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Archive for March, 2009

Busy Couple of Days.

April 1st, 2009 at 05:29 am

Yesterday I spent a long time and energy booking my long awaited vacation for this year. I ended up going at least full circle of my original plans. I originally planned on a a tour of Costa Rica for a week to 14 days last year. Then things didn't go as planned so I thought maybe a short cruise. The cruises weren't exactly what I wanted so I looked into just a short stay in Aruba. Then thought about it and decided I could do the same thing in Costa Rica which is where I wanted to go in the first place. LOL.
So I booked a flight and hotel to San Jose, Costa Rica for 5 nights starting the end of May. I can book the little excursions that I want to take right from the hotel. Some of the main things I want to do is a canopy tour and a trip to Arenal vulcano. I'll also explore San Jose and its museums. There seems to be endless amounts of things to see there but this will satisfy my travel bug and give me a taste of the country to maybe go back again another time.

I received a phishing scam email yesterday for a credit card that I no longer have. I called the credit card up to report it and they asked me to forward the email to them.

Today I picked up my tax papers finally from HR Block. All I have to do now is send in the city taxes. The rest is being e-filed. I think I did pretty good. I will get $1484 back from Federal and $134
back from Ohio. Pretty much pays for vacation more or less.

I did some exploring with a friend of mine today. We went to a covered bridge and a cemetary thats supposed to be haunted. It wasn't scary but it was a nice day outside. We also stopped at another "haunted" cemetary. It wasn't scary at all but it was historically interesting. There were quite a few civil war veterans burried there and one tombstone that said "Hero of Bunker Hill" from a Revolutionary War veteran.
Otherwise I was more interested in some near by cows. I tried to trick them to come to me by pretending I had an apple. They edged closer and closer but wouldn't fall for it.
All in all it was a pretty good day.

Payday update

March 21st, 2009 at 05:50 am

Didn't get to start work till 5 pm. today, so ran some errands on my way.
Got a new pair of Nike shoes that I needed desperately. They feel sooooo good.

Then I picked up my paycheck that I should have got on Thursday but forgot.
There is a bank right next to my store so I just walked over to do my banking.
They had a bunch of leftover chicken at work from yesterday so I got free food again today.

From this check I paid myself back the last $40 that I owed myself from the car repairs I had done in December. So thats one more completed goal.

I also put $40 extra towards this months mortage principal, and another $10 towards my 2010 IRA. On my next payday I'll be able to put a bit towards my emergency fund. Ohhh right now I have about $1900 in my E-Fund. This year I'll add at least my $400 goal to it plus whatever interest that account earns. Next year I'll try to put a bit more into it than I can do this year.

Thats all I got as far as updates are concerned. I'm still researching for a vacation this summer. For some reason I'm having a difficult time planning things out. I have been considering a cruise but it looks like I will be travelling alone and they charge for 2 people regardless. To me that seems insane. Now I'm considering Aruba. I saw a deal that was about $1077 for airfare and 5 nights in a hotel there. It seemed really nice and I almost just booked it right then and there.
But then I thought I should research how safe Aruba is and also get a better idea of what entertaining myself there would cost. Does anyone have any opinion about if Aruba would be worth seeing? Or if anyone has a good suggestion of someplace else that might be better for a 4 or 5 day trip? Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.

crazies

March 20th, 2009 at 05:50 am

Today was a very odd day. In some regards it was one of the better days I've had in awhile. But some strange (scary, not so good) things were going on too.
It was payday but silly me forgot to get my check. So I'll post my payday update ater I get the check.

One of the good things to start out today was that I seemed to be getting pretty nice customers. That doesn't happen as often as you might think. When they are nice its easier to help them and be extra nice to them in return. Good for everyone. After I helped one woman she was very happy and a new manager either heard the conversation or she told him. Anyway he came over and thanked me for the good customer service.

We also got a free chicken dinner at work today (chicken, cole slaw, beans, buns,cake.) that was all quite good.

The bad (scary) thing that happened was that several people got the text messages that you probably heard about in the news.
The messages basically said that gangs were going to kill women in Wal Mart stores. At first I believe our store kind of tried to keep it quiet but the story spread like wildfire. We lost some customers because they decided not to risk shopping today. A few of us talked with management and talked them into contacting our local police just in case. I'm somewhat surprised that police were not patroling or checking up on us. Even if it was a hoax I think they need to be prepared for a worse case scenerio.
As a safety precaustion our store wouldn't let workers go outside without at least one other person. I had to work outside for awhile to help women to their cars and keep an eye out. Fortunately it supposedly is a nationwide hoax and I think they may have even caught the person that started it. They do deserve to be hung from the highest tree in my opinion. I'm tired of thugs.

There was a similar problem a few days ago. A strange guy was following customers to the front door then walking quickly back to his car. When some of our people went outside to check he jumped into his car and sped off. Then last night a strange man dressed in puple was outside sniffing trees and weird stuff like that. Its not like I live in a huge city where those things are more commonplace. But it doesn't matter anymore. People are getting meaner and crazier everywhere. I really think society has to toughen up on these people or no one will be able to leave their homes. And I'm not a gun advocate either. I think all these people stalking up on guns and ammo are just as crazy. Our store can't even keep up with the supply of bullets anymore. Some guys are buying thousands of dollars worth of ammo. And they openly talk about how when the race war or whatever they think is going to happen comes down that they intend to start killing anyone that gets in their way. Scary times. I think a lot will just eventually blow over but hopefully it doesn't get too much worse first.





Finally a new payday goal update

March 11th, 2009 at 05:25 pm

Payday was last Thursday but didn't get a chance to make a post until now.
I paid another $50 towards my Dec. car repairs. Now I only owe myself $40 and will be done with that on my next payday.

I put $60 towards the extra Mortgage Principal my next house payment. I also designated $10 to add to my 2010 IRA.

I have a bunch of plans for things I want to do this summer. Some are for fun and some are things that need to be done for my house, etc. I don't know if I can get it all done. I seem to run out of time and money is always tight. Like I said in another post I'm basically just taking things one at a time as they come along.
And I'm trying to prioritize the most important things.

Some of the fun things I want to over the next few months


- Already got a Personal day on a Saturday in March to go to the Cleveland Sportsman's show. I'm not really a big fan of the show but I like to go sometimes. I don't like the fishing stuff and guns but there are travel related things I love, animals, gadgets,
and plenty of things that are worth seeing.

- Camping. I plan on camping at least 3 times and going canoeing once. I've already got a weekend off in May set aside for camping. I'm a bit of a freeze baby so you wont see out much before that.
- Walking and hiking. I love walking but have been slack lately and need to walk a lot more. Its good for my physical and mental health.

- Taking a foreign vacation. I keep planning on going to Costa Rica but some things keep getting in the way. So I changed gears a bit and might go on a short Caribbean cruise instead. Regardless of the final destination I'm going SOMEWHERE foreign this summer.

- I'd like to start Fencing again. I fenced for about 2 years and loved it but now I'd have to start all over from scratch. Don't get me wrong I'm not a professional or anything. It was just great excercise and a lot of fun.

-Going to "investigate" a few more supposedly haunted places here in Ohio.
I never see anything but its fun, scary, and interesting to go to these places.

- Take a mostly relaxing (maybe a little scary) week off for Halloween. I pretty much do this every year. I just like Halloween.

Ok there are probably a few more things but thats all I can think of for now. Hopefully I can do all these things and still get the more important less fun things done too.

Well I rambled on enough for now. Everyone have a great day.