Europe Trip Packing List

Is it a tad too eccentric to be packed over a month before a trip because you’re just so excited? I was ok when I was still planning things, researching hotels, figuring out what we want to do, and ordering clothing/bags/guidebooks, etc. But once everything was “taken care of” I got a little restless. I’m excited about our trip and want to be doing something to prepare for it, to make it seem like it will be here sooner. I know that it is only 15 days long and will be over in less time than I still have to wait, but I don’t want to think about that. In my obsessive desire to hasten departure day I packed my bags last night. I put everything in a huge pile and then packed it. This is our first trip “one bagging” it. I’m tired of lugging along huge bags which weigh more than I do, especially on mass transportation. And, given the fact that we have a connection through Heathrow and our checked baggage has a much higher chance of getting lost than usual, we will be going carry-on only. One bag and one personal item each.

Being a huge black Samsonite girl prior to this or a wheelie bag toting carry-on girl for weekend trips, this presented a challenge. My rolly-bag totally unpacked weighs close to 7 pounds. I love it to death. With 4 wheels I can push it down the aisle in front of me, run through the airport without hitting anyone and easily stuff it into most overhead bins. However, it isn’t particularly easy to walk with long distances, roll on cobblestones, or carry up and down stairs getting onto metro. It is perfectly suited for getting on a plane, getting in a taxi, checking into a hotel and returning. This left me with my backpack from college, but that really isn’t luggage and is far too small. So I went to google.

I’ve been on board with the carry-on only idea for awhile. I travel 12-20 times a year and more than 150k miles, with at least 2 weeks internationally. I just never was on board with the carry your carry-on idea until now. Wheels were the way to go. Being on expenses tends to make you this way. Apparently there is a whole group of people that take immense pride in being one-bag carry-on people. There are whole blogs about it. (One Bag One World). These people debate the differences between brands like Red Oxx and Tom Bihn, MEI, REI, and Rick Steves. Hardly the Tumi vs. Samsonite vs. Swiss Army luggage wars I was used to, but they have many valid points. And the same things that attracted them to each of those brands caused me to consider each of them. These bags are lightweight, well made, well organized and designed to be carried by a real person with today’s luggage limitations.

After tons of research I settled on the Tom Bihn Aeronaut bag. It was less expensive than the Red Oxx Air Boss bag and it had backpack straps which can be hidden away. Red Oxx also makes a backpack bag, but it had bad reviews for being uncomfortable with more than 15 lbs in it. I also considered the Tom Bihn Western Flier bag, but it is smaller than maximum carry-on size and only has a cross-body strap. I know that I am not the only woman that finds the cleavage generated by messenger bag type straps to be both uncomfortable (as it pulls on our chest) and unflattering and I know that I’ll need the extra room for either my stuff going there or definitely my stuff coming back. I also ordered two packing cubes to keep everything organized in what is essentially a duffel style bag. I didn’t like the openness of the bag at first, preferring a three compartment bag, but then I realized that this is actually more flexible. With some packing cubes it has the separation of a multi-zip bag, but I can also put items vertically along the entire depth of the bag, rather than being forced to pack horizontally only and being restricted by compartments.

I was stunned to discover that even with 2 pairs of shoes, 2 skirts, 2 dresses, 2 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, 10 pairs of underwear, 4 pairs of socks, pajamas, my toiletries (not insubstantial), an iGo charger, 3 guidebooks, and all of my other stuff placed in it, I had room to spare. Before succumbing to temptation and packing some of the items I had taken out of my pile as unnecessary (bathing suit, etc.), I decided to weigh the bag. First I stepped on the scale (that’s another post by itself), then I put on the bag as a backpack. I was amazed that it weighed 20 lbs and still felt comfortable enough to walk around the airport for a few hours, race to catch a metro or wander the streets before check-in time at our hotel. First reaction was “Wow, I thought I didn’t pack that much.” Second was, “How do I eliminate 5 pounds?” I wanted to keep it under 15. And then my final reaction was, “Who cares?” It still feels light enough to carry. I’ll still probably ditch a few things (flip flops) and give hubby a few things to put in his cavernously empty bag (iGo, digital camera, a guidebook or two). For a visual idea of what all I had in the bag, here is my visual packing list. This is only round one with the packing and I still have a month to over analyze it, but here goes. I still want to order a Tom Bihn Absolute Shoulder Strap like hubby has. It feels so comfy, it literally shaves 5 pounds off the feel of the bag.

The Italian Job - AKA Me vs. Trenitalia.com

The Italian Job

All the guidebooks and all of my friends who had been to Europe told me, just buy Italian train tickets once you get to Europe…unless you have specific trains and days you want to travel, then you should book in advance. We have a pretty tight schedule, 2 days in Venice, 2 days in Rome, 4 days in Paris and then 4 days in London before the conference and 3 days of the conference. I have hotels pre-booked at each location and it would throw everything off if I didn’t get the trains I want so I tried booking in advance.

First try was with the Trenitalia website. Their website comes in both Italian and English flavors, which is convenient. It is easy to search for trains; the fares are clearly stated and easy to understand what you’re booking with the pictures of the couchettes vs. beds. My first problem turned out to be that I was trying to book too early. Everything came up as not available and I freaked out thinking that all of the trains for the days I wanted were sold out. “Impossible!” my travel savvy friends declared. Some googling revealed that seats are not available for sale more than 60 days in advance.

I waited until 60 days in advance, hitting the reload button until it struck 12:01 am in Italy. I found my trains, one of which was available with an Amica fare (20% off for booking early), put them all in my cart, put in my credit card info and was declined. First step was calling the bank. They said they didn’t see the transaction as being denied and that no transactions had shown up on their end. After googling around I found out other people have the same problem and they suggested a variety of remedies. I tried them all. I am posting them here in case any of them work for you:

Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode: “Ticketless online reservations require online payment, but the site only accepts credit cards if you have set up a "3D" security system, such as Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode. Those plans require you to activate and use an additional password for all online purchases. Create a user ID before booking, then proceed through the booking quickly, as there is a time limit (15 minutes).”

I set up my MasterCard SecureCode and tried again, I actually got a little further this time. It requested my SecureCode password before denying my card. Called bank again, they still couldn’t see any denied transactions and to call MasterCard because that is where the hang up is. Called MasterCard and they said they can’t see any transactions and that I should call my bank. I repeated this dance about 6 times with different people. I finally intrigued someone at my bank enough that they checked into it for awhile. They called me back and said it must be a problem with the card I was using and that they would overnight me a new one. This also didn’t work. I did find that you can login to the SecureCode website and I could see all of the transactions as they went through, apparently my bank couldn’t see them though. At least I knew it wasn’t the Trenitalia website, the transactions were going somewhere.

Your middle initial: “Basically, in the Italian database there is not a separate field for your middle initial. While American credit cards all use the initial as an extra measure of security. I was able to immediately resolve this problem by calling my credit cards companies (American Express) and another debit card and having my middle initial removed.” I was quite hopeful when I found this anecdotal bit of internet advice, promptly called my bank, deleted my middle initial and tried again. No luck!

Browser Settings: “After four attempts using 3 different cards, I called MasterCard. They said it's not their problem - they could see that they hadn't blocked anything. So then I changed the browser Privacy settings (Tools, Internet Options, Privacy tab) to the next to lowest setting. I then went back and was able to complete 2 purchases with no problem. I hope this works for others because this is hugely frustrating and time-consuming. Good luck!” Tried this, didn’t work, but at least I didn’t get a virus trying.

Call them: “The TrenItalia Travel Help Center number is +39-06-6847 5475. (From the US, you would dial 00 11 39 06 6847 5475) Ask for an English speaking Operator and they will try and assist you. Here's the same info from the "Help" section of their website: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/area_clienti/call_center/index.html “ Um, this didn’t work for me because when I called it said that number works only for verified foreign numbers. I tried several times on Skype and even GULP on my home phone, no luck, guess Alaska is part of Italy.

Fax them: I faxed in a request with all of my details and asked them to call me back to book. No response.

Use another website: www.Italiarail.com or www.raileurope.com I tried both and they presumably work. They aren’t scams that steal your money, they just overcharge you. What should have been 250 Euro ($400 at the time) worth of tickets was coming out at almost $700.00. They don’t give you any discounts or Amica fares or anything, and then they charge you to mail your tickets to you. Also, their search engine doesn’t pull up all of the same trains as the Trenitalia website and I couldn’t get the exact itinerary I wanted. A last ditch solution, but I wasn’t giving up.

