This time of year we are in a time crunch and really go at it. Most donors want to give in time to get the tax deduction. In most years, they (and we) have until the 31st. This year, the 29th. So all the booking and getting pledges into the system is compressed. I filled in for a couple of co workers today and was soon swamped.

We had a little meeting where it was presented that our department's structure was flat. Most of my co-workers are at the same paygrade and responsibility. I'm a bit higher, and my boss is a bit higher still. But that's it. There is a possibility that my job grade will go up a bit, and hopefully my salary will follow.

I went to lunch with lawyer friend, lawyer friend's partner and finnish friend. ($10) DH and I were invited to a low key New Year's Eve - board games and tacos.

While we were standing in line to pay for lunch, I commented about that stupid lunch assembly line Visa commercial. How long does it take to pay with tip on a debit card? At least 2 minutes. Swipe, confirm, print out, write out tip, ring up sale. How long with cash? 15 seconds. Slap two fives on the counter, mutter "keep the change", listen for the register and yer done.

Think I might make it to the next paycheck with 100$ in my checking account.

Saving log - 4$ tip box
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk + 8$ lunch

Kung pao chicken at the Chinese restaurant. My fortune cookie for today: "You will enjoy good health and financial independence."

I saw the new smoke-black, high tech water bottle - one of the marketing/gift items - yesterday, and found out that the keeper of that item was one of the staff that owes me a number of favors. So I asked him if I could have one.

"Just one?" he asked. "We have several boxes."
"well..." I stuttered, and then I thought of at least three people I could give one to..."Okay, gimme five."
"Happy to help," he said.

Perfect for the Christmas gift exchange. It is a peculiar form of re-gifting, though.

Saving log - $200 MIL check + 40$ DRP
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk + 8$ lunch

Monday and today I worked out of the office with a member of the campaign staff, counting pledges and wrapping up. Its been a nice change of pace; its always great to chat with her. We also caught a lot of good people watching, and we both sound like old farts - the kids today comparison. Her frugal tip: its pointless to buy a teenager a good warm coat.

DH, at his current job, won two salamis and a big bottle of chocolate liqueur. Our Christmas is set!

DH's mother, the MIL, sent DH the standard 10K, so in addition to the 200$ I got from MIL, DH will paid me back my 2K that I gave/loaned him to replace the car in the car accident in April. I plan to put it back in savings - but to put it in: savings, DRP, or bulk up the T-bills a bit?

I already have 24K in a taxable account in Vanguard, so I'll be moving 4K of it into a Roth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like standing out in 40 degree weather outside the Roosevelt Safeway waiting for a guy in a green Suburu? All to buy a 2Gb flash drive for 25$.

You see, DJ friend's frugal skill is Craigslist, and he is a master at negotiation over the phone. He got his flash drive for 20$. Seller's new price was 30$, but DJ friend managed to get him down by $5 by "knowing when to be silent". All you do during the seller's offer on the phone is to pause an uncomfortable length of time. Stretch it out. The person who talks first - loses.

DJ friend also taught me more Craigslist philosophy. Your job is to sell the item ASIS with no guarantees, not provide customer service. I fell into that pitfall by trying to sell some laptop memory. I kept getting bites, but they all asked me for advice whether it would work on their systems. Not your job, he said. They should either know that, or are willing to take a flyer on it. If you're only selling it for 5$, the flyer is easy. In other words, asis, no warranty, I dunno, do-you-still-want-to-buy-it?

So I called the seller and arranged the pickup - the Roosevelt Safeway. I felt like a spy, standing outside, waiting for a green Suburu, a twenty and a five twisting between my fingers in my pocket. That's the other device if the seller tries a fast one - 25$ is all I have. I'm only Craigslist challenged. Drove by, I got my drive, he got $25.

Shopping at the Safeway beforehand was an opportunity, though. Got Odwalla energy bars for 1$/bar. I've gotten them for as low as .89/bar, so a 1$ wasn't too far off.

Lunch was with the lawyer friend and the co worker who resigned. Her last day is Friday. The Szechuan noodles and dumplings were wonderful, and we stuffed ourselves for 12$ (we bought for the co worker). I was so stuffed that I held up some bills fanned out, and lawyer friend took what was appropriate. Not a shining frugal moment but funny nonetheless.

