It's madness...

Supposedly, overtime is limited now that we're post M1... & not yet to M2. I've been trying to keep my hours at 40. I was successful last week (with some creativity on my part) but this week is already shaping up to be heavy. The builds have been broken & the builds have been late.

If my commute weren't so ridiculous, I'd get up earlier & check my e-mail before going in but there's not much point doing it. I'd need to get up at least 15-minutes earlier to check my messages. Then if there's no build, lying down again is pointless because I'd probably just be getting back to sleep when I'd have to get up in order to get into work by 9 AM. SO tell me, what's the point?

I started a budget this month. I had trouble deciding how much I was going to save. With the rumored re-org at work, not knowing how long I'll be employed & expecting that if I lose the job after only 6 months, and the economy being so happily helped into the crapper by Congress, it may be lean for a long time before I find another job.

I started out thinking I could put $900 per month in there. I was thinking of the amount of money I'd need for the training in Orlando. (No... I haven't talked about that & I don't know if I will. I'm trying not to advertise my plans). It was originally $5270. They've raised the tuition to a little over $6200 for 29 days. So it became obvious that if I were planning on having that money saved in six months, I'd need to put away more. Now I've made a plan to try to put $1,000 per month into savings. The additional cash (over $6k) will have to come from the latte` & cigarette fund.

I've been putting $5 in every day that I don't buy a latte` on the way to work. So far I think I have an additional $25 or so in there. Every little bit helps.

Krav class comes up again in March & I’m going to attempt to be ready... by getting in some aerobic activity... & committing to the nicotine patches. I've been doing okay but I slip about once per week... tonight included. Even just cutting down will be a step in the right direction but I could use that money elsewhere. The "Emperor" has announced an additional $.61 tax on cigarettes to fund the SCHIP program. I don't intend to assist the SCHIP program.

More later...