Parenthetical

Other journal up and running

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Apr 08 23:06:00 UT

I've got my johndoe journal up and running again, after years of hiatus and forgetfulness. It lacks the anonymity of the namesake, but nonetheless has been a fun domain for me in the past, and will continue to be such now and in the future. I've been back there for awhile, but have totally forgotten to update as such.

Bedaub

Mochas, gyms, and other updates

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Sat, 13 Oct 07 18:44:00 UT

In a moment of zen pleasure I've discovered that Champagne (that faux-French bakery) does, in fact, make a mocha quite similar in texture and flavor to one made directly by Tully's. I suspected it was a possibility since they sell Tully's coffee beans and brew that brand of coffee, but since so many other ingredients go into a mocha, I was skeptical about the quality. Indeed, this mocha is a reasonably good substitute to the heavenly mocha I'm always able to get at the Tully's in downtown Tacoma. Thus, I am pleased and have found a moment of calm in my life this weekend.

Other than waxing lyrical about mochas I've mostly been agonizing over schoolwork. I'm stuck in a bind. Mid-semester I've become completely exhausted by the prospects of what it would actually take to accomplish what I had wanted to in financial planning, and excited by what I could be researching in linguistics. The more committed I become the less I'm able to commit to the homework associated with one of my courses. Withdrawing from the course has potential complications associated with it resulting in further stress. This isn't how I planned that this would go, but it was somewhat foreseeable (I just didn't do the foreseeing).

The rest of the homework is more manageable--it's just math, and I can enjoy that even when it's not the focus of my life. Either way, though, I've been a little stressed about deciding whether to withdraw from my business planning class or to stay in--it feels so much like lying on a weekly basis. Even if I ended up finishing this degree it'd end up feeling that way, I think. The professor is really looking for a certain type of business plan to emerge which hasn't so far allowed for much deviation from the norm. Considering that the norm has been to design the standard planning practice that involves working for high-income and upper-middle-class individuals and families and hasn't used much beyond the standard fee schedules, I'm a little disappointed. I figured that a program initiated by a college that was founded by the YMCA would have had more room for progressive ideas about financial planning than it actually does. Maybe I'm mistaken about the original goals of the YMCA. Or maybe this is why the school and the YMCA aren't actually the same organization anymore.

I'm trying not to be bitter.

I'm also waiting as patiently as possible to find out if I got into the linguistics program. First they said I was admitted, then they said "oh yeah, but only to the school--we're not sure yet if the linguistics department likes or you or not." So I waited. And then Wednesday I got a call from the department head asking for more information. I emailed her back that night and haven't heard anything yet yay or nay.

I did get an admissions letter in the mail, though. From the Graduate School, though, not from the department. It was dated internally as October 5, and postmarked for October 9th, both of which were before I got the call from the linguistics program. I also haven't gotten any email back from them at all, and according to the letter I'm supposed to be expecting email from them regarding registration (and hopefully more details about my acceptance into the program).

If I don't hear back from them soon, I'll call and see what's up. I'm avoiding it at the moment because the last time I called they got really grouchy with me. I'm just hoping that the linguistics department itself is friendlier. Grouchy administration I can handle--they won't ever by writing my recommendation letters.

I need to sip some more mocha before I write this next paragraph. Okay, better now. My car also broke down mysteriously Thursday night. I was exhausted. Steven was exhausted. And so we decided to go get dinner out somewhere rather than attempt to cook. I was waiting for him outside in the car, and it was idling. I had just driven all the way from the Valley, and so this makes it all a little disconcerting. Steven got into the driver's seat to take over driving and we were sitting there discussing where to go when the car died. He tried to turn it back on and wouldn't go. He tried again and wouldn't go. So we tried to get it into our entirely inconveniently located parking space and failed. So we had it towed. It's still at the mechanic's. Apparently it was an electrical problem and they fixed it as of yesterday, but it also was in serious need of an in-depth (and expensive) tune-up, including desperately needing a new timing belt. Thank goodness the car decided to wait until I had arrived at home to die.

