I've been sitting here, trying to decide how to portray this past year, whereby I transformed from a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed academic wannabe to, well, a corporate whore.

For anyone in biomedical research, especially in academia, the funding situation is getting dire as NIH grants become more and more scarce. Labs, including my own at Yale, were running out of money, and new grant applications still get continually rejected. My PI's (principle investigator, also known as the boss or head of the lab) attempt to solve this problem involved hiring more postdocs, and pushing his staff as far as they can stand, and then some, to try to eke out the publications that the lab needs to renew existing grants and land new ones.

I don't think anything has shaken my faith in science more than reading and generating data for my PI's grant applications. I'd do the experiment once, and get a small positive effect. I'd repeat it, and get a small negative effect. The third time is the charm, and will finally answer the question, right? Nope, the third result is *no* effect.

If I had to draw a conclusion, it would be that there is no effect. What ends up happening? The PI grabs the result that fits with his hypothesis, plops it into the grant application like it is fact, and pretends that the other two results don't exist.

Meh?

I've heard the justification. "We must put our best foot forward in the grant application to get the money FIRST, and then we can explore the complexities in greater detail AFTER," he explained. Um, okay. That's great and all, but if your hypothesis is WRONG, or even seriously flawed, you won't be able to publish those coveted Shiny Papers In High-Impact Journals, even if you get the money.

Right? Or am I missing something here?

And then there were my PI's ill-conceived attempts to save money, like giving every lab member a monthly budget for their experiments. Now I take care of keeping the lab stocked with "common" lab supplies, while the other lab members ordered the specific reagents they needed for their own experiments. But after the budget got imposed, everyone was afraid of ordering reagents and spending money, so they all ended up coming to me and asking me to order their reagents for them, since I'm "in charge of ordering stuff"; but really, they just wanted my name on the bill instead of theirs. In fact, in the weeks prior to my departure, I was informed that members of the lab were specifically saying amongst themselves, "Oh, X, Y, and Z reagents are expensive, but we need them for the experiment! We must make Mimi order then before she leaves!"

I could go on and on about how the budget crunch, and my PI's clear inability to effectively manage his funds and his staff, sent everything into a downward spiral, but I'll spare you the grisly details. Let's just say that I grew increasingly bitter, disheartened, and I completely burnt out.

By the summer of 2007, I was already sending out e-mails and scoping out new jobs. I got my driver's license, moved in with my boyfriend, and started carpooling to work so that it forced me to adhere to a consistent work schedule, rather than pouring in countless hours of unpaid and thankless overtime. I also enrolled in culinary arts classes at a local community college, because all I could think about at work was how much I'd rather be cooking at a restaurant. It's the same kind of manual labor, minus the biohazard.

I got a break during November, when attending a conference. (Me and three other postdocs crammed ourselves into a tiny motel room for five days to cut expenses. After that experience, we vowed never to do that again. Two guys, two girls, two bed, and one smoker did not a pleasant experience make.) I found out that a major pharmaceutical company in the state was hiring. Immediately, I sent in my resume.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, my PI comes into the office while I'm alone (I'm always the first one in, so he knows when he can find me alone), and asks me "what my plans are". I answered in the usual fashion, that I was going to stay until next summer, and then move on to industry. He replies that the funding situation is bad, and that I should start looking for jobs as soon as possible; the job market's not great, it may take me eight months to find something; I should even consider looking out of state! But, if I do get an offer, they'll probably want me to start right away, so I can leave earlier than next summer if I want to. Even next February!

Hint hint.

My PI can be incredibly passive-aggressive and manipulative, I can recognize a layoff warning when I hear one. Lovely. Maybe it's because he found out that I was no longer working 15 hours a week in overtime, thanks to my need to catch my carpool? Or that I was taking culinary classes, which had nothing to do with the Lab To Which Everyone Must Devote Their Entire Being? Or that my name is associated with all the major lab supplies expenditures? Or did he just choose me because I was the only staff without a family, and had the best chance of landing another job? Or because he knew I'd planned on leaving anyway? It didn't matter. It was done.

(Did I mention he had this talk with me the Monday before Thanksgiving? I had a really crappy Thanksgiving.)

But then, in December, I got a call back from Major Pharmaceutical Company. They wanted a phone interview! And then they wanted an in-person, on-site interview! I went out and spent $250 on an interview outfit, including $150 at a specialty shoe store on the only pair of shoes that fit me that I found acceptable. (As it turned out, I'm a size 4.5. Department stores don't even carry below a size 6, so I had to go to a specialty shoe store and pay the premium.)