Got my sister's Christmas gift. She got the fruit, I got the cheese and summer sausage. Between the two of us we could have a fine party.

Also got a Christmas newsletter in the mail. Sigh. Anybody else throughly creeped out by the verb in this sentence: Male so-and-so gave us (insert baby quantity, gender and generational marker here). Ya helped a bit, but gave? Its a baby, not a piece of property! Yeech.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $2 coffee, milk + $12 lunch + $17 Safeway + $122 electric bill (winter rates).

HR printed up their first draft of how PTO (paid time off) was supposed to work - as written, it looks like you can only "cashout" if you are leaving and with "management approval", not on a yearly basis. Can't say I think any of the management approval part, when theoretically PTO is supposed to be ours. And we all know how much management will approve of anything done that costs money, even if we are a non-profit and therefore money is less of an object. Time for a clarification.

Have a 6 month CD with ING that will mature in early January. Decided put it back in regular savings. I thought of adding it, in a controlled way, to either the t-bills or to my stocks.

Nearly a no-spend day. I ate the other half of the footlong sub I bought.

Felt logy at the gym today, but I managed to finish. A woman in the locker room tipped me off that the Goodwill on 65th/8th has a killer Monday night sale.

Saving log - 1$ in tip box
Spending log - 2$ coffee, milk

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

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

It felt very good.

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

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

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

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

As you might have guessed by some of my comments in the blogs, I'm the person at work who says in a public setting what other people wish they'd said.

We had a going away party for my former boss, and I volunteered to tell a story or two before we hit the cake (others did too, it wasn't just me). I told a couple and then told the most amazing fact about her - that her first job fresh out of college was working in a women's prison. And then my line: "and that skill set was probably the most directly transferable for this place."

Sigh. Its a blessing, its a curse. If I ever leave, my co workers are probably going to have a roast.

In the PTO/403B news, I got an apology from the HR person, our vacay time will be rolled over for 2007. HR fought the COO, and the COO won. Now to work on whether the limit is 15% of your salary or $15,000. From the change-your-403B-stuff form, it looks like the latter. Again with the innocent letter. Not nice when you have to train HR.

Very busy today. The pledges and money are pouring in.

Savings log - $3 tip box, transferred $7.04 from t-bill interest into my ING account.
Spending log - 2$ coffee and milk, $10 lunch (hmmm, hot tempura fat), 10$ dinner. DH and I went lazy today.

Savings log - 2$ tip box
Spending log - 1.37$ coffee + 5$ curry

Today was just weird at work. Not our department in the basement (cough, cough) lower level, our temp staff seems to be in good spirits, which is nice. Everyone else. One of my co workers in a different department confided to me that she will be leaving in a couple of weeks.

I emailed HR about a couple of things about our switch from sick / vacation time to PTO (paid time off). Apparently the plan, as presented, implied that if we have enough time we can "cash out" some of it. All I asked was whether, if I could cash out, could I put it in my 403B?

Sneaky, no? My emergency fund is full, and if I can siphon off some of my PTO riches into my tax-deferred 403B, well what's the problem?

Got snapped at, and the HR person was trying to tell me something different than what the COO was telling us. I forwarded the COO message to HR..let them duke it out. There are days when I relish being the grit in the gears.

Actually made it to work today. The office opened 2 hrs late in honor of the ice. Actually it was even more confusing - we were to assume that we were to start 2 hrs late, but to call back 45 minutes before the opening to check if the decision had changed.

Sigh. Home in North Seattle was iced over, and DH had the car. In other words, no way was I was going to make it on time in a mere 45 minutes.

As for moi, I assume that the decision makers at my workplace are insane and so far I have not been disappointed. I figured that the office would open and the message would not be changed. So I started off a full 2 hours before the office opening. I waited a good 45 minutes before a bus, stuffed to the gills, stopped.

During that time, one bus drove past and two training buses drove past. Now I can understand that this is a perfect training opportunity for driving on chains in the snow, but in the words of my co-worker, "why not train for the full effect and pick up hundreds of crabby, cold passengers in the snow?"

