I walked from downtown to the southern-most neighborhood of North Seattle - its the midway point between downtown and home. Last Saturday, taking Aurora and the Aurora Bridge took 1 hr 20 minutes. Today I walked Dexter and the far friendlier Fremont Bridge, and that leg also took 1 hr 20 minutes. The walk was equally boring, but with less traffic it was quieter and much less fume-y.

One of the reasons why I walk so much is that I have "perfect" bus timing. I think, "it would be great I could catch the bus at intersection x", only to find that 50 yds ahead of intersection x and against the light the bus I wanted to catch is now pulling away. Happened twice today with two different bus routes 5 blocks from each other. And the buses run every 30 minutes on Sunday.

If it weren't for bad bus luck, I'd have no luck at all. Until I looked at the corner of the bus shelter after the second missed bus and found this:

Saving log - $12 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $7 lunch + $9 groceries

Put 12 in the tip box because I hadn't in awhile. One of the other things that shook out with the 403B decision is that I have almost 190 hrs of paid time off (PTO). Time to get out of my workaholic self and schedule a week.

Found 11 cents on the sidewalk by the gas station ... always good hunting grounds.

Day didn't turn out half bad, even though I forgot my bus pass and both the morning bus and the afternoon bus were more full than I've remembered ... even with the fare increase. $3.50/ gallon gas and pouring rain tends to fill up a bus fast.

When a bus is stuffed to the gills you really notice the crap everyone lugs around. Ever really use all the stuff you lug around? After I got my degree and was packing up for my postdoc, I pulled papers out of my bag - the one I lugged around daily for 5-6 years. There were scientific papers that I might have read once, but then lugged around in my bag for years. What a waste.

People carry stuff to put on appearances. Look how busy I am. Look how prepared I am. You're pushing paper, emails, computer files. A cellphone, a wallet, an iPod, a PDA/blackberry thingee, keys, your lunch maybe. Need a huge backpack or tote bag for that, whapping everyone in the aisle seats as you go? I know that with my little neoprene purse I look somehow less productive, less busy. I'll still have my shoulders.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $7 lunch + $14 groceries + $50 cash

For the new readers out there: saving log and spending log are quick snapshots of what I spent or saved that day. Nothing much more.

Since my Paypal interest rate is not any higher than my ING account, I consolidated by moving the Paypal money into ING.

Getting my folders ready for the tax advisor tomorrow night. I still have to find my SS card and my last year's form. If nothing else, I have files for both on my flash drive.

Lawyer friend's youngest brother was diagnosed with a serious form of leukemia; he's heading out tomorrow for the east coast.

Tomorrow is the last day for my temp guy. He can speak Mandarin Chinese; his new job depends on his ability to translate and he was tested on it. He squinted at a character and said, "Badger?". The company was very happy; no one else figured that character out.

Tonight I was milling around my bus stop at my usual time. Intermediate transit lesson for today is: Identify your markers. Markers are people who share your regular schedule and who you ride with. See them milling around the stop and be consoled that you didn't miss the bus. If you get sick of watching the road for your bus, watch their movements instead. If they're heading for the edge of the sidewalk, so should you. Its considered a nice touch if you yourself have a memorable flair and you're regular; you too can become a shining beacon marker for someone else.

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $8 lunch

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $13 brunch + $231 Christmas gifts + $40 dinner with friends

Sunday - $0 tip box
Spending log - $16 Walgreens

Finished Saturday with the Christmas shopping - whew. This weekend I saw a lot of shoppers and the stores were busy.

Once you buy more than one package, the hard part comes when you have to lug the loot on the bus. I thought I had just missed the bus, but luck smiled on me - the bus I had missed must had been extremely late because another my-bus showed up a minute later. It was especially lucky not only because I caught that one, but since the extremely late bus forged ahead it picked up all the other riders before my bus came. It meant lots of empty seats that stayed empty and no bashing of others with the boxes as I tromped down the aisle to get off.

