For all you Niall Ferguson fans out there*, PBS is starting a four-part series tonight called, "The Ascent of Money," and it looks pretty good. The Get Rich Slowly blog tempts me with such tidbits as Ferguson explaining why Arabic numerals are the global standard for money. "What I find especially interesting about The Ascent of Money is the way in ( Read more... )

"My Name Is Earl" was canceled! Really, it's a miracle it ever made it through, let alone past Season 1, so I count myself lucky to have been able to enjoy it this far.

Trace

Something really weird happened to me yesterday. I just plain hit a wall. I suffered a ridiculous energy crash for no discernible reason. I'm taking my thyroid medication regularly, I got plenty of sleep, was plenty fed and watered. I don't know what it was. I just could not get the energy to lift a finger or string two coherent thoughts together. ( Read more... )

Ian and I did something a little out of the ordinary last night: We caught the "Heroes" season finale in a movie theatre, the Alamo Drafthouse, the movie-grill I've been writing about. It was neat! Definitely a different experience. The theatre itself is an old-fashioned movie theatre, no stadium seating, just rows of seats with a think counter of ( Read more... )

Two customer service burrs are stuck in my foot this week:

• Our old apartment complex in Plano is trying to shake us down for $68 or so -- water & trash bills for February and March (paid), and a missing closet door in our master bedroom (which we had apt. maintenance remove directly). I've got paperwork to back up both these claims, so it's just a ( Read more... )

I'm 38 today, which actually works out well since - for whatever reason - I've spent the past year rounding my age up, telling people I'm already 38. At least I finally caught up!

The weather is simply gorgeous here in Austin. I went out at lunchtime to put some air in my bike tires, inspired by the example of moosea1 who just received a bike for her ( Read more... )

"Pfthbph."
This is the sound of me blowing the hair out of my face, a time-honored gesture that conveys more than words could.

Busy week!

Last day in the office.

I almost hit a bird with the Rat Mobile on the way to work this morning! A flying bird. This sucker swooped down out of mid-air for a low-flying buzz right in front of my windshield! " ( Read more... )

Ya know those DirectTV commercials which use footage from awesome movies, and the actor suddenly turns out of the scene and starts yapping about their DirectTV service? I logged onto e*Trade this morning to visit my money. I saw a big ad there for, "e*Trade: Anytime, Anywhere." All I could do was laugh thinking of the Colonial Marines in "Aliens" ( Read more... )

Dear Person Whose Phone Number Isn't In My Caller ID ( Read more... )

Ya know - I really loathe wedding planning. I do. This is not fun. The wedding will be fun -- the planning? Not so enjoyable. I wish I had the money to hire a wedding planner to do all this for me -- and even so, there are aspects that someone else could not do, like bra shopping, or deciding whether or not to wear panty hose, or try to count the ( Read more... )