Are you thinking of buying anytime in the next five years? It might be worth running the numbers to see whether paying off your SLs or having bigger down payment money will work better for you. I haven't looked at it that closely, so I have no idea which way it would come out. But I think I would check.

Hm. I...wouldn't know what to look at.

Aside from that - well, less debt is better than more. Just don't put too big a hit in your savings to pay them off if there's something down the road you can better put the money to [caveat: does not include gold jewlery for people who are not you.]

Yeah, I was also thinking of just throwing a thousand dollars at it occasionally to bring it down faster, although, really, I would still pay it all off in about six or seven months like that and continue accruing interest, and I have no plans to need a huge chunk of money in six months. I don't like having debt.

Also, um, my mom's found a potential girl for me already. All she knows about her is that she's 5'7", named Manisha, and works as a CPA in Washington. And she wants me to e-mail her.

"What do you think?"
"I...have no interest in this right now."
"Why not?"
"I just got a job."
"That's right, you just got a job, so now it's time. Well, we'll see. You said you didn't mind if I looked, so that's why I looked. Your dad is saying it's not time yet either, so we'll see."

Oh, and yeah, I blah-di-blahed about work and stuff, so I don't have to stay the five extra days. Whew.

Damn, that was a nail-biter of a game at the end.

Damn, that was a nail-biter of a game at the end.

Congratulations Anne! Condolences to Tom and Amyliz. That was a serious high pressure game all the way through.

I thought the Mets were gonna win for sure.

Wow....what a game.

So, we have an ex-A's manager in the World Series? Yeah, grasping at straws.

Giving up on the math for the evening. Gonna watch Grey's Anatomy and then try to sleep (again).

I thought the Mets were gonna win for sure.

So did I, actually. Beltran at bat, bases loaded? Yikes.

Damn. Now I want fudge. And god knows I ate more than enough of it in Portland. Thanks to Cassie's gothy Harry Potter boy.

Hmmm, I think I need more chocolate...

Oh, who am I kidding, I want the pretties. But chocolate is good too.

...I've seen it a thousand times on make-overs on tv. They usually ALWAYS shorten an older woman's hair and the result is that she looks younger somehow.

My Official Makeover Theory is that dramatic change is what is attractive. If you could give a short-haired woman long wavy flowing locks everyone would love that too.

And a side of pie maybe?

Mmmmm. Pie!

See, initially I read this as Ple. And it still made perfect sense.

Meanwhile - Yay! Half Term Holiday! Yay! AND I'm going on holiday! To Egypt! Which - yes, I could have gone somewhere new, but I left a suitcase with my neighbour, and this way I get to go and pick up stuff, see friends, NOT spend lots of money on accommodation/doing stuff and then it means I don't need to go home via there at Christmas (which was my plan), and that frees Christmas up for going home via Germany, with my wee sister. Christmas markets. Carols. Mulled wine. Gingerbread. Yay! Germany is a more festive bet than Egypt, gotta say...

Did I tell you that they don't make pumpkin spice lattes at the Starbucks here? They laughed at me in the store when I asked for it! Laughed, I say! It was a crushing disappointment, as that is my favorite Starbucks drink.

Germany is a more festive bet than Egypt, gotta say...

It so is! If you go to berlin, they have multiple little *villages* of Christmas. It's awesome. Great place for gift-shopping too. And you seriously can't beat crepes with nutella made right in front of you while it's snowing.

I'm surprised your rate on your loans is that high. You should be able to do better than that. Unless you have no other debt, I'm not sure that's the greatest use of your money.

Is 7% high for this type of loan?

Well, I've only ever taken the standard deduction before because it's more than I would get by, say, deducting loan interest.

It seems to me that when I was paying off my student loans, they had me pinned against a woolly mammoth there was no deduction at all, but I could be uphill-in-wintertime-barefooting that memory.