Also, many thanks to Leo, the mechanic who has so far been an angel to me during this whole process, and who called me every step of the way to update me on it. They had narrowed it down to being one of three different parts that could have needed fixing, so he started with the cheapest. He also did the checkup on it that discovered the timing belt issue for free.

I'm rather attached to my car and it's pretty distressing when it's not doing well. I can handle the inconvenience of not having a car for a couple of days, but the car was a gift from my mom. My dad had promised me a car for years and after he died she used some of the money he had left her to buy me this car. It was not a new car, nor was it as expensive as one, but it was in excellent condition and I have developed a bit of an emotional attachment to it. It's taken me between Washington and California safely a couple of times now and it perfectly Erin-sized. It also has a setting on the driver's seat that makes it nicely Steven-sized too, which is just very nice.

On a happier note, though, I've several boxes worth of stuff from Washington to go through now. Dishes and kitchen stuff. Clothes. CD's. Video games. And I also got my first wine club shipment the other day. I like trying out good wines that I've never had before. The first one that I popped open was from Vigna Ladonna--Orange Muscat 2006. Very yummy. A little sweet, a little dry, very flavorful. It would be fun to cook with, but I suspect we'll just drink it all over the next week or two. Probably would be excellent with salmon.

I also got a gym membership. Maybe using that'll counteract my discovery of these almost-Tully's mochas. ;)

Home Again

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Sun, 30 Sep 07 23:16:00 UT

We got back a few hours ago and although it's late I think it'll be awhile before either of us go to bed. Steven's got my top-loader Nintendo out with Dr. Mario going and I'm listening to Tryo perhaps a tad louder than my neighbors would be happy with. (Tryo is a French reggae band that I became acquainted with during an exchange trip to Normandie-Basse in high school.)

I don't want to sound overly focused on STUFF, but since gathering things that were left behind when I moved was a large focus of this trip, I feel it's appropriate to express my total glee at having a few of those things back with me. I do have my Nintendos (plural, yes), and their associated cords and controls--and Steven got excited and made them work too, thankfully, since it would have taken me awhile to figure out how to make it work again since it's been awhile.

I have my music collection back now too. My computer melted down the spring before I moved here. And then when I moved here, my back-up computer also had a tiny meltdown, so I've been without my own collection of music. However haphazard and small a collection, I am happy to have it back, and to have a computer to transfer all the data onto.

I have my missing slipper--my mom gave me green slippers for Christmas a couple of years ago and I haven't been able to find the missing one since I got here. I haven't actually had occasion to need to wear slippers around the house because it's generally warm here, and I generally dislike having my feet covered when I can avoid it, but in the back of my mind it's been bugging me that every time I reunite pairs of socks that one's mate has never turned up in the laundry.

I have my quilt back. It's a very large, bright, soft quilt that I got from Target in my first attempt to brighten up my life and my surroundings. I had just moved into an apartment that had very old architecture when I bought this quilt. The molding came up to about waist-height and was white, but the rest of the walls were black. While very elegant, it had left me feeling the need for some more color in my apartment. Isabel and I spent many evenings snuggling under it while I read or watched TV. When Steven brought it upstairs she immediately jumped into it and curled up for awhile.

Steven has his Kung Foo t-shirt back. Izzie hasn't discovered this yet, but I know when she does she'll be happy. She stole this shirt from Steven when he visited, then made a nest for herself with it after he left. She's a very clever and determined cat who had a very clear message for me.

I have my dishes and a whole box full of kitchen stuff that we really don't have room for back. I know that we don't have room for it, and that makes me sad because I'll have to get rid of some of it, but there were a few things that I was looking forward to get back. My garlic squisher-thingy for instance... It was indispensable to me when I cooked by myself and how I managed to make it down to California without one is beyond me. I know I could have gotten it replaced, but still... I also found all my knives. I have some "family heirloom" kitchen knives that I hated leaving in storage.

