Wow. Back-to-back posts. Dont have a stroke.
After posting that last entry, I was reading through it, and the list of my goals caught my eye. Being 2010 now, I think that it would be appropriate to comment on how things went, and of course, judge myself for failing to get things done...
Short Term Goals: Jan 1, 2010
- Increase savings account to $1,500. FAIL (6.5%). OUCH! There is only $97.29 in my savings account! Well, that sucks. I really need to get back to work on that savings account.
- Start & Get Vet/Emergency Savings to $400. FAIL (63%). I have $251.30 in the Vet savings account. It is not $400, but there is money there. But still, I feel sad that the cats have more money in their account than I have in mine.
- Pay down credit card debt to $6,000 (pay $4,400). FAIL (93%) I did not quite get the credit card debt down to $6000, but now the total is only $6478.79. And I did pay a total of $4081.23, which is better than I thought it would be going into this post.
- Pay down CitiLoan by $2,700. WIN (115%). WOO! This one I did good, but I also think I was setting the goal too low, as $2700 is paying the minimum each month.
- Pay off Capital One ($409.96). WIN (100%). Although, technically I did not pay it off by Jan 1. It was paid off by Feb 1, which is good enough for me.
Mid Term Goals: Apr 15, 2010
- Pay All Federal 2008 Taxes ($3,905). FAIL (51%). Federal taxes are not paid off yet. But I have taken a nice sized chunk of out them. But it is not quite April 15 yet. Here is hoping that I can really get this done. Although, I did manage to pay $2000 to the IRS between August 2009 and February 2010. Maybe at this rate, I will get this done by the summer.
- Pay All State 2008 Taxes ($1,319). WIN (100%) I mailed my last state tax payment in October 2009. WOO!
Okay, so actually looking at things in better detail (which forced me out of bed to the other computer where the Quicken info is), I am not as bad off as I thought I was. I am nowhere near where I want/need to be, but I have accomplished some of my goals and made some nice progress on others. Really, my biggest FAIL is the savings account. And I need to remember not to use the credit card that I can use. Simply keep paying on it. That is hard, but I should be able to do it.
But now, I am off to bed.
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
This is not a catch or creative title.
Yes, before you say anything... I realize that I have fallen off the face of the earth for a few months. It happens. Im sorry. Moving on.
I had hoped to get motivated enough to do my taxes this weekend, but alas, Ally McBeal DVDs and my couch won out over the 1040.
Anyway, I have mentioned before that one of my good friends at work was fired last fall. Well, recently he found a new job. Unfortunately (for me, fortunately for him), his new job is in another state. Inspired by my moving road trip with SS4BC, he asked me to help him move, which will entail driving down with him and his wife and then flying back home on my own. His new job is giving him $2500 for moving expenses, which is awesome! I talked with him today about being concerned about expenses on the road trip, and he said that the new job would reimburse him for stuff up to the $2500. And until that second, I had not thought that was how that would work. In my mind, they gave him $2500. Hmm.
Of course, being as self-centered as I am, I turned this inward and became worried that when I find a job, I am not going to have the money to pay for the move up front. UGH. Seriously, right now, my big financial concern is scraping together enough cash for a plane ticket and rental car for getting to a conference in March for work. I will get reimbursed for the travel, but I have to pay for it all up front.
Basically, I need to be saving a lot more than I am now. Sadly, I have not put money into my savings account in months. Winter is expensive in New England. My utility bills were about double (maybe triple, but I dont know the numbers off the top of my head right now) what they are in the summer, because of the damn heat.
Anyway, my savings amounts to a measly $300ish right now. Really not enough for any type of emergency, except for an emergency trip to the grocery store. It makes me mad that, once again, I have fallen out of habit with one of my projects (here being this blog and diligently managing my money). The irony is not lost on me that when I stopped regularly writing in the blog is when I stopped paying attention to my money and really have no extra anywhere.
Really, my fear now is that I am going to find the perfect awesome position somewhere next year and not be able to afford to move to the new job. How stupid is that? Anyway, this has lit a mild fire under my lazy ass to get back into financial shape. And get myself to where I am not scared of my account balances.
The upshot of this spring is that with any luck I wont owe any taxes for 2009, and there may even be a small refund (which will go directly to my outstanding 2008 tax balance). The 2008 taxes will get paid off by this summer, or I will have to kill myself. And once that is done, the $250-400/month that I was paying the IRS can go into savings, and I may be able to breathe again. I have yet to actually sit down and figure out if that is actually numerically possible. But I hope to get to my taxes this week, and I will write a post all about that. And hopefully, I will have some updated goals for 2010 and perhaps some updated status bars.
