Ships Ahoy

We booked a long overdue vacation last weekend. Well, ok, we try to take 2 vacations a year so maybe it wasn't that overdue but needed nonetheless. The last vacation was a cold week and half in Amsterdam and Belgium during Thanksgiving so we wanted somewhere warmer, not so far away and within a few hours time zone difference. Two out of three ain't bad. We decided on an Alaskan cruise that departs roundtrip from Seattle. There will actually be three of us in the cabin so we splurged and booked one of 8 "penthouse" suites. Granted, "penthouse" brings to mind multi-story, lavish and spacious living, all bets are off on a cruise ship. It seems downright mockery to call a 350 sq ft cabin a "penthouse" but at least it's twice as big as most other rooms on the ship. We're going to have to work overtime to use all of the included services and stuff our faces to get our money's worth.

Total spent Friday:
$0 brought lunch
$105 monthly orthodontia payment
$6 Starbucks for 2
$14 dinner for 2 at food court (Corner Bakery and Pasta Bravo)

Total spent Saturday:
$35 picked up a friend at LAX and had lunch for 2 at Encounters (the flying saucer-looking restaurant in the futuristic tower at LAX, saved $12 with Entertainment card)
$7 parking at LAX
$30 3 movie tickets (mediocre movie which makes the ticket price sting even more)
$7 popcorn and candy (snuck in drinks)
$5 after movie snacks

Total spent today:
$82 supermarket (saved $21 with coupons)
$16 lunch for 2 at Chinese restaurant (saved $7 with coupon)
$74 2 shirts and misc kitchen stuff at Marshalls
$0 prepared dinner

Another Two Bite the Dust!

Exodus in the sales department this week. Our sales department at this location has 11 people and 2 gave notice this week. One is someone that I had worked with before and had recruited for a sales support role. Although he was with us for about 14 months, he decided to go back to our previous employer because of an opportunity with higher compensation. The other had been with us for about 3 years and was fairly important to the organization but felt that she was underappreciated. She's "taking time to review her options" (which translates to has a great job offer but isn't ready to reveal with who). The positive side of it was that I had an excuse to take her to a really nice restaurant, Chat Noir (upscale French cuisine), for lunch.

Total spent Monday:
$5750 booked Alaskan cruise for 3 on Norwegian Cruise Lines (taxes and fees included, in Penthouse suite category)
$38 gas
$0 expensed lunch for 3 ($55 at El Torito Grill)
$15 memory card for digital camera (saved $15 with rebate from Buy.com)
$21 misc housewares at Linens N Things
$7 dinner for 2 at Taco Bell

Total spent Tuesday:
$6 lunch at Carl’s Jr.
$4 jar of rhubarb strawberry jam at Cost Plus
$5 Starbucks for 2
$0 leftovers for dinner

Total spent Wednesday:
$317 Little Giant 17” foot ladder at Linens N Things (saved $71 with 20% discount coupon)
$35 dinner for 2 at Zena’s Lebanese restaurant
$82 tire rotation and balance at Infiniti dealership
$42 misc housewares at Cost Plus

Total spent Thursday:
$54 lunch for 2 at Chat Noir (treated colleague for going away lunch, excellent dark wood and sexy reds atmosphere, trying the $35 Kobe beef burger next time)
$5 valet parking and tip at Chat Noir
$0 skipped dinner and went to gym

Poker Night! Janice and Michelle

Out of the Fire and into the Frying Pan

We assumed the lease on a 2004 silver Jeep Grand Cherokee yesterday. The Mercedes C32 AMG is less than 100 miles from reaching the mileage limit before being charged 30 cents per mile overage which is abnormally high. The guy getting rid of the Jeep was apparently overextended with $30k in credit card debt and other payments so was pretty anxious to transfer the lease. This turned out pretty well for us as we simply take over the payments for the remaining 22 months on a fairly new Jeep. The biggest benefit is that we don't have to make a down payment which was probably around $5k originally. The bad news is that even although we'll turn in the C32 five months early, we still have to pay the entire remaining 5 months worth of payments! It doesn't pay to be vain and drive an expensive car!

Total spent Monday:
$4 takeout lunch at the park
$0 leftovers for dinner

Total spent Tuesday:
$0 brought lunch
$35 poker chip set and a few groceries at supermarket (it seems that every retail store sells poker chip sets now!)

Total spent Wednesday:
$0 company lunch
$0 leftovers for dinner

Total spent Thursday:
$42 gas
$9 lunch with colleague
$0 drinks and appetizers with customers (expensed $90)

Total spent Friday:
$6 lunch with colleagues
$16 groceries and pastries

Total spent Saturday:
$22 lunch for 2 in Little Saigon
$400 two new rear tires for Mercedes
$175 1/2 of lease assumption fee
$45 dinner for 2 in West Hollywood

Total spent Sunday:
$52 groceries (saved $53 with coupons)
$0 prepared dinner

Ahhh....The Biltmore

On my recent trip, I broke from my own tradition of booking my business hotel through Priceline and stayed at the esteemed Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. This landmark resort was opened in 1929 and is distinguished as the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed hotel in the world. Every President has stayed in the Presedential Suite since Herbert Hoover. Movie stars and Hollywood royalty have stayed in the cottages scattered throughout the 30+ acre site. That's why I couldn't resist staying there when a last minute trip came up and the Biltmore offered a $99 midweek summer rate.

