Amy’s Gripping Commentary

Today on the phone.
David: I bought you a present!
Me: Ok…
D: I paid too much for it, which you’ll hate, but it’s really awesome and you’ll like it.

A few hours later…
D: Your present arrives in two days!
Me: Am I going to think it’s useful?
D: Yes!
Me: You said I’d be mad that you paid too much. That means it’s probably $100-$150 and you should have paid $75 or less.
D: Wow, you’re good.

Twenty questions ensues, not because I like to spoil surprises but because sometimes his surprises aren’t exactly what everyone wanted and I feel terrible about wasting money. Usually it’s something he wants and thinks you should have and he finds a way to tie it into something you did say you wanted. For example, after I bought him a big TV he bought me an HD TiVo that is 98% filled with his programs now, and then he bought me a huge hard drive to upgrade that TiVo to store more stuff, but it was commandeered for another project altogether. I also figured out tonight that our cable/TiVo bill is about 20% of the monthly mortgage so my financial heart was breaking before we discussed the surprise.

The things the present is not: sod, windows, rain barrel, sump pump, refrigerator or freezer (there’s another story there), compost bin, kitchen cabinet doors, basement bathroom sink, key fobs to set house alarm remotely, dog poop scoop service. I discovered it was utilitarian and for outdoors. I figured out it was a hose reel.

D: A bronze hose reel with brass connectors!
Me: Where does it go?
D: On the side of the house, so you can take the hose to water flowers in the front or back yard.
Me: Isn’t someone going to steal it? (Someone stole our aluminum downspouts off the garage.) You’re going to use it to water tomatoes in the back yard too?

Here’s what we had talked about last week: the tomatoes get planted next to a spigot in the backyard and I expressed a wish to not leave that hose lying in the yard where it kills the grass and makes it hard to mow, not to mention the dog poop usually in the area getting on the hose. I said I was going to bring my giant hose hook thing from my old house to this spot. Also note there is a key-locked gate between the backyard w/tomatoes and the side of the house where the fancy new hose reel goes.

D: No, I’ll just use the hose that’s back there.
Me: Could this hose reel go back there instead?
D: No, it’s a parallel feed, and we would need to get the perpendicular model for the backyard hose.

After as careful a letdown as I could manage–I mean he was excited to buy me a hose reel, and everyone knows I LOVE utilitarian gifts when they are the right gifts–I explained I’ve never used a hose at the side of the house. I fill the watering can directly from the spigot. And once I get a rain barrel, which I tried to buy this week, I will fill the watering can from that.

Me: But I really want a good watering can!

This is true. I spent half of last summer searching for a new watering can. My old sturdy plastic one is cracked and leaks through the duct tape holding it together. I never found a can I liked and most online cans were too expensive, so I didn’t buy one. I resorted to using five-gallon buckets to water flowers last fall.

Result: David tried to change the order to the perpendicular hose reel so he could enjoy the acquisition by the tomatoes. We tried to find me a watering can online, which he was going to buy for me instead, but I ended up buying it and he says he’ll get dinner or something. The watering can was $24.95 (pretty good considering many pretty ones were $75 but this one was almost perfect from a functional standpoint), but the stupid company charges $9.90 for “Handling and home delivery” which is B.S. 40% of the order for shipping!?! I almost didn’t buy it (and this might be why I didn’t buy it last year), but I found an online code for $6 off with a $25 order. Of course my order was five cents short to qualify. So I bought a 10 pack of biodegradable leaf bags on sale, and in the end the shipping was the same and I spent more than if I’d just bought the stupid can. But I have been looking for a more environmentally friendly way to store recyclables like odd plastics that have to go to a special facility and this seemed like a solution.

See how that worked? He still spent over $100 on a hose reel and I spent almost forty bucks on a watering can and a filler item. And I still don’t have a rain barrel, but I do have a homeless hose hook.

