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 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!
July 10, 2009
What day is this? Is it Saturday? Again? Everyday would seem like Saturday if my friends weren’t mostly working during the day.
Update update update ….. My gamut of interviews is over for now and now we wait and we see. I won’t hear back until August about the most-wanted job but I’ve had good meetings with senior folks in the company and am now being totally Zen about this. If this is meant to be, it’ll happen.
I had a wonderful walk in Central Park with MoneyMateKate, and a lovely dinner with another friend I was meeting for the first time today! Funny how this trip has turned into an opportunity to meet so many new friends or old acquaintances.
My tour of a friend’s workplace turned up another set of informational interviews, and my resume is winging its way through another set of connections. It never fails to amaze me that people are willing to make that sort of recommendation based on knowing me for about five or ten minutes. Not that I’m not worth it! 😉
Oh, and I did extend my trip, at least until Tuesday. If the last round of meetings bears interview fruit, I have the freedom to extend again until just before Comic Con. Get this: my free ticket voucher from getting bumped from a flight allows me to change the dates of travel at will, for free.
And now, a little food porn to hold y’all over:
July 4, 2009
| Retirement Savings |
Roth IRA: $3,968
401(a): $7,498
403(b): $17,480
Total: $ 28,946 (27,540)
|
| Emergency Savings |
Catastrophe: $ 35,394
Problem Cushion: $ 1,000
Total: $ 36,394 (30,594)
|
| Short Term Goals |
Car Maintenance: $2,217
Insurance: $2,491
Travel/Con: $ 1,549
Taxes: $3,377
Moving: $3,980
Total: $ 13,614 (10,851)
|
| Long Term Goals |
House Down Payment: $102
|
| Investments |
TradeKing: $1,000
Prosper-ish Loan: $12,630
Personal Loan: $1,500
Savings Bond: $362 (current accrued value)
Total: $ 15,492 (14,992)
|
| Total Assets |
Illiquid: $ 28,946
Semi-Liquid: $15,492
Liquid: $36,394
Expense Acct: $9,108
Goals Savings: $13,614
Total: $ 103,554 (93,517)
|
| Debt and Liabilities |
AX: $154
Chase: $46
Rent: $1360
Total: $ 1,550 (2,004)
|
| Net Worth |
$ 102,004 (91,513)
|
Happy Fourth of July!
This is cheating a wee little bit, late as it is, but I’ve been using mostly cash here, funded by the sale of the iPod, with a few credit card purchases so the numbers are fairly accurate.
Holy crapola. There’s nothing like being a whole 2 grand over the six figure mark to make me want to stop spending RIGHT NOW. I’m going to take a moment and enjoy the fact I managed to hit those numbers before thumping down to earth with the realization that I’ve just applied for unemployment a couple days ago and I’m still in NYC with a belly to feed. Oh holy cow.
Being on vacation has turned my brain to mush: I constantly lose track of days, and haven’t sent out my resume to the guy who requested it week before last. I’ve only been slightly connected via Twitter/phone and it’s been really fun, but a little unsettling as well.
There’s a bit of me that wants to extend this trip for another few days. $150 change fee…. a few more days of subway travel …. ??
July 3, 2009
Hey all!
I’ve got my feet up right now, sitting in my absent friend’s living room watching NCIS. I still can’t decide who I like best, other than Mark Harmon. Anyway, it’s only been two days and I’ve about walked my hips off. Wednesday was spent wandering around Chinatown and Battery Park, yesterday was Midtown along the lower border of Central Park.
I’m resting up now in anticipation of touring lower Central Park later today. They were NOT kidding about those thunderstorms! I got caught out in about four of them, once without my umbrella because I lent it to another friend for an errand. Some guy actually laughed at me when I pulled in under an overhang, sopping wet, to rebag my tote bag. Can’t say I blame him since I looked like a drowned rat and was laughing at myself.
It turns out, though, my flats from Target aren’t in good shape after that torrential downpour. They were so waterlogged that I almost lost them running down the street a few times. Hehe. That was pretty funny, too. It turns out I should just have bought a cheap pair of flip flops instead of searching for the perfect pair of walking flats. Easily remedied with a short trip to Old Navy. It’s just up the street!
Most of my meals are being photographed, so I’ll share those pictures when I get back.
The other night, my phone rang. It was one of my best friends, let’s call him Robin, asking if I was home. It was 9 pm, “sorry, I forgot to call you back in ‘two hours’….!”
I had to laugh. We’d last talked at 11 am, and here he was calling me back the rest of the day later. I shook my head and told him to swing by. We ended up sitting outside chatting for hours. [I have multiple mosquito bites to remember it by.]
The subject of careers and jobs was high on the list of topics: goals, strategies, and reflections on our decisions. Another old friend, practically family, had made an off-hand comment about me that I shared with Robin that night: “You’re going to turn into one of those SATC women. All career, no family.”
