This and That, Weekend Edition

I apologize to my loyal readers for the lack of updates over the past week or two. I've been busy, yet at the same time there hasn't been too much to report.

Work: Work has been busy, and that is a good thing I suppose. I managed to send a lot of books to press, and now I'm just waiting for more projects to come in. It will be nice to have a brief rest before things get busy again. Technically our furlough period is supposed to end next week, but we're still not sure what will happen next. I'm not sure if we'll still be on furlough for the rest of the year, or if we'll go back to our original salaries. I'm hoping that we'll go back to "normal," because maybe that will improve the morale of the office. But we'll have to just wait and see what happens. Other than that, there really isn't that much to report.

Weddings: On Friday I had the pleasure to go to an absolutely beautiful wedding. The wedding didn't take place until the evening, but I took the day off of work to rest and relax before the big event. The wedding ceremony was in Denver at the Cheesman Park Pavilion. It was the first time I've been to the park, and when I saw it I wondered why I've never gone there before and wondered why no one told me about it before. The pavilion itself is a small Greek temple, just the kind of thing I love. The weather throughout the week had been hot with severe thunderstorms in the afternoons, but on Friday, the day of the wedding, we were fortunate to have beautiful, dry weather. The ceremony itself was beautiful, and the bride, my co-worker, dear friend, and one of the loves of my life, was absolutely stunning. After the ceremony we drove across town to a small art gallery for the reception. There was good food, good wine and cocktails, beautiful and heartfelt speeches, and lots and lots of dancing. All in all it was an absolutely beautiful evening, and I'm grateful to have been invited.

Disconnected

On Sunday afternoon I went to downtown Boulder with a mission to find the perfect wedding gift for one of my friends, who is getting married next week. While walking along Pearl Street, I was taking in the sights and mingling around booths that filled Pearl. It was the Boulder Asian Festival, so it was busy and there was a lot to see. At one point I stopped to sit on a bench to rest and to watch the people wander by. I happened to be near a restaurant that had a patio. At one table were four girls, all were otherwise engaged with their cell phones, BlackBerry, or iPhone. Two were talking on their phones, while the other two were frantically typing away with their text messaging. They didn't say one word to one another and hardly even looked up to make eye contact. Maybe the two on the phone were talking to each other, and maybe the other two were texting each other. Who knows?

I'll be the first to admit that the new cell phone technology is pretty awesome. The fact that you can browse the Web and send e-mails through your phone is pretty cool. Then there is there is that other, occasionally used feature, the ability to make an actual phone call. I'm a technology geek, so I like these things. But I all too frequently see people completely absorbed and taken over by these little machines. Even in the fanciest restaurants where people are dressed up for the fanciest dinners, you'll see more than a few people fiddling with their phones. You know that your life has been taken over when you can't go more than twenty minutes or an hour without checking your e-mail or reading your text messages. You know that your life has been taken over when you can't take more than a few minutes to engage with the person sitting across from you. Technology is cool, but the complete inability to interact with someone unless it is through a screen of some kind is kind of sad. So put your phones down people! Take a minute to actually look at the person sitting across from you. Look into their eyes, watch their expressions, listen to their voices. It might be an old fashioned way of talking to someone, but it's pretty rewarding.

Mixed Messages *Updated*

Lately, I've been quite confused by the right wing attacks on Obama. The same people who have been calling him a Nigerian-born Kenyan-born Muslim are the very same people calling him a Nazi. Weren't the Nazi's generally white and Christian? How can you be both a Nigerian-born Kenyan-born Muslim and a Nazi? Doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

**Updated from my initial post. They say he is a Kenyan, not a Nigerian. Apologies!**

Money-Saving Tips for Cheap and/or Tight-Fisted Publishing Professionals

**Long Post Warning**

As I have written in previous posts, publishing is not exactly a lucrative career. We make a decent income. It's not always a great, high income, but it's also not a low income. Still, money is tight for many of us who work in this industry. We're watching our pennies and dollars just like everyone else in this country. And things are getting worse and more volatile in our office. People are getting more angry and frustrated about contributing money to department or office events. These days a $3 or $5 contribution is cause for a riot. Things are so bad that there is a good chance that our department will stop celebrating our co-workers' birthdays because people are getting tired of contributing money to bring in food or treats. I think this is really sad, because getting together and celebrating birthdays is one of the ways that we try to take a break from work and try to boost morale. However, how can you boost morale when half the people are angry and resentful about their $5 donation? And maybe this will be a good thing for me, considering I'm often the one who contributes more to cover any shortfall. While others might complain about donating $5, I'm usually the one contributing $10 or $15. Why should I keep doing that?

These birthdays happen maybe once a month. We've even tried to combine an entire month's birthdays on one day so that it is less of an inconvenience. So it's basically a $5 donation once a month. But still this is a problem. Like everyone else, I'm trying to be careful with my money, but I have my own tricks and tips that help me save money. Here are a few ideas that might help frugal and fiscally conscious readers.

1. Don't buy coffee from a coffee shop every day. There is a wonderful ritual about going to coffee shops. There is the smell, there are the nice and/or cute baristas, there is the tasty, freshly ground coffee. It's wonderful, and I used to go to coffee shops all the time when I was in school. But the money you spend on coffee adds up. $3-4 a day equals $15-20 a week. If you still want to go to a coffee shop, try going every other day. Or if you have enough will power, save it for Friday and consider it an end-of-the-week reward/treat. Or, better yet, brew your own coffee at home and bring it to work in a thermos.

