KirstenL4W

Here I am, paying bills and thinking about what to blog about, when I log into my credit card statement to make a payment.  I see some recent activity, and figure I’ll click on it to remind myself how much my last payment was.  I never use the darn thing, especially now that I’m in a position to not have to live off it, so it sits there and collects dust.  I did receive the new card in the mail when I told them about my name change, so I’m not missing anything.  The old card is still sitting on my desk ready to be cut up.

So when I checked my recent activity, I see 2 charges for the same merchant - AIC*HYDRODERM SKINCARE.  This sort of crap has happened before - remember how that turned out?  I ran downstairs to get my phone so I could call the credit card company.  They were very nice, again, and I filed a complaint with the fraud department, again.  Account closed, new card coming, fraud paperwork coming, yada yada yada.   I made my payment, since it’s due this week, and they even waived the usual $15 telephone payment charge for me.  Once I was all done using up my minutes with the credit card company, I turned to the search engine.

Apparently what happens is this - thieves see enticing offers for free stuff online that they really really want, like game consoles.  They just need to buy a bunch of worthless crap to earn points towards their free stuff.  Well, they sign up for all these “free” offers from their sponsors with “their own” credit cards and earn points that way.  That’s where they use auto-dialer techniques to find credit card numbers, and that’s how I ended up with fraudulent charges.

Everyone should reconcile their statements every month.  If you use your credit cards, then save your receipts to compare them against your statement.  That’s how I stopped one place from charging me more than I authorized.  Make sure everything matches, and that you have a receipt for everything.  It’s not fun being one of those people who are total dorks about their receipts, but it’s the only proof you have if you want to dispute a charge.  And if you see a charge you don’t recognize at all, call your credit card company.  They’ll tell you what it looks like the charge is for, and you can either remember that you made the purchase after all, in which case you thank them for helping you with your memory, or you kindly ask to be transferred to their fraud department to dispute the charges.  But take action!  Be vigilant about your accounts!

Yesterday I went to open a new checking account. I already have one, but I wanted to have an account at the bank that Mister has his accounts at so it makes things a little easier. Now that my name change is complete and I have the ID to show it, I was ready to go to the bank.

We went to the branch closest to our house and waited a bit. The waiting didn’t bother us so much, because that’s what usually happens when you go to the bank. When it was our turn, we sat down and I told the customer service guy what I wanted. He asked me for my ID, which is standard procedure, and then asked me for further proof of ID because, as he put it, my driver’s license was too new. (In Nevada they put the issue date on your ID, and mine was issued about 3 weeks before.) I told him that I didn’t have anything else with me because the website didn’t indicate that I’d need anything beyond that. He told me he could not open my account without further ID, and I told him that I didn’t need to open an account with his bank.

Mister asked if I wanted to try the other branch, close to the old apartment, and I said sure, I think we have time before they close. We went in and waited, then when it was our turn asked if we had time to open a checking account. It was 6 minutes before closing, so we would have understood if we got turned away at that point. But the customer service lady was happy to help us. We opened my account, and I wasn’t even a new customer since Mister added me to one of his checking accounts a couple months before that. She changed my name on that account, opened my new checking account, and even ordered Mister a new debit card on a different rewards program, all very happily. When we were done, about 20 minutes past closing, we apologized for keeping her there so late and she said it was nothing, she was happy to help us. That’s what we call customer service.

Here’s what I know about retail banking from the friends and relatives who have worked in banking: they have quotas. It’s a sales job - they need to open so many accounts every month. Think about it - how many times have you gone in to make a deposit or withdrawal and had the teller ask you if you wanted to put the money in a CD or open a different kind of account? That’s the sales part of it coming out. So we were very perplexed, and a bit upset, that we would be turned away by this guy for an ID that hasn’t aged enough. I don’t get it - my ID is considered by the state to be valid the second they hand it to me, but 3 weeks later it’s not valid enough as determined by some dude at the bank. I don’t get it - can someone please explain this to me?

Last night I went on the bank’s website to put in a comment, and this morning I had an email saying that they had passed my comment on to management for further review. Looks like the banking dude didn’t have the last word on this one!

If you read enough pro blogs, you might get the impression that there are certain rules that must be adhered to if you are going to make money from your blog, and that the only goal with blogging is to make bucketloads of money.  But quite honestly, that is not the goal of most bloggers, at least not most of the bloggers I know (of).  Most bloggers get into it because they have something to say or just want to get their voice out there.  Over time, they hear of the possibility of making money with a blog, and I’m sure it goes through everyone’s mind at one point or another.

I read a post yesterday about monetizing a blog.  You can read it here.  In the article, Lightening asked lots of questions and had some very intelligent comments about monetizing (or monetising, since she’s Australian), going pro and whether or not monetizing is a good idea for smaller, personal blogs.

I’m not a problogger.  I never intended to be, and I still don’t want to be.  Blogging is a hobby, and the second it starts to feel like a job it won’t be a fun hobby anymore.  Also, I know my personality.  I’m just not very entrepreneurial, so working hard to find a new and exciting way to present my blog in such a way that people will just want to click on all my ads and make me rich beyond my wildest dreams is just not something I want to put any effort into.  I just want to babble on incessantly about whatever comes to mind.

