I've always tipped people based on how much I enjoyed their service. Friendly people get bigger tips from me. I'm a sucker for someone who makes it seem like they're actually enjoying their job, too.
I took a recent survey on tipping, which is why this subject came up. Here are my answers to the survey:
What about you? How much do you tip, and why?
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Moving
Well, I've moved to the town where I teach college.
This move has been over a year in the making, if you count from when we started looking for a house. We finally bought one in May, but it needed a lot of work. The previous owners hadn't really taken care of the place, so there was lots of fixing up. Plus, we wanted a few new bits and pieces added, like a screened in deck. Construction is still going on, but we moved in anyway so we could get our old house on the market before the holidays.
Moving was a mess! My daughter was car sick driving to the new house the day the movers were bringing all the furniture. She wasn't able to keep down any food until late afternoon, after the movers were finished. After that she's been adjusting well, but she still has little tantrums now and then. The move has been a big stress for her, so hopefully she'll relax more and more as we get settled into the new house.
It's been great being able to walk to school, instead of driving over an hour. But I have loads of grading to catch up on that I wasn't able to do the week of the move, so I'm using all that extra time grading and unpacking!
This move has been over a year in the making, if you count from when we started looking for a house. We finally bought one in May, but it needed a lot of work. The previous owners hadn't really taken care of the place, so there was lots of fixing up. Plus, we wanted a few new bits and pieces added, like a screened in deck. Construction is still going on, but we moved in anyway so we could get our old house on the market before the holidays.
Moving was a mess! My daughter was car sick driving to the new house the day the movers were bringing all the furniture. She wasn't able to keep down any food until late afternoon, after the movers were finished. After that she's been adjusting well, but she still has little tantrums now and then. The move has been a big stress for her, so hopefully she'll relax more and more as we get settled into the new house.
It's been great being able to walk to school, instead of driving over an hour. But I have loads of grading to catch up on that I wasn't able to do the week of the move, so I'm using all that extra time grading and unpacking!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
On Being Sick
I didn't manage to miss the usual round of flu that hits a college when students come back together after the summer this year.
My daughter came down with it first, and only had a couple of days of being sick. So when my wife and I started showing symptoms, we figured we'd have a couple of days of feeling bad and that'd be that.
Apparently my daughter's immune system kicks butt. So far we've been sick for about a week, and have only just started feeling better. It'll probably be another week before we're back to 100%.
It's interesting being sick...you feel like you're going to die, even though you know you won't. You can't manage to get motivated to do any of the things you really need to do (after all, if you're going to die, what use is grading papers?)
Getting better is almost as bad as getting sick. You have to make the transition from laying around resting to resuming your normal responsibilities. It's a big stress on your body, since you usually have to do this before you're 100%. So you end up feeling even more exhausted at the end of the day than you did when you were sick.
Maybe I'm still running a fever? Or does anyone else think about things like this?
My daughter came down with it first, and only had a couple of days of being sick. So when my wife and I started showing symptoms, we figured we'd have a couple of days of feeling bad and that'd be that.
Apparently my daughter's immune system kicks butt. So far we've been sick for about a week, and have only just started feeling better. It'll probably be another week before we're back to 100%.
It's interesting being sick...you feel like you're going to die, even though you know you won't. You can't manage to get motivated to do any of the things you really need to do (after all, if you're going to die, what use is grading papers?)
Getting better is almost as bad as getting sick. You have to make the transition from laying around resting to resuming your normal responsibilities. It's a big stress on your body, since you usually have to do this before you're 100%. So you end up feeling even more exhausted at the end of the day than you did when you were sick.
Maybe I'm still running a fever? Or does anyone else think about things like this?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Language Is So Limiting!
My daughter is just a bit over two-years old and isn't saying many words yet. The words she does say are generally announcements, very deliberately pronounced and used for a specific purpose.
When she really wants to communicate, she uses a combination of sign language and vocalizations. I have to say, she does a much better job of getting her point across like this than most people do with words.
