Thanks, dear friends, for the concern you expressed about our snowy weather last Monday. Luckily, my part of the state escaped relatively unscathed, with just a few inches.

I used my new snow thrower and it worked really well. Course, the real test will be when we get 6 inches or more. I was so concerned about getting to work on time that day, especially with it being a new job, that i woke up at 5:30 a.m., left at 6:30 a.m. and ended up getting to work an hour earlier than i needed to. In the future, i think it'll be possible to work from home on very snowy days. And i now know how to connect with our email from another location, so there'd be no problem there.

So i wrapped up week 2 at the new job. Everything's going well. I am definitely working harder and being more productive than at my old 'cush' job, but of course i knew that would be the case. My days go by faster now. I'm averaging about 1 story daily, or 1 story every 1.5 days.

What i like most about the job is that i have an opportunity to write about a fairly wide range of topics, though still mainly sticking to personal finance. When i'm given an assignment, it's pretty general, expressed in a single sentence, which is what i like cus i can go down whatever path my research takes me. But generally, of course, the stories are meant to provide consumer-oriented, educational tips and guidelines on all sorts of stuff, and personal finance has always been interesting to me. Plus, the stories are fairly short, about 600 words, so you never get bored working for days on end on something. And each time i research a story, i learn a little something, too.

Luckily, I'm not banging out the stories on this old relic...


I bought this typewriter at a yard sale in New Hampshire over 20 years ago. I don't remember what i paid for it then, but i sold it last summer at my own garage sale for $20 to a man who sought out old typewriters and used the old keys to make typewriter jewelry. (I really like my necklace with my initial on it, tho i didn't buy it from him.)

Anyway, it can be tiring toward the end of the week, because this is a pure writing job, and you tend to get brain-dead after a while. At my last job, becus we were such a small office (2 of us), i spent 1/2 my time doing administrative type chores, which i really didn't mind as it gave me a break from using my noggin.

I've managed to walk at lunchtime for at least a 1/2 hour a few times again this week. As i walked by the Xerox building yeterday, i saw a helicopter take off from the roof.Not sure i'll want to continue that this week as it's supposed to be much colder.

On the downside, i've definitely noticed the lack of free time outside of work. So becus there's not much time for anything else on my weekday nights (just fix my dinner, read the mail, make lunch for the next day, lay out my clothes and an hour or so of TV, then hit the sack early), i'm finding that i'm mostly playing 'catch up' on the weekends, something i've done before with long commute jobs.

Except that this a.m. i really didn't feel like getting out of bed. Not that i slept more, my cat saw to that. But i did loll around til 11 a.m., padding about and not really getting going til then. I grabbed a few groceries, made a bank deposit with what will likely be the last income from my freelance work for a while, stopped at Walmart to get earphones to play CDs at work (got 'em home and they're the same length...3 feet, as what i have now, which is too short due to the way the laptop which i plug into is positioned toward the back of my desk on a shelf.) Picked up a DVD at the library for tonight or tomorrow, did a load of laundry, washed a bunch of dishes and baked a pineapple yogurt bread to snack on next week. Also got some nitrite-free cold cuts for lunch sandwiches, and also eggs for egg salad sandwiches, which I LOVE.

My social life is suffering a little. With my new commute, i really don't want to drive anywhere on the weekends, which poses a problem since most of my friendds don't live in my town. And to be honeste, i feel bad about my cat being alone for so much longer these days, so on the weekends i like to mostly stay in and hang out with her. She doesn't go outside, so i'm all her entertainment.

I thought i was getting together this weekend with R., for instance, but he never called so don't know what's going on. (He's going thru a divorce right now, and he's been very prickly to talk to and deal with.) Spoke to friend M. on the phone during the week at lunchtime; he was home sick, and is also settling in to a new (4 months) job that for him was long in coming. His daily commute, by train to NYC, is 3 hours, so my 1.75 hours daily is much better in comparison.

Anyway, i truly count my blessings. There's so much economic uncertainty these days and the price of everything is going up. I am very much aware that i am fortunate to have a good job with good benefits and hopefully a long future.

I've looked at my numbers again and i don't really see why i can't save 25% of my income this year. Unfortunately, i'm not eligible to start contributing to the 401k for 3 months, so that means i'll get used to a much higer net income until May 1, when i open the 401k, and suddenly i'll have to get used to less money in the paycheck.

Don't see how i could even consider dating someone again. I relish my weekend downtime now and, selfishly, prefer to do what I want to do on the weekend rather than have to get into all the compromises and obligatory stuff that can fill one's time when you're part of a couple.

I started a weekend-only subscription to the New York Times, and really, tomorrow i'm looking forward to more lolling around spending half the day reading the paper.