baselle's Financial Diary

Yowsa! Over 500,000 visits!

Seriously, folks, you all need a hobby!

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.70 coffee + $12 lunch + $7 groceries

We got an apology from the real estate management company, or rather, from the guy who was subbing for our contact when he went on vacation. The water bill had been paid and soon we will get our bill.

I get to stand down. Not only did I fill our water bottles last night, I also ran the dishwasher, and I took an extra-long shower after gym this afternoon, just in case it was to be my last for a few days.

Had lunch with the gang - lawyer friend, lawyer friend's partner, screenwriter friend. We ate at Bush Gardens, which is the oldest Japanese restaurant in Seattle. It was fascinating - a bit like the Japanese version of The Doghouse (old time diner in Seattle which closed in 1994). Not comparing the food, rather I'm comparing the old school mood. Despite the classic Japanese versus American diner, they were very similar - both places are/were institutions, each have/had their specific ways of doing things, each have/had wait staff as old as the hills (motto of The Doghouse: don't annoy the waitstaff - good waitstaff are harder to replace than customers), each had their peculiar etiquette and rules that you MUST CONFORM TO because conforming to the rules is the key to their success.

Which explains why I got scolded for asking for miso when I ordered ramen ...

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.70 coffee + $20 chiropractor + $1 apple

Brought my lunch today - a tupperware of the creamy beans and a large tortilla.

Deposited my tip box collection for this month - $44.

Got the notice that the IRS is sending the stimulus check sometime this week.

Now for the oddball thing that happened this evening. We got a call from the water company that we're being shut off. WTF? The real estate management (our landlord) pays the bill then bills us. DH hit the phone and called the management. We think that our contact guy - the guy who signed our lease - left. On vacation, or for good, we don't know.

In the meantime, I filled all our water containers. So there!

Peri peri shrimp yesterday, creamy crockpot beans today. I'm confused - high end one day, low end the next.

No real recipe here - just a willingness to clean out the counters and use what was in the pantry.

First off, the beans were ones that sister sent me from her garden at the farmette. So while they were dried - they were freshly dried if that makes any sense.

Started soaking the beans at 5pm Saturday. Then at 11pm I drained them and put them in my crockpot with 2 chopped onions, what was left of the peri peri sauce (chile, olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro, parsely, garlic pureed into a smooth paste), excess chopped parsely and cilantro.

Set the crockpot to low at 11:30pm. (Gutsy to sleep with an 80s era crockpot turned on, I know, I know.)

I woke up at 9am to a wonderful smell, but I turned it off because I was going to be out and about. When I came back, I added to the crockpot a jar of simmer sauce from Trader Joe's, and a small can of tomato paste, then cranked the crockpot up again.

They turned out creamy and delicious, a happy accident. We had them with rice, but it would be great by itself or with a tortilla. Hopefully they won't be too musical in my digestive tract tomorrow.

For the 40+ among us.

Remember when in every darn episode of Scooby Doo the mystery hung on a real estate agent trying to scare away buyers?

So what would Scooby Doo do? Or did? Perhaps The Onion has the answer. Warning: spit takes are bad for your monitor.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $13 lunch + $7 groceries

Nearly every time I land in my cashier's line at the Safeway, she asks me if I would "round up" my grocery purchase in donation for something. A few months ago it was easter seals, right now its for prostate cancer.

She's a fast cashier, very personable, witty (with me, wickedly) and more likely than not she gets me to round up. When DH was in another, much slower line, I waited and watched as my cashier got 3 people in quick succession to donate, while checking people out quickly and laughing most of the time. (a cookie if you gave more than a buck!) I got to thinking - hey she'd be a great fundraiser! I mean she has a rare ability to ask, do something fast at the same time, and if she gets a no, she goes right on to the next person. Kinda rare even for a sales person.

Our non-profit looks for temporary staff to help fundraise in the fall, and we are supposed to be looking for talent. If we recommend someone and they get hired as a temp, we get $250.

So this afternoon at work I printed out the ad, stapled my business card to it, folded it in quarters so that it stays neat in my purse. When I bought cherries, salad dressing and turkey ham in her line, I pounced.

Of course, she recognized me right away, and asked if I would round up my purchase.

