baselle's Financial Diary

Found money log -
Thursday - $0.01 (sidewalk)
Friday - $0.13 (fire hydrant, floor by Coinstar machine)
Saturday - $0.02 (table, planting strip)

Not much has been going on, spending has been the same old, but I am on the first day of a week off. Burglar's note: its a staycation. Plans include painting that patio table, planting the planters, hitting the EMP (got a $5 off admission coupon), perhaps even walking the entire length of the Burke Gilman Trail. I think that's a good 20 miles from Golden Gardens to Woodinville.

Lawyer friend is in Europe ... he's supposed to be heading home tonight, for work Monday. Not going to happen, he and partner got caught by the ash fall from the Iceland volcano.

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (parking meter)

Tuesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $0 (free coffee)
Found money - $0.03 (car wash parking lot, bus stop, crosswalk)

Monday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (bus, carpet, road)


Not much happening. Went to a group cycling class at the gym today for the second time. Up down, up down, down .... how does Lance Armstrong do it? A little padding "back there" would have been much appreciated. Still holding at 169.

With the few pennies this week, I broke $38; I'm at $38.02 in found money.

I've been following, with much amusement, the grilling of Kerry Killinger, the 25 million dollar rat of WaMu. "We should have been given a chance" he said. And there in lies the crux of too-big-to-fail. Its all a gradient. Apparently WaMu was big, but slightly too small for too big to fail. So to avoid WaMu's fate, a bank has to make darn sure it is too big to fail - making them all even bigger moral hazards. Bailout be damned, the revenge side of me wants blood.

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.02 (road, Safeway floor)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $3 decaf coffee, muffin + $14 sundries, new gym towel
Found money - $0.05 (road, under sidewalk table, parking meter, bus)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $.49 apple + $28 planters, seeds
Found money - $5.04 (sidewalks)

Yeah! I found a $5 bill on the sidewalk about a block north of the Woodland Park Zoo. I walk it nearly every Sunday, so this is not particularly typical. No one was within a half a block from the bill, and no one was running toward the bill. Mine then.

$37.95: 825 pennies, 31 nickels, 135 dimes, 30 quarters, 2 $1 bills, 1 $5 bill, (1) 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.06 (sidewalks, road)

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $1 matches
Found money - $0.21 (sidewalk, bus stop, Safeway floor)

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $15 groceries
Found money - $0.13 (coffee shop floor, sidewalks)

$32.84: 814 pennies, 31 nickels, 135 dimes, 30 quarters, 2 $1 bills, (1) 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Attended an in-house supervisor's training, mostly to review new HR policies. One problem with working for one company for 10 years is that, really, you get the policy manual straight away, read it for a little bit your first week, then put it away. Time to think about printing out a fresh copy every five years or so.

Anyway, one of the big changes in hiring was that the new staff will undergo a credit check from HR. Mostly for accounting and operations, they figure the sales team, not so much. A bit of a chuckle here, the fundraising staff (the non-profit version of sales)...well, they fundraise. They might not handle money super routinely, but they certainly have been known to bring big checks to the office.

And HR is looking for 'below standard' credit histories. Whatever that means. They weren't particularly clear about what they are looking for - and I think they are they are trying to figure it out themselves.

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $15 brunch + $25 thrift store + $7 bookstore + $21 Fred Meyer
Found money - $.10 (Safeway floor)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $.50 apple + $8 lunch
Found money - $.24 (road, floor, planting strip, bus stop)

Monday
Saving log - $7 tip box
Spending log - $990 2 HighDef copies of a film, getting it in shape for SIFF + $1.75 coffee + $.50 apple
Found money - $0.14 (escalator, road, planting strip, in front of outside vending machine)

Quichies are just like quickies, only spelled funny. They can be tasty and chewy and cheesy even. Pull up a chair, sit a spell, and dig in.

A slice of ham and cheese, quichie lorraine:
Finished my buying and picking up two copies of a High Def version of a mockumentary film to be shown at SIFF ... in other words, being an Executive Producer. If your wallet is flush (read the whine at the bottom) and you are in Seattle May 28 or June 1, check it out. If not, well, check out the

trailer for free.

A skinny slice of plain quichie:
Yesterday, I picked up a wheat penny. Fun, I thought, a penny older than I am. Today I picked up another wheat penny. Coincidence? People diving deep into their change jars? Discuss.

Quichie slice, with some pretty fruit slices for presentation:
Went shopping again at the thrift store and bought a beautiful grey jean jacket with intricate embroidery and little crystals. Fit in a lovely way. $15. DH wanted my Pendleton XL jacket that I bought five years ago and have been wearing even though I am now officially swimming in it. Also broke down and bought a clip type MP3 player/FM radio for the long walks and jogs. $21.

