OK, before I forget (and since I tried at least 3 times to mention this but the SA system here kept deleting my posts).....most of you probably have heard of No Impact Man, right? The New York City guy who, with his family, lived for a year without contributing to environmental damage, which meant no electricity, buying only locally grown food, not using the elevator in his high rise, etc.

I came across the No Impact Man documentary on free Hulu last week and I must say it was pretty interesting, though I already knew the story. Your first reaction may be, well, i already know I can't do without toilet paper, so I won't try..... Yet it's interesting to see someone push the boundaries of what's possible, and I think it's an important thing, whether your priority is frugality for its own sake or protecting the environment.

Next up...
My roof is done. Looks pretty good. Roofer coming here in a half hour to do a walk-around with me and collect his check. He finished on Tuesday, but seeing as how I have no time in the a.m. to really check it out thoroughly and it's pitch black when I get home, the final inspection had to wait til today.

I did go up in the attic with some flashlights after some rain we had to make sure there are no leaks. I didn't see any. I did do a quick walk-around earlier, and told the roofer I wasn't happy to see a number of black smudges on my 2-year-old vinyl siding, caused by roofers carelessly dropping the old asphalt shingles straight off the roof. He told me they'd be using tarps to protect landscaping, but I know they didn't do that....the crew had already arrived on the a.m. of the 2nd day when I was still here. As I walked out the front door, a roofer let drop a big loose roll of tar paper, and it fell straight down just a few feet from where I stood. He saw me looking up at him as I was getting into my car, and i think that was the only reason he made an effort to throw something else he had in his hand away from the house. But judging from the smudges on the vinyl siding and all the grit on the window sills, they weren't doing that regularly, if at all.

When i brought this to his attention, he said oh, but we haven't finished the clean-up process yet. We always go around and do the "fine clean-up" Uh huh. Maybe, but maybe he was just saying that to cover himself. One of my two front entry columns also got scratched up, though truth be told it was peeling paint anyway and will need to be repainted regardless.

I asked him to remove those smudges because I shouldn't have to hire a power washer to get it off, and I sure don't feel like climbing on ladders. That's already been done, although I haven't looked at it since.

So no real damage I don't think. The roof looks very good with sort of a three-dimensional shingle. He did take some pix of the progress also so I could see how the underlying sheathing looked, etc. So I guess I'm glad I got it done. It will be good when I sell the house.

He said while I will still get ice dams, the water should not get inside the wall like it did last winter. I sure hope he's right. He replaced the snow and ice shield that extended 3 feet up from the eaves with a barrier that extends 6 feet up from the eaves, plus he added that same barrier all along the gable sides of the roof and i think also around the chimney. He'll walk me through what they did when he gets here.

Contrary to what another roofer told me in 2011, a guy i thought seemed very trustworthy, honest and straight-talking, the sheathing underneath was in very good condition except for 2 small spots of rot which they replaced. The other roofer in 2011 had said oh yeah, that sheathing underneath is so old and soft, I'm not sure it would hold a nail. So your new roof will cost $8,000. (I got it done for $5800.)

You can't trust ANYONE! How they present themselves, their mannerisms, friendliness, etc means nothing as far as judging their honesty!!!!

And, that first roofer was recommended to me by a friend. So a referral from someone you know means absolutely nothing. They are all one and the same...out to make as much money as they can.

On Monday I'm headed to Boston with three co-workers for a Christmas party with the rest of our team up there. One woman has rented an SUV and we're all supposed to meet at a certain commuter parking lot. It's going to be a very long day, with a three hour drive to get there and 3 hours back. The day will consist of the secret Santa gift exchange, a brunch and then a mandatory volunteer gig at a homeless shelter where we're more or less required to wear my employer's logoed t-shirt.

I don't mind doing volunteer work, and have done so on my own in the past, but I dislike it being something I "have" to do as part of my job. I also feel we could have much more easily met our co-workers at a location mid-way between Boston and CT, ie, Rhode Island. It would have cut our drive in half, from 6 hours to probably 3.

We may have freezing rain Monday morning, so it's possible the trip will be cancelled. I brought my laptop home with me just in case.

Today I'm getting a haircut and then going over to my mother's to help her place some Amazon Xmas orders. I think my mother may have dementia because little things like this that she used to be able to do, get her all messed up.

I have a ton of stuff to do this weekend, mostly holiday related. Last night I was able to squeeze in 2 hours of freelance work developing some value propositions for a company. $100 earned for some Friday night work, not bad.

Just when I thought I was through with all the good credit card deals (I just redeemed a $100 bonus from a Capital One World Wildlife Fund card), I saw an offer on My Money Blog for a $150 bonus from the Discover card. I used to have a Discover card but canceled it maybe a year ago. Even though I had just cancelled my Chase Sapphire card (just too many cards, i don't need that one) and knew my credit score would temporarily dip slightly as a result, I immediately applied for the Discover card and was approved, so should see that in the mail next week. This is the card that provides you with your credit score for free on your statements, so that will be nice.