**sigh**
I must be more proactive and less reactive. But really, I want to be less terrified about the future, so that I can actually start looking for a job and get out of this hell hole.
I had hoped to get motivated enough to do my taxes this weekend, but alas, Ally McBeal DVDs and my couch won out over the 1040.
Sidenote: WOW. Finding that link made me very glad that I bought this DVD set when I did. At $129, it came in under my Three Cents per Minute Rule. Now, it is listed on Amazon for $182.49! Good job, Okturn!
Anyway, I have mentioned before that one of my good friends at work was fired last fall. Well, recently he found a new job. Unfortunately (for me, fortunately for him), his new job is in another state. Inspired by my moving road trip with SS4BC, he asked me to help him move, which will entail driving down with him and his wife and then flying back home on my own. His new job is giving him $2500 for moving expenses, which is awesome! I talked with him today about being concerned about expenses on the road trip, and he said that the new job would reimburse him for stuff up to the $2500. And until that second, I had not thought that was how that would work. In my mind, they gave him $2500. Hmm.
Of course, being as self-centered as I am, I turned this inward and became worried that when I find a job, I am not going to have the money to pay for the move up front. UGH. Seriously, right now, my big financial concern is scraping together enough cash for a plane ticket and rental car for getting to a conference in March for work. I will get reimbursed for the travel, but I have to pay for it all up front.
Basically, I need to be saving a lot more than I am now. Sadly, I have not put money into my savings account in months. Winter is expensive in New England. My utility bills were about double (maybe triple, but I dont know the numbers off the top of my head right now) what they are in the summer, because of the damn heat.
Anyway, my savings amounts to a measly $300ish right now. Really not enough for any type of emergency, except for an emergency trip to the grocery store. It makes me mad that, once again, I have fallen out of habit with one of my projects (here being this blog and diligently managing my money). The irony is not lost on me that when I stopped regularly writing in the blog is when I stopped paying attention to my money and really have no extra anywhere.
Really, my fear now is that I am going to find the perfect awesome position somewhere next year and not be able to afford to move to the new job. How stupid is that? Anyway, this has lit a mild fire under my lazy ass to get back into financial shape. And get myself to where I am not scared of my account balances.
The upshot of this spring is that with any luck I wont owe any taxes for 2009, and there may even be a small refund (which will go directly to my outstanding 2008 tax balance). The 2008 taxes will get paid off by this summer, or I will have to kill myself. And once that is done, the $250-400/month that I was paying the IRS can go into savings, and I may be able to breathe again. I have yet to actually sit down and figure out if that is actually numerically possible. But I hope to get to my taxes this week, and I will write a post all about that. And hopefully, I will have some updated goals for 2010 and perhaps some updated status bars.
**sigh**
I must be more proactive and less reactive. But really, I want to be less terrified about the future, so that I can actually start looking for a job and get out of this hell hole.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Worried for the Future
It has been a while since I have posted anything, and I am sorry for that. Lots has been going on. But first I have to say that over the weekend, I spilled grape soda on my laptop. Everything is fine and not sticky. However, the apostrophe key was a casualty of my clumsiness. So bear with me if my contractions looks stupid, and Ill try not to quote anything. I have an external keyboard, but I didnt feel like hooking it up.
Anyway, as for the lots happening... One of my best friends here -- a coworker of mine -- was fired. UGH. The whole thing doesnt make any sense, and no one understands what the boss was thinking. Hes a graduate student, and what this essentially means is that he has been kicked out of school. The reasoning -- the boss doesnt think that he will accomplish enough to graduate in a soon enough time frame. Given that he has a max of three years left (plenty of time, in my opinion), this is pretty much a slap in the face.
Needless to say tensions were running high in lab today. And, as apparently the go-to guy in lab, people were coming to me expressing worry for their own positions. Basically, now everyone is worried that if he/she doesnt get enough results in enough time (enough being an arbitrary and subjective quantity defined by the boss) that he/she will be fired (or kicked out of school). Its ludicrous! This is really NOT the tone she needs to set for the lab. But whatever, its done. My friend will be out of work in a couple weeks and will most likely be moving out of state before Christmas.
This is especially mind bottling (yes, I said that on purpose. See Blades of Glory.) in light of the fact that this summer, she took on a new graduate student, and she is seriously a waste of space. Its going to be interesting, as she is presenting for lab meeting this week.