High tech quichie:
Did my first text coupon last week. I was buying some CDs (low tech), saw a little sign to text something to a number for a 20% discount. I did so (nervously!), and for 10 cents (what it cost me to text) I received a text back to show the clerk. $6 savings. I suppose I will be inundated with text ads soon, but I can delete them before I read them at no cost to me.

Whine with that quichie?
Just to pile on with others getting roped into drama of broke people buying of meaningless stuff... To me, its not that someone is buying the thing. Free country. Its not even that someone broke is buying the thing. Again free country; one is free to be irresponsible. Its the whining and cajoling that gets me. Shut up about it, wouldja! And what is so wrong about saying I can't afford it and leave it at that? Its a perfectly good reason. No, no, you can afford it. People are taking on becoming the cajoling and hectoring arm of the advertisers themselves....for free.

Thursday
Saving log - $0 tip box + $1725 tax refund, dividend check
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 lunch
Found money - $0.12 (parking meter, road)

Friday
Saving log - $7 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.36 (parking meter, sidewalk, road)

Almost at $32...
$31.96: 791 pennies, 30 nickels, 129 dimes, 30 quarters, 2 $1 bills, a 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

How rainy and stormy was it today? So rainy and stormy that the mayor rode up to the bus stop on his bike and took the 355. He nodded at me as he rode up; I nodded back.

I figured that I would be late for a training, but if I got commented upon, I could always say that the mayor was late too.

Heard from the production company (the one with the Emmys) that the HDef transfer was ready, and I pick it up Monday morning.

Only gossip in the financial issues today. Rumor has it that one WA bank is in such bad shape that unless they get a buyer by mid-April, they will be taken over. I have to say that at least rumors imply that there are some cracks in the fiscal omerta. But the lovely

gossip about this bank is that the bank president resigned because he was not allowed to take a spring break vacation. You know, dude, if you fail in getting a buyer for your bank you will be taking a spring break, and a summer break, and a fall break. I expect that since he's a fat cat he will land on his feet (they always do). Who can hope for a 1yr or 2yr break in employment...after all, he's probably considered "talent". Methinks its the opening shots to a lawsuit and scheudenfruede-tainment for years to come.

Interesting timing with this bank and work. We received a corporate gift check and a letter from this bank. Felt a little queasy about cashing it ... the bank employees might need the money more than we would.

I'm still a bit swamped at work, but I helped out screenwriter friend whose son has a film entered into the Seattle International Film Festival. The film has to get into HighDef format to be shown, and a production studio has to do the deed.

Said production studio is on 15th Ave W, a route I know well, so I offered to deliver the film to them on my lunch hour. Studio is a business in a part of town zoned industrial & in a scruffy neighborhood, the place outside was a tad scruffy so I've been curious about what the place was like inside.

Not at all scruffy. Deceptively tasteful and colorful. Plenty of movie posters along the walls, comfy chairs, an espresso machine (I'm sure its make your own or have the receptionist make one for you). The very large, imposing front desk had three Emmy awards clustered on its right side. They looked heavy - like they really couldn't be used for corncob holders in front of Susan Lucci as in the SNL

monologue.

Told the receptionist, who just sat down, that I was going to ask a dumb question: are those Emmys real? Not a dumb question, she said, and yes, they were.

Dropped off the film to them. So much for my fun today. The rest: my tax refund check came yesterday, as did a dividend check.

Sunday
Saving log- $0 tip box
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $11 conveyor belt sushi
Found money - $0.06 (road, floor)

Monday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 groceries
Found money - $0.32 (floor, road, parking meter, bus stop, Safeway change cup)

Tuesday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $0 (free coffee)
Found money - $0.22 (road, sidewalk, bus stop)

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $11 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (bus stop)

$31.47: 787 pennies, 30 nickels, 127 dimes, 29 quarters, 2 $1 bills, a 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Commute log
3/28 - 1 mi car, 5 mi walk (up Queen Anne Hill!), 5 mi bus
3/29 - no car, 2 mi walk, 12 mi bus
3/30 - no car, 1 mi walk, 13 mi bus
3/31 - no car, 2.5 mi walk, 16 mi bus

Normally, I use the car about 3 mi/week, entirely on the weekend. In a normal month w/4 weekends and with extra errands 2x/month, that runs to 18 mi by car. This month, my total car miles was 14.

Finally, I learned about

One Bus Away. Its been a fantastic transportation month!

...Well, it is if you live in Seattle/King County, and Tacoma/Pierce County.

Its been a dream of mine, as I wait patiently (or not so patiently) for the bus at the bus stop, to figure when my freaking bus will come.

I discovered

One Bus Away. True to my frugal roots, I use the SMS system on Net10 phone. No fancy iPhone necessary!

