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More on my money-making ventures

June 22nd, 2011 at 02:05 am

Today I turned in the press release I was working on yesterday after getting sign offs from 3 people I quoted (the sales director for this particular community and 2 happy new homeowners who bought there).

Exchanged a few more emails with the grad student coordinating the nutrition study that I plan to participate in. It took repeated questions to get her to answer plainly how many trips to UConn would be required, but I finally got it out of her. It's a 6-month study and during that time it would be 4 trips up there and another 10 where we could meet somewhere halfway, for her to give me various supplies.

So that's a lot of driving, 14 trips in all. UConn is 1.5 hours away from me and the meet-you-halfway trip will be half that, obviously. So, knowing I average 38 miles per gallon in my car and that today I can buy gas for $3.99 a gallon, I used MapQuest to calculate mileage and I determined that my total gas cost for participating in this study would be $138. They'll pay me $500, and they pay it in increments as you go along, so if for some reason you had to drop out of the study, you'd still receive partial payment. So I'll net $362. I guess it's worth it, altho it's added wear and tear on my car, of course.

This a.m. I dropped off the consent form at my primary care doc's office. I put it in a sealed envelope along with a brief note telling him about the study and asking him to sign it for me. I brought it to the office, gave it to the nurse and verbally explained what it was. I was annoyed becus she proceeded to open it up when it wasn't addressed to her, but i guess she was used to doing that with their mail.

I had hoped I could return later today to pick it up with his signature, but she said, no, you should be able to get it on Thursday. Actually, she initially said i might need to make an appointment with him just to have him sign it! And what, make me pay for it? I was about ready to have a meltdown. I've only been going there for 15 years. Anyway, she called tonight and said it was ready for pickup tomorrow.

I also stopped in at the library to pick up a book to read when I spend 5 hours hanging around doing product testing with lotion on my arms and legs tomorrow in a different study testing a new moisturizer. They don't allow you to leave, and no laptops, so it's either read or talk. They do feed you, though.

I returned the phone call of someone who called me after I answered a very vague Craig's List job ad, something to do with helping people budget and handle their money. They were looking for teachers, but since I've written about this stuff for a living and have a strong personal interest in it, I thought I'd look into it. Turns out it was Primerica Financial Services. She wanted to schedule an interview with me, but I told her I'd get back to her. For some reason, I had a hunch, or maybe in the back of my mind I recalled something sketchy I'd heard about the company, and sure enough, an easy Google search revealed all sorts of bad commentary on their business model, it being a pyramid scheme that depends on constantly recruiting people (like me), etc. I don't plan to call her back.

Otherwise, I did start mowing the front lawn but didn't do any other yard work as it was uncomfortably warm today.

I picked more lettuce for another large salad (my 5th using homegrown greens) and had that for dinner with toasted walnuts and tomatoes, plus a pork chop, and to top it off, a Trader Joe's cannoli, which I'm hooked on now. (They're in the freezer section.)For something that tastes so good, they're a relatively healthy dessert, given that the cream is actually cheese and it's very low in sugar. And no artificial sweeteners, of course. They're a fairly small serving, so it's instant portion control, too.

4 Responses to “More on my money-making ventures”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1308705114

    Mmm..those cannolis are good!

  2. LuckyRobin Says:
    1308708081

    I finally was able to make my first salad from the garden today. It's been such a blechy spring I was afraid I'd never get one. Nothing like fresh picked greens!

  3. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1308745412

    Good decision on Primerica. I've heard nothing but negatives about them.

  4. CB in the City Says:
    1308758161

    Thanks for the tip on the cannolis! Another reason to check out Trader Joe's.

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