January 15, 2007

I saved the old template, just in case ….

but what say thee? I’m not a huge fan of the colors or the font size here, but what do you think of this look?

January 13, 2007

Saturday mornings used to be way better

Ugh, I keep trying to post but either work or this thrice be-durned cold keeps getting worse! So here I am, unable to sleep in on a Saturday morning, which is arguably my most favorite thing to do, because I’ve coughed up one lung and am working on the other. Cough? Check. Headache? Check. Tissues up the nose? Check.

How pleasant.

The other thing keeping me up is this post by Mapgirl about her raise and being lowballed by her company. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m really being underpaid for the work I do. I have two years of experience in the job now, and it’s not just your basic, run of the mill, entry level experience. In two years’ time, I’ve taken over quite a spectrum of responsibilities and supposedly impressed both my bosses no end. But I really feel like my raises haven’t reflected that. Or am I expecting too much?

I came into this job with no real experience at all so I know my salary started out around the bottom. Since then, I’ve received a 6% raise in the first year, and a delayed 12% raise at the end of the second year. Even with my bonus, if I run a basic unpersonalized Salary.com check, I don’t even register on their chart for a basic definition of the position I hold. My actual responsibilities are far greater than listed on the site. I mean, I could understand being on the low end because our company is a non-profit and only has about 9 employees, but seriously, I don’t even come CLOSE to registering at the 10th percentile end of the range!

Maybe it’s time to initiate that conversation. Maybe I need to ask how our salaries are determined and how it would be possible for me to earn at least general market value. The Fairness Patrol in my mind always holds me back because I know we’re working under the double constraints of being a non-profit within the structure of a university that lives and dies by their pay grades, but I often wonder why I keep looking out for the company’s interests before mine? It may seem a futile effort that will just create ill-will on Little Boss’s part, but I hope that if I handle it well … well, I just hope I handle it well. Perhaps I need to take the stress out of it by viewing this as a factfinding mission, first.

I always always hate the necessity of trying to negotiate when I don’t feel like the table is even in the room, but I hate feeling ignorant and possibly gypped just as much!! Hello, rock. Hello, hard place. How are y’all doin?

And I wonder if it would be worth the cost of buying an actual personalized Salary.com report?

January 9, 2007

It’s been a hectic day in the office

and tomorrow will be worse because I’ll be gone most of the day in my first ABCs of Supervision class. Yessss, my little miss bossiness is about to be officially sanctioned!!

For all my griping about Citibank, I noticed that they’ve actually changed one thing I have not yet complained (aloud) about: their inter-institutional transfers were free INto Citi, but they charged to move money OUT. Now? It’s free! The $1000 daily Next Day Transfer limits are still in place, but I can withdraw my money just as fast as I deposit, if I so desire. Finally!

And, I know I keep saying I need to go back to school for my graduate degree in whatever-I-decide, when-I-decide, but I found myself mentally coming up with reasons to cancel this class for the last three days. Tsk tsk! Lazy!

January 8, 2007

Pens & Lip Balm

Good, juicy, fine point gel points with a grip neither too large nor too small. And just about any sort of lip balm that moisturizes. Apart from the usual wallet, cell phone and keys, what must you absolutely have when you leave the house? (In your pocket, all of your purses, and travel bags, etc.?) I realized that I couldn’t scramble for more than a second for any pen or lip balm: they’re on top of my desk, in my left desk drawer, in my workbag in my drawer and in the right hand pocket of my coat hanging behind me. Just call it OCD access.

January 7, 2007

Roth: How I picked a fund

I was good and bad when I picked my Roth. I’ve known that this was coming for weeks, duh, I blogged about it when I got my bonus, but I didn’t reallllly research too much. Tsk tsk! Seriously, 3k of my money gone in ten clicks and I didn’t research?? What the heck was I thinking? Well, anyway, I’m glad I waited because I’ve been diligently reading my WSJ and finally hit the investing pages that covered the performance of stocks and bonds. I know past performance is NOT an indicator of future performance, but I just wanted to get a feel for what sorts of bonds were out there.

I decided on a bond mutual fund through Vanguard for two reasons: simplicity’s sake because that’s where my 403(b) is, and because my 403(b) is VERY aggressive, holding 92% stocks. I need some Bond Action to even that up there. [Speaking of Bond Action, I finally caught up to the rest of the world and saw Casino Royale. I was suitably impressed, though rather puzzled by a couple things in the plot. Did anyone else see it? Like it? Dislike? ok, back to the regularly scheduled programming ….] So, bonds. Yes, bonds. I realized that the way I was looking at bonds through Vanguard’s site was leading me to a bunch of junk bonds [well, they’re below investment grade, which are referred to as “junk” bonds, I believe] and although I had read an article about junk bonds becoming more desirable, I’m not ready to go there. High investment grade for me, thanks!

I took advantage of Vanguard’s nifty notes on each mutual fund and decided against one fund because I AM still a low-tax bracket resident and not in need of a tax-exempt fund yet, and against other funds that charge a fee which is never phased out, unlike still other funds which charge $10/year until your fund contains more than $5000.

I finally settled on the fund that has me (for now) written all over it: Long-Term Treasury Fund. It’s for investors who are seeking a high and stable level of interest income, and a bond investment to balance the risks of a portfolio containing stocks. It’s not for investors who are unwilling to accept significant fluctuations in share price or seeking long-term growth of capital.

It’s not that I’m not seeking long-term growth of capital but as I said earlier, I need to balance out my heavy on the stocks portfolio.

January 6, 2007

If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is.

January 5, 2007

*jig jig jig* Roth! *jig* IRA! *jig*

I finally opened my Roth IRA!! My first $3000 contribution! I’m thoroughly thrilled.