The day after my interview in mid-December, I get a phone call. They're making me an offer! And paying me $10,000 more than I'd asked for.

I had a good Christmas.

I told my PI of my job offer in January, and gave him my two weeks. I could tell by his body language that he was surprised and even dismayed that I would be leaving so soon (it kind of figures that he realizes at that particular moment that I am not, in fact, easily dispensable), but I insisted that my new job wanted me to start as soon as possible, and I would be taking a week off between jobs (the ONLY time I have EVER taken off), and two weeks was all that he was going to get.

My PI completely avoided me my last two weeks. He didn't attend my farewell lunch. I couldn't even find him on my last day to say goodbye.

And so, I closed that particular chapter of my life, and turned over a new leaf.

On January 28, 2008, I officially became a corporate whore.

And corporate whore-ism never felt so good.

So, it's been over a year since I've last posted here.

Oh, what a difference a year can make.

I guess I should re-introduce myself. I'm Mimi, I'm 23. I graduated from a SLAC (small liberal arts college) in 2006 with a degree in biology.

The original genesis of this blog coincided with my getting hired at my first job as a research assistant at a major academic research institution (key financial word being "academic"). I was just starting to get mired in the big, scary world of personal finance, and this blog was where I worked everything out.

This return marks a new chapter in my life, because it coincides with my getting hired at my second job.

That's right, I ditched my academic job, and sold out to industry.

This new development wasn't terribly off from my original plans. I was going to work for two years as a tech at a university, and build my CV; then, I would switch over to industry, and ramp up retirement savings on the increased salary for two more years; and then I would go to grad school with the peace of mind of knowing that although I would live in drudgery for six years, I am set for retirement even if academia chews me up and spits me out.

So I'm not too far off -- I left academia after 1.5 years rather than 2, but I landed the industry job I was counting on. But life has a way of being unpredictable, and throwing curve balls your way.

That's why I'm back. It's good to be back.

So for anyone who does not recall part one of the diabolical roommate saga, here is a refresher.

Last September, roommie got a shiny new AmEx Blue Cash credit card with a 15 month 0% introductory APR and $3700 credit limit. He got it specifically so that he could charge a $2000 LCD projector on it during October. His plan was to pay $200 per month while the 0% APR lasted.

Now, I had doubts that he was disciplined enough to stick to that plan, but you never know. He was very proud of the fact that he has no signficant credit card debt.

Fast forward to last week, and two clues emerged that indicate how his plan went badly awry.

Clue one. Last Thursday, we went to Costco, and I had a $14 bill. Since Costco only accepts AmEx, I usually let my roommate charge my bill on his card so that he can get the rewards, and then I pay him back via bank transfer, usually on the same day.

That day, however, he didn't want to charge my bill anymore, saying that his balance was already $3000, and he didn't want to increase it further. I was a little confused. $15 was not enough to drive him over his credit limit, so either his actual balance was much higher, or he had plans to charge more on his card later this month.

Either way, it revealed that he has not been paying off his balance.

Clue two. The next day, he tells me that he got hit with a $30 late fee for not paying his AmEx balance on time ("Late Payment Fee: Subject to applicable law, $15 on balances less than $100, $29 on balances of $100 to $1,000, and $35 on balances greater than $1,000"). I told him to call and get it taken off, but he didn't want to go through the trouble.

In a fit of curiosity, I checked out AmEx's terms and conditions for his particular card, and ran into the following (my emphasis):

"Your account is reviewed monthly and will be considered in default if minimum payments are not timely paid one time, or seriously in default if minimum payments are not timely paid two or more times, your account is overlimit three or more times, or your payment is returned by your bank or financial institution. ... The introductory APRs and any other promotional rates will terminate upon your account being considered in default or seriously in default and the applicable Default APR will apply."

And then: "The APR for defaulted and seriously defaulted accounts is determined monthly by adding 12.99% and 21.99%, respectively, to the Prime Rate."

Source.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. Now I'm not sure if what I THINK happened actually DID happen, but if it did, he has seriously cooked his own goose.

It would mean that he defaulted on a $3000 balance and forfeited his introductory 0% APR for whatever "Prime Rate + 12.99%" must be. And while I have no clue what the Prime Rate is, it's probably not pretty.

Can this train wreck get any worse?

Not much new to add, but a few notes...

I got my Colgate rebate for $2.79! Now I can put that nonsense out of my head once and for all.

