Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $0

It was quiet today - most of the co workers that had big ass hairy questions for me mentioned their big ass hairy question a few days before and when I answered them I got nice "I'm off today!" emails of various flavors.

The bombshell came whistling in from HR. We were told we wouldn't have many more layoffs, but according to the head of HR, we will. All vague, no details. Sigh. Its not the layoffs that bug me - I'm not a crybaby after all, and I would still laugh if I got laid off - its the stupidity of the jerk around, the yes/no thing. Yet again HR proves that they are not working in your interest particularly.

And right now the City of Seattle Transportation Dept is digging up the street in front of our offices. My office is below ground, under the sidewalk, so when the jackhammer digging up the street gets going, the sound and the effect are indescribable. Like a pre-earthquake.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $5 groceries

I wore a pair of pants today that I was not able to wear in awhile. Actually I've never been able to comfortably wear them until now.

At work, today was one of the quietest end of fiscal year ends ever. We still keep our books open a few days more, but I don't expect a mad rush as in previous years. Yet another indication of a deep recession.

DH reseeded one of the lettuce bowls for an early fall harvest. We planted Morgan's memorial catnip in the corner and it seems to be doing well - nothing has disturbed it yet. I had heard that if the catnip plant is big enough and you don't bruise the leaves too much, the plant won't get mowed down by rampaging cats. Hopefully that's what's happening.

At work: rumors have been flying about layoffs, aka RIFs. A couple of co workers had told me, in confidence, that they are planning on the fact that they will go. My boss doesn't think that anyone in our department will go, but everyone is so tight lipped that ...who knows?

I took a glance at the totals of my 403B - it broke 80K.

Had a glorious weekend, and finally got caught up on what I needed to do before vacation (3 days and counting...).

I'm back!

Chalk it up to the recession, but our non-profit workplace now has a severance package. I don't know why they didn't before, unless it was because attrition and incompetence did its magic in the past. Anyway, if we are laid off - not quitting, not fired - we receive a sliding number of weeks based on our seniority.

I'll be 10 years in February. I would get 4 weeks of severance right now, after February 5 weeks. I wonder whether PTO
is additive to the severance. Wonder if its too crass to ask.

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $12 breakfast + $107 cat travel items

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3 bagel, coffee + $2 apple, water

Since Saturday afternoon, I felt I like I was coming down with something, but hadn't quite yet. Sunday was similar, and Monday (today), was worse yet. My symptoms are: tiredness, sore throat, and runny nose. No fever at any time, so if this is flu, its the weirdest flu I've ever had. (Confirmed that its a cold). Decided though to stay at home and keep it to myself rather than risk the wrath of co workers. You can't be too careful - we are all on alert with this flu stuff.

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee + $15 lunch

Thursday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee

I got a Rhoomba for my birthday. Its fun to watch. Compared the regular vacuum its a bit quieter - and if I don't have to vacuum, that's fine with me.

Noticed that the I-bond fixed rate is at 0.10% with a zero percent variable. The first I-bonds that I bought are now approaching 5 years old, come August I start to have some that will not have the 3 month interest penalty.

The May Day protest parade right at rush hour marched past our office on 2nd. Nice and loud and went on for a good 20 minutes. We never ever get a parade - its usually 1st or 3rd Avenue that gets it.

Ate a couple of cups of lettuce thinnings - very tasty, but its growing faster than I can eat. DJ friend offered to water our containers while we're away. Hope he takes our offer of eating what he can, too. Up for this weekend is to finally pot up the tomato plants we got when we got our blueberry plants. The blueberry plants are getting itty-bitty cup shaped flowers. Not too many, but some.

Tonight I also saw my first flu masked person out on the street. An older woman. Not sure whether I should be blase about it, treat it with respect, or even try to get it (get sick and build your immunity early). The last flu pandemic I knew about was the Hong Kong Flu in 1968. I remember my parents talk about it in hushed tones, and the seeing the pictures of it in the paper. I was 6.