US Travel: Call a travel agent, they can book for you. I did so and got great service, they called Trenitalia directly (why can’t I find their number?) and got us tickets. However, for some reason they were also in the $700-$1,000 range. Insane! Plus side is that they hold tickets for free for 30 days so I held tickets while I kept trying to book.

I was about to succumb to paying $300 and justify it to myself as an hourly savings vs. continuing my fight against travel agents. Then I called American Express to ask them one last time if they knew why their card doesn’t work on the Trenitalia website and only Visa and Mastercard do. They didn’t know, but asked if I would like to be transferred to their travel department. “You have a travel department? Sure, what could it hurt?” Their travel department gave me the direct phone and e-mail address of the American Express travel office in Venice, our first stop. I e-mailed our ticket itineraries to them, they gave me the price quoted on the Trenitalia website, no fees, no booking charges, no commission, nothing. Sweet success! We will pick up our paper tickets at the St. Mark’s Square office of American Express Travel the first day of our trip. You can do this at locations all over Italy, including Rome as well. Just make sure you do it at the first location you’ll depart from by train. Our credit card has been charged, the customer service was excellent and I didn’t have to pay a dime more than I would have if I waited and bought them in Italy. In fact, I probably saved, because even after wrestling with this for 2 weeks there was still an Amica fare available.

We have tickets Venezia to Roma, Roma to Paris for two people in two beds for 250 Euro. Man, I don’t wish this hassle on anyone else, so I post this to the blogosphere in hopes that it may save someone else some hassle.

Why I Love Expensive Gas

As an Alaskan I enjoy the second highest gas prices in the nation next to California. I currently have a heating oil bill for the months of March, April and May sitting on my desk for $1,510.94. (I'll scan it in if you don't believe me.) And yet, I am happy about the price of oil. I still try to conserve. By biking to work every day I save $2.00 more per day this year than last, but overall that's still money in my pocket. I wanted to do a post on my reasons for loving high gas prices, but the Times already did one for me. So here you go, my top 10 reasons for loving high oil prices. Yes, I acknowledge that there are many negative reasons to hate it as well.

Perfect Bag for Europe Trip

I have an upcoming conference in London coming up. I have a bazillion miles so I'm bringing hubby along on miles. The last month I have been obsessively making travel plans using a combination of Rick Steve's and Michelin guidebooks, Tripadvisor.com, a selection of travel blogs, Expedia and Lonely Planet.

I'll have to do a separate post on my search for the ultimate carry-on travel bag and walking (but cute) shoes. Today I'll focus on day bags. I want something about the size of a large purse or tote that zips at the top or is otherwise secure. I love messenger bags, but I don't want something somebody can just slip their hand into after lifting the flap. It can't be just a shoulder bag as I want a cross-body bag that can leave my hands free when necessary and be easy to keep nearby on trains. It must be able to hold water bottles for the two of us, our guidebook, camera, iPod, a sweater for myself and any other stuff we need for a day. A plus would be holding a days worth of clothes so I don't have to dig into my larger bag after a night on a train.

I searched for like a week obsessively before buying this bag:

The Silverlake Canvas Flap from The Sak. "Casual, cool, and very functional; this Scotch-Guarded canvas flap is a real cutie! Clever zippered pocket inside the flap makes it easy to organize all your essentials. The lining is our exclusive print created by Parisian graffiti artist Gilles Jourdan. Contrasting leather trim and Shiny Nickel hardware. Shoulder strap adjusts up to 22 inches. Zippered main compartment and exterior front pockets. Interior features 2 open pockets and a back wall zippered pocket. Dimensions: 15.00" long, 3.50" wide, 9.00" high. 22.00" strap drop. " $99.00

Somehow I thought it has a zipper under the flap, but it doesn't, you just lift up a lightly magnetic flap and reach right in. It is totally cute, extends to be a cross-body bag and would definitely hold all of our stuff for the day. The scotch-guard is an awesome feature considering our tendency to spill and it also comes in other colors although I ordered the one shown. When it came and I realized it didn't have a zipper I felt torn between keeping it because its cute or returning it because it didn't meet all of my requirements. I still haven't decided what to do with it, but I'm still looking for a bag.

Also under consideration is the Keen Irvington bag ($75.00 from eBags, also at REI). It comes in 5 colors, including the standard laptop looking black, girly pink, an awesome green and grey and the red above. Hubby actually picked the red color for me and I trust his judgement. An interior light turns on when bag opens, off when closed, helping you locate items with ease. The neat thing about this bag is that the flap folds up and functions as a roomy tote as well. It's large enough for my laptop so it is versatile enough that I could get a lot of use out of it.

Next up is the cheapest option ($29.99 on sale at GAP). It is cute cute cute, but very very basic. It is a cross-body bag, no zipper on top, but the right size. I'm thinking of buying it anyway, just because it's so cute and then bringing it along as a tote to through souvenirs in as we go. It comes in khaki, green, and black.

Diva in a carry-on recommends this messenger bag with a rave reviews...touted as 'the perfect messenger bag', it's now just $99! Originally $179.00 USD and available through eBags on sale. It was cute, but again no top zipper. Good for smaller laptops, but it didn't strike me the right way. The price is definitely right. Tumi is a good quality bag company and their stuff lasts forever.

I also strongly considered these bags by Tom Bihn, Sherpani, Crescent Moon, REI, and hundreds of different Etsy stores but was too lazy to do separate descriptions of them.

San Francisco in an Afternoon

San Francisco is known for being a very romantic city. Despite the fact that the two times I’ve visited have been alone and one of the two was during absolutely horrid, bitter cold March weather, the reasons for this reputation are clear. First of all, San Francisco, despite its hills is a very walking friendly city. Its neighborhoods are perfect for spending hours wandering around, looking at the architecture, wandering through the shops, and enjoying the views, in other words perfect for a walk together. While the city has a lot of shopping, particularly in the Union Square area which is eminently accessible to tourists, being on both the cable car, bus line and metro line, it seems almost a crime to be indoors when there is so much wandering to do, a fact that would be sure to keep my husband happy as I would never drag him around asking for his opinion in San Francisco.

Even on your own, San Francisco still has a lot to offer. In just 4 hours of wandering I was able to hit a lot of the touristy highlights. My hotel was the Hilton at Fisherman’s Wharf. I wouldn’t recommend it for a good nights rest as the windows weren’t glazed to keep out the noise of the nightlife and the rooms weren’t particularly luxurious, but the location can’t be beat, a mere block from the wharf and right next to one of the cable car lines. This meant that after my meeting and business lunch I was able to switch into my jeans and t-shirt and stroll right over to the waterfront. It will never be like San Diego where strolling along with your bare feet enjoying the feel of the sand is more de rigour, but it is beautiful all the same.

The wharf is home to the sea lions at the pier, the Aquarium of the Bay (with its clear underwater tunnels), great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, a famous carousel and tons of shopping and great seafood restaurants. If I’d had kids with me I could have easily spent a day at the wharf, it felt like the state fair, people wandering around getting too much sun on their noses and eating food on sticks as they strolled. I skipped an actual visit inside the Aquarium (there’s always next time) and hopped on the cable car near the Hilton. The prices have gone up since the last time I was here with a one way ride costing $5.00 and a day pass $11.00. Being the sucker that I am I bought a day pass and only had 2 rides. There really aren’t enough routes to justify the day pass.

The cable car takes you through downtown, including Chinatown, and drops you off right at Union Square, shopping central for San Francisco. The square is bordered by Powell, Post, Geary, and Stockton streets. It is home to typical department stores and luxury stores and haute couture shops. With the value of the dollar what it is and the winter weight not yet gone, I was in no mood to splurge, so I pressed on passing the Moscone conference center which was hosting the American Diabetes Association meeting and the setting up for the Apple WWDC which happened today. I wish I could have been there. That block was nerd central.
After a quick stop off for a soda and a sit to watch the Carousel at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts I turned to reach the Science Museum. I was disappointed to learn that it is closed until fall 2008 for renovations. With not enough time to do the Museum of Modern Art justice before it closed, it was back to Union Square, back on the trolley and on to Ghirardelli Square which is at the other end of Fisherman’s Wharf from where I started, between Beach and Larkin streets. You can stop in their store and get free samples (chocolate square with peanut butter inside, heaven) and take a tour to see how the chocolate used to be made when their factory was in operation. It also the home of McCormick & Cavoletto’s, my restaurant for the night. (Ghirardelli Square open Mon-Sat 10a-9pm, Sun. 10a-6p)

This restaurant boasts some of the best views of the bay and wharf around, but apparently if you don’t get a reservation and are a walk-in party of 7, you get put in the back room and can’t enjoy them. Oh well, the food was good and the cocktail menu was inventive and fun. Once I saw Pisco Sour on the menu, I flashed back to memories of my trip to Chile and knew what I was going to order, but I kept reading. There were the typical Cosmopolitans of course, but there were also other more original cocktails on their “modern cocktails” list like white grape and basil which sounded intriguing. One of my colleagues got this later drink and it was delightfully refreshing, summery and tasty. (yeah, I snitched)

There was a lot more of San Francisco that I didn’t see in my half day tour. There is a Cable Car museum, Wax Museum, the famous Museum of Modern Art, and tons of boutiques ripe for some retail therapy. But, on a perfect sunny day, with no fog, no wind and not too hot temperatures, it seemed a shame not to simply walk the city, take in the sights and get sun on my nose. Even the locals were impressed and out in droves.

