Alaska Road Trip: North Pole, Alaska (Part 3)

August 21, 2013 by Mandi

Day 3 – North Pole and a Giant Tube of Oil

Jim’s North Pole, Alaska Christmas Birthday

After the previous day’s flight-seeing induced puke-fest we were in dire need of comfort, so we spent the day indulging in one of our favorite travel hobbies: weird small towns!

We drove some 200 miles north through Fairbanks and straight into North Pole, Alaska where we were promptly eaten by a gigantic Santa.

Santa feeds on milk, cookies, and overgrown children.

Here’s a funny story: My birthday is December 14th, so Christmas and my birthday are almost a package deal. Jim’s birthday is July 5th, he doesn’t associate his birthday Christmas. Well, we fixed that. Behold, CHRISTMAS ON JULY 5th!

We loved North Pole’s reindeer pen. The reindeer walk up close to the fence, giving everyone a great view of their fuzzy antlers and patchy fur. (Plz no one tell them how much I love eating reindeer sausage :P)

We also loved the hand-painted tiles all over the Santa Claus house (and tried our best to replicate the slightly awkward kissing Clauses).

One more thing before we depart North Pole. Here’s our obligatory photo of our well-traveled Wy at the furthest north he’s ever been:

Thanks, North Pole, Alaska – you were a riot! (For anyone wondering, we spent about 2 hours here total, and that was plenty of time to see everything.)

Trans-Alaska Pipeline

On the way back we stopped at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline near Fairbanks, which is all exposed and stuff so you can just walk right up to it and pretend to hug it, which is exactly what we did.

Mandi: hugger of fish, whales, and oil pipelines.

Reach out and touch pipe!

We geeked out about the pipeline for nearly an hour, which is about 50 minutes longer than other visitors hung out. If you like massive engineering projects, you’d love this thing. It’s built to withstand buckling and earthquakes, and it has shipped nearly 16 billion barrels of oil in its 33-some years. Oh, look at me science-ing while there’s talking to do…

Hey, pig. Yeah, you.

The Drive Back

… was uneventful, except for when we stopped at Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn. We had high expectations after seeing their humping bears sign (Alaska is full of weird shit), but it’s just a bar with some barely R-rated sex toys and crude T-shirts for sale.

The drive back was also insanely scenic (Alaska is insanely scenic).

Sadly, our brief time in Alaska is almost over. Tomorrow (here in Part 4) we’ll drive back to Anchorage for an overnight stay before flying back to Seattle on Sunday morning.

Filed Under: Travel & Vacation Tagged With: Alaska, road trip

My Year With a Standing Desk

August 9, 2013 by Mandi

I’ve been using a standing desk for just over a year, and I’m thrilled to report back that I still love it.

Here is the standing desk I built for use at home:

And here is the standing desk my day job graciously provides me with:

My Standing Desk Usage

6:30am – wake up and start standing as I spend the first two hours doing some combination of exercising and working at my computer
8:15am – showering (standing)
8:30am – work prep, cooking breakfast
9:10am – switch to sitting for a 10 minute breakfast
9:20am-9:45 – drive to work
9:45am-9:55 – walk to office from parking
9:55am-12:00pm – I usually stand for the first hour of the day, both in morning meetings and at my desk. By noon, I’ve usually been standing for about 4 hours.
12:00pm-3:00pm – I take my first extended “sit break” of the day. I eat lunch sitting and I just give my feet a rest. My workstation is not comfortable for sitting for long periods so I usually do a mix of standing and sitting for the afternoon. My office serves dinner so I sit to eat dinner and continue working until 7:00.
7:00pm – I go home, sitting all the way in my car, but once I’m home I’m standing again.
7:30pm – 10:00 – I usually like to spend the evening at my computer and going for a ~30 minute walk once the sun sets.
10:15pm – I go to bed, after a day that included about 7-8 hours of standing.

Energy Level

I find I have plenty of strength for morning workouts and evening walks, but I have shortened both my morning workouts and my evening walks because I am just slightly more tired in general. In my workouts, I go for intensity instead of duration. A good dead-lifting day will wipe me out for a couple days, and I often spend the day after a leg day sitting most of the day.

In general, I sleep soundly and wake up rested.

One unexpected side effect is I seem to have lost my ability to sit comfortably for long periods of time. Multi-hour meetings, plane rides, movie theaters all make my legs, back, and butt ache from sitting. I find I fidget more when forced to sit.

