kaylaglasgow

Can you eat lunch for $1?

Just had a plateful of “spaghetti” (actually noodles with broiled chicken pieces), a can of coke and a bottle of water for lunch. Grand total of 3.70 ringgits (or $1.01 USD).

Quick Update

Well I’ve now been in Singapore for ~5 days and just realized I’ve provided no updates. So here’s a few random experiences/thoughts of my trip so far.

• After landing at DFW I had about 20 minutes to catch my flight to Tokyo. Thankfully, as I exited the plane a women was waiting for me to take me directly to my gate. Of course, directly to my gate meant down the service stairs, onto the tarmac and into a service van which drove directly to my gate. En route, we sped behind a plane being taxied from the gate and nearly got hit. Nice.
• On the 14-hour flight from DFW to Tokyo, I sat next to a woman and her ~9-year old daughter; the daughter’s first trip out of the country. The lady’s friend is a big-wig at AA and her and her daughter were in 1st class. The 1st class daughter came back and sat in our row for about 4 hours of the flight and I got to hear over and over about how she had never flown in coach before. It’s SOOOO different than 1st class. How do people fly in coach?!? OMG!!
• Different from the U.S. - The receipts aren’t labeled “Customer” and “Merchant” copy. It’s very confusing.
• When I arrived in my room at the hotel, I was very excited to find that I had ESPN, thinking I could catch some of the NCAA tourney. Wrong. This is ESPN Hong Kong.
• Tiger beer is everywhere. It tastes like Bud.
• Last night while sitting at a bar waiting for a friend, I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me. Texas Aggie Class of 2003. Small world.
• There’s a 7-Eleven on nearly every corner. Bizarre.
• Soccer is on nearly 24/7 which is great except that I’m really getting into the Champion’s League and now have to find a way to follow when I get back to the States.

That’s all for now. I’m probably going to wait and post all my pictures when I get back. I know you’re on the edge of your seat(s).

Savings Ideas?

I’m trying to come up with some creative ways to save a few extra bucks during this current economic downturn. I know several people are being forced to dip into their savings, but as I am still blessed with a job (although no bonus/raises for a year), now is the time to increase my savings potential.

So here’s what I’m thinking…aside from the amounts I already have going into my 401(k) and direct deposited into my brokerage account, I’d like to creatively save.

A few ideas:

• For every CD/Record or Blu-ray I buy, I’d transfer the same amount from my checking to savings account. This will either, increase my savings really quickly since I buy a lot of music, or it’ll inflate my checking since I’ll realize that that CD on sale at Best Buy for 7.99 is really going to cost me $15.98.
• Tip myself - Everytime I eat out, make a note of how much tip I leave and again transfer that amount from checking to savings.
• Give up alcoholic beverages for a month. This doesn’t sound fun…I think it should be low on the list.

I’m not good at the typical ways to save $$ like clipping coupons and such…anybody else have ideas?

Lost

I lost February! I think that’s the first time since the inception of my measly blog that I missed an entire month. Dang it. Failure.

Preparing for the Future

To be quite honest, the current state of the economy has me worried. I’m a planner. And an analyst. I’m 25 years old and lately I’ve been daily worrying about my long-term financial situation. Will I have enough to buy a new house in 5 years, give money away, retire by 55, spoil my niece rotten? For the past few years I’ve saved at a rate of ~13% and then lived at or just above my means. Because, well, I could. But not anymore…did you know that on Monday alone companies announced more than 71,000 job cuts in the U.S.? And for the most part those of us that have jobs won’t be getting promotions, raises, bonuses, etc for awhile.

So what do we do? What do I do?

I think first of all those of us who are believers need to worry within reason. Do not be anxious but allow this situation to make us more cautious, more observant and more responsible than we’ve been.
Second, any article on budgeting you read will tell you to “pay yourself first”. This is partly true. Return the blessings that God has provided first (i.e. give it away, you have no claim to it), then pay yourself. Let’s be honest, it’s ridiculously hard sometimes but it’s the right thing to do.
Lastly, I’m becoming an active budgeter. I’m great at the spreadsheets, setting goals, and tracking progress. I’m TERRIBLE at making myself actually take action on what I’m spending. For example this month I spent over $300 on dining out and $12 on groceries. $12!! I never even went to an actual grocery store the entire month. I was tracking along nicely to the rest of my budget and then to reward myself made a $350 satellite radio purchase. Could I afford it? Yes. Should I have waited to purchase it until I had actually included it in that month’s budget? Umm…yeah. Definitely. Let’s see how February goes…

Oh by the way, I’m going to the grocery store at lunch today.

“Have a Blessed Day”

So this morning I drove through Starbucks for my morning coffee. I get up to the window and the lady hands me my coffee and I attempt to hand her my debit card. She smiles and says, “The gentleman in the vehicle before you paid for your coffee and said to ‘have a blessed day’.”

That really made my day. I wish there was a way I could thank him for his small but very generous act of kindness, although I’m sure he didn’t do it to receive my thanks.

Love God | Love People

Today was a hard day. Beautiful and honest and real and exciting and hard. I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to figure out what I should do as far as “church” goes. Should I take time off? Go to Stone? Go to a house church? Try a neighborhood church? In all my internal debates there are a few things that I believe very strongly:

• The community that was birthed out of the Vista is real. To let that fall apart is not an option.
• Teaching is vital.
• Setting aside dedicated time to be in and hear the Word together with other Believers is important.

I feel like my decision is compounded by the fact that I won’t be here in 3 months. It takes me a year to get to know new people…somehow starting somewhere new and leaving in 3 months just doesn’t sound fun.

For those of you Vista goers (or Austin-based non-Vista goers for that matter), I’d like your feedback. One of the things I’ve been thinking about is setting a dedicated time each week as a “virtual church” if you will. Time for me to attend a time of praise through song and listen to teaching via the internet. There are so many great options available (livechurch.tv, Austin Stone, Saddleback) and it feels like a great way for me to transition with my coming move. And I feel like I’d like others to join me. We can learn together and bridge a gap for a few weeks/months until people find a place to more permanently plug-in and serve the Kingdom.

Feels Like Home

There are very few things in life that make me “feel like home”. I’m not a nostalgic person in general. I haven’t been back to the house where I grew up or my alma mater in nearly 8 years. I don’t have boxes full of childhood memories stashed away in my parents’ attic. But I have this one thing.

Every fall when it starts to get cold, I wait (im)patiently for that first cold day. Well as cold as it can get in Texas. That day when you wake up and pull the covers up under your chin and rub your feet together because before you went to bed it was not near cold enough to turn the heater on, but this morning you can feel the chill. I lay there for a few minutes and then I get up, go to the bottom drawer of my dresser and pull out a pair of soccer shorts and a sweatshirt. Not just any sweatshirt. A ragged, completely broken-in, hole in the right sleeve, very specific sweatshirt. It’s from a camp in Colorado and I must have bought it in like 7th grade. And it’s perfect. It doesn’t matter what I do that chilly day…I may go run in my sweatshirt, maybe read a book, listen to a record, watch TV. It doesn’t matter. But it’s a day I look forward to all year. It’s safe and comfortable and it feels like home.

Today was that day.