I referred a friend to ING, and earned $10 for me, and $25 for her! That was exciting.

I discovered that I could get a multi-ride car for public buses at a discount per-ride of 25 cents. They were introduced in the beginning of November.

A very, very old loan got paid back.

I contacted payroll and the summer sublet folks about my paycheck and deposit.

Never trust Verizon again, as they can't do basic MATH.

Finally, my BF and I looked at a house last weekend. (We're not buying one together or anything, just looking.) I'll probably write more on this later.

It wasn't as difficult as I thought.

I have five open accounts, all in good standing--my credit card, two student loans, and, apparently, two of my father's credit cards.

Seriously, I didn't know this until just now.

I also have four old student loan accounts that were paid off and closed when I consolidated. Except they each show up twice on Experian--once as "paid/closed", and once as "transferred/closed". Dunno what that's all about.

I also found the following interesting:

American Express requested info from TransUnion 7 times in the past year.

Capital One requested info from Equifax 11 times during the past year. As if that wasn't enough, they also requested info 25 times from Experian since March 2005.

Eek?!

I should ask my parents if there are floods of credit card offers from those two companies. It'd be amusing if there were.

I finally took the time to walk into a Bank of America and close my soul-sucking savings account--you know, the one with the 0.0000001% interest rate.

Then, I downgraded my checking account from Regular to MyAccess.

Then, I transferred my entire savings account, plus a good bit of checking, into ING.

Come next February, I transfer my last remaining fixed-term Roth IRA over to Vanguard.

And then I shall be FREE! Mwahahahaha!

(Whoa, when did I reach 10,000+ hits?!)

I brought back two pots and topsoil from Thanksgiving with the 'rents.

I planted two scallions in one of the pots. They're just scallions bought from the store, with the greens cut off.

I measured them yesterday. 4.5 cm and 5 cm.

Today? One of them is still 4.5 cm...

But the other one is nearly 6 cm!

They're so cute! I'm going to be sad when I eat them.

(One of) my desktop PCs bit the dust a couple of weeks ago. It was a little over four years old.

My father jumped at the chance to replace it for me.

The thing about our family is that we do not walk into a store and point to a box--oh no. My father's hard-core. Here's how we shop.

- Pentium D 830 3.0g GHz processor: $133.86 ($50 rebate)
- motherboard to match processor: $49.13
- 1 gig RAM: $149.99 ($100 rebate)
- cooling fan: $18.99 ($10 rebate)

End result?

A spanking new computer with quite decent specs for $201.20 (includes $9.23 shipping and handling).

The only caveat? Assembly required.

He would've gotten me a double-layer DVD-burner to compliment my pre-existing CD-burner, but I turned it down. I also turned down a new monitor.

I did, however, accept a 1 gig Flash memory stick for $7.98 (after rebate).

I'm all tech'ed out for the season.

Today, our department had a little Halloween party, with prizes given out for best costume.

I went as Sadako, from The Ring. I simply wore a white dress, and let my hair down.

It worked. Everyone recognized me immediately, and were totally wigged out. I ended winning both Scariest Costume *and* Best Overall Costume.

Here's the photo.

I got a Sensi-Cush (aka Super-Squishy) pillow as my prize.

Hee!

Went shopping, as expected, on 10/28. Bought:

- mushrooms: $1.81
- eggs: $0.99
- scallions: $0.80/bunch
- tofu (2 boxes): $0.99/each
- coconut milk: $1.20/can
- green curry paste: $0.90

Total: $7.68

I made a perfectly passable Thai green curry with those last two items. Since one can of green curry paste suffices for two cans of coconut milk (I'm too wussy for the full-strength dose), that comes out to $1.65 for the curry sauce. Add in veggies for the sauce and plenty of rice to serve the curry over, and you have quite a memorable dinner for $2 - $3.

And a proper green curry at a Thai restaurant would put one back around $10 around here. And one is never sure if fish/shrimp paste gets into it. Since I'm becoming more paranoid about the vegetarianism of Thai food by the minute, this affords me valuable peace of mind, especially since I can't always get a straight answer from waitpeople.

Man, I love my HK grocery.

I got hit up for another loan from a colleague today.

$200.

He's going home to India at the end of October until Thanksgiving, and I guess he needs a cash advance before his next paycheck. He even said he'll write me a check beforehand, and let me know when I can cash it.

I haven't gotten back the $300 I lent another colleague earlier this month.

Yes, it has apparently gotten around that I am the one sitting on top of wads and wads of cash.

Ironically, I earn less than ALL of them.

I'm more amused than annoyed, really. All of my colleagues are good friends, and I'm totally willing to help them out if it's in my power.

But I don't know how far I should let this go, or where I should draw the line. Could this turn into a slippery slope? Will they get used to this, and continue asking for loans, even for non-emergencies?

Once I get my desired cash flow scheme in place, I won't have as much of a buffer to hand out large loans. Yes, I'll still have loads in ING, but everything there is earmarked, and transferring money in and out constantly is not the most convenient of tasks.

I guess I'm just not sure if I'm being a doormat or a good friend.

Knowing me, though, I'll probably loan him the money. I do have enough to spare currently. And I like the 'pre-writing a check' idea. Maybe I'll institute that as a future loan policy.

I am back from Atlanta.

I came in amazingly under budget. We can be reimbursed for up to $700, $250 of which is food allowance.

Plane: $173.61
Hotel: $230
Food: $50.33
Misc: $10, but will probably end up being $50.

Since we don't need receipts to claim the food allowance, I can still claim the $250 for food, and actually pocket $200. A part of me feels like it's not right to claim money that I never spent, but considering all the overtime hours I've put in that I never got compensated for, it's hard to feel guilty.

I'll do a more complete post when it's not 3am.

On a totally unrelated topic, airport security is so incredibly ridiculous these days.

On the way there, they checked every single compartment of my bag, and confiscated my bloody peanut butter. Fine, it's a potentially explosive "gel". But any idiot can tell that it's the *nonexplosive* variety of peanut butter, DUH.

I don't understood why they took the peanut butter, but not the poster tubes that can totally be used as clubs.

But the hilarious thing is, they took my peanut butter, but totally missed the RAZOR BLADE that I forgot that I kept in my wallet. I've actually cut myself on that thing, so it *does* work.

Peanut butter vs. razor. Hmmm, I wonder which is more dangerous. Not that my stupid razor is dangerous at all, unless you're, like, a hemophiliac or something, and are dumb enough to swipe your finger across it.

On the way back, I got flagged for having an outdated passport. Oops, I didn't notice, and neither did the airport security folk on the way there.

So I get sent back to the check-in counter for a new boarding pass labelled "SSSS". All that accomplished was wasting my precious time, and separating me from the people I was traveling with. It didn't actually STOP me from getting through eventually, or anything.

But I get routed to the special "suspicious people" line. Whoo-hoo! When I realized that I was in a special line, my first thought was, "I hope this isn't the line for the gas chambers."

So I put all my stuff on the x-ray scanner, and get picked for a random security check! Probably because I have those S's on my boarding pass, and a foreign passport, those racists.

All I could think was, "Way to go, choosing the TINY PACIFICST VEGETARIAN." I don't even kill spiders.

All this hubbub caused me to MISS MY FLIGHT.

Oh, and after all that, they STILL didn't find the razor that was still in my wallet. Because part of me was morbidly curious as to whether I could get away with it a second time.

Yeah, after going through this, I can fully attest that airport security is a total crock that accomplishes absolutely nothing. I don't think they even look that carefully at the x-rays. I'm sure that if I really wanted to, I could have snuck something a lot worse than a razor onto the plane.

I'm glad I don't travel all that often. The frustration would drive me batty.

I was in a panic this morning.

Today is payday, and I didn't see a direct deposit in either of my bank accounts.

Turns out, I got a plain old check this pay period. Three weeks ago, I'd requested that direct deposit be switched from ING to Bank of America. I didn't expect it to stop altogether.

I finally decided to e-mail our business office.

I asked them about my direct deposit stopping instead of switching.

I asked them about the revision to my W-4 that I submitted on 8/8 to change my filing status from "head of house" to "single" that still hasn't taken effect.

I asked them about the revision to my CT-W4 that I submitted 9/18 that asked them to stop withholding taxes from my paycheck, since I've already overpaid my taxes this year. As of today, I was still paying taxes.

I even told them that the last item was urgent, since I needed the money.

I hate bureaucracies. Hopefully, I'll finally get these issues resolved.

BTW, I'll be scarce for the next five days (at least), since I'm leaving Saturday morning for my conference in Atlanta. I'm coming back really late Wednesday night.

I know that my hotel offers a free breakfast, so I was packing some tupperware and ziplocs in case I could sneak some food out.

I noticed that my roommate, despite thoroughly mocking me for washing and reusing ziplocs, now has his own stash of rinsed ziplocs, ready to be reused.

