Note of the Living Deb

I'm a little jealous--I mean admiring--of my friend P_J_Cleary who updates here daily. So what's up with me?

I recently received my county's notice of appraised value. It's 10% higher than last year's. That's actually very good news because Zillow thinks my house is worth 44% more than last year. And that's even good news because last month's Zillow estimate was 48% more.

Actually, I'm just now noticing that the appraisal isn't for now but for January 1 (when Zillow's estimate was--oh--still 33% higher).

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This year I've decided to do this thing I've heard about where you only itemize your deductions every other you, and you clump those deductions into every other year. For me this means that this year I will hold off on making my charitable contributions and paying my property taxes until after January 1 and I will take the standard deduction. That will be just a little lower than my usual deduction.

Next year I will make my charitable contributions and and pay my property taxes before the end of the year. That should lead to a much higher itemized deduction than usual.

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UT System has challenged us to walk 10,000 steps per day or the equivalent for five days per week (by which they really mean 50K steps per week) for the six weeks starting on May 1. The UT System branch that does the best will get to possess the coveted traveling trophy for one year. Heh. So motivating. But we also get free pedometers. I'll say more when I have my 1-week update, but so far I'm meeting my goals.

Also, I found out one of my chickadees is also participating. Today I did that quick-draw thing that Indigo Rose and I like to do where we compare the numbers on our pedometers, but she wasn't wearing hers because it made a big lump in her outfit. (I'm too sexy for my pedometer.) So she's submitting an estimate today.

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I tried the Trader Joe's canned chili. It's too sugary for Robin, plus it has beans. And it tastes too much like vegetables to me and is too spicy. Bell peppers and jalapenos. Bleh.

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I'm on my third try for party-grade double chocolate banana bread. The first time I followed the recipe exactly. Which turns out to mean I changed almost every ingredient, but they were all small changes which I feel sure don't matter. It came out delicious but too crumbly to be party grade.

So then I tried just adding cocoa and reducing the flour in my own banana bread recipe. Not as yummy.

Then I tried reducing the baking soda in the original recipe because supposedly when you use regular cocoa instead of dutch processed cocoa, the bread rises too much and then falls. The bread was still delicious. And still crumbly.

Then searching for "crumbly" in the hundreds of comments for the recipe, I found someone who recommended subbing oil for half the butter. But when I told Robin, he recommended adding an extra egg instead. Eggs are called binders, after all--and that certainly sounds like a cure for the crumbles. So I have two more possible experiments lined up.

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We started watching two new (to us) TV shows. One is "Community," about a bunch of people in a study group at a community college. After two episodes, we like most, but not all of the characters. We'll watch more. The other one, I forget what it's called, is about a gal who discovers a group of women who all look like her and are trying to find out why--but who are also getting killed off. Also, she's switched places with one of the dead ones. Stressful. But gripping.

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Speaking of stress, my computer got replaced at work and has all updated software so I have to re-learn how to use things again. At least I got rid of the surfing wave backdrop which at first seemed pretty, but quickly began to feel like impending doom.

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I have collected all of the mushrooms in Plants versus Zombies without having to buy any. I still need many of the land plants and two of the three water plants.

Song of the Day - "You Are My Sunshine" by "Jenny and Lottie." They can't help smiling too much during this rendition that shows you how creepy it is (just like the Civil War's version does), but they sound really good.

One thing about a new job is figuring out the new social codes. Normal people probably do this automatically. Even though I work for the same employer, so I already know about the casual dress code, transit craziness, awesome libraries, etc., a few things that have surprised me about my new group:

* Don't even leave for local team meetings until the start time. But show up a little early for meetings involving outsiders.

* Say hello to office mates the first time you see them each day, but ignore them the rest of the time. Probably I'm supposed to say good-bye when I'm leaving for the day, too.

* When you're leaving the suite and no one else is there, lock the door to the suite. I don't know if this is true even if you're going to be gone only a few minutes, but I suspect so. Corollary: never leave the suite without keys in hand. (No, I did not have to learn this the hard way. Woot!)