We were also supposed to see I Am Legend with DJ friend and his DW at the IMAX. The IMAX projector broke Friday night, so it was just like the airlines - we rebooked. And we got several free passes for our trouble.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $9 lunch

Not much happening here - just waiting for the Monday paycheck. I'll be running on financial fumes - $100 for the weekend. The Duvall friends have got our blueberry bushes. (We decided to get a couple and put them in kind of a secret corner of the back yard.)

Sister's lawyer sent both my sister and I so I asked in an email for a little clarification - did he split the bill in half, or is one just a copy?

Took the bus tunnel for the first time since it opened. Its geometry seems different, but that could be because I hadn't seen it for two years.

Good news - a couple of months into my blog I wrote about the closure of the bus tunnel and how it affected my commute. The bus tunnel is back. Yippee!

However, some things will remain the same. No cars or 3rd Ave between 6-9 am and 3-6pm. Seattle got very used to the proceeds coming from those 101$ tickets. Not that I complaining - beforehand the cars on 3rd would just go crazy - turning into pedestrians, etc.

And some things are very, very different again. A few buses transferred to 3rd Ave. One of the buses that I can take to work now lets me off right in from of my gym, right across the street from work. Before, I'd have to take another 3 minute walk cutting through the interior of my favorite building, the Exchange Building. I'll miss that. I'll also miss the 20 calories or so that I burned off daily.

A homeless man's sign, as spotted from the bus:

Father killed in Ninja attack.
Need money for karate lessons.

My assistant for the pledge processing season came on board today. Bought him lunch.

Got bought breakfast by DH.

It was the best grocery shopping deal of the season. Peaches for $1/lb, 1/2 flat of blueberries for $6, frozen green beans for $.99/16 oz bag. (Corn and peas get that low, more rarely broccoli, but green beans getting that low is very rare.) I know, frozen's not as chic as fresh, but the best price for fresh green beans this year was at $1.49/lb, today they ran at $1.99/lb. There's chic, and then there's doing the math - last I checked, 16 oz equals 1 lb. Double the price.

My meal was a festival of good fats - guacamole with avocadoes & salmon, with homemade potato salad with green beans in it as a bit of a vice, and blueberries, blueberries, blueberries.

Up on the DVD tonight is the last episode of Deadwood - let the obscenities begin.

Fun image this week. A little bit of drama on the bus. Will it fall and fly around inside?

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $6 lunch

Just thought I'd write up something different...

Saturday my bus stop got a shelter that it didn't have on Friday. It was amazing that it was built so quickly, but it was a bummer too. It means that this so-called temporary bus stop is now the permanent bus-stop. R.I.P former, convenient, all buses stopping bus stop. Sigh.

Oh yes, note to Metro transit: with the shelter we now need a big wastebasket. When you have people sitting down away from the elements, you get litter.

So last Saturday I felt (and might have written) that I was riding with the transit amateurs. Transit amateurs just don't know the rules of the bus - boyfriends stand in the aisle next to their girlfriends even though they are corking up the aisle for other people even when the driver tells him not to - people looking confused when they pay (to be fair, a bus going toward downtown you pay getting on, a bus leaving downtown you pay getting off. Not foolproof) - people even not remembering to hang onto rails - people really, really wanting a window or an aisle - and everyone with a duffle bag or a backpack that you're just wearing. Cripes, its Saturday, and you're heading to festival in the city. Whatever happened to the wallet and the clif bar?

So some new professional bus transit tips...
1. Use the penguin hold for your backpack if you are standing in the aisle. Its simple - take your backpack off, pretend its a penguin chick and stick it between your feet. You won't bash someone in the face.
2. I hate the window and being constricted and I'm going to sit in the aisle seat and sigh loudly if someone goes to the window seat. Get over yourself. You're in a community of transit riders for a 30 minutes. Play with others even if you're sitting in a seat you hate.
3. Couples - its okay if you aren't sitting or standing together. Just get off at the same stop. Are you that worried that another bus rider is going to steal your girl away? And we are all going to laugh if you call each other on the cell phone.
4. Don't annoy the professional riders by asking us "what's this bus like during the week?" or "I'll bet its real quiet on the weekdays." If you want to know, ride the bus during the week.

And here is the best tip for busriding in Seattle.

