Articles from: 2013

Another stay at home Saturday with a lot of reading, painting, and weights.  The syllabus for my fall exam was officially released on Wednesday and although I was debating skipping the reading material and diving into the study outline (which hasn’t been released yet) I decided to start reading the source material from scratch.  Got through about 80 pages or so. I learned that life insurance lump sump payments are not taxed. But the benefits received each month for the live employee are considered income and taxed for every $1000 over $50,000 based on the age of the live employee according to Table I of Section 79 of the Internal Revenue Code. I can’t wait until this comes up in casual conversation after church. I’ll be so ready! I also took study breaks, lifting weights and became huge. I took breaks from these breaks to doodle more foxes: If I were to title these they would be called Procrastination I-V. I also took a break from these breaks of breaks to play some computer games. But that’s it. I went back to my Group Insurance textbook. I’m studying hardcore now. From now on, no more breaks of breaks from breaks of breaks for me!

My first attempt at making a smoothie.  I can see how you can eat a lot by blending/mashing stuff and not having to chow down banana, apple, kale, yogurt, juice, and blackberries separately.

I’ve gained about seven pounds since I started exercising (and upping my chicken consumption).  I’ve also gained soreness in my back, knees, and arms, and thighs but I’m told that’s weakness leaving the body.  And all this time I thought it was old age…

There was a push-up and squat contest at work. Here are the results (among actuarial):

Push-ups (1 min w/ pushup bars): Theo 25; Sean 25; Allen 23 Squats: (1 min): Theo 55; Allen 55; Sean 44

Allen and I actually came in first out of everyone who did squats, which was surprising. I guess nothing builds massively impressive thighs like sitting at a desk all day reading insurance textbooks. Not sure how I feel about doing pull ups and crunches but those are tomorrow’s events. I was asked about my art process recently and the questions inspired me to sit down and try painting again, which I haven’t done in a good while.

I stayed at home all day. It was somewhat productive. I got a chance to carve a chicken for the first time (picked up a whole chicken at the supermarket yesterday. All the precut chicken looked dry). Did a load of laundry. Cleaned my room and the kitchen. Took a nap (I kept dreaming that I got into a car accident¹). Read a few chapters from my Handbook of Employee Benefits while lounging on the couch and taking breaks doing arm curls with 25 pound dumbbells (you know kids that do push-ups and afterwards flex their biceps in the mirror … that was me today). I didn’t think I’d do well studying at home since there are so many distractions (like cooking lentils to go with my chicken, farming for gold in Clash of Clans, etc.) but it was nice being able to have a quiet day by myself and studying on the couch. Maybe I don’t have to pack my books and trek to the coffee shop all the time. At the end of the day I thought I’d try to draw a fox.   ¹ I actually did get into a car accident last Sunday. A car backed into me in the parking lot at Sawtelle. No dents, just paint scratches and their insurance will cover it. Looks like I’ll be driving a rental for the next few days though.

“My new Group Insurance, Sixth Edition finally came!” must be on the list of Top Ten Phrases I’d Never Say With Enthusiasm but lo and behold, I got the textbook last night and I’m actually a bit excited about buckling down and doing some serious studying. I think this represents the end of Casual Study Mode. I thought it ended a few weeks earlier when I had my nose in the Canadian Handbook of Flexible Benefits but I hit a bit of a road bump when I discovered from the forums that the Canadian stuff will probably not be on the new revamped exam in the fall. Even though I’m a bit bummed of the time wasted, I’m hoping the new exam will weed out less important material. Like, for example, this study note on internet marketing:

“At the same time, a revolution is occurring in bandwidth and graphic capabilities. This will render the transaction more television-like. In the near future, Internet service, audio/visual entertainment, communication and computing will integrate into one home telecommunication center.”

This was written in 2000. 2000! I’m still wondering how this old material got included in the syllabus or how this is relevant to actuarial work. As a blogger though, I’m excited about these television-like transactions that are on their way…

I ran 6.3 miles yesterday! It’s the most I’ve ever run! Last week I decided to see how far I could run since I’ve always stopped around the 3 mile mark (I was secretly shooting for 10 miles. Aim high!). It took over 70 minutes and I whittled away at the time by listening to music on my iPhone and watching a movie on my iPhone. It must have made me super hungry since I ate 8 pieces of Ralph’s supermarket chicken afterwards. It’s the most I’ve ever eaten! I usually stop around the 2 chicken mark. I probably should have stopped much sooner since I was feeling pretty queasy after. I also studied for 0 minutes yesterday. It’s the least I’ve ever studied! I was secretly shooting for 2 hours … :&#40

As I was rushing out the door to Deb’s wedding yesterday, I couldn’t find my black shoes!  I was on my way to the mall while calling up a coworker when my roommate got back to me and let me borrow his, which was a teense too small :( but WAY more fashionable :).   I thought I got a small glimpse of what it’s like being a woman wearing uncomfortable heels all day. It was only since Liz’ wedding that I heard Deborah was asked out by Joe and they got engaged less than a month ago.  I think both her dress and the wedding cake was from Costco.  I guess you don’t need a lot of preparation for a great wedding. I hadn’t taken a lot of night shots and a lot of the photos turned out blurry :( so I’m glad they had a real photographer on the scene. I kinda want to see Vashti’s photos too. (Oh, by the way she has her own blog, The Corporate Tulle.)

You know that  feeling you get when you invite people you know to a Saturday afternoon movie like, say, The Angels’ Share, thinking it would be good because of the inspiring reviews such as “Joyful … A heartwarming celebration of kindness, friendship and forgiveness” and “Blessedly funny,” but finding yourself sinking into your seat because of its crude dialog and questionable morals while leaving the theater perplexed at its receiving of a Jury Prize at Cannes and later offering to pay for dinner to ease the guilt for inviting people to sit through two hours of a disappointing film?  If so, I totally know what that’s like too! This is the second time in the last year or so I felt a little guilty for inviting people to go see a movie with me, the first being Pina.  I guess I should just watch these art house movies by myself.

I got a present yesterday!   No card, no invoice, no indication of who it’s from. It came through Amazon. Do I have a secret admirer? A secret friend who wished to brighten my day? A thoughtful partner in crime? A compassionate brother in arms? No! It was an amazon order I placed in November that I totally forgot about.  

There were a lot of cars parked on work grounds yesterday toward the entrance and as I went over to the mall across the street I figured out why: Justin Bieber was there! I actually got a glimpse of him and he looked a lot older and more mature than I remember him in photos. He was answering questions promoting his music and answering questions and I got a chance to take some photos with my iPhone before he told us not to take photos at this time. I actually got to ask him a question and casually asked him what he’s doing after this event and he was going home, not to Calabasas where he bought a house but to his real home in Canada. Apparently he calls his home in Canada his real home. As I was walking back to work I was looking for the photos I took which I would have posted on this site if it wasn’t for one thing: it was all a dream. Sigh. Every night is like a bad movie for me where it was all a dream. Isn’t the brain supposed to be hard at work at this time processing and storing all the health insurance material I’ve been studying?! What’s my brain doing? Slacking off apparently.