Monday
Saving log - $3.41 Temper check
Spending log - $5 latte, apple turnover + $11 lunch

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0

Deposited what was in the tip box for the month - $45. Added a $3.41 refund check from Temper. (Temper bought my first share of Sysco - SYY - along with a 10% just in-case-the-price-rises cushion and did it for $3.41 less).

Took the day off yesterday and spent a glorious morning with a latte, an apple turnover, and 3 newspapers. Can you tell I was once an academic? The only difference is that my papers were the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times. I'm trying to get a feeling for the investment climate. I can always stick my head in the sand and wait, but its still better to make or not make a move based on trying to understand what what the climate is.

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned the living room and bedroom. Ah! Clear space and stuff put away properly is like a vacation that keeps going on and on.

Today I brought my gift of flatware to our floor's lunchroom at work (bought 7 forks and 7 spoons at the Goodwill on Sunday when everything was 50% off). Within 15 minutes I got a "whoever brought the utensils, thank you very much!" email. Hard to produce that amount of joy for $3.21.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $5 roast turkey for the weekend

Added up everything that I've saved through my tip box at work: $2504.

Work has been stressful lately; I'm off on Monday for a 3 day weekend. I have 204 hrs of PTO (personal time off)...over 5 weeks. Better start using it, dang nab it.

The pot garden is marching along...


I'm going to try something different, and plant carrots in a pot this weekend. Apparently, as long as the soil isn't too rich (turns the carrots hairy), they do well in pots. I have some purple carrot seeds and everything else.

Friday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee + $10 lunch/snack + $20 dinner w/friends

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $10 breakfast + $40 two blueberry bushes + $2.75 top + $6 meat for lunches

Spendy couple of days all around. I discovered that I didn't have any turkey or ham for my little bit of rice, so I bought a bit of salmon, tofu, and green beans to augment and I didn't make the afternoon snack, so I bought a little side salad for that. For that one day, I went from $0 spending I went to the typical for six months ago.

Had to refuel my wallet, as it were, at the ATM before dinner. (I'm still old school - I've been burned enough times to be wary of just using the debit card. Way I roll.) General relativity exists - time has to change depending on perspective. How else can I explain why I can get money from an ATM in a bit under a minute, and why I ALWAYS am behind someone who takes freaking forever to get or not get their money. I know what I can and want to do at the ATM before I get there. I guess not everybody is that together. It still burns me, though.

At the little dinner soiree last night I learned that my ex is losing his job at the end of April. Told him about the hiring freeze, and the possibility of no temps working the fall campaigns. But you never know - and I'll be one of the first to hear, either way.

This afternoon DH and I bought two low blueberry bushes. I wanted a fairly low growth habit for two reasons - 1.) we were going to grow them in pots for a year or two or three and 2.) we figure that Morgan's side job will be to go after any bird that tries to snack on a berry, so we went for low to make the job easy and fun for her.

Again, the two lettuce pots are starting to sprout those little four leaf seedlings...(they are green in real life)

The gardener irony: Weed seedlings always look far healthier than your seedlings.

Here's the pot garden, so far. We're also doing a couple of tomato plants in pots - the soil that is the sunniest and warmest also grew potatoes, which are a host plant for fusarium wilt.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $5 grapes and trailmix

Word came down to think about and prepare for the possibility of processing pledges without temp staff. For a couple of our busiest months it will be a challenge. This is coming from the COO, who is on the pragmatic side, not as optimistic as the CEO. There is a possibility that we will have temp staff, but its always wiser to prepare for not, then if we have some, it will be a pleasant surprise.

Other departments will be asked to do the same. At least I hope so.

It will be a very interesting 10 months from now. One bright spot was the head of the department, who warned us right off the bat to take vacation and not be a workaholic hero. If I am going to have to work overtime in the fall and winter, I should rest during the summer.