My previous adventure to San Francisco showed me the second most visited tourist site, next to Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown. I have vivid memories of a rat over a foot long (including tail) running up the wall of my Chinese restaurant and half of my dinner party screaming and running out, leaving our poor hosts with 30 people worth of food prepared and only 15 to eat it. The shopping was fun, even if I had no use for dishes, Buddhas, or other Chinese chotchkees. Chinatown is definitely worth a visit if you have a longer stay.

Everything I saw on this trip was free. No need to pay $15.00 to go over to Alcatraz, I have a great photo from the pier and I’ve seen the History Channel special so I don’t need to visit. The cable car took me past the famous street with its curly cue turns which my transportation engineer husband would loathe (sit on the right hand side going down the hill or the left hand side going up to get a good view). You can have a perfectly great day in SF without spending a dime, just walking around. Just bring your sunscreen. I still need to visit the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), go up to the top of the Coit Tower for the view, and actually ride one of the carousels with my sweetie before taking him out for some great seafood, so I’ll be back.

Uncharted Too Scary

I've been enjoying our new PS3 primarily as a Blu-Ray player. Kids animated movies really show up great and I can tell a difference in the video quality with those types of films. Major action movies also show up noticeably different. The rest don't have too much added value in the Blue-Ray format, so I can keep having Blockbuster send me DVD versions of those.

Before he left Hubby played through Call of Duty IV and I played a few levels before we turned the rental back in. Enough to realize that apparently my childhood lack of console gaming left me without a fundamental grasp of how controllers are supposed to work. I had to play on the easiest level and even then, half the time, by the time I figured out how to look in the direction I was being shot from, figure out how to reload my gun and shoot, I was dead or very wounded. With hubby gone for awhile, I figured I'd work on my six-axis controller skills and so I bought Uncharted. It's basically a modern day Indiana Jones where the main character explores ancient south american ruins, ruining them even more in the process, kills a bunch of bad guys, etc. I enjoyed the puzzle like aspect of most of the levels. It wasn't a strictly shoot-em-up type game and had a decent plot. I got all the way to level 15 or so, then like the most recent Indiana Jones movie, they had aliens/monsters show up. I tried, I really did try to finish the game, but I just can't take suspense. I don't watch horror movies, not because of the blood and guts, but because I can't get startled or deal with knowing I am going to be startled. The game just got too scary for me to calmly shoot the aliens/monsters and I ran out of ammo and promptly died. If they were normal jungle troops, no problem, but scary monsters which move on the walls and ceiling I can't deal with. I'll have to let hubby play past the scary part and then keep going when he gets back. I told my guy friends and they all laughed. This game is not scary at all according to them. This launched them into a discussion of which games are actually scary like AVP2 and a bunch of others I hadn't heard of. Oh well, call me a chicken, but I just don't do scary, even a little bit.

So what did I do instead? It was too much effort to go out and rent something, there was nothing on cable, so for the first time in my life I used pay-per-view. For $2.95 I watched 27 Dresses, got a few laughs and went to bed. Shameless chick-flick which made me feel like I'd lost a few brain cells by the end of it, but it definitely wasn't scary. To prove to myself I'm not a totally lame and shallow girl who only watches girly movies, tonight I rented the new Rambo IV movie. While there was plenty of action, I must say that it was a shameless ripoff, barely 90 minutes long, and only made it to theaters everywhere because of the success of the earlier movies. Some series should just stick with 3 movies, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Rambo. More is just shameless, unnecessary, and a waste of 90 minutes.

Soup for the Single Gal

Soup is really the perfect food. There is such variety that with only $12.00 you can feed yourself for a week. It is perfectly portioned so that you won't have tons of little containers of leftovers in your fridge at the end. It takes mere minutes to heat. Its great for finals or other occasions when you really don't feel like cooking, but have exhausted your tolerance for delivery. Usually the only ingredient required is water and should you overbuy on soup and end up with a surplus lying around the house, you can always say that you are preparing for the next natural disaster by stockpiling supplies. I once met a family who kept years of food in the house in case the rapture happened after the tribulation, they had tons and tons of soup.

Today's choice was Amy's Organic Thai Coconut Soup. It has a mere 220 calories, making it a very sensible dinner and costs $2.50, which is way less than the take-out alternative Tom Kha Phak at my local Thai place. It doesn't have any onions like my local Thai place which has tons of onions in it so I might try and get hubby to try it. He absolutely hates onions. The coconut taste is light rather than overwhelmingly sweet and it has shiitake mushrooms and slices of sweet potatoes which were unexpected and yummy. I'm not fond of the tofu, but there wasn't too much of it. I may try and throw some shredded chicken in there when I make it again.

We'll see how long my soup kick lasts before I either run out of earthquake supplies or breakdown and go to the grocery store. After last nights incident with the milk-less mac and cheese and this morning's subsequent granola sans milk, I'll probably have to make at least a small grocery run very soon. Hmm...I wonder if I could go the whole 21 days that he's gone without grocery shopping? I could come up with some interesting dinners with my bare cupboards. Eh...probably not. It's still quite uninspiring.

Dinner for One?

Cooking for one is so uninspiring sometimes. This weekend I subsisted on a frozen pizza and fridge leftovers. When I'm sick I don't feel like eating much anyway. Today I pretty much scraped the bottom of the barrel and made mac and cheese without milk. I'm glad I smelled it before putting it in, because trust me, mac and cheese without milk is better than with spoiled milk. Thankfully I had a good size lunch. My brother-in-law and all of hubby's guy friends took me out to eat which was really sweet of them. I'll have leftover Pad Thai tomorrow for lunch. Hopefully I'll get together a shopping list tonight so I can hit the grocery store after work.

After all my greasy cheesy, leftover microwaved food of the last few days I'm feeling the need to go healthy for awhile. I'm craving vegetables, tea, juices and otherwise fresh cooked work intensive foods. I'll have to dig out my South Beach Diet cookbook for inspiration. Unlike Atkins where I lost 20 lbs in 30 days eating nothing but hot dogs and cheese when hubby was off at ROTC (and promptly gained it all back), South Beach tastes healthy and has resulted in my only long-term weight loss when I combined it with increased exercise. I'm hoping to create a little yoga space in our newly renovated washer/dryer workout room. It's really hard to do yoga on carpet and there really isn't room in the kitchen.

I also want to get back into fencing. The problem with having a competitive sport as a hobby is that getting back into it can be really intimidating. You know you should be beating the other person or at least making an account for yourself and instead you feel glued to the floor while your muscles no longer behave as they should and you're getting stabbed. Your watching your own body move in what feels like slow motion, your brain moving at one speed and your body following behind on a delay. I want to get back into fencing, but I have the feeling that I should be in better shape first. Thankfully with the summer weather right around the corner, I'll no longer be confined to the elliptical in the spare bedroom and will be able to jog around the neighborhood. Last year I did the couch to 5k program with good success. Perhaps I'll have to start that again once it gets warm enough.

My First Real Memorial Day

Memorial Day means so much more when you've lost someone who is close to you. I guess it really hit me tonight when I hung my American flag on the front porch struggling to reach with my husband oversees on Army orders. My cousin died November 7, 2007. I watched his burial in Arlington. I'll return to his grave whenever I visit D.C. He believed he was where God wanted him and had a real purpose in life. For that I am very happy, despite my personal sadness.

