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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January 9, 2007
and tomorrow will be worse because I’ll be gone most of the day in my first ABCs of Supervision class. Yessss, my little miss bossiness is about to be officially sanctioned!!
For all my griping about Citibank, I noticed that they’ve actually changed one thing I have not yet complained (aloud) about: their inter-institutional transfers were free INto Citi, but they charged to move money OUT. Now? It’s free! The $1000 daily Next Day Transfer limits are still in place, but I can withdraw my money just as fast as I deposit, if I so desire. Finally!
And, I know I keep saying I need to go back to school for my graduate degree in whatever-I-decide, when-I-decide, but I found myself mentally coming up with reasons to cancel this class for the last three days. Tsk tsk! Lazy!
January 8, 2007
Good, juicy, fine point gel points with a grip neither too large nor too small. And just about any sort of lip balm that moisturizes. Apart from the usual wallet, cell phone and keys, what must you absolutely have when you leave the house? (In your pocket, all of your purses, and travel bags, etc.?) I realized that I couldn’t scramble for more than a second for any pen or lip balm: they’re on top of my desk, in my left desk drawer, in my workbag in my drawer and in the right hand pocket of my coat hanging behind me. Just call it OCD access.
January 7, 2007
I was good and bad when I picked my Roth. I’ve known that this was coming for weeks, duh, I blogged about it when I got my bonus, but I didn’t reallllly research too much. Tsk tsk! Seriously, 3k of my money gone in ten clicks and I didn’t research?? What the heck was I thinking? Well, anyway, I’m glad I waited because I’ve been diligently reading my WSJ and finally hit the investing pages that covered the performance of stocks and bonds. I know past performance is NOT an indicator of future performance, but I just wanted to get a feel for what sorts of bonds were out there.
I decided on a bond mutual fund through Vanguard for two reasons: simplicity’s sake because that’s where my 403(b) is, and because my 403(b) is VERY aggressive, holding 92% stocks. I need some Bond Action to even that up there. [Speaking of Bond Action, I finally caught up to the rest of the world and saw Casino Royale. I was suitably impressed, though rather puzzled by a couple things in the plot. Did anyone else see it? Like it? Dislike? ok, back to the regularly scheduled programming ….] So, bonds. Yes, bonds. I realized that the way I was looking at bonds through Vanguard’s site was leading me to a bunch of junk bonds [well, they’re below investment grade, which are referred to as “junk” bonds, I believe] and although I had read an article about junk bonds becoming more desirable, I’m not ready to go there. High investment grade for me, thanks!
I took advantage of Vanguard’s nifty notes on each mutual fund and decided against one fund because I AM still a low-tax bracket resident and not in need of a tax-exempt fund yet, and against other funds that charge a fee which is never phased out, unlike still other funds which charge $10/year until your fund contains more than $5000.
I finally settled on the fund that has me (for now) written all over it: Long-Term Treasury Fund. It’s for investors who are seeking a high and stable level of interest income, and a bond investment to balance the risks of a portfolio containing stocks. It’s not for investors who are unwilling to accept significant fluctuations in share price or seeking long-term growth of capital.
It’s not that I’m not seeking long-term growth of capital but as I said earlier, I need to balance out my heavy on the stocks portfolio.
January 6, 2007
January 5, 2007
I finally opened my Roth IRA!! My first $3000 contribution! I’m thoroughly thrilled.
I never conveniently have a cold fighting arsenal ready when I get sick. I really should because I’ve been getting sick WAY more frequently at this job than I ever have before. Wait, I do have a leftover packet of cough drops from when Savon was having that sale and coupon deal but other than that, I had to get a second carton of OJ after finishing off the first one and the Minute Maid Kids with extra vitamins (I don’t know why I needed that one, I take a multivitamin at night) cost $4.39!! Ridiculous. Actually, it was my own fault for asking MaDucky to pick it up for me while I was at work, thinking it was still on sale. MaDucky just assumed it HAD to be that brand, regardless of the sale.
Man, being sick is one thing, but messin’ with my budget is MUCH less ok!!
January 3, 2007
BigPuppy doesn’t like her picture taken, but she’ll do it if Mom makes her. Reaaaallly makes her with disapproving noises and scolds. LittlePuppy wanted me to know that he was entirely disinterested. He posed for the photos in his younger days, but no more. Anyway, these are my furry little medical expenses =)