Saturday
Saving log - $40 Drp
Spending log - $13 breakfast + $57 mixed stuff + $100 public radio

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.50 bagel & coffee + $10.50 apple, tea, magazine, lunch

Mixed spending yesterday - I bought $30 worth of women's underwear packs, various sizes, for our non-profit's underwear drive, along with three more large outdoor pots at Big Lots, then I broke down and pledged during our local NPR station's pledge drive. I have it on reasonable authority that our local station is doing all right - didn't drink the kool-aid and grow the station unsustainably - however, the PI's demise has hit me hard. Times are a changin'.

Last night I also shut the lights off for an hour at 8:30 pm. However, I also watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and it felt like cheating. Let's just say that a few of those CGI battles made up for the dark living room.

Today, I jogged about 1/2 the way to the Fremont Bridge, a mock 5K. Last week I made it in 51 minutes, today I did it in 50 minutes. Trainer's goal for me in this is 48 minutes. I'm getting better - heart rate did not go over 145 bpm - but when I start to flag and walk, I'll have to curb that because when I walk, I want to walk the rest of the way. My weight is plateauing again at around 179-180, so I have to provide the trainer with a few days of my food diary.

Rounding out the rest of the day, I looked at my lettuce bowls, and I see sprouting (they were planted shallowly - 3x the diameter of the seed). Another sunny day or two and I should see little green leaves. Also put up a sage plant in a plastic pot. My little patio pot garden is coming along.

Noted that the IRS cashed my tax payment Friday when I mailed it on Monday. As my grampa used to say, "somebody really wanted your money." He hated taxes with a passion - he definitely would have commented that I shouldn't get caught paying so much. Your inheritance is killing me, gramps!

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0

I was working with pledge data coming from the federal government accounts. The two spreadsheets, a summary and a list of donors, were wacky - the totals didn't match up.

Quote of the day from the Fed contact: "you should not try to reconcile this data."

I'll have to remember that during tax season 2009.

Last night was the night of ghost hunting at the workplace. In a nutshell, nothing dramatic happened (jokingly, DH asked me to rinse off outside if I got slimed and I stayed dry), but it was fascinating nonetheless. Right off the bat, no pictures just words.

A little background - a month after and ever since we moved into our new digs in November 2003 (our last day in the old office fell on Halloween - no joke), we've had reports of odd sightings of people and emanations. The two incidents that I knew about before last night were - 1.) a month after the move, a self-described psychic who was a fundraising temp staffer in 2003 described that she saw shadows of people counting money. Not unhappy, they were just counting money. 2.) Another fundraising temp staffer a couple of years ago said she saw a thin man in an overcoat walking quickly then turning left into a wall.

Last night I heard about several more stories through the years: a cleaning staffer saw a man in hip boots, dark coat, and scars sitting in a cubicle in the 1st and 3rd floors; the daughter of the facilities manager said to her dad that she was trying to talk to a man in a tall hat on the 1st floor; as the events manager came up the back stairs ran into a gate that opened and slammed shut; the same fundraising temp staffer who saw the overcoat man heard bag rustling and stomping coming from the 1st floor and she was the only person in the building; and a couple movement-from-the-corner-of-the-eye sightings in the old bank vault on the lower level.

So I come to work at 7:30 pm to a dark building, with one of the

ghost hunting team on point to greet us and meet his team. The completely dark building was part of the setup. The facilities manager cut the lights and ran down the backup lights. Everything we did was either in the dark or by flashlight.

On our team of co workers were: the facilities manager (dad of the daughter), director of IT, me, the fundraising temp staffer who saw the overcoat man and heard the stomping on the 1st floor, 3 co workers who were very, very interested (all women, interestingly enough). On the ghost hunting team: 9 members, including a woman who attracts ghosts, and later on, a 10th person, the president of the ghost hunting club back from giving a ghost underground tour of Seattle. (Wow, there is one.)

