miclason's Personal Finance Blog

FINALLY! my income tax return is ready!!! woo-hoo! $172...see it come and go, as it has already been allocated for debt (this one goes to B.Agricol.a.)...oh, but, of course, instead of depositing it directly in my account (as I had requested!), they issued it through another one, so today I have to go to the bank at noon to withdraw it and then go pay it! ....oh, well, at least it's here!

Ok, I admit it, I'm a hopeless sentimental and good-byes are really (REALLY) hard for me...this past weekend I went to my former boss' farewell party (VP)...needless to say, my eyes started watering the moment I said Hello and, once they showed a video the guys from the office made for him, there was no stopping me from crying....it was like Niagara falls!...awful, awful...to the point where people were asking if I was ok...and this was BEFORE I had to officially say good-bye to him!...and, on top of that, my other former boss (the director)is also relocating in about a week, so I had to say good-bye to him and his wife (the ones that have helped me with Ale's school)...so, I've been in "cry mode" the whole weekend...literally, you can make me cry just by looking at me right now...
(I KNEW there was a reason I NEVER went to ANY of the other farewell parties!!)...but, after all he did for me, how could I NOT go to this one??...there I go, crying again!!!...ok, I'll log off and go home now! ugh!

WOO-HOO!...I was thinking of doing something really cheap (but really cool) and just getting a thin board and paint it pink and put some giant stickers- Disney Princesses, what else!...ok, maybe Hello Kitty!), or buy one of those plastic curtains (kind of like beaded courtains, but with platic shapes, like flowers or hearts or...what else! Hello Kitty!)....and, was going to start quoting the stuff this weekend (I know the stickers were going to be $3!)...when my niece announced that, since her dad is upgrading her little brother's room, he was getting rid of the old furniture and she asked if she could have it (smart girl!)...so, Ale gets the headboard and niece gets the dresser...she also asked for the night-table, although we are not yet sure who will keep it/where they'll put it!...Niece is a wonder with furniture arrangement (you'll shake your head and say: It won't fit, and if it does, it'll look crammed...and she'll find a way to make it fit AND look good and spacious!...I always said she should be an interior designer!)...bottom line is, we have a new headboard....and it was FREE!!!...didn't even have to pay for transportation!!

...I´ve been asking for extra money and, yesterday I got an email from my previous job inquiring about a translation for this weekend (they haven´t sent the document yet, though) and, today I got a call to go do a job for a documentary producer (just voice over)...those are fun and generally well paid!...so, tomorrow I´m supposed to go there at 9am...I´ll probably be home in time to cook lunch and, they generally pay within 15 days! woo-hoo!!

well, not counting the stuff I took from our stock of school supplies, I spent $24...and I'm still missing a couple of things which might be about $5....
and that does not include 2 dictionaries (Spanish/Spanish and English/English) and a school planner for $13 total...
so far, Ale's first grade is costing:

$200 - English books
$330 - enrollment fee
$33- Spanish books
~$30- school supplies
$9 - school bag
$13- dictionaries and planner
=====
$615

and I haven't bought shoes and uniforms (I'm waiting to see if at least SOMETHING fits by the time she has to start school!)...the good news is, so far, only $115 have come out of my pocket, since I did get those $500 from J, as help for Ale...

soooo....since the price of corn has almost doubled, prices at the marketplace are already rising:

onions used to be $0.15 each, now= $0.25
lb of beans was $0.56, now= $0.64
platains were 6 X $1.00, now you get 5
tomatos remain at $0.25 by some miracle...

and, potatoes have gone down...they were 5lbs/1$ and this weekend they were 7lb/$1...

It's my turn to do grocery shopping this weekend...we'll see how far I can stretch my $$$

tortillas are the basis of Salvadoran diet, so, if tortillas become more expensive, EVERYTHING will soon be more expensive, too!!...they used to be $0.04 each and now they're $0.05 each!!...we hardly ever eat tortillas at my house (or bread, for that matter...did you know white bread is considered a "luxury item" by some segments of the population here??) but, if corn prices go up, soon everything else follows!...because of the atypical rainy season we're having, corn is scarce....ES is opening it's borders to Honduran and Nicaraguan corn to try to bring down the price a bit...I do hope the Salvadoran corn crops can be saved, though!

