About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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April 13, 2010
I discovered that the San Francisco public library has 27 branches. 2-7!! And you can go to any branch, request books from any other branch, and return books to any branch.
I died.
I can even walk to at least one of them so on my “lunch break” I skipped food to get myself a card and started requesting books like a madwoman.
Two Terry Pratchett paperbacks came home with me immediately, and I have three pending requests for management books promoted by Harvard Business Review. If they’re good, depending on the focus and subject matter, I plan to share them with my direct reports who are management material.
Has anyone ever been so excited about discovering the library over the age of five??
April 12, 2010
I could be typing this on the netbook at work on my lunch break instead of frantically tapping on the iPhone on my ride home. My hands are cramped enough already.
More importantly, I can easily carry the netbook to and from work for note-keeping purposes and keep confidential information on my employees secure. The 1-subject spiral bound that I’m using to take notes during every meeting is just not going to cut it because I have to keep taking it home with me and it’s positively NOT secure when I’m at work. I can’t very well put a diary lock on it, now can I?
There’s a touch of concern that it’ll just look uppity carrying a netbook around the office, but frankly? To save myself the time and pain of typing up post-meeting summary translation of my hand-scribbled notes and to be able to secure all employee related files on a flash drive that I can easily pop into my purse? Call me MS. Uppity!
In all seriousness, a netbook’s not in the budget. I don’t even have a new saving plan set up – I’m still waiting on my first paycheck to straighten out my budgeting. But I surely would love to make some room for it.
[small part of me pipes up: “You’ve already spent thousands already, what’s another two hundred dollars?” *smack!!* “Cuz shut up, that’s what!”]
The Skylight’s not to be released until later this summer, and there’s no way it’ll be affordable — ’tis a Lenovo, after all. But a girl can dream, can’t she?
April 10, 2010
The sun’s not shining, but I woke up naturally without a struggle at seven this morning, and had an hour to accustom myself to the odd sensation of painless early rising. That’s pretty fantastic. I was really worried about adjusting to long workdays again because of my weird spates of fatigue. I make it through longer days but am pretty beat at night
Today’s my “sixth workday” – it’s time to do everything I didn’t manage to work on during the week.
1. Log at least 3 hours on the freelance gig.
2. Write ~ 4000 words. (of which, at least some should be to help out Funny About Money)
3. Transcribe notes from work and organize them so I’ll be ready to start a new week on Monday.
4. Take my new employee training courses, plus the one assigned to my staffer.
Accomplished this week!
Counting today’s planned meals, I’ve very proud to say that I’ve only eaten out once this week. It was a little rice curry and sashimi meal (just a few pieces) to celebrate surviving my first full week intact.
I’m working on the dinner menu for next week, starting with some salmon tonight and roasted chicken tomorrow (which becomes at least two meals, chicken stock and delicious chicken soup). I’m avoiding red meats for now because they’re both expensive and less healthy, but am casting about for some good crockpot and ground turkey recipes. Not necessarily in conjunction, but I’m ok with that.
Reading this week
My gleanings aren’t as robust as usual, but I’ve been lucky to squeeze in a post or two, reading on my commute.
The NY Times continues coverage on the Pope’s earlier dealings with abusive priests. This whole thing just infuriates me. How can you look at such an egregious transgression and just say “let’s wait [years!] to conclude this decision”!? If I were Catholic, the sense of betrayal would be overwhelming.
Mrs. Micah ‘fessed up to a pretty big mistake that’s totally understandable and I’m proud of how she rallied after realizing what’d happened.
She also shared this most hilarious site specifically for designers but totally applicable to anyone who has ever dealt with clients: Clients From Hell
Me in Millions wondered why you would throw down a frugality gauntlet. In this case, it was Life as a Purse‘s challenge to herself.
MoneyMateKate had a turbulent experience traveling without her credit card. I’m totally paranoid about carrying much cash so I couldn’t do it unless I’d already phased the cards out of my life.
Having a good weekend, all?