The ghost hunters all setup behind the reception area. They came with a lot of equipment, IR cameras, EMF detectors, MP3 recorders, digital cameras, and headlights. They and by extension, we, looked like spelunkers. We were split into 4 teams: generally 2 ghost hunters teamed with two of us. I was with the temp staffer who saw the overcoat man (she was a good friend of mine). We were to go to each floor - LL, 1, 2, 3 - and stay for 1 hour in rotation. (It was to keep everybody from hitting the LL and the vault all at once!)

Another of guy ghost hunters set up stationary IR cameras on the straight ways on each floor.

Most of the night, we would walk around the dark corridors of each floor in turn to keep them from getting lost. The IR guy would continuously videotape, every so often the woman ghost hunter would photograph the corridors or cubicles. As they asked questions about the building, we would answer them, and they'd tell us a bit about what they were doing - the IR camera was to identify hot spots, the digital camera with the flash was to identify shadows. Apparently our computers would give spurious readings on EMF detectors so we didn't really use them...but other teams did. We learned that many of the sightings are 'residuals', where an entity doing something re-appears over and over again, like a repeating tape. 'Hauntings' are when you communicate with the entity.

We did a complete walk around of the floor, then we would sit down in a common area and tape. We would ask questions, let them hang in the air. Most of them were open ended - please talk to us, we want to talk to you, why do you stay? I'd ask a couple of questions: sometimes ghosts react to voices that they are familiar with or that are different, so we were encouraged to speak up and ask questions. Then after a bit of taping, we'd play it back. So out of politeness, we mentioned our stomach growlings, or in my case, a rumble a bit further down.

Oddly enough, we heard things on the 2nd floor (where there were no sightings) that sounded like clicking heels. We (meaning our team) didn't really see or hear anything on the LL, nor on the 1st floor. The ghost hunters said for some of these places 4 teams would confuse the ghosts - that they wouldn't know who to communicate with. The 3rd floor we got a little bit in the main conference room. The woman ghost hunter asked me if I had shifted my seat and when I told her no, she told me that she thought she saw movement or a shadow behind me.

On the 1st floor we caught up with another team and the president. It was fascinating hearing the different styles, especially with the questioning. One was a bit more provocative, he would ask questions designed for a response, such as:

Do you know you are dead?

That team sat in the conference room near where we heard the clicking on the second floor. They ran their tape and apparently got a mysterious knock in response to the questioners knock.

After the 4 hour tour, the teams all gathered together. Here's where it got interesting. The women who attracted ghosts could not stay in the vault on the lower level - she sensed a heavy, unfriendly presence, and when she sat in the 3rd floor main conference room her chair vibrated the entire time. Another team, trying to get at the man-with-scars angle, asked about being a fisherman and heard a cat meow. Another smelled a perfume smell in the lower level, in the cubicle next to mine. The hunters noted the 2nd floor issues. The man in the overcoat was hypothesized to be part of the bank. It was noted that the vault was probably at ground level in 1870's Seattle. Fascinating that several entities might be involved, coming from different times and places.

What the ghost hunters wanted was a history of the site, floor plans of the buildings that came before, go through tapes that they got, give us a report. They also want to set up and run an IR camera in the vault and the 2nd floor conference room over a weekend.

I can't say I believe any of this, but I have to respect the equipment, the lore (I hesitate calling it a science) and the know-how. Good people, too...with a very interesting hobby.

Thursday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee

Friday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $20 haircut

Yesterday I received my stock proxy vote for KO. Every year some shareholder puts in a motion to control executive compensation. With the furor over AIG, I wonder how many more shareholders will vote for it? I know I voted for it, with more than a bit of glee.

Yesterday at our all staff, the CEO noted that our health insurance had to be maintained as a top priority, while our 403B was competitive, and therefore strengthening it was not a priority. Fair enough. I wonder how that bodes for the match.

Today I got my haircut (once every three months), and noticed that credit unions aren't safe either - a couple of those got

taken over also.