I think I have some other "home" things too, but it's late and I don't actually feel the need to catalog it all. I'm just happy to have more of my things here. Especially since so much of the trip to WA ended up being highly emotional--it's always hard going back to a place that used to be "home" and discovering that it's really not anymore. Even Olympia, which was very much my first taste of what being truly "at home" was like, didn't seem very "homey" to me anymore. To really drive it all home for me (see how I play with the words? hehe) I found a copy of the sermon that I gave as a part of a young adults group that I was a part of at the UU church in town precisely on that topic. Re-reading it, I am still quite proud of it as my first (and probably only) sermon--it was really very well-written and I never say that about my own writing. Not perfect, of course--there are some structural changes I'd make still, but it was really very good.

There many other things that happened that I can and will write about later, nearly all of them dealing with more detail about how the week went, how the family is, how the friends are, etc., but I think for the night it's appropriate to leave this alone as it is--a written-down celebration of being home again.

Travels and Adventures

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Tue, 25 Sep 07 16:57:00 UT

Steven and I are in Tacoma, WA for the week. We had plans to leave early on Saturday but ran into a few last-minute snags, amongst the most exciting and least enjoyable was Izzie (the siamese-tortie) getting herself stuck in the handle of a milk crate in the closet. Kenny came to the rescue with some gardening shears and cut her out of the crate. I hated leaving her on Saturday and I miss her, but she's in good hands with Kenny there.

Despite the late start, we managed to accomplish much on Saturday. We got my car CA plates (finally, it's been a year now, right?) at AAA, who apparently does car registrations, is open on Saturdays, has much shorter lines, and a much more pleasant waiting area. (Speaking of, my little VW passed CA smog tests with flying colors on Friday!)

We also got battery-operated speakers for my iPod nano so we could listen to some tunes on the trip. My car stereo is mysteriously broken and is not responding to repeated attempts to "reset" it. Steven's checked all the fused he has access to and they all work fine, so if it's a fuse, it's got to be one that's located elsewhere in the car than those he checked already. Finding it will be an adventure, and the warranty on the stereo expired in June, so if it's not a fuse, then it's likely going to need to be replaced.

Saturday was a fun leisurely drive up the 101. We stopped at a little town called Solvang and had dinner and then discovered a wine shop that does tastings. I enjoy finding new wines that I like so we stopped in and I did one of their wine tasting selections, all of which I enjoyed. I've never been to a wine tasting where I enjoyed ALL of the wines that I've been presented with. Usually I end up liking maybe one of the types that I'm presented, but I learn a lot of history about the areas where the wine comes from. Since this wine tasting was all local wine, I didn't learn that much more than I already knew about the area, but I did enjoy all the wine. I'm now a wine club member.

Steven drove after that, of course, and we ended up stopping at a hotel just outside of San Francisco to spend the night. We woke up relatively early the next morning (early for our standards, of course, is late for most people), ate breakfast, and headed back out again. We spent Sunday driving along the 101 some more. There was a lot of fun stuff to see, including the Redwood National Forest (I hear I slept through the Avenue of the Giants though), but the 101 is a slow drive since it's so twisty you have slow down for much of the distance of it. Once we hit Oregon we decided to cut east a bit and take I-5 the rest of the way.
We stayed the night in Eugene, Oregon which was a lot of fun. It's a little college town that reminds me a lot of Olympia, Washington. From there it was a quick drive up to Tacoma, WA and so we didn't actually arrive until yesterday afternoon.

I've been doing homework for much of it, inbetween visits with family, and Steven has been playing video games and reading, but once the homework is done, we'll be set to go for having some serious fun this week. (Homework should be done in another couple of hours.)

More updates, list style

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Mon, 10 Sep 07 16:29:00 UT

I haven't updated in awhile, so here's another list of some of the more general things that have been happening over the last month or two.

- I've applied to an MA in Linguistics program at a nearby school. I've been pursuing a degree in financial planning, which will still turn out quite well if I don't get into this linguistics program, but since financial planning was my backup when language programs fell through for me, it seems like nonsense not to at least give it a really good shot at getting in, especially when I have so many people connected to the program and the field of study that it seems to be not coincidental that I found it. I'll hear back probably at the beginning of October about whether I'm in.

