Never Mind.
She did what?
shadoweyr
read my profile
sign my guestbook

Visit shadoweyr's Xanga Site!

Name: shadoweyr


Interests: Lindy Hop, Aerospace, Video Games, Traveling
Expertise: "Jack of all trades, master of none."


Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM: shadoweyr
MSN: shadoweyr@hotmail.com
Yahoo: shadoweyr


Member Since: 2/26/2004
Lifetime

Latest News
Space News Headlines

SubscriptionsSites I Read
twoberry
gasdoc73
franksabunch
swinginislanddoc
FilipinaFatty
libertyjen
johnlin
slowmo_d_o
LuckyJeans
LiLXianZi
zipittippett
kerrilane111
MeEeSaH
joysspryte
starsofjupiter
HKPrince
ificlosemyeyes
storyofnikita
iekika_alohas
zachmatt
bluead
Souvenirs_Of_My_Life
allthatglitterss
IndoDiva

Blogrings
!! Asian Medical Students !!
previous - random - next

Lucero Aerospace Corporation
previous - random - next

Christian med students/doctors
previous - random - next

Vintage Jazz and Blues
previous - random - next

Medical Missions
previous - random - next

Status
previous - random - next

Jazz Lovers
previous - random - next

Swing Dancing!!
previous - random - next


Posting Calendar

|<< oldest | newest >>|
view all weblog archives

Get Involved!

Suggest a link

Recommend to friend

Create a site


Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Currently
Slumdog Millionaire
see related

"In These Uncertain Times..."

What does that even mean?  Aren't all times always uncertain? 

As usual, I've neglected this site - mostly because of regular offline journaling.  It's been an eventful year involving someone who meets the DSM criteria for bipolar disorder.

Whatever. I'll get over it.

So, "in these uncertain times", we're supposed to be more frugal with our money - keeping a budget and all.  Several friends and I have been keeping each other accountable on this.  We've been accused on a few occasions of not actually having a budget (mostly by parents).   For me, it's not about having a budget; it's more of just ignoring the budget all together.  Not a good idea.

Several of us use Mint, MS Money or plain old Excel (Calc for OpenOffice people).  I prefer Quicken and Quickbooks online.  Whatever works.

Well, it's all about automation:



Checking. Cash. Savings. Investments.  All summarized in nice and neatly.  Cash on hand is minimized due to an inherent desire to spend it on stupid things.  ING Direct and Sharebuilder are adequate.  They've always been good to me.  Bank of America is just plain evil lately.

What about Credit Cards?  One inquiry on annualcreditreport.com - I get a quick slap back to reality and don't bother getting any new cards.

In the interest of being more disciplined, detailed below are the embarrassing bits:


Loan - That would be the student loans, mostly; and that's just horrible but necessary. 

Insurance - Another group of expenses that are obligatory.  Should I switch out of Geico?  If they do a crossover gecko/caveman/money commercial I'll stay, for purely sentimental reasons.  My United HSA Account sucks and I'm switching out ASAP.  Any suggestions?

Bank fee - OK...The only reason why that's so high is because Bank of America is pure evil with their monthly maintenance fees that coincide with their overdraft fees that get added on because of old overdraft fees.  Bastards! Sometimes I argue with them and they'll take back the fees.  Usually, they don't.  I'm thinking of switching to Chase.

Auto - Gas is expensive; but not that expensive.  Why is this so high?

Dining - Oops.  I'll start working on it switching places with Groceries.

Groceries - Yes... I realize it's supposed to be higher than Dining.  Stop yelling!

Business - There's a 1099 form at the end of this year so I have to write off something.

Household, Cash, Clothing, Entertainment - Hey, not bad right?

Going back to Groceries:

 

Yes.  I admit it.  There have been many midnight runs to 7-Eleven instead of being sensible and going to Sam's Club or even PublixWhole Foods isn't even on the pie chart?  I thought I went there all the time...Oh wait, just for the free samples.

Dining:



Wow.  Burger King.  Really?  I don't even go out to eat that much.  Those pineapple burgers from BackYard are pretty good, though. 

In summary, I'm not very proficient at this scrooge strategy; but, especially in these times...

::collective rolling of the eyes::

...at least I have a strategy.


Saturday, July 05, 2008

A Wedding Ceremony

Invitation 

Emily and I had a wedding ceremony and reception (finally).  We are now uneloped.

Many thanks to our family and friends who were there.

I'll just update this post periodically with pictures and links as soon as people give them to me.

 l_e1c8c0d485b16e6d17063fb36d0db636

 

 


Friday, May 23, 2008

Currently Watching
House, M.D. - Season Three
By Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Lisa Edelstein, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Morrison
see related

 S6300141

"Bless us all, who gather here."

