baselle's Financial Diary

My youngest, least celeb in the 2013 Death bet came in (Lisa Robin Kelly), so right now I'm ahead in the 2013 Fantasy Celebrity Cemetery. This weekend, Spondulicks and I will divy up the gift certs I won during the Gumshoe.

Its been a nice staycation! Maybe Saturday I'll buy a lottery ticket.

Spondulicks and I must have had our tiger milk lattes a couple of weekends ago. I got a call from the Gumshoe Answer Man. We won the Gumshop drawing! 9 $15 gift certificates.

First day of vacation, and lucky me, I was NOT on 2nd Ave downtown on a Seattle bus at or around 8:45am ... which I would have been during my normal work schedule. Neither Seattle bus that the shooter went on was my bus, thankfully.

Unlucky me though - while I had fun the night before at the Duvall friends house watching a new episode of Breaking Bad, then stayed overnight talking about it - I came home to find that V.I. (kitty) pooped on my bed and the sectional. I'm certain it was a statement for leaving her home overnight - both poop placements were definitely where l'il ol' me had resided not 16 hours before.

Turns out that the Duvall friends themselves are lucky, in that they are running (or in this case, not running) a dead disposal. You might remember that my new sink is now too deep for the disposal, so the plumber removed the disposal and I kept it, thinking I could sell it or manufacture good will. Well, I am manufacturing good will by donating my disposal to them.

Nobody had Eydie Gorme in the death bet, but her NYT obit was good reading. Who could have guessed that her high school classmate was Stanley Kubrick? That's as good as Jack Klugman and Charles Bronson sharing a NY cold water flat in the 50s.

For some of you newer bloggers out there, you might ask, "what's this with baselle and change?"

Four years ago in mid July I needed a distraction along with a goal to exercise so to combine them I decided to blog about how much change I found living and walking throughout my day. Turns out I found, well, surprising amounts. Nearly $50 the first year, just a hair over $90 the second, a hair over $90 the third, and a hair over $75 just this last.

I need the distraction less ... the condo is plenty distracting, and while I love the hunt for change as a motivation to get me to exercise, I think I've become a hair OCD about it. So after 4 years, its time to re-adjust the change finding project a bit.

I'm finding change, but I'm not going full out and putting on a spreadsheet and tracking how much I find, etc. I find, then I have a little tub I put the findings in. My project is to slowly develop an intimate emergency fund. What's an intimate emergency fund, you ask? Well in a true emergency, like the "big one", the power and the ATM are going to be out. Need money, you'll need the intimate emergency fund.

Because a few pounds of pennies aren't really going to be that helpful, I make reverse change (25 pennies for a quarter) to keep my developing emergency at its most useful. So far a bit over $2.

Tomorrow is payday, and I am left with $100. Today all I bought was a coffee. I'm in slightly better shape than last month, where I had to withdraw savings to finish.

Today, though, after brought-from-home-lunch I had heard that the tunnel replacing our Viaduct had started. Turns out that it hadn't, but I did swing around during my walk to pay my respects. Couldn't see much of it between the cranes and the ditch and the sheer amount of stuff parked around it.

Hadn't realized that this project would intrigue me so - I guess I'm channeling my inner boy.

I had my frugal burn last week, and while I have a little more money at the end of this time period, I'll have another, smaller frugal burn ending mid August.

But I will have enough to do the Gumshoe with Spondilicks next weekend. For the first time in 10 years I missed the Greenwood Parade. Bummer, but it takes two buses, so I didn't feel up to it.

Not much more is happening. I've been sprucing up my 2nd bedroom for crafts - moved my work table around, unpacked a lot of glass, tile, and china. This week I painted two sliding closet doors in dk brown chalkboard paint (14$). Chalkboard paint goes on a lot like pudding; I felt like I was really slapping it on. Took at least two coats, a light sand to knock down the biggest brush strokes, and the third coat. Love the color enough so if chalkboarding doesn't appeal the color looks like I meant it.

Gremlins ate my post, so this will be quick and less literate.

Tomorrow is payday - I had $60 to work with from Wednesday. I had a confluence of mortgage payment, COA monthly fee, and the (hopefully) last payment for kitchen, so I had to pull from my most immediate savings fund. At least I had it.

At work, the 403B switched out 2 funds and picked up 3 new ones. A couple of dividend funds to invest in there at last, along with a real estate fund to spice things up. I did a little adjusting to put a little bit into the new funds.

