Ah, the holiday is over and now it’s time to relax and enjoy all the presents Santa brought over! My immediate family had a wonderful time this year and were able to spend all day together yesterday without any other relatives around. We did the extended family dinner thing on the 24th to get it out of the way, but Christmas is usually always about just the three of us.
I hope you had the Christmas you wanted with those you wanted to spend it with!
Ugh, talk about bad timing… Two of my credit cards have their billing cycles ending this week, which means I have to make about $800 in payments by the 22nd. And that amount doesn’t even include what was spent on Christmas this year! It was really tough trying to budget my Christmas spending knowing that these due dates were coming up. Oh, well… it definitely helped me be a little more restrained than usual.
Back when I was younger, I used to be one of those people that bounced around from job to job every few months or so. I never stayed anywhere for more than 6 months — until I landed a quality control gig that paid decent money and allowed me to work in a clean, temperature-controlled lab.
For that particular job, I had to learn all kinds of new (to me) skills, most of which had to do with using various measuring tools such as radius gauges, flatness gauges, micrometers, and more. I also had to learn how to read parts blueprints, which I actually never fully grasped.
I was just thinking today that all those practical job skills I learned are extremely rusty now because I have been out of QC for more than 10 years. If I wanted to apply for a QC job now, I’d have to apply as a newbie for an entry-level position despite my five years of experience.
Too bad; I’ve seen some REALLY attractive job ads for QC specialists. The jobs sound pretty cushy and the pay looks highly competitive! Oh, well.
I have always wanted to learn how to play guitar, and now that my schedule is lightening up a bit, I’ve been looking into taking some lessons. But once glance at a guitar chord chart was all it took to remind me how unmusical I am at heart, and how little chance I have of actually learning a new skill at my age. Oh, well… I guess I’ll have to add this to the ever-growing list of things I’ll never do in my lifetime! Maybe my son can take lessons instead!
I don’t know what’s up with me recently, but I’ve been gaining weight for the past couple of weeks. My eating habits haven’t changed all that drastically, and I’m still exercising as usual, so that’s why the gain has me a bit worried. Plus, this is still well before the holiday season, so if I’m gaining now, I just shudder to think what’s going to happen in the coming weeks when I’m stuffing my face with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies, and egg nog. This will NOT end well…. 
My living room is really bothering me now, so I’m going to have to spend some time tidying the place up. The first order of business will be to buy a cable cover for the Slingbox cable that runs from the TV to the Internet router. It just goes right across the floor right now and trips me up nearly every time I try to step over it. How incredibly annoying!
Second, I need to get a new coffee table. I want one with shelves or drawers so I can take all the stuff that usually clutters the top of the table and put it away. That will definitely help make the room look more organized.
And finally, I have a huge bookshelf that needs to be sorted through. There are children’s books that my son has outgrown, as well as old magazines that can be thrown away and old video games that can be sold or traded in.
I used to enjoy my living room, but so much clutter has been creeping in that I can hardly bear to sit in there anymore. Time to get moving on these improvements!
I jog a few times a week in an effort to stay in shape. I have never raced or anything, but I do time myself occasionally to make sure I’m not slacking. Today, I managed to run 5K in 28:11, which is a personal record for me!! Again, I don’t time myself on every jog, so I can’t really say how my progress has gone. The last time I timed myself, though, I know I was in the 29:30 or 30:00 range, so I’m definitely pleased with today’s effort.
I was pushing myself, but I still felt like I had a lot left in the tank. I definitely could have sprinted the last 100 or 200m and shaved a few more seconds off my time, but I was deliberately not looking at my watch, so I didn’t realize how well I was doing.
My goal now is definitely to get under 28 minutes!!!
Last month I started a college fund for my son. I was able to put together $5,000 for the savings account, and after one month my statement arrived to show me that the balance has now grown to $5,000.03. Wow — I got THREE WHOLE CENTS in interest!!
That’s pretty pathetic, but there’s not much I can do about it given the state of the economy. It just pisses me off though to read savings guides and retirement advice that tell you you can earn 6% or 8% on your investments. BULLSHIT. Those rates haven’t been around for years, and aren’t likely to come back anytime soon. So now what????