Howdy Angel!

Hi Angel!

As you probably know, I’ve been working in Atlanta for a little over a month now.  While the pay is pretty good, we might not make much money on this contract, since my rent is a crazy $1,400.00 (!!) a month.  But I can walk to a subway station from where I live, and the subway stops right next to the building where I work downtown, so it is super-duper convenient.

Money is tight at the moment, largely because I decided we should join BlueGreen resorts.  I know it is not a good move financially, but the problem is that our last few vacations have been tainted by me being ultra-cheap about our accommodations.  Staying at a crack head motel to save a few bucks is NOT a good idea when vacationing with your family!

I’m just getting over another stupid head cold / sinus mess.  I’d whine more about how sickly I am, but then you could counter that at least you didn’t die in the womb, and so I’ll just keep quiet.  Your younger brother suffers from worse sinus troubles than me.  Please help him in any way you can!

Next weekend we are all making a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Watch over us and help us stay safe, please.  I know you probably already know these things, but somehow me explaining them to you makes me feel like you’re more closely integrated into the family.

See you soon, little Angel.  Until then, dream of us, and we’ll do the same for you.

Love ya!

 

Who I am ….. and what the heck is going on with Facebook?

Here I am, proudly showing off one of my “mosquito” t-shirts.

So who am I, anyway?

Call me “Old Grump”.  I’m a semi-retired COBOL mainframe programmer, sliding into obsolescence.  (I’ll be 60 years old soon!)  I have a very patient, loving wife, and two young sons.  (At this moment they are 9 and 4 years old.)  We all live in a nice house in nearly the geographic center of the state of Georgia, on the eastern side of the United States of America.

And I am trying, more out of stubbornness than anything else, I suppose, to make money online.

Here is a link to my “state bird” store, where you too can buy a t-shirt like the one I am modeling: https://teespring.com/stores/state-birds-mosquitoes .

Here is a link to an online store that I am trying to rebuild from the great Bluehost fiasco of about this time last year: https://awkwarduncle.wordpress.com/ .

I’m also looking into hawking CBD oil via a MLM group called CTFO.  I haven’t had a lot of time to fully research this one, but based on what I’ve read so far, at least CBD oil won’t hurt you, and it MAY reduce inflammation.  This is a big deal to an old fart like me, as inflammation is supposedly one of the prime triggers of alzheimer’s disease.  If this sounds at all interesting, you can join CTFO for free!  Just go and check out my webpage: http://nirvana.myctfocbd.com/ .

 

Now regarding Facebook ……

Wow!  What’s going on with Friend Requests these days?  Just last week I had only a few dozen friends, but now, after the crazy activity of the last few days, (I had over 500 Friend Requests yesterday!), I have almost 1,500 friends!

I’m spending LOTS of time confirming Friend Requests.  I’m not too adept at Facebook, (and pretty much of a dim bulb in general these days anyway), so sometimes I  confuse “Suggestions” with “Requests”, but even so, 500+ friend requests per day is an awful lot!

But this is NOT a complaint.  Far from it!  Isn’t the goal of an online marketer to build up a huge following on social media?  (If you’re bored, you may want to check out one of the WORST videos ever posted to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL9SWSwtu9c .)

I won’t respond to any of y’all’s messages, because I don’t really use Facebook messenger.  (Besides, how in the world could I respond to hundreds of messages per day?)  But I will try to keep my posts entertaining if not informative, (and make better YouTube videos in the future!).  However, this old guy barely knows how to logon to Facebook, let alone use some of the advanced features, so please have some patience with me.

Peace!

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Howdy Angel!

Hello Angel  –

If you’ve had a chance to absorb my recent posts, (on netless.net and working class hero, part 1), you’ll see that it’s been an interesting year for me, “career” wise.

I’d LOVE to be retired right now, but, (darn it!!), we just spend way too much money.

