Wedding dreams

I've never been big on weddings. I just always imagined that I'd be married. I never worried about colors, styles, dresses or any of that stuff. We've been talking and I've started to think about it a little. I definitely need help with Wedding Planning because I'm not a girly-girl. I'll have bold colors instead of soft colors and stuff like that. I'm going online to get advice on everything from vendors to photos to the registry and everything in between. I can also get free planning tools to help make everything flow smoothly and be as stress-free as possible.

I'm not looking at anything definitively but it's never too early to start. Especially when you're looking to spend upwards of $15k and that's on the cheap.

My teacher hasn't gotten back to me

I'm surprised about it too. He was supposed to get back to me before the New Year so he could close this semesters grades. I guess I'll hear from him next week when classes start up again.

I'm really nervous about this assignment because he's not telling me what he wants me to study, so I pretty much have to study everything. That's going to be a killer because we had 14 chapters worth of information. And judging by the way he made his exams and homework assignments, I can't afford to think any chapter is less important than any other chapter.

Sigh. I'll just be glad when this is finally over.

I won't have lunch today

Our work cafeteria is closing early today so that the staff can celebrate the holiday. I always have a big breakfast so I don't get hungry until later in the day. Since the cafeteria will be closed at the time I usually got to lunch, I'll have to eat once I leave work. I have some pizza at home but that's about it. I don't really want that though. Maybe I'll stop somewhere else and get something.

Car troubles

My boyfriends ex has a Honda. She doesn't really take care of the car because she always expected him to do it. Since they broke up, it's her responsibility now and she's not really doing what she needs to do. She needs a new Honda Radiator for her car. He even gave her the name of a company to go to.

They're on call over 13 hours a day, 7 days a week so she has no excuse that she doesn't have the time to call them. They also guarantee that the quality of radiator that you get will be the same or even better than the one you had. Top that with a unlimited lifetime warranty and you don't need to go anywhere else.

I hope she calls soon so she can stop calling us.

Shopping on New Years

I have a ton of shopping to do. It's not for clothes or anything that exciting, it's for household and personal items. I could do it today but stores are closing early and people will be out buying their last minute items for their parties. I'm sure the stores will be crowded because of it.

I don't care, as long as I get everything that I need.

Ikea can get expensive

The prices at Ikea are pretty reasonable but once you start adding everything to it, it starts to get expensive. We went today and looked at some bedroom furniture. It looked like it was pretty cheap but each piece is sold separately. It's like that for all departments too. I love the way their displays look but you'll spend a mint trying to buy all of that stuff.

I need money to pay for school

I didn't do well in my class this semester. I needed a C to get tuition reimbursement but I didn't get it. The class was harder than I expected it to be. Since I won't get tuition reimbursement, I have to come up with the money to pay for school. I may have to fill out Credit Card Applications because I certainly don't have the cash to pay for it. I can compare cards to try to get the card with the best rewards or cash back but at this point it doesn't even matter. As long as I can pay for school, that's all that matters.

Parking updated

I didn't have to pay after all. John was able to go pick up my car after he got off of work last Friday. He even paid the parking fee. Then he picked me up from the airport on Christmas day and he paid for parking then too. I did give him the money to pay for parking but when I got in the car he gave it back to me. He's such a sweetie!

I found a new search engine

Well I didn't actually find it on my own. Someone sent me a link and told me to check it out. I thought I would pass it on. The site is Earthfrisk.org and I'm really excited about it. I don't like how one company can dominate the internet and skew results. By using this new search engine, we can help level the playing field. That way the giant companies can't dominate the search results.

I put my blog name in there and it showed several entries. I have 1 blog that doesn't show on one search engine at all. They all showed on earthfrisk. I like the site and plan on using it more often. Check it out.

I do have to pay for parking

Booooo! This stinks. My friend is not able to take me to the airport so I have to park my car in a long term lot. It will cost me at least $30 depending on which lot I use. I was really depending on him dropping me off. I have the money but it's not money that I really wanted to spend. That's less money that I have to spend once I get home.

I'm not mad, even though he thinks I am. I'm just trying to make him understand that I can't depend on him to do things because he's not always available. I realize that things happen and people have circumstances beyond their control. I just wish he would stop offering to do stuff when he doesn't know if he can.

Airport parking? I don't think so

I am not parking at the airport for 5 days. That will set me back almost $50 just for parking. What?!?! No way Jose that's ridiculous. Right now I'm trying to schmooze my neighbor into picking my car up for me but if he can't, then I will park at one of the lots near the airport. It will still be expensive but not as much.

I can't leave work early since we're short-staffed so that's why I'll be driving. Normally I would catch the bus but I'll be cutting it close so I can't do that. Darn coworkers.

I hate my school

I really do. I know it's a public university but they get away with stuff that I just don't agree with. It has a lot to do with the student-teachers that aren't very good. It's just a nightmare and I'll be glad when it's over. It's times like this that I wish I had just gone to a school like capella university. I could go to class online and on my time. They are an accredited school so it's not like my degree would have just been a piece of paper.