- I'm headed home for a visit at the end of this month. If you didn't already know "home" is the Puget Sound in Washington State. It's going to be good visit, and I'm going to get to retrieve many of the things I left behind there, including my Nintendos (original NES, both front-load and top-load with all the accessories) and my CD's (I have no idea how those got left behind). Unfortunately it will also include retrieving and disposing of several unwanted items including furniture, and a wedding dress I didn't get to wear (and don't want to--I'll get a new dress when it comes time to think about that again). So good, but also potentially overwhelming.

- I've continued with classes in financial planning and this term has proven to be a good one so far. It's hard to take a class in building a financial planning practice knowing that I will either end up leaving the field to pursue a different dream altogether, or that I'll end up staying and pursuing it at a different angle altogether than most people do--it's hard to be different in a field like this (everyone else wants all the high-net-worth clients who really don't need our advice, let's face it--I'd prefer to help the people who aren't as well-educated as money).

- I'm leaving my current job. It's become far too stressful for reasons I don't have the energy to rant about right now. Whether I continue on with my current financial planning program or I get into the linguistics program, the financial aid is there for me to be able to afford to attend school full time and work part time instead of the other way around. I like it better that way. That way, whatever I end up doing gets done faster. I've accepted that my 20's will be consumed by school, but I'd like to avoid my 30's being consumed as well.

- I got a haircut. A month ago, at least. But every day someone else asks me if it's a new haircut. I like it, of course, because it's a bit trendy and easy to take care of, two qualities that aren't often found in one hair style.

- I've been writing more lately. I'm participating in a writing group this month and have the lofty goal of getting 3 chapters written on one novel, and I've left room in my goals for getting a short-story first draft written. So far it's been good. Three chapters is hard to write if your story has no plot, so this has been good for me--I've had to learn more about proper plotting techniques.

- I've taken a semi-permanent break from World of Warcraft. I'm not sure if I'll ever go back for real, but I'll let time be the decider there. I'm somewhat inclined to join in if one or both of the guilds that Steven and I are in decide to do something exciting but out of the ordinary (like the guild brunches we occasionally do through Guls Angels), simply because it's fun and a good time to socialize with people in real life, but otherwise, it was just beginning to be too stressful, time consuming, and altogether frustrating to keep playing. If I play video games now, it's likely to be my Harry Potter games (which are not online games in nature, and which really are very simplistic and non-addictive--no upkeep necessary) or maybe Mario on my NES when I get it down from Tacoma.

Morally Investing or Investing in Morals

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Thu, 2 Aug 07 10:34:00 UT

I'm generally a big fan of mutual funds. I know I've raved about them in the past, and I always voice a word of caution before extolling their virtues to people I think are interested investors. One of the varieties of mutual funds that, in the past, have been particularly dangerous are mutual funds with a moral mission. This type of fund ranges from the far-left of the political spectrum to the far-right and comes in many varieties in between.

The reason for the word of caution is only that this type of fund has historically placed their stated values ahead of the needs of investors--to make money (or at least not lose any). This re-ordering of priorities is virtuous to a point, but the reality is that not all investors are rich, and most aren't trying to make it rich--they're just trying to make it to retirement and do so responsibly in all possible ways.

In recent years, though, with the growing availability of low-cost investing options and the popularity of the concept of voting with your dollars, there have been quite a few morals-based mutual funds who have come to terms with the humanity of the companies of choice and have allowed themselves to invest in a broader selection of companies--given that they show a desire to make better choices--and also to manage their mutual funds based on earnings as much as morals. You can't vote with your money, after all, if you've lost it all investing in poorly-managed companies who had good intentions. And while a company may have good intentions, you need more than intentions to bring good results, either morally or monetarily.

