Squeee!

I got my new monitor tonight. I'm super exhausted because I took the day off of work and played 9 holes of golf (I'm so horrible but it's really fun) and had the cable guy fix my DVR that was no longer working after their software update, and then went and found my monitor. It's soooo pretty.

The plan is to actually blog about it with pictures, watch something fun on it, and blog about my birthday party as well... tomorrow night (probably this weekend). I was just too pleased to not fangirl squee about it right now.

I am happy. And here is the best part:

Remember when I said the birthday plan was to pool money and be lame so that I could make this purchase and that I didn't really need an actual present? When you total up all the money I got, I ended up paying seventy nine cents for this monitor. And that was excluding the money my parents gave me for my birthday. Yes, some of the money I used was given to me for Christmas, but that's okay.

I love my seventy nine cent monitor.

We can all thank Belinda for the interesting change. She gave me a mason jar full of silver coins for my birthday that totaled $28.76. One penny slipped in.

Promise to update soon. For now, I must get to bed. So sleepy!


End Blog.

Tax Time

I usually owe money around tax time. It makes me angry, simply because I know they've been stealing my money all year long and it feels like a kick in the proverbial nuts to have to give away even more money... especially if I know that other people are getting a refund. Granted, it's never been a large amount of money, but it was substantial enough to be annoying. Last year I owed the federal government $339, and the state gave me back $177. So, I was really only paying a little over 150 bucks, but that is enough money to be worth complaining about.

That was last year. Last year when I didn't own a home. Last year when taking the standard deduction was the best I could do.

This year I got to itemize my deductions. I have tons of student loans! I've paid what feels like only interest on my house! So this year, I'm getting a refund. A refund I'm sure that I wouldn't get if I was still renting.

I'm going to pay off my credit card with my refund.

And I'm really excited about it.

How lame!

I suppose home ownership has its perks. Maybe if I have any money left over, I will reward my house by buying it curtains.

I can't believe I did them already. They aren't even due until April. God, I sound so grown up and junk. Gross.

Boogers!


End Blog.

Entertainment

A few years ago I was pretty broke and never really went out much because doing so cost a lot of money. While it still does cost money, I have a bit more of it to go around these days and I've found myself spending it on concerts and games and stuff that I've always wanted to do, but never really have. I went to several shows at the music hall this past year. (Mamma Mia, Rent, The Wedding Singer, 12 Angry Men, Avenue Q, and Wicked)

Here are tickets I currently have:




Tomorrow night, Starlight Theater, Kathy Griffin. So excited! Man, I hope she gets nominated for a Grammy next year. I bet she'll be hilarious at the awards ceremony. I don't even care if she doesn't win!

















September 14th, home opener for the Kansas City Chiefs. They're playing the Raiders. I'm so happy football season is back! Rumor has it American Idol David Cook and his brother are singing the National Anthem at this game.



















On November 15th I have tickets for a KU football game. They're playing Texas. Should be way fun, especially considering that the people I'm going with are insane fans. That always makes things better.

















And then, to end the year, I have Madonna concert tickets in Atlantic City on November 22nd. Three of us from Missouri are going and have decided to take off work and take a grand road trip half way across the country. We are planning on making videos in the car. Remy will be coming along.






And, the best news of all - I paid off my credit card this week, so it's not like these events are bringing me down. I still don't have a fence for my back yard, and I'm pilfering parts from my spare toilet, but I think my priorities are pretty spot-on. The next few months are going to be really fun.


End Blog.

Lucky Day

I should play the lotto!

I found a ten dollar bill today. I am super awesome.


End Blog.

Oh Happy Day!

I got my economic stimulus payment check today. I have big plans for it to go directly toward a credit card payment and thus not stimulate the economy at all.

Take that, President Bush. That's how you stick it to the man.


End Blog.

Bringing Home the Bacon

Okay, so I guess I had always known that if people really wanted to see my salary it would be possible to find. I work for the city, so I'm sure there's a public record of it... somewhere. Well, The Kansas City Star has conveniently posted them online, for anyone to search. So awesome.

So, if you know my last name or job title, and are curious to know how much money I'm raking in, you can check it out. (Even though it's not entirely accurate. I know how much money I make. I'll just let you know that it's more than what they're listing. I think they might have records from last year.)