All I do is:
1. Look for the bus stop number. If you are waiting at a shelter, the stop number is in yellow somewhere along on the side at the roof line, usually facing the road. If you are at a stop with no shelter but with a schedule on the post, its in the code of the upper, upper left hand corner. xxx - bus stop number - yyy.
2. Text Onebus bus stop number to 41411.
3. You get a text back with the list of buses and the time expected in minutes.

Its not free. It costs me a nickel/text, but after last week waiting futilely for the express 5, its well worth it. I tried it out and the times were accurate within a minute or two.

The first time you text, it asks you what your zip code is. I think its to keep the Seattle bus stop numbers filtered from the Tacoma ones, etc.

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $12 groceries +$15 paint (used a gift card)
Found money - $0.22 (floors, sidewalks, roads)

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.25 (parking meter, floor, sidewalk)

I kind of like the new overlay listing the blogs. Keeps things from getting stale. Now if I don't have to scroll down through the big sample blog (or is it the first one on the list) and can have my 2005 entries listed on my Archives, it'd be perfect. (My Archive only lists to 2006).

Back in the swing of finding change again. Haven't found a quarter in a number of days, though. I wonder what's up with that?

$30.86: 771 pennies, 29 nickels, 123 dimes, 29 quarters, 2 $1 bills, and a 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

I bought the paint - Clover Red - for the patio table, along with more sandpaper to finish the rest of the smoothing out process. Showed DH the various possibilities for replacing the cushions (2 Rosses and Target). Still think that despite the extra cost, I still like the Fred Meyer cushions the best.

Thursday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $1 bag of spinach
Found money - $0.16 (sidewalk, Safeway floor)

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.08 (road, Safeway floor)


Bless the FC Sounders fans (soccer) and the return of the rain. They brought the spare change back onto the sidewalks. In another week or so, baseball begins, and with the Mariners fans. Between the two sets of sports fans, spring is here and I'll have to get used to lots of traffic on 1st Avenue. we'll see what that means for found money. Its not to hard to figure out what it means to the buses. Tonight I waited, in vain, for my 5 express bus that is supposed to come at 5:38pm. Started waiting at 5:30pm, gave up and caught the 6:04pm 15 bus. Grr. What's really frustrating with the 5 express bus is that I'm waiting at the first stop. I can see if I'm waiting in the middle but there's nothing to make it late.

All was not lost however. Screenwriter friend's son has a film that has been booked into SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival). I'm helping out by paying for transferring the DVD into HD, and as a result, I'm in the credits as an Executive Producer. My task as an EP in the next couple of days is deliver the film to the studio where they will render and make 2 copies in HD. (Screenwriter friend had the choice to get just one, but I insisted - you never want to make just one copy of anything. Why beg the gods to screw you over?) The studio that I'm going to is on the 15/18 route, about a block north of the Interlake Whole Paycheck. And no taking the express 15/18 - express wouldn't stop.

That reminds me - transit log
3/24 - no car, 3.5 mi walk, 11 mi bus
3/25 - no car, 2 mi walk, 14 mi bus

I still have the weekend when I'm likely to use the car, but my car use (DH driving, me sitting in car) is about 15 - 16 miles per month. This month, I've reduced the me sitting in car by about 3 mi. Not great from a mileage standpoint, but fantastic from a percentage standpoint - about a 20% decline.

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $12 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (road)

Monday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $20 book
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee + $5 croissant, coffee + $2 weekend newspaper
Found money - $0.12 (sidewalk, road)

3/20 - 1 mi car (1 mi fewer than usual for Saturday), walk 4 mi, bus 4 mi
3/21 - 1 mi car, walk 5 mi, bus 4 mi
3/22 - no car, walk 3 mi, bus 14 mi
3/23 - no car, walk 2 mi, bus 12 mi

Cloudy, cooler day on Sunday so I left the patio table alone. Wanted to pick up the book Elements of Investing but the U Bookstore had sold their copy. They pulled a copy from the Bellevue store and I picked it up Monday. Its what you'd think it is: a homage to Elements of Style, except the subject is investing rather than writing. The basics, but frankly, we all need the basics. You lose money the fancier you get.

Honestly, not much else has been happening fiscally - I'm waiting, probably like millions of others, for my tax refund. Put $300 into stock and am waiting for that to be bought. Been hitting the gym even though the trainer's away. Holding at 169.2 - despite the all you can eat lunch to wish lawyer friend and his partner a bon voyage for their own trip to France. Still working hard, not finding many coins on the sidewalk - a penny or so/ day. My total is $30.14. Not complaining, but boy the sun and nice weather has dried up the money.

Called up sister. BIL, who told me he is going to EAA (farmette is about 6 mi away), hasn't talked to her yet. Is he flying in, or driving? Important to know for planning purposes because he'll need a car to get to EAA. Time to put a "pilot" light under him.