I said, "sure.... you know you should think about fundraising as a career." I handed her the folded sheet.

She took it, and asked me if it was volunteer work.

"Heck no," I said, "they'll pay you for it." Her look was priceless - an excited "really?" look.

"Check it out and see if you are interested." I said.

Hope it all works out, and not just for the $250.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.70 coffee + $20 hair cut

An out of the routine day.

DH drove me this morning. Actually, he drove this morning, and I'm on the way. Traffic on Aurora Ave (we don't bother with I-5) was light.

Then my schedule got all changed - I got my performance review and I'm up for a possible 6% raise. It looks good, but we will see. It would happen in August. It will shift a couple of things - I have to recheck my withholding of my 403B to make sure the raise doesn't bump it past the 15.5K limit.

Then another schedule change - gym at noon. Gym at noon is popular, but blegh I'm shaky because I want to eat at noon. Even if I have a little something like a banana, I'm shaky.

After gym at noon, a break. I was going to go for lunch, but there was free food of reasonable nutrition - chicken pad thai and a square of carrot cake. A little sweet, but free is free so I took it.

Then on the walk home, since I had a very low spend day, I shifted my spending to get a very, very much needed haircut. Still have $15 left, savings of $48 and I get paid tomorrow.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $1.70 coffee + $9 lunch

I get paid this Friday, but I just got $40 which is enough for a couple of days, leaving $48 still in the checking account, and I have $37 total in the tip box...

I haven't cut it this close successfully in years. Feeling that frugal burn, but checking to see if I pulled something.

I've been taking pictures of my tomato plants every couple of weeks or so. The weather in Seattle has been crappy, so I'm lucky that my plants are just chilling, instead of dying. This one's the "Taxi" tomato - a yellow/green determinate variety.

May 25


June 10 (with mulch)

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.70 coffee + $10 lunch

This is the best article on saving that I've read in weeks. It really is true in 2008 that one "spends together, but saves alone". But even 30 years ago it didn't used to be that way.

5 to 10 inches of SNOW in JUNE on Snoqualamie Pass. We've had the coldest June in Seattle since the 1890s.

Back to finances just as soon as I pitch this snowball. Ker pow!

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $10 lunch, snack + $10 grocery

Not much going on, had a nice quiet day.

Watched the I-5 traffic on my way to work. Still heavy, even though we've passed $4 and are gaining on $5. These days, if you can possibly save money by taking the bus, no matter how out of the way, well, why wouldn't you? And now there's the report that if you want to tool around town in a scooter you need an addendum on your license. You need more than that these days, there are still plenty of SUVs tooling around with you on the road. Frankly, I think traffic will get even nuttier before it gets better. All the sane drivers say, "holy crap, who cares who I have to sit next to? I'm saving $500!". That thins the herd a bit, but it leaves the insane drivers, the recalcitrant ones, the ones that didn't get the memo. I see a bit of a difference in parking lots, but out on the roads there is still a lot of denial out there.

Sister gave me an update. The toilet, water heater, and water softener are in at the farmette, but she and her partner stayed in Milwaukee, battling the rains and the flood. Apparently they got 4 inches, had to make sure that the gutters were clean so they could do their job, and their basement was leaking. It could be worse.

The farmette land is low, I wonder if the place got touched by the floods. Darn glad no one's farming most of it - they'd be behind. Knee high by the fourth of July is a milestone and that's only three weeks away.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $15 brunch, coffee + $27 grocery1 + $7 grocery2

Two grocery stops today. Stop 1 at the Safeway was to stock up Odwalla bars, which I eat for breakfast. They went on sale just in time at $1/apiece. Also picked up a few tomatoes (my 3 plants won't be producing until July - August). The organic price was cheaper than the regular at $1.99/lb, which is rare. And I picked up ground beef at $1.64/lb. Meatloaf tonight and for the week.

Stop 2 was to Lenny's, a place that I've gotten out of the habit of going when my paycheck was higher; now I'd better get back into the habit. The prices are the cheapest I've seen - plenty in the under 1$ and 1$/lb. But its a place that you have to pick and paw, know your produce and look carefully at your item.

The other thing about Lenny's is that the cashiers are Russian or Chinese, with a lot immigrant shoppers. Hearing foreign languages while shopping tends to be a good frugal sign.

