Planning Ahead

I really need about a week off just to sit around and do nothing. Unfortunately I am not going to get that luxury anytime this year because my job is a government contract position and the contract was taken over by a new company on the 2nd of January. What this means for me is that since a new company has the contract, even though I've been working for the GR Recruiting Company since October of 2005, its like starting a brand new job which means I have to wait til my probation period is over with this company for my benefits to kick in (no big deal as I am covered under Chris' insurance) AND I am not allowed vacation for the first year of employment with the new company. Yep. Thats right. No time off for an entire year save the 10 federal holidays that we get off a year. I decided that since there was no chance for a real vacation this year that I would plan something for one of the three day weekends that I was going to have.

I have a timeshare that Chris and I bought into and have been paying on since April of 2004. Since then we've regretted our decision in buying it because we're paying out $250 a month until the 17,000 loan is payed off on it and in the almost 3 years we've had it we have yet to use it. For anyone out there that is considering buying a timeshare I recommend that you do not go through one of the companies that actually sells them as you will be paying alot of money for a piece of propery that has a resale value of about 10% what you bought it for. Once you buy a timeshare they are really difficult to get rid of. Believe me we've tried. We had two different companies rip us off to the tune of $1,200, promising that they would sell it for us and for a good price, in 6 weeks or less. They took our money and ran. Anyway our property is deeded for a resort in the Smoky Mountains in Seiverville, TN but since we are Fairshare Plus members we can use our annual allocation of points for any resort or affiliate resort they have. We can also use the points towards cruises, airline tickets, rental cars, and hotels. I decided to use our points for this year to get a hotel in Chicago over memorial day weekend.

I figured this would be a nice weekend getaway. We're going to be staying at the Four Points by Sheraton which judging by the online reviews I've read is a nice hotel in a great location (magnificent mile!). Normally hotels in the magnificent mile area cost a whole lotta cash (which we ain't got...). The particular room that we reserved for our stay is normally $245 a night but since I used my points all I have to pay is a $35 service charge. Not too bad of a deal I think. Now all that is left to do is to decide out of all the things to do in Chicago, what do we want to cram into 3 days.

Here are the ones I'm thinking of: I want to go the Navy Pier, the Children's museum for Chucky, Lincoln Park Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, the Sears Tower, The Museum of Science and Industry and the Field Museum. Nevermind that the last two you could take up and entire day for each. Not likely that we'll be able to see all that while we're there but we sure can try. They also have a chicago city pass which gives you admission to 5 tourist attractions in Chicago that combined would normally run just under $100 per person to the bargain price of $49. Since I'm all about saving money (I'm one of those people that can squeeze a nickel until a booger shoots out of Jefferson's nose, or until the buffalo shits depending on what kind of nickel you have) I'm really thinking this would be a good deal for us to snatch up two city passes. Lucky for us at his age Chucky gets in to just about everything for free. Well I have almost four months to figure it out anyway.

In other exciting news, it is already late and I will be hitting the books until at least 2 am because I am STILL trying to catch up. I'm to the point where I have no choice now. I either pull it together and finish out the last three weeks strong or I fail the class and throw away $700. So guess i had better get to it.