I’ve got health insurance for my family.  No small feat getting that as a server; it generally means when paychecks come out I have to ante up out of pocket to cover the premiums.  But that will be easier now that I have a new job, and in a couple of months I should be getting health insurance through the new employer.

My wife, as I mentioned, is healthy.  She’s also beautiful and strong.  We have a baby room with a changing table and a play pen and some baby clothes.  My wife painted it and decorated it and it’s so cute.  She is my hero.

My new job is with an IT Services firm, basic staff accountant position.  I will hold off naming names for the time being.  It is incredible for me because I have just achieved more success than anyone else in my family ever has.  And I am the youngest.  It is incredibly encouraging because I now feel some confidence that I will always be able to provide for my family because I have a marketable skill and proof enough of that to get hired for it.

If college truly does afford me that, how much more will a Master’s in Accountancy?  And a CPA certificate?  I don’t plan to be ridiculously wealthy, I just want to be able to buy security for my family, unlike anyone has done in my family for generations.

Anyway, my new job uses Oracle for their accounting system.  Actually, they are in the process of converting from some proprietary systems to Oracle, which I get to be a part of.  That’s a fairly big name in accounting systems, so I am excited that I get this experience in learning how to use it, not to mention test and break it.

Finally, the feeling is indescribable of knowing that I will be able to pay all my bills by the end of the week– and possibly never be behind again.  I highly recommend working to improve your life’s conditions to all who have the opportunity.  Which, in the US is a lot more of you than do.

First, I assigned the price of gas per gallon to the variable x. Then, for simplicity, I decided to study the amount of gas you can buy for $1.00 — because it’s usually very easy to calculate things involving the number 1. Expressed algebraically, the amount of gas you can buy for $1.00 is $1.00 over x, or f(x)=1/x. (Proof: if gas is $1/gallon, f(x)=1/1=1 gallon; if gas is $2/gallon, f(x)-1/2=half a gallon.)

Enter calculus; the first derivative of that simple function would tell us the instantaneous rate of change of how much gas you could buy for a dollar. In English, that would tell us at any given price how quickly the amount of gas you can buy is dropping as the price goes up. That first derivative is negative one over x squared, or f’(x)=-1/x^2. (Proof: The first derivative tells you the slope of a curve at a given point, so at x=1.4, 1/x=.714 and x’=-1/1.96=-0.51. We should be able to approximate 1/x at 1.5 by adding x’ times .1 to 1/x: -0.51*.1+.714 = .66. 1/1.5 = .66.)

The second derivative will tell us what the slope of the tangent line of the instantaneous rate of change of how much gas you can buy for a dollar is. Or, how big the rate of quantity loss at any given price. The second derivative is two over x cubed, or f”(x)=2/x^3. This is what I would call the significance of gas price differences.

That is what this graph is showing you (click on it for the full, clear version). As you can see, from $1.00 to $2.00 it was fairly important to choose the gas station with the lowest price. From $2.00 and especially $2.50 on up, it hardly matters any more which gas station you go to. Gas is too expensive for it to matter whether you buy gas for $2.799 or $2.699.

In conclusion, don’t waste your time going out of your way to find a cheap gas station any more. Your driving habits are now more significant to your gas budget than which gas station you stop at: you can save more money monitoring the way you move your feet.

[I wrote this January 6th, 2006 and posted it on another blog. It still seems relevant today.]

I’ve updated my resume and have been posting it on job sites and sending it to potential employers.  Working at a restaurant just isn’t going to cut it much longer, what with twins on the way and everything.  I haven’t heard back from any employers, but a few recruiters have contacted me.  I’ve heard through events at school and whatnot that recruiters are really the way to get the good jobs in my field these days.  So, I’m glad they saw my resume and said “here’s someone I want in my portfolio to offer to my clients.” With any luck this will lead to gainful employment some time in July, or August at the latest.  Crossing my fingers!

I added a page on here for my resume, if you want to see it.  I wasn’t at all happy with Word’s html rendering of it, so I had to pretty much rewrite all of the html by hand.

I will be posting the new sonogram pictures on Flickr tonight.  Watch this space!

For many years now my focus has been on money.  That is because I had none.  And that is because I am white trash.  All of my ancestors as far back as I can track have been white trash.  Well, I haven’t really tried, but it seems like it.  Anyway, I want you to know why.  It’s not because money is the most important thing in the world.  It is not.  I don’t love money.  I am not going to forsake all other pursuits in order to make as much money as I can.  I will probably never be a billionaire, and I am fine with that.  You can do anything you want.  We live in a free country with great infrastructure and mobility which facilitates almost any direction one chooses for their life.  The problem is, when you’re so poor that you can barely afford to survive, you can’t take advantage of that freedom.  You’re free on paper but in reality you are chained to the grindstone.  True freedom requires capital.  That is why so many free people are trapped in a substandard existence in this country.  And that is why I am working so hard right now, why I have been so focused on money.

I’m doing this so that you don’t have to.  When you go to college, you won’t have to work full time too.  Focus on college.  And have fun.  Whether you decide to be a businessman or a musician, that is fine with me.  I hope you will let me teach you to manage your money, and provide for yourself.  But after that, you can be a writer, or a manager, or travel the world with a backpack.  Whatever you choose for yourself.  You should know that I love you no matter what, and that I’ve got your back.   I want you to live the life that you find satisfying, and never worry about the trite, insignificant, or menial things.  Let the details take care of the details.

I decided to start going to college, but ultimately decided to wait a year to qualify for in-state tuition rates. After a semester in a community college in Abilene, I transferred to the University of Texas in Arlington and moved to Dallas where a girl I had met lived. By then I was twenty five. I have maintained full-time hours at UTA and since married that girl who lived in Dallas. Now we both live in Irving with her daughter and twins on the way, and I am in a five-year program at UTA that will simultaneously earn me a BS in Accounting and an MS in Accounting. I will be finished with that program in one year.

I have been working full time while going to college as well. So I’ve been busy. But next year, when I’m done with school and get a real job, I can quit the dead end job. So when I turn thirty, I’ll have one job with fairly regular hours, two babies, a lovely wife, and a twelve year old step daughter who hopefully isn’t worrying about responsibility yet.