baselle's Financial Diary

The weekend is nice and lazy, so its a perfect time to put up a few more Paris snaps, with commentary. Noticed that I hasn't posted many pictures from La Defense, several museums and the cemetary, so here are some of those.

The Dali Museum was as wacky you would expect...


But the oyster shell spoon was exquisite. (FYI - It might just be me, but I had much better luck taking snaps of the small, telling detail than of the great landscape)


The Grand Arch of La Defense, built in 1989, is the third landmark of Paris that follows the same line as the Louvre and the Arc de Triomph. The specks on the stairs - people - give you an idea of scale. The two rods leading up to the top mark the elevator.


Past La Defense, France is building something that looks as suspiciously 21st century high-tech bland as anything in the US.


Back again in the 19th century, the Musee d'Orsay was once a train station and got recycled into the main museum for Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. I had as much fun taking pictures of the interior spaces as I did the art. This is the main tramway.


And what you would look like on the main floor as you walked through the tramway...


Another treat was the Picasso Museum. It was a treat to be amongst hundreds of Picassos and it was a treat to just see a ton of Picassos without commentary. The juxaposition between these two couples was striking -


And on the last day in Paris, we paid our respects to Jim Morrison.


And the cimitarie cat.


Make sure you get a map of Pere Lachaisse Cimitarie, otherwise you will feel like this:

Saving log - $1
Spending log - $1.59 coffee + $8 lunch

The evaluation went well enough, but a few of my mistakes were brought up. Nothing that wasn't corrected easily and on time, but its a wake up call to not be a martyr and do everything myself and answer every question put to me. I can be responsive, meticulous, and do a lot of work - but pick any two, not all three.

Time to strategize how I shoo the horseflies away in other words. Be responsive by telling the asker who really should answer their question, and give much more work to my employees. But the meticulousness has to stay with me!

Saving log - $6
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $8 lunch

Thought I would take a break from the Paris pics to list what is currently going on:

Taking over all of the little functions as a supervisor - time cards, approving time off, reporting who is out, sitting in on the evaluations, planning to move some of my duties onto them. Tomorrow the plan is to determine whether my two staffers are interested in 1-on-1 meetings or not.

I found, to my surprise and delight, that the promotion came with a 5% pay raise, its retroactive from the paycheck before the trip, and is separate from a raise coming from a decent evaluation. And I get evaluated tomorrow.

My lower back locked up, so the chiropractor claimed, and I gained approximately .4 lbs during Paris. Or maybe not. I told the trainer that I didn't do any of the upper body drills in Paris. She didn't seem all that upset; she was positively chipper as she put me through an exercise routine that made me regret not doing the drills.

Ate the cheese I brought back (thank you customs dog for giving me a break), and brought chocolates to work. Found out that it only took 1 week for the postcards to travel from Paris. I sent three postcards back with no writing, just a Jackson Pollock induced spray of coffee cup rings. Lawyer friend is still talking about his. Hey, anything you write from Paris on a postcard is going to be banal...why not say everything by saying nothing?

Something odd happened to my PayPal account - I saw two mysterious transactions. I emailed PayPal, they refunded the money and locked up my account. I figured that now's the time to change all my financial passwords.

No pictures of underwear, I promise!

We visited Versailles on a rainy Sunday. Once it was the Hall of Mirrors, now its the the Hall of Camcorders..


But there is great shopping in the parking lot where all the buses congregated.


Good hunting in the glass-skylit Galleries in the 2nd arrondissment (let me know if I'm spelling that wrong). DH's first cousin took us around.


The first cousin also took us to, I believe, the Canal Saint Martin. This photo is terribly, terribly dark, but atmospheric.


Still life with cafe chair legs.


Regimented cafe umbrellas at the Pomipidou Center.

by popular request, some more pics...