Ha! *smirk*

I'm not sure if I should feel guilty about it.

See, what happened was this.

A colleague (and friend) of mine was ordering a cell phone. She's not very good at English, so she often enlists my help in browsing websites and making phone calls.

I agreed, and we found a plan she liked that offers a free phone (including shipping) and a waived $36 activation fee. We were almost done with ordering it online (she didn't want any of the extra add-ons), when we ran into a box for "discount code".

Now, we know that this particular provider offers a special discount for our institution, and of course we wanted to redeem that.

So I decide to call them up, and ask if there's a special code that I can input. The salesperson on the other line told me that the institutional discount can only be redeemed after an order has been placed, so he couldn't give me a code, but he could give me the number to call to request the discount afterwards.

All right, sounds good.

Except he doesn't give me the number right away, but invited us to place our order through him.

Um, okay, why not, I figured. He probably got a commission on each sale, and if we can order the same (or a better) package, then what's there to lose except a little time?

So I go through, and tell him the plan and phone that we wanted. He confirms that the prices were the same, and the phone was still free.

He just had to offer every single add-on (that we'd already been through online), and I had to turn him down on each one.

Finally, I get to the activation fee. It's waived online, and I ask if it's also waived with him. He sounds confused, and says that he doesn't see this option. I told him, as nicely as I could, that we were very interested in waiving the activation fee, and if he can't get that for us, then I'll just go ahead and order everything online.

Here's where things got really weird.

I was expecting him to let me go, but instead, he started to argue with me.

No, he highly recommends ordering the phone through him, because he can personally place the order, and make sure that the phone arrives on time. If the order were placed online, it would not get immediate attention, and a mistake could be made. The phone delivery might get delayed, or not arrive at all!

Umm, let's just say that throughout this entire heartfelt speech, I was mentally calling BS on every single thing he said.

I was *positive* that he was getting a sales commission now.

But what about the activation fee, I ask again.

His reply? Not to worry! He'll give me the phone number to call for the discount, and when I'm calling, I can also ask to have the activation fee be waived. And speaking of the discount, I would need an order number to redeem it, and he can give that to me if he places my order.

Uh-huh, like the online website won't give me a confirmation number and e-mail with the same exact information.

I press him again about the activation fee. Is it guaranteed to be waived if I call the number he gives?

He waffles on the answer, something along the lines of, "If you can't get it waived, you can cancel the order without charge, and re-order it online". He obviously has no idea, and no way was I going through *that* trouble.

Finally, I gently tell him that I'll place the order online, so could he please stop holding the phone number hostage already.

He reluctantly relents, and sounds very, very peeved at me.

At this point, I've probably spent 20 to 30 minutes on the phone with this man. And I knew within the first 2 minutes that he couldn't help me with my original question (discount code).

And still, I was willing to order through him and have him earn a commission if he could get me the same deal as online. He couldn't, and he had the gall to spew BS at me, and be mad at me when I didn't bite?

Afterwards, I find out that the waived activation fee was only offered for ONLINE orders. Probably so that they don't have to pay salespeople like him to take orders.

All this trouble to save my friend $36.

I never trusted salespeople to begin with, and this certainly didn't help matters. I didn't *want* to cost him a commission, or even his job, but DAMN was that ANNOYING!

In other news, I lent this same friend $300 today, because I am apparently Ms. Moneybags. I do trust her to pay me back, but the amount is making me feel a little uncomfortable. She says she can return it by the end of the month, but I'll ask if she can return it before November 1st, since I don't know if my direct deposit will switch in time, and I want to be able to make rent without having to transfer money out of ING.

I'm in a good mood, despite having to stay really late at work (until 8pm).

There was a scientic vendor exhibition today, which offered a free pizza lunch, as well as candies and giveaways at each vendor's booth.

And those who know me will know for sure that my motto is, "If there's free food, I am THERE!"

So, on top of getting free pizza (with lemonade, a can of Coke, and cake for dessert), I also collected more chocolate munchies than one can shake a stick at. I also got a mousepad, a mini-stapler, a keychain flashlight, an envelope opener, a large plastic cup, lots of pens, and a yo-yo.

So the yo-yo is kind of random, but whatever. Everything else is really useful, and I'd never buy the candies and soda for myself, so they're a real treat when I can get them for free.

Upon getting home, I decided to raid the kitchen cabinet of the previous tenant in my apartment. She apparently left behind pasta and a large container of pasta sauce, among other goodies.

