Friday, February 01, 2008

Electile Dysfunction

Electile Dysfunction : the inability to become aroused over any of the
choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election
year.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Searching for Money

With all the talk about our economy and the shrinking buying power of the dollar, it's a little daunting (actually a LOT daunting)to think about trying to gather funds for Nate to go to college.

This weekend I hope to have the last bits of documentation I need to get our taxes done. For some reason our mortgage interest statement hasn't arrived yet. Usually it's one of the first things. And I don't have a 1099 from the paper, but I can easily total up my earnings from 2007 so that we can at least get a start.

After the taxes are done...next week, I know because our accountant promised he'll do ours right away because of college money search...I will navigate through the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This form is apparently the be all and end all to getting financial assistance for college.

We have divided up the money search responsibilities. I am to do searching, paperwork, and number crunching. Nate will complete scholarship applications and write essays. Mensa Boy will be his cheerleader, helping him to decide which scholarships interest him and might be worth spending time on, and editing & proofreading his essays. So far Nate has done 3 or 4 applications and last night he wrote an essay. Hopefully the two of them can work on 2 or 3 scholarships a week.

So that's what's going on here. I fully anticipate that the bush beating for money will be my third parttime job. And I'm ok with that.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wine Notes: Francis Ford Coppola Rosso Bianco 2005

This is a blend of reds. It's easy to find in the just about every grocery store. It's pretty much okay. Not as smooth as my favorite reds, but not too tannic. I'd buy it again if it were on sale (although it's cheap anyway) and I couldn't find Marietta Cellars or Wolf Blass.

Yesterday I played. Well, I did do some work. I got up and wrote a story about our middle school dedication ceremony that we had on Sunday. I got that thing down on the screen and filed by 8:30. My friend Cassie turned 50 on Sunday and took yesterday off, so I did too. We had both worked all weekend...the primary on Saturday and then I worked a story on Sunday. So yesterday we spent the day together. Here is a rundown of what we did:

Jazzercise

Lunch: Nothing but Noodles. You know, I had eaten there once before and thought "eh." Sort of a middle-of-the-road that meal was. But yesterday was excellent and really hit the spot. We liked both of our dishes. I had Sesame Lo Mein with shrimp and Cassie had Southwest Chipolte with shrimp.

Movie: "Atonement." Now, for about the first 40 minutes Cassie was getting a little nervous. Had she pulled a boner choosing this movie? Would it be "White Oleander" all over again? Cassie and I love to go to movies but if one of us chooses a movie that is hideous, then they are in the doghouse until they choose what we call a "redemption movie." My last doghouse flick was "Little Miss Sunshine," the blame for which I lay completely on my friend Julie. That movie was so awful that I started apologizing within the first 10 minutes and then apologized for every week until my redemption flick many months later...which was "Waitress." Cassie had to admit that "Waitress" was SO good that I probably had not only redeemed myself for the "Sunshine" movie, but I had also banked up points against the next poor choice.

But I digress. "Atonement." Neither of us had read the book. I generally wouldn't have anyway. I don't like seeing movies when I've read the book. I'm pretty much always disappointed. So the movie was very slow starting out the gate and then had a couple of "lookback" scenes that took too long for the viewer to realize they were looking back. It just took TOO LONG for the movie to get to the bad thing that needed atonement.

But once the bad thing occurred, then the movie went along right well. And it ended well. Not a happy ending, but a good ending.

So. Would I recommend it? Yes, but I'd say "when you go, don't give up." We both agreed that if we were watching it on TV or had it on DVD? We would have clicked off and missed a nice movie. No rave reviews, though.

After the movie: Yoga. You might think that two hour-long workouts in one day is too many. But I will say here that the yoga is really helping a lot. The stretching and the breathing goes a long way to relieving fatigue and body pain. It increases mobility, too. Monday is the only day I do two workouts in one day, though.

After yoga: Library Board meeting. Pretty uneventful.

Then a late supper while watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. BBC shows reruns it every day at 6. If it weren't for the language and the bleeping, I'd really really enjoy it. Now I just really enjoy it!

So. After all that playing yesterday I have a ton a work to do today. And in a couple of days I'll be adding a third full time job: Nate's financial aid researcher. Right after the taxes are done.