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On Sunday, I was deciding between AIG and GS… then I went with GS… and of course, AIG went up 30% today. DAMN ME AND MY FUCKING DUMB LUCK!

Onto more pleasant subjects…
Since I started spiking my coffee, I don’t feel as hungry during lunch time. It turns out that 45 minutes is a long time to kill if you don’t plan on eating. So I went shopping during my lunch break today.
Our office is practically next to a strip mall, and I found the cutest pair of flats on sale. I think I’m going to get it tomorrow if my size is still available.

I know I’m suppose to be correcting my grant proposal, but I have severe attention deficit disorder…
I finished the 2008 Christmas plate last weekend (I really wish I remembered to take a picture ) and SO helped me to take it to the shop to get framed.
Here are the choices for next year’s Christmas plate:

It’s hard to decide…

Tall Dark and Handsome (TDH) got a new cube-mate. For fun, we’ll call him Short Pale and Awkward (SPA). And what a pair they make; NEITHER of them smiles… ever. I can’t figure out what the problem is. Since they have nothing else in common, it must really suck to work in the scheduling department.
The office scene changes a lot. When I first started 3 months ago, the cube was occupied by Cathy and Jason. Then both of them left and it was just TDH for about a week. I was hoping that if I go without my P3 for a week, I can ask Jason’s replacement for the printouts (instead of TDH, who obviously doesn’t like me).
Lesson learned: I should never wait for a replacement personnel. If I knew Jason’s replacement was going to be SPA, I would have asked for my P3 a long time ago.

I’m in love with Ohio travel plazas. They are these huge affairs that include well lit lobbies, huge cafeteria with a hand full of dinning choices, and (most important of all) really clean toilets. Compared with the Ohio travel plazas, the rest stops in Indiana and Pennsylvania seem like dingy holes where you can catch syphilis just by walking through the doors.
I stopped at one of the last plazas off the Ohio Turnpike and bought a couple of bagels. Then I remembered that I should probably get gas as well.
I’ve been getting increasingly paranoid with touching stuff in public. I don’t know why… germaphobic I guess… So I got some napkins and used them as a shield between my hand and the gas pump. While the gas was filling, something in the garbage can next to the gas station caught my eye.
It was a stack of CD cases lying on the top of the trash pile. I picked up the one in the middle. It was Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane. I opened the case and the CD was intact, looked a bit used but has no major scratches. So I picked up another one, and it was Natalie Imbruglia’s White Lilies Island. I don’t understand why someone would throw away perfectly good CDs…
I left the two CDs that were on the left most and right most sides of the stack and picked up the remaining CDs that were sandwiched in between. Yes, I may use napkins to help me operate the pump, but I don’t mind a bit of dumpster diving when the mood strikes me.

Seriously, I thought the next time I would drive to Michigan would be for New Years… Here I am again, but I must say the drive is getting easier every time.
At around 11AM today, I realized that I won’t be able to mail in a voter registration AND get an absentee ballot at the same time since I’m a first time voter. This means that I’ll either have to drive back to Michigan to go to the secretary of state on a weekday, or drive back to Michigan and vote on a Tuesday. This is very sad. I haven’t even decided who to vote for, and already the soon to be government is costing me time and money. Still, having a long weekend really isn’t bad. I’ll get to spend more time with SO and maybe log some more hours on my FFXII game.

I totaled up my expenses last week, because I had to stop myself from freaking out, and it wasn’t bad. Rent + mortgage + car loan + bills + food + insurance + retirement… and I still have a little bit left for myself. And I am grateful for that.
All things considered, life here isn’t too expensive. With the exception of rent, I spend less here than in Michigan. I use half as much gas and eat about a quarter as much food. There are lots of free entertainment, such as the AT or the museums. And transportation is really cheap; I’ve been riding the bus from Baltimore to NYC for $1 to $5 each way and I just bought tickets to fly to San Francisco for $250 round trip. My goal is to get burnt out on traveling, then move back to Michigan.

I thought about doing something normal this evening (like going shopping) instead of what I usually do (like brainstorming for tax evasion ideas). But then I remembered that I promised Dad I’ll take a look at his paper before his deadline. I must say his writing’s improved a lot. About a year ago, I had to reconstruct paragraphs in order to make sense of what he’s writing. Now I just need to sprinkle “the” in there, he’s still pretty bad about remembering his articles.

It seems like all my days are divided into 3 types: good days, bad days, and bland days.
Well today was a good day. I finally figured out what factor analysis really does, this will come in handy since I plan on writing a paper using the technique.
My research partner is driving me up the wall. I shouldn’t say that about him, because he really is a nice and smart person. But there are times when I would like to scream at someone about him, the recipient of that screaming is usually SO.
The latest fiasco has to do with the grant proposals. Harry (research partner) is very worked up about these grants, but I think it’s just another charge code and it’s not worth signing our souls away for a mere $20K. Nevertheless, he was able to get me to agree to write two grant proposals. I feel so manipulated…
Doesn’t matter, since I really don’t think either will be accepted. Therefore I took the liberty of allowing a few thousand dollars of budget for travel (preferably to San Onfre or St. Lucie). Anyway, at least we’re getting a jump start on writing the abstract, as Harry pointed out.

Yeah, I get these kind of days when… oh I dunno, when coming back to the apartment after a long and fulfilling weekend, when finding out there really isn’t a whole lot of things to do for the next 6 to 8 hours. Anyway, back to bullet format:
* Went hiking today. It’s been so long (2 weeks) that I nearly forgotten where I was suppose to start. I drove to Weaverton again. And turned back after 45 minutes, again… All around me were these really old people who jogged up and down the hills.
* Bought Spore. Interesting game, haven’t quite gotten the hang of it though. My tribe keeps moving away and I wonder off too far to evolve. There is no individual creature (in the real life) that thinks like Spore creatures… that’s the problem.
* I got a call from someone telling me that I’m living my life wrong. Yeah, that one’s a real nut-kicker. How can you live your life wrong? And isn’t it horrible to be commented that way? It’s not even specific (such as career, family, friends… etc.) It’s like getting a mid-term report card that shows a D+ on life, and having no idea how to fix it.
* I’m watching “Made of Honor” and I can’t imagine any guy having such a large wardrobe.

My legs are KILLING me!!
Jennifer came down from NYC on Friday and we woke up early (10 AM). First we went to the zoo (to press pennies), then we went to the Air and Space Museum (to press pennies), then across the Mall to the Gallery, then to the Natural History Museum (to press pennies).
Jennifer found some good reviews on this restaurant called Central, which is very close to the Natural History Museum. They have a great platter that we filled up on, then we had the main dish, side dish, and desserts. After dinner we went to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
It’s been a very long day.