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Home > Archive: July, 2006

Archive for July, 2006

About a raise

July 27th, 2006 at 04:56 am

I forgot to mention this . . . About a week ago or so my boss and I were talking about a number of different things. Very naturally the subject of raises came up. So, I felt comfortable asking her about how they do raises at our company. She effectively said - they don't.

But . . . on Monday one of our geologists announced that he is leaving - being offered a hefty pay increase plus will be closer to where he lives. So . .. I don't know if that might mean that the powers that be might decide they need to do something to keep the people they have with them.

So, at any rate, I don't forsee the possibility of a raise anytime soon. I'm okay with that - for now.

Turn of events

July 27th, 2006 at 04:43 am

This past weekend was an extremely busy one for me. I ended up attending 3 birthday parties - one surprise one, and two planned ones. Sunday night was a birthday/bowling/get together with some of my Pathways classmates. I ended up getting home after midnight, but then was so keyed up it took me a long time to go to sleep.

So, Monday I was WAY overtired and not feeling the greatest. Monday late afternoon I was sitting at my desk working on a project and trying to stifle yet another yawn. Suddenly my left jaw felt like something had popped and became painful.

I waited awhile to see if it was temporary, but it kept on hurting. I decided I needed to call a dentist to see if they could tell me what had happened and tell me what to do. Of course, by the time I called, all the offices were closed.

So, I got my orthodontist's number (from when I was 19!) and called him. I actually spoke with his wife, but he called around 10 that night. He told me that it sounded like I had slipped some kind of disc in my jaw (like the vertebrae in our back) and the main thing I could do was to put warm compresses on the area and eat mainly a liquid diet for the next few days.

Then, if it didn't get better, he knows an oral surgeon in the area who would probably either know how to get it back in place or know someone who does.

Well, about the only thing I had in my place that was close to liquid was a leftover canister of Slim Fast powder (who knows how old it is!!!) and of course milk. So, until I did some shopping, a totally liquid diet was not possible.

I ate oatmeal for breakfast, which is about as liquidy a cereal/meal you can get (w/nutritional value). Then had a SlimFast shake for lunch and baked beans and sweetpeas for supper.

Then of course I had to go to the store. This of course was after my having promised myself that I would NOT go to the grocery store on any day other than Sunday (trying to cut down grocery spending). I ended up buying 4 cans of soup, cottage cheese and a thing of Ensure -- ~$12. I needed the cottage cheese anyway, but otherwise it was money I'd rather not have spent.

I'm not quite sure how to tell if my jaw/disc/muscle/whatever it is has healed enough to go back to normal eating or not. I don't know how much more of this liquid/limited chewing diet plan I can stand.

All foods I like (well, maybe not the Ensure) but without solids, its a pretty boring diet.

Good news is that Tuesday was my latest weigh-in, and since the beginning of May I have lost 12.5 pounds!!! I just can't say enough about the Sparkpeople.com website.
Sparkpeople.com : Health/fitness;
Saving Advice: Financial Fitness Smile

Car Insurance

July 18th, 2006 at 01:53 am

In an effort to find more money in my budget, I decided to take another look at my car insurance yesterday.

I have a 97 Honda Civic with about 91k miles. It has a few mechanical/appearance problems which don't affect the safety, but does affect the appearance.

Blue book value is right around $3000. I own it outright, so the only insurance I'm required to have is liability.

I had a deductible of $1000 for both Comprehensive and Collision - so that would leave ~$2000 (if Geico actually gave me that) before my car would be considered "totaled".

I was paying $70/month / $411 six-month premium. After taking Comprehensive off, reducing liability to legal limits, declining other coverages (other than Roadside, only $1/month), my 6 - month premium lowered to $235. Almost $200.

I looked at the fact that *if* something were to happen to my car, it would not prevent me from getting to work. So . . I wouldn't be desperate for transportation. I also live in an area where I *could* take public transportation to get to the grocery store, etc if I had to. (Needless to say, I think I'm a pretty experienced bus rider now. Smile )

I've been playing with this decision really ever since I finally had my car title free and clear. Now, it seems like it is finally an ideal time to take this step and go to just liability + road service.

Well . . . Wish me luck!

KIF,
Laura

Albertson's, Ebay, My Space

July 18th, 2006 at 12:41 am

An Albertson's near me is closing. A co-worker mentioned on Friday that the general merchandise had gone to 60% off, and food to 25 % off. So, I decided it was time to go see what I could find.