Now for the old freezer he brought home from his mom’s tonight that he wants to put in the basement, where we have no space and it will make the electric bill go up… This in response to my already agreeing to purchase a new Energy Star fridge but he has to remodel the pantry area first so it will fit. The new fridge is supposed to solve the small-freezer problem we currently have. If that old freezer goes in the basement, I fear it will never leave.

Yesterday I stopped my car at a four-way stop and it died. And it wouldn’t restart. Eventually a guy in a pickup failed at jumping it, so he and some other dudes pushed it into a McDonald’s parking lot where I salivated over McNugget smells and waited for my knight in a big red truck to save me.

Except while he was able to successfully get my car started, soon he was doing this to his own steed.

While I waited I read this helpful note in his door jamb. You know, in case we were going to put any patients in the bed on the way home.

So that evening was shot, but at least vehicle #3 worked and we used it to get a new battery for my first car and a pizza. And then fought over who got to drive it to work today.

This morning Harry ate his stick while sitting on my Coroplast baseboard protector. Now I know how all the toys and hay and twigs are getting back there.

Linda is my good friend Dawn’s mom. She’s a retired nurse and has been battling breast cancer the last few months. The short story here is I’m joining Team Linda at the Indy Komen Race for the Cure on April 18. You can help us meet our fundraising goal by donating to my fundraising (or to Linda or anyone else on the team!) here

Joining the team as a runner, walker, or sleep-inner ends tomorrow (March 20), but you can still donate to the team fundraising until April 4! Team Linda did achieve more than 20 members so now we need to reach our goal of $2000–we’re more than halfway there!

Here’s what Dawn recently sent us about her mom and the event and what it does for people right here in our community.

Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2008 shortly after moving Anne back to school. Mom’s diagnostic testing revealed a unifocal lesion which had spread into her axilary lymph node. Mom made the decision for the best possible outcome: chemotherapy first, followed by surgery, followed by radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy (aka chemical warfare) started in late September, a biweekly regimen, ending on January 2, 2009. The same diagnostic testing performed after treatment revealed the chemotherapy was successful, neither the tumor nor lymph node produced a signal. Surgery for tumor removal and lymph node resection was scheduled for Friday, January 30, 2009. Unfortunately Mom’s margains were not clean and she had to have a second surgery on February 13, 2009 where her margains were clean! Mom and Dad returned to Arizona on February 21, 2009 where she will begin radiation treatments daily for 4-6 weeks the end of this week! Fueled by her strong faith, Mom’s indomitable spirit has been truly an inspiration.

Rob and I formed a “Race for the Cure” Team in Mom’s honor for her Christmas present. The team will raise money to fund local breast cancer education and outreach programs for underserved women in Central Indiana, where Mom’s diagnosis and treatment occurred. We need 20 participants to be an official team.

To join “Team Linda,” go to the Team page on the Komen website:

http://race.komenindy.org/site/TR/Race/General?pg=team&fr_id=1060&team_id=26570

*To register to walk (1K) or run (5K), Click Join Team, super achievers can even pay extra to be timed

*To make a donation, Click Support Team Linda over the thermometer-looking graphic that tracks fundraising progress

*To sponsor a participant on Team Linda, Click on a team participant (or Mom herself!)

When you register, you will have your own race page where friends and family can sponsor you. Please feel forward to forward this post to others you think may be interested in participating.

I attended a Team Captain meeting on January 10th and was astonished to discover since the Komen Foundation was formed in 1994, the five year survival rate for breast cancer has increased from 74% to 99%. This is primarily driven by education and breast cancer screening, resulting in early detection. Underserved women, however, have a much poorer outcome than their counterparts with health insurance. The Komen Foundation provides underserved women access to important breast health services to eventually reverse this trend. I found out at the Team Captain meeting that Central Indiana has more requests for grants than they have available funds, which is very tragic.