1. Watch and learn where your bus goes along its route, and look at other bus numbers at the stops it stops at. It means that:
The more routes you know and the greater the willingness to walk means you have more flexibility in the buses you can take.
If there are a ton of people at the stop you are waiting at, backstep and wait at the stop before the stop with a ton of people at it. (You'll probably get a seat.)

Saving log - $lots, see later in the post
Spending log - $20 for 2 breakfasts, $5 lemonade

This weekend's the Fremont Fair, which I usually don't go to even though its free - it just concentrates badly behaved people - but I wanted to see the art cars. I didn't realize that Seattle hosted the 3rd largest art car gathering in the US.

Here's one using materials familiar to a blogger:


This one can only be described as a tart car, with black bras and curlers on the top:


A working fountain on the hood?


This one has a wicked sculptural quality to it - the top of the windshield has the words 'outta my way' in mirror image, so you could see them that way in your rear view mirror.


Art cars intersect with frugality in weird sorts of ways. For instance, the one thing that art cars share is that the car part is all paid off; I'm sure that GM Financing takes a very dim view of gluing black bras on the hood of a car that you are still paying on. . In most cases, the materials used as a motif for the car - discs, lingerie, beads, chalk, paint, match box cars, pennies - are usually cheap or worthless. Making something out of nothing, as it were. And you have to be very, very willing to live with and still use the results.

Today I also received the 4th payment from dad's estate. The state of Wisconsin signed off and is buying our 2nd piece of property, but that money hasn't come into the estate yet. With this 4th payment, the sale of the first property is now divided up between sister and I. The amount is small enough so it would be FDIC insured as a CD, but large enough that its weird to see it as a simple slip of paper. Shouldn't it have a gilt frame or something?

Wednesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $7 lunch

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $5 lunch

In Paris, DH was quite taken by the number of 2-seat Smart cars on the streets. Today, I saw something one better - a Sparrow in the street.


Its a one-seater; one bag of kitty litter would have to drive itself home.


And another shot of the stickers - an electric car. The caption underneath the Sparrow says, "Ruler of the City Streets".


Tomorrow I see what my new paycheck will look like. I've learned not to form an expectation, otherwise I'll be disappointed.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - .65$ milk + $5.25 lunch

This morning I was called into my boss's office and was offered the promotion. On May 16th I will be packing for Paris but I will be the official boss of DJ friend (boy that'll be weird) and another co-worker.

The job grade is one step higher than the one I have, so I'm guessing it will be a $2000/yr pay raise. That and an expected 4% raise at the beginning of the next fiscal year (July) means I have a fighting chance of paying off the Paris trip within the year. I'm not sure if the job grade pay raise and the cola are additive or not.

Tried out some more settings on the camera. I figured out that it takes black & white, vivid color, cyan, and sepia. Since the MayDay rally caused a stack-up of buses, that's what I used.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - .65 milk + $15 lunch

Did the chirashi lunch today because I needed brain food for the afternoon. This afternoon I interviewed for my promotion. It went okay, considering I was the only contender. I fretted, though, about what I said or didn't say. As I was fretting, a co worker said to me, "remember what your competition said!"

Still, it will be a battle not to think about it this 3-day weekend. I have Monday off for my birthday and plan to do a couple of trip related errands.

The picture today - we get all types of morning bus commuters in Seattle.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $7 lunch + $11 goodwill (shoes and light blouse)

Bought a pair of brown slip on shoes and a neutral light blouse for summer. Seattle is not known for summer particularly. Usually there's a three week space that you need something summery - after that, its long sleeves year round if you want. I just don't want to hit Paris in t-shirts.

Hit the gym again armed with an index card containing a lower body routine.

My bus ride goes past a sign that never fails to make me smile. Here it is.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.62 coffee, milk + $15 lunch

Just a lot of Robert Altman-esque Short Cuts today.

Succumbed to the lure of chirashi today. I got a new sushi chef, who gave me a slightly smaller plate but wasn't stingy with the fish. I'll have to remember that my usual sushi chef works on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Found out that the first person I met at work had died. A remembrance of his is tomorrow. He was the computer/network guy who showed up to fix your computer when it was ailing. He retired five years ago, but its still a bit of a shock.