Sick, but still Inspired

Day 3 of 3 day weekend/Hubby's Army duty, and what have I done? I've done almost nothing. I was ambitious with my to-do list, planning on getting all of my gardening and yard work done, buying my home improvement supplies, cleaning the house top to bottom, cooking healthy meals to take left-overs to work all week, the list went on and one. Instead I felt like total crap. I finally drug my sick self out of bed right before Lowes closed on Saturday to save $160 on all the supplies. We also saved 15% +10% at Sears on our washer/dryer. They were having a 15% off sale + 10% off on Kenmore. The washer and dryer we wanted were Whirlpool Duets . The store gave us the Kenmore discount after a little persuasion when I pointed out that Whirlpool makes Kenmore and we could get 10% off +10% off for military at Lowes. We agreed to buy the 3-year warranty and they gave us the extra 10% off. Of course, we can cancel the warranty any time within the first year, so I'll get that ~$500 back later. All in all, with the money we got from the City and the discounts I was able to negotiate we got a way better washer/dryer set for about $1,000 of our own money. We could have replaced the ones we had with equivalents for far less, but it was important to me to get Energy Star appliances and I wanted a front-loader to save 70% water per load over a top loader. Saving money and going green are both ideas I can get behind.

The rest of the weekend wasn't nearly as productive, I basically laid on the sofa feeling sick, lonely and sorry for myself. I watched way too much HGTV, Food Network and Law and Order. Normally having time to just do my own thing would be nice, but when you don't have anyone else around and you're feeling bad its just lame. Normally I have the best husband in the world. No matter if I have a slight headache or he's the one holding my hair for me while I puke he always cares for me as if I'm on death's door. He generously gives me his zealous attention, taking care of my every need. My sister thinks I'm just high maintenance, which I probably am, but its hard to say no to someone who willingly hops up and runs for the Tylenol for you, covers you with a blanky and sits through a marathon of home improvement shows and girly movies just because he knows they make you feel better.

I'm still going to get my to-do list done before he gets home. When we first met and I saw his dorm room I was amazed. Everything was lined up, organized, minimal, and totally decluttered. He is still the neat one in the family, and having a clean house is a big zen moment for him, which totally destresses him. It doesn't happen often that the house is guest ready, but I try to make an effort to give him a clean house to come home to. If I could also get the renovations done and some of our projects finished it would be such a great way to say thank you to the man who takes such good care of me. Hopefully I won't feel like this too much longer and I can actually get started on some of these projects.

For the first time since I was 18 I'm not currently enrolled in any classes this semester. I have been taking classes fall, spring and summer semesters solid. In some ways I'm addicted to school. It's strange to not be doing something, learning something. I love new school supplies, the feel of a new (I could never buy used) textbook, and have a tingly sensation when I obsessively hit reload on the grades web page at the end of each semester. I guess I'll substitute transcript watching for highlighting when I start my Patent Bar review. The books look enormous. Vast swaths of white paper ready for my multi-colored highlighters and sticky-note collection. Ah, now all I need is some hot tea, I'm feeling inspired to start studying.

Advantages of Being a Military Wife

The City looked like it was going to take a long time to respond to our claim, leaving us with a mess of a house for months on end. They wanted more quotes from contractors, our insurance information, detailed photos, the list kept going. Then my husband sent them an e-mail which asked them to CC me on correspondence because he's going out of the country on military duty and the very next day they called with an offer! I can't help but thinking its because they felt bad making a military family wait and they decided to settle. They didn't give us the full amount of our claim, but close enough that with some careful budget planning I should be able to get the house put back together.

Hubby left last night for Germany for three weeks for his annual training with the Reserve. It really stinks to have his training in the summer. In Alaska, there aren't that many weeks of summer and having him gone for three of them really cuts into the summer. I am going to try and get the house back together while he is gone and begin studying for the Patent Bar. For whatever reason, when he is gone I am way more productive. I think it's because instead of getting home from work and trying to figure out what we both want to do, waiting around until we have consensus or worse yet, sitting in front of the TV, there is only me and I don't have excuses for not getting things done. When he's gone it's so quiet that unless I'm doing something it's really easy to be lonely.

One of the other advantages of being a military wife on memorial day are all of the sales. Lowes has 10% off for military, which I'm going to use to replace our ruined washer and dryer from the flood. I'll also pick up a few things for the flooded room.

Of course there are many disadvantages to being a military wife. I still feel isolated and a little bitter at times. We have been lucky so far in that he hasn't been deployed. This is his units year to go so the constant threat of that happening really hangs over us all the time. I was actually enrolled in law school last fall with tickets to move to Arizona and start my 1L year at ASU. I had the perfect schedule of classes and everything was falling into place. But, then we found out that he might have to be deployed as soon as October and there was just no way that I could deal with 1L year and him being deployed so I called the Dean, explained things, was denied a deferral and dropped out before paying my deposit.

This year I gave up on applying together. Hubby's window of deployment extends until this October so he can still be deployed at any point between now and then. We started saving money towards my education so I wouldn't have as many loans, I switched engineering jobs to one where I am far happier and even though I make less money I don't come home every day wishing I had not woken up and gone to work that morning. Once the threat of deployment is over and his unit is in its reset year rather than deployment year we'll sit down and weigh our options again. It's kind of nice to be approaching this with such a financially responsible plan. With the economy what it is, I really worry for a lot of law students who are taking out $100k+ loans, with no guarantee that they'll ever be able to pay them back.

I'm so proud of my husband and while I never truly love the fact that he's in the military, I know what it means to him. It has changed the path our lives have taken, and definitely added a lot of stress. But I don't think delaying law school for two years will ultimately be something I look back on with regret. I'm only 25, and while I sometimes think that's old and I've wasted time waiting, it really isn't, I have plenty of time to take care of my family and my career.

Dear City Dept. of Risk Management

Attention City Department of Risk Management:

On 4/20/08 frozen city storm drains caused the storm water drain in front of our house to begin welling up with the backed up water. This flooding is a known problem that has previously occurred. The City planned for the likelihood of this event happening by dropping a few sandbags outside our home in the spring. When the flooding occurred we immediately utilized the sand bags in an attempt to block the water from entering our home. We then called the City Public Works Department. With water coming in at an ever increasing rate, and unable to make contact with anyone who could help us at Public Works, we had to resort to calling 911. The 911 operator assisted us in making contact with someone at Public Works to come and deal with the problem. A City pumping and thawing crew was dispatched to our home. By the time they arrived the sand bags were doing little to keep water out of the house and the entire depth of the house was flooded not just the area near the doors. The rate of water was so great that it was also pouring into our crawlspace.

Because of the flood levels, which could not be contained, our home has sustained flood damage in the garage, one 309 sq. ft. room and in the crawl-space. Thankfully we were able to move most of our personal belongings to a higher level before they were soaked. On the city’s recommendation, we had Servicemaster come and do the cleanup of the flood affected areas and remove the materials ruined by the flooding and subsequent mold infestation. Servicemaster will be submitting their bill directly to the City and we will do a separate claim to submit a copy of their bill. This claim is for the reconstruction to restore the affected areas to the condition they were in prior to the flood. Additionally, this claim is for replacement of those items damaged by the flood.

...Detailed claim info...

Total: $14,399.65

So, for anyone wondering how the kitchen remodel is going and why I haven't posted in awhile, now you know. We had a bunch of friends come over and bail all of our belongings to higher ground which they did quite well. They saved almost everything, it's just in no particular order all over the rest of the house now. 1/3 of my house is under construction, probably closer to 1/2 counting the kitchen. I'm learning how to deal with claims against the city, insurance, contractors, quotes, blah blah blah. It's been a tough spring.

Halfway through flooding and the City hadn't shown up to pump yet. The water is welling up under the carpet, pushing it up. Ultimately it flooded the whole depth of the house in this room.

Water got behind the paneling and wicked up the vapor barrier causing mold to grow. I was so allergic I had to get prescription eye drops to keep the swelling down in my eyes.

Chic, Green and Won't Kill Me!

BPA is the plastic ingredient and endocrine disruptor that's been in the news lately. Present in everything from baby bottles to Nalgenes, basically any hard plastic bottles, cups, or other products. The New York Times indicates that in Canada BPA is about to be officially labeled as toxic. On top of this, the US Health and Human Services' National Toxicology Program endorsing a claim that there is "some concern" that BPA might be harmful to human life, as it had caused precancer in mice. The National institute of Health ranks the risk from hard plastic bottles as a 3 on a scale of 1-5 on how much they are concerned.

So, beginning today, I am making a change. No more wasting the water bottles. Instead, I am buying a refillable drinking bottle made of aluminum. These bottles are 100% recyclable even at the end of their lives. This means no more wasted water or plastics for me.