For example, using words I might say "That was huge!" and someone would understand that I meant something was larger than normal. But my daughter would use her vocalization that means "big", and exaggerate it quite a bit, and you'd know for certain the she was talking about something HUGE!
We tend to leave out the emotional aspect of communication when we use words, and that's such a big part of communication anything effectively.
When she really wants to communicate, she uses a combination of sign language and vocalizations. I have to say, she does a much better job of getting her point across like this than most people do with words.
For example, using words I might say "That was huge!" and someone would understand that I meant something was larger than normal. But my daughter would use her vocalization that means "big", and exaggerate it quite a bit, and you'd know for certain the she was talking about something HUGE!
We tend to leave out the emotional aspect of communication when we use words, and that's such a big part of communication anything effectively.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
MDA Jail & Bail
I participated in the Muscular Dystrophy Association's local Jail and Bail fundraiser today.
They're supposed to choose prominent people from the community, the sorts of people who have large networks and can raise a lot of money for the cause.
Somehow they ended up with me.
They actually pick a lot of people from the community, so there were many people who weren't highly placed executives. I raised about $400, mostly by sending emails to nearly everyone I knew (if I missed you, sorry!)
I included a lot of my ex-students from Franklin University in the list, many of whom are international students. I had some of them contact me, worried that I really was going to jail. I hadn't stopped to think that they wouldn't have heard about this sort of fundraiser before!
The event was a lot of fun. For every so many dollars you raised they gave you poker chips, and then they had an organization there running casino games. I played blackjack and actually won, which never happens when I'm playing with real money. I learned to play craps...I did well, but I'm glad I wasn't using real money. There's a lot to keep track of in that game.
All in all, it was the most fun I've ever had in jail!
They'll leave the web page for donations up for another month, so if you feel like you want to donate to a worthy cause, you can go to my donation page.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Starting Out With Pay Per Post
I've recently joined payperpost, a marketplace where you can get paid to write blog posts.
Before you start to worry, I don't intend to have every post I write here be a paid post, and I don't intend to start writing reviews for fishing lures. All the paid posts I write will be posts I would have written anyway, with the only difference being that I now get paid for it.
It was a bit of a pain to get approved by PayPerPost.com, so if you decide you want to do it here are the requirements I got hung up on as I went along:
The marketplace on PayPerPost.com is pretty nice. Advertisers post opportunities and can restrict them to blogs with specific topics, minimum page rank, etc. The opportunities your blog qualifies for are colored differently from the ones you don't qualify for, so you can easily tell which ones to look at further.
One of the best features of PayPerPost.com is that I can now display their Review This Post badge. This allows you, if you are not currently a member of PayPerPost.com, to get paid to review one of my blog posts. You have to have a blog, of course, and it has to get approved by PayPerPost.com, but you can get paid $7.50 for reviewing on of my posts on your blog.
To take advantage of this, you click the Get Paid To Review My Post graphic in the sidebar, and then signup for PayPerPost.com. Once you're a member and your blog gets approved, you'll have an opportunity that pays you to review my post. You can also provide the same deal to your readers. You can review any post, not just the ones that I was paid to write.
PayPerPost.com won't make you rich, but a few extra dollars never hurts. In fact, I was paid to write this post!
Before you start to worry, I don't intend to have every post I write here be a paid post, and I don't intend to start writing reviews for fishing lures. All the paid posts I write will be posts I would have written anyway, with the only difference being that I now get paid for it.
It was a bit of a pain to get approved by PayPerPost.com, so if you decide you want to do it here are the requirements I got hung up on as I went along:
- Your blog must be at least 90 days old
- Your blog must have at least 20 posts in the last 90 days
- Your blog must display multiple posts on your front page
The marketplace on PayPerPost.com is pretty nice. Advertisers post opportunities and can restrict them to blogs with specific topics, minimum page rank, etc. The opportunities your blog qualifies for are colored differently from the ones you don't qualify for, so you can easily tell which ones to look at further.
