In The Black

Went out for dinner tonight with a couple of friends. It was really nice to get together and chat after the holidays. We got to talking about finances and saving money etc. and it made me want to try to get a handle on my money situation.

I have always been able to save. I was borderline unemployed for a while in my early twenties and still managed to keep on saving. I cannot deny that I benefitted from generous family members who let me live with them at little to no cost, as well as no debt from college due to the magnanimity of this blog's namesake. So I had a clean slate. That being said, I was never a big spender anyway. My mother might argue that I am a bit tight-fisted with my money (and she wouldn't be far off the mark)

Partly because I love making a good spreadsheet, and mostly because I think this is something I really need to be better about, I have made a belated New Year's resolution: Get my $h!t together, financially speaking. This is how I plan to do that:

Step 1: Create a totally awesome spreadsheet showing monthly expenses for 2011

CHECK

Step 2: Add information to the spreadsheet for December 2010 to get things started and see where I am right now

CHECK

Step 3: Give yourself a budget for non-essentials

Work in progress

Step 4: Save more money each month until you are regularly saving at least $500/month of your income.

Pretty far off

So far so good. My spreadsheet is totally awesome, I have December's numbers in (that was really easy because I could actually just copy and paste my credit and debit card transactions directly into the spreadsheet). There was some good news, too. At the end of December, I was just over $300 in the black (I think that's the right expression) for the month. Granted, I was home in Erie for a good week of that so most of my extra expenses were paid, but that should be offset by Christmas shopping, right?

Sweded

It's official. I LOVE Swedish stuff. My adoration of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is no secret, neither is how much I enjoyed the Swedish movies it spawned (I'll reserve judgement for when I actually see the Americanized version). There is a very simple, straight-forward style that I really appreciate, especially considering the often complicated plot.

On this blog, I also praised a Swedish horror/thriller film called Let the Right One In. What I didn't realize, until recently, is that the movie was based on a book of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I found it browsing at a book store in Erie and picked it up. It was great. Quite a bit more chilling than the film, even. Much like Larsson, this author did not mince words. He was concise and matter-of-fact. It read less like magical realism or fantasy than naturalism. There wasn't any grand melodrama, but there was real feeling. The main character, a young boy, is constantly bullied and suffers greatly. His only solace is a new friend whose secret is so terrible that the word for it is only used a few times throughout the entire story.

The horror of what occurs and the repercussions to everyone's actions are terrible. If the movie had been half as graphic as the novel, I don't know that I would have made it all the way through. Because of the style of the writing, I could stomach the gore. It really was terrible and wonderful all at once.

Wiiiiiiiii!

My big Christmas present this year was a Nintendo Wii. I know they've been around for a couple of years now, but I'm still pretty excited about it. Hands-down, the best thing is getting Netflix on my TV. I have also been playing some Wii Sports (I LOVE boxing) I'm hoping the extra activity will help me get in shape for my trip to Florida in about a month and a half. Disney World, here I come!

Seriously though, boxing and the boxing training with the Wii can get intense. Either I am way out of shape (distinctly possible) or I get way too into it, because I can feel it in my legs, arms, and the sides of my abs. I'm leaning towards the explanation that I get way too into it, because I do! It is by far my best sport (I can't hit the baseball to save my life) and the most fun. The only damper on my enjoyment is that I live in this apartment building. I know from experience that my upstairs and downstairs neighbors can hear everything, so I have to watch myself. Normally I would be trash-talking the dumb-looking Miis that I'm fighting, but all I can do now is get in a few good fist-pumps and some whispered taunts. "Suck it, Loser!" loses some of its power when not shouted. True story, try it at home.

Trash-talking or no, at least I'm kicking some serious butt!

Happy New Year!

I know it is a couple of days late, but Happy New Year! I spent about 10 glorious days in Erie, PA with family and friends. Now it is back to the old grind.

I had intended to write about my Christmas (it was great), but then something extraordinary happened...

Let me back it up a bit. My brother invited me to go to a New Year's Eve party downtown with some of his friends. I know a couple of them quite well, and had at least met all but two of the rest of them. I was really excited to have something fun to do. On a normal night I am quite happy to sit at home and watch movies, but NYE is something different. I got all dressed up (not as dressy as some, but probably right in the middle somewhere between the slinky gowns and jeggings on display) and headed to the hotel to meet up before dinner.

There was quite a bit of buzz in the lobby and later in my brother's room, about an interesting group of people attending the party. Nobody knew exactly how many ladies there were in the group, but everyone in my party had seen upwards of three at a time at various times. You may ask what caused such a stir amongst the fine folk at the Avalon. I'll tell you:

In our town of about 100,000, at a party with about 400-500 people, there were at least 10-15 Transgender women, all of whom appeared to be over 40 years of age! Upon surveying the party, it appeared that there were more Transgender women than there were African Americans or Latinos!

