after

seder

student loans

I remember the day when I was debt free. It was great while it lasted.

So due to the crap going on in the market recently the sweet deal that we get through our lender has disappeared. No more 0.5% rate reduction for paying on time (or whatever it was that we were getting). Either way, I now have to pay the full so-so 6.8% on my Staffords and the even more so-so 8.5% on my GradPLUS. I'll milk the former for what it's worth (although it's nowhere as nice as the 1-2% rate I had undergrad) and pay off the latter as quickly as possible.

One thing I will do though is pay off my accrued interest before it gets capitalized. (Reminder to self - pay $5,000 since that's what I can afford and still have money to travel and buy furniture before I start getting paid) One thing they still do that's nice is that additional interest doesn't get capitalized (so the interest is interest free, if that makes any sense at all). In normal speak, if you don't pay it before a certain date, it would be like getting an additional loan your interest.

Oh... and for '09ers and '10ers, you get stuck with paying origination fees - another few grand to the cost of education. Blame the bankers.

more credit cards

I think Malcolm Gladwell would classify me as a Maven when it comes to this. But here's the plan to be even more of a cheap-ass:

Primary card: Chase Freedom Rewards Visa
3% reward on top 3 categories from grocery, gas and convenience, fast food/quick service restaurants, utilities, drug stores, department stores, pets, phone, cable/satellite/internet, local commuting, gym, movie theatres, movie rentals, dry cleaners, salon/spa. 1% reward on everything else. I'll be using this more for grocery, gas, and a mystery third category. It also features automatic payment (so I don't have to worry about it) and a bonus $50 reward if I wait till I get $200 in rewards (virtually unattainable since rewards expire after 3 years).

Secondary card: Discover Miles Card
2% on travel and restaurants - the two things I probably spend a ton on see how I book random trips to DC just to hang out for a day and see a concert. 1% on everything else. And if you're wondering why I'm not speaking in terms of miles, its because 1 mile = 1 cent, and they reimburse your travel expenses based on dollar amount, or you can just get cash (which means it's just a regular rewards card).

Tertiary card: Chase Freedom Rewards Mastercard
This is the same card as the primary card, but I got two just to exploit it a bit more. I'll be using this one for automated bill payments for three categories of utilities, phone, and cable/internet/satellite. That should have a monthly balance of about $200, which saves me about $4 a month. I will then blow that money by flying out to DC to see a concert.

Convenience card: Citi Dividend Mastercard
1% reward, 2% on a number of categories that are redundant with Chase (I think it's grocery, gas, convenience, drug store, utilities). Still an awesome card, but no longer needed given the others. It's the "convenience" card because I have the card number memorized and it has the PayPass key fob that is accepted virtually nowhere. Silly Americans and their unjustified fear of contactless payment...

Travel card: First Internet Bank Visa
No reward, but it's the rare card that only charges a 1% fee on international transactions. If you like being raped with the 3% charge most other banks charge, that's all you. Their ATM is even better. That also charges only the 1%, which they then REIMBURSE up to $6. In Egypt I think we got away with just a dollar of fees. Good times.

Retired card: AMEX Blue
It's a trick. Unless you spend well over $1,000 a month on your card, it makes no sense to use it. Greg, I'm talking to YOU.

the best of times, the worst of times

The worst day this week - Monday:
8:30 - Wake up
9:30 -10:30 - Start preparing for 10:30 Negotiations meeting
10:30 -11:30 - Negotiations meeting
11:30 - 1:00 - Student Government meeting
1:00 - 2:20 - Class - Behavioral Perspectives on Management
2:40 - 4:00 - Class - Consumer Behavior
4:10 - 7:10 - Class - Negotiations
7:30 - 2:00 - Yearbook
and an 8:15 class the following morning!

Best day this week - Thursday:
7:45 - Wake up
8:15 - 9:35 - Class - Product Planning and Development
10:00 - 11:00 - Gym
11:00 - 1:30 - Football, frisbee, then more football in the courtyard, bid on items in the Internship Fund Auction
1:30 - 2:20 - Free good Indian food in the Hall of Mirrors
2:40 - 6:00 - Class - Strategic Leadership Across Sectors with CEOs from Blackstone, MBIA, and Webster Bank, plus others from Charlesbank, Credit Suisse, and ex-SEC chairman/SOM Dean Donaldson
6:00 - Haircut and change of clothes for the Internship Fund Auction
7:00 - Hang out with the guys in our apartment building's courtyard
7:30 - Show up at the auction
2:00 - Go home
and I needed to be at SOM at 9am today!

And now, I'm off to the FOURTH Study Group Celebratory dinner, a late celebration for Mamoun's offer at American Express!

observations

Being able to get home by 7pm is awesome.
Being able to do nothing for several minutes without jeopardizing your ability to meet a deadline is awesome.
Buying four sets of plane tickets in the same month makes for a pretty nasty credit card bill.

am i really moving to seattle?

Yes, although I'll be pulling many disappearing acts right after getting there. This will probably have some pretty negative implications for my social life there, but at least I already know people!

Mid-July: Arrive in Seattle
Jul 21: Start work
Jul 26-27: Go home to Cleveland
Aug 2-6: Brother comes to town
Aug 8-10: Wedding (not mine!)
Aug 16-17: DC
Sep 19-21: High school reunion
Oct 10-12: Yale, NYC

And in case you're wondering about the road trip, here's the tentative plan for everything before I get to Seattle:
Drive to Cleveland
Drive back to New Haven
Fly to Orlando
Drive to Hollywood, FL
Drive back to Orlando
Fly back to CT
Drive to Cleveland
Drive to Baltimore
Drive to DC
Fly to Seattle
Fly back to DC
Drive to Cleveland
to St. Louis
to Dallas
to Houston
to Austin
to Abilene? (because Paige told me there's food there)
to the Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns
to White Sands NM
to Saguaro NP
to Joshua Tree NP?
to Los Angeles
to Seqouia NP/Kings Canyon NP
to Death Valley NP
to Las Vegas
to Grand Canyon NP
to Zion NP
to Bryce Canyon NP?
to Arches NP
to Rocky Mountain NP?
to Badlands NP
to Theodore Roosevelt NP (because it happens to be a state I haven't been to)
to Devils Tower NM
to Yellowstone NP
to Grand Teton NP
to Craters of the Moon NM?
to Seattle

Clearly, I am taking the most direct route possible.

shea

union station

the yale shuttle

Np, we aren't drunk at all.

latin party

to do

I wrote this up today in class. It kinda sucks. Starred items are
urgent. Ugh.

where is everyone?

It's 11:25 and we're supposed to have a 11:30 meeting? Oooh... Food
just arrived.

plastic bottles

Greg, I know you love your Nalgene bottle, but they're too heavy and a bit unwieldy. Instead, I use a cheapass used 20oz. soda bottle. Cheap, light, and very very replaceable.

However, I was just told about the potential dangers of using these bottles. I've been known to use a single one for a month at a time (before losing it), so I decided to check it out. Besides, what's better than procrastinating when I'm just putting off sleep?

So what did I find? Basically everything kills you or makes you sick. All materials can potentially do bad stuff to you. Soda bottles leach metals into your drink. Nalgene bottles can have effects on your endocrine system. Aluminum causes Alzheimer's. Glass can lead to swallowing shards of glass. Everything hosts bacteria. Great.

I think I'll still use soda bottles. As I said before, cheap, light, replaceable. Also, contains less of that harmful metal than ripe fruit, wine, and a ton of other stuff that can kill us if we are exposed to excessive amounts of it. As for bacteria? That's what my immune system is for.

friends map

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, my best friends are in the middle of nowhere. Why? Because they've managed to meet friends from other circles.

learning?

Just froze up again. Thankfully, I saved this time. But it still took 5-10 minutes to fully reboot. Damnit.

damnit

Computer just froze and I spent the last half hour redoing changes to a spreadsheet and a Photoshop file. Damnit. I should save more often, and perhaps be a little bit more careful before closing an auto-recover file.

im racist?

I'm taking procrastination to a whole new level. The question we're looking at is what the ethnic makeup of my IM buddy list is. The sample was taken at 16:12EST and includes people from my "primary" groups on my buddy lists - that meaning the people I consider good friends. The one caveat is that there is a "family" bias. I'm not going to get into what that means.

Here are the results:
Conclusion: None. Seriously... you think all my friends are on IM?
The other conclusion: Microsoft Excel has something against Thai people?

yale, i hope this is worth the effort

creepy

I saw a photo from Halloween of me throwing a football the courtyard while wearing my Riddler costume. I now know exactly how scary looking I was.