What I did today, staying at home.

. Wiped down the leather furniture with leather cleaner. The cleaner smells like Elmer's Glue. Yech!
. Watched football.
. Reformatted the old 20 gig hard drive so now I can use it as a backup.
. Vacuumed
. Laundry
. Made turkey curry out of frozen turkey breast, onion, sweet potato, carrot, frozen peas and frozen green beans. Did a fine job of clearing out a bit of freezer space. I never have 400 lbs of food like flash did, but even clearing some of a small amount is a great feeling - feels like you are clever, somehow.

Thirty seconds after AFC game, we got an invite from the Duvall, WA friends. Big Colts fans, and we love dissing the ads. Haven't said this since 1985... so, um...Go. Bears.

Saving log - $35 Drp
Spending log - $10 breakfast + $2.50 hot cider

This is a big, disgusting story in Seattle. Nothing more dangerous than used car salesman when they find a mark, which happened to be a frugal, but mentally unstable man. Worse for the used car salesman, this only matches their reputation.

Got 3 1099 forms and the 25K check in the mail, the third advance. I think I am close, but I think I do my taxes in early February, instead of now.

DH and I had some very frugal fun - Seattle opened the new Olympic Sculpture Park today. Completely free, except for the hot cider. ($2.50) It was a lot of fun, walking in the open air, tromping through nine acres. Its a lot better, prettier use of land than what was on the land ten years ago - it was a fuel storage site operated by Unocal. There were far too many crowds and lines for my taste, though. I think it'll be much more fun and entertaining in a couple of months, when it will just be a few people tromping around. The only other weird thing was there was graffiti on some of the sculptures already! We got animals here.

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!

Saving log - 4$
Spending log - $7 lunch

I just didn't feel like the coffee and milk breakfast routine, so I broke it a bit, frugally. I just wanted a little bit of black coffee and my energy bar.

Cold and blustery at noon, so it was the perfect weather for deluxe spicy pho. Got the chicken pho, with chunks of pineapple and tomato. A quart of pleasure. If it had been any larger, I would have stripped and taken a bath in it.

Not quite ramen or cup of noodles. Even though there is enough salt to drive blood pressure through the roof, that didn't stop me from having a cup yesterday, toasting the inventor of instant ramen. I love them, but not all the time. Too bad instant ramen gives frugality a bad name - the noodles are often the college student's version of frugal. Many people still think that that's what a frugal person does - eat a lot of ramen noodles.

Things are slowly getting back to normal with the new hard drive. I still get an annoying flashing when the CPU is working hard. The wireless connection is a lot better, though. Go figure.

Monday (1/8)
Savings log - 3$
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk + 11$ lunch w/tip

I just wanted the hot fat lunch today. I got my receipts and forms and UPC codes from my new hard drive and installer all xeroxed and sent them off.

The mechanics of the hard drive doings went off without too much of a hitch. One of the screws holding the hard drive bay was stuck, so DH and I had to reverse drill it. Whew, it worked! The owners manual was nearly worthless, so it was a case of unscrewing things, working carefully, and saving the screws. The manual was okay for getting the bay open, but for the rest - well, I got the feeling that the laptop maker didn't really want you to do it, so they didn't describe it.

My laptop didn't recognize the hard drive at first - there's a little plastic and gold electrode extender thingee on the old hard drive that had to be put on the new one. Once that happened, the laptop recognized the hard drive. Unfortunately, the cloning bit didn't work, but the converting the old hard drive to an external drive did. So its rebuilding what I had and rediscovering my preferences, and learning a whole lot of things that'll forget in a few years.

I have to be a bit blase about it. I now have much, much more space, the hard drive is now new (old hard drive came with the laptop - 3 years!) and most of what I had on the old drive was outdated items anyway. I have five tasks that I really want to do quickly (monitoring my fiscal data is one, this journal is second, other writing is third, music fourth, surfing fifth). So I backed up what was meaningful to me before I tried anything...and let the rest go.

Tonight was surfing and making the screen look like it was supposed to. I'm here, but it wasn't easy - I eventually had to download and reinstall the video driver.

The whole process was exciting and I learned a lot. My friends are very impressed, even more than they were from adding more memory. And it was a lot cheaper than having the guys at Fry's do it. Sometimes being frugal is being adventurous and fearless.