With the recent tragedies, (the cyclone in Myanmar, earthquake in China, volcano in Chile, etc.),  I feel numb to it all.  Then there's a collision on I-4 and this sense of impending doom reverberates.  It's all relative. We live in a country where “God Bless America” is spouted by politicians on a regular basis – any country that says, 'God Bless Itself' is just asking for trouble.  It's not just the kind Hillary Clinton has for using the word assassination type of trouble. In essence, I feel blessed and thankful, especially whenever I'm just playing with Rian; but what's my contingency plan for my family if a calamity of that magnitude were to happen in my backyard?  I don't know.  Until then, I'll keep buying rice.

Have a safe Memorial weekend.

 


Sunday, May 04, 2008

Currently Gaming
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
By Nintendo
see related

My Eyes Got Lasered.

Lasik @ Home Four Easy Steps

Eye surgery two weeks ago.

Rather than go into the gory details (actually, there weren't many), I'll just explain the decision process.

The two Orlando providers that had made it onto my list were Dr. Filutowski from the Filowtoski Cataract and Lasik Institute and Dr. Robin from LasikPlus; and I received their respective sales literature in the mail.

I went with the Custom All Laser LASIK with Intralase® option (High Definition Lasik is the catchy term Filutowski uses) which utilizes wavefront analysis.  Hey, if it's good enough for NASA, then it's good enough for my nearsightedness and astigmatism.

Filutowski has his own cable show so I decided against subsidizing that and went for LasikPlus instead.  It was about $3000 cheaper including the corporate discount – I've got student loans to pay off. 

The results:  20/20 vision with no complications.  Yes!  The running joke is that if you know an opthalmalogist who wears glasses, you shouldn't do this, so we'll see how this goes.


Monday, December 31, 2007

Currently Watching
Knocked Up (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
By Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Joanna Kerns, Loudon Wainwright III, Harold Ramis
see related

2007 Status Updated

P1010050a 

OK, so I haven't updated in a while.  Well, that's only because I've been actually been productive.  To make up for it, here are some cut n' pasted status updates from other websites (Spacebook / MyFace).  Also thrown in are pictures (mostly of Rian since that's all people want anyway) to help paint the picture of the last six months. 

Thus ends the very tumultuous and ridiculously expensive year of 2007.

P1010047

 P1010059

December 31
...catching up on the movies he's missed. 4:46pm

P1010042

 P1010045

December 21
...poor; but Rian is now a trust fund baby. 4:29pm

P1010018

December 17
...cold. 9:52pm

P1010023

December 8
...slave to the Empire...financial. 8:03pm

NYSE  

December 4
...wondering how Boots became a chemist. 1:49pm

n660022044_446991_1667

December 3
...talking to people all over the planet. 8:37am

P1020047

November 22
...in Vero being thankful and such. 5:23pm

P1020048

October 12
...stabbed several times with a broken umbrella handle by a child. 12:53am

 ProductPrices

September 29
...enrolled in a retirement savings plan, finally. 9:32am

P1020004

September 27

...watching The Office. 10:20pm

SCIFI

September 21
...open to suggestions. 10:21pm

cls_20070904_9999_229a

September 12
...still recovering from Rian's and Emily's birthday parties. 8:41am

DSCF1262

DSCF1308

Rians1stbirthday 

August 6
...about to go on yet another preview timeshare vacation...and will still say "No, Thanks!" after the sales tour. 4:17pm

August 5
...helping his in-laws move to Lake Mary. 4:33pm 

August 4
...saddened by the obviously poor choices his friends are making...but he'll keep quiet. 3:27pm

Dances

...glad he went swing dancing. 1:18am

July 28
...watching people compete on Big Brain Academy while the grill is burning in the back - a good birthday party overall. 8:29pm

ship

...buying himself a birthday gift. 9:27am

Visualenvironment

July 27
...cleaning. 11:01am

July 25
...playing Wii with Steve and Vanessa. 1:42am

July 21
...being sociable. 2:32pm

P1010104

July 19
...avoiding buying groceries to play Wii. 10:00pm

P1010103

July 18
...ignoring phone calls to play Wii. 10:43pm

...putting off work to play Wii. 3:41pm

July 17
...playing video games. 10:06pm

July 14
...trying to get some sleep. 3:59am

011_15

July 10
...laughing all the way to the bank. 10:20pm

DSCN3191  



Next 5 >>

Got'em Xanga TrackerSend Free Text MessagesFree Arcades GamesSend Free SMSXanga Tracker