That being said, I do have an affiliate program.  They can be a decent way to make a bit of extra money, but I had another goal mind.  When I talk about certain things that I love, I want to share them with you in whatever way I can, and leaving you with something to put in a search engine isn’t quite what I had in mind.  I mean, let’s say your BFF calls up and starts raving about this awesome new thing they just got and how much they love it.  Then when you express your interest in obtaining AwesomeNewThing, they tell you that they bought it at a store and if you look around you can find one too.  Ok.  Um, which store?  That’s all I’m trying to prevent.  If I mention something that you might be interested in, I certainly hope it would be handy that I provide a link for you to check it out immediately.  If I make money from it, that’s great.  Then I can buy more of the sort of stuff I mention (usually CDs and movies).  I’m not looking to pay my rent from this, just to provide a service and perhaps get a little pocket change.

I have always hated sales, especially sales with the dreaded SALES GOALS.  The one commisioned/goal-oriented retail job that I had only worked out because I worked mostly on weekends, where I could have a much higher chance of a good hours to sales ratio.  But other than that, I hated that I had to use certain techniques that, while effective, were aimed solely at parting this customer with their hard-earned cash.  I don’t have any conversion goals on my affiliate marketing.  I just want to spread the love for the stuff I mention and make it easy for you all to check it out further.  Any income from it is just a bonus.

There are no rules to monetize your blog.  There are certainly techniques that have a high success rate, but there are no hard and fast rules.  The only rule is to do whatever feels right to you, because it’s your blog.  If you do want further advice on what techniques will work for you, it is super easy to do a search on the subject, or just surf fellow bloggers’ blogrolls, because most of us, whether we want to monetize or not, have at least one pro in our rolls.

I mentioned a few posts ago that I would put in a word for AJ and her new candle business. So, here it is.

My friend AJ has been on a quest to find that perfect part time job opportunity that would allow her to spend plenty of time with her family, bring in an adequate income, and do something she’s passionate about. First there was the obvious - go to the mall and get a part time job. Sure, we had fun working together at the shoe store, but the pay sucked and honestly, so did the hours (sorry, Big G). Then there was candy. Who doesn’t like candy? But there’s a lot that goes into a candy business. Permits, licensing, the health department on your back, have to make it in a commercial kitchen, blah blah blah. That all costs money, especially in a red tape town like this one. On to digiscrapping. AJ loves to scrapbook, and she does it digitally. She’s got some great kits and has made some really cool pages. But is that really a sustainable business? Then she found candles.

Ah, candles. Almost everyone I know burns candles. Even I do once in awhile (I love the scent and ambiance of the flame, but I have this thing about fire). Even fragrance sensitive people can burn these, since they have an unscented candle! These candles are all soy-based, so they’re all natural and don’t throw off as much soot as regular candles do. I’ve been to people’s homes who burn tons of candles, and there were soot shadows on everything. That won’t happen with these candles.

Now, I haven’t smelled one of these yet or burned one yet, but I will be very soon. AJ tells me that the scents from these candles last all the way through. Personally I hate it when I’m only halfway through burning a candle and it doesn’t smell anymore, which has been known to happen with other popular brands. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on one of these candles, and I’m also entering on AJ’s candle website to win a free candle. They give out one per week and you can enter once a day.

Now for the spread the word part. AJ emailed me a little while ago to get the word out, so I’m helping out here. Here’s what she wrote:

Who do you know who loves candles? Who do you know who chooses healthy alternatives? Who do you know who needs to raise money for their organization? Who do you know that loves product of the month clubs? (books, movies, music) Who do you know who owns a retail store, salon or spa? Who do you know in real estate who likes candles for their open houses or as client gifts? Who do you know is looking for a home-based business opportunity? Who do you know who would be upset with you for NOT sharing my website with them. Please forward this to all of those people and ask them to forward it to their list of “Who Do You Know’s”. They will be eternally grateful and so will I. Thank you.

The best part about this business and the internet today is that you don’t even have to live nearby to order them. So what if you live in East Undershirt instead of Las Vegas. Get some candles from AJ!

I’m a very organized person, at least as far as my finances go. That being said, I usually have my taxes done within a week of receiving all my W-2’s. And for those who might ask, I do my taxes by myself, and the long way. No software, only a calculator. As an individual with a relatively small refund, it’s not worth it to me to pay a professional to do my 1040EZ or spend money on a software program to do the 1040EZ for me. (And for those who cannot fill out a 1040EZ by themselves, I think you should seriously reconsider returning to elementary school.)

Why do I do my taxes by myself and risk all the hair-pulling stress? A couple of reasons. One, I just like the sense of accomplishment that comes from being able to do my own taxes. A few times I’ve had some special forms to fill out, but nothing I can’t find out on my own, especially with the IRS website being so user-friendly. Two, I want to know exactly where I stand financially. It goes hand in hand with being self-sufficient, I think. I mean, what kind of single woman trying to make it in the world doesn’t know where they stand financially? If I can stay in control of my life financially, then I can handle anything.

I was reading some news online today and I saw some articles regarding the Telephone Excise Tax Refund. Since I ended up owing this year, I’m holding out till the last minute to file my taxes. These articles, though, made clear something I was not aware of though (since I can usually get through my taxes without the instruction booklet except for the actual tax owed part). Just about everyone is eligible for this refund, and the IRS is making it easy for those who don’t have nearly 4 years worth of phone bills handy. They made a standard refund amount between $30-60 depending on your filing status, and no documentation is required if you take the standard refund. I quickly went back to my taxes, found form 1040 on the IRS website, and recalculated. Now the amount I owe is $30 lower than what I had originally thought. That brings it down from $105 to $75. Still not excited about having to pay, but two digits is better than three.

So for all those doing taxes (which should be everyone, unless you aren’t required to file US Federal taxes), don’t forget to take this deduction. It’s line 71 on the 1040, or you can find out more information here.