DH and I went to Fry's, and I got a new hard for my laptop and a cloner/installer. (134$ w/o rebate) I'm going from 20 gigs to 80 gigs. Wish me luck - especially if you don't hear from me for a few days.

The cloner installer is quite clever. You pop the new hard drive in a clamshell piece of plastic with a bit of electronics in it and a USB port at the other end.

You then run the CD, which "clones" your old hard drive onto your new hard drive, then you extricate the new part drive from its clamshell and swap out the hard drives. If you do it right and everything works out, you keep the old hard drive in the clamshell, erase it and use the old hard drive as more storage.

Anyway, the new 80 gig hard drive comes with a rebate, making it about 70$. It has to be cheaper than getting a new laptop, and I learn a little something.

Right now I'm stymied by a stripped screw on the laptop. Tomorrow I go to a laptop repair place to get the screw out. So I'm close.

Saving log - 0$
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk + 6$ lunch

Lawyer friend and the "kitchen cabinet"* are in for the free lunch, but not at the tentative time next Friday, so its time to reschedule with the Ameriprise rep.

Kitchen cabinet = lawyer friend, lawyer friend's partner, screenwriter friend, finnish friend. (and whoever tags along)

On the other hand, we have a fairly good idea that we want to hit a very swanky dim sum spot. We'll see how the financial planner/rep deals with chicken feet and the dim sum cart with the squeaky wheel. If we must, we can each always come up with the fake name (too late for me, they have my business card)... but we should probably use the fake names during the lunch.

Tee hee, this is going to be wacky.

Today at work I smelled a powdery, lime smell. Its coming from grout - a workman is fixing the water leaks on our ceiling that came from the storms in November and December.

Savings log - $8 tip box
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk (ate the 1/2 sub from Tuesday)

Got an interesting voicemail today. I put my business card in an Ameriprise drawing for a free lunch. I won.

Hard to know whether its a win or not. I'm to pick 15 of my closest friends (aka like The Player), any lunch spot, and the time. We order, an Ameriprise rep gives a 3-5 minute spiel about financial planning, we dig in, and the person disappears after paying the bill.

I don't know how much of a hard sell they're going for, or what the free lunch binds you to...but I'm willing to try it and blog back what I find. I have a cast iron stomach. I've asked DH and DJ friend already...we're got three. I suspect I can get lawyer friend and the kitchen cabinet on this and provide some real entertainment.

I have won a couple of times with my business card - mostly coffees and a lunch. Since I rarely use my business card for actual business purposes, I deposit them in drawings. Its like the lottery, except the scratch cards are paid for by the company.

Dec 29 - yesterday
Savings log - 4$ tip box
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk + $7 pho lunch

Dec 30 - today
Savings log - $2000 (DH paid me back the 2K I loaned him in April)
Spending log - $12 (breakfast & tip) + 54$ (groceries and 40$ cash)

I went and did it. I packed up many of my size 18 and size 20 clothes for donation. It filled two garbage bags. As I was pulling out the pants, dress, tops, etc, I remembered it was a darn lucky thing that I got much of this stuff at the thrift store or at Ross Dress for Less. Nothing I "recycled" cost more than 40$, so I didn't feel that I was taking a heavy duty financial loss. Yet another good reason for hitting the garage sales and not paying full price for anything.

But it was scary. Now it means that I have to at least maintain my new shape, otherwise I'll have to re-buy everything all over again.

I did keep a couple of things. My soft, worn size 18 jeans with the peekaboo rips. It makes a gangsta fashion statement. I kept an XL black turtleneck because I just bought it in September, its warm, and it'll hide any muffin top. There are a couple lightweight animal print pants that I like, and, well, summer's coming back. They hang and float on me and they feel pretty good on the one 90 degree day in Seattle.

And it was a day off for me. Tomorrow its back to the salt mines.

Today was a traipsing around day, and then gym at 2pm. Hit the Pike Market - usually today would be nearly dead, but since it was pouring, the tourists all clumped together. My hideout was closed for vacation, so I ate at the other hideout - Italian fish stew behind the vendor I get my sister's salmon from. (5$) Yet another slice of old Seattle.

After gym, I hit Fred Meyer and got two pillows, some 3 in 1 (body wash, bubble bath, shampoo), and picture hangers. (31$).