...I took Fiona for her annual vaccines/deworming and a nail clipping (I don't have the stomach to do this myself, I'm always afraid of hurting her!)...$40...eye doctor appointment for myself (my eye had a red spot!!) and Ale (annual exam!)... $35 ($16 for Dr and $19 for eye drops!)...now, besides the appointment for myself, which was due to "illness", everything else should have been programmed, preferably before May or after August, so it didn't coincide with school expenses!!!! ((kicking myself over this!))
oh, and the Dr said there's nothing wrong with my eye, that I've probably just been too stressed and the blood pressure broke some veins in my eyes...said I should be back to normal in 15 days...and I can wear my contacts once the discomfort passes!...Ale's sight is perfect, but she DOES have a slight allergie (either from the pool or from kitty!)....

I have the day off today!...I´m taking advantage of it NOT being a holiday in ES to do a lot of stuff I normally don´t have the time to (go to Ale´s school and pay for her Spanish books...school is open from 7:30-4:00pm), go to the eye doctor (I thought I could do it this morning, but he only comes in the afternoon on Wednesdays!)...take my niece job hunting!...make cc and other payments...oh, Joy of Joys!!..lol!
wish us luck!

ok, a list of $$$ that is "pending" coming in:

$172 - income tax return (STILL!)
$74 - translations
$261 - translations

I DO hope I get this before the 16th!...it's all allocated to debt already!!

a friend of our family gave her $25...she decided she did NOT want to save any of it!!!...she spent $4.50 at the little store at the country club...then he bought 2 pairs of shoes (she asked me to take her to a store where she had seen a 2X1 special) for $10...then she said she wanted toys, and asked me to take her somplace where she could buy them...I took her to the toy section of the dept store, as they were having "an additional 35% off sale prices" if purchase was made with store card...she wandered the aisles looking at what she could buy for $10....she then found the "additional 35%" aisle and asked the saleslady to check on final prices for several things...she finally decided on a "potty training Kelly" for $9.49....
I charged it on my card and she gave me $9.49 to pay it off right then and there!...she then spent $0.25 on gum from a gum ball machine...so she still has $0.80 left...perhaps I could persuade her to save THAT???
All in all, she didn't do too bad for a 7-year old...at least she looked for bargains!

LOL!...well, no, not really, but, at least now the places in the cementery and the funerals are all paid off! Yay!...officially, July would have been the last payment, but, I called the company and the lady that handles billings told me I had 2 options:
1. Make only the June payment ($35.33) and then finish paying in July (another $35.33), or
2. pay $42.18 and finish paying NOW!...

guess what I did?? (the difference is for debt insurance, taxes, interest and fees!- OUCH!)...
....now, the cementery lot is ok (fits 5, and only mom and dad are there at the moment), but the funeral services were 3, so that leaves only 1 paid for/available....and there's still 4 of us! (sis, Ale, niece, nephew and myself!)...and while some would rather shut their eyes to the possibilities, we all WILL die someday!...

you've read my rants about my cousin and the $1,ooo in phone calls her son made on my line...this is VERY old news (this was in January of 2006!)....and how she had only repaid $300....well, she gave me $100 towards this debt yesterday!!...
I am truly amazed!... I honestly thought this was going to be one of those times when she promised and "something came up" at the last minute!!...
I just HAD to tell you all!

1. Control expenses and make sure total is at or below budgeted amounts for category/month, any “leftovers” in categories will go towards debt!...tsk, tsk...haven't really been taking good care of this, but, I KNOW I've been putting money towards debt like crazy!...I also know I've been spending on silly unnecessary stuff...like pizza on the weekends at least once a month!

2. Continue to lower my overall debt - I started Jan 05 with ~$17K and Jan 06 with $~11K (with ~$8K for a loan and ~$3K in cc debt)... Jan '07 started with $16.5K …. Expect to pay about $5K this year- not counting interest! doable as per my projections!...

