I got quite a bit accomplished today. I managed to set up a budget, inventory my major belongings and track my spending using Budget Tracker. If you want an easy way to budget your money for free, check out this online tool. You can integrate a toolbar into IE if you use that browser, otherwise you can simply use the web page to do all the work. You can also export the data to an Excel Spreadsheet or PDF file and vice versa, which makes managing the accounts much easier. US Bank has made huge improvements in the last week or so to their online bill pay site, but they still do not include budgeting software with the free package, or an option to upgrade to a budgeting plan for a fee. Getting emails when your bills are paid is going to be a nifty addition though. I am going through one of those “pay off all debt! Now! Fast!” phases, so I need to keep a closer eye on my finances, being the primary…ok, solitary financial planner in my household. I would prefer that someone else handle all that crap, but I am fairly ok at it, and Bob does not like to do it. As long as I keep everything as automated as possible, and do not have to remember to write checks, I am good to go.

Also, I got myself weighed and measured at Curves yesterday. I am only 1.6% of body fat away from my 3 month goal…all in one month. I don’t feel like I am really pushing too hard, so I am quite pleased with the results. I have lost about 5 pounds, 3 inches and 6 pounds of body fat since I started. Woohoo!! I really feel proud of myself, and THANK YOU to everyone who helped motivate me to keep up with this lifestyle change.

I also sampled the new Google Fusion application. I am so disappointed with the customization options allowed. Granted, it has only been out for a couple of days, but I would think they would want to streamline everything a little more to put up some sort of fight against the competition, namely, My Yahoo! and My MSN at the moment. Both (I prefer MSN to Yahoo) have pretty good customization options. Everything from revamping the layout to integrating your favorite RSS feeds right into the page. Google allows you to check your Gmail inbox (is this dumb or what, since Gmail is still supposedly still by invite only? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have two or three gmail.com email addresses, but still…), check local weather, news and movie times, plus a few more scanty options that I cannot remember off the top of my head. I do not like the fact that the huge Google Search was left untouched at the top. One the other hand, the site is clean, and has potential…when they integrate RSS and a calendar feature, plus a little more layout control, it will be sweet.

Well, I have a headache, and I am trying not to be depressed about my manager/friend leaving the company in a week, so I will sign off for now.

*smooches to all*