Marty Bird Blog

What a huge weekend in store for the people in my life! Kayla has completed her degree at Butler and commencement ceremonies take place on Saturday. Her sister Tara is flying in from San Antonio today to help celebrate.

Kayla and her housemates have a party planned starting immediately after the Hinkle Fieldhouse graduation ceremony, and the parents of the graduates have used Facebook to help coordinate food, tables, supplies and other arrangements. The weather looks to be cooperating as well, with sunshine and temperatures in the middle 70s.

Then Mother’s Day on Sunday – the timing was perfect for Laura,  with both her girls here to take her to a nice dinner. Lots and lots in store with a wonderful future ahead for all of us.

Is that what’s missing? When I’m seeking something better, something more?

When the world around me is no longer about me, is that what’s missing? When I don’t see myself as the most important, is that the way it was always supposed to be?

When I hear guys at work talking about their kids in T-ball, smiling so hard inside that it spills out of them, with such force that they revel in telling anyone about what happened over the weekend with their kid – I nod and move along and wonder – have I ever smiled like that?

When I’m told “you don’t really know what it’s like, you’ve never had kids” – is that what’s missing in my life?

When I’m no longer proud of me and I’m longing for something to be proud of – is that what having a kid is all about? Never running out of something to be proud of?

It most certainly is. I have been away from the blog for awhile but after stumbling across some of my old posts and enjoying what I read, I decided to come back and see how this feels.

30 Years! Our high school class of 1982 president sent a message recently asking for input on how we wanted to handle a reunion. My goodness – 30 years. As my mom and I agreed, the mind does not age but the body fools us when we look in the mirror and don’t see that person we knew from back then.

Milestones: Laura’s daughter Kayla is graduating from Butler University this month. I remember the feeling of having the world in front of me, having all options open to me – and it was overwhelming. Kayla has the smarts, contacts and experience to handle what’s in front of her and I’m looking forward to helping in any way I can.

New friends: Facebook is a huge time waster, but I have recently found a group of fellow diabetes insipidus buddies that makes my visits to Facebook leaving me feeling like that time spent is more productive. What a wealth of information! Connecting with those that have many of the same experiences has been comforting. It’s also a place where I can contribute my knowledge and hopefully help others gain some understanding.

The Amber Bamboo JackBacks

Technology geek: Not a high-tech gadget, but combining wood with the glass and aluminum that makes up my iPhone has proven to be just the individual piece of flair I was looking for. I found JackBacks, “real wood iPhone accessories,” and ordered the Amber Bamboo wooden back. I like it. My goal was to get rid of the cover I was using, even though it was pretty minimal, to better show off the design of the phone while throwing some of my personality at it. I think I nailed it!

Finances: Always on my mind. I like to think I’m in a little better control and see some positives very soon. My hope is that I mellow out on the whole money thing but I don’t think I’m wired that way. Somebody, give me something else to worry about!

Health: I see my doctor at least four times per year and I’d like to cut that back to twice a year. To do that, I need to get back on the healthy side by exercising and eating properly. Sounds so easy, right!?

Square Card Reader for iPhone

After a few weeks of anticipation I received my Square card reader in the mail yesterday. For a gadget freak this makes for a great day. What is Square? It’s a company, an app, and a hardware device all in one that sheds the traditional expenses and complications of acquiring and using a credit card terminal for the ease and simplicity of downloading a free app and accepting credit card payments via your iPhone.

No, this is not for everyone although I see immediate benefits for those that have the opportunity to sell their products and services but not the means to take credit card payments. Have a booth at at art fair? Collecting money from parents for kid’s soccer, baseball or football uniforms? Collecting donations? This is a super easy way to do so. Enter the amount to collect, add a note, optionally take a photo of the item, swipe the card and send an email receipt to the customer. Your money is deposited into the account of your choice weekly.

You do have to watch the expenses though. First of all, consider you may not have made that sale in the first place if you did not have the ability to collect via credit card. Then, realize 2.75% + 15 cents per transaction will be removed by Square before deposits are made. (If you collect more than $1,000 other conditions apply.)

I’m open for business and now accepting credit card payments with my Square device – anybody care to make a donation? Check it out at https://squareup.com/

I haven’t taken the time to put together a decent blog post lately, so I’ll honor that trend with the following:

PowerBars: There are way too many flavors and varieties. I can’t remember which ones I like and my latest purchase resulted in a not so palatable choice. By the time I get through the double box from Sam’s Club and go shopping for more I won’t remember what flavor to avoid.

Tostito’s Baked Scoops: Yum. Totally worth it.

My car: The TT is getting an alignment this week after completing a clutch job that stretched out over the last month. I’ve promised I’ll drive it more this summer. First two events are scheduled – April 25 our local club has a southern Indiana fun run and the end of April sees a 4 day event near Gatlinburg, Tennessee called quattro de Mayo.