And again, to my fellow passengers...why are each of you bringing tens of pounds of crap in a backpack, insuring that you are a double lump in the aisle, pickpocket bait to a pro, and a pain in the ass to other people? I'm sure you didn't use all or even any of the crap you brought. I went fiscal commando again today, and hung my MP3 player and keys from belt loops, keeping everything in inside pockets.

Lo and behold, I was accurate. We started and the message was never changed. Never bet against insanity

But one great, amazing piece of news. The trainer weighted me again today. Between last Wednesday and today (Tuesday) I managed to lose .75 pounds. How did that happen? I'd like to think its the red wine, the gravy tastings, and the three slivers of pie. A girl can dream.

Tonight I got a handwritten condolence card from the vet. Now I'm va klempt again. Talk amongst yourselves.

Savings log - $3 in the tip box. I now have 40$ and its time to hoof it to the bank.
Spending log - 1.50$ coffee + 4.50$ veggie sub sandwich

Am watching the Packer/Seahawk game, and I'm more of a Packer fan. Rats is the summary.

We only got a couple of inches in Seattle, so off to work I went. The commute was pretty light because everyone north of us was snowed in. Tonight I did a crazy thing and did my 8th Ave NW walk. Crazy because it was snowing a bit, there was plenty of ice and I was watching cars slip and slide around. I took it slow and discovered that my balance was much, much better than it had been in a long time. I'm never going to ice skate, but at least I'm not going to be as afraid of ice as I used to be. Tomorrow morning will be the acid test though. Everything will have frozen up good and solid and since I live on a ridge, its downhill no matter how I go.

But at work today I found that I'm in command for the rest of the week. My boss was going to come back today from the East Coast but was detained.

Giving my sister 8 months of a fruit of the month club for Christmas. Sounds silly but the fruit was fantastic. I knew I wouldn't have time to participate in cyber Monday, so I ordered Sunday night.

Not much saving today.
Spending - 1.37$ coffee (no milk in the deli) + 11$ chirashi (figured I needed the brain food this week).

Well, its snowing in North Seattle. Turned from rain to sleet to snow at about 2pm, while I was on my walk and trudging through to my errands. Didn't walk that much, but I'm expecting that if you're walking in the cold, you probably will burn off a few more calories because you are trying to stay warm in addition to getting somewhere.

There is about 2 inches on the ground as I type, and its still snowing strong. We tend to have snow days at work in parallel to Seattle Public Schools. If they're canceling school or starting late so do we.

Saturday
Spending log - $9.77 (brushes and paint container for a craft project) + 22.26$ groceries at Whole Foods (WF).

WF because we were in the Roosevelt neighborhood going to an art supply store. Seattle neighborhoods are funny - the Roosevelt neighborhood has about 6-7 audio stores within 3 blocks of each other. The neighborhood that I live in - Greenwood - had at least that many antique stores. Go figure why businesses are so lumpy like that.

I think I managed to get the only decent deals at WF, using my price book. It would have been about 15.00$, but I bought a bag of groceries for charity.

I think WF is so popular because its a prestige place to get caught. I wonder if that's a good general frugal rule. The chance of getting a good deal is in inverse proportion to a place's "coolness".

Sunday
Spending log - $3.28 (bagel and coffee) + 5.76$ (lacquer thinner) + 2.50$ box of crackers

Got the rest of our department's temp staff trained, up and running. Just in time because we now have plenty of money and pledges coming in.

Canceled today's gym class yesterday (so I wouldn't get charged). I found it hard yesterday to get through the day when folks were asking me how my weekend went. I just wanted a couple of days to compose myself. Besides, because Thursday is not igoing to happen, we scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow's my day off. All I really have to think about is what dish to make and bring. I have Friday off and so does DH.

My sick and vacation time is turning into PTO (paid time off) on January 1. Good news - we're getting it at 100% par. We can also cash out a week's worth each year. Since I'm healthy as a horse, I have about 350 hours of sick time. I'll have to figure out the most frugal way to play this.