Picked up a red onion for .79$/lb, cherries for 1.99$/lb, peppers for 1.49$/lb

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $1 coffee + $5 farmers market

Ate the other half of the foot long sandwich I bought yesterday, so it was a low spend day. I bought another cup because I got the afternoon yawns.

Now that the deli is R.I.P. (no official word or sign on the door), for coffee this morning, I went back to the place I had frequented before. The woman working the espresso machine asked me how I'd been and what happened to me. It had been over two years since I had disappeared, so its a little embarrassing but amazing on two counts: that I'm that memorable and that she's still working there in a high turnover retail environment.

Gas prices took quite a jump here in Seattle - DH tells me that even the Arco, the rock-bottom cheap place for gas, is now at $4.11. The paper here is talking about raising bus fares again (we had one in March). With my bus pass at $10/month for an unlimited number of rides, it pays for itself the first week of the month. But price hikes are happening everywhere. My workplace renews the yearly bus pass at the end of the month. Here's hoping they raise rates after I renew.

Money's now very tight at the end of the paycheck ever since I hiked up my 403B to take care of my tax bite in 2008. I'm proud of myself for keeping my head above water, and still saving at the same rates, but the checking account stands at $180 with a week left to go (get paid on Friday the 13th next week). I'm feeling the frugal burn.

And I think I'm going to be the very last American to get my stimulus check.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee (back to the old place) + $7 lunch (for 2 days)

Last week Thursday we had dinner with an ex-boyfriend and his wife. We broke up about 15 years ago, and like many other breakups, it was not pretty. We both behaved badly.

My bad self held one of his possessions hostage - a T-shirt dated from the early 80s that meant quite a bit to him at the time. He still asked about it 8 years ago, so last week I found the shirt (still in good condition), folded it up and wrapped it in a bow.

When I presented it to him, ex- appeared puzzled, which surprised me. DH assured me that the ex- had asked about it. Maybe he's still getting my goat even now. And yet, giving the T-shirt back to him felt right, like something good was going to happen.

After the ex- had the "why?" look, I joked that perhaps it would improve my borrowing karma. You see, I very rarely loan my CDs, DVDs, books, and other stuff out to friends, because usually the friend forgets that they've borrowed it and I have to nag and nag to get it back and it usually leaves a sour taste in all mouths. Suffice it to say I rarely loan and if I do it has to be a good friend, someone whom I feel close enough to nag. Mere acquaintance level wouldn't cut it.

So I joked that this T-shirt inhibited my borrowing karma. If I give the T-shirt back, maybe I get my stuff back. Ex- was skeptical, the rest of the table chuckled a bit and turned to other things.

Well, I have two sets of possessions out on loan: a DVD to lawyer friend and several CDs to DJ friend. I have not nagged either one or mentioned anything about the t-shirt.

1. Tuesday, lawyer friend called - they finished the DVD this weekend in a marathon session - totally loved it and will return it tomorrow.

2. Today, DJ friend put the first of my CDs on my desk, gave me several in return, and will give me the rest in a few days.

Laugh all you want, ex-!

This is not an anthem for my life, a la Merch; its more like a soundtrack every time I cross this street ...and I cross it often - I work three blocks away. From the musical Little Shop of Horrors.

[WOMAN]
Alarm goes off at seven
And you start uptown.
You put in your eight hours
For the powers that have always been.
Till it's five P.M.

[BUM 1]
Then You go

[COMPANY]
Downtown
Where the folks are broke.
Downtown
Where your life's a joke.
Downtown
When you buy your token,
you go
Home to skid row.

[BUM 2]
Yes, you go

[COMPANY]
Downtown
Where the cabs don't stop
Downtown
Where the food is slop
Downtown
Where the hop-heads flop
in the snow
Down on Skid Row

Uptown you cater to a million jerks.
Uptown you're messengers and
mailroom clerks
eating all your lunches at the
hot dog carts.
The bosses take your money
And they break your hearts.

Uptown you cater to a million whores.
You disinfect terrazzo on their
bathroom floors.
Your morning's tribulation,
afternoon's a curse
And five o'clock is even worse

[BUM 3]
That's when you go

[COMPANY]
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown
Down on skid row
Down on skid row
Down on skid row
Down on skid row!

