The real living room

The Model living room

The Model family room

The real family room

Welcome Basket with Wheat Thins and toilet paper. How thoughtful!

The Model kitchen

Boy, that's a scrawny tree.

Dolly Court in Corona

Wow, "stated income" loans that don't require income nor W-2 verification are pretty interesting. Now I know how people can "afford" (or at least qualify) for loans at the current home prices! It's like magic! In order to qualify for a particular loan, $xxx is the amount you need to be making. Sign a simple form that states $xxx as your income and you're practically qualified. From the time that I put $3,000 down on the house in February 2004 until escrow closed on July 22, 2005, the house has appreciated $160k. Not bad for less than 60 hours of effort.

Total spent Wednesday:
$7 lunch
$24 2 pizzas from Pizza Hut
$70 mail order prescription refills

Total spent Thursday:
$56 misc home accessories at HomeStore
$3 lunch Carl's Jr
$36 dinner for 4 at China Palace (saved $19 with two Entertainment cards)
$6 misc at Target

Total spent Friday:
$0 colleague treated me to lunch
$17 dinner for 2 at Souplantation

Total spent Saturday:
$53 1 coffee and 2 $25 gift certificates for sales reps at housing development
$22 flower arrangement for reps at housing development
$470k 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom 2736 sq ft house in Corona, CA
$20 lunch for 3 at Farmer Brothers

Total spent Sunday:
$51 supermarket (saved $26 in coupons)
$0 prepared lunch (tuna melt) and dinner (spaghetti with chicken bolognese)

Total spent Monday:
$0 brought lunch
$30 two pairs of compact binoculars (on sale from $60 each!)
$50 dinner for 3 (saved $11 with Entertainment card)
$23 lots of cheese and cracker snacks on lance.com
$30 online subscription service

Total spent Tuesday:
$8 lunch with colleague
$33 two pairs of swim trunks at Marshalls

Total spent today:
$20 book on Alaska and coffee at Borders (saved $7 with email coupon)
$7 lunch with colleagues
$0 leftovers for dinner

Damn those braces!

Job Hopper

All of the jobs that I’ve ever held since age 14:
14 summer job as summer recreation assistant at local park
14-18 cook, cashier, shift supervisor, assistant manager at Taco Bell (had a blast)
17 2nd summer job as cook at Dairy Queen
20 2nd summer job as cashier at AM/PM mini mart (learned that people in other states don't prepay for gas)
20-21 shift supervisor at KFC
21-22 assistant manager at Blockbuster Video (boy, those late fees generate a lot of revenue!)
23 English language instructor at Win School of Languages in Tokyo
24 English language instructor at American Lounge in Yokohama
24-25 English language instructor at Isuzu Motors in Yokohama
25 independent stock daytrader (lost my shirt)
26 Realtor Century 21
27-29 Welcome Call Specialist, ClientCare rep, Lead Development Supervisor At Best Software (accounting software developer)
30 Inside Sales Rep at Hobbs/Herder Advertising (real estate marketing firm)
31-33 Inside Sales Rep, Regional Sales Manager at Liberty IMS (document management software developer)

Total spent Monday:
$6 drive through lunch from Del Taco (how did I spend $6 at Del Taco!?!)
$28 dinner for 3 at Viet restaurant
$18 book on Alaskan cruise ports from Amazon
$900 two new home appraisals and two credit reports

Total spent Tuesday:
$16 treated colleague to lunch at Souplantation
$0 prepared dinner (egg and SPAM sandwich…yum!)
$16 replacement ink film for fax machine

Total spent Wednesday:
$42 gas
$20 drycleaning
$18 dinner for two at Japanese noodle house

Total spent Thursday:
$5 Viet takeout lunch at the park
$3 contribution toward flowers for pre-concert host
$9 2 frozen key lime pies on a sticks at Orange County Fair
$34 ticket for Pat Benatar / Berlin concert at Orange County Fair
$5 post concert at Carl’s Jr

Total spent Friday:
$8 lunch at Greek place
$52 protein powder and ginko biloba for awful memory
$36 dinner for 3 at Los Cabos (saved $10 with Entertainment card)

Total spent Saturday:
$29 3 movie tickets (Dark Water)
$54 Costco
$31 handtowels and plant stand at Marshalls
$160 1 month interest payment to mom and lawn service
$100 gave mom
$70 pair of sunglasses
$37 dinner for 3 (saved $9 with Entertainment card)

Total spent Sunday:
$52 groceries (saved $32 with coupons)
$35 2 books from Amazon
$24 2 t-shirts from Marshalls
$170 3 tickets for Alanis Morrisette and Jason Mraz concert
$8 parking for concert

Total spent Monday:
$8 service charge for cashiers check for down payment to close escrow on Corona house
$81 3 tickets for Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach
$0 prepared dinner

Total spent Tuesday:
$9 lunch with colleague
$45 gas
$91 shirts and housewares at Ross
$9 fastfood dinner for 2 at Jerry's Dogs (saved $5 with Entertainment card)
$27 2 books from Amazon
$2 2 ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins

Would you take 50 cents for that?