Painting in Winter

One problem with the kitchen project is that painting when its still hovering around 0F outside means opening the windows and doors to vent the paint smell is a chilling experience. We ran out of primer half-way through so when I went to buy more I checked out the Freshaire line of paints at Home Depot for the following reasons:

-Fresh Aire paint has NO VOC'S, (Volatile Organic Compounds)
*VOC'S are a major contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer & poor indoor quality
-No harmful effects or chemical odors
-LIFETIME WARRANTY on performance and appearance
-Environmentally safe, not only the paint is good for the environment, but:
-the can
-the label and packaging
-the color chips
ALL ARE RECYCLABLE AND MADE FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS
ALL ECO FRIENDLY

Only downside is the price $35-$38/gallon for paint, less for primer and the fact that no color matching is available due to the fact that the color comes in little packets which are then mixed into the base paint at Home Depot.

I'm curious to see how well it works. The Home Depot people also told me I could order 3 free color samples which come in the mail: http://freshairechoice.com/contact.html I called them and my samples are on the way. Looking forward to seeing how well it works and how well our regular Lowes paint goes over the other primer.

Can police search your text messages if you get caught for speeding?

No, I didn't get pulled over, I just found an interesting article by criminal law professor Adam Gershowitz about the frightening prospect of police searching your text messages if you get stopped for a traffic infraction. "Search incident to arrest" anyone? Wonder what my law school bloggers/techy friends would think of this one. I could find out way more on my friend's phones than what they had been texting, their browsing history, their e-mails, photos, the list goes on. I really wonder at the Fourth Amendment implications.

The HGTV/Bloglines Addicted DIYer's Dilemma

My bloglines have grown recently. Which results in my not getting any homework done at lunch due to the fact that my feedlist is full of inspiring home improvement sites. I've been obsessively checking the Apartment Therapy "Small Cool" competition submissions for ideas. It has me regretting my choice/purchase of taupe paint for the kitchen and wishing for a spring green next to my oak cabinets. Hubby is wishing he could pull the bloglines plug in the same way as he sometimes limits my HGTV consumption by watching guy shows (poor man can only watch so much paint dry). I've become fickle with all of my decisions, second guessing myself. Do I really want a tile backsplash or should I go with back painted glass or just semi-gloss paint. Should I really hold off on getting new counters or will people think the kitchen looks unfinished without Corian, Silestone, Ceasarstone or Granite?! I know I should care, but there are so many cool options out there I can't possibly try them all. I need to find my own style and stick with it and not follow these design show trends. They may look easy on a 30 minute program with two full-time carpenters and electrician and a designer on board, but they really take a lot of time to put together with two DIY'ers at home. Worst of all it's making me discontent with my house, which is really not that small 1,300 square feet and either wishing for something larger or much much smaller (like 600 sq.ft.). I must settle down, finish some projects and live with the results for awhile. So this weekend my goal is to finish painting the kitchen, put it back together and live with it for awhile before moving on to other projects.

Removing Wallpaper the Green Way

Once Monday hit home improvement came to an almost hault. After a long day at work we weren't up for intensive tasks. We spent most of the week removing the wallpaper. Like any Gen-Y person with limited home improvement experience, the first step was Googling "diy wallpaper removal." Next we made a visit to our friendly people at Lowes and asked for their advice. We came home armed with wallpaper removal spray, squirt bottles, a wallpaper scorer and putty knives. In the end we used a combined approach. We initially thought that we should follow the Lowes instructions to the letter:

"Before using any method to dissolve the glue holding the paper in place, you must score the paper. Vinyl or other non-porous paper will not absorb any removal product, so you must make tiny cuts in the paper to let the product soak in. Even porous paper will remove easier when it is scored.

Specialty scoring tools are available to make the process faster. Though it might be tempting to use a knife or saw, those tools are more likely to damage the wall underneath the paper. Score all over the paper to be removed, paying attention to the corners and edges of the wall."

So we scored one section of wall, put the remover on and tried to scrape. We followed all the instructions to the letter, and...we made a mess! I also had a huge allergic reaction to the wallpaper remover and glue gunk and had rash all up and down my arms. I also felt decidedly un-green.

So we developed our own method of green wallpaper removal that requires just as much work, but only requires hard work and water, no nasty chemicals. While this method might not work for every type of wallpaper, we at least recommend that you try this first before buying the nasty wallpaper remover. We actually had two different types of wallpaper in our kitchen which required slightly different approaches, and one was easier than the other.

Removing wallpaper the green way:

1. Find a corner from which you can peel the paper, try removing a wallplate from an outlet as a good starting point if edges are hard to find. Turn power to the outlet off while working with a screwdriver to remove the plate.


2. Begin peeling back the paper from this point. (On half of our kitchen the top shiny layer of wallpaper just peeled right off).


3. If the wallpaper won't peel back at all then you'll have to use the scoring technique to get at the glue underneath.


4. Once you have either scored the paper or removed the top layer off, you'll need to get out your spray bottles. Fill these with boiling hot water. Spray the walls to the point where they start to drip water. (Other options to water include 1 part water to 3 parts vinegar or a 50-50 mixture of water and fabric softener.)


5. Get out your putty knifes and start scraping. Make sure to work in small enough sections that the water doesn't dry or else you'll have a sticky mess on your hands.


6. Once the paper is off you'll still need to do some prep work before painting. Wash the walls thoroughly to remove any remaining glue, then sand and wash again, prime and paint.

This takes no chemicals, no remover and it worked. One of our walls we just peeled, sprayed and scraped, and the other we had to score, spray and scrape. If, after trying the water you still can't get the paper off, we'd recommend renting a steamer before going with the harsh chemicals. Even after removing the paper, we tried using the remover gel on the bare walls to get the little bits of glue off again and still did nothing but make me break out and gum up the walls.

All in all this was a messy project which consumed the better part of our evenings for a week and all day Saturday. It was nasty, messy and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I hope to never hang wallpaper. Paint is way easier, easily changeable and better looking in my opinion.

Now I've just got to decide whether or not to try and use putty to get rid of the orange peel texture (taking the chance that the walls won't look perfectly flat) or leave the orange peel and go ahead and paint.

How to get 10% off at Lowes/Home Depot

If you want to get 10% off without employing your mad negotiating skills there are a couple ways. If you have military I.D. you can wait until memorial day weekend. Every year for as long as I can remember Lowes has offered 10% off to those with military I.D. on purchases less than $5,000 dollars. Last year I bought all of my plants and gardening supplies. This year I plan on getting a few last things for the house, but I couldn't hold off purchasing everything. So I went in search of another way to get 10% off. If you go to the Lowes website you can get a coupon for 10% mailed to you simply by filling out a form at http://lowesmoving.com/. I filled mine out and got my coupon 2 days later. Best of all, if you print out two copies you can use one at Home Depot as well because they honor their competitors coupons.

New Appliances!

Friday came and the new appliances arrived. It was a bit of a juggle getting the Lowes people and the Freecycle people there at the same time, but in the end it worked out great. The Lowes people even hauled the old appliances out and put them in the Freecycle people's truck with their nice dolly so labor was saved all around. The new fridge is HUGE compared to the old one and oh so shiny. Now I just need to police the fingerprints on the new stainless front! The new range is a big improvement as well. No more cooking turkey for an extra 2 hours on Thanksgiving (we hope). And it has a convection option so we just press a button and knock a few minutes off the bake times for our baked goods, handy. The new appliances are making the rest of the kitchen look like a clash between country meets modern so we'll continue to make changes. Next up, removing the wallpaper and brick backsplash to replace with paint and beautiful tile.

Kitchen (Before)

Thursday afternoon I took pictures of our current kitchen. It's not bad with fairly new cabinets and lots of space. It's not quite the right size to use our existing kitchen table so it's not currently set up as an eat-in kitchen. Rather we have a small cafe table which we use as a breakfast space/mail collection point next to our huge china cabinet. The style is a little less modern than I like, with a country vibe which we hope to change. The brick backsplash is quite ugly and the lenolium isn't the best, but its not too bad, especially when compared to some of our olive and orange apartment kitchens. The light fixture over the dining area definitely fell into the ugly category. Before I got around to taking our before pictures we had already replaced its matching brother fixture over the cooking area with this much more modern track lighting.

So, without further ado, here are our "Before" photos:

Negotiating 101

Negotiating is a skill lawyers need, right? I've certainly had my fair share this week.

Spring fever results in my annual reorganization of the furniture and purging of the clutter. This year hubby is quite pleased that it does not involve him taking things to good will. There really isn't enough to do a garage sale this year either so he's even more pleased. No, we're not simply throwing things away. We're freecycling instead. Hoards of people slam me with e-mails with sob stories on why they need my tv with the broken speakers and I either select the one with the best story or be democratic and give it to the first one who asks. You come to my house and pick it up and haul it off yourself, no effort from me other than a short e-mail exchange.