One of the best features of PayPerPost.com is that I can now display their Review This Post badge. This allows you, if you are not currently a member of PayPerPost.com, to get paid to review one of my blog posts. You have to have a blog, of course, and it has to get approved by PayPerPost.com, but you can get paid $7.50 for reviewing on of my posts on your blog.
To take advantage of this, you click the Get Paid To Review My Post graphic in the sidebar, and then signup for PayPerPost.com. Once you're a member and your blog gets approved, you'll have an opportunity that pays you to review my post. You can also provide the same deal to your readers. You can review any post, not just the ones that I was paid to write.
PayPerPost.com won't make you rich, but a few extra dollars never hurts. In fact, I was paid to write this post!
Mvelopes Update
The latest word on my trouble ticket with Mvelopes, concerning their problems getting my transactions automatically from my credit union, is that they've given up.
This is really disappointing! The software looks great, and it would save loads of time over using Quicken for envelop budgeting. But just as I'd gotten into the idea of never entering another transaction again, I find out I'm going to have to manually enter all my checks.
Objectively, this isn't that big a deal. I'm already manually entering checks, and credit card, and PayPal transactions. With Mvelopes I'll only be entering checks.
Subjectively, though, it sucks. I'm yanked out of the rosy world of no data entry, back into the world where it takes time to manage my finances.
I'll get over it, I'm sure.
This is really disappointing! The software looks great, and it would save loads of time over using Quicken for envelop budgeting. But just as I'd gotten into the idea of never entering another transaction again, I find out I'm going to have to manually enter all my checks.
Objectively, this isn't that big a deal. I'm already manually entering checks, and credit card, and PayPal transactions. With Mvelopes I'll only be entering checks.
Subjectively, though, it sucks. I'm yanked out of the rosy world of no data entry, back into the world where it takes time to manage my finances.
I'll get over it, I'm sure.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Mvelopes First Look
I wrote before about Mvelopes.com, online budgeting software that uses the envelope budgeting concept.
I signed up for the free trial to see if it looked like I could easily switch over from Quicken. Doing envelope budgeting in Quicken is possible, but you have to jump through a number of hoops. And envelope budgeting is the absolute best way to manage your money, so I'd love to have a system that supported it directly.
Initially, Mvelopes looked great. I hit a snag when I tried to hook it up with my online banking account. Mvelopes will automatically pull recent transactions from online accounts, and it worked fine for my credit card and PayPal accounts. But it couldn't get into my online banking, because of security questions the bank forced you to answer.
I contacted Mvelopes support, and they submitted a trouble ticket. That ticket has been automatically escalated several times, and still no sign of a solution.
It's too bad. From what I saw of the software, it worked exactly the way I wanted it to work. I suppose I could use it by manually entering my banking transactions, since I have to do that in Quicken anyway, but I'd hate to start doing that and then have to adjust somehow when they get the automatic import working.
So, Mvelopes looks good, but I haven't been able to give it a good workout yet.
I signed up for the free trial to see if it looked like I could easily switch over from Quicken. Doing envelope budgeting in Quicken is possible, but you have to jump through a number of hoops. And envelope budgeting is the absolute best way to manage your money, so I'd love to have a system that supported it directly.
Initially, Mvelopes looked great. I hit a snag when I tried to hook it up with my online banking account. Mvelopes will automatically pull recent transactions from online accounts, and it worked fine for my credit card and PayPal accounts. But it couldn't get into my online banking, because of security questions the bank forced you to answer.
I contacted Mvelopes support, and they submitted a trouble ticket. That ticket has been automatically escalated several times, and still no sign of a solution.
It's too bad. From what I saw of the software, it worked exactly the way I wanted it to work. I suppose I could use it by manually entering my banking transactions, since I have to do that in Quicken anyway, but I'd hate to start doing that and then have to adjust somehow when they get the automatic import working.
So, Mvelopes looks good, but I haven't been able to give it a good workout yet.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Origins Recap
It's been about a week since Origins, and I'm just about recovered.
I played a variety of roleplaying games, both tabletop and live action. The most fun of the live action games was a Wild West game that used rubber band guns as firearms. There was one section of the adventure where we had to do the traditional shootout storming bandits in the rocks that was a lot of fun. Rubber bands don't shoot straight, though!
