Man … it feels like Friday today. I’ve already worked 40 hours this week. I’ve been working 2 extra hours every day (except for Fridays) this week and plan to do so again next week. We’ve got a bunch of stuff to get done at work. We’re not behind or anything … we just want to get the module we’re working on done because there’s at least one more waiting in the wings (maybe more, I’m not sure). And the extra hours will be all overtime even though I’m on salary. That’s gonna be nice. Especially since I got a raise on my last paycheck. I’ll have 16 hours of overtime on my next paycheck. I think I figured that out to be an extra $315 before taxes. And if I do that for the next pay period, that’s gonna add up. I should keep doing that until I have enough for the laptop that I want. I really want one.

And to make it feel even more like Friday … Cup qualifying is on right now. Why Thursday nite? Because the race this week is Saturday nite. Gotta love nite races. I guess I won’t be going out this weekend … LOL. Or maybe I should go find a bar that has big screen tvs and is showing the race. Maybe I could find me a man. LOL I wish.

I had my review yesterday at work. It’s been around 6 months since I’ve been back (after being laid off for about a month … give or take a couple days). It was a positive review. Of course, I have things to work on. Who doesn’t? Nobody is perfect.

Reviews have meant raises in the past. This time was no different. I got a nice raise. It ended up being about $1.15 more per hour … or an extra $100 per paycheck ($200 per month) before taxes. I wish that was AFTER taxes, but every little bit helps.

Things seem to be going in the right direction financially … <knock on wood /> I hope they keep going in that direction. Maybe I will be able to get the laptop I want by the end of this year.

So to celebrate (and because I don’t have anything in my apartment that I want to eat), I decided to order a pizza from Papa Johns (I love being able to order online too). I get emails from them from time to time with promos. I was hoping I had one for chicken strips. Well, what was in my inbox when I got home? I promo for chicken strips. :dancin: That made the supper decision easy. I placed my order at 5:32pm and they say it takes 30 to 40 minutes (which it usually does), so I should have my pizza (bbq chicken and bacon … :drool2:) no later than 6:12pm. That can’t come soon enough. I’m HUNGRY!!

Well … looks like I’m staying home today.

I hadn’t gotten an email from Kelly as to whether or not work was closed. The Fargo schools are closed (and they usually don’t close) and we’re still under the blizzard warning. I’m not sure how the roads are in town, but on the local news, I think she said there’s ice under the snow (her microphone died so you couldn’t hear her). I really didn’t want to try to drive in this … even though I am in town.

So I decided to give them a call to find out. I guess Kelly sent (or was going to send) me an email last nite telling me we were closed. I’m not sure if she forgot or if it got lost in cyberspace or if she sent it to the wrong email, but I never got it. And I checked my spam folder and there was nothing there. Anyways, we’re closed today. :dancin:

I’ve already been away for an hour, so I doubt I’ll be able to go back to sleep. So I sit here at my computer watching the Today show. I’m getting a little hungry, so I think I’m gonna make my own version of a sausage egg and cheese mcmuffin. I think I’ll work on my own websites today. I’ve kinda been neglecting them. I still need to make a back-end for my racing sites. I’ve been updating them directly in phpMyAdmin since I put them up. And I plan on doing a website for Dad’s business. I can at least get some stuff put together for that. I still need to talk to him about what he wants on the site. And I should update the site I put together to try to get freelance work. I haven’t gotten anything from it ever, so I haven’t done much with it. I might even move it to this domain instead of having it on the old one.

I’m off to make that breakfast sandwich. I might make a couple … I’m feeling pretty hungry.:D

I’m lucky that where I work that I can basically dress however I want … within reason of course. I don’t think you can make a bunch of programmers (or now only 2, including me) dress up … LOL. Case in point … here’s my work footwear …

Click to enlarge

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Today started out pretty good. Yeah, I got up about 8am or so, but was actually in a pretty decent mood. I paid some bills and then went to the grocery store to get some stuff. I wanted to get that done early because I was waiting for Robin to call about the painting party. A bunch of people were planning on getting together to help her paint her house (the inside obviously … too cold to paint outside … LOL).

But that mood quickly went sour when I got home from the grocery store and got my mail. There was a letter in there from JSND. Apparently there was a discrepancy in what I reported for earnings for the week after I was laid off and what my employer had reported. My employer reported that I made more than what I reported. WTF?!?

Well, I know I keep pretty good records. And I am confident that what I reported was correct. But I was having an issue trying to find something that I needed for comparison purposes. I was stressed and freaking out. Thank goodness I live alone … LOL. I was NOT a pretty sight.

But I believe I have everything I need to prove that what I reported was correct. I’ve got a letter almost ready to go, I just need to close it off. And I’ve got a couple of documents to include to support my claims (my last paystub and an email from my employer splitting out the pieces of my final paycheck … salary, holiday, vacation). I want to mail it off on Monday since they need it within 7 days. And with snail mail, I don’t wanna take any chances. I think I’m even going to send it certified mail so I have proof. Of course, that means going to the post office on my lunch break. Thank goodness it’s only a block away from work, but I still don’t wanna go there.

Hopefully everything will turn out fine. I KNOW that I’m right. I made sure I had the correct information before certifying those first 2 weeks. I’ll have to talk to Kelly at work on Tuesday (since she’s only in one day a week now) to find out where she got the numbers she did.

But now I’m in a HORRIBLE mood. I really wanted to go help Robin paint. But I think she wants the painting to be done well. With the mood I’m in, I don’t know how good of a job I’d do. Plus, I still need to button this stuff up so I can mail it off on Monday. I want to make sure all my i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed. I don’t wanna leave anything questionable when dealing with the government.

And here I thought everything was going well with my finances. I don’t have a car payment anymore. I have a savings account now. I can send more money to my credit cards to get those paid off sooner (I’m not using them anymore, but there’s still those damn financial charges). I just wish I knew what I did to piss off the financial gods. I guess my first mistake was thinking I was finally getting ahead. :G-frown: