General Update

Well, not a whole lot of new things happening to report. Jon, my current roommate, leaves at the end of this month to start his new lease in the Boston area. Thanks for being a great roommate.

So I don't have much in the way of leads for new roommates which is worrying me a bit. Next month is going to be very tight. It's a combination of expenses that I don't normally have to budget for, setting my W4 exemption level from 1 back to zero, and my raise not kicking in until the end of July.

So what I did was after two years of having to pay taxes I resolved to never have to worry about that again. What I did is bump my claimed deduction down to zero which is where I've always had it with the exception of the last year and a half. I put it at 1 since I needed to have more cash in the bank earning interest for me for the condo. It did work but at the price of having to pay out this past April. I should be good next year with being at a zero for half the year plus the benefits of having a mortgage deduction. That refund will probably go towards a down payment on a new car. As I've mentioned in a previous post, the Audi is nearing the end of its life with me.

The raise is just an issue of it not kicking in until the first paycheck of the new fiscal year, which means my July paycheck which I will get July 31. Things will be a bit more comfortable once that kicks in, and hopefully I'll have a roommate by then so it will just end up being icing on the cake.

I've also realize the truth of the never-ending spending that comes with adult life. You no sooner reach a goal that you've been striving for over the course of 2-3 years and you are suddenly faced with new things you need to work towards.

I will need to get a new car soon. I really want to get a new dining room table and chairs. (I've decided after all to get the espresso stain. The light wood would just get washed out in the condo). I need to get a new computer. I know what some of you are thinking, "He doesn't really need to get a new PC, he only wants one." No, the sad fact is that my current PC is getting very sluggish for just web browsing and running office and all the other various applications that I run on a day to day basis. Combine this with the increased specifciations for Vista and I'm going to need to upgrade probably in the January time frame. I'll probably use part of my refund to buy it. I also need to get ceiling fans before the winter. At least if I have issues getting those I have a way to probably get them as a gift. Dad, ever so causually, mentioned that I should ask for ceiling fans for Christmas.

Of course all that above doesn't even get into all the things that I want to get, such as new towels for the bathroom(s), new TV and entertainment center, new surround speaker system, framing some of my photography for decoration, a fire safe for documents and valuables, a new bed (frame and mattress), a new bedroom furnature set, and the list goes on.

I'm also beginning the battle once again to lose some weight, or as my friend Dani mentioned I should phrase it, getting in shape. The thing is that I'm very dissatisfied with my personal appearance. I have a bit of a gut going on. Its something that various family members have mentioned for a few years now and its gotten the worst its ever been. Now I'm not looking for sympathy from anyone because I'm certainly not doing all that bad in the grand scheme of things. I just want to be able to take my shirt off at the beach and be happy with it. At any rate, I'm off to a good start and will hopefully be able to stick with it this time. Here's hoping!

Well, for someone who didn't have a lot to say I certainly took a long time to say it. I'll post more later, time for bed.