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I have Officially Applied to Graduate School

Tonight, I turned in my last application to University of North Carolina. I truly appreciate the online application procedure.

For the record (not that I haven't said it a million times, but still), I've applied to Yale, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, University of Pittsburgh, and Oregon State University.

I'm hoping for Yale or Pitt, but I will be happy to go to any of these places. I just think Yale and Pitt would be fun because I could study pesticides and toxicology along with behavior and ecology.

Now begins the waiting. At least I've got one huge burden off my shoulders.

Sweetest Blogger Ever

award goes to Mikey for always chatting my blog up.

Seriously, I really appreciate the compliment. I enjoy reading Mikey's blog too, as it's usually a dose of new thinking for me, and it's never so heavy that I can't read before lunch. Of course, I never know what songs he puts up on his random lists of lyric snippets (if I can get even one, it's a major accomplishment). But blogging is all about new worlds, isn't it? And Hey Freak is a pretty darn funny new world for me.

The State of Leah Address

a shameless knockoff of The Silver Diner

Like Michel, I haven't been posting much, so maybe it's time for an update. I actually opened up typepad earlier, tried to post, and really couldn't. I've been in a bummy mood for the last week or so, and it's sapped all my will to write.

Christmas was nice. I worked the football game on Christmas Eve, and I ended up selling lemonade because it was in the 60s here. I went to both church services, and I read at the family service. The most touching moment of the evening was at the family service. I was sitting between two foster children that come to my church with their great mom and dad. The younger one is a boy in my Sunday School class, and I adore him. While I was singing with his older sister (biological, actually -- this family fosters siblings), he pulled out his wallet and showed me pictures of his birth parents. The kids love their mom and dad, but I can understand how they might miss their birth parents.

Seeing people has been fun. I loved meeting April, and I hope to see her again soon. A good friend from high school took me to see Harry Potter 4 last week, and he kindly let me cry all over his shoulder for the last fifteen minutes. I did skip a Christmas party with high school acquaintances because I haven't had the energy to deal with that many people.

The laptop fund is going well, thanks to Craigslist and Ebay. I honestly couldn't do it without the help of my dad and my older brother. As a side benefit, we're clearing out some clutter in this house that hasn't seen daylight in several years. In the garage, they got five boxes of Halloween stuff down to two.

I'm in Seattle for the duration, and I don't know what to do with myself. I'm half-heartedly looking for a job or for some volunteer stuff. I'd like to do some traveling here in February or March.

Grad school apps are almost done. I just have to finish the UNC app. For the record, I've applied to Yale, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, University of Pittsburgh, and Oregon State University. I won't know where I got in until April, although I might get called for interviews. The whole thing is one big mystery to me.

No plans yet for New Year's Eve, and I'm surprised no one has called to ask me to babysit. In all likelihood, I will stay home, read some of Freakonomics (excellent book, btw), and get some sleep.

Upon the New Year's, I plan on starting an exercise plan. My dad and I have a little bit of a wager with my little brother. I don't bet, so my body is the only involvement I have. My little brother won't be back from New Zealand until June or July, so we have until then to lose some weight. Combined, my dad and I need to lose 60 pounds. It's a tall order, and he's going to have to buck up, because I can't lose all 60 by myself without becoming anorexic.

On that happy note, I'll take my leave. I'm going to go hang out with the neighbor's cat for some quality time.

I guestblogged

over at feeling listless about one thing I accomplished this year that I've always wanted to do. Okay, it was really three things. Anyway, go check out my story!

I am Buying a Mac

Two questions remain:

What?
When?

Craigslist: MDGS

Modern Day Garage Sale :-)

It's a craigslisting kind of household here. We've been posting a bunch, and we made $20 last night. sure, it's not tons, but we're getting rid of stuff, and it's easier than a garage sale. Besides, every little bit gets me closer to my ideal baby.

Now, it's just about waiting for the phone calls. I can see my new laptop already . . .

Miscellany

April is fantabulous. We had a great time, altho we probably spent too much time eating. We made lots of food when she was visiting (kabobs, chocolate dipped apricots and cashews, mint bars, and egg sandwiches come to mind). Additionally, we discovered that we are way too alike for our own good, but it's fun anyway. I'm so glad she came to visit me, and I hope to go see her and her attic sometime after the New Year. She's even got me thinking about an ibook/powerbook (now it's just the superdrive or not? discussion. I do like the 12incher, so it might be a powerbook with a superdrive . . . . )

The next two days is a big push to finish all my grad school apps before deadlines so I can stop stressing about them. After that is decluttering. Actually, lots of decluttering has been happening around the house. We are craigslisting a bunch of stuff, and we've made $45 so far from various bits and pieces of things. We are a strange family, but even the decluttering will wear thin by the end of the vacation, I think. Ultimately, we're hoping we can make a big push this year and then be done with this all for good, so that during our next Christmas foray we can just get down to the business of family merriment (or playing Ubi, which we shared with April. Ubi, now, there's an amazing "board" game).

Off to babysit now. It's unfortunately necessary to work to replace the bankbook hit of car insurance (6 mo), health insurance (3 mo), and grad school (!!!) all in one month. Ducky.

Bird by Bird

I finished my University of Michigan application today. Just four more to go.

The Library and Me

I have a thirty cent fine because I forgot to return a book. It's renew now, so I have another opportunity to forget to take it back.

More amazing, however, is the fact that I can pay this thirty cent fee online with my credit card.

Would the fee for using a credit card fairly well wipe out the fine I'm paying the library? I think I'll pay in person the next time I go to drop off a book, thanks. I'd like my money to actually support the library I appreciate.

ATM fees

While I was in Europe, I used the ATM or my credit card for everything. I took no traveller's checks, and I only brought something like E200 with me from the US. My bank charged US$3 for each transaction, so I figured it would be sensible to always do the largest transaction possible.

I never quite sat down and realized the impact of this choice. Tonight, I was talking with someone about ATM fees, and I did some quick calculations.

At US$3 per transaction, I spent that much for E200. If I had taken money out in E20 increments, like some of the other students in my program, I would have spent US$30 per E200.

It gets better.

I spent roughly US$6,000 in Europe. Granted, some of this was on my credit card. For the sake of argument, let's say I withdrew US$4600 from ATMs. This adds up to US$69 in fees. If I had withdrawn the same amount in E20 increments, I would have spent US$690 dollars! I saved US$621 in fees by just being diligent and disciplined.

To put this in further perspective, I spent less than US$621 on any of my individual trips. I spent about US$600 on a 10-day trip to Spain. I spent way less than that on visiting Ireland, France, Germany, and Belgium. If I had spent that US$621 in fees, I probably would have had to forego at least one trip and possibly two.

Absolutely amazing. Money management has such a huge potential to impact one's cash flow, yet so many people focus on making money rather than managing it.