We just have to hold out until Friday, which should be our next payday. I wish I had gotten my taxes in a few weeks earlier than I did. Fortunately we have leftovers, and rice, potato and pasta to keep us fed, as well as about $10 in returnable bottles. I have made a note to change my W-4 to decrease my withholding, along with Mrs. Ha taking over her bills and a modest COLA,
I'm hoping to have a balanced budget. This does sound familiar, but this time Mrs. Ha will be making more the minimum wage.

Mrs. Ha is in very dry boring training, which is hard for her, and compounds the trouble of gearing up for a 40 hour work week after months of not working at all. The whole switch has been traumatic for our family, though I feel we've turned the corner on it.

Mrs. Ha also got a special late night session with a doc due to her training troubles, and is now trying out Concerta, for ADD. So far it seems to be working for her. I think our monthly prescription bill is now close to $200.

In other stimulant news, I saw my sister and her partner yesterday and they gave me a belated bday present, 3 pounds of assorted Starbucks coffee, including some Pikes Peak with the boobies trademark. We now have coffee for about three weeks. This morning was Verona.

I just finished three books in short succession, dealing with spies, World war II, and England.

The first was A life in Secrets, the story of Vera Atkins, a Romanian Jew alien in London during World War II who co-ordinated undercover activities in occupied France. It's pretty sad, their efforts were amateurish compared to MI6 (for instance, radio operators who responded with the code phrase for "captured" were asked if they were using the correct phrases like they were trained to), and many of their amateur recruits parachuted right into Gestapo hands. It was interesting to read how she followed up on what became of the captured men and women, most died in German concentration camps. She was said to be the inspiration for Miss Moneypenny, of James Bond fame.

Did I say James bond? The next one up was The man who saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond, which is a short book on the trauma Britain went through after being on the winning side of WWII. The colonies were set free, the economy tanked, unemployment soared and the whole island nearly went bankrupt. Somewhere around page 90 it finally gets around to talking about James Bond, the books and the movies. The thesis seemed to be that James Bond, the hypersexual, hyperviolent racist was a balm to UKians soul while they transformed into a postmodern services and tourism based economy, instead of a place that actually made something.

The last was a Goodwill ripoff (at $1, amazon has them for $0.01), War of the Rats a story of the sniper duel in Stalingrad between the Soviet Unions top sniper Zaitsev, and Germany's top sniper, Thorvald. Enemy at the Gates must have been based on this novel, and there are many scenes lifted straight from the book. It was a quick read, and recommended for fans of the eastern front, or snipers, or hot Russian speaking American blondes.

NOthing new in the movie front. The Ten commandments has been DVR'ed for continual bloody Nile enjoyment, Mrs. Ha took out Angela's Ashes to wallow in Irish misery (anyone know a good movie about the misery inflicted by the Thirty Years War?).

Healthwise I am feeling better, incrementally so. I suspect it's mostly the prednisone, but I am contemplating just how much work I need to do to get the Kawi back on the road. I need to order some oil/gas resistant O-rings for my starter clutch, rebuilt that, recharge the battery, and clean up the carbs. Only about 4 hours work if I felt like it.