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Archive for March, 2012

question of the afternoon

March 31st, 2012 at 03:30 am

Didja buy a Mega Millions ticket?

I did. Just one. First lottery ticket I've bought in 30 years. I still debated about it because I was on record for saying, "its a tax on people who don't get probability".

What tipped me to buying it though was, well, I managed to find over $1 in change during the last four days so I could make the case that I bought the ticket with other people's money.

So what would I do with over a quarter billion? Probably what someone in Illinois did: put it in an LLC and keep my name out of the papers.

But what I did buy with the mini-lottery win (aka paycheck) was: rent, groceries, electric bill, and a pledge to my public radio station

funny this and that

March 24th, 2012 at 04:31 am

Work is easing up a little. My boss, the director of the department, is on leave and the biggest project she had me on was developing the department budget. Got it done today which means I can finally, finally go back to digging myself out of the swamp of work.

I had a number of interesting experiences this week. Wednesday I went to the pre-construction open house to the Northgate light rail station. Our quick way to get home from I5 is going to be used as a staging area. No surprise and sacrifices have to be made. The big controversy is more parking versus a pedestrian bridge coming from the community college. Its building up to be a choice between one or the other - depends on whether you think the cars are coming from the north or to the west.

I left soon after a 70 yr old woman complained that the station will block her view of the Olympics. A quick calculation is telling that by the time the station is built, the view is going to be the least of her concerns. To be fair, this project is not made for her particularly. Its not even made for me, who is pushing 50 next month. 9 years from now I'm thinking of retirement, not commuting after all.

The next wacky thing this week is finding out that Saturday a

Text is Hollywood production is being filmed nearby and Link is http://www.phinneywood.com/2012/03/22/movie-filming-in-greenwood-on-saturday/
Hollywood production is being filmed nearby AND that Gary Busey is in it. Somebody on our crew has him on their list. Never been able to "throw" the results before!

And today, I took a little stroll near Occidental Park (Pioneer Square) and walked past three news crews. I asked a local about and he told me that the lawyer defending the US serviceman charged with the killings in Afghanistan... well, his office is nearby. So they are waiting.

matambre pic

March 20th, 2012 at 02:59 am

Just in case you were curious about it. It turned out smashing! The party was fun, but there was not so much planning - more like what were people's hobbies, personality, did people have side plans? A fair number of people also wanted to travel across the wide, wide river bed and visit Urugray.


matambre

March 15th, 2012 at 04:59 am

We are still planning the Argentina trip in September with 3 other couples - including lawyer friend and his partner. The eight of us are having a potluck at lawyer friend's house on Friday to talk and plan.

The most Argentinian dish that I know of is matambre - stuffed rolled flank steak. Tonight I butterflied the flank steak, pounded it thin, and am marinating it with red wine vinegar and garlic. I've also cooked a couple of sausages (hard boiled egg is classic, but the host is allergic, so sausage will sub for egg), and steamed long strips of carrot.

Tomorrow I layer sausage, carrot, red onion, minced garlic, and spinach onto the flank steak, tightly jelly roll it, tie up the roll with string and roast it for an hour. Thinking of making some chimichurri sauce while it roasts.

Friday I bring it to work and thence to the party.

Friday will be nice, these last few weeks have been h-e-double toothpicks. Must be going 'round.

bought my GS cookies

March 10th, 2012 at 04:32 am

I broke down and bought one (1) box on Wednesday. Now I'll have to ignore for the rest of the season. Big Grin My traditional rules of buying cookies were this:

Last day of the sale.
Buy on the fly - no preorders.
Buy whatever is my favorite from the limited choice.
Parent should be nearby and only as an observer and doing security.
Girl(s) have to be the saleswomen and do the entire thing...
Discuss their product
Do the math
Take the money
Make the change
Thank the customer

I passed by a stand at the grocery store and with the exception of it not being the last day, every thing else was met. I bought a box of a new flavor, Thank You Berry Munch, that had dried cranberries in it. The salesgirl assured me that those cookies went well with coffee as she was asking another girl to help another customer and a third girl to help me with change. CEO material there!

so do you like me or not?

March 5th, 2012 at 02:54 am

You be the judge...

Friday: Unless you bring $100K to us,

Text is you aren't worth it and Link is http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/chase-slips
you aren't worth it. This from Chase Bank.

Saturday: From my mailbox, a little blue envelope that apparently states that I would get $125 if I signed up for Chase checking.

Hmm. Well which is it? Yeah, I can bring a 100K for you, but at $125 and no interest, you aren't worth it.

BECU ATM going away

March 4th, 2012 at 02:58 am

You might remember that I jumped ship from Chase to the credit union because the credit union had a banking node and 2 ATMs in my neighborhood grocery store. Banking node and 1 ATM left in early December for Northgate. As I got money at the ATM left over, I read the sticker. The ATM left over will go away on the 22nd.

Bummer. I can still get money at the point of sale at the grocery store, and I can deposit money at the branch downtown. Or I can displace - I can count the money in the tip box, and transfer that to savings, and spend the original.

Still - the ever shifting sands that is banking and credit union-ing is getting to me. You have branches that go away, and you have mergers between a bank you like (ING) and a bank you don't (Cap One), so suddenly you have savings in a place you hate.

No wonder people spend - the more you have saved, the more the money moves beyond your control irk you.