I mentioned earlier this year that I signed up for the Virgin Health Mile program my company offered. At first I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it, and procrastinated for over a month before I finally activated my pedometer and logged on to the VHM website for the first time. I often forgot to wear the pedometer in the morning and sometimes ( Read more... )

I don't have much time posting on Monday nights, because it's Hotlanta Squares' class night.  So I'll post statistics here instead of words.  This year is not over yet, but I'm done with traveling.

$1,889 for out-of-town square dance weekend.  Click on the journal title to see a better formated table.  I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the ( Read more... )

Mother Nature

My neighborhood is gorgeous in the spring. I took daily long walks to enjoy all the flowers and new leaves and almost felt like I was in Central Park. On weekends I spent many hours reading on the front porch and also ate all my meals there. Some people cannot go out without a mask in this season, but the pollen didn’t bother me at all ( Read more... )

*Click on the journal title to see a better formatted table.

$1,569 for C3/C4 weekends out of town:

March Importers TX c4 Workshop AACE PACE SoCalNovember Importers Total  Airline DeltaDelta DeltaAA AA   Airfare 162 183 193 235 255 1,028 Admission 50 0 80 78 65 273 Lodging 50 0 156 0 62 268 Total 262 183 429 313 382 1,569 Hours of Dancing 10 10 27  ( Read more... )

I won $10 on a Mega Million ticket that I bought last Friday. Since I only play occasionally, this amount is more than enough to recoup all my lottery expense this year. My co-workers joked that this could be the prelude of a bigger winning, and encouraged me to “reinvest” the prize money; but I didn’t.

I actually knew someone who had won a jackpot ( Read more... )

*To see a better formatted table, click on the journal title.

Membership in the cult doesn’t come cheap.  It is the fifth largest allocation of my income, after savings & investments, taxes, rent and food & beverage.

I have one more trip to go this weekend and of course some more local dancing for the remainder of the year. These costs are ( Read more... )

When I passed by the QT station closest to my home last night, I saw that the line going into the station was only about 5 cars long. It seemed like a good time to get some gas, so I got in line. The line started moving as soon as I got in, and I drove to a pump almost without stopping. The gas station employees directed the traffic in a very ( Read more... )

So I was lucky to fill up my tank on the night of 9/19, right before the madness started. This morning (9/29) I still have almost half tank. I’m not going to Hotlanta Squares tonight.

Yesterday morning I drove by the QT on my way to Barnes & Noble. There was no gas, but I saw two cars parked by the gas pumps, presumably trying to be the first one in ( Read more... )

Monday night on my way home after dancing, I noticed that the QT gas station I pass by every day was not selling gas on that night. I never liked that station anyway, so I didn’t give much thought.

It was only after receiving a company-wide email sent by HR this morning that I learned that there has been a gas shortage in the city since last weekend ( Read more... )

I think I’m going.

I’ve done a little research, and things don’t seem as bad as it used to be. I found some AirTran flights for a total of $256, with a 7:24pm return flight on Sunday, car rentals for less than $40 a day, and hotels for less than $100 a day. The airport is only 18 miles away? That’s a lot closer than I remembered. Have they changed ( Read more... )