Some of these are going to be funny, and maybe even telling of frugalness. It turns out that while I packed pretty well - the shoes from Goodwill and the sheath dress performed like champs - I did get caught short of one vital thing: only 5 pairs of panties. And somehow spending a ton of euros on french lingerie didn't appeal. So before the laverie came this:

Turns out that a metal disc with a little rubber center by the shower is a secret clothesline. DH showed it to me. The little rubber center is one end of the string, you pull it out and hook it to the latch at the other end of the shower.

Candid, accidental shot under the Arc de Triomphe.


Speaking of the Arc de Triomphe (it just struck me as looking best in blue)


I didn't bother seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, but it was fascinating to me that archeology is still being done around the medieval levels of the fort of the Louvre.


Night Paris - not all streets are narrow. If you can read the jittery lettering at left, the Monoprix (and its little sister, Monop') is the Wal-mart of France.


Speaking of nightlife, Paris has its nerds too. Each of the cars is a realitie virtualle game.


Everyone comes and puts their feet up at the Flea Market...

A quick itinerary:
18th - L'Opera & the neighborhood around the 1st arrondisement
19th - Madeleine Church, Rue Royale, Invalides, Napoleon's Tomb, Champs Elysses, Arc de Triomphe
20th - French lunch with the Parisian side of DHs family
21st - Notre Dame, Ile de Cite, a little bit of walking around the Rive Gauche
22nd - Montmartre; Dali Museum
23rd - Louvre, Place de Bastille
24th - 2nd french lunch with MIL friends, a nap, then an evening at the laverie automatique.
25th - Le Defense, Effiel Tower
26th - Marche aux Puces (Flea Market); walking tour of the Pallisades
27th - Versailles
28th - Picasso Museum, Pompidou Center
29th - Rodin Museum, Musee d'Orsay
30th - Pere Lachaisse Cimitaire

Thank you, Paris Metro and the Paris Museum Pass (PMP)! We managed to get to museums before the crowd did early on, but we got the 2-day PMP for the 28th and 29th. The PMP doesn't pay if you calculate it against admissions, but boy it does in terms of time and aggravation. The cheap person waits an hour in the rain, the frugal person gets the PMP and walks right in.

These pics aren't exhaustive - they're just some of the fun ones.

From the hotel room balcony


The cafe scene along the Champs Elysses is not as intimate as one would like


A nice atmospheric from the top of Notre Dame. Sepia setting, not sunset.


I have a ton of great Louvre snaps, but I just love this one. What you would really get if you tried to wrestle a big cat to the ground.


The laundromat next to the boulangerie...


Damn, its big...


Well you get the idea. Might just as well stop before y'all fall asleep.

At least the house was clean. But about $110 left from the trip went nearly poof.

Haircut - $16
Groceries - $51
Drugstore - $11 (DH put our toothpaste in his carry-on heading out to Paris; I shook my head - TSA took it away at the airport, so we used mine of the approved size)
2 lunches - $25 (good old comfort food at a place next to the post office depot our mail was held at. We got the held mail, sorted and dealt with it, all while the food was made. The best way to deal with two weeks of mail.)

Then laundry.

Then a quick pitstop at work to shovel through 180 emails for the obviously useless ones. I could do it at home, but I just don't like doing this at home. I try to keep home at home and work at work. Found out that my postcard mailed to the office actually made it before I did.

Then sleep. Last night I didn't get the semi-dream/semi-hallucination of me sleeping in my hotel bed in the middle of L'Avenue de Opera that I got the night before. Yippee!

Just a quick note...I'm back and after I've un-jet lagged (or is that une jet lagged?) I'll post more with some pics.

Turns out that for the 20 French words that I knew, I could deploy effectively, and my French accent was bon. Not tres bon, but I'll take bon any day. Much better than the "mercy buckets" that I feared. Didn't have any awful problems, and found that the Paris denizens were formal but polite. When you think about it, its more amazing that they are as nice as they are. After all, we come to visit their museums in herds without any clear museum visiting skills. I'll bet a few euros that 95% of those who showed don't visit their own museums!

Anyhow, back to unpacking, moving pictures to the computer, and picking some fantastic snaps!