3. Start my own business– formally: E-Spiral is the name, translation is our business (G-d and Ale are my partners!)… and contact at least 4 new potential customers per month, so as to find 50 pages of translations per month in 1Q07, getting to 150 in 4Q07…. From Jan – July: 40% of each job will go towards debt, 40% back into the business, 10% into savings (to fund my Freedom Fund!) and 10% to the Padre Vito Guarato Home. From Aug-Dec 07 percentages to be 30,40,20,10 ….hopefully, I’ll be able to quit my current job by mid 2008!! hmmm, I actually stopped this when I got the new job...re-starting now that I feel more "settled in"...I actually have new contacts!
4. Help Ale earn/save $25 for her savings account by 071231! still at $5...have 6 months to help her come up with $20!....

well, I still haven't been paid for the first one (payment is due on 6/30), and already got more translations...the first one was billed at $74 and, this one was much longer, so it'll be $261!...
I'm $150 from recovering my "missed" salary payment...and about $700 away from undoing the damage that missed payment caused!...still, I already allocated the money and, hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on all my debts sooner than I expected...I see God's hand in all of this, because I had prayed for $600 before the end of this month and, if other payments come through as well (my $172 from income tax return and $100 that I've been promised by cousin towards her debt...we'll see!)then the total would be $607!...I'm going to start praying/giving thanks for $250 in translations each month...

sis took Kitty to the vet for her first check-up and deworming...turns out, Kitty is a MALE kitten....so, we have officially changed the name to Shreck...although, we all keep calling him Kitty out of habit!! LOL!...

Ale is forever asking me to make up stories for her at bedtime....a few months ago I saw an ad for a children's stories writing contest (Charles Perrault children's literature contest), and I thought: I should write a story...then, just 2 days ago, I finally tried to put one of my stories in writing...it's basically the story of Kitty coming home...just using some of our "home names" for the characters...Ale is my Princea Pelipreciosa (a non-existent compound word that means she has beautiful hair!), and my niece is the Pink Princess...I'm still working on proper Queen names for sis and myself...although really, the story is mostly about Kitty and our Fiona (also called Fi, Fiffi, Firi and Fifirififi!)...so...now I'm letting it "sit" for a few days so I can look at it objectively and make changes...the deadline for submitting an entry to the contest is Sept 30, so I have time...the question is: will I dare enter the contest??

I don't know if I mentioned that during our trip to the northern zone our translator was a guy that used to be my best friend at school...(very long, painful story...the short-short-short version: he slept with my boyfriend!)...
back to the present...so, there we were and, all that hatred that I felt for him at one point? GONE!...all the bitterness? GONE!...you know what? forgiveness IS liberating! (I just don't think it's entirely a matter of will, you have to be emotionally ready to let go!)...well, the thing is he came to our house, we chatted for hours and hours and got up to date and, the next day he sent me an email apologising for what had happened over 12 years ago! (I didn't expect that, honestly, if I invited him into my home that meant everything was over)...so, anyway, I wrote him and explained that, from the moment I had invited him, it was because he was forgiven and, that we both knew we ALL had some sort of "fault" in all this, if only in not knowing how to handle all that was happening...so...we are friends again...I don't think we'll ever be "best" friends again (though, who knows? ) ...and, since he' s working on translations now, he sent me some work that he didn't have the time to finish...so, this week I get $74 for that work and, he already knows I'm available from 5pm onwards to do translations!!!...so, besides a renewed friendship (which is priceless) I already got an economic benefit out of the whole thing!

Or, as the song says: No estaba muerta, andaba de parranda!!...lol!..not exactly...

please be patient if you see a lot of typos, the "s" on my keyboard is not working properly!...

As most of you may (or may not) know, I started a new job in April of this year...some days I have little to do....others I have a regular workload and, only occasionally do I have lots to do!...it feels SOOOO weird!...really, it IS weird...most days I'm home by 5:30pm (if you can believe that!)...the monthly pay is only slightly better, but, there's a mid-year bonus and the end-of-year bonus is almost double what I got at the other place...plus, if you take into account quality of life, then it's definetely worth it! (also, if rumors are true, then this was definetely the right decision at the right time!...apparently the other place is going to let go 500 employees before August!)

So, I'm trying to enjoy my time here and not go crazy....my file is perfectly up to date..including the docs that arrived this morning, thank you!...my Outlook Inbox is practically free already (most things have already been taken care of) and I only keep "active" things there...and never for more than a week!...my desk is clean at the end of each day...((cue music from The Twilight Zone))...

Ale is a much happier child, we have time to play and read and watch TV together before bedtime...she just finished her Preparatoria and is ready for the 1st Grade!...since I didn't want her vegetating for 6 weeks, I enrolled her in summer camp at a local club and, she's taking swimming lessons, tennis, karate, ballet and arts and crafts on a rotating schedule from Mon-Fri, 8:30-12:30....her afternoons are blissfully free, so she can rest or play or generally enjoy the art of just 'being' for a change....she's chosen to teach Nanny to write in cursive!...