So I chopped up some veggies, and made pasta with sauce, using her stash.

Total food expenditure for today: half an onion, and half a crown of broccoli. Oh, and some olive oil.

I might make some garlic bread from my own food stores before the night is out, but all in all, not a bad deal.

Today is payday.

Funny how I always wake up insanely early to check my bank accounts for direct deposits on these days.

Good news is that my 403(b) deductions have finally started. The deposit is down $200, from $995 to $795.

Bad news is that direct deposit hasn't switched from ING to BoA yet, and they are still deducting taxes, even though I faxed in new forms instructing them not to. And I don't see the 403(b) in my Vanguard account yet.

Maybe by the next pay cycle...

*impatient*

I finally went ahead and transferred $2,393.61 from my Bank of America savings account to my checking account. I left the minimum $1500 in savings to keep my checking free.

And from there, I transferred $1,393.61 to my ING account.

I held $1000 back because my co-workers were registering for a course that our PI was supposed to pay for, but they couldn't find him in time. So who's Ms. MoneyBags in case they had to throw down a check anyway?

Yours truly, apparently.

That is just wrong on so many different levels.

Thank goodness I didn't actually have to loan them the money. Actually, I would have been loaning my boss money. How weird is that? And it's not a trivial amount, too.

Anyway, after work, I attended an International Student Welcome Dinner with two labmates. I would be getting a free meal, and all I had to do was...pretend to be an international student. It was amusing and rather stressful, because although I knew I looked the part, I also knew that if I spoke one lick of English, my perfect American accent would give me away instantaneously.

So I did a lot of smiling, nodding, enthusiastic gesticulating, and fakely-accented single syllabic responses. Anything to convince people that I wanted to communicate, I was trying to, but I couldn't speak enough English to carry on a full conversation.

Yeah, it was pretty hilarious.

The food was good, though, and totally worth it--eggplant parmesian, salad, and pizza. And I got to take home a free box of donuts because they had too much left over. Score!

Then, I went to B&N to read. I finished half of Rich Dad Poor Dad. Fascinating book, I'll need more time to absorb it.

On the way home, I passed by a help wanted sign. Didn't have the guts to go in and ask about it, though. Why am I such a wuss?? I guess I just hate confronting people (this is why I retreat to the internet). I just freeze up and end up talking myself out of it.

Maybe next weekend, when the SO visits, I'll have him accompany me as I go door-to-door. That might, like, actually force me to go inside and ask.

I'm also thinking of getting certified as an EMT, and then doing that as my part-time nights and weekends job. All this, because I'm afraid to walk into a store and ask about their help wanted sign.

Self-confidence? What self-confidence?

Sorry, I just feel like ranting today. Parts are only marginally financially related, so feel free to ignore. I don't mean to waste blog-space.

Roommie just applied for, and got, a new American Express Blue Cash credit card. He got this card specifically so that he can buy a new $2000 widescreen LCD projector to replace/upgrade his television. The whole point is to pay it off slowly during the introductory 15 month 0% APR rate.

Fine. I know he won't stop at the projector, but he's limited by the $3700 credit limit, and in the end, that's his issue. And he can brag to me about great this projector is, and all the market research he did to find the best deal, and how nice it'll be to have a bonafide home theater system. And he can even mope to me about how he can't afford something like this without the credit card.

What confounds me is the fact that he's leaving the country next summer, so he'll either have to sell his toys, or ship them overseas. He's been a postdoc in my lab for three years, and the maximum term is four years, unless you get promoted.

And I can tell you right now, without a modicum of doubt, that he will not get promoted. He wanders in hours late, leaves hours early, citing "exhaustion" (yeah, like those of us working 10 hour days), fails to show when our PI ("principal investigator" aka the boss (wo)man who pays your salary) is not around, and goofs off when he is at work. He has done two experiments in the three months I've been there, and has no new data or results to show for it.

I'm surprised that our PI hasn't fired his ass. I bet he wants to, but he's just too nice/tolerant to do it. Or he's not aware of the full extent of the situation.

He *could* look for a new postdoc position. But he's not. He knows that our PI doesn't want to renew his visa. He also knows that he won't be getting a good letter of recommendation, so it'll be tough to land a new position. But most of all, he's simply not motivated enough to care. He's just going to run back home and let his mommy take care of him.

In the meantime, however, he'll just waste our PI's grant money on $2000 LCD projectors, instead of generating the data our PI needs to get the grant renewed next year.