It appears, if all goes well, that I will be working in Atlanta soon.  (I have two more-or-less job offers, so I’m hoping at least one of them doesn’t fall through.)

This will be stressful for the family, just like it was when I was working in Columbus.  So Angel, I am asking you to help guide us, to be with us and help us through the additional hazards my new job will cause us to face.

We are all doing well here.  Kuya and Dodong are growing up, and dealing with their allergies fairly well.  (Can you believe that Dodong is allergic to fish, of all things?)  Dodong just started school for the first time, (pre kindergarten), and Sweetie is still home schooling Kuya, who now is in fourth grade!  Sweetie herself is doing okay.  Her allergies seem under control with the allergy shots she gets, the only side effect being the grumbling Grump, (me!), does when he receives the bill.  Lola is tough as ever, doing much of the work, (washing dishes, cleaning up after the boys), with never, ever a complaint.  (At least as far as I know.  Then again, I don’t speak Cebuano!)

As for me, I am getting older, fatter, and grumpier with each passing day.  Fortunately the rest of the family tolerates me, (maybe because I am the only one earning any money?), which is very, very fortunate for an old grump like me.

To summarize all this: we are excited and nervous for my new contract.  We hope I am able to find a way to live cheaply in Atlanta during the week, so that we can save as much money from this contract as possible.  (Wouldn’t it be awful if we only broke even on this new job, or, worse yet, actually LOST MONEY?)  There are many potential pitfalls we want to avoid, and we are hoping with your help we can completely avoid them.

We all love you, our little Angel, and sooner than any of us realize we’ll all be together!

Major Overhaul – Revising (or Deleting) Posts

Life sure can be exciting sometimes!

Recently a web hosting company, (the accursed Bluehost), decided to make my life interesting. After the dust cleared from that fiasco, I lost four of my websites, including the only one I was making a little money from.

So …. I’m having to go through my remaining websites, updating or removing links, and removing old posts whose context are no longer relevant.

Grrr!!

I suppose this is as good a place as any to list my surviving websites, and describe the condition they’re in, (as of mid-August, 2017), whether they be healthy, or in a pitiful state:

http://awkwarduncle.com * – this is was one of the pitiful websites.  What happened is that I had an Amazon aStore, which I was promoting via this website.  Amazon, in their infinite wisdom, decided to phase out the aStore concept, (they’ll be gone after October, 2017), so the reason-for-being for my entire website ceased to exist.

I’m trying to rebuild all the links, manually, but with the added crap Bluehost dumped on me, you can see that I haven’t made much progress. Another strike against this website is that it is hosted on iPage, which is owned by the same dorks, EIG, who own Bluehost. I may not renew it!

https://awkwarduncle.wordpress.com – this is basically the free version of awkwarduncle.com, and was in fact started before that site, as a free way to promote it.

https://mgadamgo.wordpress.com – that be this site!

http://missingmusic.blogspot.com – actually the first website I started, way back in 2007, I think. It’s a mess, but maybe I’ll get around to cleaning it up one day.

https://netless.net – my newest site, describing my adventures as a “retired” old fart.

http://owlsandcuckoos.blogspot.com – mostly about making, (or, more realistically, NOT making), money online.

http://planetarypics.blogspot.com – pictures of interesting places we’ve been. (Well, at least we think they are interesting!)

http://tea-frenzy.blogspot.com – this was a free website I was using to promote my old Tea Universe site and my Tea Universe aStore. As BOTH of those are no longer functioning, this site needs a major overhaul!  All the links on this site are dead, dead, dead!!

https://tea-universe.biz – this is my new Tea Universe site. I think it is a pale imitation of the old one, but maybe with time I’ll grow to like it. (It also needs a ton of work, which doesn’t help endear it to me.)  As of August/2018, this site is dead.  RIP.

http://waypatas.blogspot.com – a daily photo diary of our lives here in middle Georgia.

