senoritafish

Wow, I just realized I only need about 448 points to get another $25 in gift cards (for a total of $75) at Gather.com. I've gotten over 1000 points in the last few months for only putting up a few things. I should really start posting more pictures and photo essays over there. People seem to look at those more than anything else. Does anyone else here post over there? I'll look at your stuff if you look at mine... ;)

I know I also have enough points at MyPoints.com for over $100 worth of something - I should really cash these in before the holidays. It'd help a lot. The last time I did I got Starbucks cards for my coworkers, which then got lost before I could give them to them. Derp.

Speaking of gift cards, I keep seeing these ads for selling gift cards you don't want, with someone (a graduating senior maybe) pulling one out of a card and saying, "A gift card? Again? Why is everyone giving me these?" Or another person throwing them into a drawer in annoyance. Really? People hate them that much? With the exception of getting one from a place you absolutely would not want anything from - say, my giving everyone on my friend's list a card for Bass Pro Shops - would you really throw away a card, just because it's a card instead of a gift? We were regularly giving gift cards for bookstores when my kids went to birthday parties. Reading is always good, but that way, we're not stepping on toes in case other parents - who we don't know well - don't care for our selections of books - some people are pickier than others. Then again, if there's someplace I can buy a gift card for myself or other's at a discount, more power to it.

I guess it must come down to me not being very practical. Even when I was eating the same pot of lentil soup for a week in college, or back east when I was a fisheries observer, I would have appreciated a card for books or music, if such things existed at the time. A good story'll take your mind off the fact you've been eating the same thing for that long.

So, midsummertime. Angus's last day of summer school was yesterday, to his great relief. "Who invented summer school, to torture kids!" he said the day after regular school got out, and shook his first. The days of taking summer school for fun things is gone forever, I guess. His report card came back as everything "progressing towards goals." I think he's excited to go to Dwyer this fall; certainly he was disappointed that summer school didn't take place there.

I don't think we're going to be able to go camping this summer like we did last year; gas isn't so expensive, but with more than a month's salary gone...I don't think we'd better. John's been looking for something, but he just met yesterday morning with one of his old bosses, who told him Ralph's/Food 4 Less will be going through another round of layoffs, so not very likely there. He would love to go back to cooking, but we don't think his health could stand it, since his asthma seems to keep getting progressively worse. We are probably going to have to take out a loan to get tutoring for Avalon and cover a few bills we are short on.

Outside my office window, tiger swallowtails chase each other through the sycamores surrounding the building. They seem to be pretty aggressive for butterflies. I've been wondering why they seem to be attracted to these trees when I had thought that swallowtail caterpillars liked dill and fennel. Well, I should've searched earlier - it's Black Swallowtails that like those plants. These are Western Tigers (maybe explains the aggression, too, heh), and they do prefer trees.

Yesterday was our 13th anniversary. Given the year we've been having, that's probably appropriate. Anyhow, it was pretty low key, given that we are broke until payday. The last thing I bought was my bus pass and while I was at the grocery store getting it, my gaze fell upon these silly little figures with a tillandsia glued on the side in the plant section. The figure I spied was a pair of blue rainforest frogs, and they struck me as looking like a fat, middle-aged couple, leaning on each other and holding each other up. Perfect. A whole $4. I've never given John a plant before; although he's been know to give his mother a cactus for gifting occasions ("Because you're prickly, and you're a thorn in my side!"). I didn't give it to him until this morning, because he confessed to not having gotten me anything either, and didn't want me to. However, the little plant was getting squished in my purse, so I gave it to him anyway, and it made him laugh.

I wasn't really expecting anything, but actually, I was kind of wondering if he'd gotten me a camera or something. My great aunt's estate sent me $800 last month, apparently the last bit left after all the taxes and all had been paid, and I told John we needed to put it aside and not spend it, so we could put it toward the trip he wants to take later this summer. It seems to be gone already, and I have no clue where it went. I know I havn't really made any big purchases, and neither has he, that I know of. And I'm quite sure we didn't spring for pizza that often. I mentioned this to VT on our walk at lunch and she offered to send me a spreadsheet she uses for a family budget - not that they always stick to it but it helps. Something we should have started a long time ago, I know - I'll try to put it to use.

