I got a huge raise out of nowhere this week. I was just given the news about two hours ago and I’m still stunned. Starting salaries took a big leap up again this year, and anyone with under five years of service with the company is eligible to be considered for a possible potential pay adjustment to keep them in line with the salary trends. For the third year in a row, I was included, and this year was a doozy; a $7,500 doozy. Taking this raise into account, over my three years with this company, my pay has gone up by an average of about 11% every year. That’s just bizarre. I guess I should be glad I got in while the market was utter shit.

This places me in the position of having to decide just what the hell to do with the extra $95-ish I’ll be getting in my direct deposit account every week. WHAT A BURDEN. It’s been a while since I blogged about money, so I figure I’ll take this opportunity. Where is this money needed?

My biggest financial obligation right now is my home, which, on its own, eats up $1686.12 every month, mostly through mortgage interest. That can be reduced a bit if I can pay off my “second” mortgage (read: not a home equity loan, but an actual, literal second mortgage). Most of this raise should go toward the mortgage.

I need a new car. My infuriating ‘99 Jetta makes even my short 4.4 mile commute to work unbearable. I genuinely hate getting into it. Busted air conditioning will do that. Right now, I’m setting aside $75 every week towards my next car. I wouldn’t mind bumping that up.

My girlfriend and I are saving up for a wedding (even though we aren’t engaged yet). I’m already on pace to be done saving up for it within the next six months, though. I can probably leave this where it is.

I also think I deserve to be able to spend a little bit more. This was an 11% raise, so I should bump up the tiny allowance that I give myself by at least 11%. It’s only $50 right now; let’s make that $60. Even just that is a 20% jump, but you have to let yourself enjoy your money, or you’ll just grow to resent your budget and never stick to it.

Here we go: $60/week towards the mortgage, $25/week more towards my next car, and $10/week more to spend. I’ll take that. A year ago, I would’ve just spent all of it.

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They just came out with a Wordpress app for the iPhone, and I’m just trying it out right now. I guess I’ll have to go over to my computer if I want to link to it. I kinda feel like the mobile admin plugin is better. Plus, this app keeps triggering my Twitter plugin. That’s annoying.

Aww man, mobile admin isn’t compatible with the most recent version of Wordpress anyway. Weak.

Anyway, link: http://iphone.wordpress.org/

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So I guess I forgot to post on Friday. Gerp.

I’m starting to feel like I should separate these UECA! posts from the main content somehow. Not completely sure how I want to go about that, but they’re just so boring most of the time. I guess it would help if I posted anything but them anymore. I’ll figure something out.

Anyway, same deal as last week and the week before.

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11th verse, same as the 10th. More brainstorming, followed by more cleaning up of brainstorms.

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I did stuff this week!

Unfortunately, I can’t really talk about one of the biggest developments. It’s just a game mechanic idea that I’m really proud of that I think will add a whole new layer to the game.

I did a lot of brainstorming this week. I actually opened up my design document and just started typing out a stream of consciousness style rant. That lasted for two or three mornings. Thursday morning, I went back and started cleaning everything up.

Progress, is what I’m saying.

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