Congrats P-C! I'm so impressed that it looks like you're going to actually make a living doing what you want to do. These things always seem to take longer than anticipated, but I'm still always amazed when they actually happen. In this case, not surprised though.

So no rewards for us--other than not going even more broke--but still a lot of habit changing going on.

I was thinking about that, Plei. It would have been problematic for me even a year or so ago. But it's still not impossible. There are other things you can reward yourself with, but it takes a lot more creativity and energy, which may or may not defeat the purpose of the reward. Anyway, it sounds like you're doing well without the carrot, which is all for the good.

I think I can come up with plenty of ways to spend my "newfound wealth," Sparky! Although suggestions are always welcome, I have a pretty good list already, ranging from decadent things like DVDs to more practical things like the down payment on a house, with plenty of things in between (iPod, laptop, big basic cable, tunes for the iPod, to name just a few).

Gas prices some places in the Twin Cities went up 50 cents a gallon today.

We've been over $3 in Illinois, around here anyway, for a while now. It'll be interesting to see how high it gets.

I don't see a trip to the Bay Area anywhere on that list, Libkitty!

We've been over $3 in Illinois

Huh. I haven't had to pay over $3, and the news media always tells me that prices are higher here than anywhere else. Then again, I haven't bought gas for a week or two, so I don't know what the going rate is at the moment.

We've been over $3 in Illinois, around here anyway, for a while now.

Yeah, I paid $2.90 in Arlington Heights this weekend, and that was the cheapest I could find. Thank gods I only used up a quarter tank driving people around!

Coming home from work today I saw the following regular unleaded gas prices on one stretch of road (about 2 miles long): $2.75, $2.59 (this is the lowest I've seen in weeks), $2.66, $2..63, $2.61 (those three are all on the same corner).

I have no idea what it will be tomorrow.

I just didn't copy it all, Sparky. Generic travel is definitely on the list. I'm hoping to come to the Bay Area this fall, although it looks like it will have to be after September (no Bay Area Serenity opening for me) because of jury duty for the whole month. I'll have to come soon, though, as it looks like my dad is probably selling his house and moving to Morro Bay. They found health insurance there for my uncle and Kaiser was all that was keeping them North. Good news for them, but I am more than a bit bummed that this is happening now. Years they lived there, and I hardly knew anyone in the area and we usually headed straight for Morro Bay anyway. Now, I meet buffistas and reconnect with some old friends, and he moves. Hmmpf.

Anyway, it sounds like you're doing well without the carrot, which is all for the good.

Not going broker is a shockingly large carrot.

Oooh! I went to high school in Morro Bay! Lots of tourists and fog and a Big Ass Rock.

Not going broker is a shockingly large carrot.

See, I would've said it was a big ol' stick. But I guess I'm a glass-half-empty type.

Stephanie, you go! That's wonderful news, and not a bit surprising!

Fay, so happy you'll have a teaching job, and I hope the school treats you extra well. I was a full-time sub at the International School in KL, and it was a great experience (although I often wished I had my own classroom/office), in part because I got to teach without having to police the lunchroom.

Mal is already taller than the side of the Pack-n-Play when he stands up. Which also means he touches both sides of the crib when he lays laterally. Which means he can engage in his new favorite pasttime of kicking the rattly crib side over and over. At 3:00 am.