One question I was asked today, where do the funds go:

http://www.komenindy.org/new.asp?p=27

“Of the net proceeds from the Race, 75% will stay in Central Indiana to fund screenings and follow-up care for underserved women. The proceeds will also help provide education about breast health and early detection as well as education and outreach programs specifically about breast cancer. For a complete list of those organizations currently receiving Komen grant funds, visit the Grants page. The remaining 25% helps fund the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Program. Organizations interested in providing or currently providing breast health services in Indiana are encouraged to call 317.638.CURE for grant application information.”

Rob and I look forward to seeing everyone we can on April 18th for the Race!

Dawn

Thanks for your support!
My race page

1. Had to argue with someone that a pH meter couldn’t go to 20.

2. Another department, we’ll say A, took some of our workload (hooray, and we’ll be B) a few months ago by doing one of those grandiose automation projects that is supposed to give faster results but costs a lot to implement, and then they had unintended consequences that were way worse than waiting a couple hours for results from our Dept B, so we have to take the work back (boo). The process to get the work back, though, is a moderate red tape extravaganza, and we asked Dept A to put a few sentences in their document so we wouldn’t have to repeat all the red tape in our own document to support this change. Oh and we have about four days to make all this happen. (Nothing happens in four days around here.)

Everyone on board, things are cool yesterday, moving along… then today someone in Dept A freaks out about what was previously cool just 24 hours ago. Honestly, I still don’t understand what the problem was. I try to calm the parties and thought we came to an agreement after I suggested a simple but brilliant solution (wordsmithing is like lube). Then I get a page that says “Person in your dept B says they’ll just do their own document after all so we’re removing part of your content from ours.” I call back and say “well, if Person B is ok with it, I guess I’ll go along with that…” Then person A calls THAT person B and tell them _I_ said to do this document change ourselves! Then they go tell everyone else that this person B and I agreed this was the path forward! Dang, how third grade can you get? In the end it’s just more red tape and B will be delayed in taking A’s work back, so way to save some time and money. We were played.

Note that the person who runs Dept A seems to hold a grudge against me (and my Dept B) and caused all SORTS of trouble by going behind our backs to our bosses right after agreeing to our faces about a conflict that he created and was not any of his business just about two weeks ago.

3. Realtor emails, wants to do an open house THIS SUNDAY but asks me about it today. As it is I’m barely getting any sleep due to giant projects at work and I just didn’t want to go reclean another house right now.

4. I was yelled at in an email (copied to four other people, of course) for not approving a procedure that isn’t even out for my approval. I rejected it two weeks ago and it got stuck in the computer system at some point after that.

5. Big software changes are scheduled for this weekend for a system in which I’m an expert. Coordinated with these changes are user access changes, but some of them went active prematurely and now my peers lost their ability to do their work and I have to go do it. I came to terms with this new development that should only last a few days but could get hairy occasionally.

I come to my desk to find an email titled, “Software HELP!!!!!!” and then IM says
Person Q [3:11 PM]:
You there?
Person Q [3:15 PM]:
Did you get my email?
Amy [3:29 PM]:
just got back, been runnign around
Amy [3:29 PM]:
I will do them now
Person Q [3:29 PM]:
Thanks – no real rush
Amy [3:29 PM]:
except for all the !!!! after your HELP message lol
Person Q [3:32 PM]:
I panicked at first – I ve cooled since
Person Q [3:33 PM]:
Thanks again

6. Why is it that people still schedule me into meetings on days I have blocked in my calendar for all-day forums?

I also managed to squeeze in two department meetings, an oh-shit-this-is-due-at-noon meeting, an optional meeting to give myself a reality check on the software changes, and about eight trips to the lab, not to mention the preemptive emails pleading with folks to help us finish a project and I signed five protocols. I admit that I skipped the 8 a.m. conference call; something had to give. Now back to my other 13 documents awaiting the red pen. How did it get to be after five already and I haven’t gotten any real work done?

We have a new president and a lot of PBJ!

Yesterday I left the house to meet Nicole at the gym. As I was going down our steps, I detected a large creature in the yard. By the time I realized it was the neighbor’s escaped Rottweiler, I was in his sights and I went straight to my car, avoiding eye contact. After I got in, he went up our front steps and lifted his leg on the inside of our porch wall! I took this to mean: Your porch is mine, beeotch.

