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One of my ankles was hurting a little in Body Flow class and it felt like I was stressing it when I was trying to balance on that foot, so I kept my other foot on the floor the whole time. I was fine with that, but then during "hip openers," my hips were even less cooperative about opening than usual. I started to get disgusted with myself for being such a failure and then I remembered--duh! It's not about failing or being a loser. It's about stretching. I was certainly able feel stretched just fine. The rest of class was just fine after that. I wondered why I forgot that for a minute.
**
My boss is currently in charge of three sections (up from one when he started). He's got my section, which has one staff member (me), section #2, which also has one staff member, and section #3 which has several staff members, including one who's in charge of the others. Today he told me that he's decided that the person in section #2 needs another back-up (besides him). He first thought of using someone in section #3, but the cycles of those two sections match perfectly. In other words, right when one section could use some help is just when the other section can't spare anyone. You know where this is heading, don't you?
He said that were I to add section #2 back-up duties to my duties, I could get a raise because that section has money. I had two responses. The one I told him was: what about his extra money? He has tripled his responsibilities at basically the same pay.
The one I didn't tell him is that the big exciting raise he promised me last time turned out to be only 8% higher than the raise I was already slated to get. That's significant, and the biggest raise I've ever gotten, but hardly life-changing. I don't actually mind learning this new stuff and helping out, though, and above-average raises are always nice. It doesn't make my handcuffs so golden that I'll stop looking for something more fun, though.
Actually I did also tell him that this will be alright now while I have this job, but a new person will not be able to do all that stuff.
Next time I'll bring up the part about how I could use another back-up (besides him) as well. Actually we've talked about all this before, but this was the first time he said that his research had shown that section #3 personnel would be inappropriate and the first time he talked about extra money being tied to the extra duties.
**
Amazing coupon opportunity for locals - Lately whenever I go to HEB and buy Odwalla energy bars, I've been getting coupons at the register for both Pria Grain Essentials energy bars and PowerBar Harvest or Nut naturals energy bars. I think the pattern is like this: if you buy only Odwalla, you get a coupon for $1.00 off on one of each of the other two kinds. Since they only cost about a dollar, this is rather a good deal. But then if I buy those bars with the coupons and also get Odwalla bars, then the next coupons are for $1.00 off two bars and $1.00 off six bars. Or maybe instead of being correlated with how many other bars I'm buying, it's set by month--the first time during the month, you get the magic coupons, the second time in the month you get the $1.00-off-two coupons, etc.
I like energy bars that taste like cookies or candy, though the ones that taste like candy tend not to be as nutritious. For the Odwalla bars, I like the peanut chocolate chip flavor the best and there's a chocolate one I like second best that has different nutritional strengths. These taste sort of like hard oatmeal cookies. Now that I only see the big ones (200+ calories versus 100+ calories), I eat half of one for a snack at work.
The regular Pria bars are yummiest in the chocolate mint but not very nutritious. The Grain Essentials are more nutritious but not very yummy. More like a very boring hard cookie. Still, it's worth the price for a work snack when it is totally free.
The Power Bar Harvest in the toffee chocolate chip is more like a delicious, though dense and hard, candy bar, sort of crunchy and the bottom is chocolate-covered. This is dangerous because I'm less likely to stop at half a bar.
Anyway, if that sounds good to you, I recommend shopping at HEB soon.
Website of the Day: Yahoo's Retirement Calculator - This reminds me of those career interest tests (except shorter) in that you answer a bunch of questions and then it guesses what you would like to do. Then you can look at the guesses and see if it gives you any good ideas.
In this case you get some questions about your next big financial goal and some questions about your tolerance for risk.
Now my risk tolerance is very odd because on the one hand I am extremely risk averse, but on the other hand I am not an idiot. Apparently this is an unusual combination because apparently most people with low risk tolerances want to invest all their money in bonds. At best. They might really prefer a mattress. But anyone who is not an idiot has heard of inflation and average rates of return. Therefore, since I have a lot of money in my pension plan, which is very bond-like in a lot of ways, all my other retirement money is in stocks. That's right. 100%. That's how I diversify. (Plus I have a house.) It seems low-risk to me, but tests usually don't get it.
To me the ideal test has questions with obvious answers and then results that mean something. And for me, this test was pretty good by those measures. For my next goal (early retirement), they recommended that I put 35% of my investment money into fixed income instruments, 65% into equities, and 0% in cash. My current goal is similar. My IRA has finally caught up with my pension, and I've decided that I'd like to have double my IRA money in additional investments. That would be a 25/75 split, though my current reality is a 42/58 split.
I don't really care what they recommend for my fixed income because I'm just going with my pension for all of it. Okay, I care a little: they recommend that 15% of my investments go to domestic fixed income, 10% international fixed income and 10% mortgage-backed income. Nice diversification!
Then for the other investments, they recommend 10% large-cap growth, 20% large-cap value, 15% small- and midcap stocks, and 20% international equity. My goal, scaled to be comparable to these numbers, has been 14%, 14%, 28%, and 8%, respectively. Except a little smaller because I want to do some stock-picking for fun. So they think I would like value more than growth (if anything, I think the opposite) and that I shouldn't limit my exposure to international stocks so much. Interesting.
Then I changed my answers to look slightly more aggressive, and then the split became a 25/75 split. Suddenly the morgage-backed fixed income investments disappear from the recommendations, and suddenly they think I like growth more than value, and they think I like international stocks even more. Interesting.
Then I changed my answers to look stupidly aggressive and they recommended that I put 80% of my funds into large cap growth stocks, 10% in small/midcap stocks and 10% into international stocks.