Christmas came in at $420. I've done cheaper Christmases, but the final tally's still not bad.

The next up is the assessment of net worth and goals. I got a lot done in 2006, but very little that I listed around this time in 2005. Maybe I should list only wicked things as goals, because I'm so good at avoiding them!

At least during the day, when all the worker and shopping bees are out and about in downtown Seattle. Many of my co workers got power on Saturday, but a few are hosting family and friends. Wednesday was the ETA for power for one unlucky group.

But still it isn't when it gets dark.

My feelings are a bit torn here. The worst of it hit the expensive woodsy properties to the east. Mercer Island, a very exclusive enclave, really got hit. I have to admit a bit of schadenfruede here. A little more planning, a little less credit card action for the stupid stuff.

Then I have to think about how well DH and I would do in the cold and the dark. I mean, really think about it. Yeah, we'd like to admit we would be cleverer. We have a fireplace, candles, batteries, water, a camp cookstove, pantry food, a little spirit, and it would be just the two of us. Just treat it like a hurricane and you'll do fine.

Hurricanes happen in the summer in more southern latitudes. You've got at least 12 hours of daylight. And the day after a hurricane produces some of the clearest bluest skies imaginable.

Night comes early and leaves late. We are only three days from winter solstice and we are up there, latitudinally speaking. 4:30 pm to 8:00 am is 16 hours - a long, long time to wander through a house with candles and flashlights getting chores done, a long time to run the fireplace, much too long for hands of cards and reading books by candlelight, too long when you try to situate yourself in a cold bed, and certainly too long a time allowing a misplaced generator to kill you by carbon monoxide.

We are a day people. Electricity - lights and heat and computer - protect us from ourselves this time of year.

Savings log - $5 tip box
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk + $6 lunch + 20$ chiropractor + 700$ credit card (paying off a cremation)

Survived the Thursday night/Friday morning storm all right. We (and to the best of my knowledge, our neighbors) have power and heat, had it on continuously, and we are thankful. About 150,000 folks in Seattle proper (500K throughout the PNW) were not so lucky.

The eerie, maddening thing - the power outages are very, very spotty. One side of the street would be out or one block would be out. At my bus stop Friday, the traffic light was out, the Walgreens and the Tully's coffeeshop was out, yet across the street the Safeway blazed bright and the little shops along that side were lit too. A co worker mentioned that her house had power, but her neighbors across the street did not. She planned on inviting her neighbors over. We used to do that for snow storms when we knew our neighbors better, using the food that you would be bummed about losing.

Lots of unfrugal activity. Other co workers are buying hotel rooms while they are waiting for the power to come back on. Every diner and restaurant has a line. According to the TV, gas seems to be running low, lines of cars waiting for gas are long - apparently by people driving around to keep warm. G$d, I hope that isn't the case. Surely we have to be better prepared than that! There are some Red Cross shelters, but unfortunately getting the word out and receiving the word depends on electricity.

Pride goeth before a big credit card bill.

Our office had its - holiday party aka the winter event. Two good pieces of news:

1. Happened today. When we got the afternoon off (by tradition), most of us got home before the brutal wind and rain storm. I didn't quite make it home before the beginning - had gym class for an hour, so when I got out at 3pm, it was Venus murky with the rain coming down in sheets.

2. We are getting a 2% raise, starting in January 2007. Don't call me ungrateful, I love it, its much better than a bonus (a raise is forever), but...

Could it have come from a pro-active assessment, rather than a reactive one (smart, confident people slamming our office during exit interviews)? Wait a minute...what am I saying? What company ever does this?

Guys, if any of you are watching the Thursday night football game on the NFL network, I want you to remember that Seattle is always like this. Always. You don't want to be here. We never see the sun, we're never dry. Mountains? What are those? We never saw them until the satellite pictures clearly showed them.

And finally, to the junk mail industry: I nearly caught pnuemonia sprinting out in the sheets of rain to get the mail in the mailbox. What was in the mail? Crap.

Saving log - 1$
Spending log - 1$. Our banquet table had a bet as to who would win our main award. I didn't win. I won due to the fact that it kept me distracted enough to have just one dinner roll while we were waiting for lunch.

Wore my medium top to work today. Having a waist is a pleasure that just doesn't get old.

