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
Read More
October 14, 2009
I’m just going to torture myself for a bit here.
via Carnival: 3 Day Ensenada from San Diego $99 for an interior room, or $119 for a stateroom.
Or how about ….
via Travelocity: 7-night NCL Mexican Riviera cruise starting at $199 for an inside room.
It gets better: Limited-Time Offer: Book a Qualified 6-Night and Longer Sailing by October 20, 2009 and Receive up to $250 Onboard Credit. Applicable on select sailings on Norwegian Cruise Line that sail between October 16, 2009 and December 24, 2011. When speaking with a cruise expert mention Promo Code TAWLCN.
Offer Extended!: Book an Oceanview, Balcony, or Suite Stateroom on a qualified 5-Night or Longer Sailing by October 31, 2009 and Receive up to $100 Onboard Credit.
NCL Has Reduced Deposits by 50% on Virtually Every Sailing. Hurry, This Sale Ends October 20, 2009.
Book a Qualified Sailing and Receive Two Free Onboard Savings Booklets.
Firstly, the county of San Diego can go fly a kite.
During the funeral weekend, we had to use the toll road a few times but each time, the toll booth read a bit fat $0.00. I thought it was a little suspect, but could never get a good photo of the booth when we were passing by.
Sure enough, this week’s mailbag brought proof that I was right, that was a timebomb waiting to go off: three Notices of Toll Evasions! Um, what evasion, people??
There was never an attendent or any other cars on that road so we couldn’t see if the booth was active, if it was out of service, or what the situation was. There wasn’t even a phone number posted on the booth for roadside assistance/questions/etc. Call me crazy, but if you tell me that the price is zero dollars, zero cents, that’s exactly what I’m going to pay ya! Not any of this extra $50 per incident nonsense….
A request… no, wait, three requests for administrative review will be in tomorrow’s mail. Wish me luck, guys, I’m not going to fork over nearly $200 for what amounts to a county-enriching fee-trap without at least a strong argument.
Secondly, the state of California can go fly another kite.
I was honest on my last claim form stating that I had started classes during the time period in question, noting that the classes were online only, and what do they do?
A) Send me a notice of a telephone interview scheduled for 3 weeks from now,
B) paperwork to “verify” my “eligibility for training benefits,” a list of questions that I could easily answer on paper stating that no, my classwork does not interfere with my job search,
and C) No Check.
Oh and there’s icing on this cake: they refuse to answer the phone. Really. The recording says “We’re currently receiving too many calls to answer,” sends you through a Mephistophelian maze of phone options, and then hangs up on you! Way to not even TRY.
Dude. Also, way to punish the populace: hound them for pursuing other options in case sitting around on UI doing nothing but fruitlessly job-hunting seemed kind of useless. We should sit tight, surf the ‘net, and hope that Big Brother provides, hm? Obey precisely or else BB will yank the funding?
I didn’t ask for you to pay for my schooling and I’ll adhere to the “regular unemployment provisions,” so couldn’t you make this another form letter that I can fill out so that I have some income for the next four weeks? I’ll survive, though my cash cushion will be more than a little devastated by this sudden drawdown, but can you imagine someone relying on each check for that month’s bills? I would be thoroughly freaked out.
*sigh* I guess I wouldn’t normally be so put out but … oh heck, of course I would be! It doesn’t matter how much I’m bringing in (or not, at this point) – money has just been flying out the door these past few months. The only thing to do after sending off my objections to the first problem, and preparing to deal with the second problem, is wait and see. In the meantime, it’s absolutely infuriating.
October 13, 2009
I cheated on my no-frivolous-spending mandate recently on a pair of cute, faux-leather ankle boots.
Armed with a sale, a $10 off coupon, and a gift card I wasn’t planning to use on boots, I bought them anyway. The last pair of boots I owned have been retired since 2006, and were knee-high: not exactly the easiest to deal with when you’re constantly having to take them off, and put them back on. (This is a problem when traveling and when you’re Asian and go to anyone’s house. By my age, removing your footwear is a compulsion at the molecular level, practically.)
Now, how do you protect faux-leather boots? Other than not wearing them? Full disclosure: I’m really tough on my clothing/shoes. I fully intend to wear these boots outside, and that means they’re going to encounter weather. If I travel in them, they might even encounter rain. Sleet. Ice. Snow? Can/should you waterproof faux leather?
For once, I’m thinking ahead to try to protect the shoes instead of destroying them, but Google is silent on this matter. It seems like it would have been easier to spend the extra money on real leather boots since lanolin’s an easy fix for that stuff. But faux leather, does it just not require protection?
October 12, 2009
For a mere $7000/year + ~$1000 in maintenance fees + trading fees, you too can generously house up to 7 guests on a week-long trip in Hawaii!
Credit: Ralfbeier from Wikimedia Commons
“Is that worth it?” was on the tip of my tongue, but as I’m one of the invited guests, it seemed prudent not to question my hostess’s financial decisions. 😉 No, really we talk money pretty liberally, she’s deemed it a worthwhile expense in her budget, and she’s got her long-term plan, her financial advisors and all that jazz taken care of.
Now, to worry about my own money! My friend has invited me to come stay with her and a few other friends in Hawaii for a week in November. It’s a rare opportunity for me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I can afford it.
I’d be responsible for my own airfare, meals, and rental car. I’ve already volunteered to cook to “pay” my way. We’d be staying in a 3 bedroom villa, and it looks like single bed guestrooms start at $200/night, you can just imagine the market value of these accommodations!
Flying United, I can use a left over travel voucher to defray the cost of a round-trip ticket (approx. $500). Another option is to check through each of my rewards (hotel and others) to see if any can be redeemed for airline miles and/or value cards to further bring down the cost of airfare. For example, 20k Starpoints could be redeemed for 25K United miles to bring my total United account to 41k, but that’s only enough for a saver fare to HNL, which isn’t available for redemption. S’ok, maybe next time.
Meals would just go on the credit card and get paid out of the travel fund, there aren’t a ton of ways to get creative with groceries. As for the rental car, Hilton points can be redeemed for a few days’ rental. I should have enough for at least a couple days with either Budget or Alamo.
My travel fund sits less-than-pretty at about $500. If I take this trip, that’d be it for the year unless I can come up with extra cash between now and then. On the other hand, when am I ever going to get to go to Hawaii for the price of a plane ticket and food
Oh wait, the fun stuff! My friend insists that I have to go to a luau for my first time in Hawaii, but I just went to a luau party where several people said the dancers and fire dude were significantly better than the shows they saw in Hawaii this year. The only thing missing from the huuuuge spread of food, mai tais, pina coladas, and the show was a roast pig. Does anyone think the whole authentic package is worth between $50-200 per person just for roast pork? (Yuuuummm…) Is there any other reason to go? Right now, I can’t really get behind it.
I’m hoping to have tons of free fun walking the island, enjoying nature and maybe reading lots.
October 11, 2009
444 Express’s post on How the Poor Stay Poor made me laugh because a) my dad’s smoking addiction drives me up the wall — I’m sure that he’s going to get sick on me next, and financially it’s terrible, and b) I was inordinately proud of my grocery basket contents today.
For under $15, I came home with:
(2) 10-ct boxes of instant oatmeal
(1) 6-ct package of whole wheat English muffins
(1) loaf of 100% whole wheat bread
(1) Jonathan apple
(4) Bartlett pears
(1) 12-ct package of string cheese
I know the comparison of cheap fast foods and expensive wholesome food is made constantly, but I really like that, if you look at it, shop sales, and use coupons, nutritious foods can be had for not too much more than a few fast food meals. For the record, the string cheese was my splurge at $4.99 for a package of Precious brand cheese + a peelie coupon for $1 off. I miss peelies!
Oh, and there is a meal combination in that list because I’ve been buying two cans of tuna fish every time they were on sale for the past year. We now have a stockpile of tuna tucked away in every corner of the kitchen. It’s ’bout time I started eating it! My friend suggested that I dice some apple into the tuna salad, and it tastes delicious!
Now, time to crack the books!
October 10, 2009
By which I mean: I’m getting my money back via refunds and such.
The Epson is working out wonderfully, so the tiny Canon i-70 from my college days has been retired. I’m considering eBaying it, as well as an old 35 mm point and shoot Lexio camera also from college days. Of course, that means I’d have to overcome my aversion to eBay that marks me an internet troglodyte. It’s really time to get over that.
Happily, returning the ink for the printer to Staples was easy as (eating) cake: I’ve now got a $25 Staples cash card to go with a $6 ink cartridge recycling credit. Perhaps this can go toward a new external hard drive for a friend. I just need a good sale + rebate to combine with the cash + credit.
Chegg processed refunds on the two textbooks they failed to send me, and the third book finally arrived so we’re set on that front.
A failed rebate postcard goes back out tomorrow with proof that my purchase was indeed valid. Perhaps they’ll pay up this time around.
October 9, 2009
This comic is pretty funny all on its own, but I unearthed this gem from the archives recently and thought y’all’d appreciate it. It’s the best example of contrary human fiscal behavior yet.
Shortpacked by David Willis, folks. Sometimes, purely genius.
