Blinky Lights and Shiny Objects

I hadn't noticed this one until the Bureau of Public Debt sent a reminder email. They've reduced the limit on annual purchasing of savings bonds to $5,000 per person. It used to be $30,000. The last time the limit was $5,000 was in 1973. I'm not even going to try to guess the real reason they did this. But what it means is that one of the best places to keep cash without losing purchasing power to inflation, the I Series bond, is not as useful as it was. I like I Bonds . The rates are continually adjusted to keep ahead of inflation. Right now, they are at 4.84%. They are sold at face value, have a minimum ownership time of 1 year, and only a 3 month interest penalty if sold before 5 years. You can buy directly from the Treasury Direct website for free, so there are no account fees or transaction fees to reduce the return. The interest income is even exempt from State income taxes. Of course, I'm being a bit silly, because I've never bought $5,000 worth of...

I am now the proud owner of a board game with a Class II laser warning. We can blame Karen, because she said that when I was first talking about PRISM (the DS game) she thought I was talking about Khet . She also mentioned that they were selling it at Gamer's Paradise in Woodfield Mall. The sales dude there introduced it as "laser chess" because of how the pieces can be moved. I'm terrible at chess, but I do have an affinity for bouncing light around with mirrors. He also mentioned that one can purchase a pair of beam-splitting pieces as an expansion. Then, he started to explain what those would do. At that point, I did let him know I was an optical engineer. (Flashbacks to engagement-ring diamond shopping, I do already know what an index of refraction is...) He then said that there are rumors of a second level that can be added on. I assume it will really start looking like that funky chess from Star Trek. But now that I think on it more, that could have s...

Why has it been so difficult for me to learn to let go a little and have fun, or even to take control and make fun happen? It would seem that fun is what other people have while we are getting work done. I'm in the last year of my twenties, which is, I think it has been said, when we are supposed to be having all of the craziest fun of our lives. I started my twenties at Rose (party central, if you count Denny's runs at 2 am on Tuesdays). Then, when that was over, I got a real job, got married, and we bought a house in the suburbs. Work Work Work. In an attempt to shove a decade worth of fun into the remaining two-in-the-tens-place time I have left, I have a proposal. Let's get together and do something fun! I'll still put in my hours at work, and I'll still get the laundry and the dishes done, eventually. But, I want to GET OUT. To DO MORE. But not BY MYSELF all the time! Example 1: last Friday at lunch, a coworker mentioned she would be going to a party ...

Fun surprise at church today: we could each take home a hymnal. They were dedicating the new hymnals (brown cover) to use from now on. The pastor announced that if we wanted, we could take one of the old ones (blue cover) with us, and give it a good home. I got one out of the choir loft, so it is in really great shape. Because of the occasion, and that it was Cantate Sunday, all of the songs today were about singing. Brian declared it meta-singing. Yesterday I tried adapting a cookie recipe to use all-Core ingredients. See, flour isn't Core, so there are no official Core baked goods. I did have luck the other week making pumpkin pie Core. (Start with the recipe from the can of pumpkin. Bake in a casserole dish with no crust, Splenda instead of Sugar, and fat-free evaporated milk.) But now I've discovered why the WW message boards all repeat the same thing: yes, you could bake a cookie with Core ingredients, but you aren't going to like it. I took a very simple coo...

[Edited post title on 7/9/08] http://www.americasnewtanker.com/ Here's the text of the automatic letter that you can send to your representatives through the website above: Subject: Support America's new tanker - Northrop Grumman's KC-45 Required text: (This text will be included in your message) As your constituent, I'm writing today to let you know of my support for the United States Air Force (USAF) decision to award Northrop Grumman a contract to build the KC-45 Tanker. The facts behind the USAF decision are straightforward and compelling. Northrop Grumman is an American company headquartered in Los Angeles with over 120,000 employees across the United States. The tanker decision was based on an open and transparent process and the best team won. The USAF ranked each bid on five criteria and Northrop Grumman won on four out of the five and tied in one category. Both sides praised the USAF for the fairness of the competition before the award was announced. Both sides...

Ugh. I just got off the phone with Discover Card. I had logged in to my account to pay my bill online, and was greeted with the message that my account number had been changed. Curious, I called their customer service line. They have actually changed the account number for EVERYONE with a Discover Card. EVERYONE. Now I, and everyone else, have to call all the places I have automatic billing through the Discover card, and tell them my new account number. And I've got to log in to all the websites that know my credit card number, and update it. IF I can remember all of them. Now Discover Card does say that they have "made an attempt" to contact all of the automatic billing places to update the numbers. But they still say that we need to "call to verify" that merchants have the corrected numbers. And since EVERYONE is calling to do the same thing, good luck getting through. Also, the rep said they only did this for MONTHLY billing places. So those yearly...

Multi-Topic Post! 1) Diagnosis: ITB tendonitis in my right knee. The massive dose of Ibuprofen gave me a headache for two days (how is that even possible?) then heartburn that felt like painful hunger. So, on to the next anti-inflammatory drug. It was also a lot of trouble to find someone with a Cho-Pat strap in my size - they were all out of mediums at the doctor and the home-health pharmacy. I had to drive to Elk Grove Village today after my physical therapy session to go to the other doctor's office and pick one up there. Oh well, at least I have a name for the pain now. And thank God for health insurance. 2) Take Jessie's survey on blog use . It is for her graduate class in market research, and it is about why people read blogs. Help us skew her data set! 3) My bike is in the shop for a tune-up. This is the first tune-up since I bought the bike, like, oh, seven years ago. I do intend to ride it this year, I promise! We've got such nice paved trails in the ...