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $24 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (road)

Saturday
Saving log - $300 Drp
Spending log - $15 brunch + $26 Ross (used my gift card, have $20 left on it)
Found money - $0.01 (Ross floor)

Made it to $30 even in found money.

Today was a beautiful, warm day in the mid 60s, warm enough so I could strip the paint from the patio table today. (Did it outside so I didn't have to worry about ventilation) I used a "green" product, so it meant that it didn't strip all that well. I think I will aim for something artistic rather than perfection - strip enough of the dark green so that when it won't conflict much with the dark red that I'll put on. Dark green and dark red seem to "go" together reasonably well. And for a $10 yard sale investment, I'll go for making something intriguing.

So I put the paint strip on the table and while the directions said 30 minutes, then try, I knew that 30 minutes was nothing - so after I went out and about to price patio chair cushions. Ross had single cushions (one for the seat, one for the back) for $5/per but not enough for all 4 chairs; Target had the two piece universal cushions for $20. Both better deals than Fred Meyer, but I'll loop around and double check. Not today, though. Although I did walk to the mall and got my 2 mi of exercise in.

Came back and did some scraping on the table. Not everything came off, so the next step is to brush and sand some more. As long as its smooth and the strip is off, I'll paint over it - aim for a mission style.

In fiscal department, DH and I signed the lease for another year. No increase in rent. I suppose we could have pushed for a decrease, but we've only had two price increases in 10 years, so the rent has been reasonable. The other decision is to buy $300 worth of SYY stock.

Thursday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $3.88 breakfast sandwich (got a free coffee)
Found money - $.14 (sidewalk, road, carpet in our lobby)

Wednesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0

Transportation challenge
3/14 - no car, walk 2 mi, bus 12 mi
3/15 - no car, walk 2 mi, bus 12 mi
3/16 - no car, walk 1.5 mi, bus 13.5 mi
3/17 - no car, walk 2 mi, bus 12 mi
3/18 - no car, walk 1.5 mi, bus 13.5 mi

Last night I took a look at the grocery flyers for the first time in almost a year. For awhile there it got a bit depressing to maintain any sort of price book - everything was much, much higher than 2004, so the prices were nearly worthless. I just had a simple rule that if I got produce for under $1/lb, it was a good deal.

Now? $.79/lb broccoli, $.49/lb potatoes (no white at night, so no potatoes at dinner), $.49/cabbage, $.79/lb apples. I might be cheered enough to start up my price book again.

Found another international coin - a 50 ore coin. It looked like a penny when I picked it up, but its 1/2 a Norwegian Kroner, worth about 8 cents. Decided that with the hassle of the 10 pence coin, I'm not going to count it.

$29.98: 743 pennies, 27 nickels, 118 dimes, 29 quarters, 2 $1 bills, 1 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

A tad early - as I'm writing, all I need is five more clicks. Who could have thought that I'd be the hostess with the mostest, hosting a million visits. Thank you all for reading!

Found 11 cents yesterday and 12 cents today - I'm at $29.84.

My weight has risen a hair, so I'm now at 170.2. But I did wear my size 10 jeans. They were a hair tight in the stomach, but still comfortable and definitely not denial-tight.

Not much more has happened money-wise, the rest is routine. Filled out the census form. Made crock-pot corned beef, which is straightforward. Rinse the slab of beef, drain, dry. Load the bottom with halved onions, stuff the beef in, add cut in half carrot to fit, add some water- tops maybe 1 cup. Maybe. If there's a packet of herbs, toss 'em in. Set on low for 8 hours, high for the last hour.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $14 conveyor belt sushi
Found money - $1.03 (sidewalks, the $1 in the grass and ivy right before Queen Anne Hill)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 brunch + $27 jeans, 2 sets of outdoor plastic glasses (pd for by Ross card)
Found money - $0.16 (road, Ross floor right against checkout counter)

Friday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (counter, parking meter, sidewalk)

3/12 - no car, 2 mi walk, 12 mi bus
3/13 - 2 mi car, 4 mi walk, 9 mi bus
3/14 - 1 mi car, 7 mi walk, 4 mi bus

Again, all quiet on the fiscal front but some action on the money finding front. I found another dollar bill in a similar place to where I found that dollar bill in November - in a grassy, ivy waste area. The only difference is that I found the November bill in the grassy waste area between a parked car and the sidewalk. This one I found on the grassy waste area toward Queen Anne Hill w/ no parked car.

Lately, save for a dime I found yesterday and the bill today, it has all been pennies. People getting more careful? People happier with more sun and daylight so they aren't futzing with stuff in their pockets? Hard to say.

$29.61: 736 pennies, 27 nickels, 115 dimes, 29 quarters, 2 $1 bills, 1 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Also went to Ross yesterday for laughs. I managed to get into a size 10. It was all right at the hips and butt, tight in the waist - I still have a bit of a lower ab pooch to lose. I bought the size 10 to keep me focused and give me a goal. 5 more pounds should do it to get me firmly into size 10.