Your Gemstone is Aquamarine

Intuitive, tranquil, and trusting. You inspire others to have faith in themselves.

What Gemstone Are You?

I hab a code right now. I hate being sick, but with enough rest I feel well enough to go to work. So it will be a quiet weekend in for me as I rest up and try to get all this snot out of my head. At least I’m not as sick as some people I know. A certain friend of mine at work is sick, and he’s been out of work since I threw him out on Tuesday after I caught him collapsed on his desk. He works hard, plays hard, and gets sick the same way, so I don’t expect to see him until Monday. Which means I’ll be doing his payroll too. Joy.

I did my taxes last night. I owe just over $100. I took the standard deduction, which always works out better than itemizing since I’ve really got nothing to itemize. I guess I ought to change my deductions so that I don’t owe next year. I thought I had it figured out so that I’d break even, but apparently I made a mistake somewhere. Ah well, such is life.

Well I did manage to get a few more hours at the store, and there could be some hours available for me at our sister store in the same mall. Also, F hired me at his security company, but since I’m really not keen on doing patrols or anything like that, I’ll be doing dispatch 2 nights a week, starting tonite. I’m soooo gonna love the graveyard shift, but hey, it’s money. At least I’ll have the same schedule every week so I can work around it. I’ll step up the job hunt after the holidays, since no one really hires at this time of year. Also, I do want to wait to see what the situation is where Sparkling Butterfly works. The product they produce and distribute is very much in demand, so I know they can bounce back from it, but once things are investigated further and the severity of the situation is known, then I’ll know for sure if I have a job there or not. And if I do, I’m still torn on whether or not the job would be secure. Anyhoo.

I do have enough money for this month, barely. I get my paycheck from my previous job today, plus I got some money for Christmas. I also have some money coming to me from my old 401K, only about $500 but it will help. And cashing it out won’t make much difference in my taxes since it’s so small an amount. I’m still considering where I can cut back on my monthly bills. Rent, no. Car, no. Insurance, no. Electric - can be more considerate. Cell phone, no, since it’s my only phone. Internet - no fucking way. Cable - well, still working on that one. I don’t watch much tv anymore, but do I really want to cancel cable? I’ve had cable ever since I can remember, from way back when we had the old slider box tethered to the tv by a long cord running across the room. Maybe I can just go down to basic. I don’t know yet. I need to think about it, and catch up on all the programs I have in my DVR.

So that’s the news for now. I need to get a few more hours sleep since I have to work 5:30-10 at the store and 1-9 at the security company. Then I get to do it all over again tomorrow. Joy.

Just when I thought things were turning around, that they were going to go really well with a new fun job and all that jazz, it blew up. I was supposed to start my new job today, and was just on my way out the door when Sparkling Butterfly called me and told me to come in at 9 instead of 8. No big deal, I’ll go out and have a proper breakfast. She called me back about 20 minutes later (I hadn’t yet left the house) and told me there’s some crap going on and to take the day off. Ok, a little nervous now but fine. So I went back to bed and slept until about 3:30. Much needed sleep, really.

Anyway, I called her back when I got up and she sounded really drained. Lots of drama, and as much as she wants to hire me and really needs my help now more than anything, she doesn’t know if there’s enough money in payroll to pay her, never mind a new person. Yup, it’s the big E word. Soooo, I don’t even know if that job is going to happen right now. She will call me back this weekend and let me know what’s going on.

So now I have no income except for the pocket change I make at the store. I will ask for more hours at the store, but 2 things about that - it won’t be much because the budget is tight and I don’t make that much there, and well, ok maybe that was just 1 thing. I called F - he runs a security company and said he can get me a job as a guard. It still won’t be a ton of money, but it will be something. It’s so not up my alley, but again, it’s something.

So now I’m just really scared, financially, but that affects everything. I need to spend some time tomorrow going over some things and see where I can cut back. This just sucks, and I don’t want to lose anything either, ya know?

I took the morning off from work to get my rent situation straightened out. What a major PITA. First, I had to wait for the office to open. Then I went in there with all my evidence: copy of the duplicate of the check I wrote, my rent invoice without the sumbittal stub, and the pay or quit notice. I spoke to the property manager of the month, and she diligently went through the deposit logs for the entire month, but didn’t see my check in there. Then, since the other leasing agent in the office said she remembered me handing her my rent, the manager of the month searched through desks, files, and other places to see if it had been misplaced. Now, about this other leasing agent saying I gave her my rent - she is not the person I handed it to, it was someone totally different. But, it helped my case because someone remembered me coming in to pay so they knew I wasn’t just blowing smoke up their asses. Anyhoo, after searching high and low, it was determined that my rent check has vanished into thin air. The MOTM said that if I write her a check today, she will clear my balance to $0, and recommended that I stop payment on the other check. She also offered to credit the fee for the stop payment to my rent account, which was great.

So, I left the apartments, went to the bank (dropping off my electric bill on the way), got the stop payment order and a receipt for it, went back to the apartments, found they were closed for lunch, went and hung out at my place for a few minutes, went back to the office, gave them a copy of the stop payment order, then was on my way to work. Of course, the morning’s events had me aggravated again, so I stopped by F’s office to bitch and complain for a few minutes before heading into my own office. By that time, my head was pounding and my stomach was on fire. Good thing I thought to bring in my antacids.

Work went well today, even though I’m still quite a bit bored. The sales manager is really glad that I’ve taken over the one account I’m working on, because it frees her up to be out and about bidding on jobs. Also, she finally noticed that I am super bored so she encouraged the rest of the staff to give me stuff to do. As long as I don’t become a mindless clerical worker, I’m ok with that. It beats being bored, but like I said, I want to DO something not just keep busy. So, today was the first day since I started there that I felt positive about the job.