Savings log - 2$ tip box, 50$ into ING, 35$ into a DRP.
Spending log - 2$ coffee/milk, 10$ lunch

Savings log - 3$ + 40$ for a DRP.
Spending log - 2$ coffee + milk, 8$ lunch at the hideout, 25$ bubble bath & bath salts.

The "fashion show" was a total hoot. The costume of our manager (a woman) placed 5th out of 12. The COO won. You have to give it to the guy willing to wear a flouncy dress and vogue to Nelly Furtado. The best part was the shell-shocked look of one celebrity judge. Her open mouthed shock on several of the costumes said it all.

I don't know whether I've blogged much on my hideout. If you know Seattle or want to know Seattle, my hideout is a small Vietnamese restaurant with a counter and 10 tables at the Pike Market two doors north of the proudly self-proclaimed "1st Starbucks". :P As I was walking past that freakin' Starbucks, I had to trip over the mob of 20somethings excitedly snapping away with camera phones at its front door. Retail tourism - eew! Not only are we getting hounded by buying stuff, now we're supposed to be excited about taking the historical tour of the retail shop that forced you to buy the stuff?

Thankfully, the tilapia pan-fried in ginger and chili made up for it.

Many thanks for the comments on my list! I did alter it slightly. What I meant with the vodka comment was a dig at a vodka martini, not vodka drinks in general. I sometimes consider a Bloody Mary a health drink; a Virgin Mary is just a V8, right?

Loved Fern's comment about the items being character studies. I was aiming for that effect, or if spoken, a bit like a Laurie Anderson piece. Sometimes a good sentence is a short story.

The ghost in the house generally popped the door leading to the upstairs, and would produce a cold breeze, even in summer with a hot attic. I got the description from my mom. I always slept too soundly to get a peek for myself.

Savings log - 3$ in the tip box
Spending log - 2$ coffee/milk, 7$ lunch, 6$ spray paint

Today in honor the second serious rainstorm, I had another bowl of pho. This time it was the deluxe spicy version - chicken, lots of hot sauce, pineapple, tomato. Yum. Usually this place was fast, fast, fast, but today someone on the kitchen staff was not into it or did something. Lots of yelling by the owner in an asian language. I'm pretty sure that if I slowed it down and got a translation, I'll bet I can learn a lot of new swear words. So dinner and a show.

The spray paint was for the cringe-inducing costume (which actually looked pretty good) at work. Part of the judging was on the use of the color orange, and we could dye and paint our materials. My task was to get orange spray paint.

I could have gotten the Krylon regular orange spray paint, but for an extra $1 more I sprung for the FLUORESCENT orange spray paint, and for a bottle of fluorescent orange craft paint.

Yep, frugality gives you choices. And you just never know, they might have a black light. We are prepared for that possibility.

DJ Myng gave us the first draft of the dance mix with all our voices. I have a distinctive laugh and its going to be immortalized.

Savings log (11/13) - zip
Savings log (11/14) - 2$ in the tip box

Spending log (11/13) - 2$ coffee + 5$ cheap curry + $2 bread @ the grocery store. FYI - @ at the grocery store, DH was bummed that a loaf of the sale bread was gone. Encouraged DH to ask for, and get, a raincheck. His rain check virginity is now gone.

Spending log (11/13) - 2$ coffee + $7 tofu bibimbap w/ the egg.

Payday tomorrow, along with the at-work flu shot.

My supervisor has been sick for two days so as second in command, I've been in command. Missed gym because a meeting came up. Sigh.

Discovered that my mp3 player was freakishly useful - it records voice as an mp3 file, at about .5Meg/1 minute of talking. (Wow, sometimes I have to take minutes for meetings and my mind tends to wander. This would be great!) Did a bit of recording with the mp3 player - our staff and some of our equipment that makes great rhythmic sounds (printers, 10keys) for DJ friend to make a workplace house mix to play at the (cringe-inducing) fashion show.

Just like it sounds.

The non profit that I'm at (look at the sentence below the poem) has kicked off its workplace charity campaign this week. Last year and for a few years previously, I had given enough for special treatment. One of the perks was a breakfast held today. So no need for the coffee, milk, and energy bar - it was yogurt parfait, juice and high calorie, non Mickey-D egg, ham and cheese english muffin sandwich.