Now even this I wouldn't bother myself with, if it's truly his own damn business (and our PI's).

Except that it's NOT.

I'm quite peeved that he doesn't feel threatened by the prospect of losing his job, when MY OTHER, PERFECTLY HARDWORKING CO-WORKERS ARE. The other tech was hired in my lab after her PI couldn't get a new grant, and had to let her go. She's afraid the same thing will happen again. And the postdocs are saying that no, PIs will cut *them* first, their salaries are higher, they're higher maintenance, and they're not protected by a union.

I feel so bad for my co-workers. I'm pretty sure my PI won't fire me--his wife was my professor, and he won't downsize his wife's A+ student unless he was really desperate--but even if he does, I've been promised another tech job by a professor at my alma mater. And I'm *frugal*, so I can live off my savings and emergency fund for months, if I need to.

My co-workers aren't so lucky. They have families to support. They can't run home to mommy because they ARE the mommies.

I could go on for ages, but I won't. But I guess financial irresponsibility *does* carry over into *general* irresponsibility.

And I am no longer amused by the antics of my roommate. I am positively livid.

Just some bookkeeping...

I found out that my 403(b) deductions will start coming out on 9/29. Hurrah! I need to verify that this will drop my taxable income down to where I want it to be.

I faxed a revised version of my W4 form to the business office, stating that my annual income is below the level where they need to withhold income tax. I think I've already overpaid this year's income taxes, anyway. I need to verify this, as well.

I transferred my direct deposit from ING to Bank of America. Once it switches over, I'm downgrading my checking account to MyAccess, and moving all of my savings over to my ING account.

Switched Vanguard's auto-withdrawals for my Roth to weekly, for real. Because apparently, it didn't register the first time I did this. Urg.

On the bright side, I got my $5 Pinecone check. Heh. I'm amused.

Got my direct deposit this morning, and still no sign of my 403(b) deduction. I need to call the benefits office again to figure out what's up. If I get anyone besides voicemail, that is.

My total gross income this year will be around $17,500. With a total exemption of $8450, that leaves my taxable income at around $9000.

I really want my 403(b) to kick in so that it'll bring my taxable income under $7,550, which will drop my federal income tax rate to 10%.

And then I can get my tax withholding dropped from 18% to 10%.

In other news, I tried to send my roommate my share of the utilities through Bank of America's online bill pay. I added him as a payee, and sent him $10, just to test.

A week later, he gets a check in the mail for $10. Not exactly what we wanted, or were expecting.

Finally, we figured out that "Transfer Funds" did the instantaneous electronic transfer that we were looking for. So I transferred him the full amount, he destroyed the check, and I thought we were done.

I just checked my transaction history yesterday, and I got debited $10. For the check that was destroyed and never cashed.

I sent them an inquiry. If I don't get my money back, I'm going to be seriously peeved.

ETA: My 403(b) kicks in on 9/29. Rock.

I got two letters from Vanguard yesterday.

My Roth IRA transfer went through! The money came out of my checking account this morning.

I also got charged $10 for being under the $5000 minimum.

Um. The check was for $6188.39. It must have been the delay between my opening my account (8/23) and the time it took for my check to get there (8/31)?

I'm kind of annoyed that I have to add "Call Vanguard and get fee taken off" to my to-do list. But I'm happy that this is done, and I've set up my monthly auto-transfer of $333.33 on the 15th of every month.

Argh, so much to take care of today, and only 90 minutes to do it before I have to leave for work.

It turns out I'm visiting the (ex-?)bf this Labor Day weekend. He offered to pay my travel expenses, but I'll also be eating his food for three/four days, so I haven't decided if I'm accepting the reimbursement. I'm using the CC for Amtrak, but I have to make sure I have the cash for the shuttle bus. (Yes, I do, but only in coins unless I break a $10. Good enough.)

I have to pay the rent. I can't remember if it's $70 or $75, but I'll leave a check for $75. Long story short, my lease technically begins today, but I've been living on the living room futon at my current apartment since mid-August, and will continue to do so until the end of September. This is because 1) I had to move in early, and 2) my roommate's old roommate wanted to stay an extra month. But I get reduced rent for September. (Done.)

I just paid my credit card bill. $35.19. I always do this on/near the first of the month, along with the rent, so I never forget and court late fees come the 12th.

I got my direct deposit, and it doesn't look like they took out for my 403(b). I need to call the Benefits Office and see what's going on with that--maybe the forms haven't gone through yet, or there's an error. I also need to switch my direct deposit from ING to Bank of America. Probably can't get that done today, though.

