I had a fairly decent week this past week, nothing stellar really happened to write home about. But nothing bad happened either. I was entrusted to train a new girl who will be working at the T or C branch on Friday, which was pretty awesome in and of itself. Nothing says your skills are respected and trusted like being asked to train someone. Oh, and I was informed that I’d be getting some extra hours this upcoming week too.

Then I had some asshole run me off the road on Saturday and the PIG who responded to the call didn’t want to believe me, never mind the damage done to my car. He cited the guy who tried to flee the scene for not having insurance only. That was it. Here my side-view mirror is completely taken off, the front and back doors on the driver’s side are smashed up where the guy hit me, and the officer had the nerve to say he doesn’t think it was the guy’s intention to hit me and run me off the road.

Before Saturday my biggest expenses I had to worry about were my Discover card payment, my phone, and maybe buying some telephone batteries. Now I’ve got to get my car fixed and it’s gonna be outta pocket to boot. I dropped my insurance a while back to just liability and uninsured motorist. The minimum coverage you can have. Since the guy was cited for being at fault WHICH HE WAS SINCE HE DELIBERATELY RAN ME OFF THE ROAD, I know my insurance won’t cover the damages. Hell, is it even worth it to report it to my insurance? I’m thinking not. If they won’t fix it, why should I have my rates affected for something that wasn’t my fault?

Although I found some great coupons here for personalized gifts, and I’ve already gotten the vast majority of people on my list taken care of, I’m still hitting a mental wall when it comes to certain people.

Not to mention, I really should get off my butt and order some more address labels for myself. I got a whole heck of a lot of cards to get sent out and only a handful of labels left. That’s not even taking into consideration the fact that I use those things for bills as well. How on earth did I not notice I was running low sooner?

I only need to find two more gifts, and if they do a Secret Santa at work again this year it’ll be three gifts, and I really would like to get them now before everyone starts getting crazy about the countdown to Christmas thing. I hate crowds and holiday crowds are the absolute worst!

I never really realized it before, but my eyelashes don’t seem to be as long or as full as they used to be. I remember I used to have to constantly worry about getting mascara on the lenses of my eyeglasses unless I curled them up, just right. Haven’t had to worry about that for some time now. Despite that, I think they look fine so I won’t be clicking like mad on any beauty ads that read: “for fuller and longer eyelashes, click here“.

It seems like as I get older I trade out the bad things about my appearance for every good thing gained. My forehead isn’t a mess of acne anymore….but my skin can be still be a pain to keep hydrated and oil free. My hands get dry right away, and the heels of my feet get hard unless they get a good scrub and long soak regularly….but at least my legs stay smooth longer.

The bad thing about time off is always going back to work afterward. You get to be away from it all and the thought of returning becomes a “ugh, do I have to?” kind of thing.

At least it’s a Wednesday though, when I go back, so we should be kinda slow tomorrow. Hopefully. That would be nice. Especially if I don’t have to deal with any of the crazy members, like the one who comes in looking to buy morgan dollars, or double eagles, and other rare currency. Seriously, the coins and dollars he asks are for are like, woah. I mean honestly, if anyone brought one of those suckers in the tellers would be buying them for themselves. Believe it.

Or in the case of the coins that are not even supposed to be in circulation, well, we’d be filling our reports on that and we damn sure wouldn’t be handing it back out to the community.

I love my grandfather, really I do. But sometimes, sometimes I would like nothing better to do then to strangle him.

The man is a diabetic, and unless he wants to have one of his own point of care carts at home or be forever on dialysis, he should remember this and eat accordingly.

Ah, but wait, he does remember he’s a diabetic….when it suits him.

Like when it’s Semana Santa during Easter, you know, the whole no eating meat for a week or on Fridays? He remembers he’s diabetic and that the priests say it’s okay to ignore religious dietary guidelines in favor of one’s own health so he ignores those rules and eats plenty of meat during those times. Never mind the fact that, as a diabetic, he doesn’t need to be eating that much beef, let alone pork, and that adding more fish to his diet would actually be a good thing for him.

