I am in a good mood. I made a yummy dinner for my honey (and he was sweet and cleaned up). I watched some TV, including some hockey. I got some work done in my office. Even work was reasonable today. Oh, and I'm about to leave on a week long cruise. So, all this means that I felt like tickling the keys and putting something new - and cheerful - on the blog. I hope that you reading it are in a good mood, too. If not, please feel free to borrow some of mine. :~)
~N.
p.s. It was "Sharlys Mac and Cheese" as per the instruction of Sharlys the Amazing. Thanks, Mom.
p.p.s. The most recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory" and the Columbus Blue Jackets win over Detroit, their first win of the season, plus some Penguins/Ducks action.
p.p.p.s. Sending an overdue email and updating some personal stuff on line. Plus I guess we could say this post.
p.p.p.p.s. Did I mention the CRUISE? I am psyched.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, August 04, 2011
My advice to you...
Do not buy a house. Do not buy a house, or other permanent living space, unless you can pay 50-100% of the cost and can finance, if necessary, the rest at a loan for not more than 5 years.
In other words, if you have a ton of cash available because you've been making good financial decisions like staying out of debt and saving a big portion of what you earn and/or living a greatly scaled down lifestyle and you want to do something with the cash and you don't mind the risk of being tied down to one location for a while, then go ahead and buy a domicile.
Otherwise, seriously consider renting something sensible in the general area you want to live in. It doesn't have to be the perfect home; you are only renting and can move on to a better place pretty much any time you want. And forget about equity, which is a fool's dream anyway as many of us have learned over the past 20 years. Since your place is a reasonable size and the infrastructure is someone else's problem to maintain, you can be saving and/or investing (also a bad idea, but a lecture for another time) and keep your funds available and hopefully intact through lucre and not property.
In other words, if you have a ton of cash available because you've been making good financial decisions like staying out of debt and saving a big portion of what you earn and/or living a greatly scaled down lifestyle and you want to do something with the cash and you don't mind the risk of being tied down to one location for a while, then go ahead and buy a domicile.
Otherwise, seriously consider renting something sensible in the general area you want to live in. It doesn't have to be the perfect home; you are only renting and can move on to a better place pretty much any time you want. And forget about equity, which is a fool's dream anyway as many of us have learned over the past 20 years. Since your place is a reasonable size and the infrastructure is someone else's problem to maintain, you can be saving and/or investing (also a bad idea, but a lecture for another time) and keep your funds available and hopefully intact through lucre and not property.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Pro and Con for Joe
Blogging:
Pro - you are writing. You are probably writing with an audience of at least a few friends or family. You are writing and everyone's standards for this sort of writing are pretty low, because it's BLOGGING, for crying out loud. Teenagers without the ability to spell small pronouns do this. And because the standards are low, you are perhaps writing more often and more frequently and therefore getting better or maybe more comfortable and that's good for word production and creative stimulus. You are writing and the members of your currently small but with the potential for growth audience that love and support may provide visible support and that will encourage you to keep writing.
Con - you are writing words out into a medium that you really cannot control. There are ways to restrict viewers to your blog, but then you are undercutting one of the key aims - to get your writing out there where others can see it. You are writing and have to consider that your high school English teacher may see it (not mine, she died while I was in college and I'm still upset about it), or your mother may see it (and I know she will since she's a subscriber), or your boss (not likely), or a member of the community whom you do not necessarily want to see your true opinions on big life issues (also probably unlikely at this time, but it could happen). You are writing but may upset others with your writing and then have to consider whether this is the way you want to go with your writing endeavors.
~N.
Pro - you are writing. You are probably writing with an audience of at least a few friends or family. You are writing and everyone's standards for this sort of writing are pretty low, because it's BLOGGING, for crying out loud. Teenagers without the ability to spell small pronouns do this. And because the standards are low, you are perhaps writing more often and more frequently and therefore getting better or maybe more comfortable and that's good for word production and creative stimulus. You are writing and the members of your currently small but with the potential for growth audience that love and support may provide visible support and that will encourage you to keep writing.
Con - you are writing words out into a medium that you really cannot control. There are ways to restrict viewers to your blog, but then you are undercutting one of the key aims - to get your writing out there where others can see it. You are writing and have to consider that your high school English teacher may see it (not mine, she died while I was in college and I'm still upset about it), or your mother may see it (and I know she will since she's a subscriber), or your boss (not likely), or a member of the community whom you do not necessarily want to see your true opinions on big life issues (also probably unlikely at this time, but it could happen). You are writing but may upset others with your writing and then have to consider whether this is the way you want to go with your writing endeavors.
~N.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
What I'm reading today
I tried reading a mystery/detective/thriller novel by Larry Beinhart. He wrote the novel American Hero that the movie Wag the Dog was based on and he's written another one called Salvation Island that has also become a movie recently (including Jim Gaffigan in the cast, which made me pay attention because I was surprised to see him in a movie). I seem to remember liking Wag the Dog and Salvation Island looked like it might be funny, in a dark comedy kind of way, so I got some of Larry's books at the library.
Unfortunately, I didn't really care for them. This reminds me of my Elmore Leonard problem: I really want to like his stuff because I like one movie A LOT (and prefer it to the book it was based on), one movie is okay (again, movie better than book), a lot of the short stories are good and one book was enjoyable (not made into a movie...yet). Unfortunately, I don't like almost all the other books, and most of the other movies and I wish I did.
The happy unintended consequence of this is that when I went to the library to pick up the Beinhart books, I found The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. While the clerk was in back getting my books on reserve, I scanned the books to be reshelved, as I am wont to do, and this one caught my eye. The name seemed familiar, maybe from the New York Times book review, so I took it. I'm 40 pages in and it's compelling and funny in a melancholy way, so I'm going to take the rest of the afternoon to work on it. More later on how it goes.