Have hit the gym twice last week and twice last week the week before. Soon it will be a habit again. I've been cycling between 170 and 177. Would be nicer if it begins to drop but it doesn't rise, well that's a win too.

Got what I think was the last bill (dated to 6/28/2013) from the kitchen remodel contractor. All bills from them totaled $25,457. I was given an estimated budget of $27,900 and after having to put new flooring the estimated budget was $29,000.

Fingers crossed that I really got a last bill!

A couple of days ago I bought 1Gb of data on my little Karma unit. It took me about 4 weeks to use the first 1Gb. Thus far, my cobbled together, pay as you go stuff:

Dumb phone - 16$/month (bought phone for $30 in 2009)

Internet wireless (Karma) - $14/month (bought unit for $80 last month)

Netflix - $8.75/month, and I try to finish my DVD by Sunday/Wednesday to get me about 8 DVDs a month.

Email - $20/month. I might work on moving it to get that a bit cheaper, plus after a few years one gets a thick level of spam and old commitments. You move your email, decide on your most important accounts and let the rest go.

I like the pay as you go - it keeps me aware of what I'm doing and I can manipulate things a bit.

Kitchen remodel was fun, but its time to face the music on the 6 month net worth check.

$329,092 IRA/403B
$162,373 Vanguard taxable
$49,205 stock
$14,253 I-bonds
$30,263 ING
$2,288 immediate cash

$157,500 condo
-$120,996 mortgage

$623,978 total

5K drop? I'll take it.

June 2013 ($623,978 total, $258,382 taxable)
Dec 2012 ($628,818 total, $290,180)
June 2012 ($617,902 total, $362,619)
Dec 2011 ($592,163 total, $356,567)
June 2011 ($596,791 total, $376,359)
Dec 2010 ($575,346 total, $356,542)
June 2010 ($553,023 total, $369,589)
Dec 2009 ($551,300 total, $385,771)
June 2009 ($512,054 total, $379,475)
Dec 2008 ($498,148 total, $386,021)
June 2008 ($524,261 total, $387,481)
Dec 2007 ($328,688 total, $192,747)
June 2007 ($176,422 total, $48,205)
Dec 2006 ($132,062 total, $40,329)
June 2006 ($120,261 total, $65,148)
Dec 2005 ($67,778 total, $23,740)
June 2005 ($46,115 total, $11,293)
Dec 2004 ($38,338 total, $7,558)
June 2004 ($29,050 total, $4,533)

First off, I'm taking it relatively slow on the backsplash. Got what I want to do, am planning it meticulously, did my jury stick measurements, got the tile samples (which really look GREAT and will be the icing on the cake) to do the grout study.

But the pleasant surprise was a tiny-ish refund to the tune of $174. It came from the bank - apparently they have you pay just a hair too much to provide a little extra cushion for the escrow. After about 6 months, everybody gets into a rhythm, and the cushion gets refunded and my mortgage payment dropped by about $10/payment. Helpful.

Things are settling down fiscally, so I'm getting back in the groove, in a couple of different ways. I've reactivated my tip box at work, so I'm showing that some love. FYI, I have a little decorative box at work - the "tip box" - that I throw change, small bills in. When there's an office collection, I pull from my tip box, but in general every month I deposit what's in there.

6 weeks ago I was 175 lb naked and now I'm 170. Gym bug has not caught on yet, I'm just walking and always taking the stairs up and down. Since the gym is next door to work and a branch is two blocks from my house, it does require a lot of avoidance.

Looking at my net worth it has dropped a bit to the high 500K. If I hadn't bought the condo and hadn't remodeled the kitchen I would have been 70K up. You can't think that way, though. Money is a means not an end. I'm enjoying the end point and I know I will for a good long time.

This came up in a conversation about fruit. Yeah - somehow my conversations get wide ranging. My friend remarked that a pineapple that she got from her friend fresh from Hawaii was not nearly as good as one she got from her own cheapo fruit stand.

"I know. Its really who picks it out that counts," I said. "I'm pretty good at picking produce out myself."

The friend looked at me and said, "that is a superpower, you know."

In addition to the produce picking out which helps the food budget, but I also have another financial superpower: in writing or in email, I get what I want.

It's only in writing, not at all verbally. When red-flagged by the IRS in 1989, I wrote the letter supporting my case. The IRS backed off. When Capital One tried to bill me twice/month and dinged me for only paying once, I faxed my case and won.