Saving log - $3
Spending log - $1.85 coffee, milk + $8.84 lunch

At work I got everything done that I had to - the evaluation, a couple of meetings, my timecard for the rest of the month. A couple of hornets' nests even settled down. Introduced DJ friend who was looking for a healthy, cheap snack to the $1.24 wonders of salmon omusubi (salmon in a rice ball wrapped in a nori sheet).

Sister called. Estate insurance will cover some of the water damage from the burst pipes last winter and torn up milk house.

Thank you all who voted for my How Tos!

I'll outta here and will be away between May 17-31 to Paris, France. I probably will not be blogging, but you never know - if there is an Internet cafe I might shoot off a note or two. I promise to post pics after!

Saving log - $6
Spending log - $1.85 coffee, milk + $4.50 curry

Lots of little financial errands in preparation for the trip:
Deposited what was in my tip box - $30
Paid my credit card - $500
Scheduled a transfer from ING to checking so I can use my debit card - $2000
(this is just in case money on top of the euros I got a couple of weeks ago; I think I'd cry if I spent it all)
Withdrew airport in case money from my ATM - $100.

I was so relaxed today, and I was so relaxed yesterday. A fair amount of the fun of this vacation is just knowing that no matter what, Wednesday is my last day for two weeks. I have been taking on some of the more horrid communications and projects, knowing by setting them in motion, well I'm going to be gone, ha ha...

Its like kicking a hornet's nest and having a place to run to. And yes, that's mean, letting everyone else at work take care of the implications. But since many people had done that to me, well I feel no twinge of guilt. I feel evil, yes, just not guilty.

I have also been on a tear, doing some documentation that I had promised on my evaluation to do last year. This year's evaluation is due before I leave, and well, I'm finishing the documentation that I promised to do last year before I write up my evaluation.

And I'm flipping through it. Very complex and detailed. I wish it was as fun to write and to read as the grocery produce articles were. Thank you Jeffrey - I learned a lot of How tos!

The image today was, as usual, from several days ago. My favorite building downtown is flight of whimsy, built from money Seattle got during the Klondike Gold Rush...

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $4 bagel, coffee + $20 sweater wrap


So an interesting piece of trip karma happened this morning at the coffeeshop. I opened up my Sunday paper and found that it was last week's. Never happened to me before. I really didn't want to buy a paper, but I wanted something to read, so I grabbed a book and discovered it was one of those bookcrossing.com books. Read it, then release me ... somewhere. In that case, I just have to take it to Paris, and release it there.

I'm now 85% packed. I've gotten the final thing I was looking for - a black dressy scarf sweater wrap for a cool evening. I'm going for one bag, all the clothes I'm bringing are solid colors in white, black, beige, gray, red, jeans. Okay, a dark green top made it in, but everything matches everything else. Tried everything on - it all fits. Packed it up and I have space.

Super glued the catches of the day bag I'm taking to secure them from a snatch and grab. Shined the shoes. Put the hotel address in the bag I'm checking in. Took pictures of the checked bag so I have it on my digital camera.

I'm so excited now! 4 days and I'm going to be in Paris.

The image today was one I took on Friday. So mysterious, so short story-ish.

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $10 Denny's + $3.25 Italian soda + $17 bottle of wine + $6 groceries

Late Friday night, DH looked at the pile of CDs that I wanted to sell, and picked a few out of the pile.

So after breakfast, DH and I hit the Greenwood Art Walk (blogged a bit about it last year), which is when the various small business along Greenwood Avenue host an artist or two's work, hung alongside the store's wares. The CD store wasn't participating, but was at one end of the festivities, so I dropped off my stack and we went on our merry way.

Found the artist that I bought a piece from, and told him that I hung it at work and got a lot of great compliments. Fun to give him the word.

A leather mask artist had great stuff...


One of the artists had a number of Parisian photographs, so we had a great conversation with her. Her advice, all light based: Go see the Marais district (8:30 - 10:30 am especially) and the 4th floor of the Musee d'Orsay.