Gave my assistant a little hug as she was leaving on her last day. She told me that she had done more varied stuff in 5 months here than she did in 7 years at workplace unnamed.

The 2007 Poetry on the Bus competition is up and running. I'm a bit lukewarm on the theme - but I have my idea and my twist. All I need is a bit of incubation on a couple of words (you only have 50) and I'll send my shot off. We find out on June 1 - perfect, I'll be in Paris not fretting about it - but by then I'll sure be able to use the $125.

Speaking of the bus, I relearned the pole slide today. It's where you use your angular momentum to slide into a window seat, usually stealing it from someone who hasn't discovered the trick.

DH discovered old stewing hens at .99/ each at the HT. Coq au vin tomorrow!

Saving log - $3
Spending log - $2 coffee, milk + $8 lunch

But the $8 rare beef pho lunch came with a walk, which is what I needed. Tonight all the electrons around me went on strike - two electric buses made a turn, twisted a bit - I wouldn't really call it a jack-knife - and stalled out, blocking all the other buses heading north on 3rd Ave. I thought I had missed my bus, instead I walked past it. Waiting there for a little while, I got antsy again, found that my MP3 player died (electrons again) and decided to walk all the way to Macy's and catch the easy bus home.

Just finished calculating and free-filing my taxes. It seemed easier last year, but the reason could be that I had a couple extra 1099s, and I there were a couple of IRA twists that I forgot about. This year I free-filed at the same site that I did last year, so I saved having to hunt around for a company that would do it. (I file in WA state, which has no income tax. Most of the free filing sites will let you file your Federal taxes for free as a loss leader, but want the ability to charge for your state taxes.)

I was very happy that I had my financials on my USB drive (w/ password). The last step had me looking at several lines of my last year's 1040 - the answers would be known only to me and would form an electronic signature. It was a lot easier to look for my .pdf form on the USB than it was in my paper files.

I'm getting back $289. Not bad - I try to shave it close, and with all the interest income I've gotten, I needed the traditional IRA to keep it super close. Next year I expect to pay because I've gone for the Roth IRA, which won't shelter any money.

Saving log - $3
Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 4.36$ lunch

The office opened 2 hrs late, and DH was sound asleep, so I really didn't want to push it by getting him out of bed..and frankly, traffic's been just nutty, even by Seattle standards. Waited for the bus for 25 minutes, and I did a little multi-tasking by buying a coffee and drinking it while I waited.

Love my Yaktrax. Every day for these past few days, standing around with them on, at least five people have asked me about them.

Its not particularly financial, but I have to get this off my chest. An open command to my brethren, the Seattle bus rider: Sit the he&& down!

Amateurs.

So many times in these past four days, on a packed bus, when the bus stops and a few people manage to ssssqquuueeeze off, there can be an empty seat. If there is no older person who needs the seat and you are closest to it, it does not help matters any that you are standing there like a goob next to an empty seat. Worse, you are now blocking the seat for someone else. But its my next stop, you whine. Yes, you are polite. Get over yourself. Sit down.

Yeah, I'm a tad cranky.

I did actually get an interesting financial nugget in the paper today, disguised in the science section. Researchers discovered two spots in the brain that are active when you are considering buying something. One spot, the nucleus accumbens, is a pleasure center active when you are about to buy something you want. Another, the insula, is active when you experience things you don't like - pain, disgusting smells, etc. So deciding on a purchase is thought to be a wrestling match between the two. Of course, the "tightwad" supposedly has a more responsive insula, but half of Americans tested have one of those. It also turns out that a number of retail tricks - buy one, get one free; the credit card; the all-you-can-eat buffet - short circuit the insula, while tricks like buying with cash engage the insula. Fascinating.

Now sit down. You're hurting my insula!

Thanks, guys for your advice. I'm going to tell lawyer friend about it so when I stick his name on the cc:line he won't be surprised. Except for the 70% weirdness, the landlord and the rental are fine. We aren't insane nutball tenants; if we do call, they respond quickly. Best of all the rent hasn't changed any in 5 years.

So why do I rent? Well to tell you the truth in the simplest and least bitter-renter sounding way, financially we can't swing it in any fiscal responsible way right now, circa 2006-2007.

