Ah, so that’s what she meant.

Michelle Singletary says on Day to Day’s personal finance segment and in her WaPo column The Color of Money that you should invest only what you can afford to lose.
Today I am glad that I don’t have a life’s worth of savings in my IRA.  It made watching the value of my portfolio on Yahoo [...]

Read Full Post »

Small sigh of relief, followed by enraged shouting

Last night I sent off draft 1 of my second chapter to my advisor.  He’s been holding letters of recommendation for my job applications hostage until I sent him something, so it’s a tremendous relief to have the first stab at it done.  It will still need work, sure, but additions and revisions are more [...]

Read Full Post »

Torpid bordering on somnolent? Or healthy?

Zee gave me a lovely gift of a heart rate monitor that she found for a good deal on Ebay, all the better to exercise efficiently with, and now I can’t stop measuring my heart rate.  And by “measuring my heart rate” I mean putting on on the chest strap and looking down at the [...]

Read Full Post »

One thing that might have been terrifying if I wasn’t so tired:

Coasting down the big hill this afternoon after an exhausting day on campus, relishing the wind in my face and not having to exert an iota of energy to travel a few blocks, when a squirrel with a walnut in its mouth darted out into the street, turned back, then darted out again because it [...]

Read Full Post »

Comes with the territory

I often come across some pretty gruesome article titles and illustrations when perusing medical journals.  I have to say, though, that this title just stopped me in my tracks:
W.E. Longo, et al, “Recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal.  Predictors of initial treatment failure and results of salvage therapy.”  Annals of Surgery 220, no.1 [...]

Read Full Post »

Busy busy

This week, and in all likelihood, the weeks following until next summer, will have me working from the moment I wake to the moment I sleep, with some breaks here and there for eating, biking, and walking or running.  I got an email from my adviser last week with a job posting attached and a [...]

Read Full Post »

The Digital Revolution is here!

Spouse and I finally got around to using that $40 government coupon to purchase an analog-to-digital converter for our TV-and-bunny-ears set.  After some cursing of technological innovation and wailing at the government who was going to require us to purchase not only the converter but also a new antenna since our $10 model worked for [...]

Read Full Post »

Dear Spouse and your dreaming brain,

If I was a member of the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive line, I probably wouldn’t have to quit because I got pregnant.  I’d probably have to quit because the coaching staff suddenly discovered I was 100 to 150 pounds lighter than the rest of the line.  And not at all trained in the arts of blocking, [...]

Read Full Post »

Obamanomics

I’ve been rolling this post around in my head for a while, but given the expanding meltdown of the financial markets and increased attention on the economy, I figured now was as good as time as any to get it from my brain to the page.
A couple weeks ago, when visiting the baby (and his [...]

Read Full Post »

Calling all DIYers

We have a bathroom problem.  Or, more accurately, a bathroom annoyance.  It’s ugly.  The floor is creaky in a couple spots.  The fixtures don’t match.  There’s only enough storage space for a hair dryer and our very limited quantities of toiletries.  And the grout in the shower can grow enough mildew to populate a new [...]

Read Full Post »