Also picked up two sets of 20 oz plastic glasses - we are going to use them for gracious living on the patio table. Still not quite warm enough to strip the table, then paint it. If the weather holds, I should get that done late March early April.

Thursday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $11 groceries
Found money - $0

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (road, sidewalk, parking meter)

Tuesday
Saving log - $12 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (road, sidewalk)

3/11 - no car, 2 mi walk, 13.5 mi bus
3/10 - no car, 3 mi walk, 12.5 mi bus
3/9 - no car, 3 mi walk, 12.5 mi bus

Finding pennies, but I haven't been looking all that hard. I'm still not 100% after Saturday. Maybe by the weekend I'll pick up my ambitions. However, I'm finally under 170. 168.8 as a matter of fact. I owe it to the food poisoning diet plan.

$28.45: 724 pennies, 27 nickels, 143 dimes, 29 quarters, $1 bill, 1 10 pence worth 15 cents.

Haven't been writing much because not a lot has been happening fiscally. Why rack my brain trying to figure out the creative way of saying nothing's happening?

But today a couple of fiscally, recession-y things did happen. First off, I'll remind you that I work to book pledges and data to my non-profit, our large local node of a national system (ends in -Way). In the course of my job I asked one WA-state bank (bank #1), who took over another WA-state bank which had been closed by the FDIC (bank #2), about whether we can expect data from bank #2. Nope, I learned. The FDIC canceled the pledges as part of shutting the bank down. Makes sense once you learn it, but very interesting nonetheless when we have a fair number of WA-state bank pledges and WA state banks are in such shaky shape.

Then in the mail tonight I got a pleady note from Chase about Debit Card Overdraft Coverage. "Soon we can no longer provide this coverage automatically" and "your everyday debit card transactions will be denied" if you do not have enough money available to cover a purchase.

Hahhahahahahahahaahaahahaaha. (stop to gasp.) Wow, what a threat. I've bounced one transaction in 5 years. Stupid $35 overdraft fee protection is a bug, not a feature.

Monday
Saving log - $1700 tax refund
Spending log - $0 coffee (free)
Found money - $0.03 (sidewalks, bus stop)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $7 apple, magazine
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk crack)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0
Found money - $0

3/6 - no car, no walk, no bus
3/7 - 1 mi car, 4.5 mi walk, 3 mi bus
3/8 - no car, 2.5 mi walk, 14 mi bus

Last few days, I've been a feeling like karma has been dancing around my head like Will Farrell in a too tight hideous 70s knit. Like

this.

Saturday:
Good - sunniest, warmiest weather of the year so far. Bad - laid up all day with a case of self induced food poisoning. The day before I packed my lunch with the last of a bean stew. Quit when you are penultimate. Nothing ucky - just shivery, achy, and sleepy. Slept all but 6 hours that day.

Sunday:
Good - Enjoyed the Oscars, got a lot of ideas for refreshing the Netflix queue. Bad - not enough bad dresses. I'll have to make do with Quentin Tarentino's girlfriends' pink pjyama black boa fetish number or Charlize Theron's cinnabon bustier.

Monday:
Good - Filed my taxes. Am getting a refund! Bad - late for work, meeting meeting meeting, big set of errors hitting the fan at around 4 pm today.

Clank clank clank.

Friday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $18 groceries
Found money - $0.11 (Safeway floor)

Thursday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 lunch
Found money - $0.02 (2 different parking meters)

Carless challenge:
3/4 - no car, commuted by bus 12.5 miles, walked 3 miles
3/5 - no car, commuted by bus 13.5* miles, walked 1 mile
*the reason why my commute is so variable is that I often get off the bus 1.25 - 1.5 miles from my stop, then walk home. Longer commutes mean I didn't walk. .

Work eased up a bit in the last two days - a lunch with friends helped, and so did the fact that I could really buckle down and get done what I really wanted to get done. Yay.

I discovered, upon looking at a photo of the

writer who is behind "Ask an Uptight Seattleite", that I know him. Matter of fact, he is my bus marker for the 8:35 number 5. So he, along with the current mayor, lives within 4-5 blocks of me. Will it get me a sidewalk? Probably not.

Final observation, this time fiscal: I bought tuna on a good deal - 10 6 oz cans for $5. I walked down the pet food aisle to checkout and noticed the price of Fancy Feast - 10 3 oz cans for $6.50. Fancy feast, indeed.

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.04 (parking meter, parking lot)

Tuesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $20 groceries
Found money - $0.25 (sidewalk, road, grass, Safeway checkout)

Monday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee +
Found money - $0.38 (parking meter, sidewalk, bus seat)

DH asked me how my day went, and I said:
"If I had a gun, I'd be on CNN right now."