I did a bunch of Christmas shopping tonight. That’s going on the card, since there’s no way in heck I’d be able to Christmas shop and keep to a budget. I love giving gifts and will go overboard if I have an extra dollar, so I’m trying to keep the shopping itself to a minimum. I just want to hit a couple of stores and bang it all out, man-style. I pretty much know what I want to get people, so if I can get with the least amount of shopping trips/stores visited possible, I’ll spend less than my normal shopping style, which is to hit mall after mall and keep collecting things until I have no idea that I got so much freaking stuff.

So, with that in mind, it’s getting late here and I really need to sleep, since the rent issue and paying bills kept me up so darn late last night.

Oh yeah, my to-do list seems to be multiplying exponentially. I’m so freaking busy lately that nothing ever seems to get done anymore. That’s got to stop. I mean, I love having the social life I’ve had lately, and I have no intention of stopping. But so much as fallen off the wagon, so to speak, that I feel really out of control of my life.

I got paid today and paid my bills (just about done that now). I finally entered the pile of credit card receipts into Quicken that I had from my trip, which was a month ago now. I noticed a discrepancy with my rental car charges, so I filled out that paperwork and got it ready to send off. As I was taking care of my books, I managed to find the surface of my desk. There’s still lots more organizing to do on and around the desk, but it’s a start, and it makes me feel better that I did the bit that I did.

Even though I feel better about getting my bills paid and desk clean, I did come home tonite to another frickin notice that my rent is overdue. Um, no it isn’t. I paid it in person on Saturday the 2nd. I handed it to the manager. Personally handed it to her. How in the heck can they think I haven’t paid it yet? I’m really pissed off about this, because they obviously don’t have their act together in the office. I’m gonna have to be late to work to take care of it, but I will take care of this in the morning. I mean, I made special arrangements to get it paid on time by borrowing money from F and taking out a cash advance on my credit card (I know, big no-no). But I went to humiliating and extreme measures because I never pay anything late. Never. So for me to go to such effort and have them pull this shit just, just - ok, breathe. Save it for the right people.

I got one holiday present out of the way. I decided to make a mix CD of silly and child-friendly holiday music for my little bro, Boo. There’s some Muppets Christmas songs on there, since he totally loves Elmo, and a funny surprise that will amuse Boo when it makes milk come out of Mommy’s nose.

I was over VegasRic’s house the other night, and I noticed that he has taken to writing to-do lists on his bathroom mirror. I looked at it and thought, hey, dry erase markers work on mirrors. So I did the same thing and put my list where it can’t get buried. Hopefully it works. I’m at the point where I have to really make an effort to get shit done around here because it’s really bugging me that I’ve had absolutely no motivation to get it done. Now I want to get it done and stop being so lazy in the little time I have to myself at home when I’m actually awake.

And the oversleeping thing. Well, this morning I was on time, but not without great effort and annoyance. But I wasn’t as annoyed as I am when I oversleep. Monday I was a half hour late for a Monday Meeting. Not good. Tomorrow I will be late to keep from getting evicted from Incompetent Estates. That one will be worth it.

Anyhoo, since it’s 1:30am and way past my bedtime, I really ought to get going to pay a couple more bills online and get my butt to bed. I’ll catch up on other stuff later.

I need to sleep. I’ve spent the last week and a half nearly falling asleep at work, being late for work, and keeping my usual wild hours. Yesterday I went home and went to bed fairly early, but still overslept this morning. I need a new tactic when it comes to my alarm clock. Normally, I use my cell phone as an alarm clock, with a small travel alarm clock in the bathroom as a backup. Neither one of these has a snooze feature, so I need to be able to get up when they go off. But I like the snooze, so I have the travel clock set for about 20 minutes after the cell phone. This obviously isn’t working. This morning, when I realized that I had overslept again, I looked at my travel clock and the alarm was turned off. I know I set it before I went to bed, because I made a point of doing it. So the only thing I can figure is that I went to sleep after my cell phone went off (which I do remember) and slept so deeply that I got up, walked across the room, turned the alarm off, and went back to bed without any memory of this event. So, seeing as how mornings are totally not my strong suit, here’s my plan:

• Set cell phone for 5:30am
• Set travel clock for 5:30am
• Set computer alarm clock program for 5:30am

This total alarm clock assault should get me on my feet and bring me to consciousness. We’ll find out on Monday.

In the meantime, I’m gonna get to sleep. I have tomorrow off with no plans, which I’m actually looking forward to, and then I need to ready myself for the next month in the retail world. AJ turned in her notice at the store and Assistant Shoe Boss has been recruited away and will most likely be leaving us, so I offered to be a keyholder in AJ’s place so that Shoe Boss will live to see Christmas. But of course that means that instead of getting out at 9:30 or 10pm, I’ll be working until 10:30 or later, and possibly more than my usual 2 weeknights and Sundays. But I could use the money, especially since I’ve been putting a lot of things on the credit card lately and since I’ll have to borrow money to pay my rent this month. Yuk. I hate having to do that, but I suppose swallowing my pride is better than the alternative.

That’s all for now. Good night, and have a great Thanksgiving.

Why is it, when I have a day off with no plans, that I end up with lots to do? So far today I’ve been playing on the computer, but I did get the slides for church done and organized some of the songs to (hopefully) make putting the slides together a bit quicker.