It got me thinking - what other everyday superpowers does everybody have?

In found money. I've been tracking it since 7/14/2009 as a lark; it took me nearly 4 years to pick it up. Here is the breakdown...

5,193 pennies. Rolled up, almost 104 penny rolls.
295 nickels. Rolled up, over 7 nickel rolls. Its a little bit of a surprise how few nickels I find. I think its because you just don't get a ton in change and that they are nearly as large as a quarter.
978 dimes. Rolled up, almost 20 dime rolls. Yowsa!
301 quarters. Rolled up, over 7 quarter rolls. Since I find nearly as many nickels as quarters, I think the nickel is about the same profile as a quarter, just not as exciting to pick up.
60.61$ worth of dollars and odd foreign coins. I'm finding that I tend to find bills close to cars and often after wind and rain. I found a 1/4 scrap of a $100 bill on the street across my condo; broke my heart that I couldn't count it. (Now if it was over 1/2, I could cash it and count it.)

Pennies especially, I put them in tip jars around town as I use the services. Kind of catch and release for coin rescue.

In addition to the 50K Drp stock portfolio, I also passed 200K in the 403B.

For a more intimate milestone, in the past 4 years that I've been picking up change, I'm about to hit $300 in change acquisition. And that's counting silver dimes as dimes, not melt value.

Broke down and now have wireless Internet. I got a little Karma unit. Its $79 flat, 1 Gb/month free and if I need more, its $14/1Gb extra. We'll see how I do. The flatness of the pricing appeals to me. It would be perfect for my sister, who usually piggybacks from a neighbor's wireless. Unfortunately its not available in Milwaukee.

Officially, all that's left to install is: vent hood over the stove, the finish piece covering toe kicks, and the backsplash (which is all me). Vent and toe kicks should be installed next week. I'm working on backsplash - I toyed with glass tile, but dang I don't want to rent a wet saw to make those cuts for the pieces that will go underneath the light switch and electric sockets. Glossy ceramic tiles for me.

Here is the "final" w/flooring and appliances


And here's what I began with - put on those shoulder pads and flip that feathered hair back while you're sauteing...


Still a two wall galley, but smooth near indestructible countertops, all appliances, a nice high ceiling, all the electrical issues that came up in inspection are resolved, everything adjustable (can squish two shelves close together for an impromptu wine rack or far apart to accommodate that tall bottle of fish sauce), the sink is quiet, doors with pullouts, and every door/drawer is soft close. I didn't aim for grandiose and I didn't aim for toy.

The contractors also want to come in take their photos also - they are proud of their work and for good reason.

Cost was 29K for the contractor and 5K from me for appliances and some fixtures. Whatever the contractor could get more cheaply even with their markup they bought (worked that way with cabinets, countertop, sink, faucet, under cabinet lighting, flooring) and whatever I could get more cheaply I bought. Not cheap, but at least I get to enjoy it first. Nothing like improving for somebody else.

Week 5 on the kitchen remodel was a bit slow - just the lighting was installed and the appliances were delivered.

Lights .... I think I will call them my War of the Worlds lights due to their tripod nature.


This weekend, I did a recon mission on a couple of tile stores. Score - I love to work with vitreous glass and I finally found a place in Seattle that has a lot of colors. That, and other tile samples were what I picked up along the way. Couldn't make many final decisions until I see the countertops.


I throw out week 5.5 because yesterday (my 51st birthday!) the contractor installed the countertops, (I also showed the undercabinet lighting here) -


And today, the sink and faucet were fully installed (also a good shot at the countertop pattern)-


Dang that flooring guy!

Cabinets are in. Because I have an undermount sink and a slide in stove, the appliances need to be here so the contractor can make sure the appliance/countertops are installed with no issues. Also the ceiling lights will show next week. And the dust curtain is gone.

I got the revised bill, and so far the extra flooring and slight shift in plumbing only added $1.2K. I know, I know, in the frugal twilight zone where $1.2K is a dodged bullet and not a disaster.

sink side -


stove side -

You might remember that I pick up change where ever I find it. Ever since I moved to Lake City from Greenwood, my change pickings have gotten slimmer - still some, but not on the $1.50 - $2/week like I used to.

