Let’s start with the bad news. I’ve been pretty anxious about my taxes since I started working at Argosy. They weren’t taking taxes from us, so we had to set aside money for ourselves. I knew I was in trouble because I can’t save money at all. Well, I actually did, but I’ve spent it all on furniture, car payments, and other random stuff.

Anyway, here’s the thing: I have to save up a total of about $2500 for federal and state taxes. We actually don’t have to pay state taxes in NH, but I’m a part-year MA resident, so I still have to pay taxes on income I earned as a resident of MA. That only comes up to about $500, so that’s not too bad. I still have some deductions to make, including medical fees, moving expenses, as well as charitable contributions, but I I want a little allowance because I think the computation for income earned as a consultant is different. Oh well. I have to put aside $150 a week starting next week to pay that bill. OUCH!

And now for the good news. Somebody emailed me today asking about referencing information for my Bluetooth article! Woohoo! I think he might be the second one who’s emailed me. The first asked for a pdf copy which I was more than happy to share with a fellow researcher. The even better news, ACM has my article up online! Yay! Read it here, or at least check it out.

Despite the penny pinching, I think the good news wins this one. I’m referenced! That’s awesome!

Life goes on as usual here in the US. Sure some people are dealing with snow and bad driving conditions. But nothing can compare with the recent calamity that ravaged Asia. There was an earthquake in the seas of Indonesia which resulted in tsunamis. The effects were felt all the way to Africa. The death toll has already reached over 22,000. They say it might be impossible to get the final death count because in some areas, whole populations have been wiped out. It’s hard to really take something like that in, especially if you don’t see any of its effects. Here are some headlines from Google.

The eartquake was so close to the Philippines. Without the island of Indonesia, we would’ve had to deal with the resulting tsunamis too. If it had been to the northeast of Indonesia instead of the southwest… I’m glad my country was spared, but I’m sorry for countries affected. I’m especially sorry for all the lives lost.

Check out these pictures from Kazaa. Quality is pretty bad. I just got them from Google images. I remember saving it before, but I guess it got erased after all the formats and reinstalls I’ve done on my laptop. Well, actually, all the formats and reinstalls TB has done.

Anyway, she looks like me! She’s prettier, and she’s got more muscles in her abs, but whatever. I could fool people with it. I put it up on my Friendster. haha…

I felt bad about the last entry, emphasizing more on the gifts than on the thought. Also, I felt bad when Brenden, after receiving my gift, felt bad that he wasn’t prepared for gift-giving. But I the gifts aren’t the point. It’s the giving, and the getting it right. The absolutely best part is when you get the perfect gift for someone and they love it. Anyway, I don’t know why Brenden felt bad, because he did give me a book, and it was something he thought I would like, or would learn from. So that was good too.

Funny though, my sister and I got him the same gift. We got him both the same CD. He showed me the half-unwrapped CD from U2, and I said, “Who gave you that?” And he said, “U 2?”

Good thing I had another CD for him. So I’m keeping the U2, and I’ll get him something else to replace it. See, I thought about that gift too. Unfortunately, so did my sister!

I got a few presents for Christmas. I got books, clothes, and a surprise one from my sister, which she wasn’t able to get in time for Christmas.

I really like TB’s gift. It’s a membership to a children’s book club! Yeah. I know, children’s? I do still read a lot of children’s books though, so it makes sense. Still on my list are:
1. Eriador
2. The Chronicles of Narnia
3. The remaining Harry Potter series

Anyway, I like the twist they have. You submit a questionnaire, which gives them an idea of things that you like, books you’ve read, etc., and they send you books that they think you’ll like. Then, like Netflix, you get to review the books after you read them. At least I’d get to read books I probably normally wouldn’t know about.

So, yay. I’m looking forward to my next few reads! Oh yeah, the first book is by David Sedaris, a really funny author if you haven’t read any of his books yet. Actually, I think his books might just be funnier when he reads them.

Thanks for the present, TB.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

We saw the extended version of The Return of the King. Two years ago, we saw the extended version of LOTR for Christmas too. Isn’t that a good Christmas tradition? Anyway, the extended version was good. It completed the story a lot better than the theater version did. I remember liking the third movie as much as the first movie because I finished the book 2 days before the movie came out, which was when we watched it (of course!). Back then, I thought the movie disappointed, but I really like it now. But then, at almost 4 hours long, I feel really drained just staring at the TV for that long.