The median price of a house in Seattle/ King County about 400K. As a matter of fact, Zillow.com estimates the price of the place we rent at 370K. DH and I together make 60-65K, and we rent our 2-bedroom digs at 845$/month. Even with the most evil, fiscally suicidal I/O, neg-am, no doc ARM loan at a bogus teaser rate we would still pay about $500/month more than we rent. And a loan like that means that I would still be renting - from the bank instead of a landlord. To afford a 30yr fixed, we would need to at least double, even triple our income.

So we cheap it out, save our money, and wait. After all, a house is like any other purchase - you want to get a better price. No sense being frugal in your choices, save your money, then turn around and overpay in the largest purchase that you'll make in your life.

That's not to say we aren't interested. We're saving our money - house prices can drop, or they can rise even further. Conversely, we can save for a down payment or we will sit on a ton of money and rent. Either way, we sleep well at night.

Well, maybe not DH. His side of the bed has developed a slow leak. (Select Comfort is basically an air mattress with a phd.) At least with air, it is a lot less messy. Because my side is just fine, right now we are swapping out hoses, valves, etc, to narrow down just what is failing on DH's side of the bed. (BTW, take your best shot - I'm going to either delete or treasure your comments.)

Slushy, goopy mess today but a lot less icy. 2 buses on my normal bus route didn't come, so it was plan B - down the hill to the workhorse bus. I was 15 minutes late.

Savings log - $2 tip box (finally deposited this month's scrapings today), 8.04$ coming from this week's T-bill, and payday.
Spending log - $2 coffee/milk + $7 lunch.

Actually made it to work today. The office opened 2 hrs late in honor of the ice. Actually it was even more confusing - we were to assume that we were to start 2 hrs late, but to call back 45 minutes before the opening to check if the decision had changed.

Sigh. Home in North Seattle was iced over, and DH had the car. In other words, no way was I was going to make it on time in a mere 45 minutes.

As for moi, I assume that the decision makers at my workplace are insane and so far I have not been disappointed. I figured that the office would open and the message would not be changed. So I started off a full 2 hours before the office opening. I waited a good 45 minutes before a bus, stuffed to the gills, stopped.

During that time, one bus drove past and two training buses drove past. Now I can understand that this is a perfect training opportunity for driving on chains in the snow, but in the words of my co-worker, "why not train for the full effect and pick up hundreds of crabby, cold passengers in the snow?"

And again, to my fellow passengers...why are each of you bringing tens of pounds of crap in a backpack, insuring that you are a double lump in the aisle, pickpocket bait to a pro, and a pain in the ass to other people? I'm sure you didn't use all or even any of the crap you brought. I went fiscal commando again today, and hung my MP3 player and keys from belt loops, keeping everything in inside pockets.

Lo and behold, I was accurate. We started and the message was never changed. Never bet against insanity

But one great, amazing piece of news. The trainer weighted me again today. Between last Wednesday and today (Tuesday) I managed to lose .75 pounds. How did that happen? I'd like to think its the red wine, the gravy tastings, and the three slivers of pie. A girl can dream.

Tonight I got a handwritten condolence card from the vet. Now I'm va klempt again. Talk amongst yourselves.

Savings log - $3 in the tip box. I now have 40$ and its time to hoof it to the bank.
Spending log - 1.50$ coffee + 4.50$ veggie sub sandwich

Am watching the Packer/Seahawk game, and I'm more of a Packer fan. Rats is the summary.

We only got a couple of inches in Seattle, so off to work I went. The commute was pretty light because everyone north of us was snowed in. Tonight I did a crazy thing and did my 8th Ave NW walk. Crazy because it was snowing a bit, there was plenty of ice and I was watching cars slip and slide around. I took it slow and discovered that my balance was much, much better than it had been in a long time. I'm never going to ice skate, but at least I'm not going to be as afraid of ice as I used to be. Tomorrow morning will be the acid test though. Everything will have frozen up good and solid and since I live on a ridge, its downhill no matter how I go.

But at work today I found that I'm in command for the rest of the week. My boss was going to come back today from the East Coast but was detained.

