The Illuminated Donkey

Let's see...what's been going on with me these days... Obviously, the basics of human survival have been a pretty high priority for me, though I did take advantage of a relatively sunny day yesterday (and on that note, it would have been so much better to have been canned in June or July) to take my brother on a little roadtrip out to the Pennsylvania Dutch area. A delightful assortment of meats, apple schnitz, loud music, and the knowledge that my brother couldn't pinpoint the Civil War within a ten-year range.

Still, now that that's all done, it's back to my desk for further job searches, resume and portfolio tweaking, signing up for focus groups, health-insurance comparisons (damn, that COBRA is a friggin' killer), and eleventy-jillion other annoying things. But the big thing is the batch of income and money-making opportunities that have turned up over the last week:

First of all, just a reminder for everybody to keep close track of all of their work vacation/person day info. I received my close-out check from work and would have missed out on about a week's pay (my last week's pay) had I not saved all of my paperwork. My old HR contacts were pretty quick about correcting everything, though.
1. Thanks to Paul Katcher, I will be depositing my check for $13.86 to cover my share of the CD price-fixing antitrust settlement. That is cash money, my friends!
2. In case I was looking for a new line of work to enter, apparently some assface used my e-mail as the return address for a mass mailing of penis enlargement spams, causing me to receive dozens upon dozens of returned e-mails. I've yet to receive any interested responses, but if one comes in, I'm sure I would get a cut.
3. On a related note, one of those oh-so-accurate web skimmers was kind enough to list me and this blog in the "Clowns" section of their New Jersey Party Links site. It might be tough to stand up, though, since I'll be competing for party work with such noted entertainers as No-Treason.com, Dr. Arthur Janov's Primal Center, and National Review. (Memo to anybody hoping to save time by using one of these auto-web-skimmer things...they completely suck!
4. No gummint cheese yet, but I'm refreshing my online banking balance screen every 45 seconds to see if my tax return has come through.
5. And if all else fails, it's nice to see that the Nigerian E-Mail Scammers are up and running again (though this round seems to be coming from South Africa).