Kansas City Police Department salary database

You might get conned into registering with a username and password and junk, but then again, you might not. I've seen it work both ways.

And if you happen to know someone in Johnson County, or you want to see the huge salary differences between Kansas City and Johnson County, that might be good for a laugh... Actually, I'll save you the effort, people there part-time are making approximately the same amount as I am. Those that are full time are around $18,000 more - and I'm picking people with the same-ish number of years experience.

But they don't get triple homicides to work, like we do.


End Blog.

If you'd like to see other people's salaries, here's a fun list:
Missouri universities salary database
State of Missouri government salary database
Kansas City salary database
Johnson County salary database

Health Insurance

Health insurance is really cool. Remember my eye problem? Well, I finally got my insurance claim from that. I had a $20 copay because I was seeing a specialist, but the total bill came out to $159.60. Just for the exam. So, I'm glad I didn't have to pay that on top of the charge for the antibiotics I had to buy.

That whole medical and dental insurance thing really comes in extra handy. Thank god I have a real job and am no longer in grad school.


End Blog.

Death and Taxes... Or Just Taxes

I hate the country but love my state. Why? I finally did my taxes.

I owe the Feds $339. I hate them. I ALWAYS owe them something. And I never feel like they deserve it.

Missouri, on the other hand, is giving me $177. And I'd give that $177 right to Kansas City, if they promised to put it into the Police Department funds somehow... you know, since the city is in a major budget crisis. (People are trying to save the zoo because it's been suggested that's a good place to cut city funds. I agree. I have yet to go to the KC Zoo, so I really wouldn't miss it... and I know other super useful places that money could go. Like the police department, so all my best friends at work don't get fired, or so that they can actually pay for the gas that goes into the patrol cars. But I digress...) I love my job. And the city in general. I wouldn't care if my local taxes were raised. It was only like, 1% of my income. It hardly seems fair. I mean, this is where I care about, where I live, where I'd actually see improvements with the money they've taken.

They give you the option of donating your tax refund to the general state fund. If I could guarantee that money went to KC and not anywhere else, I might have actually done it. But I can't know where that money goes, so I didn't. Also, I need it to help pay off what I owe to the Feds. Damn them. *raises fists to the sky*

So, considering the fact that I had to pay $13.95 to file my state return online, and the numbers I listed above, this year I come out owning a grand total of $175.95.

I almost don't care because I know I don't have to fill out those forms again for another year. And I'm hopeful that since I'll have more interest accrue on the loan for the house, I might not owe as much next year. You know, since I only had the house for like 3 months in 2007. I'll likely be sorely disappointed when it comes to filing the 2008 taxes, huh? Ahh... what else is new?

But it's over! Over for another year! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!


End Blog.

Ant-EYE-biotics

My right eye has been bugging me for about a week or so and since Martin Luther King Jr. gave me the day off today, I figured I'd finally go and figure out what was causing the annoyingly excessive tearing and sneezing. Just because my eye was rather swollen this morning and had bothered me all night, doesn't mean that I wasn't planning on having someone look at it today anyway. Although, I totally wasn't.


Doesn't my eye look perfectly healthy and normal to you?

Well, it seems that my optometrist thinks that I have a low grade viral infection in my eye, which was determined by putting a fluorescent dye in my eye and looking at it with a blue light that was similar to the ALS I use at work all the time. Although, he says, it might be accompanied by bacteria as well... and since I'm in discomfort, I might as well have a prescription for some eye drop antibiotics and use them four times a day. Peachy.

I'm not sure if anyone knows this other than my mother (remember that time I had pink eye?), but... I simply can't do eye drops. The whole thing is beyond me. I could stick my finger in my eye if I had to, but dropping liquid from a bottle is just completely beyond my technical abilities. I can't see the drop, so I don't know when it's going to fall, and those drops just hang on the end of the bottle forever, now, don't they? Actually managing to get it inside my eye and not somewhere on my cheek or eyelid is impossible.

Imagine my surprise when I got the first dose in properly on the first try. I hope the rest of the applications go as smoothly, because I really have no faith in my ability to conquer the complexity that is eye drops. Cross your fingers (or your eyes) for me. I can only hope that this will clear up whatever's been going on in there the past few days. Especially since it cost me $45 for the eye exam and antibiotics.


End Blog.