Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This is my last, quick, post of 2008. 2009 will begin in a matter of hours. Posts to come on Christmas 2008. Happy New Year!

Our electric bill

We use Green Mountain Energy as our electric company. Not only were they offering one of the lowest rates when we moved, we like that they are using clean energy to power our house. They even include information about how much carbon emissions you eliminate each month by using them versus a standard company. If you don't use them check them out.

Since Hurricane Ike hit our bills have been weird. Our bill in October was for only $20.00. Then for November up to $90 (closer to our normal. I also did a ton of cooking this month and thought maybe that explained it.) Our December bill is $1.28. Yea. A dollar.

The only thing I can think of to explain the two months of crazy low billing is that our meter was damaged in the hurricane and it hasn't been discovered yet. Anyone else know of an explanation?

Four years later.

Yesterday was our four year anniversary so we went to dinner at one of Chris' favorite Houston restaurants and saw "Four Christmases". Overall, fun date night.

Our Christmas decor is all out so I need to post some pictures. I'll work on that early next week. I'm getting excited about our Christmas party but worried it will be me, Robyn, our spouses and a punch bowl because people are not RSVP'ing ha. Oh well. We'll enjoy it if it's just us.

Yesterday I sent in the final payment on one of my student loans! (Yay!!) I have two left in my name and they don't start gaining interest until February. I think I can pay off the smallest remaining one before then and we'll have one left in my name.

The bad news is two new loans will be in Chris' name starting December 29th. (Boooo) I'm doing what I can to keep his debt to a minimum though and once mine is paid off we will be able to focus only on his stuff.

Our church here in Houston is taking a group to Cambodia at the end of July to work in some orphanages. I do not know if I will be able to go yet but I really want to. We would like to adopt from Cambodia but it is currently illegal for US citizens to do so. Maybe by the time we get to the stage when we are actually expanding our family this policy will have changed. Regardless, I would love to be a part of this mission. We'll be praying about it to see if it's something I should do. Chris cannot go because of school commitments.

I cannot believe Christmas is next week. I'm excited!

Socially conscious investing

One of the benefits of working at Rice is the pretty generous retirement contribution plan. We do not have a lot of options of funds to invest this contribution in, but one of them is a socially conscious fund. The companies that are part of this fund are all companies that do not test on animals, do not fund genocides, and just generally are not participating in some of the sleazy activity companies may participate in to make money easier. While my other retirement accounts are down 20% and 31%, this fund is actually up 5%. Interesting.

Justice in Rwanda

This news story makes me glad. While sending one man to jail does not justify their actions or forgive them for the horrid crimes they committed, it at least keeps them off the streets so their victims do not have to see their face again. And to finally credit a single individual for organizing the campaign that lead to over 800,000 people being killed in about 100 days is huge. The ability to bring an organized justice process to such a chaotic criminal spree shows the power and strength of international war tribunals. The ICTY and ICTR have both had major victories this year. Hopefully these will continue to lend credibility to the permanent International Criminal Court.

A busy weekend and a break

My busy weekend officially started on Thursday of last week. I had dress rehearsal for our choir concert from 7-10. Got up early the next morning and drove to Denton, graduated, saw family and friends, returned to Houston Saturday morning. Performed in concert Saturday night. Ate at food fest.

Relaxed on Sunday. Ahhh... no Pier 1. No journal editing. I didn't even cook.

I did finally get our Christmas tree up and wrapped gifts. I love Christmas.

Here are some photos. One of Lindsey Fowler and me at the choir concert. Six years out of Cooper we find ourselves in choir together again. The other is my parents and me at graduation.

Well said!

Jeremy over at Generation X Finance wrote a brilliant blog post about how the media is reporting on the economy. The focus of his post is all of the sob stories currently in the media about people in their upper fifties or sixties who's retirement savings is heavily invested in stocks. They have now lost huge chunks of their retirement savings in the stock market troubles this year and fear they can never retire.

Instead of taking the opportunity to educate the public about how to allocate funds as your life cycle progresses, the media just says "how sad" and wants us all to feel bad. Many people are hearing this and interpreting it as a reason to stay out of the stock market. However, most media outlets are not taking this grand opportunity to tell the rest of the story.

These sad stories should say Grandma/Grandpa lost 50% of their retirement savings having invested 100% of the retirement in the stock market. However, if they had slowly pulled their money out of stocks and into bonds over the past 20 years like they should have this would have been avoided and they could have gained modest returns this year.

Same story for all the parents who had their child's college fund in stocks when their kids leave for college in the fall or, worse, are already in college. If you need that money soon why risk it?

Don't fear the market but know how to use it before you invest. Know when to change your investing game plan.

Goodness, I love snow.

I love the winter. I feel better when it's cold outside. I love being able to cover up while I'm hanging out around the house. I love how cuddly the cats get when their cold. I love it all.

Today after work I went over to a spa/salon place in Rice Village and got my eyebrows waxed and hair cut. My hair is now eight inches shorter than it was before. It is so light and breezy I almost don't know what to do with it.

Tomorrow I have dress rehearsal for our choir concert from 7-10 so it will be a long day. I'm sleepy already.

Then Friday is graduation. I get to get up early and drive to Denton. I will see some family I haven't seen in a while though so it will be good.

Happy.

Tonight I went to a cookie swap hosted by one of Cathie's classmates. I knew no one at the event besides Cathie but they were all really nice girls.

I'm going to go buy tickets to Legally Blonde by the end of the week and I'm super excited about it. I love musical theatre.

I'm also loving television shows this week. On one hand the episodes are amazing. On the other hand the half point in the season is over and many shows are cliffhangering for a few weeks. Boo.