Now I’m looking around my apartment and it’s bugging the sh!t out of me that I’ve let it go so much since the accident, so it’s a lot of cleaning to do, which I would like to get done. I’m leaving early Monday morning and I don’t want to get back to town and have to clean it then. It’s mostly just picking stuff up, since I get these lazy streaks where I just put things down wherever and let it stay there. Now I have piles of stuff everywhere.

I also have to do laundry, so most likely I’ll do that after work tomorrow evening. I’m going out later in the evening, but that won’t be until 10 or so, possibly later so I’ll have plenty of time to get it done. And at the same time I suppose I’ll pack. I just gotta think of the best way to pack for a road trip with a cast on my arm.

I’ve got some friends offering me some work in the meantime. VegasRic wants me to write descriptions for one of his websites, which is cool but we need to hook up because I’ve done a few already and they aren’t showing, so I need to make sure I’m doing it correctly. Also I woke up to an IM from another friend this morning asking for help filing and organizing in his office if I have time this weekend, so I’ll clear Saturday day for that. There’s a Halloween party to go to Saturday night but I think I can fit it all in. Besides working a lot at the store, this extra stuff will help. I hate asking for help, but if I can make myself useful for a few bucks, then I feel better about it. Speaking of money, be sure to check out the links on the right labeled “Help Me Make a Buck”. Buy something through one of those links, like that new MacBook you’ve been coveting or some way cool organizing products, and help me make a little extra money.

I am getting so sick of having this stupid cast on. I’ve been working as hard as I can at the store, to the best of my current physical abilities, but I’ve been trying too hard. My doctor would probably have a shit fit if he saw me at work. I’m getting used to the cast, but I want to flex my wrist so. fucking. bad. right now it’s not even funny. I’m sure those of you who have broken bones in the past know what I’m talking about. Typing is easier now that I’ve gotten used to it, but my backspace key still hates me. Just hold on a bit longer, babe, and you’ll get to rest soon.

That’s it for now. I think I’ll get some food in my tummy and get some things picked up around here. And before I go, big hugs to VegasRic. He needs a sense of normalcy due to all the stupid bullshit drama going on right now. He’s a great friend to me, so I really hope I can be the same for him.

Thank you soooooooooo much Dad, I cannot even begin to tell you how much I appreciate everything you do for me.

See, my dad owns a garage and used car lot, but since I moved to Vegas, it’s been of little help to me, because he is in New Hampshire. You can link to him in my link list. Anyway, when I told Dad that the adjuster totalled my car, a 2003 Kia Spectra, he asked me how I’d like a 2005 Ford Focus. Hey, at this point I’d like something with 4 wheels and an engine. But I have nothing against the Focus. Dad’s in tight with the credit union he does business with, so he can get repo’s really cheap. This is a repo, and in decent shape save for a few dents and desire for interior detailing. So Dad’s fixing it up for me, and the cheapest way to get it to me is for me to fly home and drive it back. That I’d be more than willing to do, so I just might be doing that next week. I’ll let you know.

Oh, the cost. Can’t forget to tell you this. A 4-yr loan, with my $1,000 deductible rolled in, at a much lower interest rate than I have now (Dad won’t mark it up at all) will result in my car payment being about $100/mo less than the Kia. Can I have an Amen?

I had a really bad experience buying the Kia, so I was never attached to it and I’m not sad to see it go. But it turned out to be a very safe little car, since all I ended up with was a broken hand and not even a scratch elsewhere. Even my back and neck are fine - in fact, they’ve never felt better. So even though I was not fond of that car solely because of the circumstances under which it was acquired, I thank God that I was in such a safe vehicle at that unfortunate moment.

Now, I’m hoping for a quick, impromptu visit with my family and cross country drive, in which I hope to avoid hotel stays by visiting friends and family along the way, getting back to Vegas in time to start a new job. Lots of things to work on during the next few days, and lots of possibilities around the corner.

Now if I could just type at a pace other than backwards. I just hope my backspace key holds out!

Man, being in an accident adds a million things to one’s to do list. I was trying to train my replacement at work today but between calls from my family and a dozen different people at the insurance company, I don’t think she learned much.

My dad said if the adjuster totals my car then he will look into sending one out to me, which would be awesome. Aside from my deductible, I do have gap insurance so if dad can do that then it would mean no more car payment. Gotta love when Dads do stuff like that. So now I am hoping that’s the way it turns out.

I’m getting the permanent cast on Wednesday. I am so going to hate the next 4-6 weeks. I did manage to go grocery shopping tonite, but I gotta do smaller trips. At least I have nice strong canvas bags so that I can carry everything in one hand easily. I’m also attempting to do laundry right now, so we’ll see how that goes.

It looks like I’m gonna have to start using my dishwasher. I’m not a fan of them, but I can’t manage doing dishes on my own with one hand, so that’s the way it’s gotta go. Besides, I can put my pots and pans in there too, so that will help assuming it does a halfway decent job.

I’ve had enough typing for now. I’m gonna finish doing my laundry and have some dinner.

It seems I’m getting a lot of visitors to this post via Google. That particular charge, which I put in that post excatly as it was written on my credit card bill, and like me, many people are turning to the power of Google to figure out what the heck it is. As far as I’ve been able to tell, it’s a company in Singapore that sells phone cards. I don’t know if it’s legit or not, but someone is buying $10 and $20 phone cards through that company with our credit card numbers. Like one of my commenters said, it sometimes happens that crooks will actually go through random numbers and see if they get a hit. Heck, we do that in my line of work - not with credit card numbers, but phone numbers. (I’ll explain. We’re headhunters, and when trying to recruit people we have to try and get names and to the right person through a gatekeeper, aka receptionist. This tactic isn’t very successful, especially if you don’t know a name. So what we’ll do is after hours, call the main number to a company and the phone tree. 555-1000. Then, if there’s no directory, we’ll start dialing numbers - 555-1001, 555-1002, etc. to see what the voice mail messages say. It’s suprisingly successful.) So it appears that’s what is happening here. So, if anyone gets that weird charge on their credit card bills, it’s fraudulent! Don’t take no for an answer! Make sure you get the fraud department, make sure they close your account and issue you a new card number, and make sure they send you the fraud paperwork.