Tomorrow morning I'll go in and file/pay my taxes (ugh - 2008, revised 2007, and probably the first quarter of 2009). But tomorrow night, I'll be ghost hunting at the job. Tee hee.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $11 groceries

Put my monthly savings from the tip box into the bank - $48. About 15 minutes after I got back, I got a call from the outside reception to bring a pledge form.

Turns out that a young man (late 20s/ early 30s) found a twenty dollar bill on the sidewalk near our offices. He stopped by on the spur of the moment to donate it to the non-profit where I work.

As he filled out the form he said he worked a few doors down, and that a couple of years ago he would have kept the twenty. Today he was a good soul and donated it.

We got his name and address on the pledge form. Next year he'll get a direct mail solicitation. With any luck, next year he will remain a good soul.

A second bit of luck came when I wanted a small decaf this afternoon. I was about to pay when I saw that I had won one by answering last week's trivia question. Got a lucky freebie.

Monday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $20 chiropractor + $2 conditioner

Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $.75 paper

The Seattle Post Intelligencer published its last edition today. I picked up a commemorative copy at the Safeway today. The top section had a series of lovely pieces of Seattle and PI history, so ...

would the bastard who stole it from the lunchroom bring it back or ELSE I will have to curse their Final Four picks. And trust me, I can and will make sure that you not only will not win, but that you will be the laughingstock of the basketball pool.

I mean it, man.

On a serious note, I'm saddened and a tad scared about the PI closing. Its supposed to live on as an online outlet w/blogs, twitters, commentary, but somebody has to physically go out, do the legwork, take names, write the story and do all of those things that afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Blogs reflect the news. If there is no reported news, we reflect nothing.

But we'll see.

Next week Saturday, the 21st, is when we go ghostbusting at our offices. 7pm to 11pm, but if something is found (!) we'll stay until 2am. A couple of co workers are really hoping for a near seance. "Maybe it will be (fill in with your fav Seattle founder)."

As for me, I think one of my co workers will bring a big Great Dane that we will nickname Scooby Doo... which mean we'll probably find out the ghost is actually a real estate developer trying to scare the buyers away so he can get a cheap price.

I definitely plan to take notes and pictures, but more for my own purposes. I'm thinking of visiting sister and the farmette in mid-June. As some of you might remember, our farmette has a possible entity also - a man in a fedora going up our second floor stairs. Often the door leading into those stairs would 'pop' open even when firmly latched, then would melodramatically creaak at the end.

Sister tells me that she is nearly done with the kitchen, that it looks fabulous, definitely "not embarrassing". She has two dogs, both shaggy, so with our farmette ghost we can have the Shaggy Doo sequel.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $3.50 coffee, cookie

Couple of notes at work:

1. We now have a hiring freeze
2. We have been asked to look our job description, down time, and skills that we provide for the company.

One of our largest costs is temporary seasonal staff, both for us in processing and for fundraising, so I suspect that if things will get much worse the permanent will be asked to take over some, much or all of those functions. And we probably will be asked to come up with cuts, perhaps radical ones. Supposedly this is to plan in case things get even worse or stay about as bad in 2010.

I feel like a shoe have dropped and we've been catching up, which is good. But I think that the 2010 timeline is under-reacting, which is bad.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $5 lunch + $13 groceries

Today was an off-site training day, and the training site was about a block away from Remo Borrachini's, so DJ friend and I bought and ate a lunch there at the little cafe, ferociously tempted by all the cakes and Italian pastries.

In more fiscal news, our contributions are matched .50:1, our max is 8%, so a 4% contribution. However, this match is put into our accounts yearly, in March. I looked and found that our match from the 2008 contributions was put in. Excellent timing because it bought stocks at a relative low.