Then he patrolled the street by standing in the middle of it, trotting through other neighbors’ yards, and generally looking like he owned the place. Here he’s heading past my car after a jaunt down the street. We don’t even know his name but I’d like to know how much danger I’m in since he seems to get out a lot!

“NOW” available at Meijer!

Our site at work is sponsoring a peanut butter and jelly collection for Gleaners food bank as part of the MLK Day of Service. After a few days collecting last week we already had 450 pounds of it, but mostly I found the easeled signs at the doors funny:

I joined Sam’s Club (they are offering $25 gift cards with new memberships for a few days) and found this great sign at the customer service desk. Of course the way they positioned it I really had no idea where the line formed, but, well, they had a sign with fun errors.

While looking for the peanut butter and jelly, I found Red Gold tomato products. David is a canned tomato snob and will only agree to Red Gold purchases (since they are local I can support this with a little less eye-rolling). Still, I thought 6.5 lb cans were a little much for a two-person recipe.

What’s amazing is that these 102-oz cans were only about $2.30, and a 14.5-oz can at a regular grocery is well over a dollar! It was tempting. I found an eight pack of the small cans for less than six bucks and was pretty happy with the price, but unfortunately that meant additional packaging.

I also found a composter at Sam’s (Dawn and I are in discussions about getting this started, seeing as how we have a lot of bunny turds at our disposal). I didn’t buy this one, but I appreciated the Sense of Humus.

Update 01.19.09: The offer below has ended, but there is a 50% off code now, apparently good until the 22nd. Use 50FICOKIT at checkout for any of their products. Some more info at Slickdeals.net. I purchased my other two scores and the corresponding reports for half price. It’s good to check that stuff now and then.

Very limited time: Free FICO score (normally about $16) if you sign up for myFICO forums. This is limited to a certain number of free scores and once they are gone, they are gone. Best information is at this Slickdeals.net thread.

Last time this type of offer died in less than a day, so I hope you see it in time!

You will need to make an account at the forums and then once logged in, you’ll sign up again to get the score. Worked great for me just now. The score is from Equifax only. This is not a credit report–you can get those at annualcreditreport.com free every year (one per credit reporting company; there are three).

I was going to purchase my score anyway, so I’m glad the free offer came up!

Permed and feathered! Thank goodness that's over

My haircut: part down the middle, cut it off straight around the bottom. I use coupons to take a couple inches off at Fantastic Sam’s and places like that about twice a year to keep it from getting too annoying. The only thing ‘interesting’ about my haircut (it is not advanced enough to be a style) is that I often won’t brush it, so it might get a little messier on a given day.

I wear it in a ponytail or pulled back in a barrette (which makes it a wider, flatter ponytail) 85% of the time and in a messy bun the rest of the time. The only chance you likely have of seeing it down is when it’s not all the way dry from a shower so I haven’t put it up just yet. It’s actually several shades darker when it’s down because I have it pulled back so much that the part usually on top of my head has been sun bleached.

Normal fare:

Down, the triangle:

I wash it every three days–it’s dry enough it doesn’t really need it more than that, and Day 2 is usually its ‘best’ day from a shine/oil/less volume standpoint. I use a pick to comb it then because it’s way too thick and tangled to get a brush through it wet. The following days I might brush it. Or I might not. That’s the entire routine. I think I might have used a blow dryer twice in the last year. I used a curling iron once, maybe. My favorite part about getting a haircut is that I get to pay someone else to comb it out–I hate washing and combing it that much.

It’s very thick overall but with a fine texture, which means it falls out of whatever styling I try (not that it happens often, but you’ll never get it to hold a curl without depleting the ozone layer from spray applications; I had it permed in middle school and the perm fell out the next day). My hair has a wavy section right at the middle of the back of my head but the rest is stick straight. I have identical hair to my mother (other than the color). It’s so thick that people frequently comment on it and wish for it. Should I feel guilty for not appreciating it?

