Nope, never, but I'm not surprised. What I am surprised about after reading that stuff is that I still want to visit Boston and do not think of it as the Scariest Place In New England, but, come on, after the Baltimore thing? It can only enhance my image of the place. There could be things wrong with me.

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Crap. I don't remember some of my medidation dosages. I know there's a book that has pictures of pills and what they are and what dosage - is there anything like that online?

I suppose I could call my pharmacy. I could call my shrink too, but I can't be sure he'd get back to me today.

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Too funny, Jessica.

I can sort of play chess, but I have no end game. ANd I don't know a bunh of opening gambit's and defenses. I can do those puzzles in the paper (the "Mate in two moves" from the shown position ones), maybe I should stop at that claim. DH is pretty good (and can clean my clock, easily) but loses to computer games.

$50 is $50, Cindy. It all adds up. Which is bad when it's leaving you, but nice when yo get to keep it.

We did a surprise mini-ultrasound at the doctor just now and I got to see my little embryo wiggling around. I'm so excited.

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Does anyone remember Archon or Archon II?

My boyfriend had that!

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What can I do to repay this generous solid you've bestowed on me?

After you get the mix, you can write a Homicide fic based on one of the songs. There's a lot of urban blight in them.

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Does anyone remember Archon or Archon II? A chess game wherein you had to battle for each piece capture.

I remember that! I didn't actually play it, but I watched people play because the battles were cool.

I played bridge in college and it was so much fun. I picked up a book and sporadically try to teach my husband and another couple to play, but we can only get through a game or so at a time. It's part of a semi-regular game night, and we have to fit in evenings of Monopoly and LOTR Risk and Trivial Pursuit, so the bridge learning goes slow.

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Duh! But unlike rap, the possibility of a brighter day, and about 4,000,000 less "bitches" and "hos." It's all good. My God, I'm not getting one-note or anything, am I?

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I've never been very good at thinking 3 moves ahead, and so chess takes too much concentration for me.

Yeah, I think that's where I kind of fell apart when my dad was trying to teach me chess. I'm not such a great strategic thinker.

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And, but of course, Hec on the fic.

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Jess, that's too much. I love the little bigot being offended because you wouldn't take a bribe, too. You've really accomplished a lot with your move. You deserve a snack.

My cable company is my next target. We spend $116 a month, but that include internet.

Our bill was $149 (phone, internet, and cable). Then we had a charge for Starz/Encore on there. I think I accepted one of those free-for-six-months specials and forgot to cancel it when the 6 months was up. That was another $14 and change. Then with all the taxes, fees, etc., the final monthly bill was $199. Short term, we'll be paying $129 (and we made her say that was including taxes and fees, a gajillion times over) and long term, it'll be $149/mo including taxes and fees (also said a gajillion times over). The kids can't watch Noggin and a few other channels they like, in the den. That's the main difference for us, and I think we now have unlimited long distance (not that we need it, but it was part of the phone bundle). We told them. They whinged. We said, "Too bad, it's 50 bucks, and you watch too much TV, anyhow. Read a book."

However, in our area, you can't get a DVR with cable. However, I think can with a dish. So, I'm considering changing it around to see if I can either get the DVR capability or save on the bill.

Does this mean a TiVo DVR won't work for you, or just that you can't get it through your cable company?

I desperately need to do this too. If you find anything that works, let me know. I'm thinking of starting to track my cash spending in Microsoft Money, 'cause really, I need to see where that money is going.

You seem to me to be disciplined enough, that that may work well for you. Scott and I both really resent logging our ATM withdrawals (or would if we did), so we're trying for a system with less tracking, but that gives a better immediate picture.

We have a savings account attached to our checking/ATM account, and can use the ATM to withdraw from it, but they are two separate balances. What we have in or take out of one does not affect the balance of the other. I have no idea if all banks do this.

When I was single, I'd put the money needed each month for bills and service fees in the checking/ATM side of the account, and keep my spending money in the savings side. The debits were immediate, and non-confusing, because I wasn't also waiting for checks to clear from the balance of the savings side, and I didn't have to record or track my ATM withdrawals. Now, all I had for bills back then were car ins., student loan, and car loan, so it was always a set amount I transferred over each pay period.

It will be a little more complicated now, because electricity, oil, etc. vary from month to month, and we have quarterly bills like the water & sewer bill, and unexpected home expenses, but we still can still get a decent idea of what we need to put in there each month.

We just have to do it. When we get our tax refund, the money is all supposed to get put aside, because we need a new roof. However, depending on how much we get, we may have some extra we can add to the checking account, just to give us some slack, until we get used to the new system, and to being careful again.

I'm loosing my disability supplement come July, and that's gonna be a big kick in the pants ($800 a month kind of kick in the pants).

I know you told me about this on the phone once, but what happened? Is it a change in state or federal regulations, or a matter of time allotted for your particular disability, or what? I don't understand how eligibility runs out, if you're still living with your disability.

Fortunately, I've paid off my car

Good for you! Isn't that a great feeling, and such a relief?

I'll have to do something for health insurance at that point (because that ends at the same time), but I'll probably go on a state-funded insurance program with a very low monthly premium, based on my income), so that'll save me a big chunk. It'll be ok, but boy am I gonna have to count (continued...)

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