Aches and Pains

My heels don’t enjoy standing as much as the rest of me does, but in general my feet and legs feel fine. My legs love standing all day and never seem to get tired. My lower back is pain free (but it always has been). My upper back pain only becomes a problem when I sit and type for long stretches of time (1 hour+). Standing relieves most discomforts, but it comes at the cost of tiring me out.

Focus Levels

I’ve always been a very focused person, but standing puts it on steroids. Standing gives working this sort of “it’s go time!” feeling that’s hard to quantify. I definitely feel more alert and ready for action when standing.

I especially love playing action games while standing. I get super pumped up and excited. XCOM: Enemy Unknown felt extra intense and I felt like I was actually in the field with my dudes while I played standing up. Torchlight II was a blast paired with some awesome loud music and my standing desk. You know how rockstars on stage slam their keyboards and headbang along with the music? That’s me at my standing desk when I play games.

Social Perceptions

I hate being seated when someone is standing over me talking to me. It puts me in a position of feeling “under” whoever is speaking to me. In a sitting desk, this happened all the time. Standing, I feel more confident and just plain better being eye-level with visiting co-workers.

Also, since people can’t pull up a chair and get comfortable at my workstation, I think standing helps keep coworker conversations shorter and more productive.

Weight Loss

It’s not a miracle weight loss solution, but my standing desk did help reverse a six-year trend of slowly gaining weight each passing year. The first six years of my career (as a professional sitter), I gained enough weight to go from 155 lbs to 185 lbs despite being a regular exerciser and a conscientious eater. I couldn’t out-exercise or out-diet the effect of sitting all day. That 30 lb gain happened at a rate of about 5 lbs a year, which was slow enough that I didn’t really notice. I wasn’t obsessive about my weight during these years (I just kind of ignored it, as a software developer I have the luxury of not having to be very image-conscious). I just bought whatever fit, but once the only clothes that fit were coming from the plus size section I freaked out a little.

Switching to a standing desk is the only major change that’s happened to my exercise or diet routine in the past year, so I have to give the standing desk some credit for the 10 lbs I’ve dropped since making the change. Standing all day isn’t a miracle cure, but it was just one more way to add extra activity to my day and that seems to have made a difference.

Filed Under: Home Office Tagged With: standing desk

My Super Fast Bathroom Cleaning Technique

August 5, 2013 by Mandi

Get ready to punch your bathroom IN THE FACE.

This is my <30 minutes, 4 bathrooms, scrub-fest circuit. Your toilets and faucets won’t know what hit them when you’re through this super fast bathroom cleaning circuit.

You wouldn’t guess that my house has 4 bathrooms – 2.5 bathrooms, maybe, but not four. The builder loved bathrooms, but I hate cleaning and I especially hate cleaning bathrooms. I also work full time, have lots of hobbies, and I want this chore done. Like, yesterday. I got very good at cleaning bathrooms very quickly. If you’ve ever wondered how to clean your bathroom(s)(s)(s) as fast as possible, read on!

The Setup

Bathroom-Specific Supplies

I have a dedicated set of toilet-cleaning supplies in each of the bathrooms. Toilet brush, toilet brush holder-cup thing, and toilet cleaning gel. This saves me having to carry any dirty toilet brushes or blue liquids over the carpeted rooms and hallways these bathrooms are attached to.

Traveling Bathroom Supplies

I have a bottle of Lysol spray, scrub brush, and paper towel roll that I carry with me to each bathroom. I store these portable supplies in the first bathroom of the sequence.

The Circuit

Round 1: Toilets, Wastebaskets, Towels

I start in Bathroom A and repeat this sequence in Bathrooms B, C, and D.

Lift the toilet seat and lid and squirt toilet bowl cleaner around the bowl
Take out any used towels and toss on floor outside bathroom
Stack / sort any reading materials that made their way into the bathrooms

Bathroom B has our only functioning shower. For this special case room, I add this step:

Spray the walls and tub with shower cleaner

As I move from one bathroom to the next, I drop towels into the laundry and collect their wastebaskets at the top of the stairs. When the first round is complete, I start round 2.