Went to the wine shop, where they had a free wine tasting. Each year I go, each year I think to look for the art, and each year I get sucked into the wine tasting. Bought a bottle of bordeaux to drink when we get back.

I managed to hit the lamp store, which had the most amazing display of chandeliers, lamps, and sconces...and a fan that looked like an airplane propeller.

Lookyloo-ing was never so cheap and so fun.

Back at the CD place, I got $100 of store credit. He gave me a bit of a break and wrote up a 11 CD gift card.

Got a few groceries, but since we are only going to be here for a few days, it was just salad-y things, a bit of fruit, and fill-in items. The strategy is to clean out the refrigerator and freezer as much as possible of things that I know won't make it two weeks. Soup, salad, and maybe a meat patty or two for a couple of days.

Saving log - $5
Spending log - $1.85 coffee, milk

Lawyer friend and the rest of the gang took me out to lunch today. Dim sum. I love dim sum and we finally found a halfway decent place for dim sum called Jade Garden. The lobster puffs were fantastic and when I get the chinese broccoli that always makes me happy.

Got a call and an email from sister today. The steel bulk tank got stolen from the milkhouse and the there is some water damage in the house from frozen pipes last winter. Executors for estates take out insurance policies for this type of thing, so it is time for sister and I to assess the damage, and hound the executors on it before we actually inherit the house and farmette on June 30.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.85 milk, coffee + $7 lunch

Today most our department was getting CPR training, so it was my boss and I. We both thought - great, it will be nice and quiet and we can both get a lot done.

Boy, were we wrong.

Not only was it a steady stream of minor things, its the time of year when the sales staff was asking, "is all the money booked? Did we miss something?" A whole day of freakouts.

Apparently I did miss something, though. This is the part of the year that is trying to my freaky, perfectionist, control freak soul. Yes, I cannot be perfect and I can't control and organize everything. Stuff is going to happen and I will just have to remember that every year I will find out in a new and strange way some new and strange mistake.

Gym was gain a couple of pounds, lose the same couple of pounds. I've still only lost 20-25 lbs during this whole deal. Losing a half of an inch here and there, so I will have to settle for other milestones. If I'm doing something with the machines, its in the 30-40 lb range for the arms, 60-80, even 100 lbs for the legs. The other trainers gave my trainer a good report on me - I'm now a regular. The weather's been nice so I've been consistently walking from 15 Ave NW, instead of 8th Ave NW.

The image today is a couple of weeks old, with the first attempt at the museum setting. (no flash). Seems to work for aquariums, too. This was at the HT Oaktree. If you ever need live shrimp, that's where you go.

Saving log - $3
Spending log - $1.85 coffee, milk + $6 lunch and snack + $6 stickers

DH sometimes has the sensibility of a 12 yr old boy. He told me last night that he wanted to change the stickers on his PDA - too flashy, he said. So I bought him some Japanese samurai and kabuki stickers.

Tiny and not so tiny decisions - I have one of three recurring charges (ISP, Netflix, newspaper) on my credit card. This month was the first month I saw that my ISP charge made it from the credit card to my debit card. Think I will try moving the Netflix this month.

Not so tiny decision. This stock market is baffling me and has been for months. I don't understand the fundamentals and why its going up so fast. I decided to shift the 403B part of my portfolio a bit. Before it was quite aggressive - 90% stock (I have some bonds elsewhere). I decided to redistribute to 50/50 bond and stock, so I still have plenty of stock. I'm just trimming my sails a bit.

I'd do that with some of the Vanguard holdings, however they're in a taxable account and I've bought less than a year ago, so if I shift things around, any profits from selling will be taxed on the income rate, not long term capital gains rate. The next little bit of new money I receive, I'll put it in bonds and trim the sails a bit there, too.

Just to remind me that it's May in my yard:

Saving log - $6
Spending log - $.65 milk + $5 magazine + $7 lunch

Found another dime near the curb in the street. Right now its just waiting - quietly not spending, figuring out what expenses are automatically deducted during last half of the month so that I don't overspend and bounce stuff here in Seattle, held my mail, donated my newspaper.

