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 23, 2009
It’s been nearly a week and I still haven’t mustered the courage to try and figure out how much this one’s going to cost.
On the way home from the airport, a huge chunk of asphalt or rock popped up from the right lane, and smashed into the lower right corner of my car. I was fairly certain that it mostly hit the bottom of my car, but as we drove on, I could hear an ominous whistling. Upon close inspection, the object did hit the bottom of my car which is already *ahem* damaged and still unrepaired, but even worse! It’s smashed the housing for my daytime running light. The bulb is fine, but the housing is completely destroyed.
Big. Fat. Sigh.
I’m not even going to deal with this until Comic-Con is over.
(still thinking about it, though….)
July 22, 2009
Homemade dinner đ
Central Park: The NY Philharmonic is playing free concerts in Central Park this summer, and I had the chance to attend Friday night. We were in the furthest back corner from the orchestra, but the acoustics were excellent and you could hear the music perfectly. It was a perfect summer evening, sitting on the blanket with girlfriends, wine, cheese, bread and jam. We were looking forward to the fireworks at the end, but the cloud cover burst and we were quickly drenched in a downpour. I failed to take a picture of the perfection. Flexo was there! I didn’t see him. Er, I wouldn’t know if I saw him, actually.
Pravda: Described as an underground Russian bar, I had the dubious pleasure of enjoying the strongest vodka martini of my life. At $14, I had more than my moneyâs worth well before I reached the halfway point, and was forced to order Speck with bread and cheese to stave off the embarrassment of passing out. Without a doubt, my single martini was stronger than the Limontini, White Russian and French Martinis ordered âround the table, combined. Naturally, I shared. Ambience: excellent. Memorable moment: while waiting in line for the two unisex washrooms, a dude in a striped shirt, texting, graciously waved us girls in ahead of him. Friend later speculated that thatâs a decent potential conversation starter as it clearly generated good will. Confusion first, but good will that lasted.
East Village: On a mission to pick up goodies for the park excursion, I decided to hike south through the East Village and Lower East Side. Along the way, I discovered Pommes Frites, and a string of tiny little parks.
Bleeker/Carmine/6th Ave: Joeâs Famous Pizza. It only took two weeks, but I finally made it over there for a slice. Delicious. I have to hope that Iâve not been ruined for pizza elsewhere because I never believed that NY pizza was the epitome of pizzasâŠ. Except itâs really really good. I love the really thin, light and chewy crusts. Surprisingly, I never went to town on an entire pie by myself. Really should have given that a go.
Rice to Riches: The rice pudding place that NY friend always takes newcomers to, and I tag along only so that I can collect their flying saucer like containers. I am that girl. Only worse, because who goes to shops where they wonât eat the food but want the containers? Weeeiird.
Friends: Two friends are entrepreneurs, and I materially benefited from our relationship: I tried on pretty clothing, none of which I took home, and I got to try on a pretty necklace that I did get to take home. Sparkly âŠ..
Missed Opportunities: Thereâs an Edible Gardens thing going on in the Bronx, and I managed to miss it all. Also, I really wanted to go salsa dancing at one of those places that have a free lesson before they play the real stuff. If Iâd paid an extra $356, I could have upgraded to First class and gotten my own personal media player. Totally worth it if I got to keep it, and it also transformed into a Netbook. And an EasyBake Oven.
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 heavenâs sake! Itâs a joke! One, I weigh more than that and two, was almost always able to heave that âcase 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 travelinâ 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 âone more drink before we land?â and I bounced up out of my seat with an, âooh! Weâre landing??â Again: Embarrassing.
* Someone rationalized my talking to myself [out loud (in public)]: âWell, the rest of us have the pleasure of your conversation, I donât see why you ought to deprive yourself. â Thatâs sweet, but letâs be honest. After reading the above? How many of you would prefer not to be seen with me in public? Itâs ok to be honest, I’d understand.
* Thereâs only so much socializing I can take. âBut youâre in NEWYORK-you-canât-stay-home!!â only works on me a few nights out of the week. I need quiet, productive time! I donât know how those business students ânetworkâ [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 youâre 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. đ 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. đ
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.