* There is no bonding around food. One person actually dislikes when there is food at meetings. Another person said she has never seen the first person eat anything except at their occasional meetings a the coffee shop. No one brings food to share, and there is no table in the break rooms (one per suite), so we never happen to eat lunch together. Not surprisingly, my co-workers are all thin; in all the other offices I've worked at, there has been loads of bonding over food and most of my co-workers were not thin. So pi day this Friday will be like every other day. Oh, right, I don't work on Fridays anyway, so I won't be missing anything.

* There is no bonding around bathrooms, water fountains, or any other gathering place (as far as I can tell). There are two sets of bathrooms, with water fountains nearby, on our floor and I never see anyone at the one I use. We don't even bond going to and from meetings because some of us take the elevator and some take the stairs. Actually, the one person I noticed takes the elevator and I take the stairs.

* Meetings should end ASAP, which is generally good except that I have to be more assertive than I'm used to when bringing up my own issues. I can't wait for a lull because a lull means it's time to end the meeting.

Someone organized a going away happy hour for me today (which led several people to believe that today was my last day, but I still have six more work days left). It was basically fun, which was better than I expected. Once I convinced the first guy who offered me a drink that all I wanted was water, I got to tell everyone else that I didn't need a drink because I already had a large shot glass of vodka (and then pointed to my plastic cup of water).

One couple told me about a new Greek restaurant in walking distance of my house that they said was really good, and because they share a big plate with two meats and three sides, they then like to go to the nearby frozen yogurt shop. So, I have two new places to try.

Also, I got a card that said, "THANK YOU from the BOTTOM of my BUTT." This could be an insult in so many ways, but I knew it wasn't. "Oh sure, it doesn't sound like much, but it's a good EIGHT to TEN times the size of my HEART." [Then open the card.] "...so, you know, BIG THANKS." Inside was a printout of a screen from the system I work on with a note on it about how Natural Sciences loves me and "Now, what was your cell # again?"

Also, I got lots of pizza. Yum!

Vehicle of the Day - L.L. Bean's Bootmobile, a drivable boot replica. (I recommend scrolling down past the video to the picture. You could learn a little about how it was made by watching the video, though I somewhat recommend muting it. In case you do mute it, I'll let you know that the big white part that looks like plaster is really foam.)

Here's a really good idea you should all steal. Take something you're good at or even still officially learning, and offer classes in it to your friends.

It turns out one of my acquaintance/friends is teaching tai chi on Sundays at the house of another friend and I got to try it out today.

Afterwards, in honor of pi day, someone brought rhubarb pie and someone brought nut bars baked in a circular pie pan. We did not eat these exactly at 3/14 15:92 (aka 4:32 pm today), but the pies weren't exactly circular, so it worked out. By the way, this was another really good idea you should all steal.

I've never tasted rhubarb pie and have been a little afraid, but it was really good. Of course it was "too sweet" for some and with not enough rhubarb for others, so I may not like all rhubarb pies, but I now feel more willing to try a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie I have which came highly recommended by a blogger I read but who doesn't actually know me, so she never offers me a taste.

Yesterday I went to an end-of-summer party. I got to play pool volleyball (fun!) and pool jousting (less fun) and talk to friends and dance on the deck and eat lots of cookies. The hostess herself had made at least four kinds (chocolate chip, sugar, chocolate chocolate chip, white chocolate chip(?), and maybe another one). I brought peanut butter cookies and someone else brought oatmeal cookies and chocolate chip cookies. I love cookies.

I met some new people (mostly engineers and dancers) and also saw a person I probably hadn't seen in two decades.

There was plenty of bughouse (a team chess game) but almost no bugs (or mosquitos, anyway).

I learned that chemotherapy can turn your hair curly. And that aging makes it much more likely that you will get insomnia. And that one of my friends has a job duty called "airport duty," picking up people in bands, and another has one that could be called "play that funky music, white boy" except that she's not a boy.

Yesterday I went to a summer solstice pool party which ran concurrently at one point with a dramatic thunderstorm with very heavy rains. It hasn't rained more than a little sprinkle in weeks.

It was a huge party where I really knew only about half the people (even though I have met most of them before at previous parties). In the middle when it was at its hugest, I wasn't feeling that my social skills were quite up to it. But I did get to talk to a lot of old friends and I did find several new people I quite enjoyed talking to. Some of whom I still remember now! There was the gal who also plays on LiveJournal and will probably be looking for me. (Hi!) There's the guy who plays ultimate frisbee who moved here three years ago. And there's another gal who's a regular and who looked familiar who I probably will actually remember this time.