And then more waiting - submitted my poem to the Poetry on the Buses competition last week on the deadline. Interesting that the selection committee's an even number - I'd think that it ensure a deadlock decision.

Got a call from the trainer that we'll be back at it tomorrow.

I figured that you all would be imaged out so its just words today.

Free tickets to the grand re-opening of the Seattle Art Museum, as long as you were willing to wait. I went because I had to figure out the museum setting on my camera and had to develop a taste for waiting in line like a tourist.

But I did spend a bit of money. Tickets had a time that you showed back up to get in and I knew I had to hit the bathroom and get a little something to buck me up a bit. So I bought a $3 mocha and a sushi roll for $7.

The ticket line...


The color commentary from the strip club The Lusty Lady across the street (if you are visiting Seattle, its even more of an institution than the Space Needle)


Picture taking was verboten, but with museum setting (no flash), I did enjoy the illicit thrill of snapping two - one from the lobby...


And one from the third floor landing looking back down at the line...


I enjoyed the update to the museum, however the differences in the art in the rooms fluctuated wildly - Islamic in one room, 19th century American the next, Japanese, modern art, African, Korean. Constant surprise. On top of that each of the rooms was branded with the donor's name. It gave the appearance of a gigantic attic under probate where all the heirs taped off their slice and are squabbling, "Mine!"

Well, I got my birthday gift from DH today. From Stamps.com, two sheets of the new denominational stamps (41 cents) with a picture of our dear, departed kitty on them, when he was 12, lying like a library lion on my sister's end table.

He had a certain timeless quality, but a timely quality too. He shared the end table with a couple of magazines and a coaster that you just knew were going to land on the floor five minutes later.

Its so touching. I miss Augie so.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $.65 milk + 15$ lunch + $6.15 girly supplies

The coin rescue is going well; I found 3 dimes on the street this evening, one after the other. Just a little FYI - my best hunting grounds are on the curb, or on the sidewalks close to the curb. Pedestrians must put their hands in their pockets as they wait for the light, take them out again. Traffic noise must mask the change hitting the sidewalk, or the pedestrian hears it but thinks, "Forget it - I've got to cross the street." Sometimes to harvest change you have to have a willingness to get run over.

I have some luck on the bus right near the door for the same reason, but its usually pennies, rarely anything larger.

Finishing up projects right and left at work, and now when I say that I think I can get this done in a week, everyone does the math and says, "hah! You'll be in Paris then." Found me out.

Asked the post office to hold the mail. So darn nice that I can request it online.

The fact that the stock market has been up nearly 4 weeks in a row is just freakish to me. Entertaining, because I've bought quite a bit when it was a lot flatter and a lot cheaper. Its doubly entertaining when a number of people are trying to get back into it because it is so high. G*d, people are such financial lemmings! Buy high and sell low, rinse and repeat - there's the way to go broke.

I'd try to get out of the stock market right now, but only about 1/2 of my shares I've held for over a year, so if sold would be considered long term capital gains and taxed less. (I bought seriously on the dips in July and August.)

Got word that the TD Ameritrade account I still have will have its account number changed, so its assured that I will be locked out of it, have to call and sound like a goob.

Next week the trainer comes back and we'll see how I did. My legs are stiff from yesterday and now I only have myself to blame.

Two images, one iconic. In case you forgot where I'm blogging from.


The second one was taken when the bus was zooming on 15th Ave NW. Its blurry and makes me jangly, but I like it.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $.65 milk + $5 magazine + $7 lunch

I've been thinking a bit about supervising DJ friend a bit. Four years ago, I helped to hire him as a temp staffer. When he became a permanent staffer, I had been in that same job several years before so I mentored him a bit. I switched departments. When the opening came up in my new department to work with me that was a step up, I encouraged him to apply and really pushed for him. And in the past two years he's really proven himself.

So while it will be a bit weird, maybe not so bad. Its not like we were at the same level and I moved along over him. I've always been more senior, and have behaved a bit like his supervisor already.

