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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January 14, 2010
Daily exercise update: About 15-20 minutes of brisk walking, skipped the weights.
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Back in 1998, I sat down for a career chat with my history teacher. Thinking he’d have some insight, and privately perhaps even be flattered, I asked what he thought of my majoring in history.
He laughed.
It probably wasn’t that I was bad at the subject, though in hindsight, I certainly lacked that spark of brilliance you associate with the historians with a scent for the stories behind every door. It was that, as he baldly stated, unless I wanted to teach high school level or below, or was prepared to make very little money for the kind of education I’d need to pursue a Ph.D. and then have to fight and scrabble for years in academia for the scraps towards a tenured position — it’s not worth it.
As a Native American, he said, he had the benefit of the Indian scholarships for college and his graduate degree. Without that, he would have been deeply in debt and doubtlessly would have had to make more than a few compromises in terms of lifestyle and career choices. He wasn’t living in high style by any means, but he and his family were comfortable because his education had been paid for and he had more freedom to choose from good programs without concern about repaying undergraduate debt.
Nice circumstances that we can’t all replicate of course, but that’s not the point. The point is that that’s the first and only time I ever encountered a teacher specifically counseling for or against a particular course of action by taking into consideration the real life circumstances.
No generic platitudes or pie in the sky rationalizations that vaguely assure you that people will retire and hand over their cush jobs for me. Just the truth, thanks.
This article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (via Moneyapolis) with its handy list of financial qualifications for pursuers of higher education in the humanities further supports my eventual decision not to take a Masters in English Literature or some other liberal arts program.
Personally, I’m grateful. At that point a reality check was no bad medicine because it got me thinking about practical things like making a living and sustainable professions. Not a bad seed to plant in a 16 year old’s mind.
Ten years later, everyone remembers him as the loud and mean history teacher, I remember him as the guy who reminded me that once you get out of school, you’re in the real world with consequences and bills.
January 13, 2010
Daily Exercise Update: Speed-schlepped 500 yards carrying about 15 pounds of bulk in my turtle shell-like backpack.
Genetically anomalous tidbit: I have a male friend whose mother and aunts are all color blind. All the males descended from that matriarchal line are colorblind, except him. Oh, chi square, what happened?
Posts in other places: Read the post up at the Carnival of Personal Finance site about my fun times with having my identity exposed. (I had to reword that so as not to imply the CoPF site did the exposing.)
January 12, 2010
Daily exercise update: My legs were screaming at me, I had to pass.
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Pure indulgence I always thought Amazon Prime was, for the infrequent buyer like me. While free two-day shipping and zero minimum orders would be awesome, I’d never really had an issue with bundling orders and filler items. I avoid filler items, actually, but that’s beside the point.
That $79/year may not seem like a whole lot over the course of a year, it’s just under $7 a month, but I always knew there were better uses for my almost $100. It seemed kind of like the skip to the front of the line pass at an amusement park. I don’t mind lines so much in good company, so it never seemed worth it.
So I never knew, and none of the reviews I’d ever read of the service ever mentioned, that an Amazon Prime membership holder can actually invite up to four household members to use their services. You could potentially split that membership more than two ways to defray the cost of a Prime membership to a more reasonable $20 or $30/year if you really wanted the luxury of fast and awfully cheap (you are still paying the membership fee, after all) shipping.
This could be useful if you’ve got family members away at college: they’d be able to save on shipping for *ahem* textbooks, and such. You know, the school type stuff. 😉
January 11, 2010
Daily Exercise Update: I spent 20+ minutes at the park playing with a friend’s 15-month-old daughter. Aka, chasing tiny little gigglefest around sand and dirt. I feel creaky.
Please check out this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance at Darwin’s Finance!
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I’m due for a good overhaul.
Not only have I done nothing about the previous list of repairs, I’ve gone and racked up another couple To Dos: the heater’s gone out since we last discussed the ole horseless carriage, and it’s time for another oil change. Already.
This is the flip side of loving an old car. And I doubt I’ve got time to rack up enough Driver’s Edge purchase point credits to apply towards the repair costs because I derailed that plan with the credit card promotions I wanted to fulfill. Ooops. That was my fault, I just didn’t think about the poor timing and make a better final decision.
Keeping the two plans separated should not have been too difficult. Typically I’d accomplish one goal, earning points on the Driver’s Edge card first with only normal spending, and then move on to the next set of credit cards. But while we’re second guessing decisions here, let’s calculate the cost-benefit of splitting up my spending across the three cards for promos. I’ve got a nice spreadsheet for tracking the promotions:
Chase Sapphire: $100 cash ($6 spent)American Express: $150 in GCs ($1100 spent)
Citi Forward: $100-110 in GCs ($250 spent)
Had I collected that spending ($1356) on the Driver’s Edge card, I would have earned 1356 points, which translates into $13.56 in Driver’s Edge dollars. That frees up the same amount of Drive mile dollars ($13.56).
On second thought, the net gain is higher this way because even doubled (by adding the existing Drive miles points in dollar value), I’d still have less than $50 to spend on repairs. The Chase promotion, paid in cash, more than covers that amount.
I made the right decision there, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve still got to get the car to the shop. We’re only a few thousand miles away from a 100,000 mile check, too, so I should gird myself for spending a fair chunk of the car maintenance fund on this set of repairs. Wish me luck!
January 10, 2010
Well-Heeled’s sort of convinced me to join her small army of Jillianators. Almost. There’s something creepy about the name “Shredders.” Oh, right, Shredder a la hunter of Ninja Turtles! No no, I can’t be part of that.