I don't think I've enjoyed talking to as many new people in one day as much in a long time.

I also enjoyed watching the cat slink under the chaise lounge at the start of the big storm. And the delicious cheeseburger fresh off the grill, the famous rum cake, the famous artichoke dip, and the exotic hibiscus sorbet. Actually, I wasn't wild about the sorbet (I'm not a big fan of sorbet), but it was fun to taste it, and I actually liked it better than the tangerine sorbet, which tasted much stronger.

There were many good quotes, some of which I (sort of) remember.

"Be careful with that cheese. It's very strong."
"Oh, that's Robin. He'll be fine with it."

"No, you don't want any of this cake. It tastes like styrofoam."
"But you've had four pieces."
"I'm sacrificing myself for you all."

"I guess one way to make it rain is to throw a pool party."
"That sounds more fun than washing your car."

"Indians got upset when they learned that certain fast-food fries weren't vegetarian; they were sprinkling beef flavor on them. Cows are sacred."
"A little sprinkle of God in every bite."

I also learned a bit more about Wiifit (although not how to spell it). And lolcats and people who can always find an excuse to access the internet on their cell phone.

Thanks, chikuru and raaga123! Another lovely party!

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Before the party, I helped build a temporary storage shed in my backyard with Robin and another friend. Robin already had the floor completed, which involved piecing together a "floor kit" (a metal framework), leveling it, and then cutting plywood into sizes and shapes that could be attached to the framework, painting it to keep it waterproof and easy to clean, and then attaching it.

So yesterday we added the walls and the roof beams and the triangular end pieces that hold the roof up. This is from a kit for a metal storage shed, which sounds all very solid and sturdy. But it's clear that engineers have calculated the maximum flimsiness each piece can have still work together as a structure. The pieces are so thin that you can cut your hands on the edges if you're not careful. So we generally had two glove-wearing people to handle the metal pieces and one non-glove-wearing person to handle the screws, nuts, and bolts.

I was surprised that after about only an hour I got tired in this odd way. I was breathing slightly harder than normal, and I was feeling a little light-headed. This was barely exercise at all--just moving very lightweight pieces around and reading instructions. I did squat many, many times getting screws from the container on the floor and handing them up to people--so that counts as real exercise. Still, am I that sadly out of shape?

Robin said no, it's heat stroke. I know it wasn't heat stroke because I was still sweating. But maybe it was that less serious one: heat exhaustion. I did feel kind of exhausted. We drank lots of cold liquids and I never felt that bad again (and it was a very mild tiredness to begin with) throughout the rest of the project. Although I did want to take a small rest during the part of the party where it was at it's hugest.

Although our shed is not yet watertight, because it has no roof at all and no doors, and although the instructions specifically say not to stop the project between the time when you start putting up the walls and the time when you add the roof, and even though I've heard of these sheds being blown over a fence during a windstorm before being properly attached to the ground, and even though there was a violent thunderstorm, it seems to be doing just fine. So that's good.

The point of the temporary shed is to have a place to put things to get them out of the way so we can see what we've got and figure out what to keep and what to get rid of and then organize everything so we can find it all again. It could also come in handy for interior painting. Just move all the furniture and stuff from the room you are painting into the shed, then paint the room at your leisure while all your other rooms are still usable instead of full of the stuff from the room you're painting.

The original plan was to rent a storage unit, but a big one runs $200 per month--it wouldn't take many months to cost more than a shed, which is a lot more convenient and which ideally we can sell when we finish.

Of course I have to keep reminding Robin that the shed is temporary. His supposed friend told me not to worry. If it ends up not being temporary, I could just make him sleep in it.

However, I might end up having trouble with it being temporary, too. I've already come up with the idea of using it while painting rooms. Also while re-doing the floors. And maybe if we have it, we won't feel the need to tear down our other tiny shed and build a big garage/work shed instead. Yes, the danger escalates.

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In computer news, my back up worked great except for the part where all my documents from A to T are not there. Some of my favorite documents start with U and W, but a lot of them don't. We're going to get someone to see if they can find a better back-up, but meanwhile, this stinks. I just love, love, love computers, except when I hate them.

