Spent a large part of the day on paperwork for the new mortgage interest rate with the Skyped help of son Mike in London. Got it faxed off and, I hope, that will be that.
I then tackled the horrendous PTR-1, which purports to be a boon to New Jersey seniors (has something to do with a property tax freeze), but is actually a scheme to drive them crazy. You have to provide documentation for your tax bills and proof that you paid them for both 2011 and 2012. I was able to easily find it for last year, but can't seem to put my hands on the previous. Alternatively, they provide a form to take to your friendly neighborhood tax collector, and maybe that would be an easier way to go.
Leaving all that behind, I got to Olive Garden early (so what else is new?) for dinner, but Viv came shortly thereafter and we finally got together after the snafu last week. Had a good, convivial time, as we always do. I caught up on her life, which hasn't changed much--and won't, as long as her husband is alive. He is very badly disabled with MS--can move only one arm--and she continues to work in a dead end support position at Ocean Community College, where she's been for years. While being employed full-time, she earned her bachelor's, then her master's degrees. (I can relate to that, although I didn't finish the master's route.) She's now working three evenings a week to fulfill requirements for certification in alcohol and drug abuse counseling. All this, while she deals with a devastatingly disabled spouse, a big house, two grandchildren, and a responsible job for which she's anything but adequately compensated.
It's too bad she's in a field in which, when it comes to the higher prestige, better paid jobs, youth is not only prized, but almost invariably chosen over maturity. College kids, it seems, don't "relate" to those in their late fifties, which is why you rarely find any in the starting ranks of student personnel.
Aline is off today and we have a tentative lunch date--always a pleasure.
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