Free Application for Federal Student Aid - Update

I applied for my new FAFSA PIN on Saturday August and received it on the next working day Monday 22^nd.
I Returned to the FAFSA website armed with my new PIN, I selected a school and applied for assistance. My application was accepted and confirmed. Following is from my confirmation email.

Confirmation number:F XXXXXss## BR 08/24/2009 20:02:58 Data Release Number (DRN):####

Estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = x Dollar Amount

The EFC is an index that schools use to determine your eligibility and is not the amount of money that you have to pay.

Based on your EFC of x Dollar Amount you appear to be eligible to receive the following:

Low-interest federal student loans. The amount of these loans depends on, among other things, your year in college, the cost of attendance at your school, and what other student aid you will be receiving.
You may also be eligible to receive other federal, state, or institutional grants, scholarships, and/or work-study.

One day later I received my FAFSA Results.
My 2009-2010 Student Aid Report or SAR was also sent to my school of choice.

Arapahoe Community Collegee sent a letter that I got on Saturday stating that, My financial aid will be determined after I am admitted as a student.

I will register for the Spring semester.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid

We had a good week at work this week. We did a lot.

On the way home I pass the Sunflower Market and since no one would be cooking at home, I shopped.

One five-pack of fresh corn, cropped and mostly shucked.

Two half-gallons of house orange juice, from concentrate.

Two green bell peppers.

One half-gallon of Silk soy milk, unsweetened. (I like the way soy milk tasted before sugar was invented.)

One mesh sack of small oranges, Cuties or Mandarin.

Some yogurt.

The beef sirloins, New York Strip cut, were on special. I passed. Next week.

This day I conversed with the young lady on her way out after a ten hour at the butcher counter. She said "hi how ya doin" or something like that. She always acknowledges and greets. She is working forty hours a week and going to school at Metropolitan State College of Denver. I asked if she is getting any of the new federal assistance available? She indicated that she is getting some help and would check to see if more is now available. Word is that enrollment is up over 40% at Metro. I am sure the new grants and the economy pop contribute to the increase.

Now is a good time to go to school if you are not working as income is a qualifier. The less you can afford to pay tuition, the more you qualify for assistance. I am going to apply for assistance. I have applied for a new FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) PIN. Because I have not used my PIN in the last 18 months my PIN has been deactivated.

Cris , my favorite checker had the shortest line. I hadn't seen Cris at the store in quite some time. He says to me, "how ya doin, I haven't seen you in a long time" or something like that. I reply, "Yeah! Have you been on vacation?"
No, Cris has recently recovered from a hernia repair. I've been there, twice!

Recycle Now and Then

I had a recycle thing going on in the '90s. I had a bigger thing for Diet Coke.

The recycle incentive was all about the cash.

My Diet Coke intake was about eight cans a day.

I rinsed and saved all of my empties. I filled plastic grocery bags with the clean cans and threw them into the attic.

Do you remember the automated recycle stations from the last century? Feed your aluminum cans in the hopper, the recycle station preferred whole cans and would smash and compact them, then dispense your reward in quarters.

I was ready for a payday and I loaded my '87 Volvo 242DL. The car was filled up to the bottom of the windows, front and back with full bags of near pristine empty Diet Coke cans.

As I filled the hopper with cans the machine would auger the cans inside and crush them and move them to the storage area. After enough weight was accumulated, a quarter would drop in the payoff slot. After many bags, my reward was $9.75.

We had several paper recycle bins at my previous employer. The bins were segregated by color, white, and coated stock. The bins were about 4' x 5' by 4 feet high. Our company picnics were funded by the recycle effort.

Now, at work, We have a recycle bin in the building. We have labeled our former trash cans as either Recycle cans or "Not Recycle" cans. We empty the recycle cans on Fridays, or when they are full so the cleaning crew will not waste our sorting efforts by dumping everything in the trash bin.

"Recycle" is evolving from a money effort into a common sense effort.

Gmail, It's Just Not Beta Anymore!

I have been using Gmail for so long that occasionally I would be surprised when I would re-realize that it was still a beta application. I use email at work for receiving client art and data. I have two corporate email accounts. Until a month ago I used MS Office / Outlook to manage email.

My data workstation runs PrintShop Mail with Adobe Acrobat 6.0 as a plug in for images. Until I upgrade PrintShop Mail this box works just fine. Meantime I am getting leaner with my resources.

Now Gmail accessess all my mail for all three of my work PCs. Google Docs opens my .xfiles when I don't want to roll over to the graphics workstation. The GraphicsPrePress machine has Office 2007, Quark 7, and Adobe Creative Suite 4.

I have uninstalled Outlook and I feel fine.

Forth of July - The long weekend ends.

After four days off I am ready for the four days of work that will lead to another weekend.

It was nice, now it is over.

I got in trouble for eating the leftover chicken. It was pretty good! I baked peanut butter cookies to make amends.

Captain Phil has another boat in his fishing waters tomorrow evening on the Discovery Channel. Deadliest Catch!