Giving my sister 8 months of a fruit of the month club for Christmas. Sounds silly but the fruit was fantastic. I knew I wouldn't have time to participate in cyber Monday, so I ordered Sunday night.

Not much saving today.
Spending - 1.37$ coffee (no milk in the deli) + 11$ chirashi (figured I needed the brain food this week).

It was the first really rainy, really low cloudy day of the season. Today Seattle resembled nothing more, nothing less than the old timey science-fiction description of the surface of Venus - murky, dark and rainy. I love Seattle during these days - it keeps the amateurs away.

There's only one problem: traffic. If you can't drive in the rain, why are you driving here? I admit I hate driving in the rain; I'm on the bus. This morning, I dodged a bullet and picked the right bus to make it to work on time, but tonight it took 45 minutes to get out of downtown because of crazy traffic. Its times like these that I really love my new headphones. Not once did I hear: "I'm three feet further than the last time you called," cellphone call.

Busy again today, and I kept my assistant very busy today. Right now we are at comfortably busy, which will soon turn into swamped in a couple of weeks.

Saving log - $3 in the tip box, $7.91 in T-bill interest, $75 into savings from checking.
Spending log - $2 coffee/milk, $8 lunch of kung pao chicken. The fortune cookie? "You will be in good health for most of your life."

The big news at the gym is that the gym is being bought by a couple of partners. My trainer introduced me to one of the owners who was enthusiastic and very chatty and was happy to hear of my progress.

And it went downhill from there. Trained a couple of new people (one from last year and she was amazed at my physical change), fixed some serious problems, got a little bit more cleared from my desk. But my coworkers in other departments seemed a bit more...needy. Blegh.

Spending log - 2$ coffee and milk, 7$ curry (didn't want the special and I wanted a drink).

My MP3 player ran out of juice on the bus going home. Altered my walk a little to avoid the now-dark park. I take bright sidewalks and a sharper hill (not as sharp as the brutal hill).

Got a letter from the City of Seattle and the US Postal Inspection Service. I got some mail stolen in August. They're going ahead with charging the perp and gave me info on a website so I can follow the proceedings.

Added a little bit more to the tip box, so I put 50$ in the bank.

Spent 2$ for the coffee and the nofat milk and 4.50$ for curry lunch.

Nothing much else on any financial front. We're supposed to be converting from Sick/ Vacation/ Catastrophic to PTO at work by January 1.

Gym today, the trainer turned the dome upside down and I could stand, balance on it for 1 minute.

This fall is different than last fall for two reasons: no titanic flocks of starlings in the trees (yet), and now Seattle traffic is so bad that a little rain causes a titanic traffic jam. Its now faster to walk out of downtown than it is to take the bus. I'd rather have the starlings.

So at the foursome lunch (16.50$ - one of us had a birthday so the other three bought) today, conversation turned to my new bed, the sleep number part, and the adjustable foundation part. Then it turned to how much it cost. I told them and the other three blanched, looked stricken like they were suffering from heartburn. Choices, guys. I don't have a car (which I still really don't need), and I rent. But I like to get 7-8 hours of sleep, which is going to happen to be a 1/3 of my life.

Planned the move of the 24K out of ING to Vanguard. Since it is a taxable account, and not part of an IRA, it should be tax and fee efficient, without a lot of trading. I picked the S & P 500 (VINFX) index fund, with the capital gains and the dividends reinvested. If I remember right, stocks get bought and sold at the end of the quarter - aka the "witching" hour - so the index matches the market. In other words, nothing's bought continuously.

Talked a little more to co worker/ DJ about what I would be writing on the internet radio station. We apparently have 4-6 weeks or so. He plans to switch things on when everything's ready, a luxury that maybe a regular radio station doesn't have. My assistant has been cranking along. Soon I'm going to have the opposite problem - keeping her busy.

Been walking home from 15th Ave NW about 80% of the time now, but since its getting dark more quickly, that'll soon change because I really don't want to be walking that long and far after dark. Another choice. The chiropractor suggested going back to the gym 3x/week, rather than just 2x.