I got a new card with a new number, my online stuff was transferred to the new number, and I got the paperwork, which I sent in right away. It’s a simple one page easy to understand form, and since the only other thing I was using that card for was my storage unit it was very easy to see what charges are fraudulent. Be vigilant and check your statements carefully!

Good luck to all who have this problem.

I left work fairly frustrated today. One of the projects that I will quite possibly never finish is to clean up the database. It seems that every time I figure out how to standardize a particular feature and start on it (we have over 400,000 contacts and 30,000 companies in the db), the team comes up with something new to do. Lately it’s been renumbering the documents that are on the server to bring it more in line with the files in the db, since the db automatically assigns an ID number to every record and this will make it easier to find related docs/records. No big deal, but today, when I am well into this phase of the project, yet another method of organizing the documents comes up. I really don’t agree with this new method for a number of reasons. Previously, the docs were being filed geographically. Makes sense, especially when the way they should be accessed is directly from the database, since we can attach the docs to the record that way instead of going through folders on the server. Now, within these geographical confines, they want the docs broken down further into categories, which will require me to open each and every doc and read it thorougly to determine which category it will go in. Now here’s what I don’t get. Some members of the team want me to be a cheerleader/whipcracker to get them to use the database more, because of it has the ability to store all of the information we need and has many wonderful features. One of these features is search codes. If a simple search can be run in the database using these search codes, among other fields, then why do the docs need to be organized by category? So they can continue to not use the database that we pay bucketloads of money to keep the license on every year? If that’s the way they want to do things, then why the heck don’t we just go back to a pure paper system or use a simple contact management system instead of our very complete, very expensive database? So we can use the built-in IM program to see what everyone is getting for lunch? I’ve had it up to my eyeballs right now. I’ve never meant this so much as I do today, but TGIF!!!!!

< /end rant>

I’ve noticed something about myself. The more I blog and the more I want to spend time doing anything and everything related to blogging, the more frustrated I am or the more there is something in my day to day life that I want to avoid. I do really enjoy blogging, frustrations or no, but the intensity picks up with the intensity of other issues. I don’t know, I guess it just means I have some stuff to figure out. I do have one big thing figured out (the cryptic issue I keep referring to that will be revealed in more detail at a later date), but I need to figure out the “in the meantime” stuff to keep me sane and help me work towards my goals, which all lead to cryptic issue. When it’s safe to reveal cryptic issue I’ll talk more and this will make so much more sense to all of you. In the meantime I’ll just continue to discuss it with my head-shrinker.

I’m working on a few additional revenue sources. I won’t put AdSense on my blog, mainly because I want total and complete control over all the content, but I do have a few affiliate programs that I signed up for when I was trying to start an organizing business. The website I had is gone, but an email from amazon last week made me realize that I am still signed up and could still make use of that. So I dusted off my old records, logged into my accounts, changed the websites involved, and put up some links. You’ll find them in the new section titled “Help Me Make A Buck.” I’m also working on a few other affiliate things, so you might see more things there in the future. I’ll never put something up on there that I wouldn’t personally use myself - it’s just not my style. And you’ll never find a paypal or straight out donation button. Again, not my style. I figure if I’m gonna make some money, at least I’m gonna work for it in some way, shape, or form, and you’ll get something out of it. If you feel the need to give for the sake of giving, there are people needier than me, so let them benefit from your charitable mood. My favorite is this one. (I bet you never figured me to be a good Christian, eh?)

I was brought back to the idea of a road trip recently. As I mentioned way in the beginning when I first started my blog, I drove here to Vegas from my home state of Massachusetts. Since I had a rental truck and my dad with me, who was short on time, I didn’t get to see anything except I-70 and a bunch of truck stops most of the way, along with a few other roads on either end of that. But man, was that drive invigorating! I love all things road related, and I even have a (very) small photo collection of road signs. Unfortunately for me, I never think about taking a picture of something until I’ve gone well past it. But this guy must be making a living or something by attempting to photograph nearly every road sign in the country and then some. If you like signs like I do, check it out. Two other cool websites for road tripping are here and here. I’ll add all of these to my links in the sidebar.

Well, now that I’ve calmed down from my day at work, thanks in part to that free crack massage that some dealer is trying to get me addicted to so I’ll spend a ton of money on one of their massage beds, I think I’ll surf a few hundred more blogs before I turn in for the night. Tomorrow is Saturday, my only day off, and I’ve got the usual list of errands to run before church and work at Job#2 on Sunday afternoon. ‘Til later, then.