I am just seriously pissed at all of this. And I am dying to know the bosss side of things. Part of me thinks that I can get away with talking to her about it by coming at it from the point of view of the person who will be in her position and wanting to know how she came to this decision. I really will need to know how to know when to cut a graduate student out. But I dont know if shell tell me anything or not. I think that Im just going to wait until my next scheduled one-on-one meeting with the boss next week.
Of course, having been fired from a job for not bringing in enough results, I know how my friend feels, and of course, I too am worried about my job here. I know that the boss has told me in the past NOT to worry about my job and that other people would be let go before me, if need be. But still Im worried. And I would start applying for jobs now, if I had ANY chance of being able to get one. Alas, it comes down to getting results. And while, Ive worked my ass off in this lab, I only have one publication from my nearly 4 years here. Thats not enough. Mostly, this is because my original project was a bust, and I spent 2.5 years or so on it trying to get it to work. Its only been in the last year that Ive had something going that was literally crapping results. Ive just been working on getting a story together. If all goes well, Ill have something written up by the end of the year.
Anyway, I digress.
All this worry has me thinking tonight about where Id like to go. I have an idea job in mind. Of course, I think Id like to be a PI and run my own lab. But when it comes down to it, I dont think thats what Id really like to do. I LOVE doing science. Sure, I have ideas, and I can write about science. But the more I realize what my PIs have done and are doing, the less I actually WANT that job. I like getting my hands dirty in the trenches. I like working one-on-one with students in the lab and teaching lab skills and DOING experiments.
On the other side of the coin is my good buddy, SS4BC. She loves going to conferences, talking to people, networking, writing grants, and such. Sure, shes a fabulous chemist and a great experimentalist. But she was BORN to be a PI. And she has great ideas, and I know that shell do great things with them. And half-jokingly, half-seriously, weve talked about working together. I think that as a team, wed be UNSTOPPABLE. Can we make this work? Is she as serious about it as I am? I dont know. I think that our timing may just work out.
Shes on track to be done with her current position in two years, and shell be looking for faculty positions during that time. So, in theory, shell be on her own by Fall 2011. Given how much slower my experiments are than hers (seriously, Ive been prepping for my big experiment since June and its going to take about 6-8 months to DO the experiment), Ill probably be job-ready about the time she starts a faculty position. Hmmm. This could work.
So, what I was thinking about tonight was this: in an idea world, where would I want to live and settle down? And being the map-geek that I am, I made a color coded map to indicate my preferences.
Its color coded from Green to Red (Most to Least Desirable, respectively). Blue falls in the middle. Yeah, Im sure it looks a bit odd to most people, but Ive got my reasons. Do you live an Okturn-Desired area? What do you think? Am I being too judgmental? Im not saying that Id ONLY look for jobs in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Im just saying that if two identical jobs were offered in LA or New Jersey, Id take the job in LA. If the perfect job for me is in Montana, so be it. But Id like to stay in more greener pastures (so to speak).
Anyway, it breaks down like this... Living in CT has taught me that (1) I HATE Winter and (2) I HATE New England. So, places guaranteed snow...OUT. (except for NYC, because its a big city and I wouldnt have to drive). Im a CA boy at heart, and I LOVE SoCal and San Francisco. Ive got friends in SoCal Seattle, Georgia, Florida, South Texas, and family in Kansas and Arkansas, and it would be nice to be closer to them. Pretty much the rest is weather based or based on some arbitrary idea that I have about the area.
Anyway, as for the lots happening... One of my best friends here -- a coworker of mine -- was fired. UGH. The whole thing doesnt make any sense, and no one understands what the boss was thinking. Hes a graduate student, and what this essentially means is that he has been kicked out of school. The reasoning -- the boss doesnt think that he will accomplish enough to graduate in a soon enough time frame. Given that he has a max of three years left (plenty of time, in my opinion), this is pretty much a slap in the face.
Needless to say tensions were running high in lab today. And, as apparently the go-to guy in lab, people were coming to me expressing worry for their own positions. Basically, now everyone is worried that if he/she doesnt get enough results in enough time (enough being an arbitrary and subjective quantity defined by the boss) that he/she will be fired (or kicked out of school). Its ludicrous! This is really NOT the tone she needs to set for the lab. But whatever, its done. My friend will be out of work in a couple weeks and will most likely be moving out of state before Christmas.