Evidence of the curly stuff underneath:

I’ve pretty much had this cut for ten years. I don’t really mind it. I just don’t care. I guess others care sometimes. Grandma says I shouldn’t cut it shorter (she also says I should brush it). David just wants to see it doing something one of these days (I did pay someone to do it for my brother’s wedding, but that’s it). Nicole encourages me occasionally to get layers. Or somebody did, anyway.

I wish I could chop it pretty short. I just don’t think my head shape is right. I’ve had a short bob before, but then it’s not heavy enough to weigh down that curly part in the back so the bottom edge flips up all wacky and it’s too thick like a helmet anyway. So I keep it long enough to be mostly straight all the way around and I have to be able to pull it back.

The short bob, with Ruth Simmons:

I can’t stand it in my face, especially for sports. I also don’t really see the point of spending any time on it (this applies to my fashion choices as well): if a dude doesn’t have to style his hair or wear makeup or have clothing that varies from oxford/slacks with pockets/sensible shoes, why should I?

Of course all of this makes me look a bit granola or unfeminine or plain or whatever it is, and I still don’t care. But the implication that I should care alternately nonplusses/aggravates/insecures me. The insecurity is infrequent but darn it if I don’t feel hopeful AND angry AND sad when I watch What Not to Wear. I am the person in that show. But why in the world would I wear pointy shoes to work or get up early to use a flat iron?

See, granola wins. But I admit it would be reasonable to try a different haircut. Back in my younger and teen years I did go to the family stylist at JC Penney Salon, had highlights, permed my hair (it took after the initial one fell out). And I feathered it before school each morning and wore mint green eyeshadow. Fortunately that last phase was short lived! I have seen the light and the light shines on not doing my hair!

Hair is such a personal issue (which still stymies me to some degree), but I am willing to try a new cut after ten years. I still require being able to pull it back so I won’t have it in my face at the gym (or probably most times), but I admit the ‘dreaded triangle‘ may not be the most flattering look, just like the pulled-back version leaves something to be desired. I have a recommendation from Nicole to see her stylist (which scares me just because the salon reviews say things like “it’s so fun to go there!” “you get so pampered there!”–wth? This is far from entertaining for me, and I don’t even want to have to live up to this new hairstyle/image later!) and I made an appointment for next week. I don’t feel rich enough to maintain a professional haircut, but maybe they’ll help me find something I can do in this initial splurge. I think what encourages me most is that this woman can apparently thin my hair in addition to layers or whatever and that bodes well for being able to comb it. Does anyone in the thinning/balding category want a DNA sample to clone it? This mop is a thick mofo.

I discovered that Nicole actually has the appointment immediately before mine. I plan to blame her if this all goes poorly!

God help me, I am NOT getting my nails done.

UPDATE: Would you believe my friend Mymsie celebritized my hair? Such effort! For an example, here’s me with Jennifer Hudson hair:

She made a whole bunch of them! I appreciate her efforts because I lack the picture handling skills to post stuff like that.

Whether because it’s that new-beginnings time of year or because the economy stinks, how to save cashola is always a popular topic. I have to admit I’m just naturally frugal (or my dad brainwashed me anyway) and I get a high from saving or not-spending money. But I’ve also identified I’m pretty boring and unlike those I consider to be an average American consumer. Anyway, lots of people have shared their 25 ways they save here if you’d like more ideas, and PQ recently had a bunch of comments from readers who do all sorts of things to be frugal. Got any other good suggestions? I actually had a couple of extras.

Two things happened since I wrote this post last week and didn’t bother to publish it: I decided I didn’t really like the tone of the list, and I met with a financial advisor again. This process is new to me and I’m struggling with knowing how to invest. My income and situation is far different than the one my parents were in when I grew up and learned about money, so I don’t have a sense of what advice is good and what is just someone trying to sell me something. Or maybe some things that would be bad investment choices for a person stretching dollars are actually good investment choices for someone with more income and therefore more tax implications. One resource I’m starting to use is The Simple Dollar, a blog with a ton of helpful advice (even the comments are instructive) about personal finance. I did apply for disability insurance but don’t know where to head next.