Round 2: Scrubbing Countertops

Spray the countertop and scrub it clean
Spray the sink and faucet, scrub them clean
Scrub the toothbrush holder (if applicable)
Rinse everything and wipe dry with paper towel

Round 3: Toilet Cleaning

Spray toilet with Lysol, use toilet paper wipe all surfaces including seat top and bottom
Grab toilet brush and scrub the bowl itself
Wipe toilet seat and surfaces dry with toilet paper, toss into bowl
Flush toilet to send blue water and used TP on its way
Clamp toilet brush between seat and bowl so it can drip dry into the bowl

Round 4: Finishing Up

Wash my hands now that I’m done with toilets
In Bathroom B, I turn on the shower head and spray the shower walls clean. Grime and mildew (if any) usually washes away, but if not, I scrub it away. I give the tub a quick once-over with the scrub brush.
From Bathroom C, I get the bag of toilet paper rolls and refresh every bathroom’s stock of TP and then return the bag to Bathroom C if any rolls remain
I collect and empty all wastebaskets into the garbage and recycling bins in the kitchen and put the bins back into their respective bathrooms
Turn off lights as I leave each bathroom for the last time

I can usually run this entire circuit in under 30 minutes. Headphones and some motivational (get this shit done!) music go a long way. :)

More Fast Bathroom Cleaning Tips

Floors

I typically clean the floors in a separate pass because 1) ours don’t seem to get that dirty and 2) they’re not “critical path” the way faucets or toilet paper are (I don’t eat off the floor in the bathroom). When I do clean floors, I just vacuum. I wash the floors just once or twice a year. We’re pretty tidy (no shoes in this house) and our floors are covered in bath mats, which get washed more frequently.

Mirrors

Just spray and wipe, and repeat times however many mirrors you have. I usually do these in a windows & monitors pass. Again, since mirrors aren’t critical path (nor are they very dirty in our house), they don’t get included in the scrubbing circuit described above.

Don’t Make a Mess in the First Place

Prevention goes a long way in bathrooms.

Don’t spit toothpaste all over the sink
Don’t flick toothpaste onto the mirror
Be a product minimalist and reduce how much clutter is kept on the counter tops
Remove used hand towels before they pile halfway to the ceiling

Just Do It

…before it gets any grosser.

Filed Under: Cleaning & Organizing

How to Survive When Life Suddenly Gets Expensive

July 29, 2013 by Mandi

Typical budget advice goes along the lines of “set aside X dollars for Y each month”, and “don’t exceed your spending cap”. But life isn’t predictable. Or at least, mine isn’t. Mine’s more like: spend spend … dry spell … spend spend … dry spell … OMG, EMERGENCY! SPEND! SPEND!

June brought us some nice new things… and some budget spoilers:

– $1000 couch (planned – couch budget was $2500)
– $1200 TV (planned – bought with leftovers from couch budget)
– $600 car insurance payment, which is billed every 6 months (planned)

– $225 for nine inch nails tickets (surprise!)
– $520 on a dental crown for me, yay :( (surprise!)
– $900 on a root canal (surprise!)
-$300 removal of two cysts for me, yay (surprise!)

Holy medical and dental batman, and that’s with insurance coverage for medical and dental.

A common thread: All of the surprise items came with a time imperative. I’m can’t ignore “my-face-is-melting” pain just because I didn’t know to budget for a root canal it going into the month, that’s nuts. Time imperatives are where debt is born. A problem needs to be solved right now, and there’s just no waiting. The only thing that can save you (and your budget) at that point is a well stocked emergency fund.

Savings vs. Emergency Fund

You must build an emergency fund, because shit like this happens at the worst times. It’s a rule of the universe: you lose your job, then a major appliance breaks. You need dental work and your favorite band ever is suddenly touring and tickets are 100 bucks a pop.

“Emergency fund” is a term that gets bandied about a lot on personal finance sites, but I think it’s easy to confuse “savings” and “emergency fund”.

What’s the difference between savings and an emergency fund?

Savings = money you “flag” (mentally or physically by moving it to a special account) as being for a certain thing. You might set aside money for something abstract, such as “the future”, or something concrete, like a piece of furniture, anticipated medical expenses, or perhaps (if you’re super lucky) a vacation. It’s not “emergency fund” money and you should think of this as money you spend very deliberately at some point in the future.

