Catch of the Day

For those of you who are enthusiastic bibliophiles, but don't necessarily have the room for an ever-increasing library, there's an online book-swap service that I just started using: Paperbackswap.com. Here's how it works:

1) you list books you want to get rid of;
2) another member orders it from you;
3) you send it to them;
4) they report on the site when they've received it; and
5) you get a credit for a book of your choice.

There are no membership fees - your only cost is postage for the books you send. When you order a book, the other member pays the postage.

Cool huh? So far, the members who have received my books are good about reporting the receipt. I've ordered a couple of books, but have not received them yet. I'll let you know how that works out.

Stuff on parade [long post]

Ok, so, in order to make my job search easier (less painful), I've decided to do an "application resume," ie, take my regular resume and insert all the crappity-crap that these online applications require so that I could just copy & paste instead of having to research the stuff from scratch each time.

Good thing I'm OCD, because I actually HAVE all data going back to my first job, in classification folders. Heck, I have tax records going back twenty years, neatly filed. I'm that sort of girl.

Yesterday, DH Jeff calls out to me, "um, Scooter, come here a second." He'd found my classification folder with all the WaPo "Second Glance" puzzles I've ever done. You know, the ones where there are two pictures and you have to identify the twelve differences between them? "Why are you keeping a file of these?" Well, I had no plausible answer to give him that didn't include impending alien invasions and coded messages imbedded in the images. He gave up that query after I said something like, "because."

One application requests the reason for leaving each position. While I'm tempted to put, in the one case,* "I quit before the unethical, snake-in-the-grass asshat could procure an excuse to fire me, after side-lining me under one of his quintessentially mediocre lapdog administrative hires and making my work life completely miserable," I have the time to craft a more palatable and succinct reason: "was planning to leave the area with fiance," which was also true at the time.

More on that boss: I once ran into him outside of work with his two small children and he made this grand gesture, like, "see the children! aren't they wonderful? don't you love them (you're a woman, after all)? aren't I wonderful - I'm playing Daddy?" Uggh. It might come as a great shock to you, dumbass, but I don't melt around children, especially if I know they're growing up under your influence. And the thought that the sight of them (around you) would make me more positively inclined towards you doesn't work because I know your wife is raising them, while you play executive. Ahh, vitriole of the past.

So, yesterday Jeff & I were moving furniture and stuff in advance of some ADA-required modifications to our apartment which started this morning. I'm a pretty good housekeeper, but one thing I've always neglected is this set of metal trays under the stovetop grill thingies, which catch the splatter & cooking detritus. Once the stuff gets on the trays, it's loathe to come off with anything weaker than concentrated acid. As a result, they had become pretty disgusting. I've soaked them in hot soapy water & scrubbed them with various abrasive cleansers, to no avail. Yet last night I was on a mission to overcome this particular obstacle to stovetop cleanliness bliss. Guess what worked? Scraping off the gunk with a small screwdriver. Desperate situations...

After this feat was accomplished, I started getting kind of manic, because I started seeing other things in dire need of cleaning, lest the workmen get the impression that we're (I'm) slovenly. After I finished cleaning to an acceptable level, I told myself sternly, "get a hold of yourself - they won't even be looking at the top of the fridge and probably don't care either way." Then, I congratulated myself on this useful exercise & how much I learned about myself in the process." Yeh.

Alright. I believe the workmen have finished for the day, so it's time to reclaim our apartment.

Next effort: solving the mystery of the "self-cleaning oven."

*This was a LONG time ago, so back off!

Grapes in Maryland

In the Metro Section of today's WaPo is an article about how some southern Marylanders are trying their hands at viniculture in areas that historically grew tobacco. Challenges abound: weather & climate, expense, predation (deer, beetles, mildew), legislation - not to mention all the time & effort required to produce a viable crop of grapes.

I'm whole-heartedly behind wine-making in general, but certainly its supplanting tobacco. But in a larger sense, it's good to see adaptation in commerce from one industry (or market) to another, seeing that change as an opportunity (instead of becoming a dinosaur in a dying market). Interestingly, some previous tobacco growers used settlement money to start their vineyards. Sounds like progress.

Why not save?

Indeed. There was this article in WaPo Business Section today about how more people are using coupons now that the economy is in the dumps. My question is: why wouldn't you use coupons? Seems like a no-brainer, but then again, I never claimed to understand the behavior of others. Oh yeh - the article lists some sites wherein one can print coupons. I signed up for this one: Coupons.com.

Hmmm...maybe I should post receipts on how much I've saved...

Economic innovation

You know that I love the concept of microcredit as a direct way to combat poverty in a very tangible way (versus just throwing money at programs), empowering individuals. Well, in the WaPo today an article about a young South African company, Wizzit, that another way to address poverty: banking services to the poor, accessible by cell phone. The idea is that since cell phones are actually much more numerous in South Africa than bank accounts, there's opportunity in providing bank accounts that customers can access through their cell phones without actually having to go to a branch. One can set up an account over the phone, have pay deposited directly into the account instead of in cash, then can pay bills, send money, buy groceries - all through a cell phone. Read the whole, very interesting article here.

More on microcredit

DH Jeff found this article in WaPo this morning about the nascent Grameen America. Curious how I was just mentioning Grameen and now this pops up. Historically microcredit initiatives have been carried out in the third world but why should they be exclusively third world endeavors? Grameen clearly thinks there's potential in the first world. Cool.