This year the freecycling frenzy reached new heights as we had appliances to get rid of. We were going to pay the property taxes for our parents who own our house as a thank you for letting us live there. Then we got to thinking that we wanted to make some improvements, but it felt like such a waste to spend money on a place that wasn't ours. So we compromised and will spend the equivalent amount of the property taxes on improvements. His parents still pay the taxes, but they reap the benefits of any increases in property value resulting from the improvements and we get to enjoy living in a nicer place while we're here.

First order of business was replacing a couple ancient, most definitely non Energy-Star appliances. I spent two weeks going back and forth between Lowes and Sears who were both having 10% off appliance deals and finally decided that new appliances were too much. I ended up negotiating for a discontinued model (2007 model vs. 2008 model) fridge and range, which were both the last one in stock. I got the 10% off for the appliance sale and then negotiated another 10% off for taking the perfectly good floor model. It really isn't fair to pay the same price for something that isn't brand-spanking new as something still in the box was my argument and I was totally surprised when they accepted it without balking at all. I should have asked for more. So the $2,499 fridge was on sale as a discontinued model for $2,199, then the sales associate took 20% off because they couldn't figure out how to do 10% and then 10% so the final price was $1,759 or a total of $740 off the retail price two weeks earlier. The fridge is probably more fancy than we need, but we insisted on a few criteria which drive up the price. It had to be Energy-Star and it had to be a good brand and 25 cubic feet. Our current fridge is just a fridge with a tiny ice box large enough for two or three ice-cube trays. This necessitates or running a full size freezer all year to keep our few frozen veggies and pizzas in. We wanted to get rid of both and just go with one appliance which would be large enough for all cooled food in one place. It might be more than we need, but it just reduced the overall budget that we're spending on other improvements. Now I just need to figure out how to run a water line to the new ice-maker. Range was a similar story, took a floor model at a better discount than one of the scratch-and-dent returns, got 20% the sale price and walked out the door spending $599 instead of $999. Really, how much difference can there be in fridge and range technology between 2007 and 2008?

Now I just have to negotiate the feeding frenzy of e-mails seeking our old appliances and coordinate their removal to coincide with the arrival of the new beauties in such a way that I don't end up with a cooler full of rotten food on my hands.

I'll have to post later on other more labor intensive improvements like lighting and our current struggle...wallpaper removal. It's enough to make one want to rent forever!

Public Law Library

LexisNexis and Westlaw have controlled the information at too high a price for to long. It's about time that technology stepped in and helped make freely available information accessible to the common man.

Via: Popgadget, by hoyun kim

"Despite advances made in search technology on the Web, and websites guiding users through the morass of information on specialized topics like medicine, information available on the Web about legal topics is still fairly hard to find for most people outside of the legal profession. Lawyers know that, in addition to costy databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw, there are numerous free information sources online, but there's no obvious starting point for non-lawyers looking for basic information about a given legal topic, such as the requirements to set up a business in a particular state or how to draft a will.

Nolo, a company that publishes legal guidebooks and software packages for non-lawyers (as well as for lawyers venturing into areas where they're not experienced), offers a fairly comprehensive list of topics in their catalog, along with some useful broad summaries of subjects like trademarks and copyrights, but it's not a portal to other resources on the Web.

Bookofjoe (the blogging anesthesiologist) points us to the new Public Library of Law (short name "PLoL"), launched by Fastcase in an effort to "democratize the law." Fastcase is a legal research database for lawyers, so my guess is that much of the information available in the PLoL is redirected from the free areas of Fastcase. The forms database includes free forms for filing bankruptcy, selling a home, and incorporating a business. Other areas within PLoL include caselaw, statutes, regulations, and court rules. With complicated matters, you may still find that you need to hire a lawyer, but you'll be better informed about what the lawyer has to do if you do your own research first. "

Easter Temptations

First comes lent, then comes Holy Week, and finally Easter. During lent temptations are easier to avoid, moral support is plentiful and people are good about not forcing you to break into the bag of Easter M&M's they are sharing. I actually got all the way through Easter without buying junk candy. Why should I pay $6.00 for mediocre dark chocolate, just because it's shaped like a bunny? I even held out and didn't buy any Cadbury eggs. These eggs are my arch-nemesis this time of year. I always promise myself just one and that leads to more. But this year I survived, I bought none. But the Easter bunny had it in for me. An innocent looking orange plastic egg was sitting on my keyboard when I got to work today. Inside was a baby Cadbury egg. I had no idea they had baby size. *sigh* For 30 seconds it was so good and now all I can think about is more. This is especially bad because Easter candy is now on sale. Where have you been my whole life, baby eggs? Now if they came in dark chocolate I would be well and truly toast in the self-control department.

St. Patty's Day in Chicago, So What?

I spent last Friday through Sunday in Chicago at a meeting. I was kind of excited to be in the windy city for St. Patty's day, especially with a group of people my own age. Turns out the windy city was colder than Anchorage, Alaska the entire time I was there and my fall coat which I packed assuming anything would be warmer than Alaska was VERY inadequate. First thing I did was go out for a little retail therapy (a tradition any time I leave the State), buy a jacket and a scarf. I should have probably picked up a hat as well. My poor ears were frozen. As a result I ducked in and out of shops to warm my ears as I strolled the magnificent mile. Shopping with a bunch of Europeans is more fun these days. They all have different taste depending on their home country and their money is worth more so they feel like everything is on sale in the US. One of the guys lost his luggage on the way through Frankfurt so he needed new clothes, he had $100 from Lufthansa and they would reimburse 50% of whatever he spent before his clothes arrived. I worked out most of my retail therapy helping him blow some cash with Euros and a 50% discount.

I know that those who love Chicago will not be happy with me for this, but your city is not the best place to spend St. Patty's day. I was in Boston last year and New Orleans the year before and they really upstaged you guys. Sure, you dye your river green and that is pretty cool, but you totally don't know how to party. If your idea of a party is for every bar to have shamrock decorations then I guess you succeeded. I was hoping for a little less sitting around drinking and more holiday spirit. Boston had one of the worst blizzards in years last year and they still came out in droves to celebrate. We hit bars three nights in a row and they were all just sitting around with no good music and absolutely no dancing. I'm not a drinker so that was just lame. And don't try telling me I was at the wrong bars, we went to all of the ones on the top 10 list of best Irish pubs as well as those recommended by the Chicago conventions and visitors bureau for best places to celebrate St. Patty's day so your own advertising is to blame. Ultimately we found a way better bar, but by 1:30 it wasn't worth the $20 cover to get in. Surely you can do better than that in a city that big. Anyway, your shopping is great, but I don't have much to say for your Irish spirit. And what is with the lack of cabs? You can safely assume putting a few more people on shift during that particular weekend would be worthwhile. Oh well, pictures of green river forthcoming.

March Lunch Challenge

Another law school blogger is staying frugal by packing her lunch to school everyday. This helps avoid junk food in the diet and saves money. I am attempting to not eat out for lunch the entire month of March. Part of it is an attempt to have healthier dinners which result in healthy leftovers, part of it is to save money, and part of it is to use up the box of nutrisystem food that has been sitting in my pantry for WAY too long. When I was an intern in D.C. without a car I figured nutrisystem was the perfect solution. I couldn't buy groceries more than a bag or two at a time so I would have all of my food delivered. Turns out, in addition to the food that they send you you have to buy salad fixings, veggies, cheeses, and other groceries. By the time I added it all up I was spending as much on groceries as before, plus I had to pay for the nutrisystem stuff. I also hated quite a few of the dishes so I mailed those back. Heads up, if you ever try this system, don't buy the scrambled eggs, just buy eggs and cook them yourself, blech. Sometimes I eat out because hubby doesn't pack a lunch and calls me up wanting to go somewhere. It's hard to turn him down and leave him there to starve when I have the car. Also, going out to lunch is a nice mental break and way to get away from the office. Sure, it takes an hour rather than thirty minutes so I only bill 8 hours rather than 8.5 in a day, but bonus checks aren't everything. Once the snow melts I should be able to achieve the same mental break and still bring my lunch by going outside to eat it. In the meantime, we'll see how this experiment works. Maybe when hubby calls I'll pick him up, take him to the house and make him something. That or I'll have to start getting up earlier so that he can drop me off before he goes to work and he'll have the car.

Russia's new Pres.