However, last Wednesday I did find a silver dime in of all places, Fred Meyer, in front of the deli soup display. Now I have 9. I was a little disappointed that silver appears to have dropped and the melt worth of a silver dime is now around $1.70, but hey right now my precious metal portfolio only costs me time.

So some actual fiscal news - with the stock market highs, my dividend reinvestment stock portfolio has gone above 50K. It's good if you like hitting that milestone, but not so great if you realize that with high stock prices, reinvested dividends buy fewer shares. The perfect pricing situation would be a low, consistent price for a long period of time.

Monday the new floor was set up and the drywall was replaced. It was all sealed off, so that was my carryout day. I've been doing okay with the bag of salad with a vinegar/oil dressing, both ingredients that I could store in my little bedroom kitchen.

Tuesday it looked like I could paint, so I did, but it turned out the texture guy had to do his work, so I had to paint again Wednesday. Back of my living room had a wall of boxes full of cabinet:



FYI - V.I. is holding up. While work is going on, she's behind my bedroom door w/full access to bedroom w/food dish, bonus room, cat box in the master bathroom. So far, no sign of cat displeasure on a bed pillow.

Smooth painted box stage. I wanted to paint now because I figured it would be a billion times harder after the cabinets were installed. The white squiggles are where the under cabinet lighting's going to go.



Finished the week on a high note. Lower cabinets are going in. I have tried all the drawers and pull outs. All soft close. I have made a resolution to mentally take $1 worth of enjoyment watching the soft close work. I figure at 5x/day, $1600/yr. I expect the remodel is going to be 30K. I'm not going to totally recoup it, but I'm going to make a big dent.

Of kitchen remodel.

Basically it was at the bottoming out stage - they couldn't rip out any more ... drywall covering the plumbing was ripped out, and the drywall at chest level was ripped out so the electrician could install under cabinet lighting.



The gypcrete floor above the subfloor and underneath the vinyl had to be replaced, it was worn into pebbles in the work triangle between sink, stove, and refrigerator. That, and the plumbing had to be shifted a little bit were the only 'surprises' thus far.



The stove is gone - it is going to its second career as the stove of one of the contractors. He told me later that the stove was working like a champ.

Week 3 next.

I'm in the midst of kitchen remodel-o-rama. They started Monday. So from this, as I left it on Sunday:



And what it is as of this morning, stove side:



... and sink side:



How am I holding up? The contractors left me the refrigerator, now at the far end of the dining room, and along the side of my bedroom, my Japanese, camping kitchen:



As long as I store and have bag salad and hot drinks for a few weeks I won't have to resort to carryout. I've figured it will be about 5 wks, but frankly, it will end when it ends. I've also picked up paper bowls so I would only have to wipe out and clean 1-2 implements in the bathroom sink. Kitty is locked into the bedroom during the day - when I get home I cruise the kitchen to make sure there isn't any open liquids, sharp things.

So far, the contractors have been good citizens to everybody in the condo and other owners are now looking with interest how this remodel will turn out. Have not gotten a bill yet for the week, but I expect one soon.

Been nearly a month already since I last wrote something. Hopefully, though, it will ease up. It has to eventually.

Lately I've been hip deep in making decisions about my upcoming kitchen remodel - the sink and faucet, the countertop, the cabinets, the flooring, the lighting, the appliances. I sure hope that all of my decisions will play nice with each other, and the new kitchen will play nice with the dining room. I've also notified (and renotified) my condo neighbors and the condo board. The tentative start date is this Monday - I've learned that it really always be a bit tentative because the contractor wants to absolutely, positively make sure that the materials will get here with no delays before they start ripping up things to shreds.

Right now this is the last weekend of the old. I'm treating it as a calm before the storm. Tonight I take down pictures, pull out everything from cabinets. I have enough empty space so that the new refrigerator gets put into the living room. Saves me more decisions about where to put my freezer stuff - and it will be nice to be able store a bag of salad whilst the teardown begins. I've put the kitty food bowls in my bedroom and my fur girl is quite confused. I'm trying to tell her that THINGS will be different in the next few weeks.

The welcome packet project is done. Someone did buy a unit in the last week or two - I'll be a knocking at their door to welcome them, packet in hand.

Just finished my taxes, and yes I pay some. The price of good investing - I've made a bit of coin in these last couple of years, and I had to figure out cost-basis this year.

And of course an update on the death bet 2013 - about 1/2 the players got Hugo Chavez. Don't weep for the other half - they are playing Lindsay Lohan! One player got a local celebrity - Booth Gardner, the former governor of Washington.