2. Don't eat out every day for lunch and/or dinner. Some people, many of my co-workers included, just don't like to cook. And I can understand that. There are days when I don't feel like cooking after work. But eating out every single day really adds up. $7-8 a day for lunch equals $35-40 a week. A $10-20 dinner every night can mean $50-100 a week. All of that money can be spent on groceries and you'll get a lot more bang for your buck. Take a little time to make your lunch or cook your dinners. I might get teased at work for loving peanut butter sandwiches, but when you add it all up, that sandwich probably costs about $0.50. I'm one of those types of people who like to cook, and when I cook, I tend to make a lot of food. Even when I try to cut recipes in half, I always seem to have enough food for 6 or 10 people. I eat leftovers at work for lunch, or I freeze the leftovers and save it for one of those days when I don't feel like cooking. One meal could possibly be stretched for a week or more.

3. When you go to happy hour, drink maybe 2 or 3 drinks instead of 6 or 8. I love alcohol as much as anyone and I love getting together for happy hours, but I also know that it can get expensive. Binge drinking in a bar is not cheap. So be careful with how much you spend in the bars. This is good for your wallet and for your safety! If you want to binge and drink a lot on one night, buy your booze form a liquor store and celebrate at a friend's house where you can spend the night. It will probably be cheaper in the long run and it will be safer too!

4. Cut unnecessary expenses. If there is something that you absolutely don't need, consider consider getting rid of it or putting it on hold. I've canceled a lot of magazine subscriptions. I don't have much time to keep up with these magazines, and when many of them are online for free, why spend $50 dollars a year for a subscription. I also canceled my Netflix subscription. I might sign up again when we get out of this furlough period, but saving even $14 a month on this helps out.

5. Clip coupons. For whatever reason people laugh at me when they hear that I clip coupons. I think they think that coupon clipping is something that only old ladies do. But, hey, pennies saved are pennies saved. Who cares when a fistful of coupons can save you $5 at Target or $10 at the grocery store. Do you know what $15 equals? Lunch at Wahoo's: 2 tacos, rice, black beans, chips, salsa, guacamole, and a beer! And you'd probably have money to spare. $15 can also equal a very good bottle of wine.

These are only 5 examples of how to save money, but I'm sure there are dozens more. The basic rule is just be sensible and know what is worth the money and what is not. Save where you can, but splurge and treat yourself (and others!) every now and then. These treats and rewards will be good for your mind and soul. And most of all, stop whining. That's bad for both your soul and the souls of others!

Connected

For the past week or so, I've been thinking about getting a new cell phone. My now previous cell phone was perfectly fine. Even though it was four years old, it still worked well, always got great reception, never dropped a call, and in general was a perfectly fine phone. But, I just got it in my head that I wanted a newer phone and an upgrade. Quite frankly, seeing my nieces and nephews with all kinds of fancy, high-tech phones put the idea into my head. So, for the past few days I've been doing a lot of research online and looking into some of the latest phones. The LG enV Touch got a lot of great reviews on cnet and the Verizon Web site, and today I went to the Verizon store to give it a closer look. I liked what I saw and decided to buy it. Actually, "buy" it isn't even an appropriate term. The phone itself is about $200, but with the in-store discount, "new every 2" program, and rebates, the phone cost $o.00! I had to upgrade my plan, but I can live with that.

The phone is super fancy and is filled with quite a few features. In addition to the standard calling features, it comes with mobile web, mobile e-mail, and your basic text messaging abilities. So if I wanted to, I could check my e-mail or browse the web from my phone. The phone also has a camera and a music player. And in addition to all that, it also has some fun tools like an alarm clock, calendar, stopwatch, world clock (in case I want to know what time it is in Athens or any other city, like Tokyo), notepad, drawing pad, calculator, and even a tip calculator. I'm pretty excited about the tip calculator. Being an editor and one who often has lunch or dinner with a group of other editors, calculating the tip and dividing the bill among 5 or 6 people can sometimes be quite the ordeal. None of us are paid for our math skills, so now it's nice to have a handy calculator rather than trying to spend 10 minutes sorting out our bill!

I'm still figuring out the navigation of the phone and all of the menus and features, and I've already accidentally called two people while playing around in the address book, but eventually I'll get the hang of it. So far this new phone seems really nice.

Current mood: relaxing
Current music: Tori Amos "Spark"
Current drink: Fat Tire

Empty

I am now coming to the end of a wonderful vacation. For the past week, I've had most of my family in town. My parents and one brother stayed with me, two other brothers and their families stayed in nearby hotels, and my sister and her family lives not far from me. The only person missing was one sister-in-law, and she was missed. We were all gathered together to attend my nephew's wedding. The wedding and reception were beautiful, and what was most wonderful was simply having the family together in one place. We are a tightly knit family with very strong bonds. Even though we might not see one another every year and, unfortunately, we often go several years without seeing one another, but when we reunite, it is as if we never left one another and it is as if no time had passed. Whenever we get together, the rooms get loud and filled with laughter. We enjoy reminiscing about the good old days and reliving cherished memories. We simply enjoy one another's company, and you can actually feel the love filling the room. Everyone went home today and my home is now empty and quiet, and this makes me really sad.

Whenever I hear friends or co-workers talk about how much they hate their parents or their siblings, I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry that they don't know the same love and affection and bond that my family knows. And I know that I'm extremely fortunate and blessed to be part of such a wonderful family.