I can't really hate this new one, though. The clicking is so quiet. It's so pretty. I still have to get used to the touch pad. There's some thing where if you leave your finger in one place to long it does weird things like jump elsewhere in your document or going back to a different web page. So there's still a little learning curve going on.

One of my favorite ballroom dance partners is leaving Friday to return home after earning his doctorate. I know nothing about him except what I know about his dancing and his dance learning style.

I like dancing with him because he takes big steps (too big, actually!), leads well, knows lots of steps, is nice, and is funny. For example, he has led west coast swing while sitting in a chair.

I like taking lessons with him because of his reactions. My favorite was one time when we were doing an especially naughty-seeming move. I can't even describe his reaction, but it was clear that he felt even more uncomfortable than I did at first, but he made himself do it anyway, and now we are all fine with it.

I got to have some nice last dances with him last night. And I learned which country he is returning to: Thailand. And we got to meet his mom and one of his aunts, who took pictures of him dancing, though they didn't dance themselves. And we had cake.

I've gotten in a lot of good socializing in the past 24 hours.

I went to a party at a house I've never been to (fun with invisible street signs!). I got to see a notebook with 150 entries of books that have been lent out. The book owner has experienced a very high return rate, something like 98%.

I got to eat chocolate cake that was delicious but vegan, made from a recipe that was probably developed during the Depression when butter and eggs were not easily available. Who knew that Depression-era recipes might be a good source for vegan recipes!

I saw a table made by attaching four legs to about one-third of a door. And a Christmas tree--so you'd know where to look for the presents that the birthday girl was giving away Hobbit style.

I had fun playing Taboo, a game where you try to get your teammates to guess one word without using any of the five words identified on the card as being the most obvious choices. For example, the birthday girl like the phrase "waves of ickiness" I resorted to when I was trying to get people to guess the word "vibes" without using the words "feel" or "bad." I should have an advantage at this game because I often can't remember a word I want or any of the most-related words, but no. This game could also be good for teaching you skills to help you communicate in a new foreign language you are learning.

I got to see a wooden fairy whirligig flying through the air. Not to mention Silly String.

This morning at breakfast, I more than made up for any veganism yesterday by eating almost nothing but animal products. It was a Denver omelette. With sour cream on top. And the bell peppers were huge, so I gave them to Robin.

Then I went to the Settlement Home Garage Sale and got a couple of shirts, three pairs of socks(!) and two spools of ribbon. Then took a nap. Then we dragged ourselves out of bed to go dancing.

Where I learned that someone has just started writing a science fiction book. And he hasn't even heard of nanowrimo!

And I discussed with someone the benefits of the dance as a place to go if you're homeless (everything you need but a shower).

And a new person has heard of my blog and politely asked permission to read it. And then told me about his blog. In which he reviews barbecue joints.

And I got lots of great dancing, doing almost every dance with all my favorite people who came plus one new guy we know from our other class. (And the dancing put me over 13,000 steps for the day, very nice for a weekend day.)

So, although I have not done everything fun (no Texas Book Festival or, like raaga123 and chikuru, the Austin Celtic Festival), it's still been a lovely time.

Yesterday I got to attend a wedding held on a boat.

My favorite part was doing east coast swing while the boat was swaying. That's right up there with jumping up and down on an elevator for fun, but not (I imagine) as hard as doing those yoga things where you balance on one foot while on a boat. I like walking around on a rocking boat; it feels like a funhouse. And I didn't feel at all sick.

I also tasted really good tortillas, catered by Hula Hut. They were obviously made that day and I suspect they were cooked on a heavily buttered surface.

I also enjoyed the bride's shoes which were a glittery bright blue. How many people use shoes as the "something blue" you're supposed to wear?

I thought about when it's good to have a boat wedding and when it isn't. If the kind of person who, say, gets drunk and ruins everyone's fun is also the kind of person who must be invited and also the kind of person who is always late, a boat wedding might be just thing! (No, we did not have any evidence that this applied to this wedding.)

Also, there was a point when the preacher asked what artifacts (different word) the couple were going to use to symbolize their love. They said they were using rings. My sudden thought was that it would be more fun to use kisses. Then as the preacher discussed these symbols, I just substituted kisses for rings in my mind the whole way through. This actually mostly worked except for the unbroken circle bit. Now, lips can be thought of as forming an unbroken circle, but I wouldn't actually want to give my lips away, just my kisses. So the substitution doesn't work perfectly.

