There is something both sad and traumatic aboutthe coffeemaker breaking.

Sad in that it has been a part of your daily routine for so long, and is so familiar. Your kitchen just won't be quite the same withoout it.

Traumatic in that you can't have coffee!

So it's off to Wal-Mart to get a replacement. Any recommendations?

The Payment Strategy

The whole plan is to pay off the smallest bill first, take that money and add it to the payment on the next smallest bill until it's paid off, take that combined amount and add it to the next smallest bill, and so on.

I had been paying Household Bank $100 a month, instead of the $30 minimum, because I want to pay them off. Everyone else, I've been paying the minimums.

When I added the $50 Security payment to the $75 B&W Payment, I made two payments of $125 to retire the debt. I will add the $125 to the $100 payment I've been sending to Household Bank, and accelerate the pay off on that card. As soon as that's paid off, I'll add the $225 to the next minimum payment.

Next week, I'll update the table in the right column, removing Security Finance, and adding my next payoff goal. I will always leave the top line as paid as a motivator.

As I was going to say yesterday, I have acheived two of my first ten goals on the "Financial Freedom" list. I paid off the two high-interest loans and have made a vow that I will never go back to them again!

On to goal number three: Household Bank.

I have to say that I am a bit reluctant to give actual figures on how much I owe-- mainly because it's embarrassing. But the first step to getting control of things is to face my ebarassment, ebrace it, and move on.

I owe $1300 now. In order to acheive my goal of paying it off by October 1, I must pay about $260 a month. On the upside, that is about what I was spending on that card and the two paid off loans combined, so it shouldn't be too much of a financial burden.

Which brings me to the payment strategy, which I will discuss tomorrow.

Unless I run across something else that makes me angry.

I was actually going to do a rather interesting entry about goal setting, but then I ran across this. This is a great piece of satire, but make sure you read the actual news stories, first.

All I can say is, "Wow! These NeoCons really do want to bring about the End Times."

And intolerance has spread to Asia! The Hong Kong Disneyland has instituted an Alabama-inspired smoking policy. If you smoke-you can't stay! Maybe Alabama could tailor that law for their deluge of homosexuality. And I think they should add adultery to the list of bad lifestyles.

Sigh! I wonder what Canada's like this time of year?

I can tell you it ain't anything like Texas! Texas: home of fierce football rivalries like UT and A&M and Permian and Odessa high schools in Odessa. Football in Texas is a sancrament. We tell folks that how you play on the field is how you deal with life.

Apparently, we're taking that crap seriously.

Ladies and gentlemen, please bow your heads. We are witnessing the end of a way of life. Cheerleaders in Texas will no longer be allowed to be sexy.

Is there anyway I can object to straitlaced homophobes and have them outlawed?

I had the day off yesterday, and decided to use it doing nothing.

Or, more accurately, reading.

I finished Peter David's latest Star Trek: New Frontier novel After the Fall. I have enjoyed the other books in the New Frontier series, but this one takes a little more getting used to. It is set three years after the last one, and just a few days before Nemesis. Soleta, the former first officer of the Excalibur has defected to the Romulans, Captain Shelby of the Trident has been promoted to admiral, and apparently there was a war.

I have two complaints about the book.

One, it seemed too short. I guess everyone is in anti-Trek mode, so the novel should only be 300 pages, 'cause we'll lose interest. As a result of the length, and reintroducing all the characters and where they are now, it takes half the book to set up the plot. Fortunately, the problem is resolved fairly quickly. This is also the first part of a new trilogy, so the problem is only partly resolved.

Second, All of David's characters argue. And argue. Then they crack a joke. Then they argue some more. Mueller, the new captain of the Trident argues with her second officer; Si Cwan argues with his wife, Robin Loeffler; Selar and Burgoyne argue about their son Xy; the Thallonian Empire argues amongst itself; and Calhoun argues with just about anyone he talks to. While I understand that conflict is a part of drama, this is carrying the conflict too far. At times it seems like an episode of Space:1999 (where a subordinate makes a suggestion in an angry tone, and Koenig yells) or a first season episode of Enterprise (Pretty much everyone gets called an ass at one point or other).

David's real strength is his storytelling, and this story should be a great one. Now I have to wait for the next installment.