I've already started with giving my two staff members several of the continuous projects that bedeveiled me. Might just as well make my mark early!

The image today is what I wish today was like. It was off and on raining, and this one is sunny...

Saving log - $0
Spending log - .65$ milk + $5.25 lunch

This morning I was called into my boss's office and was offered the promotion. On May 16th I will be packing for Paris but I will be the official boss of DJ friend (boy that'll be weird) and another co-worker.

The job grade is one step higher than the one I have, so I'm guessing it will be a $2000/yr pay raise. That and an expected 4% raise at the beginning of the next fiscal year (July) means I have a fighting chance of paying off the Paris trip within the year. I'm not sure if the job grade pay raise and the cola are additive or not.

Tried out some more settings on the camera. I figured out that it takes black & white, vivid color, cyan, and sepia. Since the MayDay rally caused a stack-up of buses, that's what I used.

This sign appears every 50 feet or so along the Aurora bridge, a magnet for this sort of problem.

Today I changed some dollars to euros for the trip. Too bad that 1507$ is only 1005 euros, but I hit it lucky at the Travelex in Westlake Center. They had a special - no 1% change rate, and a free buyback program to change the euros to dollars at the rate I got today. Due date for the buyback is 31 days, but I'll be in Atlanta on a 3 hr layover on May 31 (last day of my buyback). I know what I'll be doing!

In addition to that, it was a spendy day - a couple more bras, tights, ankle socks, and bubble bath ($38). Lunch at a kaiten sushi place ($13). DH was eyeing my Japanese-style fold out Moleskine notebook, so to avoid a fight, I picked a couple more, along with some office supplies ($29). And to top it off, a bubble tea ($3.25).

If you are interested, the internet radio station I've been doing some work for is nearly ready. This weekend and next week DJ friend is testing the server and is broadcasting a bit. If you're interested, follow the link under Sites I Enjoy, wait after the little flash thingee, hit the button Tune In, and hit Server 1.

Right now its working for most sound programs - Real Audio, iTunes, QuickTime, WinAmp...everything except Windows Media.

A nice relaxing day:

Received a card, box of chocolates, a bottle of red wine from DH, with some other surprise gift the end of this week, and a dinner this week.

The best gift of all: not having to go to work tomorrow. It feels like a Saturday night.

Hit an impromptu yard sale and picked up an unused Oxo teapot for $5. By unused, I mean the inside looked clean with no water spots inside and the bottom was clean. It was larger, shinier, cleaner, poured better, and the handle was more ergonomic than my old teapot, so into a donation bag the old teapot went. Its nice and relaxing when the stars align like that - a true upgrade and replacement so clutter is kept to a minimum.

Went and browsed the Greenwood library, part of the Seattle neighborhood library system. Here's a picture of the front.

The renovation was finished in April 2005, about 6 months after the Seattle main library was renovated.

Then went and checked out the used CD store, bought a little bit ($38! eek!) and chatted with the owner. He's doing well, so he needs stock and is buying CDs. Since all of my CDs are ripped onto my hard drive, I figured I might just as well sell my CDs for store credit. It will keep the clutter down, rotate what I have and will listen to, and help with my music/ entertainment budget. Yes, I'll be losing a bit of money with every CD I buy then resell, but its probably better than buying them, enjoying them a few times, then listening to NPR - my normal mode. If they make it onto my MP3 player, they get listened to at least once in awhile.

From the files of "come to think of it, they should have something like this", an article about price optimization software:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003684689_price28.html

The takeaway message that I get from this is that there is an art to pricing, based on psychology. There is a fair amount back and forth on other frugal sites. Some people, like me, swear by a price book, which is a list of prices, per unit, of items I normally buy, at the store I bought 'em at, and the full date (including year) when I encountered the price. Other people tell me that they have great memories, and they know for a fact that one store had consistently lower prices for stuff so why waste time and effort?

