June 27. Day 362. Today Mr. A celebrated his birthday with a picnic in the park, surrounded by friends and fam. I was in charge of decoratin...

June 26. Day 361. I had the mother's number on speed dial. Two days ago , she offered a job tutoring her three kids. We negotiated the s...

June 9. Day 344. Here's a thought for ya. In a few days I am meeting someone for this consulting project. When I set up the meeting with...

June 3. Day 338. Met up with some friends around 9. Destination: a bar on the water, in time for happy hour. The girl who was driving circle...

May 27. Day 331. The scene around 3 p.m.: a dozen cars are funneling into an ARCO, which has the cheapest gas in a 5 mile radius. Prices are...

April 6. Day 280. Here are three items for your consideration. 1) Article in the Globe about retail negotiation mavericks . Lots of good str...

April 3. Day 277. I spent the better part of today driving from post office to post office, on the phone with the federal passport agency an...

March 21. Day Day 264. Czerny. Light of my life, fire of my fingers. My sin, my soul. Czer-ny: the tip of the fingers tapping thrice as the...

March 20. Day 263. Update: I went to see the nearby Ikea shelf and asked the seller for a discount. He agreed. So far, no Craigslister since...

March 19. Day 262. For a few weeks I've been eyeing a tall and slender cd/dvd tower from Ikea, since it's just perfect for storing s...

February 15. Day 230. "What if something goes wrong? Can she drive it? What happens if the police pulls me over?" These were Mr. A...

February 5. Day 220. I just got back from Denny's, where Mr. A and I waited an hour for some nachos and a hot skillet plate. We went out...

January 6. Day 190. There are few domains in which I proclaim expertise. Grad school has only stressed how little I know -- and how much I ...

December 23. Day 176. "Look at all those people," my Mama pointed out as I was checking in at the curb. I was getting about to lea...

December 10. Day 163. Final lease-related question, I promise. We were supposed to take care of the lease a few days ago, but the property m...

November 28. Day 151. I started the day with the best intentions -- to pay homage to San Diego merchants and help the American economy by pa...

November 24. Day 147. Quick, allow me to write something now , so yesterday's entry falls a little bit lower on the page. I spent the en...

November 6. Day 129. Great news! My car has died. It didn't start two times in a row, I called a bunch of mechanics who said it will pro...

November 5. Day 128. I got a note today from FedEx asking me to drive to their depot to pick up a package I'd ordered. Only. My car isn...

October 20. Day 112. The day of updates: For a few months, I've been trying to cancel my second car insurance , since I stayed registere...