On a whim, I decided to sign up for a blog at Blogcharm just to see if this whole make money blogging thing is for real. But I’m not a fan of random ad content being on my blog (the #1 reason why I won’t sign up for AdSense here). My first post is here. Reading the terms of service has me a bit concerned. I know they probably want to create a friendly community, and I can understand some of the terms concerning splogs and posting frequency and such, but just in case my blog disappears, here’s the text of the post:

September 7, 2006 - The Obligatory First Post Post
“Wow, my first blog post!” How many times have you seen that before? I’ve seen it too many times to count. But, alas, I had to write it. I signed up for another blog, I don’t even know how many I have now all over the net. I suppose I ought to rein them in somehow. My purpose here is to see if this make money blogging thing is for real, so I’ll update periodically just to keep fairly current, but it’s not my main blog. And, after reading the terms of service, I’m wondering if I can even mention where I live:

Come on now, I live in Las Vegas! I occasionally go to those places where those activities occur and on rare occasions participate in it myself. Am I not allowed to mention that? I’m curious to find out. We’ll see if my blog is still here tomorrow. But for now, sleep beckons.

Get that? No gambling or casino-related content? Living where I do I find it very difficult to talk about my daily life here without mentioning that at all. Even if I don’t frequent the casinos, I drive by them every day, I hear slot machines ringing in my sleep, and because of the nature of this town, the mere mention of Vegas, where I live, is enough to get my blog deleted automatically. Gimme a frickin break!

Something tells me I won’t be there much longer. Besides, their ready made templates suck ass worse than the ones found here. And I know I won’t get my Blogger blog deleted for saying that, because Blogger believes in free speech, for the most part.

And that’s ok. Today was the first day in a very, very long time that did not require me to do anything - no work, no errands, no other have-to’s. It was quite nice. I woke up around 10:30 and spent the next 6 hours or so online. Then I decided to try and get a few things done around the house, which was quasi-successful. I did clear off the floor, with the exception of a small pile of books. I also cleared off my dining table and mail pit, and picked up my clothes and got them ready for laundry, which I’ll do tomorrow. At this point in the day I really don’t feel like putting clothes on just to do laundry. I hate public laundry rooms.

I also found a little bit of desk surface, but I still have tons to do as far as getting organized there, which is always the case. I mean, cleaning my desk is being hungry - I might do something about it, but it’s not long until I need to eat again. So I’ve decided to try and do a little bit at a time. If I only do 1 thing a day, that’s progress. Now I just need to keep to the determination to not let it get like that again. Sure. And I won’t ever be hungry again either. But, I did purchase a 3-subject notebook awhile back, which is quickly becoming my net book. Section 1 is all music related, section 2 has nothing so far, and section 3 is where I write down all sorts of sites to visit and other net related notes. It’s much better than putting them on post-its, which was my previous method. That was wildly unsuccessful.

I do still have things to do around the house, but it’s getting late and I’m getting hungry. I’ve been so busy online all day that I’ve not really eaten much. As for the things to do, I just need to keep my resolve to not make the situation worse (aka no dumping grounds) and try to do 1 thing a day, at least on days I don’t have to work both jobs. We’ll see how long this lasts.

And BTW, I did not win at the casino last night. My postcard was not a winner. But I did received a coupon to put in for a drawing at the end of the month to try and win a number of cash prizes. I do have to be present to win, but it’s on a Saturday so I’ll mark it on my calendar. I’d hate to win and then lose it by not being there.

I also talked with Shoe Boss yesterday about possibly expanding my duties there. The biggest hurdle is my availability, which cannot and will not change due to my main job. But she did really appreciate the offer, so we shall see. With the coming holiday season and possible expanded mall hours from Thanksgiving to New Years, it could come in very handy, even if I am only a backup person and not a full fledged keyholder.

That’s about it for now. Time for me to eat dinner and continue my lack of production by sitting my ass in front of the tv. Tomorrow it’s back to work.

I got out of work an hour early, so I used that time to get my car smogged and the oil changed before going home. I also got the air filter changed since it was disgusting, and bought new wiper blades because the 1 time a year I use them I’m gonna find out they’re rotted and won’t be able to find any anywhere because the other 1.8 million people in this city are all in the same boat. It’s been about a year since I had them changed anyway. So I got all that done, went home and got the mail. I opened the credit card bill (the smaller card that Dad doesn’t know I have) and I see a charge on there. Now, I’m not really using this card anymore except for my storage unit, so there should only be payments and storage on there. But I also saw a $10 charge for ENETS-SUNSHINE TELE SINGAPORE. Um, weird. I don’t recall going to Singapore recently. So I called the card company. When I told the guy what the mysterious charge was, he looked at it on my account and said, “Yeah, I’ve had quite a few of those today. Let me transfer you to the fraud department.” Just what I need. I am super careful with my credit card. This particular one isn’t used online, ONLY in person, and it never even leaves my house. To keep from using this and others, I keep them locked in a safe place far away from my purse. So that account is now closed and paperwork to start a fraud investigation is on its way, to be followed by a new card with a new account number. Something tells me the fraud is at Credit Card Company, since the guy there recognized the charge and knew it was fraudulent. Oh, and get this - apparently there is also a charge that I’ve yet to be billed for from something called ACHAT. Hmmm, I wonder what the A stands for? I checked my other accounts and there was nothing unusual on them, so this breach was definitely not from my own carelessness. I can’t wait to see what this so-called fraud investigation uncovers. In the meantime, if any news comes out following a data breach at Chase Credit Cards, then I’m gonna be really pissed off.

I still have to register the car, but I relized that paying for it out of my checking would leave me just $10 for the next week. Not acceptable. So I’ll put that on the credit card Dad does know about and is helping me pay down. I figure he’ll be less pissed about that versus gas and groceries (aka daily living expenses) going on it.