[AUDREY]
Where the guys are drips.
Where they rip your slips.
Where relationships are no go.
Down on skid row
Down on skid row
Down on skid row
Down on skid row!

[SEYMOUR]
Poor! All my life I've always been poor.
I keep asking God what I'm for,
and he tells me "Gee, I'm not sure
sweep that floor, kid."
Oh, I started life as an orphan,
a child of the street
Here on skid row.
He took me in, gave me shelter, a bed,
Crust of bread and a job
Treats me like dirt, calls me a slob,
Which I am.
So I live
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR]
That's your home address.
Ya live
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR]
When your life's a mess.
Ya live
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR]
Where depressions' jes'
Status Quo.
[COMPANY]
Down on skid row

Someone show me a way to get
outta here,
'cause I constantly pray I'll get
outta here
Please, won't somebody say I'll get
outta here
Someone gimme my shot or I'll
rot here.

[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
There's no rules for us.
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
'Cause it's dangerous.
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
Where the rainbow's jus a no-show
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
Where the sun don't
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
Past the bottom line
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
Go ask any wino, he'll know
I'll do I dunno what to get outta skid
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
But a hell of a lot to get outta skid
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
People tell me there's not a way outta skid
[COMPANY]
Downtown
[SEYMOUR & AUDREY]
But believe me I gotta get outta skid

[ALL]
Row!

Yesler Street, Seattle, the original Skid Row. A hundred and twenty years and thirty feet lower the traffic was logs. Today the traffic is equally mindless.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 lunch

3rd day of the closed deli where I buy my cheap coffee. R.I.P cheap decent coffee. Now its back to decent but slightly more expensive coffee slightly out of my way. Have to admit it was one of the more quiet business deaths I've seen...no 50% off sale, no lack of supplies (had a tuna sandwich there last week), no trying to avoid the ultimate, no tears. Just a failure to open the first Monday at the beginning of the month.

On a lighter note, remind me not to ask this furniture store about color schemes...

Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 lunch

Arrgh with the Seattle February weather in early June. I woke up cranky. Its one thing to see the overcast, dreary, very rainy February weather in February - its an endurance thing. When the rain comes in June, it just makes you mad.

Day 2 that the deli has been closed. It doesn't look good. I peered into the window - the equipment was still there, along with the table and chair that they set outside for dining al fresco. No one's packed up. Still's a bad sign.

Got caught up with sister. She had left her job three weeks ago to relax and keep up with the farmette. Her projects are the water heater, the water softener, and the furnace. Especially replacing the furnace, both to keep the winter heating bills and the insurance costs down.

Had lunch with the gang - lawyer friend, lawyer friend's partner, screenwriter friend, and we got to asking about compounds. Like the Kennedy compound, the McCain compound, the Bush compound, the Koresh compound. Doesn't anyone have an estate or a house any more? Are we all survivalists or something? We tried figuring out the elements: multiple buildings, a chain link fence, ability to live off the grid, perhaps a gun collection. The other three joked that my little farmette was the closest thing to a compound, to which I noted that the barn, in the shape of a "U" surrounds a concrete pad. I would have a compound inside my compound... a nested compound.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $8 lunch + $16 groceries

You might have noticed that the coffee price jumped by .50. The little deli where I normally get my cheap coffee was closed. I have my fears that its closed for good - its June 1 and it was the very last business inside the Alaska Building which is in the process of its being stripped and renovated. You can't walk past the building along the sidewalk with all the construction, dumpsters, fences, and orange cones surrounding it. There's a big sign and a little pathway to my little deli coffee place, so I was hoping. Fingers crossed that the owner got sick or something.

But there was a little action near that deli. A Seattle police office came out of the inside of the construction, holding something between two fingers. He got out a paper bag from the trunk.

"Looks like you found something," I said.
He walked over.
"We found this inside," he said. "One of the construction guys called it in."

It was a rusted out little Saturday night special. The gun barrel was so rusted out that they couldn't get a serial number. The black handle looked, I swear, like it was made of Bakelite.
The police have no idea if it was part of a crime, without the serial number they couldn't trace it. It will get destroyed.

Last Friday I had a meeting with my supervisor, another woman. We both noticed at the same time how often women say, "I'm sorry" and use it as an um or an er.