The Osiris Sanction was another new live action game that put you as part of a team infiltrating a computer system in virtual reality. You had to avoid the guards, hack into computer systems, pick locks, disarm bombs, and the like. It was fun, although not quite what I'm used to in live action roleplaying games. In particular, it was entirely based on the mission, there wasn't any roleplaying about it.
I also played in a couple of Call of Cthulhu games, including one live action game. Those are always a lot of fun. I normally run Call of Cthulhu games, so it's fun to play in them at conventions. If you've never played, Call of Cthulhu games are basically like a cheesy horror film where you're the star. Your character will probably go insane by the end of the game, and might even get killed. The object isn't to avoid these outcomes, but to have fun playing in the horror genre.
Finally, I played in several Quick Ass Game System games. This is a nice light roleplaying system that is suitable for pretty much any genre. The Hex Games folks who run the games at Origins are guaranteed to show you a good time, and no experience is necessary. I always try to play in as many of their games as possible.
I had the hardest time finding anything to spend money on in the dealer's room this year, which is unusual. Normally it's hard for me to not come home laden with new board games. I went with a list of games I wanted to buy, and wasn't able to find any of them there! I finally had to resort to ordering them online after the convention.
If you're in the Ohio area, check out Origins next year. It's a great time, and plenty of the games welcome complete newcomers to roleplaying. There are also tons of board games to play, and free movies pretty much constantly throughout the convention.
I played a variety of roleplaying games, both tabletop and live action. The most fun of the live action games was a Wild West game that used rubber band guns as firearms. There was one section of the adventure where we had to do the traditional shootout storming bandits in the rocks that was a lot of fun. Rubber bands don't shoot straight, though!
The Osiris Sanction was another new live action game that put you as part of a team infiltrating a computer system in virtual reality. You had to avoid the guards, hack into computer systems, pick locks, disarm bombs, and the like. It was fun, although not quite what I'm used to in live action roleplaying games. In particular, it was entirely based on the mission, there wasn't any roleplaying about it.
I also played in a couple of Call of Cthulhu games, including one live action game. Those are always a lot of fun. I normally run Call of Cthulhu games, so it's fun to play in them at conventions. If you've never played, Call of Cthulhu games are basically like a cheesy horror film where you're the star. Your character will probably go insane by the end of the game, and might even get killed. The object isn't to avoid these outcomes, but to have fun playing in the horror genre.
Finally, I played in several Quick Ass Game System games. This is a nice light roleplaying system that is suitable for pretty much any genre. The Hex Games folks who run the games at Origins are guaranteed to show you a good time, and no experience is necessary. I always try to play in as many of their games as possible.
I had the hardest time finding anything to spend money on in the dealer's room this year, which is unusual. Normally it's hard for me to not come home laden with new board games. I went with a list of games I wanted to buy, and wasn't able to find any of them there! I finally had to resort to ordering them online after the convention.
If you're in the Ohio area, check out Origins next year. It's a great time, and plenty of the games welcome complete newcomers to roleplaying. There are also tons of board games to play, and free movies pretty much constantly throughout the convention.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Origins
Well, Origins, the big gaming convention here in town, is over.
I'm exhausted! I had my best day Saturday, with three live action roleplaying games that were absolute blasts. Unfortunately, by the time I drug myself home at about one in the morning, I was so wired from the excitement of the day I couldn't get to sleep until about 7:00am.
Then it was up at 10:00am to get back in time for some afternoon games. So I'm dragging now, and will leave this post as it is. I'll write more later in the week about the games.
I'm exhausted! I had my best day Saturday, with three live action roleplaying games that were absolute blasts. Unfortunately, by the time I drug myself home at about one in the morning, I was so wired from the excitement of the day I couldn't get to sleep until about 7:00am.
Then it was up at 10:00am to get back in time for some afternoon games. So I'm dragging now, and will leave this post as it is. I'll write more later in the week about the games.
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