And, maybe, just maybe, I can get a promotion and possible raise at Job#2. AJ is a keyholder, and is getting really burned out since she’s been doing that, along with her full-time job as a mom, plus her candy and digiscrap shops on the side, she’s just exhausted. Plus her husband was never thrilled wtih the idea of her working since she works nights and never sees him. So I will casually bring up a conversation about it with Shoe Boss. I mean, right now I do like having a second job that I don’t have to think at, but it would be a bit more money, a few more hours (about 2 more per week than I do now) and would put me in a slightly better financial position (pay off cards and prepare for future plans). My availability doesn’t change at all, so I’m not sure I can give Shoe Boss what she needs, but she did offer me the position a few years ago when I turned in my notice and another keyholder quit the next day. She and I both know there are no doubts about my ability to do the job. And it might be easier for Shoe Boss to hire another regular salesperson than to hire a keyholder, so it might make perfect sense. AJ would also be willing to go down to a salesperson position, so we’ll see. I’ll let you know how the conversation goes.

My mom ran up my phone bill tonite - nearly 1/5 of my minutes in one conversation. Gotta be conservative with the phone, don’t want to go over again. Actually, this was a two-sided conversation that started with discussions about her quick home sale. She’s going looking tomorrow and will let me know how that goes. This will be different, that’s for sure.

As I’m sitting here writing this post, something weird happened. My 13-yr-old nephew Bubba signed onto AIM. The weird part is that it’s nearly 1am where he is, and I know he should be asleep. That boy sleeps like a log, so I don’t believe that he’d wake up in the middle of the night and go online, or even be up this late with one of his friends. Someone needs to have a talk with him - check this out:

Kirsten: someone’s up past their bedtime
BUBBA: hye whats up
BUBBA: hye whats up
Kirsten: not much u
Kirsten: I’m blogging
Kirsten: as usual
Kirsten: what are you doing up so late
BUBBA: masterbating
Kirsten: scuse me
BUBBA: jk wrong im
Kirsten: have you gotten that talk yet?
BUBBA: nope will u tell me
BUBBA: lol
Kirsten: seriously kid, what are you doing
BUBBA: nothing
BUBBA: just chilling
Kirsten: with whom
BUBBA: me myself and i
Kirsten: well you’re not sounding like the bubbaloo I know
BUBBA signed off at 9:57:21 PM.

Now, I do realize that at 13 years old he will be a bit curious and want to talk about that - I mean, I’ve seen his MySpace. But no way in heck would he ever be that disrespectful towards his Aunty. The scariest thing was that just before he signed off, I was about to tell him to not be disrespecting his aunt like that. What was so scary about it was that I was going to use the exact words and tone that my sister, Bubba’s mom, would use. Which means that my sister and I are - *gasp* - no,no, it can’t be - but it is - we’re ALIKE!!!!! Two people who are as different as night and day and even less complimentary, yet somehow born of the same two people, actually have something in common besides parents. Shit.

Now that I’ve spent waaaayyyy too much time on the phone with my mom, and as usual too much time blogging, I must eat dinner before Friday turns into Saturday and dinner becomes breakfast. And, even though I did manage to remember to get my car smogged today, I do have a few errands to do tomorrow, including the just-added Go To Storage Unit Place and Change Credit Card Payments (before the 10th when my next automatic payment comes out and I’m charged extra for it being rejected).

Ok, here it is. I’ve finally compiled all my receipts, notes and other various scraps of paper to get my spending report for you. This encompasses the time from when I left my house to go to the airport to the time I arrived back at my house. Spending since then will be updated later.

Wednesday, August 9:
$2 - tip shuttle driver
$2.79 - Whopper Jr with Cheese at the airport. I was hungry, what can I say?

Thursday, August 10:
$2.76 at Airport Dunkin Donuts. Couldn’t wait!
$1.25 for T (subway) pass
$12.95 for comfy shirt at LL Bean outlet when I went out with Aunt Bird and Uncle N Period.

Friday, August 11:
$13 - haircut by Belching Biker Babe
$1.25 - soda at mall
$21 at Build-a-Bear for Messy J’s birthday present
$19.99 at Best Buy for Bubba’s birthday present
$6.95 for greeting cards (had to get Bubba a talking one)
$1.50 at supermarket for soda to drink since Mom doesn’t buy diet, and so I could get more cash

Saturday, August 12:
$3.99 - soda for Dad since Mom didn’t buy stuff everyone likes
$2.82 for gift wrapping supplies for kids
$.97 for travel sized mousse (I ran out)
$1.88 for socks because I didn’t pack well enough

Sunday, August 13:
$5 - offering at church
$3.97 - paintballs on clearance for Bubba

Monday, August 14:
$20 - gas for gas hog Mustang Dad gave me to drive (no complaints, though - it rides much better than my dinky Kia)
$9 - movie admission for me and Bubba
$27.22 - food at movies for me and Bubba, includes tip
$1.99 - gift wrap for Gram to wrap present I bought a long time ago and brought with me
$14.48 - at bookstore, magazine for me and sticker kit for Messy J

Tuesday, August 15:
$6.67 - lunch at mall
$4.49 - Drake’s Ring Dings to bring home
$4.31 - crappy new recipe Fribble at Friendly’s

Wednesday, August 16:
$.97 - Donut for me and Boo
$5 - gas to make it those last few miles
$4.59 - awesome roast beef sandwich
$1.25 - T pass
$8.90 - dinner at inflated airport prices
$2.61 - snack at inflated airport prices
$47 - parking fee for the week
$2.00 - tip shuttle driver

I love shopping in tax free New Hampshire (as opposed to our 7.75% here in Las Vegas). I hate inflated captive audience airport prices. And I love love love my family and friends who fed me and entertained me and unwittingly saved me money in the process. Thank you!