Anyway, I decided to post my ways of saving after all. Reading other people’s lists helps me think creatively.

1. I never ever pay ATM fees by planning ahead and only going to my bank’s ATM. The only times I’ve paid ATM fees in the last ten years were in England and Italy, when I didn’t have a choice to use my bank but also didn’t want to haul that much money around for the whole trip.
2. I always take the restaurant leftovers home and eat them.
3. I force myself to keep calling the cable company etc. when they randomly raise prices. I inspect the bill.
4. I put everything (even car insurance, dental bills, charitable donations for larger/distant organizations) on credit cards with cashback, and shop through the credit card’s site to get additional cashback.
5. I pay off my credit cards EVERY month. I don’t finance any larger purchases unless through a 0% APR and even then I pay it off within two months to be safe. Come to think of it, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve used one of those deals at all.
6. I use coupons eagerly (especially at places that double them), but only for items I would buy anyway.
7. I go to the store where my item is cheapest (based on ads or everyday pricing), but not if the amount I’ll save is not enough more than the fuel and effort it would take to make the extra trip. When my favorite items are on sale I stock up, and of course I combine errands when I’m out and about.
8. I keep track of all my spending and income in a spreadsheet. Several years of data give me a great handle on where the money goes.
9. I purchase lots of things online, after comparison pricing and getting free shipping, which also saves me a trip to the store and sales tax. During the holidays I saved several hundred bucks on gifts I already planned to buy just by watching slickdeals.net and shopping carefully online. I also used wishlists so we’d get what we would actually use and our recipients would actually want/use what we got them.
10. I stopped getting the newspaper when the coupons weren’t good enough to warrant it (not a lot of plant-based, whole foods items… it’s all unhealthy packaged crap and household products that were tested on animals). However, I just got another offer in the mail from the paper to get Thursday and Sunday papers delivered for cheaper than my buying just the Sunday paper at the store, which I sometimes do. Hard to decide!
11. I have friends save their papers for me to use in my litterboxes. If I can’t get enough that way, I’ve been known to take papers from central recycling boxes (but I prefer to avoid looking like I’m dumpster diving!).
12. I have a lot of pets and I don’t compromise quality when I feed and house them. Instead I buy really good foods but in the largest bags with coupons and with a discount I get through organizations I belong to; I go in with others to buy local baled farm hay instead of pet store bags or shipping it in; I buy 40# bags of wood stove pellets at home centers to use as bunny litter.
13. I don’t use all my cell minutes, I have rollover and free nights/weekends, and I have a cell plan that has the right number of minutes for my needs. I get a discount on my cell plan through my employer. I generally wait for my cell phone to die before I get a new one and enter another contract (the last two lasted three and five years). I don’t have a text messaging plan and I turned off my phone’s internet access because those features were just costing money.
14. My home phone is the cheapest basic plan with no long distance carrier at all. I use the cell for long distance. We would ditch the landline but right now it’s important for our alarm system and we live in the hood.
15. I don’t buy new clothes until mine wear out. (Yes, I’m fashion backwards–frugalit makes a good supporting excuse!)
16. I take or buy used items from family and friends if they have something I need rather than shop for it.
17. I use discount cards at restaurants (buy one get one free entrees, discounted gift certificates) and a $5 movie ticket card.
18. I use the gym memberships my employer provides.
19. I changed veterinarians to one who is awesome with our dogs but closer and lots cheaper.
20. I reuse water bottles, filling them from coolers at work or from our tap which has a filter. I put the bottles in the dishwasher to make them last longer (and be less nasty).
21. I always run the dishwasher and washing machine with full loads. I set the washing machine temperature one setting colder than the way I grew up doing laundry.
22. I will always try the generic brand and I will keep buying it if it’s as good as name brand. But I won’t make us eat crappy foods or use inferior products; quality, health, longetivity, environmental impact, and animal welfare all play into my purchases and frequently trump absolute cheapness. I go in with a friend to order bulk versions of some of these so we can still save money yet have organic/safe/responsible products.
23. I change my own oil. (I would so love to use coupons and pay someone else to do it, but my car is weird and can’t go to the quick places. That’s what I get for purposely getting an especially fuel efficient vehicle.)
24. I order water instead of other beverages when I go out to eat (95% of the time anyway).
25. I use my company’s 401(k) match, watch Suze Orman (warning! her website has annoying autoplay music), and have started working with a financial advisor to help me save long-term.
26. I use mail order prescription services for my maintenance medications. If I need an acute Rx, I’ll use a new/transferred Rx store coupon to get a gift card too. I’ve saved a lot on my taxes through FSA, too.
27. When possible, I buy nice boxed wine (on sale of course) instead of bottled wine. A box contains the same amount as four bottles and is nicer to the environment, too!
28. I check current fuel prices at gasbuddy.com (indygasprices.com locally) so I don’t overpay when I fill the tank. I’ve even learned tips like when price spikes are likely to happen and which stations in town go up last.
29. I do my own taxes online, keep good records, and make an effort to understand the rules so I can keep as much of my earnings as I can. All year long I save receipts and track mileage for my charities so I don’t forget to claim them later.

