My mother's cataract surgery went well.  She also had some astigmatism that the doctor corrected, likely brought on by the cataract.  She says she can see much better already.

Was watching the Chicago Thanksgiving parade, and it was all weird local dancers and random "live" musical performances. Then, at the very end they start playing Taylor Swift's Shake It Off, and I start rolling my eyes, until I realize that every weird local dance troupe, Santa, the Ghostbusters cosplayers, the 501st Legion, EVERYONE is gathering as a group to dance to it.

It's the great, happiest thing I've seen possibly this year.

Mark your calendars!

April 4th!

Why?

Because last night I officially got engaged to the lovely Janice Kowalski of Toledo, Ohio!

April 4th is the wedding date and I'm just bursting with happiness. Having her in my life has been amazing so far and I can't wait to take the next step in this little adventure called life!

 

James

Mark your calendars!

April 4th!

Why?

Because last night I officially got engaged to the lovely Janice Kowalski of Toledo, Ohio!

April 4th is the wedding date and I'm just bursting with happiness. Having her in my life has been amazing so far and I can't wait to take the next step in this little adventure called life!

 

James

I only average 'liking' about one thing per month, but I think that's worth the extra three seconds of effort.  Congrats!

Any relation to Killer?

I kid, I kid. Congratulations.

Congrats, James!

Congrats James!

LOVE STINKS!

 

I mean, congratulations!

Nice one Kevin - now time to get your interior designer head on, while you go search for matching colours, flower arrangements and table decorations.

Been in trial all week and today after about 6 hours of deliberating, the jury came back with a verdict of NOT GUILTY.

No better feeling in the world.

My friend Juliet found a dog in one of the shadier parts of Philly today. Some homeless-ish guy was playing with her. From what my friend could ascertain, the homeless guy fed her chicken bones and garbage. One of the neighbors also used this dog to "breed" his rotweiller but would kick her out.

 

She brought her to her house to make sure she's okay. They have two dogs already and a newborn and were desperate for someone to watch her. My wife and I gladly raised our hands.

We've had possession of her since about 6 p.m. today. We've temporarily named her Sookie (I'm still binging on Gilmore Girls). She was so incredibly skittish (especially around me -- she was also scared to death of my friend's husband) but has really warmed up. The only thing she does is make a whiny noise but it's really adorable.

I don't know if she'll be a permanent member of our family. We're hoping someone very loving can take her but if not, then we'll be glad to keep her here. She's wonderful.

 

Last night during final advertising presentations I won Best Portfolio. I'm incredibly proud to have won, I feel as though it justified and validated all the time and effort I put into making my pieces, some of which took 90 hours.

 

Which one are you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm kidding, I see the medal!  I just don't know why you're letting that guy wear it.

 

 

 

 

I"M KIDDING!!!!

I got my first choice of external examiner for my dissertation defense, which will likely be in March or April. The end is in sight!

My wife comes home the other days and says that her company is instituting a $45/check spousal surcharge for health insurance.  That would have been nice to know a month ago when MY company had our open enrollment period.  A few emails later and instead-of paying an extra $90/month, we're actually going to be saving $240/month by splitting out insurance!  Apparently my company's insurance has gotten a lot better in the 6 years since I've been on it.

My wife comes home the other days and says that her company is instituting a $45/check spousal surcharge for health insurance.  That would have been nice to know a month ago when MY company had our open enrollment period.  A few emails later and instead-of paying an extra $90/month, we're actually going to be saving $240/month by splitting out insurance!  Apparently my company's insurance has gotten a lot better in the 6 years since I've been on it.

...how much trouble will I get into if I make a "Thanks Obama!" joke?

The $45 surcharge is apparently part of the affordable care act framework. :/

Header for the game-winning goal at soccer tonight. 6-2, second place going into the Christmas break. Victory beers to celebrate. Hells yeah, today was a good day.

So I get a brown envelope from Her Majesty's revenue and customs.

 

My stomach drops - I changed job at the beginning of this year and I had a tax code fuckup because my pay went into the next tax bracket, ad the finance team didnt do anything about it. I'm bricking it, naturally.

 

So I hesitantly opened the letter - inside were four pieces of paper. And a very nice note from the lovely people at HMRC who advised I had underpaid my tax in 2010 (!) and also overpaid my tax by a veritable fuck ton (that's a quantifiable figure by the way) in year to date 2013-2014.

 

So in total, they took the money owed from 2013-2014 from the underpaid tax in 2010. I am left now with a surfeit.

 

Of just under 1 thousand pounds. ($1.4k)

 

That's credit card bills paid off, Christmas sorted, and a new Alienware laptop bought.

Excuse the double post.

 

Christmas cards were handed out by the management today. with a gift voucher inside.

 

For $150.

 

Yes, its for the local supermarket - but fuck me sideways, 100 quid? Christmas lunch, paid. With an extra of couple of crates of booze on top.

 

Incredibly generous of them.

The staff council at my workplace decided that instead of having us vote for outstanding staff member of the year that always left out a lot of good people, they would put all our names in a drawing for prizes.

 

I wasn't interested in going to the holiday staff lunch and didn't attend--but I still won what I think was the grand prize of $50 to be added to my next paycheck.

Christmas bonuses are back! (We were in a rough patch last year and had to cancel them, but the proverbial ship has been righted and we are again riding high.) And since I've been with the company four years now, mine's $250.

We've never had Christmas bonuses at work.  I've been there 12 years, my wife's been there 14, and it's never even been a consideration.  Today they announced $500 for all employees out of the blue.

 

Also, starting today I'm on vacation till January 26.  Not complaining a bit.

 

Graduated with my Bachelor's today and now it's on to grad school.

We couldn't keep Sookie. This made me sad, but it was just too much work for the two of us to commit to ourselves. However, she's been placed in a great home and it looks like it's going to work out wonderfully well. This makes me so happy. What a great dog.