November 2007 – akaemi.com
 

Month: November 2007

I love Quicken.  A lot.  More than any normal, healthy person should, I mean.  I balance my checkbook almost every day just so I can see all the pretty charts, calendars and graphs it makes for me.

Before Quicken, there was no balancing my accounts.  There was just the knowledge and hope (mostly hope) that I had money there.  There was the checking of the atm receipt, and the occasional phone call to the automated system to make sure there was still money.

And then there was Quicken!  I could download my bank statements right into it!  I could set up spending categories!  I could make up a budget!  I could enter all my monthly bills and have it remind me to pay them on time!

Most importantly, though, was the pictures it made with my money!  A pie chart that showed that ‘rent’ took the biggest bite out of my check.  A calendared bar chart that showed my daily balance over the last month.  Comparison charts so I could compare this month’s spending to last month’s.

Who knew, all that time, I was just a graph and a chart away from fiscal responsibility.

a new look!

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I got bored of the old look, so I found a new theme for akaemi.com – not to mention a new gallery! I really liked the way the gallery works at strahotski, so I downloaded the nextgen gallery plugin and installed it. 🙂 I haven’t uploaded all my pics yet, so right now all you’ll see is Christmas 2004 and my Europe pics (hey! you wouldn’t look good either if you were only showering intermittently and getting your sleep on night trains …)

Hopefully I’ll finish with all my pics soon … but probably I won’t, I seem to be easily distracted these days …

to boldly go …

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Where I’ve never gone before. Growing up, that’s what b1 always was for me, just one step ahead of where I was. Always ahead of me in school, always ahead of me in what he was allowed to do. It could be frustrating – like when I had to wait till I was 12 to use the stapler (a rule introduced when b2 stapled himself to … himself). I had many a “project” that I had to get stapled by b1, until I was old enough to have the privilege of doing it myself. But, more than often, it was a hint as to what was next.

Now that we’re grown up, though, I’ve finally caught up, for the most part. The one last thing that he’ll always have on me is his age. I’ll never be able to pass that one up. 🙂

Today my brother takes a step into an age that really, truly marks him as an adult. There is no more denial, no more hiding behind the excuse of youthful folly. So happy 30th b1! Don’t let it get you down … Just remember, I’m not far behind …

I lost my car today. In the parking lot. It was just for a few moments, but, still it’s never a good feeling when you get to that place in the lot where you left your car … and it’s not there.

Especially when you drive a Subaru Baja. It’s a car with a truck bed. Doesn’t get much more distinctive than that. The only thing more visible in a parking lot would be a bright yellow Expedition.

I have to admit, it took me awhile to warm up to the Baja. It wasn’t supposed to be my car, but after an unfortunate series of events, I found myself trading my beloved Escape for the Baja. (Just an inter-spousal trade, I still get to drive the Escape on occasion.)

I originally decided I would drive the Baja because I am a money nazi. When it didn’t work out for my husband, I insisted on keeping it at least until we were no longer upside-down on the loan. Because, well, I just don’t have it in me to pay for the honor of trading in a car.

Now that we finally hit the break-even point, however, I’ve found that I don’t want to give it up. I never knew how much fun it was to drive a car with all-wheel-drive and a turbo engine. It definitely gets out of its own way – while staying firmly gripped to the pavement. I can take turns like a mad man! Something I definitely shied away from in that more top-heavy baby suv of mine.

And as much as I was unsure of the truck bed on a car thing, it actually is very utilitarian. When I go to home depot, I can throw bags of dirt in the back without worrying about having to vacuum it out later. When I go grocery shopping, if it’s not too hot outside, I just dump all my groceries in the back.

I did, eventually, find my car, just a few cars past where I thought I left it. Hiding behind a bright-yellow Expedition …

I like Chuck. It’s a great new tv show that stars a guy who works at “Buy More” for the “Nerd Herd.” As if that isn’t nerdly enough, Chuck manages to get a special email one day – an email that, when he opens it, programs his brain into some kind of supercomputer that holds all the nation’s deepest secrets.

So, tune in to NBC on Monday nights! And if you’re as intrigued my Ms. Strahovski as my husband and his coworker are, be sure to check out strahotski.com.

And no, I’m not saying that because I was at the mall last night.  I’m saying it because of the weather outside!

For those of you who actually live in northern Virginia, you would be fully justified in thinking I’m nuts.  Cuz, well, it’s 42 degrees outside, with a slow, drippy-drippy rain.  A slow, cold rain, accompanied by a gray sky that causes the evening to get dark prematurely.

