Legal

My wife's Green Card arrived in the mail early this week.  It's very nice to have that out of our way.  Now we just have to remember to have the conditions removed one year and nine months from now.

We're looking forward to the fact that both of us will be able to go through the short line when coming through Immigration after our trip to Japan.  Now if we could just find a way to get me in the short line when entering Japan...

I'm Giving Up

Every few days I'll try to read a news article or two in Japanese.  Today was one of those days.  I could easily tell by the headline that the article was about the DOW (in the United States) falling yet again.  I click on the headline - the entire article is only a few sentences.  Excellent.

My wife happened to come in the room and complimented me on reading an article in Japanese.  She challenged me to read it out loud.  I started to read, and was highly confident because I knew the following word: "市場".  I learned this word, and how to read it, over eight years ago in one of the first cities I lived in while in Japan.  So, when I come to that word I say "ichiba".  Simple.  It means market.  My wife corrects me.  

Wife: "No, it's 'shijou'."  

Me: "But isn't it 'ichiba'?"

Wife: "Yes.  When it's a fruit or vegetable market, it is 'ichiba'.  When it is the stock market, or the housing market it is 'shijou'."

Why do I even try?

pwn

My wife got her driver's license last year, so we bought a new Honda Fit for her to drive. We paid a significant down payment, and put the rest on a two year loan (the salesman from the Honda dealer called me when processing the sale to confirm we really wanted the two year, since most people go for the five year).

I detest paying interest.

We've been paying as much as we reasonably can each month, and got the loan paid off at the end of October. The title came in the mail the other day, and it feels good to know that it is now actually "our" car. It makes my blood boil to think about the fact that over the last year and two months we've paid roughly $500 in interest.

The next goal is to keep my car running long enough so that we can save and pay for our next car in cash.

I detest paying interest.