I have been a trailer denizen for the last three years. Yes, even Fortune 500 companies make their employees work in trailers sometimes. The lease is up and they decided to drive away all the doublewides, so I’ve been relocated to a recently remodeled office area that has WINDOWS. Not like the window in my trailer cubicle which looked into the window of the cubicle in the doublewide right next to mine, but one where I can see SNOW today. Most of the window in my cube is blocked by the cube wall itself (great space planning, folks), but overall it’s a lovely place to while away my career and watch my 401k erode. Unfortunately this office and lab is scheduled to move to another building next year and I’ll probably move with them, and I probably won’t have such a tantalizing window then. But for two months I shall savor my awesome office!

Of course now my office’s regular bathroom is that one everyone in the building uses to take a crap.

The fabric walls here are a lovely stain-hiding gray pattern, much better than the brownish yellow trailer walls even Dwight Schrute wouldn’t have bought a shirt in. The real walls here are a calming sage green and there is a cold air return shshshshshshshshing away nearby to white-noise my neighbors. My drawers lock with eight copies of my keys. The desk actually fits me–who wants my massaging seesaw footrest thingy?

In the process of moving people out of five doublewides, a lot of office-y mess is left behind. My heart broke to see all the binders and inboxes in the trash bins after we left, so I found a cart and salvaged a couple loads of perfectly useful office supplies and put them in the–you guessed it–supply area! I also took home eight copy boxes of decorations and a six foot Christmas tree which was going to be trashed. I will Freecycle them and let the office decorations live on, spared from the landfill for now.

One glitch since moving: I can’t find my pens.

I bought a netbook for David as a birthday/Christmas gift. It arrived a few days ago, and already last night he had it all taken apart to swap the hard drive for something newer and cooler. It wasn’t really working last night after he did this, and this morning I noticed the new drive on the desk and the computer put back together. Let’s hope he was at least able to restore it to a functioning state. He was mad that they put one of the screws under a “void if removed” warranty sticker. Well, duh.

The pups were leaning against each other a few nights ago. They kind of looked like an octopus.

BTW, both cars are now fixed! I’m out $500 but no longer stranded.

Nicole spotted this gem on our way back from the gym yesterday!

I own two cars. One is very fuel efficient and I use it all the time. It’s about 3.5 years old. The dash looks like this.

My other car is a ten-year-old SUV. I bought it used when I adopted Casper so I’d have room to haul her around (and the bunnies). Later when I had a long commute I got a second vehicle with good mileage and the Jeep is just used to haul stuff (like hay!). The dash looks like this.