Thursday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $20 drinks

Friday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $4 coffee, scone + $8 lunch

I haven't been blogging too much about my work with Global Vortex Radio and DJ friend, probably because I don't do very much with it on a day to day level. But I have been doing some writing for the Internet radio station when DJ friend has a project for me. Mostly its been crafting a message to get a precise tone and effect. For instance, DJ friend needed other DJs to send their remixes and programs in certain way, and he REALLY needed that to happen. I crafted what we lovingly call the "hammer letter". It had to set a polite but firm tone. Please do this, and if insist on not, your show won't go on. It worked very well, with no problems with compliance and no hard feelings. I also wrote a thank you to the DJs that gave the all rights to one of their songs to GVR for the compilation album. It had to thank them for their gift, ease their mind that they weren't being ripped off, and tell them what will happen because of their gift.

I was paid in barter yesterday - I got a free copy of Global Vortex Radio's first CD compiliation (2 CDs) and a thank you in the liner notes! I'm buying another copy to give to my sister. I also got a free invite to the CD launch last night.

Here's a picture to give you a flavor of where I was...too bad my battery gave out right after.


The first half was an event to Seattle's Fashion week - a student fashion show. To tell you the truth, it has been over twenty years since I've last been "clubbing". So long ago, that at the door I proudly held out the top of my palm for the stamp, 80s style. Current style is underside of the wrist. Observing cool kids is a lot of fun for an old fart geek like me. Lots of fake hugging - women & women pat at the base of the back, women & men pat at the top of the back, men & men at the shoulder blades. My only compliant is that "Kitchen" was in the name of the venue: kitchen was closed by 9pm. Its how the fashionistas stay thin, apparently. The bartender was a generous pourer. I'm sure I got 1/3 of a bottle in my wineglass.

Our event started at around 10:30pm - very fun. We got to go up into the DJ private aerie up above the bar (in the picture) and dance floor and I got a chance to meet new people and talk with some friends. Morgan's (our kitty) rescuer was there so I got a chance to catch him up and tell him how she's doing, a couple of former co-workers came by, and the couple of DJs that I met on the 15 bus and we later discovered that we had a connection to DJ friend (that's my boss! DJ friend later told them)- they showed and I had a chance to talk with them.

Today, though, I really felt it. How did I ever do this in college? Thank heaven it was Friday and I could rest up. DJ friend will be resting too.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $12 breakfast + $110 groceries

Stocked up on groceries and minor Valentine's Day treats. This weekend is a three day one for me - President's Day is also a holiday for me.

DH and I decided to go out the next day, Sunday the 15th. V-day itself is going to be a-stay-at-home for us. Frankly, the V-day festivities aren't really a bowl of cherries for many of the coupled folks I know of either. For the average ordinary, it used to be a card and chocolates and maybe a rose or two (in the 80's, before Columbia got into the rose business, roses were very, very dear). Then the romance became ramped-upped into expensive dinner, drinks, etc, all to re-create the "most special event" ever, every year. I might just be a curmudgeon, but all holidays seem to be turning into their own Christmas. The themes change, but the orgy-like spending continues. Stop it.

Anyway, also up for this weekend, I also plan on repotting a fern into two pots, get a little exercise, and pay off this month's spendy credit card bill. It caused me great sadness to move a bit of savings out to help pay for it.

From Feb 6, looks like the paranormal (aka ghost) investigation of our offices is scheduled for a Saturday in March. 7pm - 11pm, with maybe extra innings up until 2am. I'm in on the fun. Oh I caint hardly wait!

Thursday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $0

Friday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $10 groceries (whole wheat bagette, olives, parmesan/pesto dip spread)

For the last couple of days I've stared at several towers of Ziploc boxes in the home refrigerator, so I've expanded out my lunch experiences and have grazed out of a couple of boxes for dinner. I discovered that: in a pinch a tablespoon of parmesan/pesto dip over microwaved pasta doubles as an alfredo sauce; a cup of fresh salsa is great without chips; pot roast and mango pickle is a wickedly good combination in a lunch box; and that using chopped onions in a salt brine as a quick condiment isn't bad.