So this is third try at a blog post. I don't know why they aren't getting captured...

Last couple of weeks I've been in saving mode and it feels great. looking forward to payday tomorrow, though. I backed off my 403B contributions to about 20% or 10K annually. I might have to back them off a bit more depending on how my regular spending settles out. FWIW, I capture the full match at 8%, and I contribute my 6K to my Roth annually so I will still be saving a lot, just not a lot a lot.

Decided on the sink and faucet choice, made a choice for a slide in stove, and am looking at flooring, signed the construction agreement with the contractor and contractor has ordered the cabinets and open shelving. Its on, its just that work will start when the contractor knows the cabinets are coming within two weeks.

I've been working on a project for the condo board - developing a welcome packet comprising of a FAQ about the condo, a Lake City Chamber of Commerce business guide, a kicky map of north Seattle, and current transit guides. Nothing too fancy, but something to have in hand and talk about when one knocks on the door to a new owner's condo.

First hit of the FCC. Spondilucks had Van Clyburn.

I lost a long post. Sigh. So I'm going to show and tell.

Before - living room


Semi, After - living room. Imagine the redecorating crew cleaned up. alone 4 chairs, the TV and a picture hanging over the fireplace.


After - dining room which is 180 degrees from the living room. Again, the cleaning crew has, ahem, done its job.


Before - master bedroom. I took this on my second visit before buying. Staged.


After - yep, I like my colors.


Before - kitchen. After is in process.


And because a couple of people asked about it, my homemade charging station, comprised of a lean-in 5 shelf bookcase and some strategically placed black twist ties.

I'm not playing the snowflake challenge particularly, but a big fat one came to me this last Saturday. One of the other condo tenants approached me about renting my interior garage parking space. Since I don't have a car and for the moment am willing to go carless, well yay, the parking space now is an asset. Asking around - the going rate seems to be about 100$/month.

The only issue I see is I have talked to a contractor about renovating my 1980s condo kitchen, and we talked about the parking space as a launch pad for materials - it would be much easier, safer, better for the materials in question if they were semi-inside on my parking space where the sub contractors can pull them when needed. Of course, I'd need to approach both the condo board and my possible parking space rentor about it.

There was a hitch in the sectional - just like amino acids, they have an asymetric handedness (left hand vs right hand). And just like amino acids, the left handed version is common, while the right hand is either toxic (as in amino acids) or has to be special ordered (as in my right-handed sectional). So I've bought the chairs first, then I disperse them to their corners when the sectional comes. None of these chairs are going to get heavy duty use for long periods of time, so I've cheaped out on them.

Discovered as I checked my Drp stocks that two of my stocks migrated from one transfer agent to another. Hadn't run across that before. All to the good frankly - the fewer transfer agents, the fewer passwords I'd have to remember.

...but near the end of them.

I was hoping to skate by for another month using my airbed mattress on the queen bedframe, so I could put a mattress purchase on the next month's credit card. Alas, my luck ran out, and I also thought, eh screw it - why spread the pain over several months when I could get the big stuff all purchased and be done with it?

So I bought a mattress Sunday afternoon and had it delivered on Tuesday so I could double up on a coffee table purchase from Overstock.com. While I loved that sleep number mattress, I decided on a regular one. I didn't love that when you have an adjustable mattress, well that eats air pumps for lunch. And a weak air pump means that in the back of your mind, you might wake up in a mattress crater. My sleep number has remained consistent and I'm just not into adjustable mattresses that can change position but can adjust down and I have a cat with claws. I went for simple and with the expectation that the mattress will be consistently firm.

Got it ($1150) and the coffee table ($150) on Tuesday.

Monday I went to Best Buy, which seemed to have the best prices even with the 5% off on Target, and got a the 32 inch TV, burly TV stand, digital thru the air antenna ($550). Set it up last night. The other nice aspect of top floor living is that the $25 digital antenna worked great. Ready for the Super Bowl party.

Right now the only big purchase left is a couch and possibly a chair, or perhaps for flexibility a sectional. After that, with smaller chairs, end tables, vacuum I'll see what discounters will do for me. And if I have to, rent a car for a weekend and do some runs. Lawyer friend (his last day as a co worker was yesterday) offered his dining room table. I'll measure my dining room space (think it might be a little small for the table) but I'm actually a little meh about it. I'm really liking the wide open space ... I find it relaxing.

