This and that

I got a lot done last night, including writing up this post for your enjoyment! Here are some random thoughts that have something to do with money but not deserving of an entire post.

• Me and a guest can get FREE admission to the LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art) any time in 2008. I’m excited! I’ve been itching to go see the (sort of) new Modern Art exhibit. Also, LACMA has free jazz on Fridays, free Latin on Saturdays, and free other performances on Sundays. And it is free for all after 5 p.m.
• My building is rent stabilized, meaning they can’t raise my (already absurd) rent more than 4%. I can’t believe I didn’t know this.
• I owe about $12 in library fines, which would be enough to buy a whole new book. Booo! This is 100% my fault, because it is a breeze to renew online. I just… didn’t.
• Whenever you are buying something online, not only should you do a Google search (or just go right to retailmenot.com) for coupon codes, but also be sure to check your credit card site. I was making a purchase at Cabela’s, and one card offered 2% cash back for clicking through their site, and another offered 5%. Yeah, it is only $4, but it is MY $4 now!
• More L.A. budget fun planned: Grand Performances. Now, some of the shows sound a little odd, but some sound interesting… It is free, it is downtown (so I feel like I live in a real city), you can bring your own wine (yay!), and it is outdoors. Excellent. We even plan to take public transit, which we’ve been doing more of.
• I got a beach umbrella for $10 this weekend. I also watched fireworks from my roof, got $12 pitcher of sangria (not so great), and bought sunglasses for $12 from Aldo. That was my holiday, in a nutshell.

Last but not least… I did it! After a lot of thought, I emailed my former coworker and told him I could promise 10 hours a week to his start up, with a potential for more in the initial months. Now it is up to him to determine if that is even worth it to him, and how much help he still needs. If it turns out he can use me, I’ll continue to run and train for simple 5k’s and 10k’s, but give up the idea of a marathon in 2009. I still want to do one, just probably not next year.