Then, for lunch, a strategy session for a cringe-inducing fashion show as a part of the charity campaign. Pizza. 1 piece of pepperoni and cheese was tasty enough and free, but yikes!

Salad, vegetables and red wine tonight.

Work is picking up and fast. Both my assistant and I have plenty to do, lots of questions to answer, and money and pledges to process. It feels good.

Not much on a financial front. I'm looking forward to 66.24$ in re-invested dividends this quarter, and 7.94$ in T-bill interest this week.

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

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

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

It was the first really rainy, really low cloudy day of the season. Today Seattle resembled nothing more, nothing less than the old timey science-fiction description of the surface of Venus - murky, dark and rainy. I love Seattle during these days - it keeps the amateurs away.

There's only one problem: traffic. If you can't drive in the rain, why are you driving here? I admit I hate driving in the rain; I'm on the bus. This morning, I dodged a bullet and picked the right bus to make it to work on time, but tonight it took 45 minutes to get out of downtown because of crazy traffic. Its times like these that I really love my new headphones. Not once did I hear: "I'm three feet further than the last time you called," cellphone call.

Busy again today, and I kept my assistant very busy today. Right now we are at comfortably busy, which will soon turn into swamped in a couple of weeks.

Saving log - $3 in the tip box, $7.91 in T-bill interest, $75 into savings from checking.
Spending log - $2 coffee/milk, $8 lunch of kung pao chicken. The fortune cookie? "You will be in good health for most of your life."

The big news at the gym is that the gym is being bought by a couple of partners. My trainer introduced me to one of the owners who was enthusiastic and very chatty and was happy to hear of my progress.

And it went downhill from there. Trained a couple of new people (one from last year and she was amazed at my physical change), fixed some serious problems, got a little bit more cleared from my desk. But my coworkers in other departments seemed a bit more...needy. Blegh.

Spending log - 2$ coffee and milk, 7$ curry (didn't want the special and I wanted a drink).

My MP3 player ran out of juice on the bus going home. Altered my walk a little to avoid the now-dark park. I take bright sidewalks and a sharper hill (not as sharp as the brutal hill).

Got a letter from the City of Seattle and the US Postal Inspection Service. I got some mail stolen in August. They're going ahead with charging the perp and gave me info on a website so I can follow the proceedings.

Added a little bit more to the tip box, so I put 50$ in the bank.

Spent 2$ for the coffee and the nofat milk and 4.50$ for curry lunch.

Nothing much else on any financial front. We're supposed to be converting from Sick/ Vacation/ Catastrophic to PTO at work by January 1.

Gym today, the trainer turned the dome upside down and I could stand, balance on it for 1 minute.

This fall is different than last fall for two reasons: no titanic flocks of starlings in the trees (yet), and now Seattle traffic is so bad that a little rain causes a titanic traffic jam. Its now faster to walk out of downtown than it is to take the bus. I'd rather have the starlings.

Savings log -

Put 6$ in the tip box - I have 46$ in total, enough to put in the bank.

Thank you Lucky Robin! I couldn't have given my last ING invite to a nicer person. Enjoy - and remember you've got your own invites to sell. 10$

All my stocks went up. Amazing and scary, so its time to stop monitoring now.

Spending log -
Last day of the Sur La Table 20% friends and family sale (DH currently works there) - picked up a small wisk, tongs with hard silicone so I can use them on a non-stick pan, a universal lid, poultry seamer (corkscrew thingee that I can use to stitch up a turkey), clip to allow me to rest a spoon over a pot, a coarse microplaner, 2 silicone circles that can be used as a lid, trivet, or sealer for a pan or a bowl. In other words, bought only the utensils that I needed or wished I had a second of. 69$

Lunch at the hideout - 6$.

New headphones for the MP3 player. Everything cheapo (10$-20$) that I've tried has at least two strikes: doesn't have good sound, hurts my ears, falls off my ears, the wires catch on my clothing, or the wires wad up in a ball so that they fly out of my purse when I try to retrieve my keys. Grrr. Supposedly these headphones have good sound, fold up, and while they rest on my head like a regular headphone would, I'm willing to risk the bad hair. 51$. In this case, the cheapest man pays the most.