Now, Robin’s a thoughtful fellow. He looked at me and said, “you know? From the outside, people think that’s where you’re headed, and …. well, I always just thought you were like me.”
He’s done so well since we graduated from college, working for a school district and then striking out from that “safe” position to a private company three years after that. The calculated risk to grow his job description for a good bit more money, and a huge commute, panned out in a big way. Not only did he get out of a soon-to-melt-down sector, he asked for a major raise after six months, and despite initial balking, received it six months after that. He’s taken on more responsibility, studying for certifications, and worked his butt off in pursuit of another significant raise soon.
“We care about our jobs and careers, and we’re going to keep pushing ourselves, pushing for the next level, and the higher salary. But we’re doing it because we’re aiming for that point when we have stability and freedom, and we’re ready to settle back and grow our families. People see me at work, and they keep asking, ‘why are you working so hard, why don’t you take a break?’ They just don’t see the bigger picture. We’re reaching for the long-term, and we’re going to take that break. But it’ll be a heck of a different break than they’re thinking of!”
His analysis and observations were pretty spot-on. It’s not about the money so much as the expertise, the challenges we take on, and the resumes we build that will pave the way for us to make the choices we want in life. We’re neither of us particularly genius or highly entrepreneurial. But in our own quiet ways, we’re going to aim high, reach high and create some kind of stable lives for our families. And we’ll know when enough is enough. Like Frugal Dad, we don’t need a corner office or the outward trappings of success for the sake of having them. We have longer-reaching goals.
It never fails to amaze me how much we have in common so many years and disparate experiences later.
On Living Almost Large’s post about the recession ruining friendships, Meg asked:
We DO need better friends. But how do you find them? We’ve been burned so many times! And we’re tired of expending so much energy and even money on these vampires.
I don’t have any single answer to that, but as we get older, I understand how important it is to find and keep friends with the same values. Superficially, Robin and I are rather unlikely friends. He’s devoutly religious, I’m completely not. He’s a big earner and spender, I’m neither. He’s unreservedly charming, physically adorable, a frat boy, and athletic beyond words. I’m pretty plain Jane with some alarming health limitations. But none of that really matters when it comes down to cases. What does matter is who you can sit on the front step with in the middle of the night, sharing any and everything.
July 2, 2009
is just not peachy. Even though both credit cards on this account have been in my possession, someone managed to get the number on June 24th, attempted a $1 charge on it 50 miles away, and then went to (gas station) town on it the next day in the amounts of $85 and $75.
This is the reason I use credit cards instead of debit. I’m not responsible for those charges, or I shouldn’t be, anyway, and Chase has already closed that account and issued new cards. But I’m still ticked. I’ll be without my primary use card for five business days, smack dab in the middle of my trip which is inconvenient but how the heck did someone get the whole card number? That’s downright unsettling.
In any case, things seem to be well in hand for now. In ten business days, a set of Fraud Verification paperwork will need to be filled out and that should be the end of that. I hope.
July 1, 2009
As much a lightly-packing ninja I fancy myself, there are always some fantastic tips out in the blogworld that are worth repeating:
From the Unclutterer:
Plan your wardrobe around a limited color scheme and choose your neutral first. I typically choose EITHER black or brown, and then plan the rest of my clothing around two other colors such as blue and tan. This way I can mix, match, layer and create a bunch of different outfits without needing a ton of items.
Use your shoes as containers. I can get three pairs of socks and my sports bra into my sneakers! Mens’ dress shoes are roomy too, as are some ladies shoes. Plus when your shoes are stuffed it keeps them from getting crushed. Bonus!
From Ms. Minimalist herself, FB:
Pack properly
Put your liquids, gels and aerosols ALREADY stuffed into that tiny little plastic bag (you can reuse them, they don’t care how new they look), and put it in the FRONT sections of your carry-on so you can easily grab them out and throw them into the bin before going through.
I have this down to an art now.
I also put my laptop in a section where it’s easy to pull out and throw into the bin as well.
My main rules about packing are:
1. Bring only what you NEED. Only one “just-in-case” top is allowed, because I have been known to muss myself.
2. Bring only what you can carry. I’m pretty darned small, and can’t expect to be helped by strangers, so if I can’t bench it, I can’t bring it.
For this nine-day trip, I’m going with browns/blues: two day dresses, two skirts, five tops. Also, two black dresses in case we go out or I go dancin’, business suit, and pajamas. A towel is stuffed into my most lightweight purse that I’ll use during the day, and the pair get packed into the carry-on suitcase, while the laptop goes into the backpack.
Five tops seems excessive, but I’ve been told to pack for hot and humid. I’d like to be a fresh smelling tourist, and I’ve got room to spare. As for shoes, I’ve got sneakers, the new pair of brown walking flats [pleaseplease be kind to my feet in NYC!], and one pair of sandals to go with the business suit and evening dresses. It’s all pretty flexible, but not as minimalist as I would like.
Since my experience with packing tends to be business-oriented, we’ll see how my business +vacation packing skills hold up.