Now with most of the temp staff gone (just our temps that are helping us process the pledges), the office refrig is clear. Today I went back to my trick of buying the foot long sub to eat over the course of two days.

It felt very good.

Throughout the weekend, I managed to put a bit of money into one of the wallet pockets that I don't seem to use. It helped create for me that in-between state of forgetting it was there and not spending it and remembering that it was there to put in my tip box Monday morning.

Tonight DH grilled a chicken breast for me. As I was eating it, something didn't feel right. I set the urn of my kitty's ashes next to me as I ate. Much better.

Saving log - $6 in the tip box + $7.40 this week's t-bill earnings + 40$ into a drp.

Spending log - $2 coffee, milk + $20 chiropractic copay + $6.86 lunch (for 2 days)

Which is pretty much how my spending went today. $2 again for the coffee and the milk, and I'm about halfway through the protein powder the chiropractor gave me as a gift. Lunch today was the $4.36 curry special - Fridays are the best ones because every vegetarian curry is on special. Then I bought 2 plastic shaker cups ($4.99/each) - one for work to get the protein powder in the milk, one for home to use to make salad dressings.

Had gym for the third time this week because I had one session/week for a couple of weeks. I'm thinking that I'd like to buy a couple of sessions for DH at his gym. He claims he exercises and he does know about the machines, but when he told me that he injured the back of his knee pushing 300 lbs, I wonder if its male stubbornness. And his body doesn't seem to change. I'll have to be a bit cagey, though.

I also worry about him for other reasons - he is the exact opposite of me in terms of sleep. Sleep apnea, disordered sleep, having to use sleeping pills to get to sleep, snoring...the big trifecta of bad sleep. He takes Ambien, and I worry that he actually does sleep eat. The kitchen's not a shambles in the morning, but a cupboard or two is open and things have been rearranged.

$1 in the tip box. My Paypal account made $1.25 this month.

Got the utility bill today from the landlord. Again, the claim is that according to our lease we should be paying 70%. Again, I will take the letter, edit the 70 to 50, edit the totals, print an image of our current lease (which says no change from the original lease), then print an image of our original lease which clearly says 50%. Since I have a .tif images of the two leases, I can and will do it over and over and over again.

What is the landlord smoking?

kashi - thanks for the tip on yaktrax. They look like chains that you can put on your shoes, like you put chains on your tires to keep your car from slipping. I was debating about ordering a pair, but then I thought - its November and I have a bad feeling about this whole winter. So I bought a pair.

Saving log - 2$ tip box + 40$ DRP.
Spending log - 2$ coffee/milk + $114.99 sewer, water, gas + 24.95$ yaktrax + 10$ lunch w/couple of co workers.

From a fairly good day yesterday to a very bad day today. We put down our beloved 19 year old neutered male cat this afternoon. (the one who knows the name we gave him.)

I don't feel like blogging anymore today.

that folks would visit my blog over a 100,000 times!

Usually DH goes alone to Costco. I hate the place myself. Not hate with a passion, mind you, but with a put-upon sigh. Parking is crazy, they move the items around so you have to move through the store (and its strategic - they call it "making the customer think they're in a treasure hunt"), the herd aspect is paramount, small children everywhere, clusters of overweight people huffing down samples. And frankly, the food prices aren't that great, especially if you overbuy and either gain weight eating the stuff or lose money by pitching the stuff away.

But I went along with DH because we ran out of toilet paper and lemon juice (heh heh what were we doing?) last night. I don't trust DH to remember the TP really and I had a small gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

Of course we went through, treasure hunt-zombie style, avoiding the samples (what do they put in the air in Costco? Within 15 minutes of being there, I want something to eat, stat!). As I grabbed a 2-pack of foil, I heard a familiar voice say to me "hey, grab me a pack!" It was DH's BIL.

It would be just a line in a blog, not the whole entry, except that said BIL actually lives in Wyoming. He was here visiting both of his sons who are grown and living in Seattle. We all got caught up; BIL called DW in Wyoming. It turned into an impromptu family reunion.

BIL tipped me off that for our Paris trip, to try and plan things away from MIL, at least for a little bit. Else you will go insane in a foreign country, and that can't be good.

Cost of Costco stuff = 95$. For a family reunion and travel advice, cheap from our end.

With the Costco gift card (10$) kicking around my wallet, I bought some of DH's Costco gas.