Some [known] bad news, some good news

I'm not going to talk at length about this article in today's WaPo, because I've already talked about how fighting mad it makes me that the DHS can't seem to pull its head out of its butt...and how happy it is to charge that incompetence spectacularly to you and me. Read and weep.

Onto more positive news: Goldman Sachs is bankrolling business education programs for female entreneurs in Africa and the Middle East with an eye to improving local economies in these regions. I think this rocks - focus on the women. We've seen the positive effects on the ground with microcredit/microfinance programs & banks (which tends to lend primarily to women) in the the third world (Grameen Bank, for instance), now Goldman Sachs is taking this thinking to the next logical level: giving female entrepreneurs the educational tools to make their businesses a success. Read the whole article here. And yes, libtards, Goldman Sachs is what you're always howling about - BIG BUSINESS - big raspberry to you!

Everything's money

For as long as I can remember, I've been overly concerned about money. Worried. That one day I'd be without it and on the streets. For a vast variety of reasons, that's HIGHLY unlikely, but this anxiety isn't rational. What is, though, is the solution to the anxiety: savings. I have started a small "crash fund" (emergency fund), but I think I'm going to go a step further: to amass a year's worth of expenses, stick the cash in CDs, and let it percolate interest. Now, this isn't all going to happen this year, but it will happen - I'm on a mission!

How can I get a job like this?

No oversight for twenty years. In a government job. Wherein you could just steal $50 million. And conspicuously, brazenly spend it to boot. Much of it gone for good. And only now you get caught. Nope, you can't blame this on Bush. It's the DC Tax Office scam. Investigators are finding it's a lot worse than they thought & went on for a lot longer than they thought. Read the whole thing here.

"Pregnant and homeless" revisited

Day before yesterday, after work, I was again accosted by a female demanding money because she was "pregnant and homeless." I found out that there's a homeless shelter around the corner, so the female residents must get together on this one and develop tactics - unfortunately for them, they all use the same message. Also unfortunately for them, the mere thought of irresponsible pregnancy makes me disgusted, ie, not motivation to give them money. And lying about being pregnant makes me even more disgusted. And anyone demanding money from me for their sorry life when I'm leaving from a long day of GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT is sadly mistaken to think I'm going to give them anything except a lecture.

You'll be happy to know that I didn't read her the riot act OR punch her like I wanted to. I just kept moving along home. I'm so civil it's not funny.

Musings on Monday...

...More like, bitching on Monday, but would you expect any less from me?

I'm pretty certain I've paid for any sins I've committed (therefore, no need for continued Purgatory), I continue to "pay my dues" and thus, still dragging my bum into work day after day in order to pay bills. That's how it feels. I'm getting too old to feel this way day after day.

Now, you can say, I'm also paying for vacations in Key West & you would be right; yet that's a fairly recent thing. You also know part of the problem is my procrastination about applying for schools & my loathing thereof (applying, that is). Have not completed or started applications. Boo-hiss. This will be an ongoing issue.

Well, I not only made gazpacho this Saturday, but then used the leftovers for a hot vegetable soup base on Sunday evening. Both results were good, and I had enough left-over for lunch today.

Paid bills over the weekend. Depressing. So bringing lunch on a regular basis will become mandatory. Nice if I could get to the concept of an emergency fund. Not this month, though.

I started a major purge of old files and reorganizing by year. Amazing how much I threw out, yet there is still substantial clutter and piles in our "study." Realized we need a shredder.

I'm reading The Bookseller of Kabul, which makes me immensely glad I'm an American woman. Gaack, how bleak their lives are in Afghanistan, even after the Taliban. Realized having too many options is infinitely better than having none, ever.

Realized once more today how much I despise meetings, folks who can't grasp the concept of deadlines, and folks who constantly call in sick, always when you need something from them. But, hey, I still have a job.

Realized in spades how much I hate being guilted into or about anything. Enough on that.

Had a vision this morning of the Jeff & moi-meme having dinner out tonight. Jeff shared this vision - yeah!

Going to take an accounting class (for work, on them) and a Spanish class (for fun, on me) in the fall. It's something.

Read a commentary blurb in the Post today lamenting the CDC non-funding of several preventative AIDS programs for teens in DC. Questions: where are the parents? and why aren't they teaching their kids about such things? Is it the Fed's responsibility to tell the little angels to wear condoms so they won't catch a fatal disease? I guess parents are too busy teaching lessons of perpetual victimhood, stupid virility, teen pregnancy and how to get the govts to pay for the little bastards. Ok, enough - go read the thing for yourself and see what you think.

Back to work...

Catch of the Day

Interested in stock purchase to round out your investments but don't know how to get started? More of a buy and hold type who doesn't want to put down gobs of cash to get into the stock market? Check out Sharebuilder.com, my Catch of the Day. How it works: you buy stock in dollar amounts, not shares, (and the amounts can be like $10) for a reasonable per-transaction fee or a subscription rate. You can schedule a certain amount to be taken directly out of your checking account each month or schedule a one-time purchase. You can do research about the companies right on the web site.

Note: This is not primarily a service for "day traders," although you can make real-time trades; the fees are more reasonable for scheduled purchases - and the idea is buy-and-hold. For the steady wealthbuilder, this makes sense.