I started with, "I'm sorry that I had a different spreadsheet than yours."
She countered with, "Let me get my copy, I'm sorry I have to turn around to fetch it from my computer."

And then we got a bit silly:
"Gosh I'm sorry that you're sorry. Sorry."
"Sorry. sorry."

Of course we were smiling and laughing while we were saying it, but one just has to think that the phrase "I'm sorry" has got to cost us women plenty of money. I mean, how effective can you be to drive a hard bargain if you are saying "I'm sorry" all the time? Waddya sorry about? The seller wants you to buy something, no sorry about it. Why be apologetic? Unless, of course, you're trying to spread counterfeit bills around, most people are glad to see you.

Now that I have my laptop back and I have all these pent up posts .. ker pow.

Friday on the bus I caught this:


And tonight:


So far the neighborhood Arco is holding at just unnnddder $4. $3.98/gallon.

I also read about some gas stations having yet again to retool their pumps or charge by the liter or 1/2 gallon because their dollar digit didn't go up to 4. Seems like very poor planning to me. I can understand if you didn't go up to the dollar, but if you bought a gas pump that went up to the dollar, why only 1-3? Why not spring for all the digits, 1-9$? Why would you even bother making a pump that only did 1-3$? Base ten was invented for a reason.

Friday -
Saving log - $3 tip box + $40 Drp1 + $35 Drp2 (scheduled)
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $13 lunch

Saturday-
My laptop is back - I'm $180 lighter for the fix with another $120 to get an external 500GB hard drive so if the laptop has to get fixed again, it would be cheaper because my stuff will be backed up. Now its the fun of getting things set up to where they were before. Oh yes - I don't have reset the picture to 32 bit color when I log in. That part's nice.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $8 lunch

Laptop shop called. They got the laptop working, but it kept crashing, so they will have to save some and wipe the rest. I told 'em pictures, spreadsheet, and music, in that order.

The Ameriprise guy sold the mutual fund so I can move the rest of grandma's inheritance into Vanguard. With any luck, I can consolidate everything up by the end of June.

Took a close look at the Early Girl tomato and saw flower buds. The other two tomato plants are just vegetative.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $10 lunch and snack

Laptop is still in the shop. I guess I'll have to suck it up, because you all are bored and there are others worse off than me (good luck Carolina Bound).

Got on my usual bus to get to work this morning. In the good old days, I could get a quick window seat on the front half of the bus. In the last few weeks, I could get the last, next to last, or next to next to last window seat in the back half of the bus. Today?

Half the bus was full, no window seat to be had, not even the seat in the articulated area (usually the last to go). I sat with another old timer.

I used my guile to get a window seat. I knew that several people got off at the next stop. Luckily one of them opened up a window seat which I pounced on.

Watching for Mad Max on the motorcycle riding over the Aurora Bridge. Now that's a good recession sign.

Laptop-less, so this will be quick. I'll hi-jack this blog for a little gardening. With any luck I'll grow at least 30$ worth of tomatoes to break even.

Planted the three tomato plants. One, which is determinate (meaning it will stop at a certain height), we put up against the house, facing south. Its a nice hot corner. Its supposed to produce yellow tomatoes.

The other two, which are indeterminate (meaning they will grow forever if you let them), we put in a 10 ft niche against a south facing wall. One of these is a Early Girl and the other is supposed to be a 'black' tomato. Its hard to tell because it had two tags - an early girl and this one. We'll see. I hope it is a black tomato - those are a very deep brown, not black. I picked them for fun, because I think it would be a blast to alternate sliced yellow and 'black' tomatoes ... I could call it "bee salad".

Added a bit of slow release fertilizer and puffed gypsum for calcium. Hope I don't have to add calcium, but the last time I grew tomatoes they got a touch of blossom end rot.

Oh yes, one other thing. Tomatoes self pollinate. They don't need another tomato, and you don't have to worry about hybrids between two plants. They are nice that way.

Looked in on them this morning. The weather was coolish and cloudy, good for helping them out during their little trauma of getting planted. They all seem to be settling in nicely - no wilting and they seem to be growing straight.

Pictures when I finally get my laptop back.

Still no laptop, so DH took me to the laptop shop...

