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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September 25, 2008
Hm. This is how unpanicked I am about the whole thing: my first thought was “Aw man! Do I have to get new checks? I like my old checks!” It’s not that I’m entirely blind to the whole picture, it’s just that in this particular case, there’s not much cause for panic. We’ve known that Wamu was struggling for some time now, and this was a pretty organized dealie. And to be honest, I still don’t know the answer to my sole burning question.
I do know that since this was a government mandated seize and closure, the transition is expected to be seamless, per WSJ:
1. We’re fully covered by the FDIC.
2. We should expect business as usual tomorrow morning.
Pretty basic, thus far, since it’s considered breaking news, though as you can see in the WSJ article, it appears that the steps taken were fairly deliberate and not a surprise to the players involved.
It’ll be nice to find out what adjustments, if any, I’ll have to make to my account. I don’t like the idea of only having one B&M bank, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that nothing more than the ownership really changes.
After the pleasantly sub-$100 electric bills of the past few months, I thought we’d finally nailed down some of the basics in reducing our energy usage. This past month should have been even better than the summer months because we didn’t use the air con once all month, and we were down to two people in the house for half the month while Mom was away visiting family. That should have made for a stellar-ly low bill, not a 120% increase!
Perhaps this is something electric companies just do, perhaps it’s something that I’ve simply failed to notice and is considered “best business practices.” Whatever the case may be, I’m fairly, oh, not ok with it. Our electric company has deemed it acceptable to send me a bill for more than twice the amount of last month’s, based on an estimated usage. An estimated 40% greater usage. What the heck is that all about?
You know what? It doesn’t matter what they think that’s all about it, because that’s completely out of the question. I sent in a request for a meter re-read because if they think I’m just forking over nearly $200 because they think I used that many kilowatts when I know I didn’t …. !! Hmph. The nerve of some people.
As I scroll down my usage history of the past few years, I see that there’s a spike every September billing period, and wonder if I foolishly missed the part of the bill where it states “Estimated read” every year before. Then again, I do have bills from November of last year, and it couldn’t have been that hard to miss. I suppose it doesn’t matter now, it’s too late to go back to last year and 2006. For now, though, I’m going to make sure that darned meter is actually read.
Note: They initially refused to come out saying that it was “in line” was previous billing history and that a re-read was “not justified.” Uh-uh! A firm note telling them exactly what I’d do if they continued to balk convinced them of the error of their ways. Guess what? The re-read of the meter two days ago resulted in a total read of 100 kW LESS (halfway through the next month) than their estimated amount for the last billing month. See?? Jerks.
September 24, 2008
Just remembered. Colleague is now on vacation, so I get to do all her work, in addition to mine, for the next two weeks. And prepare some employee training guides. Oh goody. I’d just excavated my desk!
Wow, it’s amazing how much brighter my outlook is now that I’m not in excruciating pain. I always forget how much pain, self inflicted or disease related, affects my mood.
In the interest of getting it off my chest, and thus (with any luck), off my mind: I’ve been eaten up by the gimmes. (It’s strange, confession really IS good for you.)
Not a surprise, really. I’ve been quite focused on purging, cleaning and organizing, which is great, but since it’s been rather intermittent, it creates a bit of mental vacuum.
Which leads me to ….
A new laptop. We knew this. I’ve wanted a new one since 2006, but have held off in part thanks to Kira’s post about saving old computers and knowing it’s not in the budget. If I were to give in, I’d still have to wait until Black Friday, so it’s really just best to get a replacement battery. It’s just a matter of finding a reputable place to buy from. Decision: Get a new battery. Hold for another 3 years.
A new business/interview suit. Because I want to look snappy. (Uh- huh. That’s the whole of it.) Not a good enough reason, when the suit fund’s still a fledgling. Decision: on hold.
A cruise. HS friends and I have been talking about going on a little 3-4 day cruise to Mexico together for years. It’s been about six years now. Girlfriend and I were on the phone yesterday and she’s determined that we’re really going to do it!! And she wants to go in November. Lordy. Well, I have $268 in the travel fund. This could be a birthday gift for BF, since he was just complaining that we *never* travel together because of my schedule. I’d have to scare up another $300. Decision: maybe, because it’s a potential birthday gift and right now I just have a cute toy for him.
Pretty shoes. I don’t actually want to own more shoes. I don’t even want to store the ones I DO have, so this is just a symptom of mouse+cookie=craving. Also, I’m supposed to buy real quality when I buy from now on. Right.
September 23, 2008
I got a random email from BF’s relative the other day, a forward actually, asking if this relative was the person who had told Other Friend that I “also had an econ blog.”
Hrm. How did friend, much less relative, know that I had anything to do with blogging????
Uh huh. BF!!
Grr….. BF got his, of course, and I let the matter drop telling relative that the blog was a secret and I wasn’t sure that I was ready to come out with it to the rest of the world. I assumed (hoped) that was the end of that.