Here's an article summarizing religious-themed mutual investments, the issues they face, and their recent successes:
Religious Investing Gains More Clout

Isobel and Fuller

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Thu, 19 Jul 07 15:02:00 UT

As it turns out Fuller isn't actually all that shy. He keeps trying to get Izzie to play with him and cuddle with him, and Izzie is stubbornly showing her inner-siamese and being prissy about it. She's no longer hissing at him or growling at him, and she's even agreed once or twice to play adjacently to him, but she hasn't agreed to a real friendship with him yet. It feels very much like a feline interpretation of "Taming of the Shrew," where Izzie is the shrew.

Kumbaya or Hi-Ya!

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Fri, 13 Jul 07 16:36:00 UT

So this is a follow-up on my last entry. We got a new kitten, Mr. Buckminster Fuller, an 8 month old black and white dude who is shy, fuzzy, and the epitome of all things cute and lovable.

If that worked the way it's supposed to, you can see him there in that picture looking up at Steven with "playtime" in his eyes.

Isobel, the other epitome of all things cute and lovable, is not looking as cute these days. She's hissing and growling at the bathroom door behind which she knows is a strange cat that she's not sure if she likes yet. She hasn't done normal Isobel-ish "I don't like you" things other than hissing, so I'm confident that she'll get over it soon and think about him perhaps in a friendlier light, but I'm still nervous about it.

We're giving her some extra love to let her know that she's still queen of the house; Fuller seems okay with this, he just wants a friend to play with. With any luck and a little patience from Miss Queen Isobel, I'll be able to post some pics of the two of them being cute adjacently (or, god forbid, TOGETHER).

Updates

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Thu, 12 Jul 07 16:00:00 UT

I'm the eternal list-maker and in light of it having been so long since updating, this is my solution... forgive me. In no particular order:

-We're having a kitten! His name is Fuller and he's adorable. He was a feral rescue, but is quite sweet and has been observed interacting quite nicely with other cats so I'm confident that he'll adjust to Izzie very well... we'll see about Izzie's reaction later tonight...

-Speaking of Izzie, she's officially a teenager now. I took her to the vet because she had something bloody and gross on her chin, which turns out to be kitty acne.

-I got a new computer! It's a shiny new Mac on which World of Warcraft is delightful. I also got Starry Night in an effort to remember the joys of stargazing... I haven't used it yet though.

-We got to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last Saturday, a whole four days earlier than it's American release date thanks to a friend that's a BAFTA member. It was fabulous! Easily my favorite of the movies, which is interesting considering it was my least favorite of the books. (I thought he was too whiny in the book, but the movie is a little different in that regard.)

-I got a new phone. I'm keeping the old one for a variety of reasons that aren't all that interesting, but if you need to reach me right away, call the new one. I sent an email with the number, and I'm sure I forgot people, so if you need it still, send me an email and I'll forward you the new number. BTW, the phone is shiny!

-This news is less of the happy variety of exciting, and more of the "oooowwwww" kind of exciting. I have had a backache in the same location for what feels like three years running, but which is probably only two weeks now? Yes, I have sought and found professional help. (Thanks Miss D.)

-We have managed to complete every last piece of laundry that we had to do... and since we don't go roaming around the world naked, this exciting event (which happened due almost entirely to Steven's efforts and not my own) was immediately wiped out with the subsequent wearing of clothes. I miss having my own washer/dryer in my apartment...

-I took midterms. I think it went well, but I'm not sure how that's actually going to be reflected in my grade since the teacher apparently curves. Without the classroom experience, I really have no idea how I compare to the other students. I am firmly opposed to most types of grading curves--they're not about how a student performs compared to standards, but rather, about how a student performs compared to other students (meaning that if the teacher is bad and nobody knows anything, the student who knows the most gets the A, even if they scored poorly on the exam--my middle school Algebra grades were based on a curve in which the highest grade on the final exam was 18%).

-I've added an Estate Planning certification program to my studies, so completion of studies may require some extra time, but the additional credits will serve well to fill in some of the gaps in my schedule and probably will give me the opportunity to take some of the classes at the LA campus. This will give me to the opportunity to fulfill the requirement for the CPA exam in additional to the CFP exam and will also help me in my networking efforts.

-I have new glasses. So far I like them, but I think they're a little more extreme than I was originally going for. I have found out that lasik eye surgery would be quite risky for someone with pupils as large as mine, so I've got to postpone that as long as possible. And I also found out that I was allergic to my other brand of contacts and/or solution, so I've totally switched to something else.

-Steven and I have started walking in the mornings. As this requires us to get up earlier, we have only managed to do this once this week, but really, once is better than never, right? We'll get into the habit soon as we get used to waking up earlier.

-I got to see a live taping of a PotterCast which was really pretty interesting. They kept having sound system issues, though, and Sue wasn't there (what happened to my favorite Hufflepuff? I hope everything's okay with her...)

There's more, and I'm sure I've forgotten something really important, so I'll add more later as I remember more.

Has it really been this long?

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Thu, 12 Jul 07 14:58:00 UT

Has it really been that long since I've posted? Busy busy like a bee, I tell you! :) I wrote this earlier, just something I've been mulling over:

I've been dealing with food issues my whole adult existence. I grew up with a mom who is a wonderful cook, but the variety of foods we ate was fairly limited. You see, my mom is the sort of woman who, much like me, is a people-pleaser in the kitchen, and so she cooked things that my father would like first and foremost, and tried not to stir the waters when it came to the possibility of trying something new.

My boyfriend, in contrast, grew up with a mother who was a nutritionist, and who apparently places a high value on a diverse diet full of healthy foods, and who often encouraged her family to try new things (Hi Ann! *smiles*). I compare the two moms here only for the purpose of shedding light on two ways of thinking about food that I have struggled with. On the one hand, I like all of those old "home cooking" recipes that I learned from watching my mom cook.

On the other hand, the desire for some variety is precisely what led me to become a vegetarian in high school. My mother understood, of course, because she too enjoys more variety in her diet than mashed potatoes, fried meat, and canned veggies for dinner every night (don't forget the gravy). In fact, I think since my father passed, of all the meals I've eaten at my mother's only Thanksgiving has had gravy and we usually have oven-roasted root veggies with rosemary. Most vegetarians can't understand this take on it... why go veggie if all you want is more variety? Well... if I can't eat the main part of the meal that's served every evening, then I have to cook for myself... and if I cook for myself, then I get to eat whatever I like. (The deal my mom made with me was that I had to go grocery shopping with her regularly so that she knew what to buy me--it worked out well, I still miss those shopping trips with my mom.)

I didn't stay veggie forever, but I did find myself questioning the politics and ethics of food quite a lot in college and have since continued to mull it over, if passively. I live in the "land of fruits and nuts" as my mom so aptly puts in now, so I am in a place where I'm sure I can find the venues needed to eat responsibility and ethically. But the discussion is still going on in my head... to eat meat, or not to eat meat?

The article that started all this up again for me today:

http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/2007-05-14/living_is_killing

Getting Ready

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Tue, 1 May 07 13:37:00 UT

The good thing about my job is that even when I do the bare minimum, I'm still generally doing better than my predecessors. I prefer doing beyond the minimum, but right now has been a stressful time at work and so being able to focus on just what has to get done is a nice luxury to have. My focus has gone out the window entirely since I got registered for courses, and classes start on Monday.

This isn't like Evergreen (or high school, for that matter) where the syllabis get mailed to you a month in advance with homework to be done by the first day of class, and it's driving me crazy. I want to know what to expect from my classes. They start next week and will dictate my life for the next four months, and so I would like to know now what preparations I need to do to get ready for all of this, other than the obvious (clean house, get backpack, get books, get paper and pencils, find appropriate study spaces for various "moods" of studying, etc.).

