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Well, this is cool. My boss just pulled me aside and let me know that I got a raise and a promotion. I'm up a technician level - still not salaried, but she says she's working on it. Woo! I'm thinking perhaps a celebratory dinner is in order.
High: We're getting a big ol' refund from Uncle Sam. Calvin's refund will cover his tax debt, leaving my refund to dispose of however we want. You all know it'll go to bills, right?
Low: I've been kinda blue lately. It catches me like this sometimes. Down for no real specific reason. Perhaps that'll turn around, given the good stuff I mentioned above.
Easter Sunday this weekend, and I still have to get the goodies for Calvin and Marie. Plus, Calvin's going out of town on the 7th and I have to get the surprises I usually pack his suitcase with.
Nothing specific, really. Usually I'm on some distribution at work where someone forwards along something funny, but nothing's come along today.
Let me tell you how it will be
One for you, nineteen for me
Cuz I'm the tax man,
Yeah, I'm the tax man...
Who was this, The Beatles?
I declared it Comfy Jeans Day.
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March 27, 2002
If I won the lottery...
A Random Acts contribution
Here's the prompt from Random Acts of Journaling:
You are given a gift of 1 million dollars (kindly adjust for currency in your location). There are some restrictions on how you can spend some of the money, as follows:
$100,000 must be donated to charity. What charities will you support?
I would donate $20,000 to the Horse Rescue League of America, $20,000 to Althzeimer research, $20,000 to AIDS research, $20,000 to heart disease research, and $20,000 to the Make A Wish foundation. There are so many worthy efforts out there, but these ones have particular meaning to me.
$100,000 must be given to one person that you know. To whom do you give it? What would you expect him/her to do with it? Would you put any restrictions on its use? Would it make a difference if you could make the donation anonymously?
This is a hard one. I don't feel qualified to choose just one person based on whether they're "deserving" or not. I'd rather just split it up evenly among family members (Calvin's mom and two sisters, Calvin's grandparents, my sister). Better yet, I'd like to start trust funds for my sister's four kids, and Calvin's sisters' kids (seven of them). They could receive it when they reach 21, which is hopefully a mature enough age that they'd use it wisely.
$50,000 must be spent on a public beautification project. You can build a park, commission artwork, etc. What do you do, and where do you do it?
There are a good many beautiful historic buildings in the area that I grew up. Homes, public buildings, and places of historic significance in Maine dating back to the 1600's (from the time even before Maine was separated from Massachusetts) and 1700's. They've been declared historic landmarks, but their maintenance has fallen by the wayside because of the lack of funds. I'd like to donate the $50,000 toward the restoration of those buildings.
$50,000 must be spent studying something you have not formally studied. What will you study?
I have always been absolutely fascinated with archaeology. I would LOVE the ability to pursue studies in that field, and maybe even develop a career in it. After all, even if I won a million dollars (and assuming that the amount is *after* taxes), I'd still need to earn a living.
$200,000 must be spent doing as many things as you can on your "lifetime to do list." Always wanted to see Alaska? Take a boat trip on the Rhine? What things would you do first?
Hah. This is one list I can provide.
- Go to Greece. Spend a ridiculous amount of time there.
- Do the whole European tour thing. Perhaps mimic the route that Jill and Anna took.
- See the Louvre. Probably spend about two weeks there just to see everything. I may have to leave Calvin home. It's not his kind of thing. I don't think he's even been to the Phoenix Art Museum.
- Buy an RV (if I have money left after doing the above, otherwise rent) and toodle my way around the country.
Hmm. Five hundred grand left. $250k I'd sock away in my retirement fund (remember, a million, spent this way, won't allow me to live independent of a job). I'd set up trust funds for Michael and Marie, and probably pay off the house.
Good thing I reserved that $200k up there. Retirement funds, trust funds, and house payments don't smack of high good times.
*********************
And now, onto other news.
My philosophy class is done. I did my final paper on Descartes' "Meditations on First Philosophy". I read the paper to Calvin, and caused his eyes to glaze over. Yeah. Not very exciting stuff. If you have a hugely burning desire to read my take on "I think, therefore I am" (which, as it happens, I agree with), e-mail me and I'll send you a copy of my paper.
The final itself was a piece of cake - all the answers were in my notes from my homework assignments. And then I gave an oral report on Kant's "Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals". I didn't bother to read that one to Calvin. I doubt he suffered for the lack.
So. After looking through my files and assessing my position on the road toward my degree, I've discovered that if I CLEP out of my two English classes (snort. piece of cake) and do an Assessment of Prior Learning for "Oral Communication" (I took Dale Carnegie training provided by AcronymCo), "Fundamentals of Computers" (snort. but if they need documentation, I did take a two week long "Web Developer's Bootcamp", again courtesy of AcronymCo), and Statistics (I've signed up for AcronymCo's "Stats 101" class, which qualifies for APL), then I'll be done with my Associate's Degree by next May or June. I'm currently signed up for Physics (April/May), Ethics in Management (June/July), and Economics (August/September). I need to take Spanish I and II, International Management, and Management Information Systems to finish my requirements.
Pant.
Then I'll need to acquire another 60 credits in my Business Core and Major Requirements in order to get my Bachelor Degree. That's about another 20 classes. If I continue to take one class per semester, it'll take me another three years to get my degree. I think not. Doubling up seems to be the only option to shorten that timeframe, assuming that there are no other classes I could CLEP or APL out of. I may be able to do that with some electives, but it's harder to get out of Major classes.
This can't be of much interest to all of you, but writing it down helps me get the plan straight in my head. So. I can stagger classes, because new classes start every month. Which means I start in January with a Jan/Feb class, start in February with a Feb/March class, start a class in March after the one that began in January is done, etc. etc. If I do that I can take ten classes a year. Which means finishing my Bachelor Degree somewhere around the June 2005 timeframe.
Why the HELL didn't I just go to college right out of high school? Oh, yeah. I got married. Stupid me.