Friday - not much happened. Thursday night I was restless, but it wasn't the coffee particularly that kept me up. See a few paragraphs below.

Finished DJ friend-co/worker write-up for his website Friday night. I had a lot of fun with it and turned out well - he had a lot of material, had lots of sentences. It was just a job to polish the sentences (keeping his style), get rid of the "well duh" phrases and connect them into coherent paragraphs. It took maybe 4 hrs. I've got to think about doing more of this - its a blast and I might just as well get paid for it. I'll put the link on when I get it.

Friday night DH and I went out to get burgers. Had a cheeseburger for the first time in 10 months. $5.95

Put 40$ in a DRP.

Saturday DH taught me a frugal trick of his own. Instead of parking meters, Seattle has parking stations - a whole block is marked off, and at the center of the block is a little pay station where you pay for a ticket with the expiration time and a sticker to stick the ticket to the sidewalk-side of the window. The ticket has a sentence that I've never noticed before - the ticket is transferable. DH and I had several errands around town. DH added a little extra time and we just drove with the same sticker and parked in our spots. Very clever - once you came back to the old parking meter, you couldn't get your change back.

Now for what made me restless. I have a crush on a man. It feels like the classic - a bolt of lightening, although I should have known it was coming - I've been bubbly and receptive for weeks. Flirty jeans are good, but come on... I don't know whether its requited, and since I'm married, its moot. In a weird, weird way though, I'm laughing as I write this: crushes are very frugal if you don't act on them - no dates, no diseases, no come-downs. (if you do act on them - the cost of divorce will kill ya!) At least its not a workplace one - you have to grit your teeth about those and ride them out.

So let the waiting begin.

Today DH drove me to work...just because. Because this is the first rain of the fall, the drivers were crazy and it took us 45 minutes to get into downtown Seattle. Hwy 99 was packed, the Fremont Bridge was packed. The only route that wasn't packed was 15th Ave NW, it was just slow.

And since it was cool and cloudy, everybody got the same idea for lunch: curry. Big line for the curry special. Found out from the curry place owner that he uses corn oil, so not so bad.

Talked with the trainer about the possiblity of splitting with my friend (yesterday's lunch partner). She told me that it was up to me and they have done it in the past. The "bad" news after the corn oil good news is that she told me my daily caloric intake was supposed to be 1400 calories, not the 1600-1700 that I was aiming for. Hmmm, it might be amazing that I've lost the few pounds that I did.

I'm still psyched about the size 14 jeans. I've been joking and laughing at work and I just seem ... brighter and a bit more extroverted. Best 18.99$ I've spent this year.

Talked with the lawyer friend about the possible sale of the second property with the WiDNR. He told me that usually the government price is market value + 10% or so, and thought that right now they would give us probably the best price. Here's hoping, but not hoping too hard.

Put 5$ in the tip box.

Wore my new jeans to work (I'm a department where we put the casual in business casual), got my compliments.

On the bus - the first one had some sort of issue so when its replacement parked behind us, I motioned to my seat mate that we want to make a break for it to get onto the bus behind us when the back door opens. We did and we managed to get decent seats. He laughed and said that he's so oblivious when he was reading.

Man, its just so nice when you just take up your side of the bus seat. You even feel confident enough to flirt. Kinda flirt.

Had a serendipitous lunch with a friend. She came to my office and told me we had to cancel the lunch to my "hideout" two weeks from now. I countered that I was going to go to the place for lunch today - would she like to come? So we went, and we had a nice gossip session. The food was great, cheap, light, and best of all, no one from work goes there.

Actually, she's one of people I sent to my trainer, so we had a nice conversation about that. She asked me whether she was willing to split a few sessions with me. I'm very interested, but she does tend to be flaky, and I'm pretty consistent. Oh well, maybe she'll will be useful for dropping that expense by a few bucks.

Spending log - 1.37$ coffee + 10$ lunch

Saving log - 5$ in the tip box. I should be depositing this month's scrapings at the end of this week.

Ran out the door with my purse, my wallet nestled in its little pocket. I walked to my bus stop just as the bus was pulling up (I love it when that happens). I reached for a compartment in my wallet...

No bus pass.