Pictures next.

A little late with this

Well, as I wrote before I took the bull by the horns and bought a 2bd, 1.75bth Lake City condo in late October. I've included it and the mortgage in my calculations. To keep myself consistent, I'm still not including the farmette in (also because I don't have a good idea on its worth). The 20% down dropped my taxable cash position a bit, and I expect that it will drop a bit more because I do plan to bite the bullet and refresh the kitchen. However, the 401K/Roth IRA/403B accounts are doing well. According to my notes, I've been contributing the 16K/17K max in my 403B for 4 years, and have put 5K into a Roth for 6 years.

Starting in Jan 2013, I've decided to ease up on making the 403B contributions a bit - still will contribute 10K to it, but with mortgage, fees, property taxes, and other etceras I wanted to boost my paycheck a bit to compensate. (For the curious - from my credit union, I got a 15 yr fixed mortgage at 3%, for 126K. My CU appears not to be selling it to Fannie or Freddie). I've also cashed in my 1yr CD to consolidate accounts, and frankly, to get a slightly better interest rate in ING.

$305,846 IRA/403B
$162,373 Vanguard taxable
$42,488 stock
$14,061 I-bonds
0$ CDs
$68,023 ING
$3,235 immediate cash

$157,500 condo
-$124,888 mortgage

$628,818 total

December 2012 ($628,818 total, $290,180 in taxable cash accounts)
June 2012 ($617,902 total, $362,619 in taxable accounts)
December 2011 ($592,163 total, $356,567 in taxable accounts)
June 2011 ($596,791 total, $376,359)
December 2010 ($575,346 total, $356,542)
June 2010 ($553,023 total, $369,589)
December 2009 ($551,300 total, $385,771)
June 2009 ($512,054 total, $379,475)
Dec 2008 ($498,148 total, $386,021)
June 2008 ($524,261 total, $387,481)
Dec 2007 ($328,688 total, $192,747)
June 2007 ($176,422 total, $48,205)
Dec 2006 ($132,062 total, $40,329)
June 2006 ($120,261 total, $65,148)
Dec 2005 ($67,778 total, $23,740)
June 2005 ($46,115 total, $11,293)
Dec 2004 ($38,338 total, $7,558)
June 2004 ($29,050 total, $4,533)

Happy Holidays, and best of success in all your fiscal endeavors for 2013.

As for me, I'm getting back into the swing of routine. A different routine - I now can depend on me waking up at 7:45, and getting out the door at about 8:15 - 8:20, to catch any of the three downtown express buses. One (the 522) got me downtown on the 26th in 15 minutes. Man that was nice.

Done with carpet tile, just finished with the major wall painting (painting trim I'm sure is a forever project). I moved 2 full car loads of my stuff at the old place to the new condo, with the last full car load (books) perhaps will happen in the next week or two.

The next 'goal' is get set up enough to host the super Bowl party... first Sunday of February. For that, I'll break down and buy that TV, and get some seating. After that, the fridge and stove work like champs.

I have been doing lots of mini goals with the condo - got all the lighting to work, put post-its on the rooms to remind me what I need to do in them, arranged a charging station to hem in all the electronic crap in one area, am making a pile of stuff to donate/recycle (sometimes its just easier to move it, then donate it), arranged the entry way, monitored when the garbage gets picked up so I can slip a contractors bag of nasty carpet or dried paint waste when the dumpster is empty. Lawyer friend came by with his half full truck and took 15 bags - hard to tell if he will swing around again. He soon will not be a co worker - he's heading for another job at another non-profit. Hopefully we can still keep in touch...if nothing else, he's another dead pool player.

Received a box of organic produce from sister, and I've sent her a Christmas fish in return. Also sent her before and after condo pics.

Our own Spondilucks won the 2012 Dead Pool pool, so I mailed the proceeds to her. She hosted a New Year's Eve soiree which was a whole lot of fun. We had a great time comparing methodologies! Right now the 2013 pool has again 13 players - I might have 2 more and am willing to wait a day or two longer, but after that it becomes not fair to others who got their list in...especially if you are planning on playing Hugo Chavez.

Still holding out on not having Internet at home - what I might do is write posts when I can then publish them one after the other. My net worth took a dip because I put down 20%, but it is still around 600K. The 403B really perked up at the very end - it alone is at 181K.