Yep, they just don't think international stocks are as risky as I thought they were, what with exchange rate risk, and less-stable-seeming (in some ways) government/economy risks, etc. All very interesting. Well, to me anyway.
**
My boss is currently in charge of three sections (up from one when he started). He's got my section, which has one staff member (me), section #2, which also has one staff member, and section #3 which has several staff members, including one who's in charge of the others. Today he told me that he's decided that the person in section #2 needs another back-up (besides him). He first thought of using someone in section #3, but the cycles of those two sections match perfectly. In other words, right when one section could use some help is just when the other section can't spare anyone. You know where this is heading, don't you?
He said that were I to add section #2 back-up duties to my duties, I could get a raise because that section has money. I had two responses. The one I told him was: what about his extra money? He has tripled his responsibilities at basically the same pay.
The one I didn't tell him is that the big exciting raise he promised me last time turned out to be only 8% higher than the raise I was already slated to get. That's significant, and the biggest raise I've ever gotten, but hardly life-changing. I don't actually mind learning this new stuff and helping out, though, and above-average raises are always nice. It doesn't make my handcuffs so golden that I'll stop looking for something more fun, though.
Actually I did also tell him that this will be alright now while I have this job, but a new person will not be able to do all that stuff.
Next time I'll bring up the part about how I could use another back-up (besides him) as well. Actually we've talked about all this before, but this was the first time he said that his research had shown that section #3 personnel would be inappropriate and the first time he talked about extra money being tied to the extra duties.
**
Amazing coupon opportunity for locals - Lately whenever I go to HEB and buy Odwalla energy bars, I've been getting coupons at the register for both Pria Grain Essentials energy bars and PowerBar Harvest or Nut naturals energy bars. I think the pattern is like this: if you buy only Odwalla, you get a coupon for $1.00 off on one of each of the other two kinds. Since they only cost about a dollar, this is rather a good deal. But then if I buy those bars with the coupons and also get Odwalla bars, then the next coupons are for $1.00 off two bars and $1.00 off six bars. Or maybe instead of being correlated with how many other bars I'm buying, it's set by month--the first time during the month, you get the magic coupons, the second time in the month you get the $1.00-off-two coupons, etc.
I like energy bars that taste like cookies or candy, though the ones that taste like candy tend not to be as nutritious. For the Odwalla bars, I like the peanut chocolate chip flavor the best and there's a chocolate one I like second best that has different nutritional strengths. These taste sort of like hard oatmeal cookies. Now that I only see the big ones (200+ calories versus 100+ calories), I eat half of one for a snack at work.
The regular Pria bars are yummiest in the chocolate mint but not very nutritious. The Grain Essentials are more nutritious but not very yummy. More like a very boring hard cookie. Still, it's worth the price for a work snack when it is totally free.
The Power Bar Harvest in the toffee chocolate chip is more like a delicious, though dense and hard, candy bar, sort of crunchy and the bottom is chocolate-covered. This is dangerous because I'm less likely to stop at half a bar.
Anyway, if that sounds good to you, I recommend shopping at HEB soon.
Website of the Day: Yahoo's Retirement Calculator - This reminds me of those career interest tests (except shorter) in that you answer a bunch of questions and then it guesses what you would like to do. Then you can look at the guesses and see if it gives you any good ideas.
In this case you get some questions about your next big financial goal and some questions about your tolerance for risk.
Now my risk tolerance is very odd because on the one hand I am extremely risk averse, but on the other hand I am not an idiot. Apparently this is an unusual combination because apparently most people with low risk tolerances want to invest all their money in bonds. At best. They might really prefer a mattress. But anyone who is not an idiot has heard of inflation and average rates of return. Therefore, since I have a lot of money in my pension plan, which is very bond-like in a lot of ways, all my other retirement money is in stocks. That's right. 100%. That's how I diversify. (Plus I have a house.) It seems low-risk to me, but tests usually don't get it.
To me the ideal test has questions with obvious answers and then results that mean something. And for me, this test was pretty good by those measures. For my next goal (early retirement), they recommended that I put 35% of my investment money into fixed income instruments, 65% into equities, and 0% in cash. My current goal is similar. My IRA has finally caught up with my pension, and I've decided that I'd like to have double my IRA money in additional investments. That would be a 25/75 split, though my current reality is a 42/58 split.
I don't really care what they recommend for my fixed income because I'm just going with my pension for all of it. Okay, I care a little: they recommend that 15% of my investments go to domestic fixed income, 10% international fixed income and 10% mortgage-backed income. Nice diversification!
Then for the other investments, they recommend 10% large-cap growth, 20% large-cap value, 15% small- and midcap stocks, and 20% international equity. My goal, scaled to be comparable to these numbers, has been 14%, 14%, 28%, and 8%, respectively. Except a little smaller because I want to do some stock-picking for fun. So they think I would like value more than growth (if anything, I think the opposite) and that I shouldn't limit my exposure to international stocks so much. Interesting.
Then I changed my answers to look slightly more aggressive, and then the split became a 25/75 split. Suddenly the morgage-backed fixed income investments disappear from the recommendations, and suddenly they think I like growth more than value, and they think I like international stocks even more. Interesting.
Then I changed my answers to look stupidly aggressive and they recommended that I put 80% of my funds into large cap growth stocks, 10% in small/midcap stocks and 10% into international stocks.
Yep, they just don't think international stocks are as risky as I thought they were, what with exchange rate risk, and less-stable-seeming (in some ways) government/economy risks, etc. All very interesting. Well, to me anyway.