akaemi.com

I have the hugest polo collection you’ve ever seen.  Red, yellow, a couple blue ones, brown, dark gray, light gray, striped, you name it, I have it.  (Except for pink.  There’s no room for pink in my collection …)

It’s strange, how something that started out so preppy, has become an icon of nerdliness.  In my office of software-developing geeks, we all wear polos.  Having left the comfort of hoodies and t-shirts with obnoxious (but clever!) slogans behind in our college days, we have embraced the next best thing:  The polo t-shirt. 

Because, honestly, it has (almost) all the comfort of a tshirt.  But with a real collar, it has a place in the professional workplace.  Even though our managers might like to see more buttons, longer sleeves, and, well, clothing that requires ironing, the polo t-shirt is here to stay.  And I have a collection to rival the best of ‘em.

I have mastered the art of traveling with minimal interaction with other human beings. Other than my husband, of course.

No, I am not talking about a road trip where you drive out to the middle of nowhere, hike 5 miles, and then pitch a tent; I am talking about a trip that involves flying on a plane and renting a car.

This is all possible thanks to the introduction of the new “self-service” industry. I can book a flight online. Then, 24 hours before my flight leaves, I can check in online, pick my seats, and print my boarding passes. When I get to the airport, there is a special line for me - the “people who already have their boarding passes and need to check bags line.” This line is shorter and faster moving than the other lines. When I get to the front, I enter my information into a self-service check in machine, where I confirm the number of bags I am checking, and then it prints my luggage tags. I do have to show my license to a person who then puts the tags on my bags, but that is it. No prolonged conversation about where I am going. Just me getting on my way.

There is mandatory personal interaction to get through security. As long as you don’t get tagged as “suspicious” - which, these days, includes traveling with children who require such suspicious items as “baby formula” or “juice” - this interaction is pretty minimal, though it does involve disrobing.

Upon arriving at my destination, I ride the bus to the car rental place, get in a car, and drive away. You think I forgot the part where I stand in line for 45 minutes to get the keys to the car I reserved, but I didn’t. I rented from Alamo, who allows me to check in online. Before leaving my home, I paid for my car, declined all the silly insurances, and printed out the 10 page rental agreement. This allows me to bypass the torturous car rental counter. (”Do you want to upgrade your car for an additional $10 a day? Do you want uber-insurance, super-uber insurance, or super-duper-uber insurance? Will you be needing any carseats? Do you want a GPS direction-giving-doo-bob? How about a Sirius radio?”)

As I drive my rental car out of the facility, I stop for 26 seconds and hand my rental agreement, credit card, and drivers licence to a man in a little booth. He checks everything over, enters the car I’m taking into the system, and then I am good to go.

I am excited about the future of the self-service industry. When done poorly, it can be for a miserable experience. But when done right - it is truly delightful to not have to deal with, well, people.

I love Quicken.  A lot.  More than any normal, healthy person should, I mean.  I balance my checkbook almost every day just so I can see all the pretty charts, calendars and graphs it makes for me.

Before Quicken, there was no balancing my accounts.  There was just the knowledge and hope (mostly hope) that I had money there.  There was the checking of the atm receipt, and the occasional phone call to the automated system to make sure there was still money.

And then there was Quicken!  I could download my bank statements right into it!  I could set up spending categories!  I could make up a budget!  I could enter all my monthly bills and have it remind me to pay them on time!

Most importantly, though, was the pictures it made with my money!  A pie chart that showed that ‘rent’ took the biggest bite out of my check.  A calendared bar chart that showed my daily balance over the last month.  Comparison charts so I could compare this month’s spending to last month’s.

Who knew, all that time, I was just a graph and a chart away from fiscal responsibility.

I like Chuck. It’s a great new tv show that stars a guy who works at “Buy More” for the “Nerd Herd.” As if that isn’t nerdly enough, Chuck manages to get a special email one day - an email that, when he opens it, programs his brain into some kind of supercomputer that holds all the nation’s deepest secrets.

So, tune in to NBC on Monday nights! And if you’re as intrigued my Ms. Strahovski as my husband and his coworker are, be sure to check out strahotski.com.

I love spreadsheets. A LOT. Especially google spreadsheets! With google spreadsheets, I can update my spreadsheets whenever I get the hankering - I don’t have to wait till I get home to my computer.

I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my vacation time. There’s a sheet for my husband, a sheet for me, and then a sheet to track all the vacations we’ve taken over the year. In a glance, I can tell how much money and time we’ve spent on trips - as well as how many mental health sick days we’ve taken.

I have a spreadsheet to track all my loans. I can see the monthly payment, the amount left for each loan, as well as the final payoff date. And I update it as necessary, whenever I start ‘paying extra’ toward any loan. I leave the mortgage off that spreadsheet, as I like to feel like I’m making some progress towards less indebtedness …

I have a spreadsheet to track all of the colleges I think my sister should go to. This spreadsheet is shared with my sister, of course, who can update the list as she sees fit. With her college spreadsheet, she can quickly see what different schools cost, as well as how well they are ranked in the US News rankings.

I have a spreadsheet to track all my nerdly topics. As I write about each topic, I check it off. And as I think of new topics, I add it to the list!

Spreadsheets are awesome. They are the perfect way to dump what I’m thinking into something a little more logical - and a little more permanent.