Checked to see how much I owed the chiropractor. Quite surprised to find that it was only 50.56$; will pay it next week to get caught up.

So spendy, but constructive spendy.

We got a new temporary auditor at work, and very soon we will be in the thick of it. It feels like it would before a great battle. Tension mounting, no birds chirping, no sound at all, everybody busy getting their last little things done while we can before the big piles hit.

Sister emailed and asked me what I thought of the letter. I told her that will work out well for her, not so nice for me to share the deed to the property because I'm 2,000 miles away. I was going to say that I hope she won't take it the wrong way, but its the truth.

Thursday -
2$ in the tip box
7.70$ earned from T-bills this week, sent to ING.

Had breakfast coffee at a morning meeting, so only spent for a bibimbap lunch (6.50$).

The timeline firmed up for the first large quantity of pledges and money for this year - a week from now Monday.

Generally I try to make a week's worth of prepared food on Saturday and Sunday, but Thursday night I made the fixin's of lentil soup. DH fetched some carrots and more lentils (3$).


Friday -
8$ in the tip box (40$ total for the month)

I felt like a rich woman, so I splurged and spent on chirashi for lunch (11$) in addition for the for black coffee + no fat milk (2$)

It was a good day for my DRP stocks - KO went up $1.80/share; MMM went up $2.07. I write it now to cheer me up should they drop just as steeply. 3/4 of my stocks are close to their 52 week highs, only MMM is at its midpoint, bouncing back from its dip.

Put 300$ in a surprising place - in my PayPal account. Its paying at 5.02%.

Put out some small fires at work today. I feel bad about giving my helper a totally boring icky data job, but its important and it will help us... a lot.

Walked home from 15th Ave NW, 7 blocks further than I normally do - I have been doing off and on these past two months, but I figure this will be one of the last times this year. We go back to regular time either this weekend or next, which means walking in the dark.

In a sense, it was a perfectly balanced day:
Saving - Put $2 in the tip box.
Spending - 2$ for coffee and 1/2 pint of no fat milk.

My lunch got bought today; time to call in the favors.

Put a healthy slug of nofat milk in my coffee and mixed protein powder with the rest. The trainer was right - consider it like cocoa and that will give you ideas what to mix it with. Also had about an hour after I woke up which helped; slugging anything down immediately upon waking up causes a very strong gag reflex. Its a family thing - my mom used to say, "I'll have this by the sink because that's where its going to end up."

Got word today that we'll be getting the first big batch of work in this season at about the same time as we did last year - end of October, beginning of November. Turning on a dime.

$4 in the tip box

Had a small glass full of water/protein powder. This is going to be hard to take. The trainer suggested that lowfat and nofat milk will help...if I really wanted to give it a chance.

Had a quickie lunch with the lawyer friend ($7), told him no movement on the bid of the second piece of land--the fortune cookie prediction is holding, and since sister is currently in Maine, I'm glad.

DJ friend/co worker got a compliment for me - he's been asking for and getting new remixes and product from other DJs. One DJ specifically emailed my friend that he submitted his on the basis of my friend's bio. "Well, if you want her to do yours, I'll hook you up." was what he said.

Keeping my assistant busy. One or two new people are coming on - and a shortage of work. It will change; this year I predict it will turn on a dime.

Another of the temp staff brought a whole jar of fortune cookies. Mine:

"Someone today needs your help."

Put 9$ in the tip box. For the readers who need reminding, I have a tip box at work that I periodically put ones (many ones sometimes) and change inside. Sometimes I make reverse change. Every month or so I take what's inside and put it in my bank three blocks away. Drippings from the tip box runs about 40-50$/month in savings.

I gave the okay for Vanguard to move the 24K now in ING. It hasn't gone yet, but the since the money is making good daily money at ING, that takes that sting out.

I let people help me out today, and got a lot of work done.

2 Drp optional cash purchase slips, insurance invoice (regarding the chiropractor), light bill, a Schedule K-1 from dad's estate. No taxes owed.

I have to tell you that my heart gave a little jump when I saw the letter from the executors - I thought that the bid from the second property came in (early) and I would have to eat crow from my sister. I'm pretty sure that the bid would come in in late October - November.