Me: So how's my laptop repair coming along?
Guy at the Shop: What is your last name?
Me: (told him)
Guy at Shop types a bit, then says: We told you that it can take anywhere between 1 and 2 weeks... (and then blinked at me blankly)

Good gravy, I know that! Could it have killed anyone to say that "we are in the midst of fixing, and we are so very glad you showed up but it will take awhile because we want to do a good job?" Bueller...Bueller?

But then I remembered the stereotype. No social skills. No wonder why computer networking and its multiple components often don't work well together. Their creators don't work well together so they make stuff that doesn't work well together.

But DH and I had some success - we bought 3 very large tomato plants for 10$. I'll put them in tomorrow. Today I walked another 6 miles, tomorrow it will be digging and weeding for a little upper body workout.

More recession-y observations: along my walk I saw at least 30 placards and sandwich boards advertising condos; the ice cream shop is advertising that they are open until 7 (okay that might be weather); at every bus stop along my way I saw at least one person waiting for it, and as the bus passed me, most had a very decent load of passengers (and this was Saturday during a holiday!)

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $13 lunch

Yet another day without my laptop. I'm getting the shakes now. . DH promised me that we will visit the shop to see how its coming along. I have to say that there is one advantage for having a 4 year old laptop - no one will want to steal it. But I'm worried that they'll say, "everything has gotten cooked, nothing survived."

Sent another $40 to my 3M DRP. The notice that my last $40 bought x.xxx shares with a little deposit slip and a return envelope. Its always my signal that the ball is bouncing on my side of the court.

Finished my performance review and sent it to my supervisor. This year, as a novelty, my two employees sent theirs to me. It will be weird sitting on the other side and judging them.

Ah, a three day vacation coming up!

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $10 lunch + $2 snack

Well I'm sick of not having a laptop. Ugh!

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee

My laptop is still at the shop (apparently they will replace the hard drive), so I'll make this quick...

Renewed my CD, but since I knew the interest rate was going to be low I set the term at 6 months. 2.6% - Yeesh. I renewed the CD at the original amount and put the interest in checking, to move to ING.

Took this month's collection from the tip box and deposited in my brick and mortar bank. $46, includes the $1 above.

Ate the second half of the footlong, so I had a very low spend day.

Attended the quarterly 403B lunch and learn with the plan administrator from Merrill Lynch. I got called out at the end because:

Plan Administrator (looking at the handout): As you can see, proper asset allocation is the biggest determiner of how much you will end up with.
Me (raising hand): Excuse me? Ahem... I was thought it was the amount you put in in the first place that's the biggest determiner.
Plan Administrator: Yes, of course ...

I enjoy openings like that. Great for lunchtime entertainment.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $2.00 coffee, apple + 6$ sandwich (for 2 lunches)

The repair shop asked whether they should back up my hard drive before they wiped it and re-installed Windows.

Yep - which is yet another reason why you should try to back things up often. I'm going to be at least $80 lighter after this. On the other hand, no laptop frees up a bit more time. Out of sheer boredom, I cleaned the bathroom floor behind the toilet. Necessary but Ick.

Figured out a bit more about my mysterious transfer agent for a DRP. I sent them $500 at the end of April. They bought 19 shares on May 14. A quick look at a spreadsheet tells me they only buy once a month - on the 14th. So if you send them bucks on the 15th, you're waiting for a long time. Other transfer agents buy stock at the end of the month (Compuserve), on the 15th and end of the month (Mellon BNY), and every Friday (Wells Fargo). Wonder what their sell schedule is?

Have to remind myself to call about my CD. It matures tomorrow!

Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $5 lunch

Been noticing that more and more businesses are promoting new and expanded hours. In good times, they seem to keep to a bit more restrictive hours (harder to keep the dependable retail employee, and the business still makes a profit even with tight hours). Even the expensive places are promoting the 11 am lunch, the ice cream shops are promoting hours until 6 pm.

The ATM at my brick and mortar bank was not working, so I went in to the teller. She asked whether I wanted something smaller than a 20, and we both laughed... If I could get a $40 ATM bill, that would be sweet. Well, bitter, but sweet.

Laptop is still out, so I'm blogging after work. DH promised to sent the laptop to the repair shop he goes to. Fingers crossed!