This is especially mind bottling (yes, I said that on purpose. See Blades of Glory.) in light of the fact that this summer, she took on a new graduate student, and she is seriously a waste of space. Its going to be interesting, as she is presenting for lab meeting this week.
I am just seriously pissed at all of this. And I am dying to know the bosss side of things. Part of me thinks that I can get away with talking to her about it by coming at it from the point of view of the person who will be in her position and wanting to know how she came to this decision. I really will need to know how to know when to cut a graduate student out. But I dont know if shell tell me anything or not. I think that Im just going to wait until my next scheduled one-on-one meeting with the boss next week.
Of course, having been fired from a job for not bringing in enough results, I know how my friend feels, and of course, I too am worried about my job here. I know that the boss has told me in the past NOT to worry about my job and that other people would be let go before me, if need be. But still Im worried. And I would start applying for jobs now, if I had ANY chance of being able to get one. Alas, it comes down to getting results. And while, Ive worked my ass off in this lab, I only have one publication from my nearly 4 years here. Thats not enough. Mostly, this is because my original project was a bust, and I spent 2.5 years or so on it trying to get it to work. Its only been in the last year that Ive had something going that was literally crapping results. Ive just been working on getting a story together. If all goes well, Ill have something written up by the end of the year.
Anyway, I digress.
All this worry has me thinking tonight about where Id like to go. I have an idea job in mind. Of course, I think Id like to be a PI and run my own lab. But when it comes down to it, I dont think thats what Id really like to do. I LOVE doing science. Sure, I have ideas, and I can write about science. But the more I realize what my PIs have done and are doing, the less I actually WANT that job. I like getting my hands dirty in the trenches. I like working one-on-one with students in the lab and teaching lab skills and DOING experiments.
On the other side of the coin is my good buddy, SS4BC. She loves going to conferences, talking to people, networking, writing grants, and such. Sure, shes a fabulous chemist and a great experimentalist. But she was BORN to be a PI. And she has great ideas, and I know that shell do great things with them. And half-jokingly, half-seriously, weve talked about working together. I think that as a team, wed be UNSTOPPABLE. Can we make this work? Is she as serious about it as I am? I dont know. I think that our timing may just work out.
Shes on track to be done with her current position in two years, and shell be looking for faculty positions during that time. So, in theory, shell be on her own by Fall 2011. Given how much slower my experiments are than hers (seriously, Ive been prepping for my big experiment since June and its going to take about 6-8 months to DO the experiment), Ill probably be job-ready about the time she starts a faculty position. Hmmm. This could work.
So, what I was thinking about tonight was this: in an idea world, where would I want to live and settle down? And being the map-geek that I am, I made a color coded map to indicate my preferences.
Its color coded from Green to Red (Most to Least Desirable, respectively). Blue falls in the middle. Yeah, Im sure it looks a bit odd to most people, but Ive got my reasons. Do you live an Okturn-Desired area? What do you think? Am I being too judgmental? Im not saying that Id ONLY look for jobs in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Im just saying that if two identical jobs were offered in LA or New Jersey, Id take the job in LA. If the perfect job for me is in Montana, so be it. But Id like to stay in more greener pastures (so to speak).
Anyway, it breaks down like this... Living in CT has taught me that (1) I HATE Winter and (2) I HATE New England. So, places guaranteed snow...OUT. (except for NYC, because its a big city and I wouldnt have to drive). Im a CA boy at heart, and I LOVE SoCal and San Francisco. Ive got friends in SoCal Seattle, Georgia, Florida, South Texas, and family in Kansas and Arkansas, and it would be nice to be closer to them. Pretty much the rest is weather based or based on some arbitrary idea that I have about the area.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The first step on the path to independence.
I know that this isn't exactly financial-related. Well, kinda tangentially, it is. Sure, yeah. Totally!
Anyway, off and on I've been toying with ideas for independent research projects. Independent here meaning my own research idea that I can start now and get some preliminary data that are also related enough to my boss's research to justify spending her money on the project but also something that she herself doesn't want to persue, so I could take it with me when I get a job. Basically, if I can get this started, get some sexy data, and write a great grant application, I can get a job. WOO!
Anyway, I've been thinking of ideas in whatever downtime I have for such thoughts. And I was toying with sticking in the polymerase field and possibly working on polymerases related to the one on which my boss (and I now) currently work. I hadn't nailed down anything specific, but I had a jist (a couple of proteins and a vague plan). Well, in the past month, I've stumbled upon some fabulously sexy results with my current polymerase, and at the same time, discovered that two other polymerases have the exact same structure and the same key conserved residues...these residues are conserved through practically every species that has these polymerases (human, mouse, chicken, dog, bacteria, virus, etc.). It's totally awesome.