April 9, 2010
In a lot of ways, my motivation for being responsible is because I don’t ever want to look back and wish I’d tried one thing or started another. In my mind’s eye, five or ten years from now I’m going to have certain wishes and expectations for my life that Present Me has to start to fulfill right now in order for it to come to fruition later.
Owning a Home, Having a Family
There are very few inspirations in life that spring full-form from my imagination and bear fruit immediately. Sometimes I just want a McDonald’s apple pie and that’s just a short walk and a dollar away. Other times, I want cute homemade pies and that’s a whole week of buying ingredients, finding the perfect pots, and settling down to business for a whole day.
I equate life processes with construction: you cannot have a house without a foundation; you cannot have double paned glass in your bay window seat if you never built walls. In the same way, you can’t own a home without having first secured a steady income, saved for a down payment, or managed your bills so that a mortgage would fit comfortably among your other financial obligations.
The same goes for having a family. I don’t have a mental picture of who my family “should” be (which means I fail as an Asian parent already) or what we’ll be doing, but I do know that I want us to all be healthy, hearty and whole. That means I have to have built solid relationships, platonic or romantic, to be a stable person with a spouse with whom I can be happy.
People-watching, and listening to colleagues blow off steam, has revealed that while the most unstable individuals certainly had relationships, they were flighty, nervous, insecure and altogether miserable. Sure, they weren’t miserable alone, but that just meant two people (and all their friends around them) were brought down to the same level.
I can’t control other people, but I can make wiser choices and not torture a potential spouse with unfounded accusations and neuroses that spring from previous choices.
And if I want to retire someday, it’d be a much cushier retirement if I had enough socked away 40 years from now to fund all my retirement schemes.
Reach for the stars
Even though my feet are firmly planted on the ground (and heights make me nervous so they’ll stay there), my head can be in the clouds, dreaming up the destination I’d love to arrive at some day, and mapping out the roads I might take to get there.
I won’t lie, sometimes Future Me is a demanding jerk and Present Me hates her for that.
[1. Ph.D.? Are you serious? How the H*&^%^ do I make that happen while working my way up a ladder to make 6 figures??
2. Really? Make your own wedding dress and learn to speak 4 different languages? Bite me.]
But sometimes Future Me has great ideas and Present Me can’t wait to get started.
April 8, 2010
I’ve started meal planning for lunches and dinners through the week with the goal of not eating out more than twice a week (if that). Expensed and catered meals don’t count, but I don’t plan on having too many of those.
So far, I’m scheduled to cook every other day and plan to make enough to package up lunch servings for either the next day or day after. That way I cut cook times in half, and don’t have to scramble for the next round of meals. As long as I don’t miss a cook day, the rolling menu should work pretty well.
Crockpot meals should be good for freezing ahead, too.
Breakfasts are simple. A couple eggs with green onions or a bit of oatmeal with a handful of walnuts is the most I can handle that early in the morning. Fruit is packed for a mid-morning snack, and so does a bar of some sort. (I LOVE Lemon Zest LunaBars.)
Some of my favorite dinner recipes
Roasted chicken (yields 2-4 meals depending on the size of the chicken).
Balsamic chicken (yields 2-3 servings) — Modified this recipe by using much less balsamic vinegar.
And lemon garlic chicken — this recipe with maybe a few less lemons.
By cooking at home, I should be bringing meal costs down to around $5 or less, including a veggie and carb side. I like brown rice best, but breads, pastas and quinoa are welcome additions to my plate.
April 7, 2010
To counter my tales of woe and angst fomented by Bekins and their “services” this week, I’d like to take a moment to praise a company for responsiveness.
I hate checking luggage: my poor suitcase gets so abused! But it can’t be helped on some trips and on one such, the pull tabs on the zippers had been snapped right off. The zipper itself worked but it’s become a dexterity challenge pushing the little zipper nubbin along the track. I intended to do something about it, but stored my suitcase after a trip and forgot about it until the move.
I tied ribbons where the tabs had once been, and that worked as a temporary measure but only roughly so – the zipper track would become warped if I insisted on using a MacGyvered method too long.