~N.
p.s. Frustrated again at the superficiality and/or excess emoting to strangers on Facebook and Twitter, I am again tryiing for a break from both. Comment here or email me if we need to be in contact.
Unfortunately, I didn't really care for them. This reminds me of my Elmore Leonard problem: I really want to like his stuff because I like one movie A LOT (and prefer it to the book it was based on), one movie is okay (again, movie better than book), a lot of the short stories are good and one book was enjoyable (not made into a movie...yet). Unfortunately, I don't like almost all the other books, and most of the other movies and I wish I did.
The happy unintended consequence of this is that when I went to the library to pick up the Beinhart books, I found The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. While the clerk was in back getting my books on reserve, I scanned the books to be reshelved, as I am wont to do, and this one caught my eye. The name seemed familiar, maybe from the New York Times book review, so I took it. I'm 40 pages in and it's compelling and funny in a melancholy way, so I'm going to take the rest of the afternoon to work on it. More later on how it goes.
~N.
p.s. Frustrated again at the superficiality and/or excess emoting to strangers on Facebook and Twitter, I am again tryiing for a break from both. Comment here or email me if we need to be in contact.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
A little wheel spinning
Yeah, I wrote today. But it was vitriol-filled diatribe to a former friend who I think has gone over to the dark side and my comments just is not appropriate for me to post. (Note: I'm not sending it to him, either. I wrote it because I needed to get it out.) When I'm independently wealthy, or at least not counting on the good graces of anyone I know to keep me afloat, maybe I'll allow my true sentiments on these things to come out but not tonight.
Off to play some nice soothing solitaire.
~N.
Off to play some nice soothing solitaire.
~N.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Already Thursday
There is a reason that one of the category choices for my labels for these posts is "venting." I seem to spend a lot of time bitching about things here. And what's worse, the things I write down are probably a tenth of the complaints about things I think about during the day.
I'm not saying I'm totally immersed in annoying people and situations, but I do feel like a novice swimmer off the coast of Australia who has somehow found herself in the midst of a school of those really scary kind of jellyfish - box jellyfish I think they are called (although I might be confusing the scary jellyfish from Australia with the ones in the Will Smith movie called "8" something) - where the jellyfish are the stupid people, in case you missed that. (/snark)
(Btw, the title of the post refers to the previous post where I complained about it only being Tuesday and now the week is running out fast and it's already Thursday night and I know I'm not going to get everything done tomorrow that I needed for the week. "Really?" as we say here, "Really?")
**Right here is the ending to this post. I rewrote it five times and didn't like it any of those times. Fuck it, I am really going to bed now.**
~N.
I'm not saying I'm totally immersed in annoying people and situations, but I do feel like a novice swimmer off the coast of Australia who has somehow found herself in the midst of a school of those really scary kind of jellyfish - box jellyfish I think they are called (although I might be confusing the scary jellyfish from Australia with the ones in the Will Smith movie called "8" something) - where the jellyfish are the stupid people, in case you missed that. (/snark)
(Btw, the title of the post refers to the previous post where I complained about it only being Tuesday and now the week is running out fast and it's already Thursday night and I know I'm not going to get everything done tomorrow that I needed for the week. "Really?" as we say here, "Really?")
**Right here is the ending to this post. I rewrote it five times and didn't like it any of those times. Fuck it, I am really going to bed now.**
~N.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Only Tuesday
I have decided to get a little ahead of the curve and write early in the evening instead of later, when I may (unbelievably) feel too tired to type.
It's only Tuesday. Dog as my witness, I would have bet money on it being Thursday, or least a little closer to the end of the work week.
My payroll week at work runs Thursday to Wednesday, so I spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday fretting about how we did over the weekend and can we improve our efficiency (for "hours per patient per day") to meet our budget AND not go into too much overtime AND not blow the budget for support staff. All of the above measures based on formulas based on our resident census which is a figure completely beyond my control. As is most of the scheduling.
So I spend a lot of time stressing about how to move my little corner of the couch while a whole bunch of people are sitting on it, eating my Cheetos, drinking my Diet Cokes and overstaying their welcome in general.
I am very pleased with that imagery and will now quit while I'm ahead. Dinner still to cook, TV show to watch, flute to practice.
~N.
ETA: I typed this an hour ago, but Scott's computer wouldn't let me post it. The "save now" button worked, but not the "publish post" button. Odd.
Also, have just discomforted my daughter by using the expressions "Holy Cow" and "'Sup?" in sequence. I'm an enigma to her.
It's only Tuesday. Dog as my witness, I would have bet money on it being Thursday, or least a little closer to the end of the work week.
My payroll week at work runs Thursday to Wednesday, so I spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday fretting about how we did over the weekend and can we improve our efficiency (for "hours per patient per day") to meet our budget AND not go into too much overtime AND not blow the budget for support staff. All of the above measures based on formulas based on our resident census which is a figure completely beyond my control. As is most of the scheduling.
So I spend a lot of time stressing about how to move my little corner of the couch while a whole bunch of people are sitting on it, eating my Cheetos, drinking my Diet Cokes and overstaying their welcome in general.
I am very pleased with that imagery and will now quit while I'm ahead. Dinner still to cook, TV show to watch, flute to practice.
~N.
ETA: I typed this an hour ago, but Scott's computer wouldn't let me post it. The "save now" button worked, but not the "publish post" button. Odd.
Also, have just discomforted my daughter by using the expressions "Holy Cow" and "'Sup?" in sequence. I'm an enigma to her.
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