We have also acquired a new pet...a cat, who now has the un-original name of KITTY...HELLO Kitty is her full name! ...she's a total sweetie....if you are wondering what Fiona (our dog) thinks about this new creature in our house....well, Fiiona thinks Kitty is her puppy...she keeps "cleaning" her (eewwwww, the poor thing ends up covered in dog drool at least 3 times a day!) and steers her out of trouble...literally, the cat cannot take a step without Fiona directing where she should (or shouldn't!) go!...I predict the time is not far when Kitty will teach Fiona the meaning of "giving someone space!!" LOL!...but at least things are peaceful in the house!...
Well, guys, I'm sort of defying all those "no expectation of privacy" warnings that keep popping up on my computer...(no internet service at home...the bills caught up with us!...when you live paycheck to paycheck -- and at minus $200/month!, missing one salary payment has a HUGE impact!...Hoping to report progress soon!)

see? I knew that'd get your attention!!...actually, I DID go on a shopping spree...for stuff I NEED (new shoes for Ale AGAIN!...size 2 this time!!) and a pair of pants for me (to replace ones that nearly disintegrated in the last wash!)...I decided yesterday was a great day to do that, as a popular dept store was having a "yellow tag" sale...meaning for two days only you got 30% already discounted prices on select merchandise...I got Ale 2 pairs of shoes (1 "everyday", 1 tennis shoes) for $26 and, the pants I found were $25 original price, but ended up costing me $12.50....there was other stuff I would have wanted (3 other pairs of pants, all gorgeous, all similarly priced)...but, I really didn't NEED that...I can wait to get that later on, when things have stabilized more financially ...

we had our new furniture installed this week at the office (at one point I was sitting on the floor typing on the laptop and answering phones!...I would post pictures, but cameras are forbidden inside the Embassy building...unless you work for security or for the public affairs office!)...anyway, all that furniture came in boxes...HUGE boxes...I picked the biggest one and brought it home for Ale...she´s having a blast!...right now, she´s just laying inside it with her feet on the edge and laughing like crazy!...she´s decorating the interior with hearts and smiley faces (that´s what she´s reporting right now!)...I don´t think Ale would be more entertained if I had brought the most expensive toy in the world!....last night, the thing was a spaceship going "back to her own country, ten countries away from France" (if anybody can tell me where that might be, please do so, I´m terrible at geography!)...ah, the magic of imagination! ...I actually pity the poor kids that have enough toys that do everything for them!...boxes, pots and pans, twigs....those really are the best!

WOW! I met my boss´ boss' boss this week (yep, three rungs higher than my boss!)...and, when introducing me, my boss mentioned that 60 people had applied for the job I got!...really, WOW!!

I finally went to get my severance check and, it turned out it was more than I thought it would be ($600 instead of $200!)...BUT, regulations required me to endorse it to the employee coop due the loan I have with them... I had much better use for that $$ (applying it towards higher-interest debt!)....oh, well, at least that means I owe the coop nearly $1,300 instead of nearly $1,900!!... gotta look on the bright side, right??

Because I didn´t have my regular income in April, I´ve fallen behind with some payments...rent (I should have had March paid off by the beginning of April, but, I used the rent money to pay for Ale's school and transport)...1 cc (used that $$ to pay for groceries), the bank loan (used that for gas and the nanny)...so now of course I´m trying to play catch up (have half of March rent paid off, so I need to pay for April and half of March by the end of May!)...on a month when I also have to pay for Ale´s school books for next school year (they have to be ordered by end of May, else they won´t get here before the beginning of August!)...Thank God May is a 3-pay period month! (new job pays every other Thursday, so I will get paid on the 3rd, the 17th and the 31st)...this feels so strange!...my old job paid on the 15th and the last of the month!...
Anyway, I have been working my numbers and, between paying for the renewal of my car registration and Ale`s school enrollemnt fee, school supplies and Spanish books in July, it´ll be a good six months before I´m able to catch up totally (meaning I´ll be up to date AND making progress, I already paid the cc, but, because of the many fees for missing that 1 payment, only $7 went towards debt!)
Oh, well, it´s worth it, because by 2008, things WILL be very different!

well, you've read about it, beware of "free" gifts, they might end up costing you $$...