I could also have pursued my path of business. I could actually choose from over 104 degree programs and specializations and over 15 certificate programs. My course of study would have been perfectly tailored to me.

Oh well, live and learn I guess. I'm so close to being done that I may as well just grin and bear it.
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I'm flying home for Christmas

I was gonna drive but then I changed my mind. I tried to drive 50 miles and I had one of my little episodes. There's no way I'm gonna make it 300 miles. So I decided to fly instead.

I got my ticket on Southwest. I luv Southwest airlines! lol. I know that sounds like a cheesy commercial but I do. Before they came to Pittsburgh I only had USAir or Greyhound to choose from. USAir was extremely expensive. From Pittsburgh to Philly was easily $200 roundtrip which is ridiculous. My airfare home was $125 and that's because it's Christmas and there was no sale. I've gotten a fare for as low as $75 roundtrip.

I just wish I had someone to pick me up from the airport.

Ugh I hate the dentist

I've always hated the dentist. Since I was a little kid. And it's not just the cost either although that is a factor. I have very sensitive teeth and visiting the dentist is horrible for me. They always want to floss your teeth for you. My teeth are very tightly packed together and it hurts to have that floss between them. They have to ram it down in there to make it fit. Then my gums start bleeding. I hate it.

I'm also sensitive to extreme temperatures. It doesn't matter if it's very hot or very cold, it irritates my teeth. My dentist recommended a special sensitive toothpaste for people like me. My dentist has said that it's partly from gingivitis. I've tried Biotene before and it does help me with the sensitivity issue.

It also helps me to not have a dry cotton mouth. That is so annoying too. It seems like no matter how much water I drink, my mouth is still dry. Biotene helps eliminate that problem as well. The toothpaste is really sweet. They say they sweeten it to help fight cavities and bad breath. It kills the bacteria that grows in your mouth that causes bad breath. That just sounds gross. With all of the extra health benefits that you get from using the product, you almost forget that it's a regular toothpaste too.

I sold one book back

I've only sold one book back so far. I did pretty darn good too. I paid $70 for the book online and I got $60 back for it. I didn't even expect to get that much. I would have been happy getting $30. The book sold for $90 used at the campus book store which is why I got it online.

The book schedule for spring is not out yet. I want to price my books at the school shop and then see if I can beat the price online. I usually can. I don't see any reason to pay a higher price for books that I'll never use again.

I can't wait to go home

One of the first things me and my mom are gonna do is hit the casino. We usually only go to one of 3 casinos in Atlantic City. We also play at online casinos while I'm at her house. I take my laptop and we both play at the same time to see who can win the most money.

One of the ways I decide where to play online is to go to a site that reviews online casinos. I prefer to go somewhere like Online Casino Topic that provides new articles keeping me abreast of the latest news. I can also find out other information that players need to know.

Things like payout percentages, and screenshots of the sites that are being reviewed. That way if I go to a site, I can tell if it's the one I read about. A lot of times, there will be 2 sites with a very similar name. By seeing a screen shot I will immediately know if I'm on the right site or not.

That won't be the only thing we do while I'm home. But I do know it will take up the majority of our time. We'll go to Atlantic City for a good 2 days. Plus play online another day. It should be fun.

Tuition is due

It seems like I'm always paying for school. The bills never end. I'm not paying my tuition in full because I'm waiting for my reimbursement to come in. I won't get that until my January paycheck. I'll pay my first installment today which is close to $600. I can pay in 3 installments, but I'll just pay the balance next month.

I'll be so glad when I'm done.

I miss my truck

Now first let me say that I love my car but it's weird driving it after having had a truck for so long. Even though it was only a baby suv, it was still a truck. I have to learn all kinds of things over. Things like actually using the mirrors on the car.

Pittsburgh is hilly. On certain roads when you come down a hill, I could just look over and see if I needed to yield to a car coming down the hill. I can't do that in my car. I actually need to turn all the way around and use my mirrors. It's really hard to get used to.

I also had a step bar on my truck that I could step up onto to get in. My car sits low so I can't avoid dirt getting on me and my car like I could with the step bar. I also track a lot more dirt into the car because I could wipe excess dirt, mud or snow onto the bar before I got in.

I should just be thankful that I have a vehicle right?

School is done

Well, for the semester anyway. I took my final yesterday and that thing was unbelievably hard. He used questions from the first two exams as more than half of the questions. Some of my classmates only studied the answer "a", "b" etc. Well the professor had something special for them. He used the same question and answers, but he put them in a different order! Luckily for me, I studied the answers and not the letters.

However the new material was hard. It didn't help that we only had a week to learn 3 1/2 chapters. All I want for Christmas is a passing grade!