Gained 1/2 pound this week. Considering that I had no time to do the mega weekend walk/jog last weekend, I ate and drank liquor without care (?) during Super Bowl afternoon, and I worked out only Monday this week ... I felt I dodged a bullet.

Two more recession observations - the grocery store clerks seem to be so much nicer than they have been for months. Disguising their Valentine's Day hard sell perhaps, but its better than being surly. Tonight I noticed more cars driving on the road with one headlight.

I've heard about a weird project at work. In the 1850's our little non-profit was either next to or was the Little White Church Cemetery. The cemetery was moved at the turn of the century, but apparently not everyone left - tens of people (staff, volunteers, children of volunteers) have reported a tall man in a black coat walking around. So a group of non-profit ghost busters is going to come in at night and roam around.

Tuesday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $3.50 fresh juice

Wednesday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $10 lunch

Its busy at work but I'm making great progress so I bought a treat yesterday and had lunch with the gang today.

Lawyer friend had read my blog and had a question for me: Why don't I count the farmette in my net worth? Let me see...

1. Don't know what the farmette's worth, and really, until I'm bought out or it goes up for sale, not worth it to me to appraise it.

2. And it would 1/2 of an estimate anyway.

3. Treating the farmette like an expense, which it is if I pay half-sies on expenses and taxes and I visit it once every couple of years.

4. Would prefer that my net worth be an underestimate.

After lunch, as we were walking back to work, screenwriter friend found a $10 bill under a parked car. Score for him.

Apologies that I haven't been posting daily - I have an excuse, now I have to look around for the screen and type one handed...

Thursday
Saving log - $3 tip box + $35 drp
Spending log - $0

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1172 gym

I'm at 180.6.

You know, 180 was the original weight goal from three years ago. The very first trainer I had thought that I would get to 180 in three months. Reality took a bit longer.

Because I've dropped about 8 pounds, I've signed up for another round of personal training - 18 sessions, 1X week. Along with the couple of leftover sessions, these should last until about July. So its a lot, but monthly not so much. And if I bring the lunch instead of buying it, I save about $300 per month. So I'm shifting.

I'm close to getting all the pieces of paper I need to do my taxes. I have to go through my checklist. It used to be so straightforward - a W2 and away I would go. That's the one problem with a little fiscal empire - if I'm the emperor, I have to give my governors and generals time to report.

I'm busy, but my crunch time has been delayed. I was supposed to get a big influx of data Thursday and Friday. Crickets. So I'm still clearing my decks, getting all the projects that I still have to get done done.

And I think I'm done.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $0

Even though it was cold. 3 Seattle banks

got robbed today within four hours of each other. None of the three robbers looked a tenth as good as Warren Beatty did playing Clyde Barrow, but then again, the real Clyde Barrow didn't either.

DJ friend told me about his cost cutting measures and thanked me for telling him about Lenny's. Some of the cheapest produce in town, but you have to pick and look. Icky stuff can be in the bin with the good stuff.

Hit the gym today again. 181.8!

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $12 lunch

Aka the work refrigerator.

We have refrigerators on each floor - its not everybody piled into one. This morning I spent two minutes of my work life reading email complaints of various people on the second floor who "broke" the work refrigerator lunch rules. The COO laid down the law, but in reality, the punishment is pretty minor: your lunch container gets moved out of the refeer and onto the lunchroom table.

Lucky our floor has, maybe, ten people all quietly bringing their lunch. Lots of free space. Easy for me to chuckle about the goobs on the second floor.

Then it hit me. - Apparently the second floor refeer was packed with lunches, all brought by the sales staff, folks who, only a couple of years ago (when I was up there), wouldn't even think of bringing their lunch. Especially on a Friday.

Anybody else seeing work refrigerators full of brown bags where none existed?

Today, I was contrarian. I woke up this morning and decided, as I was in bed, to go out for lunch and eat whitefish and mustard green soup with ginger. The very restorative thought of it got me out of bed.