I still like the first movie a lot better than any of the other two movies, but I give this movie a lot more credit than I did the first time I saw it. Book-wise, I can’t remember which book I like the best. Maybe the second one. The first was like a getting-to-know you, so it was still kind of unclear. I remember crying in the second book, towards the end, which made me finish the third book in just a few days. Man, those were good times.

I love that Keane! I only started listening to them this week. I like all their songs in the Hopes and Fears album. All of it! That’s pretty impressive. And that’s not just because I’ve listened to it a few times already. I liked it the first time I heard it. Didn’t even notice they didn’t have a guitarist. Wow.

Thanks for the tip, Daisy! I got the Christmas card you sent too! Woo, thanks!

Remind me to get the Bad Girl’s guidebooks. That’s a tip from Daisy too. I’m reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay right now, which is another tip from Daisy and I’m really enjoying it.

Geez, I sound like a stalker! Or a Daisy-wannabe. Haha.

I was writing a reply to Casey’s email and I wanted to make sure I spelled deprecate correctly. I could’ve used Dictionary.com, but since my Firefox’s Google bar was already there, I just typed in “self deprecating” and hit Enter. Here’s something I saw:
1. http://designjerk.com/gsdp/memain.html - Just drawings, but I think they’re pretty funny.
2. Then I read the first four paragraphs from The Self-Deprecating Narcissist. I found myself guilty of what he said. Not all the time of course, but sometimes. I wonder, since most of my friends are self-deprecating too, are they narcissistic too? Well, I’m sure everybody has a narcissistic trace in them somewhere.

So coffee break talker guy suddenly sends me an email today. First he says that since we seldom run into each other in the hallways, he thought that emailing would be a ‘good link to chat’. Then he opened with an offer to ride with him if I want to watch the ski races a group in the company has every Thursday. That’s fine. We were talking about skiing during that long coffee break. Next he says that at any time I want to get together to “chat, like at break, lunch or ?” to just let him know and he’d be more than happy to. Hmm… the “or ?” seemed like a flag to me.

I replied and said that after what happened the last time I went snowboarding, I’m not that anxious to get on the slopes again. And I thanked him for letting me know.

That’s kind of true, but also not really. If my friends were to go skiing with me, then I’d definitely go even though I’m scared to go again. That last one with TB was really painful. I mean that literally.

Anyway, so after a while, he emails again and asked what I was doing for lunch and if I’d like to get together in the cafeteria. That’s harmless enough, right? Still, I was quite relieved to get the email right before I was heading out to hunt for a foam mattress for my daybed. Whew! Got out of that one without having to make any excuses. Still, after I got back, I still had to get lunch. I made sure I waited until 1:30, which gets rid of the late lunchers at the cafeteria, and I was brisk walking the whole time to lessen the chances of running into him.

So now, I not only have to learn how not to be too rude, but still get away from him when he talks too much; but I also have to learn how to say no as well. I don’t know why I’m freaking out, from what I remember, I think he mentioned that he’s already married, although I’m not entirely positive. But still, he just gives me the creeps. I think that alone gives me the right to say no, correct? I just have to learn to give a ‘no thanks’ answer. That’s been really tough for me.

I hate the way some people try to make small talk while you’re trying to take off with your hot cup of coffee in your hand. Small talk isn’t too bad, but a whole conversation about stuff happening in your life? Come on now. If by the time I get to my desk my coffee isn’t hot anymore, then that’s just too much talking.

There’s this one guy I dread meeting in the halls. He’s really nice and friendly, but he just talks too much. Waaaay too much. And I hate how I have to use body language to say ‘hey, I have to go’, but the message still doesn’t seem to get through to him. Here are my body language hints:
1. I start slowly walking away
2. I turn away. Today I even turned 180 degrees away but had to turn back to face him because he wouldn’t stop talking! Geez.
3. I look around, at my cup, at other people, at other places, so he’d know I don’t want to listen anymore.

So I feel bad that I’m so rude, but if I’m not, he could keep talking the whole day! I mean, the first time I chatted with him, I was really excited because I didn’t know anybody outside my team and he was a great break from staring at my computer the whole day. But we ended up talking for about 30 minutes and during half that time I was already feeling uncomfortable that people might think I’m slacking off. Since then, I’ve started dreading talking to him. It happens every time. Oh well. What can you do. Other more to the point body language you could think of that I could use?