Yikes, he said.

This is the month that I'm the busiest - each of my four tasks I'm charged with reaches a peak. If I'm to decide about one more $100 issue, you are really going to read about me on CNN. Time to send the email to not bother with the "quick question", or even the not so quick question. They might sound quick, but you've just knocked me out of my concentration for a good 20 minutes. Rinse and repeat, and the day is shot.

And the worst part? No one on my death bet list has died yet. Then again, I don't think anyone's has. I've come within two degrees, and I thought for a second DH had Haig, but nope.

I'm doing the carless challenge, but since I'm already carless, I'm counting trips that I take with DH, the amount of bus I use and the distance I walk. So,

3/1 - no car used, used the bus 13 mi, walked 2 miles.
3/2 - no car used, used the bus 12.5 mi, walked 2.5 miles
3/3 - no car used, used the bus 13 mi, walked 2.5 miles

And finally, $28.16: 711 pennies, 27 nickels, 112 dimes, 29 quarters, $1 bill, 1 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $35 (breakfast for 2 w/tip) + $19 groceries (for work food and snacks so I can avoid stopping for lunch)
Found money - $0.49 (road, planting strip)

Sunday
Saving log -$0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $9 headphones + $3 tea + $12 groceries
Found money - $0.09 (sidewalk crack, road)

Got V.I.s nails clipped yesterday, and it took about 10 minutes. The vet tech said that she was no trouble. What happens is that kitties get so surprised, then so relieved that its just the nails that she can get in there and trim fast...not to mention that it isn't her kitty, so its routine to her.

Took a 5 mile walk yesterday, and was finding coins all over the place... most of them, though, in the road. No dimes though, but several nickels. I generally find fewer nickels than quarters, so it was a tad surprising. $27.49: 669 pennies, 27 nickels, 110 dimes, 28 quarters, $1 bill, 1 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Today I went to the Seattle Art Museum - if you showed your library card, you got in for free - and saw the Calder exhibit. (So I missed the hockey game.) Fantastic show, seeing a few of the paintings and non-mobile sculpture, including a rare wooden one he did during WWII when metal was scarce. And of course there were tens of mobiles - little ones, big ones, delicate ones, burly ones. You could see the Matisse and Mondrian in them, and in a couple,

ikebana. I heard about this event from the paper - due to the recession, there is now a Freeloader alert column promoting and itemizing free stuff/events. I hope that when this recession ends that the column will continue ... but I know that's unlikely.

One other fiscal thing to get off my chest. I was walking past a neighborhood thrift store and saw in the window display a quarter holder. Not just any quarter holder, but one for the new set of 2010 to 2020 quarters, these honoring select National Parks. Now I'm as fond as the next person in getting (rescuing?) an interesting coin, but somehow in these times of need ... did we really need to spend money to make pretty quarters? I'm sounding like my grandpa more and more.

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (gravel 2 blocks from my house)

Payday! Hard to believe its nearly March!

Couldn't resist taking a peek at the FDIC site - its Friday after all - and it looks like Umpqua Bank out of OR has eaten another WA bank. First it was Evergreen Bank, now its Rainier Pacific.

Umpqua, Umpqua ... sounds like a burp. At least the

logo is pretty (left corner).

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (3 pennies in a planting by the bus stop)

Wednesday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $0 (free coffee)
Found money - $0.14 (sidewalk, crosswalk, planting strip, bus aisle, Safeway floor)

Total dirty money so far... $26.90: 690 pennies, 24 nickels, 110 dimes, 27 quarters, $1 bill, 1 10 pence (counted as 15 cents)

We had the yearly or bi-yearly update on our 403B. Two changes that I should research:

1. We are swapping our current small cap fund with another small cap fund. A quick look at style box of the new fund is telling that this is more of a mid cap than a small cap ... and that could be that successful small cap companies grow to turn into mid caps, or it could be that the manager is buying more mid cap companies that to compensate for small caps going under. Interesting thinking about that "style drift."

2. We are adding another type of bond fund - a low duration bond fund that invests in shorter term bonds than the usual 5-10 yrs. I have some bond holdings and I'd like to check this new fund to see if holding it would be useful to me.

On a non-fiscal note, we've had V.I. for six months, now as long as we had Morgan. I still get a little choked up about the whole thing....How are we celebrating V.I.'s six month anniversary? She's getting her nails trimmed. She might not be celebrating it, but we sure will.

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.16 I think!

Monday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $7 sushi roll lunch
Found money - $0.05 (bus stop, bus, Safeway change cup)

Today was an interesting day for found money - first I found a penny that looked like a pie in which a big wedge had been taken out, then I found what I thought was a quarter in the gutter. It turned out to be a UK 10 pence. Spot of tea, anyone? If you arrange my finds this afternoon just right it looks like the lion in the pence took a bite out of Lincoln's head.