Emergency Fund = money you keep “just in case something horrible happens” is your emergency fund. You don’t know what this money is for, but when you need it you shouldn’t be raiding your “future” fund or your “new couch” fund to cover the emergency. This is for the completely unexpected: you get a flat and need a new tire. You need emergency dental work. An appliance in your home breaks.

How much should be in the emergency fund?

Well, this one’s going to vary person to person, based on location and standard of living, but if I had to put a number on it I’d say $4,000.

Why $4,000?

It’s enough to cover you if dental work and car repairs decide to screw you simultaneously
If you’re a homeowner, $4,000 will replace any major appliance except perhaps a furnace
It’ll also cover a $3,500 water line, should yours blow up right after you lose your job
For many people, $4,000 might get you through two whole months of rent/mortgage, basic utilities, and food (more or less, depending on your cost of living)
It’s a down payment on a replacement vehicle if something happens to yours

Having $4,000 set aside but immediately accessible for “whatever crazy shit happens” is what makes me comfortable – your own number might be higher or lower.

Where to keep it?

I keep my emergency savings in the checking account I share with my husband. The money doesn’t earn interest, but it’s readily available.

My Savings and Emergency Fund in Action

New Couch & TV – from savings

The couch budget was about $2500 worth of savings that we’d set “tagged” as being for a couch we could both fit on at the same time. After 6 years of sharing our too-small sofa we decided we deserved a nice piece of furniture that could meed this basic need.

In the first week of June, we got a fantastic deal on a huge couch we loved from IKEA. Rather than sock away the rest of the couch budget into regular savings, we splurged on a new television. Probably not the most frugal thing to do, but we were feeling saucy after saving so much money on the sofa itself.

Had all the surprise dental work come earlier in the month I doubt we’d have gone couch and TV shopping, but alas, we suck at seeing the future.

$2200 from savings.

Nine Inch Nails tickets – from savings

Omg, I can’t miss NIN. Spending money on experiences is said to be better than spending money on stuff, and NIN shows are one of my most favorite experiences. For me, frugality is about “what can you do without so you can afford the things you really want?”.

This is what savings are for, I told myself as I bought a pair of very expensive concert tickets. I know I’ll have a great time, and hey – at least this time we’ll save on train and hotel tickets since nin’s actually playing in our city now that we live by Seattle.

$225 from savings

Car insurance payment – from savings

I hate this expense but there’s not much avoiding it. A car is necessity for us right now, and while I shop insurance quotes every couple years this is still the best rate I have found. I won’t plug my insurance provider here – at $1200 a year for two ordinary vehicles and two drivers with perfect records, they can spend some of that on their own advertising.

$600 from savings.

Dental work – from emergency fund

My dental work came out of nowhere.

I found out in May that I would need a crown to attempt to salvage a cracked molar, but I wasn’t told the cost until the day of the procedure. I suspect this is a common tactic. Once I’ve gone through all the trouble of establishing myself as a patient of a dentist, setting up an appointment and getting the time off work, I’m unlikely to walk out of the office after hearing the price and just begrudgingly pay it. After all, I was in pain.

There must be a way to price-compare procedures across dental offices. My parents tell me crowns run them about $900, not the $1400 my dentist charged me (which was reduced to $520 after insurance kicked in and after I didn’t need a portion of the procedure they thought I would need). At that price difference, I could fly to Illinois for my next crown and still have money left over.

What I didn’t know was that I would need a root canal after that crown. The crown made the pain worse, and while that was a known possible outcome of the crown procedure, I was pretty cheesed that my pretty new crown had to be drilled into and filled afterwards. Next time, root canal goes first.

$1420 from emergency fund.

Medical bills – from emergency fund

I had a couple cysts cut off my right pinkie finger and my right ear in May. Nothing major, just little lumps that were painful when pressed. That was in April, a procedure which I paid a $20 co-pay for. I sort of expected that to be the end of it. Then I got a $300 bill in the mail in June. This is a symptom of the dysfunction that is our medical insurance system here in the United States. You don’t get to know how much of a procedure is covered and what the cost will be until after you buy it.

$300 from emergency fund.

Moral of the Story

Your emergency fund will save your ass someday. Plump it up with regular feedings! My emergency fund provided a cushion for unexpected expenses so normal expenses and planned purchases were able to happen regardless of any crises.

Thanks, past self, for setting aside the cash for this stuff. :)

Related Advice:

How to Save Money on an Entry Level Salary

Filed Under: Financial Advice