Afterwards, when he said they may now kiss, I thought to myself that he could have said they may now exchange rings. Ah, yes, fun with long-winded people. So long-winded that the bridal party were making silent jokes with the bride and groom throughout the ceremony. It was fun to watch them having fun.

And I can now tell you what "dinner cruise comfortable" means. (Google can't.) For men it means a suit and tie with fancy shoes. For women it means--at least when it's ninety degrees (32C) out--a nice sleeveless dress with your hair done up, make-up, and high-heeled sandals with your toenails painted. This is true even if the hosts go on and on about how the stairs are very narrow and steep. All the bridal party (who were dressed more formally still) had to carry their dinners and drinks up one such flight of stairs and sit right in front of overly loud speakers. So sad. We had lovely seats at the front of the boat, catching the breeze and watching the fancy houses go by and we cruised down the river.

Today I got to have some fun without expending much energy. (I did, in fact, spend yesterday at home vegging and doing chores. It was the best day for not working, the day of continual nose-blowing. Today I just have a minor sore throat and don't feel like eating much. Much better for socializing.)

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I met with a bunch of friends at the Upper Crust Bakery this morning. We mostly caught up with the friend who joined a roller derby team and is moving and has experienced that thing where they escort you out of the building when you've been laid off. I also learned that another friend's new commute is not as horrible as I'd thought (sometimes as short as fifteen minutes of driving), though still much worse than his previous commute (walking distance).

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And I got to go to a juggling show at the Texas Juggler's Society's annual Jugglefest. I've gone before, maybe ten years ago. Now it's mostly people from out of town. My favorite performer from last time was reduced to announcing the acts (and entertaining us between them). I got to say hi to a couple of other audience members.

It really is quite amazing what some people can do with their hands.

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Afterwards the parking was so crowded that we went across the street to Starbucks to let everyone else leave the parking lot. We tried some sandwiches, and they seemed much healthier than most fast food. But they did that thing where they piled the sandwich toppings in the middle of the sandwich so it looks thicker than it really is where it's cut in half. They did not do that at Pret a Manger in London--the fillings were spread all the way to the edge, so what you see is what you get. These had a little too much fat and sugar (in the bread), but the chicken was an actual chicken breast, the lettuce was a dark kind of lettuce with actual nutrients, etc.

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I also finished my first draft of my taxes. I admit this wasn't that fun because I sold all the shares of my index fund. Oy. I bought them all years ago, but the fund keeps reinvesting dividends, so you're always buying. My tax form explained how many shares were "long-term" or over a year old (170.807) and how many were short-term (1.401) and even told me both the amount I received and the average cost basis of what I had paid for them. So everything was easy except for knowing when I bought all these shares. Fortunately the IRS lets you say "various" in the "Date acquired" section.

On another stock I sold, I had bought half more than a year ago and half less. The form for that showed the gross proceeds less commissions, which is great except it was an odd number. I know the IRS wants you to round to the nearest cent (or even the nearest dollar) on the form so long as you use the whole amount in doing calculations. So they won't mind that the numbers add up to be off by one cent. Right?

There was a fun part. I might be getting a refund of over $100. This is a better first draft than I do most years, so that figure is probably not subject to as much change as usual in the coming drafts. All I have left to do is look over my old returns to see if I've missed anything obvious, re-check my entries, and re-check my math.

Another thing I noticed was that even if I add just my property taxes and charitable donations together, that is now more than the standard deduction. So it looks like I'll be itemizing my deductions even after my house is paid off. (If I'm still single.) Weird.

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Now I'm going to read in bed. I'm finally reading A Wrinkle in Time.

Quote of the day - "Chip Queso wants me to move into his house." Wallace and Gromit would have said yes. ("I know, let's go someplace where there's cheeese.")

Other quote of the day - "We're going to have an exorcism party for our team." You know, because of the curse of the broken bones.

Site of the day - Ring of Kerry by Indigo Rose. It's an exciting travelogue set in Ireland. Here's how it starts: 'Well, that was seven hours of "You know, that is kinda pretty..." followed by "OhmigodI'mgonnaDIE!!!" and "Whew! Lived through that one... Wow! Look at that view! Glad the sky's so clear... GonnadieGONNADIE!!!"'