Yes, it's been awhile, but I found this in my bookmarks and thought, whoops. Time to update!

My company gave a rather generous bonus this year. Well, I thought it was, considering we're not really a large company. However, judging by the smirks on some other coworkers' faces, there was obviously something I was missing, so I asked. TUrns out our company used to give two bonuses/yr, and in the past couple of years (after I joined) the company stopped giving the second bonus. Hmmm.

I guess I see the "rosier side" of things. Coming from the world of acadaemia, where we were forced to pay out of pocket for nearly everything, I was tickled pink to join my current company who picks up the bill for whatever office supplies you need. And free coffee/hot water in the kitchen. Heh.

In terms of offering employees bonuses, well, to behonest, it's not written in company policy that they MUST give bonuses each year. It's a benefit and they can choose to take away benefits at will. Of course, it's a nice perk but, well, it's not something I'd quit my job for. Maybe I'm too complacent? I don't really know. I love my job, I have an easy 10 minute commute, I get what I'd consider decent pay (about mid to high range according to those jobs websites). So for now, I'm quite content =)

I bought some groceries this morning and happened to notice one brand of shampoo on sale. I happened to also have a $1 off coupon- lucky day! However, as I proceeded through checkout, when I handed the coupon over to the cashier, he stared at it like, What. The. Heck? and then sort of stood there like he didn't know what to do. I said, half-jokingly, "It's a coupon."

"I know," he said, slowly. He finally scanned it and, bloop, off came another dollar from my total bill. But he still looked, well, confused.

"Is anything wrong?" I offered.

"No. But, like, that shampoo was already on sale," he said. Like is that a problem??? He then looked at me closely, scrutinizing my face....and if I could place a bet, I'd say he was trying to guesstimate my age. Because, as has happened in the past, cashiers have joked with me about being so young, yet already *into* coupon clipping. I typically joked back that to them to give me a break, I'm a starving student/grad student.

But now I'm a working professional. Sure, I can afford to pay full price for the shampoo. But why not shop for bargains- at any age? It's just the smart thing to do!

I'm such a hypocrite. After yesterday's rally cry, guess who was tucked cozy under her covers at 6AM, instead of jumping up for a run in the beautiful, brisk morning? AHHHHHH!!!!

There's always tomorrow....

Anyway, today was not all unproductive. I had the small, but always welcome, email from Pinecone, this site that pays you to take online surveys, that heralded a $5 deposit. That's lunch money! And speaking of surveys, one of the nearby pharmaceutical companies has a consumer products testing panel- and I got picked! So every so often, I'll get an email inviting me to come in a sniff a bunch of products. I get paid $10. I get $50 if I go participate in a roundtable discussion but those are held mostly during the days. There's no way I can sneak out of work for two hours =(

To top things off, somehow I got it into my cranium to finally give Ebay a go. Though, I must admit, I'm a chicken, I just started off small by listing shoes. My ultimate goal is to sell some of my designer bags but I'm scared S***less about scammers and other lawless felons (heh) that abound on Ebay. So, small steps.