So what's 10p worth? Today's rate: $1 US : 1.5UK pound sterling. So about 15 cents.

I wonder if I got a souvenir from a Vancouver tourist who mosey-ed down here.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $1.70 apple, energy bar + $5 newspaper, pastry, espresso + $3 produce
Found money - $0.03 (planting strip, floor in front of counter, under bus stop bench)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $2 green tea + $60 restaurant meal for 2
Found money - $0.18 (driveway, sidewalk cracks, gas station parking lot, bus stop, road)

Saturday I felt I slipped - pricey, and calorie-laden meals. They were delicious though, and the company was great. I did score a doggie bag - tonight's meal.

As far as the calories are concerned, I tried to partially walk them off. The real issue with super-yummy restaurant food is the same as with an illicit drug - when the body gets a taste of the high life, its much harder to hop back on the straight and narrow - in this case, the frugal and healthy straight and narrow.

I caught a break - a produce stand was along my walking route - I caught some deals on broccoli crowns for $.49/lb, cherries for $.99/lb, roma tomatoes for $.89/lb. It does mean that tonight's meal is broccoli crowns and I had to pick out a few sub-par cherries from the bag.

As I was waiting for my bus, a woman started a conversation with me. As we were going through the small transit talk - eg this bus is running about 10 minutes late - boy was I sorry I engaged. All of the conversation below was hers. -

So much traffic, she thought (I thought fine), I have a Zipcar account (I thought okay), but I think I'll be buying a car because I just need one (I thought whatever!). I don't see how anybody is going to lug their stuff to the airport on light rail (then don't I thought)...
And the airporter barely got me to the airport on time.

Then I suggested that she mail her stuff. Oh no, I'm not allowed to lock it, she said. And the TSA and no doubt the post office is going to steal my stuff - they all have in the past (!). Mental rolleyes. Yes, life is PITA. I guess my expectations are minimal - I'm still at the simpleton stage where despite being held captive in a metal tube I'm joyful that you are flying me at 25,000 feet and you're landing me safely.

My final volley was that I treat flying like prison - stop packing the fancy stuff. Oh, she said, I don't pack the fancy stuff and hate that attitude - you are giving in to awful behavior and giving away your freedom and privacy. Rolleyes again - awful behavior has happened throughout time, the US in the 21st century has not curbed the market on awful behavior.

Funny how negative stuff during travel really doesn't happen to me. I manage to get places on time, when my baggage doesn't make it it does 12 hours later, and I'm healthy enough to lug and smart enough to not pack a ton to lug. I'm not saying that bad things don't happen - it just feels like a lot of stress tends to be induced. Then when you have real stress actually induced by other people, you have a double burden.

It was warm this weekend, but really not warm enough to strip the patio table successfully - so I was smart enough not to try. I did plant a row of shell peas this evening in back of a patch of garlic growing nicely, and put some innoculant in the furrow. Both blueberry shrubs in the pots, bought last year, are covered in green buds. Grow guys grow!

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $.39 apple + $14 groceries
Found money - $0.06 (sidewalk, floor, escalator railing...again)

Thursday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $1.65 decaf coffee
Found money - $0.36 (crosswalk, sidewalk, escalator railing)

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $24 paint stripper, paint scrapper, brushes
Found money - $0.21 (gym, sidewalk corner)

Still working hard, but lately it has been sunny out, and, even better, it is a soft twilight out after work when heading for home. I've been watching the figure skating on TV - to me, its a heady mix of Oscar-worthy fashion excess combined with the crash and burn excitement of Nascar: nature's most perfect sport. I've been eating lunch in, but taking a 20 minute walk before diving into Excel and Access for the afternoon.

I've been finding change in one particularly unexpected place: the right-hand escalator railing, on the flat when you grab as you step on. Pennies right now, but very odd - like you hadn't secured your wallet before you step on the escalator. And the other odd thing this last week, I've only been finding pennies and quarters.

$26.31: 656 pennies, 24 nickels, 108 dimes, 26 quarters, $1 bill. To think that I thought, maybe, just maybe I'd pick up about $20/year from this exercise. I've just been tracking this for a little over 7 months.

Also put $45 of tip box savings into the bank.

This weekend, if the weather turns a little bit warmer, I plan on stripping the paint off the patio table. If I feel super, duper ambitious, I'm also going to plant some peas.

Monday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $2 coffee + $15 seeds, pea/bean innoculant
Found money - $0.33 (sidewalk, road, floor, cigarette bucket)

Tuesday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (grass parking strip)

Today was gym day. I knew I had lost a little but did my darnest to drop some extra weight - light lunch, peed, poohed, even waxed my upper lip last night .