It never ceases to amaze me the crap that people will buy at a garage sale. It amazes me even more how cheap people are. We had a Mr. Coffee coffeemaker that we had used up until just a few months ago. Nothing was wrong with it whatsoever and I was willing to sell it to a lady for $1. She asked if she could just buy the coffee pot and I said no unless she wanted to pay $1 for the entire thing. She walked away from it. Some of the other stuff that was sold: 11 pairs of shoes, 50+ shirts, 15 pants, half a small container of glass beads, VCR for $5, DVD player for $10, rice cooker $2, 6 rolls of gift wrap paper $3, 4 plastic topiary trees $15, 3 cordless phones $15, Frigidaire $150, duvet $10, misc. board games, HEPA air filter $10, 2 vacuum cleaners $10. All said and done, we pulled in about $500. Of course the stuff originally probably cost us over $6000 but oh well.

Total spent Tuesday:
$4 drive thru for 2 at Rally's (saved $4 with coupon)
$0 frozen dinners
$34 ticket for Pat Benatar and Berlin concert with colleagues

Total spent Wednesday:
$3 drive thru at Jack in the Box
$34 dinner for 2 at Johnny Reb's BBQ (saved $13 with Entertainment card)

Total spent Thursday:
$0 sales lunch meeting
$0 prepared Omaha steak burgers for dinner

Total spent Friday:
$0 company lunch meeting
$37 dinner for 3 at Thai Specialty (saved $8 with Entertainment card)

Total spent Saturday:
$37 lunch for 3 at Hawaiian bbq place
$18 silk flowers
$32 dinner for 3 at Babette's Feast in Belmont Shores
$11 takeout dessert for 3
$60 3 tickets for play at Long Beach Playhouse

Total spent Sunday:
$102 supermarket (saved $14 with coupons)
$44 Costco
$0 prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner

Tastes like chicken!

Tastes Like Chicken

You never know when the mood will strike to go on a supermarket binge. You might get lucky and find canned, fully-cooked, WHOLE chickens.

Total spent Saturday
$8 garage sale rummaging
$22 pair of 1/2 price athletic shoes at Shoe Pavilion
$13 drycleaning
$24 breakfast for 2 at Honeybaked Ham Cafe
$43 dinner for 3 at Memphis
$11 pair of bookends at Ross
$52 late nite supermarket binge at Albertson's

Total spent Sunday:
$1650 titanium finish LG side-by-side refrigerator with delivery, installation and extended 5 year warranty (I've forgiven Worst Buy and bought something there)
$0 admission for 3 to Del Mar Fair (lady on the shuttle bus gave us 3 extra free tickets she had saving us $36!)
$40 giant bbq turkey drumstick, drinks, fresh potato chips, corndogs, kettle corn, candy apple
$20 ride tickets and stuff

Total spent today:
$0 lunch and dinner at home
$0 2 movie tickets for War of the Worlds (used gift certificates from credit card rewards points)
$8 2 Starbucks
$57 groceries and small dishes at Japanese supermarket Mitsuwa

Preservatives never tasted so good!

Emergency Rations

If it weren't for the contents of my food drawer (and overhead cabinet), I would starve (once in a blue moon). There is little in the way of nutritional value as the purpose is to get me through the afternoon when I'm stuck at the office at lunchtime because of an around-noontime demo or appointment. I hate to miss a meal! The current contents of my food drawer: 12 pack of Diet Pepsi, 12 pack of Diet Mt. Dew, Thai instant noodles, Hormel cup of au gratin potatoes, Campbell's chicken and stars soup, packets of instant Thai iced tea, Zone nutrition bars, Starkist tuna and crackers kits, Brent and Sam's key lime cookies, cheese and crackers and last, but not least, Betty Crocker instant pasta.

Total spent Monday:
$0 brought lunch
$0 dinner (lettuce wraps, eggrolls, tom yum kai soup, expensed $24 at Thaifoon, arrived in Salt Lake City for business trip)
$37 condiments at Sur la Table (overpriced but fantastic French sea salt, pink Himalayan salt and wasabi lime mustard)

Total spent Tuesday:
$0 lunch for 3 at Memphis style bbq joint in Salt Lake City (pulled pork sandwich, killer cornbread stuffing, cucumber salad and pork bbq beans, expensed $35)
$19 cold medicine stuff and other misc. at Walgreens
$0 room service dinner (expensed $15)
$24 Toastabags (was watching QVC in the hotel, I never watch QVC so I don't know what possessed me to actually buy something)

Total spent Wednesday:
$0 lunch picked up by customer ($22 for 3 people)
$25 dinner for 2 at Johnny Rocket's
$4 Krispy Kreme donuts

Total spent Thursday:
$14 lunch with colleagues at Habana (we all treated colleague on last day)
$10 co-payment for visit to HMO doctor for flu symptoms
$0 prescription for anti-biotics (doctor gave coupon for free prescription!)
$66 misc stuff at Rite Aid (24 Zone nutrition bars, dental hygiene picks and 3 pool floaties)
$50 dinner for 2 at PJ's Abbey (converted church, saved $19 with Entertainment card)
$29 cassette adapter for IPOD from Amazon.com

Total spent Friday:
$0 food drawer lunch
$77 pre-purchased 12 AMC movie tickets including shipping
$36 mediocre Chinese buffet dinner for 3
$11 Pepto Bismo and Gax-X from drugstore post buffet dinner