Wednesday, July 27, 2005

I can see into my future: broken computer, lots of ramen noodles

I’ve been talking about wanting to get a new computer since they introduced the Mini Macs a few months ago. Now, I really always figured I’m too poor to buy a new computer, but now that the G3 is about 8 years old, it’s been getting a little more pressing. Last night, I thought the monitor had finally given up the ghost. The screen went wonky and just black with a vertical line in the middle, and a squeaky/screechy noise. I restarted it, and it came up with really crappy resolution, and wouldn’t offer any other resolution options. I turned it off, came back later, and it’s back to normal. It’s been making weird little flashes for a while, but I’m just not ready to see it go.

I suspect I’ll need to replace it soon (yeah, I know it’s already way outdated, but I’m a cheap bastard) but as far as I can tell, that’s gonna cost about $1000. Which I don’t have. Well, I do, but that’s not what it’s for.

Financially, my goal right now is to pay down my student loan, and save up for a trip to Isle of Man. Which is getting towards not-possible, since the time is rolling around, and I still have no frame of reference, no concept of a ballpark on the cost. I’m afraid by the time it becomes clear, it will be too late to put any money into it.

I was going through my papers last night and as far as I can tell, I haven’t paid off any of my student loan. This is shit. So that’s the new focus.


Other goals:

Long Term:
Pay off my student loans- best I can guess is that this might take ten years. That sucks, and I need to find a better way.
Invest a lot more in my 401K—can’t happen until after the loan is gone. That sucks too.
More travel-- Australia sounds interesting, as does Spain, Italy, pretty much anywhere…

Mid-Term:
Isle of Man, Ireland trip-- needs planning, starting with dates, then ferry reservations, hotel/camping reservations, and airline reservations. Transportation in Ireland means finding a bike rental (not easy from what I’m hearing) or learning to drive a car.
Begin learning Mandarin—Paul and I plan to take a city college class this Fall
Christmas—wouldn’t it be nice to actually make instead of buy? Yeah, like that will happen!
More dirt riding!—It’s too hot right now, but it seems like we are close to finally having all the components needed to get our bikes into the dirt. The Sheetiron is non-negotiable. So preparation would be good, when the weather calms down.
Endurocross in Vegas-- Event tickets are already purchased, need to book hotel + air. It's the weekend of November 19th, promises to be a lot of fun, and we'd love more company.

Short-Term:
Clean out the shit in my apartment. Realistically, I do not sew any more. It’s sad, but there’s an entire room in my apartment FULL of fabric. I have been loathe to give up all my old stuff, wishing that were still something I had the time, space, and talent for.
And the old bike parts, and the new ones I can’t use, and some clothes, and some books, and some art supplies. Perhaps I ought to make a list of crap and see if anyone I know wants it.

Finish the SV650 project: the bars are not in yet (“sometime this week”) and I need to order gaiters. The scottoiler ought to go on or away.

More micro-movements on what I think matters—I’m killing the MBNA account, on account of, MBNA is the devil. I’m telling the favorite clothing retailer to shove it until their political contributions either go away, or become more representative of the world I want to live in. I’m thanking my bike insurer for being a big Blue contributer. I’m sending Boxer a note now and then. I want to tell Wells Fargo what I think of their new bullshit security service. (where the customer has to pay to monitor THEIR security fuckups!) What’s next…



I used to have a little quote that my mom had left in my Palm Pilot when she handed it over to me, that said something about “ Long term goals are never realized because they never have top priority.” Something like that. What are you doing to make things happen?

2 comments:

shineyspikeything said...

Actually, I ought to note that my greatest short, mid, and long term goal is to spend lots of time with my incredibly Hott Boyfriend.

cstatman said...

i have a 17" flat panel if you want it.