170.2

Disappointing, but the trainer devised a workout with a fair amount of cardio, no water... so at the end of the hour I weighed -

169.8

Someday, I won't need to stoop to such tricks, but as for now, I'm knocking at 169.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $6 sandwich + $16 groceries
Found money - $0.05 (planting strip, Safeway floor)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $18 origami book + $9 asian condiments
Found money - $0.36 (floor, counter, road)

$25.39: 609 pennies, 24 nickels, 108 dimes, 25 quarters, $1 bill.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Went to the International District for the Chinese New Year festival yesterday - afterward I found and picked up a dollar bill origami book - which contained a book, DVD, and 60 fake bills. (60 real bills for $18 would have been cool, n'est ce pas?) Apparently I was far from the first person to figure out that crisp new bills could be used as origami - its an easy introduction to the skill. Already I've learned to fold up an X-wallet for those large tips.

In other fiscal news - I found out that two of my stocks increased their dividend this year - one by 6 cents/share (WEC), another by 1 1/2 cents/share (MMM). 6 cents doesn't seem like much, but reinvested against my holdings it works out to buy $5 more stock than I had expected. WEC was unusual - it had cut its dividend in half in 2000 - and the company's trying to get the dividend back up to those levels.

For my 10th year anniversary at work, I got a $75 gift card. I've decided to use for a project. Last summer we got a large

folding patio table, 4 chairs (one needs new webbing), 2 old-ish cushions from last year's Greenwood yard sale. I've decided to use the gift card to get new cushions, replacement webbing and to strip and repaint the table.

Thursday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.10 (bus floor)

Friday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $5 coffee, sausage cheese egg bagel + $1.65 coffee + $6 lunch + $33 Valentine's Day gift + $9 groceries
Found money - $0.48 (sidewalks, gym, counters behind the credit card machine, patio, Safeway floor)

Took a strategic day off. Generally, I'm good at picking a sunny day, but today was anything but. I picked today strictly to get the 4-day weekend. And as usual, when I'm out and about and getting rained on the day gets spendy. (Picking up the chocolates for VDay didn't help.) Staying in the office, head down in front of a ton of Access databases, can be a great way to not spend money.

Only a little bit fiscal happened. As I got coffee, I noticed that someone did a couple of dollar bill origami pieces. Hadn't really thought about using a dollar bill, but paper is paper ... and in some cases, using a dollar bill might be cheaper than using a sheet of rectangular origami paper.

Then after gym (why oh why don't I think to cancel those the day before when I know I'm off ) I struck up a conversation with a guy with a stock tip who really, really wanted me to invest in Lithia (LAD). Stock tip people really amuse me. Asking him the basics - what does Lithia have that others don't in the industry? - leads to very circular answers. Also he gave me "I know all management and the CEO and they are great" along with "the invest when its $4, then when it gets to $8" pie-in-the-sky woo hoo. ("When?" It could be an "if", you know.)

Investing is like revenge - a dish best served cold.

Wednesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.10 (parking lot)

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.57 (road, sidewalk, bathroom stall floor, bus seat)

Made ya read, eh?

Yesterday was low-grade bizarre. First off, I found a quarter on the road in the morning... nothing like finding money 20 minutes after you wake up to make it a happy day.

Then, coffee in hand, thoughts of work ahead of me, I crossed the street on 2nd & Cherry, and was way-laid by a car containing a middle aged immigrant couple from Portland trying to get to the Federal Building. You have to know that the Federal Building is several blocks back from where their car was pointed, with a lot of one-way construction cone chess in front of them. Their main problem is that when they read Jackson Federal Building, they thought it was near Jackson Street ... which it is not. Two different Jacksons: Jackson Street for Andrew Jackson, Jackson Federal Building for Henry "Scoop" Jackson. (For Michael Jackson, give it a few years)

The couple begged me to hop in their car and help them navigate.

Well, I did. The quarter made me feel lucky, I guess. I sat in the back seat and got them to 4th Cherry, then left about 4 blocks on Madison, then 2nd and Madison.

Turns out that the wife had an appointment with the passport office so she had to make it in reasonable time.

The driver asked me if I was sure that I knew the way - it seems a little weird to ask that AFTER I'm in the car, so I didn't take it personally and interpreted that as a holy crap there's a strange woman in the car comment. I just said with pride that "my husband works there". And then I got to point at a very large concrete 70s skyscraper-crossed-with-bunker building. "That is the building you want," I said. Got her there on time.

It took all of 15 minutes out of my day, but it added a bit of surreal fun. And afterward I found some more coins, including another quarter on the bus in that thin crack between the wall of the bus and the frame of the bus seat. Most of the time I jam my morning newspaper in there; from now on its time to take a peek just in case.

$24.35: 595 pennies, 24 nickels, 102 dimes, 24 quarters, $1 bill.