estimate. There were about 140$ more to add - had to call the credit union to get that done - but after only half an hour of that WE OWN THE HOUSE.
The lady from credit union confessed to never having witnessed a case of anyone paying off their mortgage in such a short time, less than three years. I apologized for taking away their chance to make twenty grand more on us, but that was the money we didn't have anyway. Now, we may even have it, in due time.
It's not that I ever wanted to be rich. It's that I preferred to live without worrying too much.
Some jobs website picked this day to remind me to refresh my resume there...
On UA I replied to Harry something about " The US billion is one European milliyard - which is 0.00091 meters." Further down the line,
Coming here I was mentally getting used to these weird measures, which seem to have more history than system (why are some divided by 3, some by 2, some by 12, some by 16... makes no sense to me). I've become quite good at switching miles to kilometers and back, pounds to kilos, ounces go a bit harder... and at some point I got worried about converting phases of the moon, and realized they aren't measured at all :).
I'm still looking for a home appliance with a clock on it which would be aware of the 24h day (found only one - thermostat for the A/C). The other thing that still throws me off at times is the Set Date American - the MDY is used only here, I think. I laugh every time I look at Set Date ANSI (American National Standards Institute, no less) - which is YMD :).
>By the way, stores are supposed to have labels with 'unit' price in the same measurement for all products of the same category. I'm unsure if it's federal or local requirement.
Not a requirement in Virginia, only one or two grocery chains do that as a courtesy - the price is per each for packaged goods (in the meat or vegetable department it is priced by equal measures). But even within that courtesy they find ways to confuse the consumer. Another trick is pricing like "7/10$", which would read as "seven of these for ten bucks", but actually means the price is 10/7, i.e. about 1,43$ per each. I once had to explain that to a couple of British (!) tourists.
Searching UA now (november 2019) I can't find the thread, which should have been around these days, where I bragged about becoming a free man (debt free, that is) and James immediately replied that I should now take a 2nd mortgage and squander the money on an SUV, big TV, trip to Bahamas or something equally necessary, so to blend in and not stick out :).
I've set up a billing thing with skype. So I paid 10$ every once in a while, and we could talk with our folks at home for some 11 cents a minute, which is far better than the 20 or more we paid before, or the outrageous 1,20$ or more that some outfit charged us in the beginning.
UniJewel invited me to fly to NYC for a couple of days, where I'd have to type ten lines... per machine, to which I initially agreed on the condition that they pay airfare, hotel and 52$ per hour. Or it can all be done from here, under the condition that Sima is there while I'm here (in Orlando). They gave up on the trip when they saw how much it would cost, plus that I'd have to be on a plane, effectively still on the job for them, on a saturday, which is a violation of shabbath, ah. So remoting it is. The negotiations took almost two weeks, for a day's work.
Twelfth, news from home. Števa became a grandfather. Dad tells how „got married ... to a Bosnian, a construction tech, working at GIK ’Banat‘. The wedding was modest, with very nicely dressed guests, full table, but apart from the bride, on several tenths of very nice shots, nobody got caught in the lens with a smile.“ - which happened two weeks ago. Eh...
The other news is that Žarko got american visa, to work here during the summer, and will take off to New York on 1st of june. Mom gave him my number (which means I had a mobile already, so that's how I got Go to come down and let me through the gate when I arrived).