Kiva.org: A great place to lend and re-lend money to entrepreneurs looking to improve themselves and their community. Trouble is – Kiva is so popular there are times when there are too many lenders and not enough loans available to fund. “Look, I got money to spend in here.”

HDMI/HDCP: Apparently, my 4 year old DLP TV is outdated. I can’t get my components to display content via HDMI cable because of HDCP issues. It needs to establish a handshake, according to the knowledge base found via Google search. Time for a new TV – awww shucks.

Accomplishment: Screens scrubbed and windows washed on a recent spring-like day. I love clean windows. (Rather, I love the instant gratification that cleaning windows provides.) I also cleaned the glass doors on the fireplace with a nice result.

Letting go: It doesn’t hurt so bad to let some things go and learn how to give. It’s like ripping off a band-aid. After resisting because of an imaginary excrucitating pain, living without that protective cover can actually speed the healing and promise renewal. (OK, so that was a stretch to say the least!)

Honesty: I guess it still exists. Tried to purchase tires for Laura’s Saturn Vue at Tire Barn and the sales guy said I don’t need tires. Well – OK.

Work: I’m trying my best to avoid that point where too much work + putting out fires + contstant distractions = mistakes and decreased quality. When do I ask for help?

And – Did you know a wooden clothes pin can be used as a chip clip?

Haven’t blogged in a while so I thought I’d share the day’s activity. On late notice, a group of about 30 Audi and VW enthusiasts gathered this morning at epWerks, a local tuning shop owned by Ian Baas. Since the weather today was ghastly, we chose to stay inside and socialize, enjoying the goodies on display in the shop lobby and checking out what vehicles were in various states of undress on the shop floor.

The group then proceeded to a non-descript garage on the northwest side of Indianapolis containing a treasure trove of vehicles to drool over. I certaintly don’t know the makes / models / years of these cars, I only know they are enjoyable to look at and have many stories to tell if you could roll back the odometer like a time machine. I think I heard someone say “Is this heaven?” Yes, this place was pretty close. Great to see all the smiles and joy among those participating. All photos here.

As a follow up to my previous post regarding fixing my furnace, the draft inducer motor part arrived quickly, but I waited a few days since the weather was hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit when it arrived. And, I didn’t want to risk a screw up and possibly living without heat for a night.

Since it was 55 degrees out on Saturday, I took care of the replacement. Pretty simple, the only scary part was the thought of losing one of the sheet metal screws into the depths of the furnace. Here’s a photo of the final result (note the new style cooling fan).

FYI see the update to this post here. The gas furnace in my house is only 7 years old. A couple weeks ago, it started singing to me. Normally a baritone, the furnace decided to expand into the tenor vocal range. Then a certain pain was evident in its song until I finally translated it as “help me . . . help me . . . help me.”

Sure, I could call the number on the side of the furnace and get charged for premium weekend service, but I decided to dive right in and see if I could fix this myself. After all, how hard could it be? I have the internet plus an awesome set of tools.

I started by simply removing the access panel and observing and listening. From there, I found several different manuals available for download via the web and pinned the noise down to the draft inducer motor. Apparently somewhat common, the sealed bearings were worn, causing the shaft to bind and cause the noisy squealing.

I called my friend Steve, who dropped by and we pulled the motor and put a temporary fix in place. We unsealed the bearings, cleaned them, and re-packed them with lithium grease and reassembled. Lo and behold, no more noise! I found the part online for less than $100 and will replace it when it arrives.

I can imagine a service call would have resulted in one charge, then the part would have been ordered and the next service call to install the new motor likely would have totaled over $500.

The draft inducer motor is just behind the plastic cooling fan above.

The part that is to be replaced is the motor (the black part) Carrier part number 318984-753.
I found it online at Shortys HVAC Supplies.

What’s the name of that phenomena that happens after you get up in the morning, start to get ready for work, then look outside and realize there is almost 10 inches of snow on the ground? Why do you suddenly get a burst of energy nothing like what occurs on a regular work day? Even though I worked most of the day today from home, I had a sense of excitement and energy due to the snow canceling a day-long routine.

Another oddity. Once I realized I would not be leaving the house for a good 8 hours (once the neighborhood was cleared) I had all kinds of cravings and worries for things I might need and did not have in the house. Coffee. Did I have enough coffee?

Late in the afternoon I did venture out and to my surprise the roads that had been cleared were actually dry in some places (the sun started shining about noon, which helped). I took the opportunity to take some photos with my phone (pardon the low quality).

If your portfolio losses look like this, then check out the Comeback Calculator courtesy of the New York Times. It’s not as bleak as it may seem, and history is certainly on your side. Stay the course with your asset allocation based on your age, projected age of retirement and risk tolerance and continue to fund your IRA, 401K or other retirement portfolio and hold tight.

Oh, and please seek the advice of your investment counselor before making any sudden or substantial money moves.