Its okay, especially on a commuter bus in Seattle - they know you have a pass and that you've bought the ride already. Besides, the driver said, its the first of the month and it'll happen a lot today. Get on.

Got in line for coffee. The cashier knew my order, poured my coffee while I opened my wallet and discovered no money in it. Worse, I had no debit card. Got my coffee anyway, because I was a regular.

So I went fiscally commando all day today.

I hate the surprise. I hate it when I forget that I stuck my bus pass, money from the ATM and debit card in a spare pocket for speed. I especially hate it when I have to dip into the tip box for the necessities.

Spending log - 4.50$ curry

Found a quarter sitting on an empty bus seat this morning as I was leaving. That was a good sign for my first day back to work. Best haul I've had in a year or two. Mostly I find pennies and dimes.

And it was just in time, too. Vacation just breeds spending opportunity. If you work on an outside job, you have little time or opportunity to spend. I was okay with not buying lunch, but it seemed like everyday I was shelling out bucks for printer cartridges or a bed or a sheets. Good deals, but the best deal of all is 0$.

Shoveled out 155 emails and went through my day. Caught up with the groom from the second wedding I attended (the couple who got four personal finance books) - we hadn't talked for about 6 weeks. Most of my department is getting back from various vacations, so very soon we will be at full strength.

Got my other habits in order. My back was stiff, but the chiropractic adjustments seemed to hold, even with two weeks on the air mattress and couch. The personal trainer threatened measurements tomorrow. Got the footlong sandwich so I have lunch today and Wednesday - got the special for 5$, so it would be $2.50/lunch. Tomorrow I have lunch with lawyer friend (before measurements). I should finish the month with $60 in my checking account.

Savings log - 7$ tip box.
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $5.00 lunch.

So getting to Nashville was a crazy adventure - a hopscotch from Seattle to San Diego to Dallas to Nashville. The Dallas connection was the crazy one, and I knew it would be crazy. In my purse went the just in case stuff: a pair of fresh socks, fresh panties, a bottle of water, 5 energy bars, 2 paperbacks, my Saturday paper, PDA, MP3 player.

The first rule of the airport is to think "prison". One checked bag, one purse, slip on shoes, no belt, no jewelry, all metal in the purse. Thankfully the metal detectors missed the underwire in the bra.

The second rule of the airport is that if you roam it with "needs" you'll spend money. The only need I should have provided for was to pack a lunch. I bought that for an uninspired $6 in San Diego.

As I said before I just made the connection in Dallas to Nashville; I had about fifteen minutes to get across the gigantic Dallas Airport. Yay for gym class. Ten minutes into the flight, though, after the relief that I made my flight came the realization that there was absolutely no way that my checked bag had made it. It tempered my relief until I realized something very important: all my clothes in that bag were at least 1 size too large, no one has seen me wear what I have on, and everything was Seattle summer-y, not Nashville summer-y. I cheered up at the thought of actually buying something.

At the Nashville baggage claim, my bag was missing, and so I stood with about 15 other people in various stages of high dudgeon, asking an airline rep to rescue their bag. One woman even threw a tantrum about her cell phone charger being in the missing bag. "That's my life they lost!" Here's a hint...if it was that big o'deal, it should have gone in the purse.

My turn with the airline rep. Many thanks to anna, jester of the bees for her customer service tips here and here that informed my tactics.

Me: Bad night, eh?
Rep (with a southern drawl): If you're here, the news is never good.
Me (low voice): To tell you the truth, I'm not that upset. You see, I've been at the gym for seven months now. All my clothes in that bag are at least one size too big.
Rep (laughing): Well bless your heart! So what did your bag look like?
Me: Carpet bag, green and kinda pink. No wheels. So I'm at [hotel]. Do you deliver? I don't have a phone...
Rep: We sure do, honey. No need for the phone, we know where that is. Do you have everything you need - toothbrush?
Me: toothbrush I have, but I need toothpaste.
Rep: Oh, let me get a little something for you...(returns with a little spa kit.)

So if you're a customer service rep, whose bag are you going to rescue first? Tantrum woman or woman with a funny story? I got my bag at the hotel by 10 am the next morning.