I spent close to two hours shopping. One place I stopped was the candy bins (I know, I know - not such a good idea for a chocoholic like me). As I was rooting through the bins I found this kind of clacking toy. Another woman saw me find it and asked if there were more. I told her I had just found it mixed in with the candy. I spent probably the next 5 or 6 minutes helping her find another one - we ended up finding 10 more.

I ended up getting ~$100 worth of items for $28.56. Some of what I got: 2 clacker toys, Spiderman tumbler and crazy straw, Strawberry Shortcake tumbler and crazy straw, 35 sheets of stickers, ~12 other candy related toys, a set of dishtowels, a fish-themed welcome mat (to match my shower curtain), 2 bags of Quaker Quakes, a pair of sweatshorts, etc.

The tumblers/straws/stickers/candy toys are for my bestfriend's two children. Her little boy is turning six this week and is having his party on Sunday. Guess what his gift will be? Guess what the little girls gift will be when she turns 4 in October? Smile I may give my friend the majority of the stickers/candy toys on Sunday though, not as part of N's gift - becuase she may want to use them in her classroom treasure chest.

So, anyway, I enjoyed myself. Smile

Why do people put bidding as an option on items when they have a RESERVE price that is practically the same as their "Buy It Now"???? Yesterday I was bidding on this bellydancing dvd. I put in my max bid, about 10$ less than the BIN price - and was promptly told that even though I was the highest bidder, I wouldn't get it because the reserve hadn't been met. So, I put in a bid about $5 more - Reserve still wasn't met. By that point I decided to forget it. I could buy it off of Amazon for less than the BIN price +shipping.

I think this seller probably put her BIN price and reserve price exactly the same. Really, what is the point?? People don't go on Ebay to pay full price for things - they go to find bargains.

I opened a myspace account back in April, but hadn't really done anything with it till this past week. I've been trying to add some people I know on there as friends, but for some reason my browzer freezes whenever I click on all but one of them. Rolleyes

Anyway, I've got a couple posts up and some pictures, so if ya wanta check it out . . . http://www.myspace.com/laann Smile

KIF,
Laura

No raise in sight :( Computer problems

July 15th, 2006 at 05:13 am

I found out that there is not actually a six-month review done at my company. Apparantally the VP who interviewed me (who is quite the jokester) was joking with me about that. So . . . without the six-month review, I have no idea how/when raises are given or decided.

This week was my first full week working in the back full time. I had been worried that I wouldn't have enough to do to keep myself busy, but I am managing to keep myself busy pretty much all the time.
I think the guys in the back are getting more comfortable with asking me to do thngs for them (and remembering that that is partly what I am there for now.)

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about asking about whether the promotion I got included a raise or not. I'm considering just waiting till August, when I've been employeed for six months, and will have been in my new position for slightly over 3 months. Or, of course I *could* just wait till January and give myself a raise by canceling my whole life insurance policy (not really sure why I signed up for it - mistakenly thought it came out PRE tax - oops!)

My computer is dying. The fan (or should I say, ONE of the fans) is getting really noisy. When I shut it down, either manually or by pressing the button, it will eventually turn it self back on. I also for the past week have not been able to log on to my computer under my regular profile - due to "limited resources". I'm not sure how much longer my computer is going to hold on. I am *really* hoping it will be for quite a bit longer, because most of my *extra* money is going towards saving for my brother's wedding (my expenses as bridesmaid).

At least I can still get on the internet. Two days ago I couldn't. Finally figured out that my ethernet card was loose. So I had to take the cover off my computer and put it back in its slot (lost the little screw to screw it in place.)

Huge temptation to go out and buy a laptop (something I've been wanting for a long, long time.) But I'm resisting.
I have the money for one - just its allocated for other things - you know, like my Emergency Fund, Car Maintenace, my brother's wedding, etc. My expenses related to his wedding are going to set me back just about the cost of a mid-range laptop. But I'm not complaining. Smile It's for an awesome reason. Smile Smile

My mom's fiance thinks that if I add RAM to my computer that it'll fix the "resources" problem. As for the fan, well it depends on which one it is that is dying, whether that is fixable or not. Haven't quite figured that one out yet.

I'm just thankful, that for the moment at least, my computer is working and usable.