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* Update:  rather than wait for an EIG company to screw me over again, I went ahead an nuked awkwarduncle.com.  Besides, the response time that site was getting was HORRID!

Uncle’s Index

An index, of sorts, to our awkward uncle’s store:

• Auntie’s Bookstore.  Auntie has inspirational and self-help books.  Books to make your life better!
• Uncle’s Bookstore.  Uncle, being awkward, prefers the seamier side of life.
• Cool Critters.  Uncle has a fondness for creepy-crawlies of all types.
  • Ants  –  Ant keeping is actually quite an advanced hobby.  Look up Formicarium on YouTube!
  • Frogs.
  • Sea Monkeys and Triops.  Yes, we know that “sea monkeys” are simply brine shrimp, but they make excellent fish food.  And triops are really cool.
• Weird Stuff.  Self-explanatory, I hope.
• Bug Zappers.  Cool ways to kill off annoying creepy-crawlies.
• Stuff and More Stuff.  I’m not really sure what these categories are all about.
• Edible Stuff.  Things you eat.  Yummy!
• T-Shirts.  I suppose this is ……… T-Shirts!
• Cool Movies.  Uncle’s choice of DVDs.
• Cool Gadgets.  Toys for grownups.
• Condoms & Sexy Stuff.  Stuff for a mature audience.  (18+ only please!)

Browse and be happy!

Angel, We Are So, So, Sorry!

Dear Angel  –

Yes, we FORGOT to celebrate the day you rose to heaven.  PLEASE, PLEASE forgive us!

This has been a hectic spring.  As you know, Old Grump has been working out of town, in Columbus, Georgia.  The driving back and forth, and the usual stress associated with any bureaucratic corporate job, has been getting to him, and he is ready to quit working for good.  But Sweetie had this huge trip to the Philippines planned for her, Lola, Kuya, and Dodong, the cost of which will keep the old guy chained to his desk at work for at least another year.

Expenses associated with this trip have been a source of friction between Sweetie and Grump, as you would imagine.  Add this to the stress Sweetie has of raising two young boys without her husband home most nights, and it is no wonder that she and Grump have been bickering a lot lately.

But the four of them went on their trip anyway, leaving just this past Saturday, May 6th.

So in our nervousness, anticipation, and haste to get everyone and everything ready for this massive undertaking, the 22d of April just breezed past without any of us noticing.

Please don’t assume from this that we are forgetting our Little Angel.  You will always exist in our hearts!

Angel, please pray for Lola, Sweetie, Kuya, and Dodong while they are traveling, that no harm comes to them, and that they may somehow bring a little joy into the hearts of all they meet.  And pray for Old Grump, that he doesn’t get mad one day and just quit his job before he and Sweetie have been able to prepare for his “retirement”.

How amusing it must be to look down on us as we scurry about, worrying about the most trivial of daily irritants, when in just a short instant eternity will welcome us too.  I wish you had gotten to experience this mortal life, but since you didn’t, Angel I’ll do my best to describe it to you.

Love,

Your Family on Earth

 

Letter to Angel, 15/Dec/2016

Hi Angel   –

As you know it’s been raining here for the past couple weeks, which is a big deal actually, as we hadn’t had any rain since September!

Dodong, Kuya, Sweetie, Lola, and I are all doing fine.  Dodong and I are fighting off a stupid head cold, but things like that are part of the price we pay for being alive.

I FINALLY was able to get some affiliate sales from my online websites, http://tea-universe.com and http://buyingnirvana.com/teashop.  It was less than $20.00 for the year so far, which obviously won’t change my standard of living, but it’s a start.  Wish me luck!

Working and staying-over here in Columbus, while the rest of the family remains in Macon, is not enjoyable, as you can imagine.  My goal is to survive this job for two years, after which I get a 100% match on my 401K contributions.  At that point I’ll quit, and get whatever kind of job I can get back in Macon.  (“Welcome to Walmart!”)  Once again, wish me luck!