Today, however, I was chatting with Mentor who mentioned that she’d overheard that another friend of mine, connected with the same group, was sharing that I was interested in financial-related work and if anyone knew of any position for me …? ARGH! What the heck is going on? And to add insult to injury, Mentor scolded me, “BAD idea. Now is the WORST time!”
I know. I know that it’s the worst time, I don’t have any interest in jumping into the shark-infested waters while they’re roiling with blood, and I especially know that dabbling in PF blogging does not a financial advisor make. I don’t have any formal education or background in finances or banking, so I would obviously pursue some form of education like accounting classes or an MBA program if I decided that was the route I wanted to take. *huf*
I’m just a little aggravated that practically a whole congregation of people are now aware of my propensity to finance blog, and that … really … bothers me. And the fact that random friends are trying to scare up jobs for me in the financial sector without my knowledge, without my consent, and I’m sure with good intentions but apparently little or no comprehension of the market, sort of bothers me, too.
I might be overreacting, but I’m a bit annoyed.
Please. Good intentions I understand, but a little consideration? It’s not just that I’m less than comfortable with that particular kind of networking because it’s little more than trolling, and indicates a lack of finesse or professionalism that comes with knowing your industry and your goals. I think it comes off as naive and desperate, as though I’m incapable of focusing my efforts where they’d be most effective, and I’ve got to take the shotgun approach in an attempt to drum up any opportunity, anywhere.
I’ve never been terribly concerned with the exact opinions other people had of me, but I do insist on projecting at the very least, professionalism. I don’t much care for the potential of gaining a reputation for naivete, desperation or aimless. And I know that it’s pretty easy for that impression to form.
I don’t plan to say anything about it just yet, I don’t have the whole story and I haven’t spent time with this group of people in a while so I don’t know if it’ll just die out without my saying a word; it’s still more like a scratchy clothing tag that pokes me every so often.
Would this bother any of you? Would you simply accept that your friend had good intentions at heart and leave it at that?
Or at least, a little bit wiser. I got back home last night from a long weekend and boy, am I in pain.
Saturday was a day o’ adventuring. First up was the Embarcadero Farmer’s Market where I was treated to a ridiculous amount of … treats! A cone of salami, shockingly expensive but oh-so-good aged Irish Gouda, a huge round of whole wheat and walnut bread from Acme Bread company. Throw in a couple pieces of fruit, and our hikers’ lunch was complete.
I’d so been looking forward to getting out and about that, unfortunately, I never questioned our destination or trail. We invited a rather veteran hiker to lead the way, and many belated regrets ensued. The terrain was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m sure the unfamiliar scent in the air was freshness. At some point, I felt like a Hobbit, packing my way through nature and conquering vast mountains. It really was fun, as long as I didn’t think about the pain. We hiked from Stimson Beach all the way into the Ranger’s Station — which was originally sold as a 6-mile loop, tops — only to find that we had another 3 miles to go before we were back to the car. The worst was that the first 6 miles was continuously uphill, and when the ranger told us it’d take another 1.5 hours, I had a horrifying vision of having to go another 3 miles upcountry. “Our parents were right, you CAN go uphill both ways!!” It was funny for about a minute.
Your resident deskbound homebody was absolutely dying at that point, but refused to show weakness, so trotted off after the others with a stiff upper lip and wobbly knees. Nary a word of complaint passed through my lips, but I sure wish that I’d asked for more than the 2 one-minute breaks that we took, because, oy vay, I was utterly destroyed by the end of that trek.
In retrospect, that was utterly foolish pride. Who cares if my two fellow hikers didn’t want to turn back? I could have taken the car keys and waited for them at the car! Yes, I would have looked like a wussy in my mind, but they knew I’d not hiked in years. *sigh* So very foolish. Luckily for me, 12 Motrins and 4 Tylenols later, I was able to hobble along to a late brunch the next day, and then turn in for a looooong nap before my birthday dinner, thus avoiding the ruination of an entire weekend.
I’m still regretting the (length of the) hike a little. I’d taken Monday off, and it was a relatively quiet day. We visited a friend’s new stable, and I was offered the chance to ride any of their horses …. but had to decline because I could still hardly walk normally. It was heartrending, I miss horseback riding so much, but I’m realizing that perhaps part of being an adult is making fewer foolish decisions, or trying to avoid compounding previous poor decisions. (*cough* bailout! *cough*) Can you imagine adding saddle soreness to the cripple’s hobble I’m sporting now? *eyeroll* That’d be dignified. Instead of riding, we went ’round to pet all the horses, and discovered which of them were “lickers.” At least three of them had developed the hilarious habit of licking visitors’ hands like dogs.
It was a perfectly lovely, refreshing weekend, and while I’ll be sore for another week, and be even longer recovering mentally from the brutality of that hike, I’m proud that I made it through.
Now, for a good long week of work!
I need another day off ….. 🙂
September 19, 2008
What does it say about my sense of money when my reaction to this was: ooh! A bowl of ramen? Yummy!
Ohhhh. Pack of ramen. Bad raise. I get it.
