Spending Spree

I don't know what's wrong with me. You'd think that with the impending uncertainty involving Ted's employment that I would be a bit more hesitant to spend my money, but it seems that the opposite is true.

First, there have been the necessities.  For example, the $340 on Fang Heisenburg, our car.  This is in addition to the $1000 for the initial set of repairs and the $300 for the tune-up at Jiffy Lube.  I admit it now: we overpaid for a lemon.  I blame it partially on my health.  We went car shopping very soon after I got out of the hospital, and car shopping took a lot out of me, to the point where I was too willing to settle and neither Ted nor Dad stopped me.  The car itself is a 2002 Ford Escort with 93k miles on it, and we paid about $5600 for it after taxes and fees.  Then there's the $800 insurance that I paid. Car ownership is terrible.

In any case, most of the car expenses have been spread out, so it's not too bad.  It's just that there have been a lot of annoying expenses, lately.  $300 to replace my failing PS3. $120 to replace my failing router (granted, I got a top of the line router).  It just feels like everything is failing around me.  And just a few days ago, Ted's laptop (and only computer) died.

Then of course there's food, and I've been eating a lot of it.  Food can be very expensive when you consume it in those quantities. I felt bad that I was eating so much food, so I picked up the grocery bill by myself several times after getting out of the hospital.

Of course, my real weakness is luxuries. I've been splurging on video games and downloadable content now that I'm enjoying games again.  I've probably spent more than $200 on that stuff in  the past month. Then there's also the Nook for $260 and probably about $100 of e-books.  Pretty soon I'm going to get a Droid X for $200 and I'm going to finally start paying for my cell phone, which will be $40 a month on our special retiree family plan (Dad used to work for Bell Atlantic) including voice and data.  Thank goodness today is payday.

At least I have prescription insurance now! That makes my medicine a lot cheaper at least.  A LOT.

As for my health, things look good right now.  I got the vaccinations that I need in preparation for the splenectomy. I'll be meeting with the surgeon next Friday to schedule that.  My blood cell counts are much better than last week, too.  I did end up coming home an hour early today, though, since my shoulders are kind of hurting at the vaccination sites, it's pretty disracting, and I had reached a good stopping point.

There's a Splenectomy in Your Future

Well, the CT scan showed that the spleen is about twice the size that it should be, so at this point we're pretty sure that it's coming out.  I'm OK with it, and once I convinced Mom that I would be better for it, she seemed to be OK with it too.  I think it was the doctor telling her that there could be leukemic cells hiding in the spleen that finally convinced her that removing the spleen was OK.

I think I might see if I can't get a Droid with a data plan before I go into the hospital.  Hopefully by then my copy of Baldur's Gate will have arrived, and hopefully it will work with PlayOnLinux on my laptop.  And who knows, maybe I'll even do some work while I'm in the hospital this time.

There is some good news: I only have to see the doctor once next week (instead of the previous twice-a-week).  That means I get to go into work four days instead of three. Oh, except the University is closed Monday.  As much as I shouldn't take the time off, maybe I will anyway to spend the day with Ted.  That would be nice.

After my doctor's visit today, I was going to try to get our car inspected for emissions and get a prescription filled.  On the way to the emissions inspection station, Ted discovered that if the Check Engine light is on, you fail automatically, so I'll have to take the car in to the mechanic again tomorrow and hopefully he can fix that before the emissions inspection deadline on the 7th.

Then I went to CVS to get my prescription filled.  First, they had a lot of trouble verifying the prescription. Then when they did, they didn't have the generic version of the drug (tacrolimus). She gave me two pills of the brand name drug for free and told me to come back tomorrow after they ordered the generic stuff.  It's only going to be $5 with my prescription coverage (as opposed to the $200 it was before)!  I don't understand how health insurance/health care works.

Finally, Ted just got the unfortunate news that the NSA will not be hiring him, so pretty soon he'll be unemployed.  If you or anyone you know is looking to hire a math Ph.D., let me know.