This article strengthens my suspicions that price optimization software really target how shoppers perceive price and value, especially for those shoppers who rely on their memory and impressions. In other words, those who fly by/buy the seat of their pants. A store will specifically target their loss leaders to give shoppers the impression that they have consistently lower prices, yet after a few months...not so much.

Besides, the store is using the most sophisticated calculations imaginable to determine their price. The willingness to maintain and use a price book (and if necessary, not buy) at least shows the shenanigans.

It was amazing to me learning my first week of pricebooking that Larry's Market, not known for cheap prices, beat out Costco's price for canned tuna...handily. And best of all, I could buy exactly the number of cans I had the budget for, not in packs of 12.

So you just never know ... unless you have a price book.

Changing the subject, I added another paragraph to the blog entry How To Store Grocery Produce. I think it's a good tip, making the entry worthy of revisiting.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - .65 milk + $15 lunch

Did the chirashi lunch today because I needed brain food for the afternoon. This afternoon I interviewed for my promotion. It went okay, considering I was the only contender. I fretted, though, about what I said or didn't say. As I was fretting, a co worker said to me, "remember what your competition said!"

Still, it will be a battle not to think about it this 3-day weekend. I have Monday off for my birthday and plan to do a couple of trip related errands.

The picture today - we get all types of morning bus commuters in Seattle.

2 images I had to show. On the postcard rack at the curry joint I saw this:


And I had to take a snap of the curry. The most addictive thing in the box is the little plastic container of green sauce. I think is comprised of yogurt, green chili, and cilantro. Sour, hot, and cilantro-y sharp. I could dip a slice of cardboard in it and happily eat it.

Yesterday, April 25, 2007
Saving log - $1.35 tip box
Spending log - $.65 milk + $8 lunch at the food court

April 26, 2007
Saving log - $2.35 tip box
Spending log - $.65 milk + 7$ curry lunch + 12$ grocery run

Yesterday I had lunch with lawyer friend. He made the "affirmation statement" but he is not long for the job; he's talking that anything would be better. It will surprise me if he is still here after I get back from Paris. I told him that I want to avoid looking like a tourist; he mentioned that they don't wear fleece.

I'll remember that. Or I might go the Ugly Betty route.

Today more fun happened. First off, it was Take Your Child To Work day. Several of us from different departments met with the kid crew this year. We all introduced ourselves.

The first question: What are your job titles?
We went around...
Second question: Why are your titles so long?
We laughed, out of the mouths of babes. We honestly said that if a workplace can't give us money, they give us a fancy title instead. Why not tell them the truth, they're ten or so.

Did two bank moves. I called and got the note put in my account so I don't look like an identity thief having a good time in gay Paree, and I moved the first $1500 out of savings to the checking account for the Paris trip. I had two things in mind for that:
1.) Get a quick supply of euros.
2.) Time how many days it took the transaction to occur, to plan ahead so if I have move it from Paris, I know how long it takes. 3 days.

And finally, I did something at the gym that I have been fantasizing about from the beginning. Today, there was a fairly buff guy...

Ha, ha, not that

There was a fairly buff guy struggling with a flared leg lift, which strengthens the side of the leg. He was working with his trainer, who set his weights and watched his form. They left to do something else. I came in to do the VERY SAME EXERCISE and had to INCREASE the weight. Wow.

It was from 5 lbs to 10 lbs, but still a victory.

As threatened...

Well, now that you bought good produce, you’ll probably want to keep it for at least a few days. I like to grocery shop, but I don’t buy every day, and I can’t eat 5 of anything in 2 days. Storage has to buy time.

If you bought items that were heavier than you expected and smelled good, you also bought a little bit more time. Again, remember that a piece of produce is a piece of plant, and that piece of plant behaves like a water pipe with one end open. The two things you must know to store produce properly are:

1.) Produce – if it’s not cooked – is metabolically active. It is a live plant, it respires (breathes oxygen), it photosynthesizes if it’s green, the enzymes in it are active, and it transpires (sucks up water and releases it).
2.) Plants are all plumbing. If water escapes (transpires) and plant wilts, it’s generally all over. Your job is to keep the water in the plant.

