WTF El Torito?

The scene: Last week. Happy hour at El Torito Grill & Bar.

My friend and I split part of the bill on our cards.

My share = $23.18.

His share = $26.

Amount charged to my card per my bank statement $49.18.

Amount charged to his card per his statement $0.

Looks like maybe his card was declined after the fact so they charged my card for his portion... wtf?! Is that allowed? What's weird is that his card was initially processed because the POS created a receipt for him to sign... and I know they didn't swipe my card twice because I only have one charge on my statement; not 2.

In the mean time, I'm waiting for El Torito to call me back. And my friend is cool about it. He said he’ll bring me cash tomorrow.

Peace & love.

J

Julie's Economic Bailout Plan

CC Sabathia, Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Tom Cruise, Shaq, Peyton Manning, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Britney Spears, Diddy and every other individual in Hollywood/professional sports that makes MILLIONS should give their excess to the government. When I say excess, I mean like, everything over, maybe, $200,000? I'm serious. Watching the news lately about Sabathia's 161 MILLION dollar contract with the Yankees makes me sick. The people in this world who deserve be paid even 1/161th of that amount are people like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawkings, Mother Theresa, TEACHERS, etc... people who are/were geniuses, future shapers, empowerers, phenomenal humanitarians; people who make/made a difference. In my opinion, entertainers absolutely do not deserve to make that much money. At least there are people like Oprah, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Angelina Jolie who use some of their fortunes for the wellfare of others. But seriously, CC Sabathia could help bailout California... at least cover a couple days worth of our debt.

J

Must be nice

My favorite part of my job is getting to look through the credit card statements of some high-net-worth clients.

• $10k at a big name department store, in ONE visit, half of which was returned... Buy everything that looks good? Try it on at home? Return what doesn't fit?
• $15 - 35k per month on the AMEX card...
• Having assistants order anything you see and desire in magazines...

I couldn't even imagine.

Hello 2008

So, ever since Salome left me a comment last week that I need to blog more, I've felt this overwhelming guilt and nagging obligation to write something. So here I am...

I got sick on Wednesday, spent Thursday at home, and then went back to work today even though I still didn't feel too hot. We were all moving desks/offices at work today as a result of year-end promotions. Since I got promoted, I got to move from a cubicle to an office, which I'm sharing with another Senior... so I wanted to be at work to make sure no one messed with my desk on moving day.

So anyway... now that it's the new year, my vision insurance coverage starts over and I can get a new prescription and new lenses! Yes, I'm a TOTAL dork. Who gets that excited about new glasses?! Much to my concern, my vision has become blurry and strained since my last check-up, which was only last March! Thankfully my doctor said further worsening can be prevented... I have to have 2 pairs of glasses! I feel like an old lady! Since I'm near-sighted, I'll have a pair of distance glasses for regular use. Then I'll need "computer glasses" for reading, doing work up-close and working on computers. (In case you cared, these will allow my eye muscles to relax when I'm not looking in the distance.) And because I am super sensitive to the sun, I like prescription sunglasses. AND because I'm young and want to switch it up when I go out (if ever), I got contacts. Yeah, so all said and done, I spent about $850 at the optometrist today!! My insurance covered the cost of contacts (fittings, follow-up, etc) and then I had to pay out of pocket for 3 pairs of lenses. And this doesn't even include frames. I brought in my own frames to get the new lenses "installed" in. Well, hopefully since I'll be preventing further worsening of my vision by wearing two different kinds of glasses, I won't have to spend the big bucks again next year!

I was thinking I could get a chain to go around my neck so I could hang my alternate glasses on them... You know, wearing my "computer glasses" and hanging the distance glasses around my neck so they're accessible when I need them! LOL. Could you imagine?

Sorry this was boring, but at least it was something, Salome! I'll get back to being witty when I'm feeling better.

Julie

Fantastic Day

Today was pretty awesome. Today more than EVER I am SO thankful that I live one block from my office. In case you didn't hear, a construction crane fell on the northbound lanes of the 405 freeway today at about 1pm. All lanes were closed. ALL LANES OF THE 405 WERE CLOSED!! for 5 HOURS!! For those of you who don't know LA, the 405 is the lifeblood of So Cal. The only time there is no traffic is probably between 3am and 6am on Sunday. Seriously. As you can imagine, LA was pure madness today. Unfortunately I wasn't actually in my office, so I didn't get to just walk home. I was at a client's office 7 miles away. It took me an hour to get home when it usually takes 30 minutes. Wilshire Blvd East was backed up all the way to Beverly Hills, which is about 5 miles from the 405. Every street leading to Wilshire was backed up. Even though it still took an hour, I was so thankful I didn't still live downtown where I'd probably have to drive 2 hours to get home. The good news is that no one was killed or seriously injured in the accident.

And the most fantastic part of my day is that I'm getting a tax refund of about $1300. Yes, I know this is not good because it means I had too much money withheld for taxes and I didn't earn any interest on this money. I don't care. I AM JUST SO GLAD that I don't owe. I started doing my tax return last week based off my last paycheck, but apparently I had no idea what I was looking at because TurboTax said I owed $400. (I am NOT a tax accountant; I am an auditor.) So praise God that I'm getting a refund because I NEED that money! YAY!!

Peace and love.
J

Good things...

First, SNL was absolutely hysterical last night. Jake Gyllenhaal hosted and the Shins were the musical guests. I was so glad it was funny because the recent episodes I've seen were almost dull. I'd say the whole show last night was great. I laughed the whole time, which I really needed. One of my favorite skits was the opening satire of Bush giving his address on sending more troops. I am not a vocal Bush basher, but when something is funny, you have to admit it and enjoy it. See my next entry for the transcript of the skit.

Yesterday I got a check from my insurance company for my "loss" back in December when my car was broken into and the stereo stolen. I'm pretty sure I made a profit there. They gave me $678!! Sweet. So, today I went over to Best Buy and bought a new stereo. Oh, it's so wonderful to have music in my car again. now I just need to decide whether or not I'll fork out $300 for an alarm...

This morning while hanging out in the youth room before church, I heard a familiar voice coming from the stereo speakers. It sounded like John Mayer, but some of the songs I'd never heard before... So, I opened the CD drawer to find that David left his John Mayer Trio album in there. Well, I didn't have that album, but now I do thanks to iTunes. Falling in love with John all over again. This man is amazing. =) heehee.

Peace and love.
J