From the time I was 8 to 18, however, that was what winter weather meant.  And now that I no longer live in the great Pacific Northwest, that’s still the weather that greets me when I visit during the holidays.

So … happy holidays, everyone!  Er, almost.

google stalk-a-lytics

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If I were to just consider the comments on my blog as proof of readership, it would appear that I only have 3 or 4 visitors a month. And that’s just a little bit sad; almost might as well just write in that journal I keep on my nightstand. Yeah, that journal full of completely blank pages.

Fortunately, I have a little something called google analytics installed at akaemi.com. Anytime I start to wonder if anyone even cares about my silly little blog, I log in and look at the map overlay of my visitors. Google is so thoughtful as to plot dots on a world map, to show me where my traffic is coming from. The larger the dot, the more visitors I get from that area.

The biggest dot is always Ashburn. Because that’s where I live. And, well, I am the most active visitor of akaemi.com. Then there are several other northern Virginia/Maryland dots, courtesy of past and present coworkers, as well as my husband’s coworkers. (I’m pretty sure my husband makes his friends read my blog. So as to keep me from getting all despondent about having negative google analytics numbers. It doesn’t matter, though, I’ll take pity readers …)

The next biggest concentration of dots is always Washington state/Oregon. Because that’s where my family lives. And there’s like 6 of them, so that makes for a HUGE concentration of my readership.

Following the Pacific Northwest comes Texas. There are usually dots scattered through the state. My husband’s family all lives in Texas – including somebody who apparently lives in Texarkana … there’s always a Texarkana dot.

The other consistent dot is Miami. Since the launch of akaemi.com, I have had Miami fans. I assumed that it was the one person I knew who lived in the sunny city, but when I thanked her for reading a few weeks back, she had to admit that she didn’t know I had a blog. She is now a faithful reader – my Miami dot has grown bigger – but even before her support, I could always count on Miami. So, thanks Miami!

And then I usually have random dots. Today’s random dots are Santa Clara and Singapore. In the past, I’ve had hits from as far away as Brazil, Germany, Japan and Malaysia. Usually it’s just one visit, so that means akaemi.com was really not what they were looking for. But it’s always fun to get international hits.

So, all in all, google analytics lets me know that I have 26 loyal readers, and that 3 or 4 of you visit my site every day. As far as a website is concerned, those are pretty pathetic numbers – I’m never going to find fortune and fame through akaemi.com. As far as I’m concerned, however, 26 is a pretty awesome number! I pretty much have to include everybody I know to come up with 26 people.

So, thanks, you guys! I’m glad you keep coming back. 🙂

secretly delighted

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Every now and again, when I let my husband take on the chore of laundry, he gives me reason to smile. Secretly, of course.

After all the sorting, once the first load has made it through both the washer and the dryer, comes the step of folding the laundry. And every time he folds my clothes, he feels the need to exclaim, “Your [insert clothing item] are so TINY!” Last night, as he folded my jeans, I learned that my pants are indeed as tiny as the rest of my wardrobe.

Upon hearing how tiny my clothes are, I feel compelled to pout and throw a fit, just as every 4 year-old does when you are so bold as imply that they are not a “big kid.” I insisted that my pants are not tiny, and are, in fact grown-up lady pants. Because there is nothing that will convince someone how “large” and “adult” you are more than insisting that you wear grown-up lady pants.

My clothes really aren’t tiny. In fact, as the years go by, I find that they are slowly getting bigger and bigger. I hope, though, that my husband will forever be entranced – and surprised – at their tininess.

I keep a camera in my bathroom, so I can be sure to capture a picture of my cat drinking out of the toilet. And why is this so nerdly, you might ask? Because once I capture that perfect picture of my cat, standing on his tippy toes of his back legs, with one paw wrapped around the porcelain bowl, and with his head sunk deep in the basin, I will have a most perfect lolcat.

(If you don’t know what an lolcat is, you really need to check out the link, or google lolcats. Otherwise, you might as well stop reading.)

With a picture of my cat with his head in the toilet, the possibilities are endless! From hangover-kitty, to reconsidering-that-mexican-place cat, to plumber-kitty, to oh-what-tastiness cat – I could go on and on. And with the help of my husband – and my loyal readers – I’m sure I could come up with a myriad of hilarious captions.

So – what have you? I’ll keep working on the picture – give me some captions!

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