July 28, 2008
Back in my room after 9 hours of meeting, through a working breakfast and lunch. I had about half a day’s notice that this meeting was going to be centered around my area of expertise, at least for the first day, and given the amount of miscommunication and animosity surrounding the area, I was very concerned about how this would go. It went ok, though, considering.
Felt compelled to clean up work emails for the next hour and half since I’ve got some time before dinner, but it occurs to me that I’ve also got a week’s worth of personal finance and blogging, reading and commenting, and news to catch up on. I’ve not touched financial stuff for days and that makes me antsy. Also, my work email account is acting crazy and rejecting my password; I think it’s a sign to just do my own thing.
I almost don’t know where to start, so I’ve got about 7 windows open and the WSJ spread out on the desk in front of me.
Ah yes, and the retirement account balances have declined yet again. Not much change, then.
Am raring to complete an expense report for the San Diego trip, but not enough time. Have the feeling that this will be the state of affairs for at least a few more days.
July 16, 2008
I’m on check number 861. That’ll be the rent check, looks like. I had to refresh my checks today, and realized that I still have my very first check register from my very first checking account opened three days after my 18th birthday back in 2000. I’m almost positive that I only waited three days because my birthday was on a Friday and I couldn’t go to the bank until Monday. I was THAT excited to open my very own checking (and savings) accounts.
First transaction: Deposit, $200
First finance-related post it note to self: NO MORE PERSONAL SPENDING! (Even back then ….)
First purchase: Checks, $11.50 (These must have been the bank checks you get when you don’t know better, because on the last page of this register, one year later, I bought checks for $16.50. I’m still using checks from that purchase, 7.5 years later.)
Flipping through that register, I sure did keep meticulous records. They’re even highlighted in some color coding scheme that, I’m sure, meant something very particular back in the day. Have no clue what it means now. I also wrote a whole lot of checks for bills that weren’t my own. Hm.
This is probably going to stay on the protected list when I go through and discard all my old paperwork.
July 1, 2008
Please remember that the hands-free cell phone law takes effect today. If you’re 18 and over, use your phone while driving, you must use a hands-free set, or ….
The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount.
The violation will be on your driving record, though you won’t be charged with a violation point.
There is no grace period, the law takes effect today.
Out of state drivers are also subject to the same law.
Be careful out there today (and every other day)!
Edit: Or you could go ahead and get that $20 ticket, and send a copy of it in to get a free, high-end headset valued at $150 by Plantronics. Nice way to encourage breaking the law, Headsets.com.
June 29, 2008
’tis noon. ‘Tis noonish, and there’s a very light cool breeze gently sneaking through the window every so often to keep my room nice and comfortable, but not enough to do more than jiggle the leaves on the plants in the courtyard.
It’s just about perfect out there. So what am I doing inside??
I just can’t decide what I want to do, and in what order.
I’ve made my grocery shopping list for this week’s lunches: whole wheat bread, some tuna, cheese, salad kit, half pound of sliced roast beef. When I worked out the math, the deli meat is cheaper than the packaged sort, even when it’s on sale. Go figure. I think this week’s lunch list (and breakfast) will run about $15.
iPhone has a new bag of tricks: it claims it has at least 3 bars of reception and drops every single call I make from home. Every. Single. Call. The other day, it just shut off in the middle of a call, and I couldn’t turn it back on. Twice. Visual VM wouldn’t work, half a day. *sigh* I DID get all my contacts entered into Yahoo, so I’ve got to go to the Genius Bar and beg them to give me another one. Or something. ‘Tis a frustration.
Must check on friend. Poor thing has panic attacks, and I spent an hour giving her a massage last night to try to ward another one off. I think it worked! Well, unless she had one after I left, but I think she was ok. My muscles feel like man muscles now, though. At least, what I imagine man muscles would feel like after exertion: all sore and worked out. I shouldn’t mind looking a bit more muscley, I could use some meat on my bones. We watched the track and field Olympic trials last night, and those girls had some very impressive muscles. They weren’t scary and gross like bodybuilders, they just looked terribly terribly fit, with very lovely, toned muscles. I like athletic bodies, they look so healthy! Oh, and if anyone has suggestions for warding off anxiety/panic attacks, your advice would be MOST appreciated. I don’t mind giving massages in the least, but even my fingers and arms get a bit worn out after a few of them. And I don’t actually know enough about it to be really helpful, my approach is just to distract her, make her laugh, or make her relax. That’s sort of a limited repertoire.
Laundry and ironing. Um, I just don’t want to iron. That’s all, just don’t want to. Cause I’m laaaazy.
And I’m awfully tired. It’s so odd, I woke up at 3:15 this morning, convinced that someone had bitten my shoulder. Uh …. noooooo ….. I was so confused, and then confusedly amused, that I couldn’t get back to sleep for about 30 minutes.
I think I’ll take my usual approach: Worst things first. I’ll go iron and start a load of laundry. Go to the Apple store later this evening, take friend along if she’s up for it so she can get out of the house for a short jaunt, and stop at the grocery on the way home.
June 25, 2008
What a disappointment. The title of this event, Fashion Meets Finance, had me jazzed, until I read the article. Then I was just completely disgusted:
The invitation for the Fashion Meets Finance event held last Thursday at Taj read, “Women in fashion need men who can facilitate their pre-30 marriage/retirement plan … And men in finance need women who will allow them to leverage their career in their dating equity.”
Can these people really be serious? Can people really be so shameless?
Apparently, there are so many people out there happy to attend such an event, “over 1,000 — twice the capacity of Taj) that the organization would have to turn away more than half of them.”
Ugh. This completely tops my disgust over the glorification of prom.
June 24, 2008
That wasn’t the best display I’ve ever made. The coworkers were all chattering, and I with them, about twenty minutes ago as I had a snack, and all was fine.
I went back to grab something as I’d delved deep into my work, and needed something from the other room, and found them deep into yet another animated conversation. This after the secretary couldn’t be bothered to get off her personal call to answer the dang phone that was also another personal call for her. They were still laughing and talking, despite knowing they had tasks that were due immediately.
They greeted me excitedly, “Revanche! Look!” as they went to show me something on the computer and my stress of being on deadline for three major projects, simultaneously, snapped. I started to ask, “what?” but found myself going straight into “Is NO ONE else on deadline? Is it JUST ME??” Then walked out.
Geebus.
June 17, 2008
Oh, my goodness. I never thought that our sometimes grossly extravagant tradition of prom would take on such a life of its own in England. This Wall Street Journal article talks about proms becoming popular thanks to “movies like “American Pie” and television shows such as “The O.C.,” and they want the chance to dress up and rent limousines themselves.”
P’raps I’m just an old fuddy duddy now, or our prom just wasn’t that fun, but I can’t recall prom feeling like it was worth more than a couple hundred, all told, much less willingly spending the kind of money these parents are spending on their high school children for a single night:
Sue Clarke and her husband at first balked when their 16-year-old son, Michael, begged them to rent him a bright yellow Lamborghini plus driver for prom night. But they gave in after their son promised to study harder in return.
“We didn’t have proms or things like that when we were younger,” says the 39-year-old Ms. Clarke, who, all told, spent $1,180 on Michael’s prom. She says it was worth every bit of it to see her son so happy.