The driveway leading up to the main entrance is lined with multi-million dollar homes known as the Biltmore Estates. They were truly mansions that with some looking over 8000 sq feet. One could easily imagine the gracious parties that had been held on the manicured grounds and public lawns. As I only had about 6 hours to enjoy the property, I walked around the expansive property, peeked into the ballrooms, used the spa and gym facilities and had dinner at the signature restaurant, Wright's.

I have a healthy appetite but wanted to get to dessert so skipped an entree.
Baby arugula salad with poached pears, beets and bleu cheese ($9, but three little beet cubes and 3 artfully arranged slivers of pears)
Braised beef rib appetizer on cheese and corn fritter with mushrooms ($11, heavenly reduction sauce that I sopped up with the crusty bread)
Vanilla crepes with fig marscapone filling and fresh berries and caramel drizzle ($11, wasn't as figgy as I had hoped but excellent and artfully presented)

I couldn't help but overhear part of the conversation from the couple seated across the aisle. It was clear from the frequency of the unoriginal compliments from the gentleman that they hadn't been dating long. The one comment that stood out in my mind was when the lady said "my life long goal has been to break the cycle of dysfunctionality in my family." (His obvious reply was "and it's obvious that you've done that.") I was so tempted to turn and take a good long gander at her but that would have been too obvious and instead took a deliberate bite of my braised beef ribs.

Next time, I'm sure that I'll be back at the Marriott, but I'll always have my one braised beef rib at Wright's.

Total spent Monday:
$0 expensed lunch
$4 snacks for long drive home from San Diego
$41 gas

Total spent Tuesday:
$0 brought lunch
$7 picked up Italian food for 2 (saved $6 with Entertainment coupon)

Total spent Wednesday:
$4.50 for a tall Starbucks at Arizona Biltmore Resort
$0 for light dinner at Wright's at the Biltmore (expensed it, would have been $37 for appetizer, salad and dessert, tip, no entree)

total spent Thursday:
$0 expensed everything (Biltmore $132, $7 donuts for demo, drinks with customer $32, taxi $12)

total spent Friday:
$8 lunch with colleagues
$45 two large specialty pizzas from Round Table
$28 alcohol and snacks for poker
$128 outdoor seating for 6 from OSH
$20 lost at Texas Hold 'Em

Total spent Saturday:
$132 clothes at Macy's
$107 decorative mirror at Bombay Company
$100 dinner for two at French restaurant (saved $20 with Entertainment card)

Total spent today:
$62 supermarket (saved $41 with coupons)
$27 Vietnamese bbq takeout place
$0 cooked dinner

Grrrrr

If first you don't succeed, put in earplugs!

I've only learned to recognize this from reading many motivational self-help books: don't let people around you discourage you from taking action! Learn and take advice from people that are successful and doing better than you. Naysayers will just talk about the risks and doom and gloom. Just remember that you'll always fail when you don't attempt but you'll sometimes succeed when you try.

Total spent Friday:
$8 lunch at gourmet supermarket
$29 dinner for 2 at excellent Indian restaurant (Dosa Palace, saved $12 with Entertainment card)
$11 two paint brushes at Lowe's

Total spent saturday:
$22 drycleaning
$21 dinner for 2 at Alcatraz (saved $10 with Entertainment card)
$19 2 tickets for Star Wars ($10 for an adult ticket! I still use my college student ID which was good for a measly $1 discount.)
$122 misc t-shirts and shorts at Target
$53 athletic shoes

Total spent today:
$81 supermarket (saved $33 with coupons)
$2.50 tollroad
$2 milkshake at Burger King
$66 poker table and table cloth Linens N Things (saved $40 with special coupon)

The 909

You don't realize how much tollroads cost until you have to take one. I don't live in a location where I need to take any of the tollroads often so it's hard to imaging paying for it every single day as many commuters in Orange County do. The tolls vary by the day of the week and time of the day going up to as much as $7 each way (that's two cappuchinos!) for the busiest 10 mile stretch on the 91 freeway! Most commuters are coming from the Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The ironic thing is that most people move out there for the more affordable housing but then end up giving much of it back in tolls, gas and time stuck in traffic. Assuming that a couple both take the tollroad separately to OC and each drive an additional 40 mile daily, that calculates out to approximately $588 per month ($20/day in tolls and $8 additional in gas over 21 work days). In pre-tax earnings at a hypothetical 30% tax rate, that's $840.

Just a few years ago, it was considered definitely uncool to live out there, in the "909"(the primary area code). On the show The OC, they make it sound like the city of Chino is hundreds of miles away when it's really only about 30 miles from Newport Beach. As prices have escalated in OC the last few years, it's become much more acceptable to live in the Inland Empire. And as jobs are finally being created out there, fewer residents are having to commute to OC. Most of the new housing being built in southern California is in the Inland
Empire. Most of OC is simply out of land for detached, single family homes. In OC, you can buy a new attached 1600 sq ft townhome for about $600k. In Riverside county, that would buy you a 3000 sq ft house on a 7000 sq ft lot. Oh, but that drive....

Total spent Tuesday:
$0 lunch with colleague (colleague treated, saved $7 with Entertainment coupon)
$0 prepared dinner

Total spent Wednesday:
-$53 returned items at Target
$11 lunch and fruit at gourmet supermarket
$5 driving range during lunch with lunch buddy
$32 pool toys at Target
$4 Jack in the Box

Total spent today:
$0 brought lunch
$3.50 tollroad
$41 Marshalls
$26 supermarket
$60 1 year subscription to Yahoo music service
$8 Starbucks for 2