Lots of miscellaneous entries today. Found out that if your library fines are more than 6 months old, depending on the city/county, the fine might end up on your credit report. (NYTimes).

Come mid 2007, probably no more rebates. Can't say I'll miss them. I was diligent and managed to get from all the rebates I applied for, save one. (NYTimes).

Went girly fiscal commando today and yesterday. In other words, no purse, just five items in pockets: wallet, keys, PDA, MP3 player, headphones. I find hands free very freeing, and somehow frugal because I just don't want to shop and lug the bag around.

Your mileage may vary (YMMV), but as a paycheck calculator, it was useful enough to link and bookmark.

Sister emailed me last night. Our contacts watching the second property spotted an unmarked white van parked on the property,. Inside the van - a glance in the window - the passenger side seat had paper with WiDNR logos on it. So nice our CSIs are on the case.

Spending - 20$ for breakfast for both DH and myself. It was so nice to see a professional server these days. He was cool, not fawning, came at the exact time that you needed him (a second before you realized), got your order right. And at Denny's too! Cashed in for a free coffee using my punchcard at the coffee place, but bought a biscotti (1.82$), 2 more sweaters from the thrift store (2.99$ and .49$)

Just lots of bits and pieces today.

(11/8)
Savings log - 2$ in tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee & milk, 5$ tuna sandwich and chips

(11/9)
Savings log - 3$ in tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee & milk, 11$ chirashi

On my new bus, I managed to get a glimpse of the trees. The starlings are back, nesting like they did in mid-fall amongst the yellowing maple leaves, looking like large black pears.

Why so late? The birds seem to congregate on the trees that are half de-leafed. More branches, more space. This year the trees were a bit more stressed and yellowed sooner, but they must be dropping their leaves only now.

Lost one pound - I'm at 191. My new goal is to be under 190 for Thanksgiving. Hee hee - so I can get seconds. Actually, it's my last exciting show for friends - I started gym class the week before Thanksgiving last year. Many of those friends hadn't seen me since.

Positively Venusian today, with rains, wind and flooding...perhaps you've heard? The rains will continue tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that....DH found my magnetic clip on shades for my glasses, but I won't need them until April sometime. On the other hand, it makes our collective complexions dewy.

Savings log - $7 in the tip box. When I made reverse change I found I have exactly $20, with half the month left to go.

Edited DJ Myng's mission statement for the internet radio station, which took about an hour. Asked him what the next task was and told him to keep the assignments coming - The ETA for the radio station is 1st- 2nd week of January.

Spending log - coffee and milk for $2; lunch was a large bowl of pho - rare beef. There's just something great about a big bowl of pho (Vietnamese soup) when its raining. I saw a lot of pho being ordered, so everyone seemed to have the same idea. (6$).

Made my list of how I'm going to vote tomorrow. Next year and forever more we are all going to vote by mail, and we are going to lose something in the process.

...the 5th of November. Today seemed like an excellent time to pay off a library fine. (Guy Fawkes got into big trouble with the establishment, and so did I! )

DH promised to return my items, but one CD slipped out of the bag and down behind the car seat. My library fine was $3.30!

And DH wonders why I don't usually trust him to run my errands.

Saving log - 4$ in tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee & milk, 10$ lunch (rainy, so I sprung for the tempura)

Last night after blogging, I had a weak moment and ordered the Looney Tunes Golden Collection vol 4 DVD. I should get it at the end of November. (49$) Its a weak moment of spending, but I love them, have the other 3 volumes, and find that at 7 minutes, these cartoons are the perfect defense against intermittent bad TV.

I begged off the usual lunch foursome and missed the gossip. (Psst, lawyer friend: if you're reading the blog, fill me in on what I missed in the comments). Work is gearing up, and with new people, it just wouldn't DO to sneak off for an hour and twenty minute lunch.

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.

If you laughed, that dates you!

Got the new headphones in the mail tonight. Okay, they are only 3X more expensive than ear clips and ear buds that I've cheaped out on, but they sound many times better, they fold up with a little bag, they deaden other sounds (not so good when I'm playing in traffic), they won't fall off my head and are they're more comfy.

And the bass is fantastic. At least from a woman's amateur perspective.

Spent again the usual 2$ on coffee and nofat milk, 7$ on bibimbap (I sprung for an egg on top for an extra 1$).

