Posted by Forest on November 20, 2008
I spent $2.41 on a slice of pizza because I was too lazy to make a lunch today. My excuse is that I was out late last night at the play and so I slept in a little bit.
Tonight, my friend T came over to watch Thursday night TV and I paid him back a hundred bucks that I owed him for concert tickets from a few months back. I wrote him a check for $80 and gave him the $20 gift card I got from a coworker a while back.
I also added $200 to my Vanguard Savings goal. Sidebar is updated accordingly.
Oh, and I’ve finally updated my About Me page. Check it out.
Posted by Forest on
When I got home from work and checked the mail, there was a letter stating, “Free Gift Card Inside.” Obviously, I figured this was some kind of scam. But when I opened it up, it turned out to be legit. The letter comes from a conservation group and apparently they are trying to get new membership sign-ups. They’ve partnered with a local sporting goods store to aid them in the promotion. So the letter comes with a $10 gift card and if you sign up for a year’s membership to the group for $30, you get another $20 gift card from the sporting goods store. Basically, it’s a free membership.
But I’m not going to sign up. I’m just going to take the $10 gift card! I read all the fine print I could find and there doesn’t seem to be any restrictions other than the fact that it expires at the end of January 2009.
Also, I’m not entirely sure how I got this letter in the first place. I’m assuming it’s because a few years ago I was a member of this specific group, but like I said, it’s been a few years and I haven’t really gotten anything from them recently. Anyway, I’m not complaining - ten bucks is ten bucks and I’m sure I’ll be able to find something I can buy with it.
Update: My mom just called and told me that I had some mail at their house. Turns out it’s this same letter. So I got another $10 gift card.
$20 just for checking the mail today!
Posted by Forest on
Loved it!
Loved dinner.
Loved the show.
Only ended up spending $5 on parking. Bird covered the rest. She’s the best.
Posted by Forest on November 19, 2008
Remember back in June when the CEO sent out a memo and everyone started talking layoffs? Well, the layoffs eventually happened and fortunately I was spared.
Do you also remember how I hated my new job this summer and secretly wished I would have been laid off because I was trying to get my old position back?
Well, I received an e-mail yesterday from a former colleague of mine and she said that layoff rumors were now buzzing around the office at my previous employer.
Sadly, today’s newspaper confirmed the rumors. No one knows exactly who will be getting cut, but they do know it will be from my old department. The official word is that it is going to be a “substantial” amount. The unofficial word is that it might be the whole department. Outsourced to India.
I’m very sad and worried for my friends, but on the other hand, I’m thanking my lucky stars (and God) it didn’t work out for me to go back there. Sort of that whole unanswered prayers thing.
Of course, things are still a little off at my current job. Five people have left in the last two months and most of them were upper management. It makes us little people wonder if they know something we don’t. Overall, I just don’t feel incredibly safe. There is very little work to do (because we’re sort of a seasonal business) and so they have us doing busy work. I don’t know. I don’t exactly feel totally secure that I won’t be getting let go, but for now, I’m just very happy to have a job. Amen.
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Filed Under: Work
Posted by Forest on
I have a date tonight with Bird and we’re really excited about it. We’re going out for dinner and a show. Classic.
After work, we’re going to this little Mexican joint, which she loves but I’ve never been to. The best part about dinner is that I have a $25 gift certificate that I got for $2 from Restaurant.com when they were running a special promotion.
After dinner, we’ll be heading downtown to see Wicked! Basically, I don’t know anything about it other than the fact that it is sort of tied to the Wizard of Oz. Bird once went to see it in Chicago with her mom and I know she really loves it. In fact, she’s the one that bought tickets for this show way back in May. She’s been waiting a long time and it’s finally here. So I don’t know what to expect, I’m really excited because she’s so excited! Have any of you seen it? Thoughts?
Also, while I was sick all weekend, Bird came down to my house each day and took care of me and made me soup, etc. So to thank her for that and to surprise her today before our date, I’ve sent some flowers to her work. But here’s my ethical dilemma. I always search for coupon codes on Google when I’m making a purchase online. In this particular instance, the best coupon code was a corporate code. 20% off just by entering the name of a corporation in the coupon code box, but of course, I don’t work for that corporation. I entered the code anyway, but I feel a little guilty. Thoughts on that?
Tomorrow, I’ll try to write up my impressions of Wicked and how much everything cost me. It shouldn’t be too bad because of my gift certificate and Bird having paid for the tickets. I’ll try to cover parking downtown and any part of dinner not covered by the gift card.
Posted by Forest on November 18, 2008
Today’s society being what it is, I hardly ever use cash anymore. When I do, I always save any change I receive and at the end of the day, I put it all in a jar on my desk. When the jar gets full or half full or whenever I am tempted to see how much money is in there, I take it to the credit union.
Last week I took my coin jar in (it was about 3/4 full) and had it counted. I had 96 dollars and 87 cents worth.
I deposited the money in my checking account, brought the jar home and began the process all over again.
Posted by Forest on
I just received my property tax estimate the other day.
The good news: They went down.
The bad news: They only went down .2%
The good news: At least they went down.
The bad news: It’s still a lot of money.
The good news: I’m still happy they went down.
The bad news: They only went down because my house is less valuable.
In other property tax news: due to an error, a technical mix-up and various other snafus last year - our property tax account is whack. We overpaid them, then we underpaid them, then someone else paid them. It was all very confusing in our first year of house ownership. Anyways, my point is, because of all of that…I owe my roommate and co-owner about $650 in the next couple of weeks.
I haven’t written about my house situation in a very long time, but there is an update and I will write about it soon.
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