He’ll remember he’s a diabetic when he’s at family gatherings and eats up the sympathy and “poor you” comments….but then he goes and eats and drinks everything he shouldn’t.

And today, today I find empty candy wrappers, bags of chips, and peanut shells in his truck. This man, honestly.

Well okay then. I’m guessing the end of summer-slash-beginning of fall is baby season, just like June and May seem to be prime wedding months? The reason I ponder this is simple – people where I work can’t seem to get enough of the baby talk. From magazines about parenting, everyone (female that is) running to coo over the next infant or toddler brought in, to people reading articles about UPPAbaby Cruz and fancy-smancy cribs at work. It’s just crazy.

I’m not a fan of kids, and I certainly don’t want any of my own. Needless to say everything they’re getting excited over is completely over my head.

And did I mention one of the girls I work with is pregnant? Maybe that’s it, she’s infecting them all somehow?

I dunno, but if I get one more pitying look from me female co-workers because I’m not gaga over babies I’m gonna scream.

I don’t really get people who shy away from using coupons. Discounts and sales, that doesn’t seem to bother people, but hunting down coupons and clipping them (or printing them) and bringing them to the store seems to bug people. Why is that?

See, I’ve got a lot of lowe’s coupons right now. Somehow I wound up on their mailing list and so I’ve got quite a few that got mailed to me. I’d use them in a heartbeat, except I can’t rightly afford any DIY projects or repairs right now. Which is really sad because I’ve seen some good coupons for them lately.

Every month there is at least one meeting, early in the morning, that well all have to attend. The focus of the meeting is updates and progress reports on the branch. New rules, stuff we fail at, ect. Most of the time though, it’s a chance for the supervisor to pat her minions on the back and them to shower her with their devotion.

Bright side though, since we have to be there so early, there is usually snacks in the break room so yea! for free food.

We had to take some sort of “mini quiz” going over different things that we offer, from mechanical warranty, rv insurance, to safety boxes and loan fees. Some stuff I could see tellers needing to know, some stuff I really couldn’t fathom why we have to learn it. Sure, it’s nice to know some of this stuff to better help members with questions, except of course, the stuff our branch manager wants us to now learn we [tellers] have no business talking to members about. We can’t access the necessary information about their accounts or finances to better help them, let alone get the process started….so all we end up doing is what exactly? Talk like we can help them and then tell them “I can’t do it, go see an MSR who can?”. Somehow I think that’s worse then giving a very brief overview of a service and directing them to the front desk for more information or to see an MSR to get set up. But hey, what do I know?

Having a bad case of the “I wants and will gets” syndromes here lately. I almost did a bad impersonation of Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) with the whole “want, take, have” bit. I can’t help it! I look at my crappy tv that needs one of those boxes to get channels now and then I eyeball ones like an lg lcd and I feel envy.

I really want a better tv. Is it so wrong to want an upgrade after all these years with this loyal television?

Consider the fact that I don’t have money to spare right now, yeah, it’s a bad thing.

Payday is just around the corner, but right now, it’s feeling very, very far away. I’ve only got two payments for Capital One left to go, but since they’re such large amounts each month, a good chunk of each pay check gets set aside just for that. I’ve got my health insurance to pay this month as well. And, coming soon, I gotta pay the car insurance. Blegh. Oh, let’s not mention that my hosting renewal is coming up soon, and the domain names, and ugh, and holidays are right around the corner again.

Well, shit.

Looking at it like that is so daunting. Instead I’m trying to focus on the more immediate bills…and even then I’m counting down the days, hours, and minutes until payday this week.

Still, I’ve been there, where my source of income was whatever I could scrounge up working online, doing odd-jobs for friends, family, and locals, and even doing field-hand work. I had bills to pay that couldn’t get paid, not if I wanted to keep on living and eating at any rate. So, while I bitch and moan about payday, I am grateful. Grateful that I have a payday in this economy.

You know how they say that you can find just about anything in the classifieds? Well, there is some truth to that. I’ve seen listings for a honda mower, people looking for junked Volkswagen vehicles, even an ad for a honey farm. Not to mention tons of places willing to buy gold or junked vehicles.