I was late for work today

I was almost 20 minutes late for work. I missed my bus and had to catch the one after that which is usually crowded. It was actually packed. People were crammed on the bus from the front to the back so I couldn't get off. I had to ride way past my stop, get off, cross the street and catch a bus back to work.

Now let me explain why I couldn't get off of the bus. There were so many people that I would have had to push and squeeze past at least 25 people. Yes I did count. The last time I did that I twisted my knee and it's still giving me problems 2 weeks later. So now I try not to catch that bus or any bus that's super packed.

I have to make up the 20 minutes sometime this week. But I won't work through lunch. The heck with that, I need to eat!

Can I afford it?

No, I probably can't. Lolol. I'm watching a rerun of the Suze Orman show where she does the "Can I afford it" segment. Basically you call in, tell her your finances and she tells you whether you can buy the item you want or not.

It's a real eye-opener seeing how much money people have and what they want to buy. One family called in with almost 8k monthly take home income. But they only have 7k in savings. Savings include cash, cds, mutual funds and stock. They have no retirement savings right now and they're in their early 30's. They make a ton of money and hardly have any savings. I have more in savings than they do and I make way less than them. They wanted to buy 1/2 share of a lake house. They were denied because they didn't have enough in savings.

I'm floored that they don't even have 1 month of their salary in savings. That's living on the edge in my opinion. Of course their expenses could be really low but even if their expenses are half of their income, they still have less than 2 months worth of expenses.

More on travelling

I was talking about travelling the other day. I think most mainstream travel agencies are missing a targeted market, the growing Hispanic and Latino market. If I want to make a reservation at one of several Hoteles (which is what they're called in Spanish), I'm going to go somewhere I familiar and/or comfortable with. That usually means a neighborhood travel agent or a family friend. But it doesn't usually mean getting the best deal.

Hotels.com is now making it easier for their Spanish speaking customers to book in Spanish both online and on the phone. They even have a dedicated customer service line to assist the Spanish speaking market. It's about time a major booking agent got up to speed with their customers needs.

Getting fired

No not me. It was one of my coworkers. He had been employed here for less than 2 months. He's already missed several days. He had already gotten "talked to" because of his attendance. He was also making major errors. Then this past Monday, he just didn't show up, again.

He was fired at the end of the day when he showed up on Tuesday. While I do feel bad when people lose their jobs, I can only have so much sympathy when the reason is that you just don't show up when you're supposed to.

I guess a few of the office slackers feel put on notice as well. I feel like this: as long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and here when I supposed to be here, I'm cool.

I'm selling my books back

Last semester they didn't buy back the books I used for my economics class. I already know that the book I'm using for this semesters class will also be used next semester. I hope to get $40 bucks for it. That's a little less than half of what I paid for it. That's good enough for me.

I also have a math book that I have to try to sell. I'm gonna take whatever I get and pay for next semesters books. That's the plan anyway.

Gold and silver as investments

I look for investments all over the place. I have a few stocks that I dabble in plus some bonds. Gold or silver is also a viable option. Right now is a great time for adding silver bullion to your portfolio. Since 1990 world demand for silver has exceeded annual production. Stockpiles of bullion are low nearing zero. That means silver will be scarce and the price will skyrocket.

Monex Depository Company will let you buy silver for immediate delivery. Or if you choose, you can choose the convenient safe storage feature and they will hold your silver for you. You can also get the silver in ingot or coin form. It's easy and a great way to diversify your portfolio.

The semester is almost over

I have 1 more homework assignment that is due on Thursday. Then I have my final the following Thursday. I am so happy about this because this class sucks. I hate the way the grading scale is set up. We have 3 homework assignments and 3 exams. That's it. Usually an exam has 50 questions worth 2 points each. So we figure the final would be set up similarly. Not quite 70 questions worth 3 points each.

It's just so easy to mess up on one thing and have your entire grade go down the tank. Right now I'm just holding out for tuition reimbursement. As long as I pass the class, that's all that's important.

The air up there

My friend is visiting Denver this weekend. He said the weather is going up and down. It will be fairly warm one day then really cold the next. He can walk almost 6 blocks before he gets out of breath now. He also said it was surprisingly sunny and he wished he had some sunglasses. The glare from the sun was really bothering him while he was making his way around town.

By this time next month he will make Denver his home. Then I'll have to fly out there to visit him. It's going to be weird not having him here. I'll just have to deal with it. I'll admit that I'm not happy about it though. At least I know I can visit OpticsPlanet and buy him some new sunglasses. Especially since he likes designer glasses and they sell things like D&G. I have to look for the bright side of things whenever I can.

No pots at Target?

What the heck. I went to Target to get some stuff that I needed for the house. I got almost everything that I needed and went into housewares looking for some pots. I couldn't find any that were reasonably priced. I just need them to last until I get down with school. I don't cook often so I don't want to pay a lot for them. There were no reasonably priced pots. The cheapest set was $79.99. Needless to say, I didn't get any.