Kuya is doing really, really well with homeschooling.  The downside is he is missing out on socializing with other kids.  At least he can play with his friend Brody every other Sunday or so, and Dodong, although a lot younger, is around every day to bother and tease.

So that’s how things are going for us, more-or-less, at the moment.  I probably spend way too much time puttering around with the PC trying to make this affiliate marketing work, but it gives me something to do while in Columbus.  I think my next goal will be to put up another page on WordPress.com to try to help give the Awkward Uncle store, (http://www.arph001.com/uncle), as unlike our tea stores it has been a dud!

Hang in there Angel!  We’ll all be with you sooner than any of us can imagine.

We love you!

Help An Old Grump Retire!

An Old Grump on a Recent Business Trip

Hey Y’all   –

How would YOU like to help out an Old Grump, his patient-but-suffering coworkers, and his family, at absolutely NO COST TO YOU?

How can you do this?  By simply going to Amazon via his affiliate link!  Then if you order any products from Amazon, he will get a tiny commission.

Your cost will be absolutely the same as if you went to Amazon directly.  In fact, you won’t notice anything different at all.

His family, his patient-but-suffering coworkers, and the Old Grump himself sincerely thank you!

 

—-> Go to Amazon now! <—-

 

 

Letter to Angel, 06/October/2016

Dearest Angel  –

I am so sorry I haven’t written you in forever-and-a-day.  Please forgive me.

I saw the above picture on Tumblr, and thought you would like it.  Much like the balloon, your brief life got tangled up in branches, and you never got to soar on the winds of existence.  But you do live in our hearts, dearest Angel.  I know you know that.

As I hinted at in my last letter to you, a lot has happened in this past year.  Grump quit the insanity of the Lizard Pit, and got a new job two hours away in Columbus.  It hurts that he is aways from home many nights, but the Lizard Pit was beginning to suck the life out of him.

Besides Kuya’s experience with the bee, (actually, most likely a yellow jacket), poor Dodong had an awful reaction to fish.  Now we can’t eat fish in the house.  Phooey!

The good medical news is that Sweetie’s allergy shots appear to be helping her considerably.  She isn’t going through a box of kleenex a week anymore, and she has more energy.  (Which attempting to home-school Kuya immediately sucks out of her!)

Lola has done a great job with the gardens this year!  We’ve harvested some monster sized camote, which despite their size are tender and delicious.

Thank you so much for watching over all of us, and keeping us safe.  And please let Lolo know that finally next spring Sweetie will make a trip to RM, and visit his grave.  (Yep – we’ve already purchased the airplane tickets!)

Angel, I’ve been thinking about what people want out of life, and I’ve come to this conclusion: what people really want is to belong to something that “matters”, something that is bigger and more meaningful than their own brief existence.  For me, family helps fill some of that role.

I want you to know, Angel, that you will always be a part of our family.  Please don’t ever feel you are alone, because we love you, and want you to be a part of us.

Don’t get tangled up in dead branches of despair.  Let our love set you free, and fly on our sweet Angel!

 

(P.S. – I hope you like Jimi Hendrix!)

Letter to Angel, 22/Apr/2016

Dearest Angel  –

Today is the anniversary of the day you ascended to heaven.  For your balloon this year, we chose one that says, “Happy Birthday”,

 

 

We all went outside to release your balloon.

Kuya, Sweetie, Lola, and Dodong prepare to release Angel’s balloon

Happy Birthday Angel!!  We pray that you’re doing well, wherever you are.

Angel, we could really use your help now.  As you know, your older brother Kuya recently had a very unfortunate encounter with a bee or some sort of wasp.  PLEASE pray for him, and help keep him from being stung again, as he is apparently so sensitive to those insect’s venom.

Please also pray for Old Grump as he drives back and forth to his new job in Columbus, Georgia, on the other side of the state!

We love you Angel!