I need to pack clothes for this weekend. I'll probably bring a load of laundry (there are no laundry facilities in my building). I'm also bringing two books: The Millionare Mind, and YF&B. (Done, and done.)

I'm not sure when utility bills come in, but soon? Not looking forward to this AT ALL. Especially since the roommate insists on running the AC all day, even with it's 60 - 70 degrees out, and then complains that I don't always dim the living room lights, or shut off my computer at night. Argh. Oh, and I've probably contributed significantly to the gas bill. Double-argh.

Shut off alarm clock for the weekend. (Just did it.)

Check food perishables. Refrigerate or eat or bring. Do my dishes. (Done, done, and done.)

Want to shower before I leave, but might not make it, time-wise. (Hey, I made this one too! Go me!)

It's done! It's winging its way to Vanguard via certified mail right now! I had to walk through the pouring rain to go to the post office, but THAT'S OKAY! At least I got to leave work on time!

After this, it's $333.33 a month, with a little extra tacked on at the end to max it out. Hopefully, I'll make it.

I need to electronically transfer the next rollover next March. I have a two week window to do this.

Tomorrow: Go to the library after work, get a library card, and get to know their personal finance section very, very well. *squee!*

The roommie went on a Costco trip today. He had just shelled out $900 out of the $1000 in his bank account for late car taxes, got 13 gallons of premium gas at $3.49/gal, doesn't get paid for another two weeks, and decides that he had to go to Costco because he "ran out of orange juice and has nothing to drink."

Umm, okay.

So, I went with him to pick up a few items. Wasn't really planning on it, but why the heck not? I'll seize the opportunities that are presented to me.

On the way there, I asked why he couldn't wait a few more weeks until payday, and drink water like the rest of us. He replied, "It's okay, I paid for overdraft protection on my checking account."

He then proceeded to complain about the lack of music on the 6-CD changer in his car, and expressed his desire to get an iPod to hook up to his car stereo. I offhandedly said that he'll have to wait a while before he can do that. And he said, also offhandedly, "Well, I can get it on credit."

...no comment.

Didn't get much at Costco, only two items.

- an 8 pack (8 lbs.) of Barilla thin spaghetti - $5.89
- 6 30-oz cans of crushed tomatoes - $5.39
- total: $11.28

Costco always screws with the grocery bill beacuse the individual items cost so much more than "usual". But these two purchases should last for two months or more.

I didn't get the gallon of chickpeas for $2.29 that I wanted, though. I wasn't sure if I could open the can and freeze the leftovers.

I also stopped my roommie from spending an additional $9.99 on drinks besides the orange juice that he "needed" to buy. He laughed, and said that he'll probably thank me in a few years.

Really, I just wanted to make sure he had enough money left to pay the BILLS.

Oh, and I was particularly amused by my reasoning against purchasing a bag of potato chips. I said to myself, "The unit price on this bag of potato chips is $2.49 per lb. The unit price for the *actual* potatoes two aisles down is $2.50 for 5 lbs. Not only are the raw potatoes five times cheaper, they aren't loaded with fat, salt, and god knows what else, proving that fresh produce is not only healthier but also undeniably cheaper than heart disease and obesity-causing junk food."

Yeah! Go me! Someone hand me a cook--oh, wait, nevermind.

God, I'm such a dork.

I just broke up with the bf.

I don't curse much usually, but I'll make an exception this time. Children, please cover your eyes.

FUCK.

I guess the car fund just took a dip in priority. Maybe I'll lower it to $250/mo, and up the emergency fund by $100.

In the meantime, I think I'll go cry some more now.

Instead of taking the shuttle straight home after work today, I did two things.

1. I walked to the Salvation Army store I found a month or two back, and looked at their hours. Monday through Saturday, 9 to 5. So I can go during my lunch breaks, or on Saturday. It's a bit of a hike from my apartment, but hey--free exercise!

2. I then walked to the Barnes & Noble, found the Personal Finance section, sat down on the ground, and spent 2-1/2 hours reading David Bach's The Automatic Millionaire.

I even took notes.

I still need to clean up my scribbles and come up with a concrete plan of action, but that was 2-1/2 hours well spent. I'm definitely going back and reading more, both from him, as well as the other books. I still have a lot to learn.

I can do this. I'm not making much now and I probably won't make much for the remainder of my career, but I can do this. At the very least, I'm going to try.