I don’t have any interest in losing weight, or getting toned ’cause I’m happy with the shape of my body. I am interested, however, in regaining some of my lost stamina. Y’see, I just realized that I’ve been saying, “when I was in shape, I could ….” for ten years. That’s right, this year is my ten-year reunion. Not that I’m going ….
My physical activity’s just fallen off a cliff since high school. I did martial arts, I rode horseback, I ran track, and I remember being 17 years old, swearing that my workout routines would not change one iota once I started college.
I meant well, and hung on for a few more years. Then life got in the way. Between my joints, which had been steadily deteriorating, and 80-hour work and school weeks, I couldn’t keep up the active lifestyle. After graduating, work consumed my life, and the constant joint pain meant high impact was off the table. All I knew was high impact, I was the fishy not allowed to swim anymore! [Ironically, I can’t swim.] I blinked, and my ability to exercise for three hours at a time was just … gone!
It felt like it happened overnight, but that’s not the case. It’s taken this long to accept that getting back to exercise means starting at the very beginning like I’m a freshman in high school but with the joints and fatigue of an 75-year-old and finding a new level of fitness. Not acting like I can do everything just like when I was 18. That was the key to my failure every other time I worked out. Haunted by ghosts of What I Used To Do, I’d push myself far beyond my abilities and end up flat on my back.
Older and wiser, I’m going to join the periphery of the group by taking up my own challenge of working from 20 up to 30 minutes of free form cardio activity each day. It’s nice to have a sense of solidarity, even if it’s virtual.
As a tester, I did 20 mins of wind sprints with a dash of free weights yesterday. I’m going to hang at 20 minutes for a while because my knees were like jelly afterward. But I didn’t reach the point of severe bedridden pain.
As hard as it is to start over, I can’t wait to experience the joy of exercise again. The endorphins, the hard-earned sweat that clears out your pores, the yellow cake I’d bake from a 99 cent mix and eat afterward. Awesome.
If anyone is interested in the Shred, head on over to Well-Heeled’s and join the group! If you just want to hang out and chuckle at my geriatric efforts, you’re more than welcome. Chime in at any time if you have low-impact activity suggestions to add to the mix.
Oh, and don’t be surprised if my daily updates all start with “I almost died.” I’ll mean it, every time.
January 9, 2010
My best bud, Robin, was up for a promotion at work. But he’s not getting it.
They’re considering sending him to another level over the one he was proposing!
This new promotion’s gone through most of the C-level execs for review and approval and it’s awaiting final approval and parameter-setting.
I’m so proud of him! He took the initiative, wrote a proposal, and he took a risk in sending it off without consulting his current manager. It was such a good proposal that upper management recognized that he was proposing great ideas, and told his current manager that his proposal saves the company at least $25,000 which makes that manager look *really* good.
Please cross your fingers for Robin! 🙂
January 8, 2010
TGIF! Does everyone have exciting weekend plans? I might, a few of us might meet in the middle and visit with a friend back in town from one of the Dakotas.
It’s funny, back when I was working 60-, 70-, and 80-hour weeks, I had completely forgotten what leisure looked like. My hobbies were eating and sleeping until I worked again. Nowadays, I spread out my fun throughout the week since I’m living a somewhat freelance life. In no particular order ….
1. Hulu
Instead of watching real TV, I poke around on Hulu for a few shows to eat watch while I’m eating lunch or dinner at my desk. Sadly, the selection has been poor lately. It might just be because we’re between seasons or post-holiday or some such but I also wish they would have more past seasons available.
2. Library
I’ve been a regular at our local library these past months for the free wi-fi when my internet was down, and for the books. Our library is pretty populated during the days, more than I would have expected, but then again I was never in there when I still worked full time.
3. Fighting with the TreasuryDirect site
I always forget my password, I hate checking on my bond there. I should never have bothered to convert, cashing out the bond or checking on the current price online was so much easier when it was paper.
4. Job Hunting, related jobby activities
It’s only mildly entertaining but I do it every day. And it’s free. So there you go. (Actually it doesn’t belong on this list at all since I don’t do it for FUN.)
5. Blogging, twittering, reading online
Major time killer, and I’m even mildly productive. Some days, wildly so.
6. Coupon clipping
Yes, it’s a precursor to spending, but not always my spending. Sometimes I’m just collecting coupons for MoneyMateKate’s Robin Hooding. I only CVS/Walgreen’s Rewards if my deals are all-inclusive: the coupons cover what I need and the rewards generated are used for another upcoming deal for something I need. My attention span’s short these days so I don’t commit to big deals and rounds.
7. Walking
If I have to run errands within a 1.5 mile radius, I’ll walk to and from. As I work on my stamina, the amount of time spent in transit will improve.
8. Playing with my finances
Most everything’s automated really, so I take the pulse every few days and keep an eye out for possible improvements or possible revenue generators.
9. Grooming the dogs
Very gently and very carefully; that dog’s a walking fluff-ball and loves to be loved on.
10. Pro bono work
Friends and family often call on me for assistance in my areas of expertise: organizing moves, bargain hunting, setting up relatively new tech (not that I’m any expert, but I do have the time to figure it out), vetting college or med school applications, drafting official letters for Causes, spending time with lonely folk, etc.
As you can see, it’s not terribly exciting over here, but I keep pretty busy without spending much money. I am getting itchy feet again, though, I had a quick Chuck-style flash about spending some time overseas last night. If that could be managed while avoiding airports and flying entirely, I’d totally be in.