Know what should go in the refrigerator and what shouldn’t.

Whole fruit, whole tomatoes, potatoes, onions generally stay out of the refrigerator. All of these guys convert sugars to starch and tend to turn mealy if they’re in the reefer. I like the deep fruit bowl with a layer of cheesecloth on the top to repel fruit flies. Once the fruit is cut, it probably should go in the refrigerator with the knowledge that it better get eaten or tossed within a couple of days. Leaves like lettuce, stems like celery, crucifers (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc), roots (carrots) can go in the refrigerator. Corn and berries are problematic – if they go in the refeer, they get starchy, if they stay out they get moldy. I buy them fresh and don’t bother with long term storage.

Here's an easy rule of thumb if you are trying to figure out whether it goes in the refrigerator or not. How did you buy it? Did you buy it in a bin in the middle of the produce department at coolish room temperature (should probably stay out of the refeer), or did you pull it from the cooler (goes in the reefer)?

YMMV – I live in Seattle, where it doesn’t get that hot. I used to live in Arizona, which was a nightmare for storing produce. Unless you ate it within 12 hrs, it went in the reefer.

With bagged produce, get rid of as much air and keep as much water in as possible, seal or knot the bag tightly. Keep it dark.

Get rid of as much air from around the plant as you possibly can – when exposed to light, the plant photosynthesizes enough to make its own oxygen. To store produce you have to keep it from transpiring – what makes that fog inside the bag – and to do that you have to keep the produce cool (not frosty), dark, and contained. Sometimes adding a teaspoon of clean tepid water to the bag helps.

Refrigerated produce should be bagged. In addition, those little drawers on the bottom of your refrigerator – the vegetable crispers – are your best friend. Use ‘em. Honest. My DH loves the vegetable crispers enough to call them the beer drawers. . The problem with putting produce in the crispers is that its out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

Sterile technique begins at home

Cut your produce with a clean knife. Icky things that eat your produce – bacteria, mold, critters - have to work their way into a plant. Cutting with a dirty knife gives all of them a free pass and a free first lunch. If you buy bagged salad (hey, I do!), shake out the leaves from the bag, don’t put your hand in. Then remove as much air from the bag as convenient and seal.

Pace their ripening

Again with the gas. Ethylene gas, that is. If your fruit or produce is ripening too fast, spread out the fruit a bit, along with eating, cooking, or if necessary tossing the over-ripe offender. If a soft something like a peach is growing fuzz, admit defeat and toss. A hard something like a cabbage you can trim the outer leaves and rescue.

Exit strategies

Vegetable stew, sauces that you can hide chopped vegetables in, roasted vegetables with olive oil, tahini sauce or béchamel sauce, soup, fruit sauces, crumbles, clafoutis, and cobblers. All good exit strategies for slightly over the hill produce. And remember, sometimes you do have to toss. You want dishes, not compost in a pot.

Storage buys time, generally 4 days to several weeks. Happy storage!

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $.65 milk + $6.45 lunch (today and tomorrow) + $.75 peppermint tea

Had to admit defeat this pay period - I moved $100 from the brick and mortar savings account back to checking. I'll try to tighten things up, then move the leftover money back.

Bought the footlong sandwich which I will eat tomorrow. The resume and cover letter that I needed to submit to apply for the promotion I finished up this morning, with a chiropractor break in the middle.

I'm getting more and more excited about my trip. Anticipation, just like anything else, has to be timed just right. You want to be at the peak of anticipation just before you go, not a few weeks before. Right now its remembering to hold the mail, call the bank so they won't hold my money, call the executors, donate my newspaper subscription, get some euros so I won't have to find spare coins at Charles De Gaulle airport. There is a Travelex in Seattle for that. The rates are $5.95 flat or 1%, which ever is greater. So $600 is the break point.

The image is from last Friday night while I was waiting for the bus. Not quite Paris, but Paris in spirit.