To amuse myself while work is in a lull and while I'm trying hard NOT to obsess too much about how little I know about my impending classes, I've been looking over my course requirements for this degree, planning out my course load and my expenditures for the next few terms. I get to look forward to a new computer, among other exciting things. Ever since my Alienware comp decided it couldn't handle WoW (they finally fixed the burning-hot video card issue, but the CPU still overheats when WoW is attempted), I've been a little skittish about getting a new computer. I'm impressed by the level of service that I've seen at Apple, so I'm leaning towards getting myself a Mac this time. Even the bad service that I've heard of has been better than the "good" service at Alienware, so I'm optimistic.

I'm also looking forward to this term being done with. I know, it hasn't even begun, but this term is my "prerequisite" term. I have three classes to fulfill before I can take FI 420 Personal Financial Planning (the intro course). Two of them are this term, and one of them I get to take next term adjacent to my "real" FP course. This term is all economics and finance, neither of which get me all a-fluster with fantasies of people finally having IRA's and good FICO scores. Instead it just leaves me with worry that I'll lose momentum by the time I actually reach the start line. :P

Epiphanies!

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Thu, 19 Apr 07 14:50:00 UT

After writing about my discoveries earlier this week I had a few ongoing moments of clarity/confusion regarding my career choices. I had really considered going into education instead of financial planning. It's what I had been interested in before I started doing business school, which I did more to please other adults in my life than for my own personal interest. So I sort of assumed that my interest in it wasn't coming from a genuine place and I decided to sit on my GGU acceptance letter for awhile instead of enrolling immediately.

I've researched and planned and researched some more the possible routes for getting into teaching and it all seems nice and good and all. But as several of my friends have pointed out to me since I started questioning my decision to leave behind financial planning, I speak passionately (rant, even) about financial topics far more often than I do about education. The lifestyle of a financial planner is more suited to my preferences. For instance, a private practitioner could set her own hours... I could wake up at noon if I wanted. I could work until 3 AM if I wanted. I could even take time off to write if I wanted. Additionally, the level of enjoyment that I get out of making Excel spreadsheets is something to worry about, except if it led to me making a living off of it. Also, I could hire my own receptionist instead of being one myself...

Add to that the level of personal frustration that I feel when I see graduates at Emperor's leave into the wild blue yonder and come back weeks later frowning and saying things like "if I had known what running a business would be like, I'm not sure I would have done this," and "I feel so unprepared to run my own practice." It's not that we graduate bad acupuncturists--quite the contrary in fact. We graduate excellent acupuncturists, but the traits that make a good acupuncturist are not the same as the traits that make a good business manager/owner. A little training in the basics of owning a practice can go a loooong way to easing the fear and frustration that results in not understanding the way things work in the legal/financial/business world. Not to mention how far in debt most of our graduates are because of taking out student loans. I can sympathize with that, as well as conceptualize ways to deal with it and manage it. When I fantasize about teaching (yes, fantasize), it often involves lectures about money management.

I'm weird, I know that, and I also have an unfortunate tendency towards indecisiveness. But I'm also almost started on classes for my Master's degree now. I spoke with my adviser this afternoon and once I've got financial aid all worked out, I'll be able to register and classes will start in just a couple of weeks. I'm nervous, and happy that I finally am at a decision--as I always say, I don't make decisions, they make themselves and then tackle me when I least expect it. :P

Discoveries!

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Tue, 17 Apr 07 17:28:00 UT

The solution to the problem that many young-un's like me face when trying to figure out how to save for retirement when we have so little money and are consequently incapable of diversifying appropriately.... The "Target Fund." I've been pretty unfamiliar with the inner workings of mutual funds and also fairly distrustful of such things, having heard many horror stories about them in the past. However, knowledge and research beat out fear any day, and in this case it was good of me to do so. Search for "Target Funds" and you're likely to turn up mutual funds designed and managed with a subset of investors in mind.

The investment strategy is based on your age and expected retirement year and so the holdings reflect the strategies most accepted for that age range. For instance, financial advisers generally recommend that young folks like me invest for high growth (which takes a LOT of attention and knowledge--things that come more easily with training or age+experience). This is pretty difficult to attain safely on an individual basis since you have to either have a TON of money to invest diversely, or just get really lucky in your choice of stocks. Having only a small amount each month to invest, I'm very excited about these sorts of things.