Got weighted and measured at the gym. Didn't lose any weight, so at 193. I'm at the back end of my cycle, so not gaining is a win, if you know what I mean. I did lose a bit more on the inches.

We totalled the inches from all body parts since November. I now have two waist measurements - the narrowest part (I have an empress waist) and at my belly button - so depending on which waist measurement you take, I've either lost an amazing 16 inches or a freaking amazing 18.5 inches.

I'm going for density. I'm going to be the densest woman I know.

Finally, a little more about the real me. I'm not really a professional poet, but I did manage to sell a few here, here and here. I threw the links out because the sentences underneath the poems are accurate, so you can get a bit of info about me on the sly. Sister, in addition to holding down the farm, does pottery, photography, and makes soap in Milwaukee. Another fun fact: we don't look alike or act alike or handle money alike (clearly) but we do sound alike. Exactly alike. Freakishly alike in tone, timber, and accent. Like a right and left speaker.

Back to finances next time.

...with the usual foursome, today five-some at lunch. (lawyer friend, lawyer friend's partner, screenwriter friend, a friend co-worker with serious Finnish family roots - so finnish friend).

At the end of lunch lawyer friend said to me, "you write, why haven't you started a blog yet?"

I shot back, "I've been blogging for over a year. Where have you been?"

Both lawyer friend and lawyer's friend's partner made a little blog earlier in the year, based on fixing up a house in Hoquiam. I reminded them that it takes a lot of endurance to blog consistently. There are days when its hard to come up with meaningful things to write about.

"Yeah, and you just never know whether people are reading or not."

I told them that I didn't have that problem.

For Friday, Saturday, Sunday...

Friday - put another 4$ in the tip box, but not much of any financial note happened.

Saturday - Denny's again, because the last time it was fairly quiet, and Denny's was strategically located for errand and later visiting friends out in Duvall, WA.

This time it was not quiet and it was all I could do to keep my tongue firmly in my mouth, because if I didn't there was going to be a hair pulling catfight going on.

Behind me sat a large party. Not a problem.
Right behind me, inches away (we were all in booths) was a young mother with a 4-6 month old baby. Baby was fussing loudly. Still actually not a problem, or at least a problem that I cut slack on.
Young mother sanctimonous about being able to stay at home with baby. Okay, now we are getting into problem because yer baby's behavior is not giving you any brownie points to be sanctimonous about.

And yet I was reading my Wall Street Journal weekend (EFT section was interesting), eating my meal because if I stopped chewing and working my mouth, hell was going to break loose.

And then she began a critique of all of the local casinos out of town. The dealers, the atmosphere, her husband's techniques, the table games, the bars, the buffets. I mean I'm hearing about late nights/early mornings from every freakin' casino - Tulalip, Emerald Queen, Angel of the Winds, and other ones that I care nothing about.

Too bad I didn't catch her name because I was looking forward to hearing about devil mother and devil spawn's financial doings in about 15 years. If only I had DSHS (Department of Social and Health Services) on speed dial.

Anyhow - we were invited to a couple's house in Duvall. We were the first guests there and we hadn't seen them for more than a few minutes since February, so I sprung for housewarming food stuffs ($21.77). Duvall was a straight shot, and we had a blast visiting. Totally made me forget about devil mother.

Sunday - picked up two more long sleeved tops. ($6.08) Now the larges are starting to get loose, although not loose enough to encourage me to try a medium.

Am at the stage where I'm tossing out the really worn, size tent stuff. Threw out a pair of pants with again the hole in the crotch and thin spots in the hiney.

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.

Hit two and a half spots today -

Office Depot for CD clam shells, microfiber wipe for electronic screens, and a plastic storage box - $19.93. Two of these were 3M products, so I expect a penny or two of earnings from my 3M stock. Hah hah.

Next was Tower Records, which declared bankrupcy yesterday. Picked and pawed but I did find 2 CDs and a DVD that I wanted - $57.70. G*d, first Larry's Market and now this. I feel a bit like a shopping vulture, and mentioned it to the cashier. She told me she felt devastated herself, they got the word so quick.

The half spot was a pitstop for bubble tea. (3$) I'm not a Coke (or any other Cola) fiend, thankfully. But if researchers find problems with bubble tea, I'm screwed.