It’s just too bad no one wants to buy junked motorcycles. I’ve been trying to sell mine for a while now, but short of running an ad myself, I’m not seeing a way to get rid of it. Every potential buyer that has expressed interest has failed to follow through. I’m about this close to just taking it to the dump.

Ah these people, they’re good for a laugh I guess. At least when they’re not aggravating me or making me wonder just what they’re saying – slash – doing about me behind my back.

Apparently since everyone’s weddings and summer trips are over, they’ve all quit their diets.

They’ve also just noticed that the pounds they lost are creeping back.

Personally, I couldn’t see any difference when they were on the diets, let alone off, which makes me think their weight loss was not nearly as much as they’d like everyone to believe.

But I digress, so, now they’re thinking maybe Herbalife wasn’t as good as they thought it was and they should instead look into Diet pills that work fast to get rid of those nasty pounds that snuck up on them. When instead they should be worrying about their lack of exercise and sloppy eating habits.

While on their diets they drank the shakes (and ordered lots of greasy food as a “reward” for themselves, but that’s another story for another time) went for long walks, supposedly rode bicycles to work (although I only saw someone do this once before she quit), jogged, and went to the gym.

Their big day, whether it was wedding or some trip somewhere exotic, came and went and they just stopped. No more shakes, no more exercise, eating whatever whenever. Well duh, of course you’re going to gain back all the pounds you lost. Losing weight and keeping it off requires making changes to your lifestyle and sticking with them.

It seems like, if it isn’t one thing with these people its another thing.

It’s no secret that the people at work drive me batshit crazy, nor is it hard to see that they’re not the nicest of people to work with either. What with the snipping, backstabbing, and out and out rudeness – it’s a wonder I haven’t had the need to bury any bodies yet.

It’s a close thing though.

In any case, pretty much every is married, getting married, or in a relationship (and in two cases trying desperately to start a new one). No one there has ever asked if I’m seeing anyone, it’s just assumed that I must be single and too pathetic to scrounge up a date on my own. It was even jokingly said that I should take advantage of a free dating online service as my last chance.

Has the possibility not occurred to them that I just might be happy as I am? And like I said, they’ve never even asked if I’m seeing anyone, nor do they ever ask about my life outside of work. Not that I would tell them jack, but the point still stands. What do they know?

But, in reality, they’re not saying these things to be helpful or tease me in a joking fashion, it’s just another way to get a dig in, in a manner that is hostile but hard to prove.

So, despite the freak snow storm we had, New Mexico’s water supply is significantly less this year. Irrigation for farmers won’t be starting until the end of April, which is cutting it really close considering they need to choose their crops and plant them and the water is already gonna be late. And it’s gonna be less too. Those who have their own wells are slightly better off, but running the pumps to get that water isn’t cheap either.

Yeah, it’s gonna be a rough year for farmers around here.

My grandfather plants cotton, one of the less water-intensive crops and has a well he can use to water them too…but the situation is still looking kinda bad.

Now, knowing just knowing this, I cannot see how anyone can seriously be considering hydroponics – growing plants and what not in water instead of soil. I overhead some guys at the hardware store talking about how there’s money to be made going that route. Now, I’m not really sure if this was in reference to crops or just landscaping, but I can’t help but feel that they are not exactly in touch with reality.

New Mexico, desert, water for irrigation tightly regulated as it is on good years, not to even speak of bad years. Watering one’s own yard in the towns and cities is also heavily regulated. What money is there to be made in that business around here?

You know, it’s great that I’m going to finally have a steady source of income once again. And while there are a ton of things I know I need to get taken care of and I have to prioritize them by terms of necessity, I still find myself oogling things that I so do not need just because I know that I will have money now and can afford to splurge a bit. For example, I saw some pandora style beads that I thought were just awesome and seriously contemplated buying them. Then this woman came in to where I work and showed off these awesome vases she made and the bamboo that came in them. They were $18 and I seriously almost bought one with a panda on it just because I thought it would look cute in my Mom’s office and because I could afford it.

Never mind that the price was pretty steep for the size.