Light bill was 61.67, a bit smaller than last year

Wrote a 35$ check to one drip, 40$ to another.

Watershed moment at work today, which was again crazy. On my white board I wrote the best advice I ever received about my job:

"No one dies if it doesn't get done today."

Don't get my wrong. I work hard and I'm sprightly about my timelines. Its just that if you let your co workers jerk you around, well, I can get jerked around very, very hard. The things that have to get done "today" usually mean that you are helping someone else get their work done "today". Have got to prevent that!

Gym: Held a plank position (very tough on the side abs) for 50 sec. Twice. Last night I came up with an excellent idea for a Halloween costume, which I ran by my trainer. I would go as a trainer. They have a specific uniform, and I asked her whether it would be possible to borrow a top. She laughed and thought it was a fun idea - bonus points for the self referential aspect of it - and for another irony. Halloween falls on a training session, so I would have to remove my trainer costume and put on my gym clothes to train, then put the trainer costume back on. The only snag in this is that tops are hard to come by. I'll have to think about the name tag, too.

So at the foursome lunch (16.50$ - one of us had a birthday so the other three bought) today, conversation turned to my new bed, the sleep number part, and the adjustable foundation part. Then it turned to how much it cost. I told them and the other three blanched, looked stricken like they were suffering from heartburn. Choices, guys. I don't have a car (which I still really don't need), and I rent. But I like to get 7-8 hours of sleep, which is going to happen to be a 1/3 of my life.

Planned the move of the 24K out of ING to Vanguard. Since it is a taxable account, and not part of an IRA, it should be tax and fee efficient, without a lot of trading. I picked the S & P 500 (VINFX) index fund, with the capital gains and the dividends reinvested. If I remember right, stocks get bought and sold at the end of the quarter - aka the "witching" hour - so the index matches the market. In other words, nothing's bought continuously.

Talked a little more to co worker/ DJ about what I would be writing on the internet radio station. We apparently have 4-6 weeks or so. He plans to switch things on when everything's ready, a luxury that maybe a regular radio station doesn't have. My assistant has been cranking along. Soon I'm going to have the opposite problem - keeping her busy.

Been walking home from 15th Ave NW about 80% of the time now, but since its getting dark more quickly, that'll soon change because I really don't want to be walking that long and far after dark. Another choice. The chiropractor suggested going back to the gym 3x/week, rather than just 2x.

Gym class: the trainer demonstrated and asked me to lie down and chest press an iron bar. I could do it, but after about few repetitions I asked how heavy it was. "Two more reps, and I'll tell you", she said.

It was 45 pounds.

Before lunch, my DJ coworker/friend (whom I wrote his bio and who discovered this blog) asked me if I would write more content for his startup Internet radio station. I'm excited about this as I agreed that I would, but boy, oh boy, I have noooo idea what to charge, what favors to ask, or even what I got myself into.

As I was walking home, I realized a deep irony. During the day, he works for me; at night, I'm going to be working for him.

The 24K finally made it into ING, the 6K for the bed/trainer made it as a payment on the credit card. According to my checking account, I'm newly poor and naive again.

$4 in the tip box.

Still crazy at work, but at least the water feels like its at my chin rather than just under my nose. I got two little hershey bars yesterday in a mysterious way; it turned out I had helped one of the temp staff and in gratitude she had left the candy bars...but then her co worker said, "Why did you do that? She just dropped two dress sizes!"

Trust me, in a day or two of sustained craziness I'll be thankful that I can self medicate under the desk.

It leads me to my rant - once in awhile. You've got the routine and then you have the special purchases and treats to keep you on routine. I've got to keep track of those once in awhiles. If it was like the cheeseburger last Friday, after 10 months that was a good once in awhile. Perhaps it was a little long once in awhile, but that made it even better.

Its the once in awhiles that are actually once a week that will kill ya. Worst, if you have many once in awhile treats that you kind of mix it up with to keep the rewards fresh, you can make a once in awhile treat come up every few days.

Somehow, if once in awhile turns out to once every couple of months (8-12 weeks) that seems to work well for me. And then multiple treats should come up once a month or so.