I did my best to educate those in my party for whom the distinction between Drag Queen, Transvestite, and Transsexual, and a boy in a dress is more than a bit difficult. My superior knowledge comes from a number of sources, primary amongst these being To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. I may have quoted the beginning of this scene almost word-for-word. The information is invaluable.

Break it down, Noxie:

I was actually really impressed with the majority of my fellow party-goers. They pretty much took it in stride (not bad for a town just north of redneck) and a particularly tall lady (with enviable legs) in a Heidi Klume ST&S* red dress was having the time of her life and gamely posed for photos with about half of the people there.

I can only take this to mean that 2011 will be a very interesting year!

*Short, Tight & Shiny

Appetizing

So I was referred to this recipe and I thought it looked good. These so-called "Mystery Biscuits" seemed to be right up my alley. How can you go wrong with flaky biscuits, butter, and crumbly cheese? The only problem is that I'm not a huge Blue Cheese fan. Its okay, I guess, but not my favorite. I decided to substitute feta and chopped spinach. My thought was that it could be like the Greek pastry, spanikopita. This is my "Pseudospanikopita" and it is AMAZING. I think I'll make it over the Christmas Holidays as an appetizer.

The recipe itself was easy enough and the results were delicious. I think that if I make it again, I will go a little easier on the butter since some of the biscuits were slightly soggy on the bottom. Don't get me wrong, they were still great, but I preferred the crunchy parts more.

Grit

Last weekend I finally finished watching the HBO series Deadwood. It only lasted 3 seasons (and I think it should have gone on for at least another one or two). I absolutely adored it. I started watching about a month or so ago and when I first started, I thought that I should recommend it to my parents (despite its often offensive language). I also encouraged a friend to purchase it for her father as a Christmas gift. I hope that was the right thing to do.

The thing is, both my parents have a history of liking westerns. This is particularly true of my father who inherited his love of the wild west from his grandfather. Bud-o was always reading some western novel or another and I think this influenced my dad. The only problem is that my father's preferred western genre shows include Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. Yes, my dad is a proud Michael Landon fan. The harshest words spoken on either of those programs was probably "dang-it".

Now, there are some authentic-looking cowboys and mountains

This just about made me cry, and if you watch to the end you'll see what I'm going to talk about next!

My mother is right there with him. Although she just generally likes her shows to have "clean" people on them. She is, for some reason, completely averse to watching historical fiction in which the characters are perpetually dirty. Her desire for verisimilitude does not extend to rules of hygiene. Oddly enough, I think she could get past the dirty language if these people weren't so dirty themselves.

So, to my friend who I encouraged to buy the DVDs, I hope your dad likes them. I apologize if I misled you in any way. My enthusiasm came from my genuine enjoyment of the series.

Rant

Could T-Mobile BE any less original? (Said in my best Chandler Bing) Their new series of commercials are a direct rip-off of the highly popular and memorable "I'm a Mac" ads.

I respond negatively to this on a visceral level. It is difficult for me to articulate.

I'll try anyway.

I get what T-Mobile is attempting, the iPhone is an Apple product so I see the connection. My problem is that it is just so done. The first "I'm a Mac" commercials aired in 2006 and the last one was in early 2010. We're talking a good 6 month lag which, in this day and age of instant communication, is absolutely AGES!

T-Mobil seems to always be one step behind. One of the greatest cell phone network ads ever was the "Can you hear me now" guy. Sure, the slogan is annoying now, but it was total genius at the time. While the guy in glasses was checking his reception, T-Mobile had Catherine Zeta-Jones. Sure she's beautiful and a decent actress, but WHY is she selling cell phones? Is it because they call them "Mobiles" in Great Britain? My parents had T-Mobile at this time and the marketing was so ineffective that my mother only ever called it "Mobile T"!

Granted, this may not be the best example (my mother spent so many years calling a boy in my class "Bill Greenjeans" just to annoy me, that she often has no idea what his real name is).

Still, T-Mobile is not in the top two or three cell phone companies, although they may have a wonderful service. My thought is they need to quit identifying themselves as "not Macs" and try to do something new and relevant. Especially considering the current popularity of iPhones. For many people, the only reason they don't have an iPhone is they don't want to switch to AT&T and are just biding their time until the iPhone is more available with other carriers.

On the other hand, maybe I think about this too much and T-Mobile's only problem is that its signature color is Pepto-Pink!