Or how about the fact that someone at work sells Avon and I was perusing the brochures looking for stuff I might be interested in before I caught myself and put it back.

And the Schwann’s guy delivers there and will be coming on payday and I am soooo tempted to get a few items.

Is this behavior even normal? I seriously must cut it out lest I have nothing before I have anything!

How sad is that, I haven’t even received my first paycheck from my new job yet and I’ve already got it spent? Seriously, even though I’m only gonna have one week’s worth of work on the paycheck it’s gonna be a fairly decent amount. As such, I calculated what is a “must have” and already plan to get that stuff.

Like tires, definitely need to get at least one of the tires replaced. It has slow air leak that pretty much results in me checking the tire every morning before work and airing it up with my portable air compressor. There are a few things from Best Buy that I’d really like to get…like an external hard drive or at least another flash drive, but that definitely has to wait. On the scales of necessities, alas, it pales in comparison to paying the cell phone bill, getting new tire(s), and some new office attire to flesh out the wardrobe.

Okay, I know I’ve been a bad girl and done some shopping after work on things that I wanted but didn’t dare buy because there were other things that I needed that were real necessities in comparison to say, a new sweater that I saw and really loved. But I find it ridiculous to listen to people complain that their job (the one I’ve just started working at) doesn’t pay enough and they need to find a better place when said people talk about buying custom luggage tags for a trip they’re taking for Christmas, they buy a large cup of espresso from Starbucks every morning and buy lunch from a fast food joint or restaurant for lunch daily, and they talking about going out drinking with friends after work every other day.

Seriously, it’s not that the job doesn’t pay well folks, you just really need to rethink your expenses.

I’ve been there all of two days and I can already tell you some of these guys just don’t know how to budget their expenses at all. They got money, they spend it, then wonder where it went and blame the job. *shakes head*

And considering a lot of them are my age or younger, I feel so old fashioned and blah in comparison. It’s weird, really weird.

I find myself needing some more space on the hard drive. After trying out Open Office for a while I’ve come to the conclusion that I like it, I like it a lot. I’ve used Microsoft for years, used Works too, and looked around at other office suites (by the way, document management software as it turns out is not a phrase that is used for office suites, find that out recently) and I have to say I like Open Office the best thus far. Of course, you can’t beat the price either – free.

I’m thinking of removing Microsoft Office from my computer entirely. I might leave Works, but definitely remove MS for sure. I want more space, and since I don’t wanna shell out the extra bucks to pay for Microsoft Office now that the trial period is over with, it’s just sitting there taking up space.

What do ya’all think? Anyone reading this use Open Office? Did you ever go back to using Microsoft Office, did you remove it entirely? I’m sorely tempted, especially since O.O. can open and edit Microsoft Office files just fine.

Thoughts?

I think I finally understand why folks don’t like to provide their phone numbers or email addresses for a lot of stuff. Even if it means forgoing special deals or free stuff, sometimes it’s not worth it.

I filled out this survey for one place (NOT Inbox Dollars btw) and there was some deal about filling out the form with your contact information for a chance to win a $25 gas card and agreeing to receive information about cheap car insurance. I did it because, hey, it said that you would receive an email with quotes from five different companies and that you would not be contacted for anything else. Unless you won of course, then they contact you to let you know.

Well guess what? So not true. I got the email alright. I’ve also gotten multiple letters from various insurance companies, two phone calls, and even text messages.

And for the record, the company I’m with right now is still the cheaper one. Go figure.

My mother’s accounting business is doing really well! She started off small with only a small handful of clients and now she’s got a fair number of year-round clients (books, payroll, ect) and she’s got a number of loyal customers that come to her for their tax returns. Hopefully, with her new location that doesn’t have a CPA in the same damn business complex and a few tax preparations places a few streets over, she’ll be able to really have a successful tax season this year.

When my Mother lost her long-time job and had go it on her own she didn’t really think she could succeed. But she’s doing it! You always hear how there’s a small business opportunity out there for anyone who will put forth the effort, but with the way our economy has been these past few years, it seemed like a long-shot. But my Mother is doing it and I couldn’t be prouder of her.