Unlike US politics this year where the nominees in both parties are taking far longer to determine than usual, in Russia today, in a surprise to nobody. Medvedev (pronounced Med-ved-yev) won the Russian presidential election. He is the chosen successor to the wildly popular Putin. Most people in Russia know very little about him other than that Putin said to vote for him and they trust Putin so they did. As a Russian Studies major I feel obliged to at least mark the event with a post. What remains to be seen is if this is a temporary post for one term of office before a return of Putin to power (which wouldn't violate their constitution) or whether Medvedev will be his own man with his own policies. Medvedev is a lawyer with a background in the legal rather than spy fields unlike Putin with his KGB background. I can only hope that this will result in more of a strict interpretation of Russian laws and less consolidation of power within the Presidential office and clamping down on individual freedoms. I really respect what Putin has done for his country, guiding them from a time of economic troubles to a much more stable and prominent place in the international community. I hope that his goals will be furthered under Medvedev, but with a focus on more enabling of people and companies to determine their best courses of action with less state interference, censorship, etc. towards that better future. Another interesting point is that 2/3rds of eligible voters participated in what was essentially a rubber stamp election. If we had that kind of turn-out in the US it would be phenomenal. It shows that Russian's really care about the direction of their country, even if they don't care if they know that much about the person selected by Putin to take them there.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/02/russia.election/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Spring Fever

As I was driving to work yesterday I realized that the sun was shining right in my eyes and I actually needed to put the visor down and was wishing my sunglasses were in my purse. Wow, what a difference an hour makes. I usually head to work at 8, which is still before the sun is up at this time of the year. I worked out on Friday morning so I was heading to work right before 9. It was like plugging my body in and feeling my batteries recharge. I love this time of year when the days are visibly getting longer and I actually have some daylight left after I get off of work. One of the things I miss most about being in college is having time during a weekday to be out and about in the winter, enjoying the little sunlight that we get.

The other impact of all this unshine is my annual spring fever urge to purge has hit. I want my house to feel less like a cacoon which I curl up in to keep warm and comfortable all winter and more like a zen chic, clean modern home with no clutter, no mess, and far less stuff than I currently own. We're still purging items that we inherited over 2 years ago from hubby's Grandmother. After cleaning random bits of the house and setting Roomba to work I had a box of paperbacks and a trash bag of clothes to purge. Probably not enough for a garage sale so I'll be taking them off to charity on Monday. I also got a magazine today which had all sorts of articles on living in smaller spaces and making the most of them. Rather than having a McMansion with lots of space that never gets used with rooms that you barely see week in and week out (aka our current office and laundry/bonus rooms) these homes were designed to be utilized thoroughly with thoughtful design making each space an important part of the house. When I visualize my "dream house" this is totally what I picture, smaller, cozier, and with a very thoughtful design aka The Not So Big House books style.

I kind of have to keep my stuff to a minimum with the move to law school not too far off in the distant future. There is no way I'll be schleping shelves and shelves of paperbacks, engineering textbooks, or outsized clothing with me half-way across the planet. Of course, it pains me to admit defeat and get rid of my skinny clothes, so until the time that I actually have movers at my house giving me an estimate on how much it would cost to bring it all with me I'll probably still have an itty bitty sundress from Senior year of highschool.

I've always loved small spaces. I have a friend with a 600 sq-ft condo in D.C. which I love. Her house has only things that she really really loves. She'll never have a reason to go on the show Clean Sweep to cleanse her house of clutter. When she gets the shopping urge she doesn't stock up on cheap tank tops at Old Navy, I on the other hand have a whole stack of them. Instead she impulse buys beauty products which get used and thrown away and her clothes are minimal because she only buys really nice stuff. I have a really hard shoe size so whenever I find a brand that has my size I go nuts and buy way more than I need. As a result, I have more shoes than people who have easier to find shoe sizes because I impulse buy them. My friend with the tiny apartment doesn't buy crap, instead her closets are full of a few very expesive Louis Voutton's, Jimmy Choo, etc. shoes, nice suits, and very classic clothes, which in comparison to all my bulk (current and already donated) probably cost the same, but look way better. I'm hoping to be more like my D.C. diva and stop buying crap. To that end, I have the annual spring fever purge ahead of me. The days are getting longer and it is getting easier to have the energy to excercize, so maybe this will be my year to fit into the sun dress again. Hmm...come to think of it, that dress isn't that great, I'll probably donate it as soon as I fit back into it. Perhaps its time has come.

Plans Are Only Good Intentions

There is saying that "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." Well I guess I've had a lot of good intentions. For years I told myself that I would get back into playing the piano, but just didn't have time because I was in school, then I was working, then I was, uh, I ran out of excuses. So in February I started taking piano lessons again. At first I almost cried at how much I had lost with being 6 years out of practice. Now, my sight reading is back and I am working my way through Bach's Inventions again. I'm nowhere near where I used to be, but its a good first step. With the plan of moving to law school in the coming year I don't want to invest in a couple of hundred pounds of household goods by buying a piano, but borrowing my brother-in-laws 3/4 sized keyboard just isn't cutting it. I grew up playing a 5'-6" baby grand Boston piano and the keyboard has no action and not all of the keys. I'm debating finding a used piano to buy or just spending the money on a nice keyboard. As much as I want a brand new piano, its not the best financial decision as they don't retain their value. I was so tempted when I found out that I could get a below retail piano from a local dealer who is retired. He sells piano's at below retail because he no longer has the overhead of a store or employees and merely uses a catalog out of his house. For people who know what they want it is a great option. I don't need to sit down at a piano and try it out, I just need to pick a size and brand that meets by ability and needs. Plus, this month Kawai is having factory rebates which would be on top of the killer price.

I am really trying to make savvy financial decisions and save every penny. My friends think we're nuts, living on a student budget with two engineer incomes coming in. In reality, I'm just making it so that I have less debt when I go back to school. I'm changing my need for loans by saving up the money for law school in advance rather than spending the money on new furniture, new cars, new pianos and all the other nice things that we can technically afford but don't need. Don't even get me started on buying a house. We had our taxes done this year and for the first time ever had to pay money rather than get some back. My first thought was, oh, wouldn't it be nice to have mortgage interest to be able to deduct? However, our rent free situation living somewhere where we pay only utilities and taxes saves us way more money than the amount we would save on our taxes. Having my own home is more of a gut desire than an actual need. In the meantime its nice to watch our little egg grow larger. It will be a real kick in the gut when I have enough money for school and look at in the bank and say, hmmm...do I want a house paid for in cash or do I want to spend this all over the next three years on a degree? I really hope my plan to go to law school doesn't become a good intention after faced with the financial reality. In the meantime I'll continue to be as frugal as possible. It's a good habit to get into.

Las Vegas Trip

We started out our trip in Las Vegas by paying $80.00 for a limo to take us two miles from the airport to the Hyatt Place hotel where my meeting was being held. Why $80? Well, at 1 am the hotel shuttle wasn't running and the line for cabs on a Friday night was over an hour long. I didn't want to wait so we took the limo. Thank goodness I was on expenses.

Getting up for a 8 am meeting after getting to sleep around 2am was definitely no fun. Hubby went for a walk while I debated the intricacies of publishing a technical magazine with fellow engineers. Around noon we hooked up and went to the Hard Rock for lunch. The lunch was a working lunch so it lasted well over an hour. I was totally unimpressed with the Hyatt Place which amounted to a stripped down Hyatt, business hotel that barely qualified for each of its 3 stars. On top of this was the fact that the hotel has been recently renovated. The carpet tiles may be easy to replace should one of them become stained, but they also use carpet glue in their installation. I was apparently allergic to the glue and spent most of my 5 hours of rest scratching my arms to death. The next morning I had hubby check us out and we went to Priceline.com to see what cheap rooms were still available elsewhere. Turns out that for the same rate as we were paying at the Hyatt we could be staying at the Venetian. Deal! Sign me up! So after lunch we cabbed it from the Hyatt to the Venetian.


After checking into our suite at the Venetian I was sorry that we would have to switch over to Treasure Island the next day. I'd show you a photo, but they all have one or the other of us in them, because of all of the mirrors in the suite. The room was gorgeous and I don't say this lightly. I stay in a lot of hotels, but this one still surprised me. I got $15 worth of casino credit which we quickly doubled to $30 in the slots, apparently I'm quite lucky. We were so bushed that we just wanted to sit down, sip our drinks and blow money in the penny slots. I won as much as he lost so we came out even. For dinner we hooked up with some of my friends from my meeting and went to a local place. I try to find a good Greek restaurant whenever we travel together as it is both of our favorite food. Also, eating on the strip can be ridiculously overprices if you don't want to eat horrid/questionably sanitary buffet food. Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe is a local joint full of people who actually call Nevada home. The food is excellent, tasty, and downright cheap. Five of us who drank, had appetizers, dinner and dessert all for less than $120.00, which I consider insanely cheap.

