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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July 21, 2009
*As previously Twittered, I am now officially weak sauce. I was incapable of lifting my carryon suitcase into the overhead bin. As in, I hoisted it halfway and failed miserably to complete the task. That Is Embarrassing. Yes, my friend called me the 80 pound girl with arthritis, but for heaven’s sake! It’s a joke! One, I weigh more than that and two, was almost always able to heave that ‘case ho (except that one time I way overpacked for winter in Italy and we were staying in a five story walk-up). I think that travelin’ friend has forgiven me for that ordeal.
* I get really easily bored on planes now. The flight attendants came through the cabin at least an hour before ETA offering “one more drink before we land?” and I bounced up out of my seat with an, “ooh! We’re landing??” Again: Embarrassing.
* Someone rationalized my talking to myself [out loud (in public)]: “Well, the rest of us have the pleasure of your conversation, I don’t see why you ought to deprive yourself. “ That’s sweet, but let’s be honest. After reading the above? How many of you would prefer not to be seen with me in public? It’s ok to be honest, I’d understand.
* There’s only so much socializing I can take. “But you’re in NEWYORK-you-can’t-stay-home!!” only works on me a few nights out of the week. I need quiet, productive time! I don’t know how those business students “network” [yes, no, that means party and drink] practically every night of the week. Columbia Business School is off my list of prospective schools.
* All about independence and tackling the challenges head on, but museums when you’re alone? Boring. Sorry. Just boring. Perhaps I need to perfect my talking-to-strangers skill?
* Food is always good.
July 20, 2009
Sitting in the cab, sweaty and frustrated over the thwartion of the subway, I wondered how much money I’d spent foolishly in NY.
The biggest hit was the cab fare to JFK: $52 after tip, plus $2.50 for a drink that I only half finished but desperately needed during that hour-long ride.
Aside from that, though, most stupid offenses were of the minor variety: $20 flats from Target that were Blister City, $8 for Blister Block which got me through 3 days of walking, $5 for two pairs of flip flops that I could have avoided spending if I’d just brought my trusty Rainbows.
Then there’s the $56 of makeup from Sephora. If I’d only the prescience to realize that I’d shop there, I could have redeemed Sephora gift cards from Thank You points and avoided spending that out of pocket.
Total spending came to just under $550 for 18 days, or an average of $30/day, so you can either say I didn’t spend much at all anyway, or that I managed to waste 20% of the total.
July 19, 2009
I returned home to a 10-inch stack of mail: unemployment claims forms, credit card fraud validation forms, a few bills I’d already seen online. A new credit card to replace the canceled one, instructions from the EDD to register for work on CalJOBS or else, porting forms for life insurance, the all important instructions for COBRA.
And a check for overtime in the amount of $800. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about that! Speaking of forgetting things, I almost forget to add the rent check to the pile of envelopes to be sent out.
Depositing that check and a small wad of cash from my trip fends off the spectre of being a non-earner for another week or two; the lack of earned income bothers me at an intellectual level but it hasn’t really hit me in the gut yet thanks to these little infusions of income. I’m still nervous about California coming through with unemployment but that remains a mostly nebulous fear; pretty sure I’d hear all about it post-haste if that were to fall apart.
I’ve waded through most of the forms by now, but there remains the life insurance porting and COBRA. The former requires a call to the benefits administrator before it can be completed and mailed: some genius decided to fill out all the “annual salary at time of termination” blanks with “$110,000.” Wishful thinking on both our parts, pal.
The latter is just too much fine print to read tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Oh and the CalJOBS application. *sigh* I hate online forms that require the laborious filling in of text boxes and drop down menus. It’s all on the resume!
July 17, 2009
Photo credit: Me! [4th of July BBQ]Good grief!
A SBO friend relayed the story of a customer, Z, to me recently. Some months ago, Z purchased apparel as a gift to a gorgeous model-ish gal who decided that said apparel (and accessories) would become symbols of the success of their relationship.
If she decided to keep the gifts, they were on.
If she decided to return them, she was rejecting him.
Almost unsurprisingly, the chap received notice that the gifts were wending their way back to his possession, cultural differences cited as the reason for their failure as a couple. Though “disappointed,” the fella already “has another girl in the works” and rattles off the names of the designers New Gal swoons over, adding the suggestion that he is perhaps in over his head.
I’ll say! Then again, she’s got good taste, as do I. 😉 In dresses, not in men! Er …. her, not … never mind. I’m just saying that, perhaps, if the best description of a potential partner you’re able to provide is that of his or her labels, there’s not much of a foundation for a strong relationship than one might hope.