Without recommending it, because I only know about the company in passing and am not an expert, you can find an example of such a fund here: VanGuard 2050.

Conventions and Cosmos

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Tue, 17 Apr 07 17:27:00 UT

I had quite an exciting weekend this last weekend. Saturday started out quite nicely with a visit to the Grand/Slam convention somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area (there were some pretty hill-type things nearby). Saturday's celebrity sitings included the blond chick from Dead Like Me (a show I don't have time to watch, so I have no idea what her name is). We were supposed to meet Hayden Panettiere, the cheerleader of Heroes fame, but her flight supposedly was delayed so she showed up too late in the evening for us to see her. Since the days are sort of blending in, I can tell you that either Saturday or Sunday there was a panel of folks from Battlestar Gallactica and they were pretty funny taken altogether. The actress that plays Starbuck (I just like her name... she has coffee right?) was surprisingly girly and really funny. If we ever have time to do such a thing, Steven wants to watch BG again from the beginning with me so that I can understand what's going on in the show. The creature guy (I'm such a horrible fan-girl... I don't know anyone's names) was there and he was a little ticked off at FOX for screwing him over on some credit he should have gotten. Of course, I generally am ticked off at FOX because they have a track record full of stupidity and illogical reasoning (which are fine attributes when they belong to me, but not at all acceptable in the companies that control my favorite shows).

The most exciting convention event of the weekend for me was seeing James and Oliver Phelps, and Stanislav Ionevski, of Harry Potter fame. The interview was entertaining, but mostly it was a TON of questions about all the actors from HP and not as much about them... this I found disappointing, since I adore them and would like to learn a little more about them. There's already an abundance of information available about the lead actors. Oh well. I did get autographs in my books from all three of the actors and that was nice.

Saturday several of us went out for karaoke and sushi to celebrate the birthdays three of us have had recently. It was great fun, I had much to drink (hangover less fun, now I remember why I don't drink as much), and I also got one of my most-desired presents--a personal GPS designed for hikers/runners to measure distance traveled (although it doesn't have a map, per se). It has a bunch of really neat features that I don't yet understand, but the most important one was being able to time and measure my excursions. Weeee!

Food Reviews and Diets

erin.ogden@gmail.com — Thu, 12 Apr 07 17:42:00 UT

I haven't done a food/restaurant posting in a long time, and I thought I was over-due for one. I'm headed towards diet-land so this is a recipe that I want to remember since it's likely off limits for awhile (potatoes.... how I will miss thee...).

I haven't cooked anything exciting recently, personally, but I witnessed some excellent cooking over at Kenny's a couple of weekends ago and managed to get the recipe from him too. So here it is, straight from the All Recipes website: Shepherds Pie II.

INGREDIENTS

* 2 pounds potatoes
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/4 cup milk
* 3 onions
* 1 pound lean ground beef
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels
* 1 tablespoon paprika
* 1 pinch ground nutmeg
* 1 pinch dried sage
* 1 pinch salt
* 1 pinch ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil potatoes until tender. Mash with milk and 2 tablespoons butter or margarine. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Saute the onions with the paprika. Add the ground beef and sage, cook until meat is browned.

3. In a sauce pan, blanch frozen vegetables for 5 minutes in boiling water. Drain.

4. Spread a thin layer of potatoes in the casserole dish. Add half the peas and corn, then the ground beef and then the rest of the peas and corn. Top with mashed potatoes.

5. Dot top with flakes of butter, nutmeg, paprika, salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 40 to 50 minutes, or until golden brown.

The Experience:

This is some excellent home cooking, British-style. I think Kenny added extra nutmeg, but I'm not certain--I always love extra nutmeg, and this was yummy. This is a non-tomatoey version of a dish that I love, tomatoey or otherwise, and I definitely recommend this recipe. It was a good find, Kenny!