We got a free tank from one of my cousins...it had two ornaments and 2 plants, the filter, a lamp and a fish net...we had to buy sand and a glass to mount the lamp...while it wasn´t all too expensive, it´s still out of budget...($15)...we filled it and it´s working now...we are just waiting a whole day so we can move the fish (and our mermaid!) into it later today...we did not use bottled water, see, but used water that had been "sitting" in our pila for two days, so it should already be free of clorhine...we just want to make sure it´s 100% safe by waiting the customary 3 days before putting them in!...it looks so nice!!!...of course, Ale chose pink sand, and Clau wanted purple sand, so we bought 4lbs of each!...the guy at the store tried to get me to buy gray/tan sand, but, my poor fish are so gray themselves, they would be invisible in that!...so, the move is scheduled for tonight!....I´m so excited!!!

ok, so I asked God for a new job:

1. which paid more than what I was earning...from $12K to $16K per year, gross earnings...and less deductions!!!

2. where people appreciated and recognized my work (it was recognized and appreciated at my previous job, I just didn´t want risking falling into a job that didn´t!)

3. close to my home (5 blocks...I´d say that´s close!)

4. which allowed me more time to be with my daughter (I cannot stay in the premises beyond 6pm without an escort...I leave the office between 5 and 5:30...which means I arrive home between 5:10 and 5:45...at my previous job I left between 6:00 and 8:00...and it took me anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour to get home, depending on traffic!)

5. Interesting, so I wouldn´t be bored or feel like quitting....

So, I just wanted to give Him public thanks for giving me this new job!

Well, the trip to the Northern Zone was really eye-opening...in more than one sense!...
at one point, a very young girl who works for the national development committee came to me and said: I wanted to introduce myself, I hear you are MI, the new admin?...Yes, thank you, we´ve talked so much on the phone these last days...
Next thing I know, I´m in the middle of a semicircle of 5 people, all looking at me with wide admiring eyes...((hello, I´m pretty average looking, really...)) ..then there was this really awkward silence and I said: eh, yes??...and they said: oooh, it´s just that we´ve heard so much about you, they are really impressed with you, they say you´re a superstar...("they" being the country director, deputy country director and program officer)...they did??...yes, superstar, that´s the exact word they used!...((wider eyes on their faces))...oh, really?...
Now, that is actually intimidating...I now have to try to live up to that reputation!!...and, if I think about what I´ve done this past three weeks, nothing seems extraordinary to me...I mean, yes, I´ve added value in small ways, but, I don´t feel I´ve done anything to deserve the "superstar" moniker...
So, this part of the trip was scary, but nice! LOL!

These past two weeks were crazy, but it was worth it!...we had our First Northe rn Zo ne Tour last Wednesday...

To oversee the completion of the compact signed between the Milenium Challenge Corporation and the government of ES, a board of directors, consisting of 4 cabinet members, 2 NGO representatives and 1 private sector representatives was chosen at the beginning of the year...

We helped organize a committee to go to the NZ of the country, where the aid will be concentrated, as this is a "poverty belt"...well,let me tell you, it was EPIC!!!.... we set out at 5:30am, a caravan of 14 vehicles, carrying 60 people....including the ambassador....

So, here I was, little old me, with all these prominent people, whom I see on the news everyday: the minister of education, the minister and viceminister of public works, the minister and vice minister of agriculture, the deputy technical secretary to the presidency, the managing director for our organization, people from the private sector, the ngo representatives, the newly elected executive director and deputy executive director in charge of actually complying with the compact, the coordinator and several members of the National Development Committee...10 drivers,2 translators and some of us "lower level" people from 3 different organizations...no press, so that the attendees could concentrate on actually hearing what the people were saying instead of on what they were going to say to the press!...this was WORK!, not a publicity thing!

It took us 3 hours to get to our first stop, where the group met with mayors on the advisory council, members of a coffee cooperative, cattle farmers and members of a group of municipalities involved in water preservation...

We had a VERY tight schedule, but, the people at the towns we went were VERY organized and managed to stay on track with the time!...

After that first meeting, we left to visit a National Education Institute in a small village 21 kms away...so you have an idea of how bad the roads are there (about $200K for road construction), it took us 45 minutes to get there!!!...We were greeted by the school children, who were waving flags... it was very touching...

Here, the meeting was to hear the expectations and plans of the students, parents and teachers at this little village....the parents said they expected that the educational component of the compact would allow all their children to study and complete their high school education, and, who knows, maybe even go to the university some day...The representative of the private sector asked what they thought were the reasons for the high migration rates this village has and, the parents told her the lack of jobs...being honest, even if you graduate, what then, if there´s really nothing there, no stores, no factories...and, the land is really inhospitable there!...

It was amazing to me to see something so desolate in my country...I would have imagine this was pure forests and, instead, I saw some cows that were kept together only by their hides....trees that twisted in the dry, hot air, like lost souls out of Dante´s inferno...here and there you would see a tiny house made out of tin or cardboard.... and, here and there you would see Mansions (yes, capital M, houses as luxurious as the ones you see in the capital city, only larger!)...these are the homes of the families that receive remittances from the US...I mst say, I understand the lure to migrate...even for those in the mansions....If I had one of those mansions in THAT place, it´d want out....not necessarily to the US, but, at least to the next town!!!! ...but, for those in the tiny shacks....well, just think what they must feel...the difference is really EXTREME!!....

After about an hour and a half of more bad roads, we reached the Lempa river....our ancient Father river...even in dry season, we needed to board the ferry to cross (the compact also includes building a bridge over it)....it was a beautiful spectacle....once all 14 cars were across, we went to yet another town, for yet another meeting, this time with the cattle farmer cooperative, who also explained the opportunities they see with the new road, and with the productive development component of the compact....we had lunch there, organized by the mayors of all these towns we had visited...local river shrimp (they looked more like tiny lobster than shrimp) and hen....quite tasty...

Then back in the cars for the last meeting in a small city, this time on paved roads, but, they were so narrow and full of curves, the cars couldn´t really go much faster than they had on the dirt roads!...

At the last town, the meeting was with the business sector, especifically transport and small commerce representatives...

by this time, it was 4:30pm and, you can imagine how tired everyone was!!!...we left the small city at 6:00pm, back to our capital city....we took a different route this time, and it took only 1 hour and a half to get back home (we COULD have taken this route, but, the whole idea was for this people to actually SEE what the people in the NZ have to live every day and how urgent it is to do something for them and how much of an impact our work will make in their lives)...

Everyone was tired when we left, but, all the people in the caravan where very pleased with the tour and very glad they had joined the tour...could you believe very few of the attendees (me included!) had never visited that part of the country? (where the heaviest fighting was during the war) and, we even had one person who had never actually left the capital city!!!

I don´t have enough time to polish this entry, because Ale wants to play, and it really is a shame, for I know I cannot begin to convey the sense of historic momentum that this trip left in all of us!

I will tell you more about the new job some other time, but, for now, this is the most important thing and, I really wanted to write about it before the feeling goes away!! (and, honestly, I hope it never does, because I feel like I´m really part of something much greater than myself at the moment!)

My first day was good..I got loaded with so much info, my head was swimming by the end of the day...we finished at 4:50pm! unheard of!!!and I felt guilty about it!!...next day was a bit easier, I got access to 1 network (Im going to be working on two networks, but, since I need an id badge, my fingerprint AND a password to log in to the Emb network, I still havent even touched THAT computer!!!...and it is an "Unclassified" station!!!...I do not want to know what they require for someone that uses a classified equipment!) Our whole team here in ES is going to be five people... we will be complete as of April 29, since the development specialist is already hired but finishing his job until that date...Everyone is really nice and they have done their best to make me feel welcome....I have done my best to make myself useful (as much as I possibly can without full acces to everything and with my very limited knowledge of how things work!)...I really think we are going to make a good team!...and, once I get the hang of things and start meeting more people, I wont feel so lost and useless!...They invited us (Ale was included) to go bowling on Tuesday....Ale loved it...and, in typical Ale fashion, half an hour after meeting the people, she was being cuddly to the point of harrassment!...hugging people, tickling them...fighting with them!! ...at one point, one of the women asked me if Ale spoke English and I said: no, not really, why?? ...and she said: Oh, because it looks like she's talking to L. and he doesn't speak A WORD of Spanish!...well, that's never stopped Ale before!!...lol!...

As you can see, I'm quite happy...I predict that in a month it will be as if I had always been there!....(although, I do miss the gang...especially since going from 22 people to 4 feels quite lonesome!) -- oh, well, I get to see them o Friday the 13th, as I'm invited to someone's 30th b-day/engagement party that day!

there are network problems and I cannot print...I NEED to print!!!...otherwise I cannot hand in the manager's travel expense reports!!! H E L P ! ! !....

I already called Help Desk...they are working on it....so, the questino is: can they fix it in time???

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