We headed back to the hotel that night blissfully content and full of warm Baklava. Our show was playing in the Venetian hotel so we didn't have far to walk. We got tickets for Phantom before we left and it was quite spectacular. I've always loved the Phantom of the Opera. Hubby saw the broadway show in San Francisco a long time ago before we met. He has always promised me that he would take me one day so this was really special . Phantom in Vegas is a slightly abrieviated version, but spectacular none the less. I remember there was an article a few years back when they were planning the show on how they got the chandelier to fall. Trust me it is well done, women were screaming. If I hadn't known what was coming I would have been totally blown away. The engineering behind that stunt was amazing.

The next day we packed our rolly-bag up and headed downstairs to breakfast. We found a little cafe along the banks of the Venetian. Apparently there are very few people who wake up for breakfast in Vegas so it took us almost 30 minutes to find one that was open. Afterwards we walked across to the Wynn, walking through the Venetian shops along the canal on the way. Then we crossed the street and walked past Treasure Island, down through the Mirage. The Mirage was smokey and dark. After we walked what seemed like forever to get through the casino we found out that to view the lions you have to pay like $14.00 a person. It totally wasn't worth it, so we trucked all the way back out through the front. Vegas hotels are not set up so you can walk through one, out the side and out to the next one. You have to walk in then back out through the front always passing through the casino on your way anywhere.

After the Mirage we went to Ceasar's Palace and walked through the shopping mall. My feet were tired so we sat at the slots for awhile. There really isn't anywhere to sit in Vegas without spending money. You are either gambling, paying to watch a show or sitting in a restaurant. I bought cute leather gloves with cashmere linings at Coach. My one major and non-expensible purchase of the entire trip. Ceasar's Palace has some really great architecture. It looks a lot less fake than many of the other hotels.

Next after Ceasar's was the Bellagio. After the Venetian I was expecting more. It still was quite over the top with a beautiful Chinese garden and a spectacular set of glass flowers inlaid in the ceiling. This was definitely one of the nicer hotels on the strip, although probably not worth 200 more a night than the Venetian for the extra 1/2 a star. We had friends who asked to see our suite at the Venetian out of curiosity and they said that it was better than the Bellagio rooms. I can't vouch for it myself, but I bet they were right. The Bellagio has the Cirque d'Soleil show "O" which is their water show. We didn't see it on this trip, but if we go back I'll definitely put it on my list.

By this point my feet were very tired. I had only packed work shoes which was a bad idea. One should never attempt to casino tour in heels. We crossed the street to the Paris. We had lunch at the Paris. They have an Eiffel Tour restuarant which overlooks the Bellagio fountains. A bit too pricey to justify on an expense report so we settled for the Mon Ami Gabi which is on the main floor right off of the casino. It was very good and reasonably priced. The casino had a younger vibe and was not oppresively smokey or generic like most of the others we had walked through. It looked like a fun place to stay and I'd definitely go back and spend more time looking around some other time.

From the Paris we headed back in the direction of the Venetian, my feet still killing me. We walked through the Flamingo and walked along the strip to the Ghirardelli chocolate store in between Harrah's and the Venetian. We stopped by the front desk of the Venetian and picked up our bags to check into Treasure Island. After all this walking it was about 4pm and my legs were dead beat. I flopped in my King bed and didn't move for an hour. We watched a history channel special on the history of Vegas and then called the front desk for a dinner reservation. Our one criteria is the restaurant had to be in the hotel. Little did we know that would give us so many options. We briefly considered going downstairs for the ship battle performance. Those who are staying as guests at Treasure Island have a special viewing area, but it was cold and I was not happy to walk anywhere. Instead we enjoyed a pleasant dinner at Francesco's. The service was excellent and the food was great. I had gnocci with hazelnut cream sauce. We both had way more food than we could eat and regretfully passed on dessert.

Our planning paid off and our show of the night was in our hotel of the night. Mystere is a Cirque show which plays at Treasure Island. Honored eight times as "Best Production Show" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mystère has an international cast of 72 performers featuring dancers, singers, musicians and champion-caliber acrobats. The physical prowess of these performers was amazing. I was jaw droppingly spell bound for an hour and half. I swore the next day I would buy their cd as inspirational workout music. Throughout the performance two vocalists sing in a made up language while performers enact a nightly performance which send chills down the through the audience. This was definitely a family friendly show. Kind of unfortunate in some ways as I had to sit next to a couple kids which wouldn't stay in just their chairs, but I'm glad their parents got to do something fun and didn't have to leave their kids behind. However, those kids all probably left with the equivalent of a cigarettes worth of smoking damage done to their lungs just from walking to their hotel rooms at night.

It was more worthwhile to get a good night's rest rather than walk the rest of the strip the next morning so we stayed in the vicinity of Treasure Island. We walked next door to find lunch and were bitterly disappointed with our options. Unless you want mall food court food, finding lunch in Vegas proves as difficult as finding breakfast before noon. We ended up at the Neiman Marcus restaurant, I had no idea that they had a restaurant. Excellent sandwhiches, fresh bread and lots of iced tea kept us happy. Then it was off to the airport for a quick 12 hour flight home. Just a quick trip to Vegas. Having never been I can say that there is definitely a lot to see in Vegas, not so much things to do. They mostly try to funnel you into shopping and gambling. There are also shows which are some of the most unique in the world. All the smoking, unhealthy food choices and fake looking architecture and neon left a little bit of a hollow feeling in my stomach rather than one of cultural immersion. I would still go again, but I wouldn't go without a plan. I would actually want to know what I wanted to do in Vegas.

Oh yeah, as far as the gambling went, neither of us is good at it. I made up for his losses by playing video blackjack and we came out even. The whole trip actually cost us less than $300.00 which was totally worth it just to spend relaxing time together discoving a new place.

Venetian Canal shops

Treasure Island has a nightly show where the sexy sirens fight the bad boys

The view from our room in Treasure Island

Ceasar's Palace

Paris

Bellagio lobby with the glass flowers

Bellagio's Asian Garden

Patent Bar Review Course for 10% Off

I'm passing this on to my fellow engineers and technology professionals with an interest in the legal field. IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology has an agreement with The Practising Law Institute (PLI), a non-profit, continuing legal education organization, to offer members a 10 percent discount on PLI’s Patent Bar Review course. This type of discount is often available to students when in law school, but who has time to take the patent bar while in law school. Far better to student for the test and take it before law school. That is what I am planning to do. Study over this coming summer for 3-4 months and then take the test in the fall.

The PLI Patent Bar Review course is one of the top preparations course in the country for the Patent Registration Exam and is available live or via home-study. Anyone with an undergraduate degree in engineering or science or the equivalent is invited to take the Patent Bar Exam to become a patent agent. (Visit http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/examregist.htm for eligibility details). IEEE members should reference IEEE and their member number when registering to receive the member discount.

For more information on the Practising Law Institute or the Patent Bar Review course, visit http://www.pli.edu/barreview/patentbar/ieee.asp, or call toll free at (888-296-5973). To learn about other IEEE Education Partners programs visit http://www.ieee.org/partners.

No, this isn't a pay-per-post. I'm just trying to pass on a great deal. Also, for those science or engineer folks who aren't IEEE members yet, you should know that student membership is $30 for a full year or $15 if don't join until after March. The IEEE name was originally an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Today, the organization's scope of interest has expanded into so many related fields, that it is simply referred to by the letters I-E-E-E (pronounced Eye-triple-E). It is a great professional society to belong to and comes with many member benefits like the offer above, publications, conferences, etc. I would highly recommend becoming a member if you are in an IEEE field. Maybe I should pass this tip onto the Frugal Law Student.

And they wonder why OUR voter turnout is low

It was -50F last night and currently around -40F. MMM...and they wonder why we had such low turnout for the primary last night. We were all trying to keep warm! I did vote though. I was very happy to finally be able to put my constant political analysis to some practical use by making an informed choice. It was actually quite crazy and filled with people so our voter turnout was higher than normal although lower than expected. I guilted hubby into registering as a Republican in order to vote in the primary. He thinks it takes too much effort to caucus with the Dems, but wanted a say. They registered him at the door and I welcomed him to the party. He'll probably switch back to independent ASAP. It will be a tough decision if it comes down to Obama v. McCain. I never thought I'd vote for a democrat, but I like what he has to say.