Or am I the hopeless romantic here? Is this typical of the high-powered, big-money types of relationships?
July 16, 2009
It’s been about a month in the making, but I’ve finally committed. My TradeKing account is open, funded, and I executed my first trade. You’re reading the words of the proud owner of ten shares of KO. 🙂
Ohhh yeah, that’s right. A whole ten shares. Because for a thousand dollars, I seemed to think I’d start a slightly diversified portfolio with two kinds of stocks with only two in mind to start. Further research revealed that whole thousand dollars still couldn’t buy half a Berkshire Hathaway B class share. I should have just bought 20 shares of KO and been done with it. (Already with the hindsight, here.) If/when the price drops below $48 again, I’ll go ahead and nab a few more.
To be honest, it’s amusing that this first purchase is so exciting, but I can’t help it. This is my first step on a (one hopes!) long investing journey of dividends, splits and income. This isn’t a blog about hot stock tips or the latest investing tool, so you don’t have to worry about that. It remains a blog about all things financially exciting and novel in my life, you can rest assured that the carrying on about rather mundane things such as saving money and creating growth income shall continue.
July 14, 2009
I may still be in NY right now, but I’ve been keeping up with tidbits of news about California, namely, the financial situation.
While discussing this with my friend, she asked who would be affected by the IOU situation and I wasn’t really sure. My assumption was that state contractors and vendors would be, and that state employees would find their work hours affected as well as delayed paychecks. I’d forgotten that income tax returns would be IOUed as well, and Jonathan of My Money Blog, has received one of his very own.
That makes me wonder if unemployment will be protected from this issue, and for how long? If we’re broke, we’re broke. And I’ll have to make some interesting changes to my projected budget for the next few months if nothing turns up on the job front!
July 12, 2009
I’m just giving current subtotals since my stay’s been extended and the daily notes are unwieldy:
Food: $68
Transportation: $74
Clothing: $101.15
Makeup: $62
Misc (Kinko’s printing, tp, foot protection): $20
Subtotal: 325.15
Many friends have been ever-so-generous in covering meals for me, and it’s making it a tad difficult to repay them for their hospitality by taking them out to dinner. Not all of them are footing bills, but those who have have each covered a meal more than once in the past several days. The meals weren’t prohibitive, I would most certainly do the same for them if they were unemployed and job hunting, but I still can’t shake a bit of guilt at allowing them to pay for me when they live in one of the most expensive cities. This trip was my choice to make and if I couldn’t afford to feed myself, I shouldn’t have come. I’ll have to think of another way to thank them.
On the food front, I’ve had my street vendor chicken and rice, hot dog, pretzel, and a slice of authentic NY cheese pizza. And at a dollar a slice, I should have had three!
The clothing and makeup were totally unplanned. 6 days of leisure before the interviews was a terrible idea and that was brought firmly home when my skin’s unevenness was made ever so much more evident due to all the sun I was getting. Imagine, I’ve gotten more sun in NY this past week than the last 4 years back in Southern California! Chew on that for a while.
Originally, I planned not to shop because I’d promised to bring a moving friend’s clothing back from NY – instead I discovered that he’d managed to stuff his entire suitcase full and that I had another round of interviews with the same company on Wednesday with nary a decent top to wear.
Off shopping we went! We found a cute dusty rose cropped cardigan at H&M which I paired with a borrowed white tank and the suit skirt. Worked quite well, actually. Yesterday, we turned up a surprisingly comfortable pair of skinny jeans at Forever 21 for a mere $12.50, and made up for the two bargains with the purchase of a very pricey undergarment. For what it’s worth, this is the first such item that actually fits well. One or two more pieces, later, will round out the collection.
With two more days to go, I’m still not sure if I could live here. I’ve enjoyed my time here, but is that just because I’ve experienced a pretty tourist/resident-light version of the city? I’m told that my trip coincides with a fairly quiet time for the city. At least I know that I can get around without getting too hopelessly lost, riding the subway just about everywhere for a dozen days will garner you at least that much ability, the rest will follow if I get an offer.
Now, to decide what sounds good for dinner tonight ….
**Note: I don’t think that NYC is actually affordable, or anything, don’t get me wrong. That cocktails average $13, that burgers are nearly $10, or that a regular pizza is in the neighborhood of $30 is pretty much insane to me. That doesn’t even start to touch the costs of living here. Yikes!