In cases like these, I’m glad to be a bit OCD about tags, because I still have the original tags with the warranty/lifetime guarantee/contact information in the side pocket. I sent off an emailed query to Victorinox Swiss Army’s customer query department about what I could do to solve the problem. I received an email from customer service asking for the model/style number, responded to that email, and received a confirmation of a shipped order for new pull tabs, no charge, within 24 hours. Those pull tabs were delivered to my door without another word.
Bravo, Victorinox. Under no obligation, and without even being asked, to replace parts that were broken in the normal course of wear and tear with such rapidity is worthy of acknowledgment. Most companies would see such a little thing and stonewall the customer. Instead, you’ve cemented the value of your lifetime guarantee by providing good service as a matter of course.
*Now I just have to figure out how to attach them.
April 5, 2010
Well, Bekins failed again!
Pretty spectacularly, too. They got so far as to get my shipment to the Bay Area Monday night, and contracted with another company to deliver on Tuesday. Except 3rd party company called me on Tuesday saying they were NOT delivering that day, they were delivering Wednesday. And oh, btw? 700 pounds of stuff was going to be dropped curbside, they would not bring anything inside.
No. No, and no.
Bekins got another call from me with this information, the dispatcher went off to do his thing supposedly, and came back two hours later saying it was resolved. 3rd party would deliver on Wednesday by noon and would bring everything indoors as per our contract.
I asked him to take the shipment back and deliver it with his crews- he absolutely insisted that he had a backup crew to deliver in case the 3rd party failed to come through but he was SURE they would. Does anyone else doubt his word? And his faith?
Wednesday at noon heralded a weak sun and no rain for which I was immensely grateful because I spent the next twenty minutes being told that the driver was going to drop a huge pallet of my stuff on the ground and leave because they were a freight company, not a moving company. My dispatcher put me on hold four times, while the delivery guy was impatiently stomping about telling me, “I can’t do what they promised! I get ten minutes per drop and that’s it!”
His boss contacted him, telling him to drop my goods next to the elevator and leave. Just leave. OR leave with my stuff and let Bekins deal with the delivery.
I was livid.
There was no way that guy was leaving with my stuff, but there was no way I was physically forcing him to stay. I was very very polite to him, explaining that at my size, there wasn’t any chance I’d be able to bring my stuff upstairs alone. I also told him that I didn’t hold him responsible for any of the mess, that I expected Bekins to fix it and pleaded with him to give me a few minutes to make something happen at their end.
The Bekins dispatcher had the nerve to tell me he could have a crew over to move the rest of my stuff inside my home by 3 pm, leaving me with a pile of goods in a public area, unattended!
Finally, I had the delivery guy break down the pallet and bring it the elevator, as far as his boss would allow, and was on the phone the rest of the time trying to get someone to do their jobs.
By the time he got all the stuff carted over to the elevator I still didn’t have a solution.
He looked at me, said, “My day’s shot. Where’s your apartment? Don’t tell anyone, I’m just goin to take this up for you.”
And he did.
At that point, the Bekins guy called me saying that he was “so embarrassed” to ask me to do this, but was there any way I could get someone else to help move my stuff upstairs? He just couldn’t get anyone there right away. Furious, I just told him that I’d figure it out and, for the first time in the entire ordeal, stated that I was completely dissatisfied with everything that had happened since pick-up, and this was the worst service I’d ever experienced.
He sputtered. Considering he caused this entire mess, taking it upon himself to delay the shipment for two days for no good reason (which he’d stated up front on Monday), he entirely deserved that shot. And was nearly apoplectic telling me that he understood I was through with them but they weren’t through with me, that he was seeking a resolution because they were absolutely embarrassed and were going to seek compensation for me.
Uh huh.
I have my letter, edited to add the Wednesday festivities, ready to go out by registered mail with a copy emailed to the Better Business Bureau if I don’t hear that a check is in the mail on Tuesday. More than six hundred dollars and all three days of my time before starting a new job was wasted dealing with Bekins in Southern California. Not one of their shining moments.