Anyway, when I got home, the house was empty, except for Dad, who said "Happy Anniversary!" and explained that he'd sprung for Chinese take-out. When John got back with our regular orders, he laughed and told me the woman at the counter is always happy to see us and remarks on how the kids have grown, but her husband in the kitchen gets cranky, because he knows he's gonna have to cook something; most of their customers just seem to order off the steam table - but I like to order something off the menu, usually mu shu. So she yells into the kitchen and he yells back. We don't know Chinese, but it sure sounds like he's swearing.

So, thirteen years. Where has the time gone?

I can only think this little protest was written before the last election, as the numbers seem a bit low and it's a year til the next one. I'm a little surprised it's still in circulation.

( back )

It turns out I should've thought good thoughts about Angus's spelling test, but I didn't know he was having one. He only missed one on his math test, but on his spelling test he only wrote the first letter of each word.

Sigh. I think I know what this conference is going to be about.

We had over $1100 worth of work done on the Trooper the week before last, having an oil leak fixed, the water pump and the starter replaced and a couple of other little things. The day after we got it back, I noticed a slight whirring as it accelerated, which stopped when I braked. I didn't notice anything after that, but two days later, we stopped at a store to get some change for Angus's lunch. When John put it in gear afterwards, it didn't want to move, but suddenly did with a clunk. The noise was back accompanying by a grinding sound. He took me to work, but then it quit on the way home and he had to have it towed back to the mechanic.

We didn't hear what was wrong Friday afternoon, but today we found out the transmission is completely gone. At first he said it would be up to $1200 to get a new one (too expensive to fix) but then he found a reconditioned one for $700. So, a lot less, but still more than we have.

We're looking into a loan. Might as well pay everything off at once.

Yay for debt.

Since konoichi reminded me a little bit ago, I put some banners on my profile. They're for worthwhile causes (Nature Conservancy, feeding the hungry, breast cancer, child health and animal aid), and it won't cost you anything but a few minutes. Of course, if you need to do some shopping and use their links, that helps, too. When I buy something from Amazon, or any other store on their list (and there are quite a few well-known companies), I use their links; that company will make a donation based on how much I spent.

I don't click everyday, but I try to remember a few times a week. I figure every little bit is useful.

edit 10/4/03: I moved these to my website. I'm not sure but I think they might violate LJs TOS, because they are not a non-profit company.

Where has this month gone? It's almost Thanksgiving! Ack!

At lunch, the support staff organized an early Thanksgiving feast, which everyone paid $7 for. Since I didn't have the money at the time, I told P. that I would just bring my lunch and eat with everybody else. Yesterday, I got an email that the licensing staff was going to pay for my lunch - which, I felt funny about, since several other people were going to bring their lunch too. I told P. at the lunch how I felt about it, and I saw some hurt looks across the table, so I explained to them too. J. told me it was ok, B. had paid and wasn't able to come; they would just give the money back to her. And there was plenty of soda and pumpkin pie, so at least help myself to that. Now I feel bad for turning down someone's generosity.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't. I will go to the holiday party though.

Advise the ruler to govern the state as one cooks a small fish - that is, don't turn it so often in the pan that it disintegrates.
-Lao Tzu

This was quoted for August on our Marine Region calendar. One wonders if this was meant as a barb at the legislature or the governor, since the budget is late every goddamn year, especially this year since there is a gubernatorial election (and dammit, the Republicans just have to teach Gray Davis some kind of a lesson). It really hobbles us trying to do our jobs.

I heard they finally signed a budget this weekend. We have had a spending freeze since the beginning of May. God help us if we had run out of dish soap for the wetlab during that time. Things would have gotten pretty smelly around here.

T. is our union president and has been spending all kinds of time in Sacramento trying to negotiate some kind of emergency measure so, hopefully, we can get paid our full salary come July 1. Apparently the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association sued the State government and won, saying that if the state budget isn't signed, state workers can only be paid minimum wage. The budget is not likely to be signed immediately since it's an election year and the legislature has some bones to pick with Governor Gray. Even when the economy is positive, the budget is rarely signed on time.

Does this group just assume that state employees aren't taxpayers too? Because of this group, California has the worst school system in the country. Now we get this. Even from the grave, Howard Jarvis is screwing us.

I suppose minimum wage is better than IOUs, which has happened in the past
AND if that weren't bad enough, the state employee payroll database was hacked, so we all have a chance of getting our identities stolen. Not that I'm too worried about that; anyone trying to bilk credit off my name and SSN will definitely be getting a sow's ear instead of a silk purse.