Pennies from heaven.

In My Humble Opinion
1

What pleasant little undeserved surprises have fallen into your lap lately?

I’ve had a couple, just today.

  1. Last FM gave me a free membership for the rest of the month because they had some technical glitches that erased some recently-entered data for some of their users. I had not entered any of said data, so I wasn’t inconvenienced . . . but I get a month of free membership anyway, a three dollar value! :slight_smile: Sweet!

  2. I’ve been dragging my feet on applying for jobs for Fall '06. Call it . . . I dunno, burnout, fear of success, stupidity, laziness . . . Anyway, most academic jobs have application deadlines in December and January, but one very attractive job was the sort where they say “Review of applications will begin on October 15 and continue until the position is filled.” Except I had been procrastinating about looking up job ads discovered this ad in late October. So naturally I sent an application right away, right? Noooo, 'cause that would be not nearly sabotaging enough of my own career.

I procrastinated and procrastinated, got busy with other stuff, and finally emailed the department chair in late November asking if the position had been filled yet. His reply was that they had not yet finished their deliberations, but would soon. So I dithered around for a couple of weeks, wondering if it was worth my time to even apply (Podkayne Fries: not the sharpest crayon in the box), and finally slapped together an application on Thursday since I was also sending one off to a different school that had a Dec. 12 deadline. I got an email today telling me that they had not made a decision since my last email, and telling me they would be “happy to review my application if I wish to apply.”

I do not really deserve a chance. I shoulda had my butt in gear in September and been scanning job ads and my application should have been on his desk the first of October. The job market is extremely, notoriously dire, and I should be taking my job search very, very seriously, and instead I’ve been dicking around. But hey, I guess sometimes the Universe takes pity. I dunno if they decided they just didn’t like any of their options (which would be kind of crazy, 'cause in the current job market, a position like theirs would attract about 200 applicants), or maybe they remembered my app from a couple years ago when I applied for a different opening (I have an unusual name that might stick in their memory) and they thought I might be a good fit . . .

I guess I just need to stay mellow for now and wait to see if I get an interview. And get my applications together with schools with January deadlines, damnit!

2

I moved just over six months ago, and about a motnh after I moved, i got a rebate check from my old cable and phone companies, since those were paid a motnh in advance (i.e., you paid for the upcoming months service, not the month that jsut went by, like the piower bill.) Well, two weeks ago I got another $90 rebate check from the cable company, and a letter saying they went over their records and found out that in addition to the month I paid extra for and didn’t use back in May, my first bill I paid was for two months of service, but was only credited with one, so I ended up paying more. Woo! Free money!

3

The backstory is that I get paid once a month and pay my rent and credit card then, basically spending all cash except for a couple of hundred dollars that I keep for things that have to be paid with cash. So I don’t have much flexibility there during the typical month. BUT:

  1. In the spring I overpaid my state tax (should have gotten a refund) and what felt like a windfall to me came in the mail: $600. That very day I got an e-mail about a fundraising party for a friend with medical bills and I was able to sent the money along.

  2. Totally unexpectedly, my boss gave me a $1000 bonus in June (we are a non-profit and bonuses are very rare). The same day I got a message about a fundraiser by old friends for a homeless organization, and I was able to send the money along.

The timing was just remarkable, that they would ask just when I was actual liquid enough to help, unlike so many other months.

4

No pennies involved, but a nice surprise. Access to the online OED via the Chicago Public Library was discontinued in July 2002. A few days ago I discovered it was back.

5

I just won $45 at poker (finished 3rd in a 9-person tournament); I got my $20 buy-in back, plus $25. Woo hoo! :wink: