April 2005 Archives

Stolen from Jennifer:

Your brain: 80% interpersonal, 120% visual, 100% verbal, and 100% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers.

Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious:

1. Don't date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%.
   
2. Don't be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%.
   
3. Don't have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on Ok Cupid

Stolen from Froggie:

I talk a lot about my friend Erik, probably because he has a lot of great and interesting ideas. Take this one for example -

...know what you want, and then be flexible about when you want it, and you may be surprised with what types of deals turn up eventually.

Erik, his wife, and his two little girls all got into Disneyland for the price of one child's ticket. And they got a free hotel room to boot. How, you ask? Well, read for yourself. And while you're at it, check out the comment I posted to his entry.

My good friend Erik writes about why he feels having separate checking accounts is a bad idea. I see his points; however, I have to disagree that having one sole joint checking account is the best approach.

Mike and I handle our finances in a way that combines the two points of view. We have 3 checking accounts - one for him, one for me, and one for us. All of our bills and eating out and grocery shopping, etc. go on the joint checking account. However, personal expenses like eating out separately, buying clothes, putting gas in the car, etc. go on our separate checking accounts. We feel this works pretty well. We each chip in an equal amount to the joint account (if one was making significantly more than the other, we might switch to a different percentage, but for now it's 50/50). Having separate personal accounts prevents fights over financial matters such as him making a large purchase of computer equipment or me making a large purchase of something else.

We both track our money (me using MS Money, him using Quicken). I track the joint account, but at the end of each much, I give him the amounts for each category and he manually types them into Quicken. This way we are both involved and aware of our finances, but we each feel the freedom of purchasing what we want without having to consult the other. We are aware that most marriages fail because of financial conflicts, so this is our way of sharing the bills, while maintaining our freedom and avoiding fights over money matters.

Having said that, circumstances may change in the future that would make us rethink our approach, but for where we are in our lives right now, this works very well.

Late at night, while you're asleep, do you know what your icons are up to?

Sorry I didn't get a chance to update while in Nebraska...didn't have much internet access. I also just got to approving the comments people left for me this evening.

My grandma's surgery was postponed to Wednesday because they discovered an antibody her body built up from a previous blood transfusion and they had to round up some compatible blood to be on hand just in case. The surgery went very well. They replaced her valve with a pig(!) valve and looked at a bypass that was done over 20 years ago. They figured they would have to replace the bypass since they're only expected to last around 5-10 years (I forget the actual estimate), but the bypass was still in great condition so they didn't want to mess with it. The surgery only lasted a couple hours and she was on a ventilator for a couple hours afterward. Her first night was spent mostly sleeping.

The first day after surgery, she was doing great! They had her up and walking 18 hours after the surgery! They also had her sit up for all 3 meals and use the restroom (no more catheter!) and shower. The hospital staff was really impressed with her recovery (she's 83!).

The second day after surgery (today), she was a bit tuckered out and kept telling them to "lemme alone!" (in a jokingly manner) as they wanted to have her walk and shower some more. She walked, but kept putting off the shower. She also felt a bit nauseous and didn't eat much. The doctors and nurses said it was normal to feel worse the second day after surgery. One doctor said that it's usually the second day after surgery when you get up and see the train that just ran over you!

Anyhow, I am back in California now and have had my fill of hospitals for a while. I'm very glad that I was able to be there for my grandma and even more glad that she made it through okay. She's a tough lady, that one.

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say I'm in Nebraska. My grandma is having open heart surgery on Tuesday, so my mom and I flew out for the week to be with her.

Stolen from Dropping Flower:

You are Valentine Wiggin.


Which Wiggin are you? From the Ender's Game novels
brought to you by Quizilla

Ever have one of the days when you just want to scream?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

That's how I feel today...