So... BOOM! I have a concrete idea and a plan. And not 24 hours before a meeting with the boss where I propose said plan, she emails me and suggests that I do my plan. AWESOME! She had the same idea, so I know it's a good one.
Anyway, this past week, I've decided is the "official" start of my independent project. And it's totally exciting, because for one of my polymerases, I have to clone it, and this is actual cloning (cells -> RNA -> cDNA -> plasmid), which I've never done before. So, yeah, I'm totally pumped on this. So much so, that I've been designing my cloning strategy tonight at home. (Yes, I am that much of a nerd.)
So, while not completely relevant for this blog, it indicates that I'm a smidge closer to being able to get a real job and do real work. It's a great feeling! =)
Anyway, off and on I've been toying with ideas for independent research projects. Independent here meaning my own research idea that I can start now and get some preliminary data that are also related enough to my boss's research to justify spending her money on the project but also something that she herself doesn't want to persue, so I could take it with me when I get a job. Basically, if I can get this started, get some sexy data, and write a great grant application, I can get a job. WOO!
Anyway, I've been thinking of ideas in whatever downtime I have for such thoughts. And I was toying with sticking in the polymerase field and possibly working on polymerases related to the one on which my boss (and I now) currently work. I hadn't nailed down anything specific, but I had a jist (a couple of proteins and a vague plan). Well, in the past month, I've stumbled upon some fabulously sexy results with my current polymerase, and at the same time, discovered that two other polymerases have the exact same structure and the same key conserved residues...these residues are conserved through practically every species that has these polymerases (human, mouse, chicken, dog, bacteria, virus, etc.). It's totally awesome.
So... BOOM! I have a concrete idea and a plan. And not 24 hours before a meeting with the boss where I propose said plan, she emails me and suggests that I do my plan. AWESOME! She had the same idea, so I know it's a good one.
Anyway, this past week, I've decided is the "official" start of my independent project. And it's totally exciting, because for one of my polymerases, I have to clone it, and this is actual cloning (cells -> RNA -> cDNA -> plasmid), which I've never done before. So, yeah, I'm totally pumped on this. So much so, that I've been designing my cloning strategy tonight at home. (Yes, I am that much of a nerd.)
So, while not completely relevant for this blog, it indicates that I'm a smidge closer to being able to get a real job and do real work. It's a great feeling! =)
Monday, July 20, 2009
A Brilliant Idea? (maybe not)
I was looking up the company that makes one of our instruments at work today, and this lead to some internest daydreaming. And this lead to my (probably not) brilliant idea.
I should get a job in London.
What? Work in the UK? "Hells yeah!" I thought. This isn't a fully thought through plan, or even really a plan at all. But now, it's a bee in my bonnet (not to put to fine a point on it).
Sure, there are universities in the US where I could get a professor job. But don't they need eccentric assistant professors of Chemistry/Biochemistry/Materials in the UK? This will, of course, require lots of thinking and some serious soul searching. But I'm not ready to jump on the job hunt bandwagon just yet. I have some job security (word from The Boss is that I'm not getting kicked out anytime soon), but I can't stay here forever. I do, however, need to publish two (hopefully three or four) more papers, finish up my work, and get my independent project started (I have a plan, and I'm 0.05% started already).
Now, I just have to decide...Los Angeles? or London? Hmmm. Either will be 4000% improvement over Connecticut.
I should get a job in London.
What? Work in the UK? "Hells yeah!" I thought. This isn't a fully thought through plan, or even really a plan at all. But now, it's a bee in my bonnet (not to put to fine a point on it).
Sure, there are universities in the US where I could get a professor job. But don't they need eccentric assistant professors of Chemistry/Biochemistry/Materials in the UK? This will, of course, require lots of thinking and some serious soul searching. But I'm not ready to jump on the job hunt bandwagon just yet. I have some job security (word from The Boss is that I'm not getting kicked out anytime soon), but I can't stay here forever. I do, however, need to publish two (hopefully three or four) more papers, finish up my work, and get my independent project started (I have a plan, and I'm 0.05% started already).
Now, I just have to decide...Los Angeles? or London? Hmmm. Either will be 4000% improvement over Connecticut.
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