Yes, that’s right, as of this week BOTH of my cars have check engine lights blazing. The newer car has a glow plug (or several) out but due to some ridiculousness on the part of the manufacturer, the repair would be upwards of $400-700 at the dealer. I found someone who can fix it for much cheaper this weekend, but the manufacturer issue is so new that most independent places are unable to help. At least it can be driven in the meantime–until it doesn’t start one of these days.

The Jeep is in limp mode and just doesn’t shift well. It can’t be driven except to take it to the mechanic. The output speed sensor is supposedly the culprit, which isn’t supposed to be a difficult repair, but our local guy isn’t sure he can fix it so I may have to find a transmission guy, and the nearest recommended one is a half hour away. I should know more tomorrow. Oh, and the Jeep doesn’t want to start very well either but if you disconnect (i.e., replace) the battery while this particular transmission code is active you cause all sorts of extra problems.

Meanwhile David’s truck suddenly went lame and our three-cars-for-two-people plan wasn’t working so well. I didn’t really want to ride my bike to work since the temperatures have been in the 20s. So far so good on having a car working, and David’s truck was fixed today. I hope I don’t go broke fixing the rest of the stable.

On the plus side I have a couple of days off and I took a great nap today. That makes everything better, even if I’m stranded at home!

Last day of NaBloPoMo. I wonder if I’ll win a prize this year.

We found a fair amount of snow on the ground when we got up this morning. At least it had been snow, but turned to slush quickly. Casper isn’t fond of the wet stuff on her tootsies. My car is leaking again, thanks to the melting slush.

A grammar find in the toy aisle at Menards: Rule the Sea’s!

After a four day weekend I’m feeling better. I still have a lot of work to do (I have the other computer up too for work) but I got a lot done and was able to nap and relax and feel a bit rested. I have another long weekend in a few days!

Let’s see how much snow we get in the next several hours…

On the happier side:
1. David had made a yummy onion soup complete with croutons and cheese broiled on top when I got home so late last night.

2. Most of the people I work for were out for a teambuilding event today so I had time to catch up on a few things.

3. Asian stir fry with tofu at the cafeteria and free flu shots today!

I’m going through old computer files at work and I found this meme-like one that was part of a get-to-know-you thing a couple of years ago. We were supposed to guess who the coworkers were based on their answers.

What hobbies do you enjoy?
Rowing, pets

What is your favorite vacation destination?
Someplace with a beach and indoor plumbing

What ocupation would you like to have if you weren’t in your current position?
Actuary, editor, animal rescuer

What is the one job you NEVER want to try?
Sales rep–I don’t want to deal with the public or sell something I don’t think anyone needs!

What was your first pet? What was its name?
Frisky the guinea pig

Who is your hero? Why?
This always sounds like idolatry to me so I don’t have one

How many siblings do you have?
One younger brother

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Disney cartoonist

Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
Mrs. Linebacker, who let me skip recess to do extra classwork

What was your least favorite subject in school?
GYM

Would you say that you are more “urban” or “rural” at heart?
Urban for the diversity (but I need a yard!)

What “historical figure” do you most admire? Why?
MLK Jr–a perfect vision and great approach to it

If you could possess any talent, what would it be?
Playing piano or singing would be cool

If you could be any super hero, who would you be?
Is there a Grammar Girl?

Actually five days off. I needed to use up some vacation.

Today: got up early anyway, took Jeep in (I was going to thank David for using the compressor to fill the flat tire and going with me to drop off the vehicle for repair, but the tire was flat due to a drywall screw, which is probably his fault), found a laborer for David’s job AND didn’t have to do it myself, dug up the rest of the yew roots, planted four shrubs and a bunch of bulbs, watched the gossipy neighbor make his rounds and even call the Health Department on another neighbor, took bike in for tune-up, got gas for $1.85. Productive day! Maybe painting tomorrow if the weather holds.

My patient while his family is on vacation:

Either I’m really good at sub-Q fluids or he’s just lonely enough that he still purrs throughout the treatment. We cuddled for awhile too.