I just finished watching last nights episode of Gossip Girl and WOW! A lot happened. Almost all of the major characters had major storyline movement. Well done writing staff. And I've never loved Dorota or Chuck more.

Heroes was crazy. The twists in Sylar's storyline as well as the demise of one of my favorite Heroes made this a great episode.

I have yet to watch Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother. I am currently watching last nights episode of Privileged. I am the only person I know that watches this show but it is clever, fun, and light so I'm digging it.

Exhausted

I am worn out. I haven't had a day off from work in four weeks with the exception of Thanksgiving Day. Between the job at Rice, Pier 1, a few social functions, holiday prep, graduation (this weekend), choir, and just basic cooking and cleaning I am tired. My feet are sore. My back is aching. I'm really sleepy.

And my sleep schedule is completely bizarre. I went to a birthday girl's night on Friday and stayed out until 2 knowing full well I needed to be at choir by 9 the next morning. From choir I went straight to Pier 1 eating a granola bar on the way. I got off at six and fell asleep around 8:30. Woke up at 11, back to bed from 4-8. Then a full day of Pier 1, baking, cleaning, and prep for this week.

Chris' schedule has been less random but just as busy. He has seven finals this week and will miss my graduation because one of his finals is Friday morning. It should be interesting.

On a good note I love all the Christmas movies that are on all the time now. The cheesy made for TV ones are the best. I've also forced Chris to watch Elf with me once and watched it alone at least one other time so far. I love it.

The assistant director for Chao Center starts this week and I have to say I'm excited about it. The woman currently filling the role is incredibly sweet but is technology impaired and that drives me a bit batty.

Quick weight loss update: I'm down a solid 3 pounds. It has been gone for about 2 weeks now and I consider that a feat during the holidays!

I'm off to finish up laundry before bed.

Have a great week!

Heinous

http://www.freep.com/article/20081204/BUSINESS01/81204058/1118/RSS

Even with an auto industry bailout economists predict at LEAST 90,000 jobs lost in Michigan. If the auto industry is already that bad off I don't see a bailout helping them. Their CEO's proved they are woefully unaware of the concerns of the current American public. While foreign automakers began experimenting with new technology (with success), creating smaller more fuel efficient cars the US automakers pumped out the Hummer and other large SUV's. During times when fuel costs were causing concern the American auto manufacturer's missed the mark.

They took private jets to a congressional hearing asking for money for their companies a week or so ago. If that doesn't scream of a disconnect with the American public, their values, and concerns, I don't know what does. Granted they took hybrids this time around it just screams publicity stunt.

From what I have read, allowing the auto industry (or at least 2 of the big 3) to go bankrupt will be devastating to Michigan's economy. But bailing them out will cause great harm to the national economy for far longer. I vote no bailout.


edit: I found this map that breaks down auto industry jobs by state. Thought it was neat.

http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/storysupplement/stateautoworkers/index.html

A matter of perspective

Isn't it funny how things are perceived? I read an article this morning that claims the lone gunman captured following the three day rampage in Mumbai, India participated because his family would receive less than $1500 dollars if he was martyred during the attack. He and his partner during the attack are attributed with killing 54 individuals. In return for the death of 54 innocent people and his own death his family would received $1250.

To me $1250 is mortgage, HOA fee, and utilities for a month. It is a few months student loan payments. It's a semester's worth of books for Chris. It's less than two weeks work. In the scheme of our expenses, it is nothing.

But to this man and the nine others that died carrying out the attack it was worth It was worth inciting terror for. It was worth killing for. It was worth dying for.

I wonder what this amount of money would have meant to his family. Would it have been life changing or a quick fix? It must be a large sum or it wouldn't be worth it, right? I know that I am blessed to live in a largely prosperous country. Even in the middle of one of the greatest economic declines in modern history we are still a prosperous country. But I cannot wrap my head around the idea that this act of terror and violence was committed over such a small some. How tragic for the victims. How tragic for the gunman's family to live in an area where this act could be considered an opportunity. How tragic for the gunman to feel so helpless that this was the best option to help his family. How tragic that after all of this his family will likely not receive their prize because their son was captured, not killed. In the end his actions did not benefit him or his family. It was all in vain.

Good news, bad news

Remember when I talked about/posted about jobs at Rice being secure? Well they still are for now but we are officially in a hiring freeze. At this point they are saying everyone who is currently on staff is safe and we can still expect moderate raises next year but no non-essential staff will be hired until at least April. Boo.

I have several things I want to write about but I feel myself on a bit of a roller coaster so I'm going to take time to think before I write.

One year ago...

Today is December 1st - also known as the first day acceptance letters go out for dental students. A year ago today I woke up very early and compulsively checked email, made sure the phone was on, and basically did everything to make sure we got the email, letter, or phone call that let us know Chris was in fact going to dental school.

And I remember how incredibly crushed I was that Chris did not get a phone call, email, or letter that day. I was sure he would get in on the first round. It never really crossed my mind that he wouldn't. He had already interviewed at two of the three dental schools (Baylor and Houston). Within a week he had a letter in his and saying he could interview at San Antonio on December 17th. This is not a good interview slot. Fifty percent of all the seats are given on December 1st. A wait list is already started. You aren't even being fully considered yet!

A month after the interview Chris got an email from Houston saying he was accepted (known formally as UTHSCH)...we didn't even realize that he letter we got on the same day was his acceptance from San Antonio (know as UTHSCSA)! We both felt a little ungrateful that after all that anxiety and nervousness we were so ungrateful that we didn't even realize he got two separate acceptances.

Just goes to show how emotional the process is. For those who are going through it best wishes and hang in there. I know your anxiety level has risen greatly if you didn't get in today but keep with the program because there are a lot of seats to give away still. And congrats to those that received the letter saying you're in. Enjoy the next few months before the real work begins!