Put the month's savings in the tip box. A bit higher than usual: $52.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $0

Funded my 2009 Roth today. Got several more pieces of tax paper, including the 1099R because I've converted my 2005 & 2006 traditional IRA to Roth. Got a collection of tax papers and put them in my green folder. I'm debating whether to do my taxes myself this year or use a preparer. Hmmm. Will I be tapped to head the Department of Treasury, or not?

Most of the day at work it felt as if we were waiting for the 3 day weekend. Most of the temporary audit staff's (including the lead) last day was today. Our pledge season this year was cut short by at least a month. Not two years ago I and lead auditor that year would have bought into the Super Bowl pool in mid-Feb.

This morning, I read a blog specific for non-profits. In the post, the writer talked about corporate matches. She didn't see any changes in corporate match giving. She's nuts, in my opinion. I calculate them for our non-profit as part of my job and I'm seeing big declines in two ways: 1. mechanics of the matches are changing - ratios dropping, match gifts "capped" on the donor gift or a total of what the company will pay; 2. if you base a match gift on employee giving, when employee giving drops - even if the ratio is the same - the match dollars will drop.

But to keep this post from being a total downer, this afternoon I was weighed and measured. I'm still at 182, but I have lost 3 inches in my waist since I was measured two months ago. Yeah! If you lose inches, you can always lie.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.90 coffee + $13 ground coffee + $9 groceries

Got more tax papers, including the W2.

Also got a letter that the KO Drp is moving - out of the hands of the company and more to the transfer agent. Buying and selling look to be more fluid - you can buy shares weekly, rather than at the end of the month. It looks like the fees, including reinvesting dividends, are now to be footed by the shareholders, rather than the company.

Final piece of mail - my first mail-in ballot. We get to vote on who is going to head King County elections.

Today
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.90 coffee + $7 lunch + $20 groceries

Tuesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $0

I'm going to miss Ricardo Montalban.

I bought my lunch today, came back, then worked out during my lunch hour and ate lunch at my desk. Good hunting skills for the department - the gym was giving away free samples of Healthy Choice microwave lunches. It was late enough (1:30) so I could scoop up 4 of them without much fuss. Into the work refeer they went.

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $13 breakfast

Friday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $9 groceries

Sent off 5K to sister for taxes and upkeep on the farmette. Friday was a this and that day. Did a session with the trainer - I've bounced up to 183, then bounced back down to 182. Showed off my kitten scars.

Noticed now that with Boeing laying off, the PI going under (okay its being put up for sale within 60 days before going under. Not going to happen), and an actual crockpot recipe appearing in the recipe of the day it feels a bit like the 70s - can disco be far behind? If you compare the economic climate to the weather, it feels like a hurricane is bearing down. Seattle is getting the first bands of rain and wind with worse on the way.

Today lawyer friend had an open house/wake for his dad. One of the side benefits of working in the basement is that our department - all 7 of us - feel like a tight unit. We are actually a bit too busy to do too much political backstabbing.

Not so in the previous department that I was in. A co worker who still works in that department and came to the wake confided in me that she thought she would be laid off. Supposedly no one will be laid off, but to believe that these days is complete idiocy. My suspicion is that each department will have to come up with a "just in case" budget about 15-20% under what we do, meaning cuts everywhere. It was helpful to us to take up the offer of and use the services of several internal staff. It kept us under budget, perhaps we'll escape it. I haven't heard anything, its all feelings, but you pick up a thing or two if you were alert during the 70s and early 80s.

Then we did the mundane after we got home. I trimmed kitten's nails; she behaved herself and it was easy. Didn't give the nails a severe chop, but the scimitar points are gone. Morgan will go to the vet Monday to get a blood draw to test how well she will handle anesthesia, and get the second round of shots. She's been outside a little bit for a few minutes and under our eyes. She's not excited to go out, which solves a lot of issues, but we do want her get a little familiar with what our house and plants look and smell like if she accidentally gets outside.